Happy.Father's.Day.

A great big HAPPY Father's Day to the other "M". This sweet and patient man who spent 6 years with me on the journey to parenthood deserves to be recognized on this day: as a great husband, a wonderful father, and an all around stand-up man. We all love you and hope you have a great day. Mwah!

xoxoxo,

Your Adoring Family

Shoulder Rides

Dear Finnley,

Tomorrow is Father's Day, and I love being your dad.
I love it when you ride on my shoulders, which I consider to be the great metaphor of a dad supporting his daughter in life.
I love hearing your tiny little voice say "daddy" or "dad."
I love it when you wave to me out the front door when I head off to work.
I love to see your face light up when I bring home donuts on a Saturday morning.
I hate it when you fall, but I love it when you get right back up and try again.
I love how you ask so many questions about things at this age as you learn about this life you lead.
I love it when you count, when you sing, when you dance, and when you are being just a silly little girl.
I love it that we share popcorn together.
I love that I am able to provide an environment where you have your mommy to look after you when I am away at work.
I love it when you look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself your're beautiful. I couldn't agree more.
I love hearing you laugh so hard you can barely get a sound out.

I am happy to be your dad on this and every Father's Day. And you know what? You can ride on my shoulders any day.

I love you,

Dad

Apple at the Doctor

Hello all! This is Matt making a rare guest post. Why? Because while we were on vacation my wife was finally able to test the limits of computing memory, and she killed her computer. Well not exactly killed it, but she pushed it to the brink. As in it ran out of memory. Really. So our little Apple is at the doctor right now where they are giving it an enema and performing a colonoscopy on it in hopes of freeing up some space. Once we get it back, Megan will post about our amazing vacation we had with great friends and family. In the meantime, here are some random thoughts running through my head:

Daughters are the best!

My wife is a great mommy to our daughter.

Dogs are people, too. I get this. Before I had a dog I didn't understand when people would tell me their dog was a member of their family. I now understand. I have been a father to a dog for 8 years now. The bond between a dog and its family is extraordinarily strong. He loves his sister, he loves his mommy, and he and I are best buddies. Only dogs truly love you unconditionally.

I am proud I have never been accused of being a hypocrite.

Be open minded. Trying new things or understanding a different point of view is healthy.

Be your own person.

Protect your kids. Protect their identity. If you haven't done so yet, buy their name on twitter, Facebook, and on .com.

Have no regrets. Sure, you can be sorry for things and wish you had handled them differently, but have no regrets.

I am honest. Like in a Howard Stern sort of way. Which is to say if you don't want to hear my views on something, don't ask me what I am thinking.

The truth can hurt, but it's far healthier than skirting the issues and sweeping them under the rug. Only truth allows one to move forward.

BONUS to having only one child.....we will never be accused of playing favorites with our kids. One = favorite.

I will support my wife and daughter with whatever they need to live a full and enriching life.

Give back. Pay forward.

Communicate.

If you can say something to someone else about me, you should be able to say it to me. If you can't then you shouldn't say it.

I love waking up, bouncing out of bed, and starting my day! I can't wait to see what comes my way.

If you are voting in this year's election just because of a stance on gay marriage, then you have no clue about what record debt means for this country. Personally, I think everyone should be able to marry whomever they want. More importantly, I think the government should stay out of marriage altogether. I need our leader to get our finances in order. If not, I hope all the recently married gay people enjoy a healthy dose of austerity. You already share assets when you marry. Now you will be sharing your assets with the government and with poor people who don't deserve a dime of what you have worked for and saved. It will be bad. Very bad.

I am heartbroken that we don't live closer to family so Finnley could grow up with her awesome grandparents and cousins.

Megan will be here soon with a new post from her healthy computer. And I will be starting my own blog in the near future. Until then, feel free to leave any comments you wish. I can take it. ;-)

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

My poor neglected blog. I do love it. I want to spend more time with it. It just isn't always easy. I am well-intentioned with poor execution, it seems. I have a lot going on and so much I could write about, but by the time I sit down at 9:30pm with a glass of red wine in my hand...the decompression mode wins over, and the motivation mode loses out.

Health-wise, I have seen better days. I have been struggling with a plethora of undiagnosed symptoms since February. I am functional, but many times I just muster my way through my days...trying to get beyond thinking maybe I am just crazy. I miss feeling good and being without pain and loopiness. I also miss just feeling like "me" instead of the new normal, which is pretty much living under a mysterious cloud of random odd-feelings and sensations. But, who doesn't have issues, right? So, until I see the neurologist at the end of June for a consult, all of that is just what it is.

Finnley has really come into her own as far as being independent and defiant. Tantrums reach defcon-10 without much warning. We are all trying to learn how to cope with these firestorms with little scarring. So far, mostly good. Ah, she is pure spitfire that one. Wallflower with an attitude. Could be worse, I suppose! Better to be passionate than a boring bump on a log.

