Day 106 - Uneven Terrain Ahead

Every so often there's an eventful story from a day at home with Ellie that I don't tell Bethany about right away.  I just wait on it for a bit and toss it up on a blog post.  Believe me, it's worth it to hear her reaction once she finally reads it.  It's generally along the lines of "You didn't tell me that happened" or "I absolutely cannot believe that occurred".  If it makes things seem a little better, I do at least warn her when one of those stories is coming around the bend.  That way, she's not totally shocked whenever she reads it.  Although, that thought process normally just gets me something along the lines of "Can't you just tell me now?".  Yes, I could.  Will I?  No.  No, I will not.

If you've been reading #DaddyWrite for any length of time (or you're even remotely familiar with me as a human being), then you know that I possess a natural clumsiness that is second-to-none.  Maybe clumsiness isn't the appropriate term here.  It's more of an inability to proceed with caution, even when the situation might merit it, that leads me into potential ruin.  Seriously, I find myself bounding down stairs at ridiculous rates of speed.  It's like I believe the 'Lucky Charms' leprechaun is waiting at the base of the staircase with a pot of gold with my name on it.  And if I don't make it down there a whole four and half seconds sooner than I would at a normal rate of speed, then he's going to take it away and give it to Tom Selleck for mustache styling gel or something.

They're magically delicious...

The lone exception to this rule happens to be when I'm carrying Ellie.  Believe me, I know that I'm carrying precious cargo when she's in my arms and legitimately don't want anything bad to happen to her.  I'm going to take them one step at a time.  I'll even use the handrail to provide extra stabilization.  I'm proud to admit that I actually haven't had an issue with her in my arms over the past seven months of her life.  Which is more than you can say for our previous laptop (Oh, HP laptop with remote control.  Why did this world take you so young?). 

On Friday, Ellie was in a fantastic mood so I decided to try and take a few pictures of her to celebrate her seven-month anniversary of being alive (don't feel like I can say 'birthday' if it's not actually her birthday).  I picked Ellie up in my right arm and proceed through our kitchen to the stairwell.  As my foot hits the second step, I feel my heel sliding forward and losing precious traction on the carpet.  At this point, I know all hope is lost; I'm going down.  I begin to rapidly evaluate the situation and realize that Ellie and I are destined to fall forward instead of backwards though.  Thus, the situation becomes desperate.  I thrust my left arm out to grab the handrail just as we begin to fall.  It works but now I find myself twisting violently in the air with only my firm grasp on the rail saving us from certain peril.  I seriously felt like Tom Cruise hanging off a mountain in 'Mission: Impossible 2' for a brief moment.

With Ellie in my right arm, I'm kind of in a rough situation.  My left arm is the only thing stopping us from falling down the staircase the rest of the way, but I have no way to get myself up.  Finally, I begin to roll myself onto my stomach in an attempt to use my knees to push myself up, all while continuing to hold Ellie.  Finally after what seemed like hours (probably only 45 seconds), I maneuvered myself to my stomach and pushed myself up with my knees.  Of course, in doing so, I also pushed Ellie's head straight into the handrail.  Poor baby.  She hadn't actually cried during the ordeal and now found herself driven to tears in the closing moments.

There is one good thing about this situation that I realized though.  People have always said that when you have a child, you'd literally die for them.  Well, I hadn't really felt that way.  Probably because I hadn't been in a situation where it had necessitated it.  Now, I still don't know about the dying part, but I would definitely throw myself down a flight of stairs for Ellie any day of the week.  That much is for certain.  After all, can't be worse than the time I bruised a rib on that same staircase, right?  #DaddyWrite

So you can hire just the mustache?

Day 104 - I Can't See Clearly Now...I Can't See All Obstacles In My Way

Improvisation is key to being a stay-at-home dad.  Meaning, you've got to be willing to think outside the box at times in order to get things done.  There's going to be times when things seem to be all falling apart and everything is going wrong.  When that happens, just go ahead and wing it.  Just make sure that the baby's happy above all else.  Today was actually one of those seemingly random days for me where I had to exercise some of my more creative tendencies.  Not only to make the baby happy, but to also give myself some much needed comfort.

