parenting

1 Comment Posted on February 27, 2015 new house, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: The 4th Week Of Living In Our New House

4 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

We’re just about fully moved in by now. We’re still waiting on our living room couch, though. It’s been delayed a total of 7 weeks now, due to it being such a popular piece of furniture. Actually, it was out of stock the day we bought it. Today I was able to convince the store to ship to us for free. It worked!

Still have to wait another month for it to get here, though.

In the meantime, the matching chair has been waiting in our living room for its counterpart. In fact, Mommy did a really cool job of having your “growing up” pictures. She created an abstract heart shape. It looks really neat.

Mommy didn’t even mean to; it just ended up that way. I think it’s very appropriate, though. In the middle is a sign that reads, “All because two people fell in love.”

With it is very true, it’s also reference to a Brad Paisley song from the first CD Mommy ever bought me.

This has been the week of getting all of photo frames off the floor and onto the walls. Therefore, this is the first week we’ve been in our new house where you’ve actually been able to run around like a little boy is supposed to do.

It wasn’t a surprise to me that you insisted on taking me upstairs so I could help you dress up in your superhero costume that your friend Madison got you for your birthday.

We snuck down stairs so you could surprise Mommy, who was in the middle of making dinner.

You darted from the living room to the kitchen no less than 17 times before dinner time.

Afterwards, we made vegan cookies for the first time in our new house.

Meanwhile at your new school, Rainbow Child Care Center, your teacher Ms. Aimee bought a new gecko!

Here’s what she told me about your interactions with it this week:

Jack wanted to make a boat out of cardboard. He worked very hard to cut different shapes out of the cardboard, tape, and construct his boat. He also got to hold our new Crested Gecko! He giggled as the gecko climbed up due to his Velcro like feet. Jack is an absolute joy having in my class. I’m excited to see how he grows throughout the year!

Our new life is quite enjoyable. Mommy and I were just talking last night about what an uphill journey the past couple of years have been for us. We were new to being parents, while working hard to get out of debt and find a bigger house.

We’re there now. Now we can take a minute to breathe… and focus our attention other things we have formerly had to put on the backburner.

In fact, I’m working on something right now that, if it turns out, could be really good for our family. We’ll see how that works out, in a few weeks or months…

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on February 19, 2015 new house, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: The 3rd Week Of Living In Our New House (Snowed In!)

4 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

We are in the middle of a snow storm; the kind that hits the South pretty hard about once a decade. While Mommy is able to work from home this week, I have no choice but to take vacation days.

In the attempt to drive to work, my car got stuck in the ice and snow. As soon as I pulled out of the driveway, I was unable to drive forward. I had no choice but to let me car back down further into our cul-de-sac.

There’s just no way around it: We’re snowed in.

I admit, this event has inspired Mommy and me to seriously consider making one of our next vehicles (whenever that time comes, down the road) a Toyota Tacoma with 4 wheel drive.

Not only have I always romanticized about them, the Toyota Tacoma is my favorite vehicle I have ever reviewed, which I di back nearly a year ago:

See Family Friendly Car Review: 2014 Tacoma Double Cab 4X4 V6.

While the main roads have been driveable, it’s been literally impossible to escape our neighborhood, which you have to drive through two others just to get to.

I suppose your current favorite Netflix show, The Octonauts, has taught you a lot about animals. So it’s no surprise that you decided to build a bird’s nest, using “snow eggs.”

While it definitely feels strange to not be working right now (and obviously your school is closed), it is nice to be able to appreciate this sort of forced week off with you and Mommy.

Right before the storm hit, we found the perfect small couch/love seat for our bonus room upstairs. We were able to buy the floor model, which gave us nearly a 50% discount.

The only problem was getting it home. I drove my Honda Element separately, and with the front seats up as far as they would go, I was able to awkwardly squeeze in for the most uncomfortable 30 minute drive of my life.

It’s fun to see each room of our house coming together.

Hopefully the rain and above-freezing temperatures this weekend will allow us to live our normal lives again next week.

As for now, you sure are enjoying this winter wonderland!