And, almost every day is still filled with enough funny moments to more than outweigh the trying ones. One day I will have more gumption to speak on some of the less fine moments of meltdowns, but I will save that for a non-holiday weekend. For now, I just want to enjoy. Plus, in less than one week we will be more than engrossed in full-on-Outer-Banksdom so that hopefully those seeing-red toddler tantrum moments of late will seem a bit more humorous than they have right in the heat of it all. Beach vacations are good for cleansing the soul. And for drinking...which, now that I think of it is probably HOW the soul gets cleansed.

For today, I will leave you with my favorite "Finnley Funny". In asking my sweet girl if she needed to go potty, her response was:
"No, I don't need to go potty. I went potty yesterday.".

Well, all righty then...

An Overview.

My daughter:

• loves to watch movies
• thinks the dog is her brother (as she should, because he is, and that is what we have always told her)
• says things like, "oh, my...THAT is ADORABLE!"
• has a tween like attitude housed in a pint sized body
• sometimes believes that she is (or pretends to be) Strawberry Shortcake
• laughs a lot
• makes some horrendously inappropriate decisions at least a couple of times a week
• lightly slaps me in the face now and again thinking she is charming or funny (of which she is neither)
• uses the potty regularly, consistently, and happily
• has one of the best smiles on the planet
• is learning to pose for pictures
• recently discovered the term "best friend" and has even used it to describe me, you know, her MOM
• thinks her daddy is a super hero
• is both an extrovert and a wall flower
• has decided that most food is stupid, save mostly for ham, mac and cheese, cereal, fruit, toast, turkey hot dogs, popcorn, and chicken in some random breaded form
• is as skinny as she is tall
• has recently thrown such massive tantrums that I may or may not have threatened to leave her on the side of the road / let strangers take her home / or never let her leave the house again
• continues to get smarter by the day
• still sounds like she is swearing when she says the words truck and chocolate
• excels at toddler gymnastics
• is lucky she is so freaking cute for most of the above-metioned reasons

Regardless of what Finnley is or isn't at any given second, we still make the most of our time together and try to make as many good memories as we can possibly cram into any given week.  Sometimes that means going out on adventures.  Other times it means having a day in to do chores and cuddle up to watch movies together as buddies.  I know that she won't remember the majority of things that we do together at this point.  But I will.  And, I also believe that all of these little moments will assist in shaping who my daughter will be in the future.  I want to provide her with the best chance of being the best her that she can be...whatever it is she dreams up for herself for her future.  I'd like to think that we have had a pretty good start.  

This week's memory building consisted of more beach outings, chalk drawings, running around, movie-watching, the avoidance of sick people, playground meetings, stranger watching, picnics, playtime with friends, sidewalk walking, and one Mom's Night Out.  Here is a peek at a bit of it that was captured on film:

Chalk It Up!

Most of the day yesterday was clouded over and dampened with periods of rain. Late in the day, though, the clouds parted and the sun broke brilliantly through. In keeping with our desire to have fun outdoors, Finnley and I headed out before dinner to play with some sidewalk chalk. We drew circles, and triangles, and stars. We drew with red, green, blue, purple, yellow, and orange. We also drew whole bunches of random nothingness. I think that is Finnley's favorite.

And after all of that, mommy drew some special scenes and asked Finnley to pose. My growing-up-so-fast-big-little-girl complied with surprising gusto. She was not only willing to lay down where I asked her to, but she was HAPPY to do it. She is really starting to understand what mommy does with the camera, and that makes it easier to be creative on a whim. Oh the fun we had! I think I see a lot of more interesting photography in our future now that I have a willing and pliable model!



Thanks for being such a good sport and an amazing little person, Finnley. Mommy sure does love you!

Spring Days

The weather is all over the map these days. Typical capricious springtime. So, we are all over the map these days, too. Our days all flex on the weather's plan, and we are ok with that. Some days call for indoor activities. Some days happily whisk us outside.

And, oh how we love the outside!

One of the last cool but sunny and beautiful days thrust us into first time lessons in blowing bubbles and cloud watching.



Finnley was (not so surprisingly) a natural at both. The girl is just in her element outside. That makes me happy. No one wants a kid who prefers to sit around on a couch all day. At least they shouldn't!



In addition to blowing the most grand rainbow-reflecting bubbles and witnessing the passing of several families of fluffy white clouds, Finnley took it upon herself to taste the grass, too. Hey, why not? It is there for the picking. She seemed to like it just fine, so who am I to argue?



My girl makes the most simple of new experiences seem like a monumental delight, so I really love days filled with "firsts". Good thing that there are so many of them still to come!

A Cookie to Celebrate!

I guess that is kind of an overgeneralized and completely underwhelming statement. After all, aren't all cookies worthy of celebration for the most part? I certainly think so! Regardless, these little cookies make me happy happy. I like all things sweet, but I have a strange and strong affinity for those mall bought cookie / frosting sandwiches. They have always been my personal "kryptonite", even if they do leave me feeling giddily sick in the end.



Yesterday was a rainy cool day here, and I was sitting around trying to think of what I could bake up given the limited fixings that I had in my baking cabinet. No chocolate chips. No marshmallow fluff. No brownie mixes to play with. And, then my mind conjured up sweet memories of those mall sandwich cookies...and I got to recipe creating!