Today marked what is always one of my least favorite days of the year.  No, not January 26th.  I personally don't have any issue with good old 1/26 other than it claimed Abe Vigoda.  Of course, that might be more on 2016 than the date itself; 2016 did develop a reputation after all.  And yes, I did have to type January 26th into Google in order to find a "legitimate" beef with the date of January 26th.  I actually wasn't a fan of today because it was time for my annual eye exam.  My eyes haven't changed in about six years, but the problem is that I keep running out of contacts after one year.  Henceforth, I have to go in, have the massive pair of binoculars placed on my face, play fifteen rounds of "one or two?", and finally, suffer through having my eyes dilated.  #FirstWorldProblems 

The eye dilation is actually what bothers me the most.  It basically takes an entire day for my eyes to return to normal each time it's done.  Today was no exception as I found myself walking out of the office, shielding my eyes with my hand and coat.  It's like I'm channeling Jim Halpert trying to prank Dwight.  Luckily, I didn't have Ellie with me to worry about since my mom came down to keep her for the morning just to make things easier.  

Once I made it home, things got interesting again as it was time for Ellie's solid food lunch.  On the menu today, a fantastic Oat and Fruit Blend made by the terrific folks from Gerber (I wouldn't actually know if it's fantastic or not as I didn't taste it).  I quickly came to the conclusion that I failed to realize just how much dilated eyes can affect one's depth perception.  The process of dipping a spoon into a bowl and guiding it toward Ellie's mouth had never been more of an epic struggle.  Luckily for me, Ellie is pretty good about guiding her mouth towards the spoon instead of the other way around.  Still, after about five bites, I buckled down and ask my mom to finish the job.

Following that, I put Ellie down for an afternoon nap and settled in for one myself.  When your eyes are super dilated, there's really not much you can do.  TV?  No go.  Internet?  As if.  Read a book?  Out of the question.  Take up knitting?  Probably not the best time.

Once Ellie woke up from her nap, we sat down on the floor to play with blocks.  Before long, Ellie started taking an interest in the blanket I had covered myself with.  In fact, she began trying to lift it over her head.  At this moment, I found myself having an idea (and no, it didn't hurt for all of you smart alecks out there).  I grabbed two chairs, positioned the blanket over them, and with that, christened Ellie's very first blanket fort.  I placed her inside on a quilt with her toys and joined her inside for some afternoon fun.  

I honestly don't know why the idea of making my daughter a blanket fort never crossed my mind until today.  That being said, I don't think there is any better day to sit in the dark than when you find your eyes resembling those of a fruit bat.  Don't worry Ellie.  Daddy promises not to suck your blood.  #DaddyWrite

Abe Vigoda squeezing avocados.  Literally, that's all this is.

Day 103 - How Impressive is that First Impression?

First impressions are awesome.  No, I mean really.  Whatever you do, you're never going to ruin that impression that you've made.  If you're unbelievably outgoing and you've got one of those personalities that just makes people love you unconditionally, you're set.  Now, if you're awkward or creepy the first time you meet someone, you're going to have a hard time overcoming that impression.  Don't worry, it can be done though.  Otherwise, there's clearly no way that my wife ever would have married me (jk).

A person has to be slightly jealous of Ellie and her ability to make a first impression thus far in her life.  I mean, if you meet her on a good day, there's no disputing it.  She's an adorable, little girl.  Basically, anyone who met her in the hospital or right afterwards would agree with me.  Ask any of the people in the 74 (give or take) photographs I took of them holding Ellie if she made a good first impression.  If they say no, they're lying and must be punished in creative fashions.  May I suggest begin forced to watch an endless loop of the Ben Stiller/Owen Wilson version of 'Starsky and Hutch'?  Yeah, it'll be fine for the first couple of viewings, but believe me, they'll get tired of watching Starsky demanding that people make him a Bacardi and cola.  

Talk about your bad impressions...Bahaha

Now, can Ellie make a bad impression?  Well, yes.  Just to show evidence for this statement, she has been kicked out of the church nursery nearly every time she's been left there.  Something about screaming too loud, disturbing the other babies, attempting a coup d'état, so on and so forth.  Seriously. We put her in there at 9 am and Bethany has to retrieve her by 9:15.  I'd be lying if I said that I don't feel the slightest tinges of pride over it though.  To know your child has been removed from a church nursery is a really special feeling.

I bring all of this up for one reason and I'm getting there now; don't worry.  Today, Ellie and I made a quick trip to Savannah so that I could help my dad get some cattle moved from one pasture to another.  It's definitely one of those things that can go much easier if you have two people instead of just one, especially if you have some calves in the mix that have never been moved around like that before.  

Anyway, while he and I were outside working, Ellie hung out in the house with my mom.  My mom has always seen Ellie as the perfect baby not that I'm complaining.  She's been lucky enough to never really see Ellie at her worst like Bethany and I have.  In fact, Ellie's generally pretty congenial when my parents are around.  She'll play, smile, and flaunt that little personality to no end.  Today was different though.  Basically from the time Ellie showed up, she was fussy.  She didn't want me out of her sight for even a minute and when I left, she kind of went bonkers for a while.  My mom was unable to sit down for a second without screaming and her only recourse was to continually dip Ellie.  That's the only thing that could calm whatever vexed her.

