Family Archives - Page 6 of 9

My bucket list

My bucket list consists largely of activities and experiences: most notably, travel. I once read (and completely agree) that the gifts people most treasure and recall are ones that involve experiences rather than material possessions. As such, I have shied away from giving material gifts, instead opting for experiential gifts.

It is for this reason that my bucket list also centers around experiences: a whole list of things that I want to do before I die. I really don’t care to own things, but I’d love to experience these things.

Doughnut revelations

In the past couple of weeks, my wife has had two major revelations about doughtnuts:

#1

I’ve just realised that doughnuts and bagels are the same, but different!

#2

What do you mean they don’t cut munchkins out of the middle of doughnuts? Of course they do!

She’s the best :)

Back to work

Tomorrow, I’m finally heading back to work. I’ve been off since the day she was born, so that’s about two and a half weeks now and I highly encourage fathers to do this.

This precious time is not only critical for bonding with your child and family as a whole, but it will strengthen your marriage, by helping one another out with the every day essentials and admiring one another in your newfound roles as mother and father.

I’ve been blessed to have been able to take off as much time as I have, and I would encourage anyone doing the same to truly leave work behind. Life will continue on without you and it’s so much better to leave it behind and not give it a second thought, as I have: I’m not even sure what I need to be doing tomorrow, which is an awesome place to be in.

I’m regretting having to go back (can’t someone just pay my salary and let me stay home with my family?), but it’s a necessary step. I’m just wondering how long I can hold out before I break down and FaceTime Ellie & Martina…

How to suck

After a bit of a break on Twitter lately, I happened to just jump on one morning and saw that @norcross had posted a link to an article entitled “How to Suck“, which intrigued me. I didn’t know if it was WordPress related, or personal, but I started to read.

Within the first few paragraphs, I was hooked, and despite it being a long article (10-15 minutes), I read the whole thing (usually, it’d be “tl;dr”).

The article really awakened me to how “sucky” I’ve become. It made me take a good hard look in the mirror and realised that if I met me, I probably wouldn’t like me.

I got a lot of conviction when I read the article. While I’ve improved in some of these areas (not intentionally, but as part of maturing), I’ve got worse in some others too.

It’s made me draw a line in the sand, and make a concerted effort to be a less-sucky person. I’ve been doing it for a few weeks now and I think it’s making a real difference. It’s not just one of those empty pie-in-the-sky ideas, but a commitment to be better.

So here’s to being a better human. Feel free to call me out if I’m ever being a dick. You won’t offend me.

1oz

Last night, while making margaritas for friends, Martina and me, I realised that we didn’t have anything to measure 1 ounce of triple sec etc. until I had a eureka moment and used one of Ellie’s food containers, which is graded at 1 and 2 ounces. #FTW!

A response from those who choose not to vaccinate their children

Martina and I have decided not to vaccinate Ellie after considerable research into the matter, and I was glad to see someone standing up in support of those who choose not to (or to selectively) vaccinate their children. Jessica Gianelloni discusses the fallacies in the arguments meant to intimidate or scare those who have made this decision. My favourite part is when she questions why parents of vaccinated children are so scared of non-vaccinated children being around them (since presumably they are immune to any disease that my child might be harbouring…).

I’m not one to push my decisions or theories on others, but I felt compelled to share this article, in light of some of the responses that we’ve seen to the mention of not vaccinating Ellie, including from our closest friends (who assume that we’ve taken this choice lightly [we spent hours researching and read unbiased books on the subject], are “miss-educated” [or miseducated – oh, the irony] and are doing it because we’re part of a hippy movement [not because we’re concerned for the welfare and health of our children]).

If you want to vaccinate your children, that’s fine – go nuts: you won’t hear me complaining. But don’t get on your soapbox and start bullying me into making the same decisions that you make.

And this is why I hate Target

This funny take on a woman’s trip to Target is exactly why I hate the existence of Target. My wife just can’t resist!

Enforcing our parenting decisions

Martina & I have chosen a fairly “atypical” upbringing for Ellie, and raising her means sticking to those decisions and enforcing them at every turn.

For example, we’ve decided that we’re going to raise her vegan: I’m ~~vegetarian (mostly vegan, and heading for strictly vegan)~~ now vegan, while Martina has been strictly vegan for a few years now. There will be difficult times, where we’re forced to hunt high and low for something appropriate for Ellie to eat, or she’ll be offered ice cream, or some other food that she’s just not allowed, and we’ll have to politely turn down the offer.

Aside from just eating vegan, we’re actively seeking healthy food choices, and organic foods wherever possible. After all, cookies, cakes and chocolate can be vegan too. So her access to sweets and treats is going to be severely limited. This is going to mean there will be some awkward situations for us and the inevitable “Oh, well why not?” from those used to plying their children with rocket fuel.

The life of a working parent

As a working parent, time is tight, so treating myself is sometimes as simple as a good glass of wine. My bedside table gives an insight into my life at the moment: toys here and there, and glasses of wine wherever I can enjoy one (even if that means while I’m in bed).

One of life’s greatest mysteries

One of the greatest mysteries in life is not how intricately formed a baby is in its mother’s womb, nor how they can take on a perfect blend of their parents’ features, but how they can eat the same white liquid day in and day out, and produce such a variety of waste products at the other end!