Love,

Daddy

1 Comment Posted on February 19, 2015 Nostalgia, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Our Valentine’s Day Weekend 2015

4 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

Last Friday, you celebrated Valentine’s Day with your new friends at Rainbow Child Care Center.

You gave Transformers Valentines to your friends this year. I have to laugh at the thought of one alien robot expressing affection to another alien robot…

Your teacher Ms. Aimee set up a very special Valentine’s photo booth for you and your friends. From what I can see in these pictures you took with Mommy, it looks like you had a lot of fun.

Then on Saturday, which actually was Valentine’s Day, our family went back to Mellow Mushroom for a special family dinner.

When we first arrived there in downtown Franklin, you wanted to check out the animals in the toy crane machines. Amazingly, we found a honey badger! (Just earlier I had introduced you to honey badgers, thanks to a PBS documentary on Netflix.)

While we waited for our food, you enjoyed figuring out how to use your new Spiderman binoculars which you received from a new friend at your new school.

It also was a pretty big deal to you once you realized that you got to keep your Mellow Mushroom cup that your water came in with your kids’ meal.

You’ve proudly been drinking out of it every night for dinner since then.

We finished off the weekend with some fun pastas we found while buying our new sofa at World Market. By combining Valentine pasta and Space pasta, we accidentally ate a lunch that compliments one of our new signs for our house:

Love you to the moon and back!

It was a very fun, family Valentine’s Day weekend for us. Mommy and I even got you a new animal, Slush; as well as a little Lego train which you quickly built without any of my help.

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on February 12, 2015 new house, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Your 1st Week At Your New Preschool- Rainbow Child Care Center

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

Before Christmas, I wrote to you about how we were deciding between Primrose Schools and Rainbow Child Care Center as the top two contenders for the new school to put you in; for our move from Nashville to Spring Hill.

While both preschools are magnificent and I would personally highly recommend either one, the preschool we went with was…

Rainbow Child Care Center!

When Mommy took you there to visit the first time back in December, you were eager to explore the classroom and get involved right away.

I was personally impressed that they have their very own gym in the middle of the school where you get to play twice each day; except for when it’s nice enough to play outside on the playground.

And of course, I appreciate how accommodating they are to you being a vegetarian. While you are the only vegetarian student in the whole school, both your teacher and the school director are vegetarians.

Something we are not used to is that we now are handed a personalized meal schedule for each week. I like that.

I am happy to see that you haven’t been nervous at all this week as we’ve been walking into Rainbow Child Care Center each morning.

So I can tell you enjoy being there, even though it’s a completely new environment for you.

On Monday, your very first day, your teacher let you feed two crickets to the pet frog. That was a cool new experience for you!

And last weekend we officially realized something else about your new school: It’s literally directly behind our new house! We can look out our dining room window, or the upstairs bedrooms, and see the roof of your school!

Granted, until the neighborhood behind our backyard is built, there won’t be a road directly connecting our house to your school.

Still, it’s a cool thought that your new school is visible from our house; and it’s just a 5 minute drive.

Not to mention, I love the fact that we now have a garage to pull out of in the mornings. No more having to worry about frost on the windows or it being cold in the car.

We love our new house! And moving in is what it took to get you all set up with your new school.

Of course, you’re going to like Rainbow Child Care Center and I imagine lots of fun stories taking place there in months to come.

Love,

Daddy

1 Comment Posted on February 12, 2015February 12, 2015 infographic, new house, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

This past week was very special because not only did Nonna and Papa (my parents) come back in town to help us move in, but so did Grandma (Mommy’s mother)… she flew in from Sacramento!

You helped Papa and I build a 2 person desk for our office. (I’m sitting on it now as I write this.) Something we are learning about things we bought for our house (like the Roman Shades and your bed we finished last week, as well as this desk) is that they look awesome once you work your way to the finished product…

But getting there is quite a task. That’s what happens when you buy stuff cheap from China. It’s basically the equivalent of a Lego set.

Yes, we bought a desk; in theory. But in reality, we purchased all the pieces necessary to build it completely ourselves. Over two days, it took us a total of about 4 and a half hours.