This is not the dip you're looking for...

That's more like it!

Now, once I returned and fed her some lunch, all was fine.  She was willing to spend some time hanging out with each of my parents individually, as well as my grandma.  However, my dad quickly learned that things aren't always as they seem.  For shortly after I sat Ellie on my dad's chest, she looked at him, smiled and promptly vomited all over his flannel shirt.  My dad, flabbergasted, looks at Ellie, looks at me, and finally glances up at the ceiling as if to say "Why me?".  Now if I only I had a dollar for every time I had thought that phrase or something similar.  I'd have a whole bunch of dollars and that'd be cool.  #DaddyWrite

Day 101 - When Fatherhood and Baseball Intersect (#RIPAce)

Ellie and I have accumulated many a daily tradition during our time together.  There's the ever popular morning nap, the morning feeding, the afternoon nap, the afternoon feeding, and the late-afternoon (maybe) nap.  Interspersed in there too is ample play time and some walks during days with nice weather.  A relatively new item has been added to the agenda over the past month.  That item being the semi-daily car ride.  See, every so often, Ellie gets really upset and the only thing that calms her is a nice car ride.  It normally only lasts about a half hour or so in case you're curious.

This afternoon, when Ellie and I set out for our car ride, I found myself pulled in a different direction than we normally traverse.  I pointed the RAV-4 south on I-435 and found myself driving until I came to a stop in the parking lot of Kauffman Stadium.  Definitely not a normal destination for us unless we're heading to a Royals game.  However, I think quite a bit of Kansas City has joined me in a similar trip over the past 48 hours since Yordano Ventura's untimely death.  In the aftermath, the outside of the stadium has become a place of healing for many a fan as a memorial has been set up right outside the gates.  Fans are leaving cards, flowers, balloons, t-shirts, cap, and baseballs all to acknowledge their "Ace".  While I myself, didn't come bearing gifts (just a baby in tow), I more just wanted to take in the scene for myself and reflect a little.

See, like most Royals fans, I was saddened to hear the news.  However, it took me a little bit of time and processing to figure out why.  The obvious reasons were there.  I was sad as a fan that I would never have the opportunity to see Ventura pitch again.  Even more so, I was saddened that a fellow human being  (even one that I would never meet) had his life cut short in such a tragic way at such a young age.  As I continued to reflect, I found myself thinking back to the 2015 season that Yordano was a huge part of and how much it meant to me personally.

Obviously, as a lifelong Royals fan (and a long-suffering Kansas City sports fan), I was absolutely over-the-moon to see a team that I could call my own win an elusive championship.  For the first time in my life, sports had driven me to the point of tears.  It wasn't just #BecauseSports though.  Part of the reason why dated back to April of that year.  Bethany and I had the misfortune of losing our first child after trying for quite some time.  At the time, I felt like I couldn't mourn out of a desire to support my wife.  So support her I did and in an attempt to bury some of my own grief, I found myself following the Royals season super closely.  

One of my highlights every night included turning on the radio and listening to the closing innings of each Royals game.  I would even plan my schedule around those precious few games that would be televised locally.  We attended a season high (for me) 11 Royals games.  The majority of those games would be on Yordano's day to pitch.  I found him to simultaneously be the most intriguing and most frustrating player on the team to watch.  His skill and fiery attitude could propel him to great heights but he could often be his worst enemy.  We even saw him thrown out of games on more than one occasion for letting his emotions get the best of him.

As the season went along, the Royals found themselves with a stranglehold on their division and leading the race for best team in the American League.  Once they finally clinched, it was a foregone conclusion in my mind they would at least make it to the AL Championship series.  Sure it was really stressful at times but the team went back to the World Series and all the way to a Championship.  By the time the journey was over, I found myself emotionally exhausted, drained, and finally allowed myself to sit back and process the events of the year.  Hence the whole being driven to tears part.  Little did I know at the time of that run that Ellie would show up nine months later as one final bookend to that 2015 Royals season.

As I found myself standing outside "The K" today looking at the display of love outpouring for a man I would never meet, I found myself clutching my daughter just a little tighter and bowed my head.  I said a little prayer thanking God for my daughter and praying for Yordano, along with comfort for the rest of the team that I had come to love.  The two things cannot help but always be linked in my mind.  #ForeverRoyal  #DaddyWrite