Not much happening this evening. Heather was tired and decided to crash a little early tonight. Isla has been asleep for a few hours. And the cheese stands alone (with the exception of a whiny dog). Just decided to jump on here and fiddle with the layout/background/etc. I originally created this blog with the anticipation that I would instantly have 300K followers and monetize the blog so I could quit my job and just be a stay-at-home dad. I think after the second day and having only one follower (myself....and that was an accident- not sure how you're able to *follow* yourself), I pretty much gave up on keeping up with the blog. I have now found a renewed sense focus that will keep me going (hopefully) and it's something that's very important to me- my daughter. <---so now that I've written that, I'd feel horrible if I didn't keep up with the blog.
So the layout...I decided that with all of the little "gadgets" that you have to put on your page in order to "monetize" it, it looked really ugly. I like the clean look of some of the blogs that I've come across and I think I like the non-commercialized look a little better. I'm sure I'll still play around with the background until I find something I truly love, but this will do for now. I have so much that I'd like to post, but I think I first need to sit down and figure out some sort of time line so my posts have at least a slight semblance of continuity. Feel free to leave a comment on what websites you thought were helpful in putting together your blog....and on a side not, I think I make one helluva lasagna.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Trying to keep up...
I told myself that I would do my best to try to keep up with this blog. As my wife put it, it's going to be a record for our daughter and I don't want it to be a patchwork of memories. I am hoping that this will be somewhat continuous and flow easily (although I can't promise anything).
While I have to admit that there were some frustrating times after Isla was born, I think that was due more to a lack of sleep than Isla crying or being fussy. She is actually one of the most content little babies that I have ever seen. It was hard at first to get any real sleep, but Heather and I eventually figured out a schedule where I would get up during the night so she could sleep, and then after Heather left for work, I would get to crash for a few hours. Most of the time, with eyes barely open, I would make my way to Isla's room in the middle of the night (getting through our obstacle course in the apartment was a task in itself), feed her and rock her to sleep. Easy enough. It was the few nights in between all of the easy ones that would make it frustrating. It seemed that no matter what I tried, Isla would wriggle and squirm and cry. I didn't do anything different from any other night, so how could I be doing something wrong?
{such a sweet little girl}
It wasn't until at least several weeks after Isla was born that I had my "Ah-ha!" moment. After feeding Isla one night and doing my best to rock and sing every lullaby under the sun, Isla began her ritual of doing her best to break free. I have always been afraid of both letting her slip out of my arms and squeezing to tight, but when she attempted to escape, I held her a little more firmly and it seemed to calm her down. I couldn't believe something worked! I felt like I had to hold my breath and not make any sudden movements....it took all of five minutes to get her back to sleep from that point. And from that night on, I was the self-proclaimed master of getting our daughter back to sleep. And if you were to ask me what my favorite item is that we got for Isla, I wouldn't hesitate to say "The Sleep Sack!". It's an easy choice when, at 13 weeks, she's sleeping about 10 hours straight during the night.
It wasn't until at least several weeks after Isla was born that I had my "Ah-ha!" moment. After feeding Isla one night and doing my best to rock and sing every lullaby under the sun, Isla began her ritual of doing her best to break free. I have always been afraid of both letting her slip out of my arms and squeezing to tight, but when she attempted to escape, I held her a little more firmly and it seemed to calm her down. I couldn't believe something worked! I felt like I had to hold my breath and not make any sudden movements....it took all of five minutes to get her back to sleep from that point. And from that night on, I was the self-proclaimed master of getting our daughter back to sleep. And if you were to ask me what my favorite item is that we got for Isla, I wouldn't hesitate to say "The Sleep Sack!". It's an easy choice when, at 13 weeks, she's sleeping about 10 hours straight during the night.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Ms. Isla Mae
My wife (Heather) and I went back and forth trying to decide on a name for our little angel. Throughout the pregnancy, I had in the back of my mind that she would either end up as "Ella Lou" or "Louella". We had had countless discussions about how much we both loved the name "Ella". But it seemed that as the closer we got to our due date, the more and more we discovered that "Ella" was quite a popular name. The name seemed to climb the "Most Popular Names" list faster than I can forget what my wife just told me to do. We were just glad, for the moment, that we weren't having a boy, because we had put about 0.003% of our combined brain power into coming up with a boys name. We wanted to give our daughter a unique name, and "Ella" was becoming less and less *unique* with each day that passed. While it was still on our short list, we both started to feel that we needed to find another name (it was sad to let Ella go).
I don't remember the exact day that it occurred, all that I remember is that I thought of the name :) While she is not named after the actress, I had always loved Isla Fisher's name. I liked how it was spelled and how it was pronounced. It wasn't until after Isla was born that my mom (through her genealogy prowess), found that my great great grandfather was from Scotland, and more precisely, from the island off the coast of Scotland, aptly named "Isla". So as much as I'd like to say "yes, 'Isla' is of historical significance to my family and that is how we decided on her name"....nope, it was the actress from "Wedding Crashers". There ya go, sweetie...a great story for the grandchildren. Heather asked me the other day if our daughter looked like an "Isla", and when she was first born, I wasn't sure. Now I couldn't imagine her with any other name. She is our sweet Isla Mae.
(such a doll)
I don't remember the exact day that it occurred, all that I remember is that I thought of the name :) While she is not named after the actress, I had always loved Isla Fisher's name. I liked how it was spelled and how it was pronounced. It wasn't until after Isla was born that my mom (through her genealogy prowess), found that my great great grandfather was from Scotland, and more precisely, from the island off the coast of Scotland, aptly named "Isla". So as much as I'd like to say "yes, 'Isla' is of historical significance to my family and that is how we decided on her name"....nope, it was the actress from "Wedding Crashers". There ya go, sweetie...a great story for the grandchildren. Heather asked me the other day if our daughter looked like an "Isla", and when she was first born, I wasn't sure. Now I couldn't imagine her with any other name. She is our sweet Isla Mae.
Punkerdoodles
My wife had the incredible idea to start a blog about being pregnant and all of the ups and downs that come along with it. It was not only so we could remember what we did and how we felt during those times, but also so our daughter could have a scrapbook of memories from us so she knew how very much we love her. So this is where my blog makes a turn from PA school (which I still plan on doing), to my daughter and how she has turned our lives upside down (for the good, of course!).
"Punkerdoodles"....no, I don't know where it came from. I just opened my mouth one day while holding Isla and out it came. My first reaction was "what did I just call you?". I easily amuse myself, so after a few more times of calling her Punkerdoodles and laugh to myself, it stuck. As I'm sure it would be so much fun to yell out "Hey Punkerdoodles! Over here, Punkerdoodles!" when she walks out of school with all of her friends, it'll probably just be our thing and I hope that it lasts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)