So, here you are. My rainy day sugar cookie-wich recipe which is sure to please!



Rainbow Sprinkle Sugar Cookie-wiches 
(with vanilla buttercream filling)


cookie ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 stick (1/2 cup) Crisco
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon almond flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla (I admittedly substituted sugar free vanilla syrup for coffee / lattes)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
2 1/2 cups white unbleached flour
1/3 cup rainbow sprinkles


frosting ingredients:
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon half and half
1 - 3 tablespoons skim milk
1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring (I admittedly again substituted with sugar free vanilla syrup)
1/2 bag (approximately 3 to 4 cups) of powdered sugar


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  By hand, or with an electric mixer, beat together the butter and Crisco.  (Tip:  If you don't have the butter softened yet, microwave it for 30 to 40 seconds on a 50% power level.  Works great!)  Add in the brown sugar and granulated sugar.  Add the eggs and almond and vanilla flavorings and beat until fluffy and creamy.  Add in part of the flour, then the baking soda and salt, and follow with the rest of the flour.  Mix until blended.  Add the rainbow sprinkles.

Drop by rounded tablespoon size onto un-greased cookie sheets.  (You can sort of shape each drop into a sort of ball if you prefer.  I did!)  Bake for approximately nine minutes, when just the edges are turning a nice solid golden brown.  (If you bake the cookies too long, they will be more crisp than soft.)  Cool on cookie sheets for 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to cooling rack. Let cookies cool completely. 

Makes approximately 30 to 36 cookies (or 15 to 18 cookie-wiches), depending on how much batter you "test" during the mixing / baking process.  

While cookies cool, prepare the frosting.  First beat together the butter and about 1/4 of the powdered sugar.  Add in the vanilla and half and half.  Mix in 1/2 the remaining powdered sugar.  Add one to two tablespoons of milk.  Beat until creamy.  Mix in the rest of the powdered sugar.   If your frosting is too thick, add a bit more skim milk.  If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar.  There is no real science to making frosting like this...just mix until the wet and dry ingredients until you have the desired consistency. 

Once cookies are completely cooled, take spoonfuls of frosting and spread on the bottom of one cookie.  Top with another cookie, and you have your completed cookie-wich!

Judgement Day

Fridays in this house can sometimes be judgement days. When the end of the week finally rolls around, all I have to do is look at the floor to see what can of week we have had. If the floor is pristine and free of dust-bunnies, then chances are that we have had a low-key week. Perhaps it rained. Or maybe we were sick. Then again, maybe I was just in a cleaning sort of mood and had some extra time on my hands.

If the big day rolls around, though, and my floors look like....THIS:



Then? Well, THEN chances are we had a seriously awesome week filled with adventures, outings, and lots of quality girl time. And, this is exactly what my floor looked like this past Friday. The weather was too nice to hang out at the house or to sit inside, so we didn't. We did the usual routine by hitting gymnastics class and story times, but we also took about the nicest day this planet has ever seen to ride out to Sea Isle City and spend a day at the Jersey shore.

This was our second beach outing of the year, and it isn't even May. Craziness! Of course, with my dislike of crowds (especially those walking elbow to elbow on the boardwalk or those packed tightly like sardines baking on the beach in the dead of the scorching hot summer), I can't imagine heading that out way between the months of May and September. But, random summer like days in the early part of Spring? I will happily spend those days alone or with friends at the nearly abandoned Atlantic coast beaches of our beloved Garden State.




Last year at this same time (and for the entire summer season), Finnley had a love-hate relationship with the beaches. She loved splashing in the ocean, but she truly despised the fact that it took walking in SAND to get to her water playground. She also quickly bored of the whole scene. Ah, what a difference a year makes. That same girl now loves to RUN, DIG, and PLAY in the sand. She also loves to splash in the water and chase the rolling tides. She jumps on algae covered rocks jutting out of the salt water, throws rocks and shells, and explores every inch of her surroundings. What a joy it is to follow her around giving close to zero direction as to how she can invent even more moments of fun.

The beautiful weather lasted through Saturday, and that meant some time out in the yard helping daddy with the chores followed up by a pirate birthday party with friends in the late afternoon. I think Finnley thought mowing the grass while riding on daddy's shoulders was just as much fun as the birthday party. Not that birthday parties aren't cool...Finnley just really likes time with her dad.




One thing we all know, Spring is quite fickle. And, just like Fridays are a sort of judgement day...Mondays are often pretty much a bitter dose of face-smacking reality. This Monday has been exactly that, first off with a total reversal of weather. It has been rainy, windy, and cool. Fiftyish degrees sort of cool. The day has consisted of routines and the running of errands. It has also involved some whining and a bit of messy wet poop on a bathroom rug (you can ask Finnley about that one). To top it off, I will be spending the 9pm hour having a MRI of my cervical spine completed. Now, if all that doesn't just SCREAM "Monday", I don't know what does.

Oh well. Not every day can be Friday-awesome. We'll take them all, though. Where would any of us be without a system of checks and balances after all?