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December 13

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS DAD’S

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, Daddy Blogger Challenge, Events, Kris Kringle Advent Calendar Challenge 2012, The Baby Years, Thoughts, Tips
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13
DEC

When the NorthPole’s Dirty Dozen conjured the lyrics to the 12 Days of Christmas, how little did they realise that years later, that idea would be pilfered by a group of Dad’s from Downunder.

In the style of the traditional Advent Calendar, for the next 12 days of Christmas, twelve Daddy Bloggers will be posting the answers to life, the universe and everything, as asked by YOU. (Well, maybe not YOU specifically, but possibly someone who looks very much a lot like you…but smells different, or drives a similar car).

There will be one post from each Daddy on each day and with this lineup…

BIG FAMILY little income, Illiterate Infant, Being a Dad, TackleNappy, Torkona, daddownunder, Reservoir Dad, Melbourne Dad, 40YrOldDad, 3am Dad

You could be left wondering…just how secure is our future? (more…)
November 22

CHILD REVIVE FIRST AID

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, Events, The Baby Years, Tips
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22
NOV

My lovely wife is always full of great ideas, the first being, marrying me. A while ago, she did a First Aid Course for Kids at work and because she’s always thinking of me (another thing we have in common), she thought I too, could benefit from learning such things, seeing as I will be the stay-at-home dad, next year. And being the caring, responsible, lovely person she is, she thought her whole Mother’s Group could benefit as well. So, a couple days ago, she organised a Baby/Child First Aid course for us all, conducted by Chantelle from Child Revive First Aid.

Thank you to Meghan, for hosting the event and for having a living room large enough to look like a school bus exploded. (more…)
October 13

THE LONE RANGER

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, The Baby Years, Thoughts, Tips
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13
OCT

“A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty “Hi Ho Silver, Away!”

It’s amazing how much easier it is to sleep without all the usual gurgling, farting, snorting, cooing, squeaking, squawking that normally goes on of an evening. And now that Indy’s in his own room at the other end of the house…he shouldn’t be able to hear any of it!

That’s right, Indy has saddled up his trusty steed and headed out west to the open pastures of his Big Boy Cot on the sweeping plains (or at least, some light vacuuming), of his very own room. And although he’s still sleeping for about the same length of time (every 3-4 hours), it has improved the quality of sleep, somewhat.

Not his…ours.

And in the few minutes of actual sleep that we do get, it seems to be a much deeper sleep. Which is why my wife sounds like Barry White…(and I sleep with one eye open). (more…)
September 6

TEARS OF A CLOWN

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, The Baby Years, Thoughts, Tips
2 Comments

6
SEP

The moment all Dad’s dread has finally reared it’s head…

Falling face-first into an old Egyptian tomb and coming eye-to-eye with a deadly cobra!

That is, if YOU are Indiana Jones and the deadly cobra is…

Taking care of the baby…ON YOUR OWN!

WHAAAT???

Okay, time to put everything you learned from reading those “How to look after a tiny person that isn’t yourself” type books, into practice. (Is now a good time to reveal I was actually reading comic books disguised in a Baby Book dust jacket?) Books I didn’t read like Rich Dad Poor Dad, which I assume is all about life before and after having kids. How to Alienate Friends and Exclude People by Dale Carnegie and his followup book, For One Second Can We Talk About Something Other Than The Baby? And not to be outdone, today’s current best seller…Fifty Shades of Brown. (more…)
September 2

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, The Baby Years, Thoughts, Tips
2 Comments

2
SEP

When was the last time you saw a baby in a pram on the escalator stairs of a multi-level shopping centre? Never? Me either. Yet, there’s babies in prams on every level. How did they get there? WHAT’S GOING ON???

I have a couple theories. Maybe the shop owners on the upper levels live their entire lives trapped on their particular level. Kind of like Tom Hanks in that airport movie or Carrie-Anne’s Poltergeist trapped in its dimension and unable to move on into the light. As generations pass, they meet and interbreed with other shop owners on their floor, have babies and the cycle continues. Which explains why there are always food courts, supermarkets and bathroom facilities on every level.

Or perhaps multi-level shopping centres are located on mysterious ley lines that criss-cross the earth and have access to inter dimensional wormholes that enable parents with prams to mysteriously travel between floors, completely undetected. Or prams somehow have the ability to materialize from floor-to-floor somewhat akin to the blue Police Box TARDIS from Doctor Who?

Believe it or not, the real answer is not that far removed from those theories. (more…)
August 17

STICK IT TO THE MAN

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, The Baby Years, Tips
3 Comments

17
AUG

OMG! Has it been six weeks already?

My, how time does fly. Where’s a Delorean when you need one?

And just as Doc Brown from Back To The Future said, “Once this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious shit,”. So it is for us, that our baby has hit 6 weeks (see 88m/hr), and the serious shit (see ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch), is of course…

Immunization

How can one little prick cause so much upset? (See Adolf Hitler, Obama Bin Laden, Colton from Survivor)

Or, so we thought…

Mums definitely have two distinct calming advantages when it comes to soothing away your troubles…

“They’re called boobs, Ed.” – Erin Brockovich

Boobs are an incredibly effective means of numbing any pain a man (big or little), might have. You can see it instantly, the very moment he snuggles in, latches on and suddenly… (more…)
August 13

BREAST FEEDS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, Breast Feeding, The Baby Years, Tips
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13
AUG

Previously…in an earlier post, LOST VS Schnitzel, because Indy was taking sooo long to arrive, I ended with the comment…

…just cut to the end already!!

In actual fact, that is EXACTLY what they did.

The frustrating thing about having a cesarian (besides being opened up and gutted like a fish and incessantly “shooing off” circling Japanese Whale boats), is that, breast milk takes way longer to come in than Kirsty Alley running an Olympic marathon.

Which means our little man wasn’t getting as much milk as he could the traditional way and he lost more than 10% of his birth weight. I know that sounds awesome to Kirtsy Alley, but not so good for babies.

So, we had to give our little bloke formula and/or breast milk “top-ups” to ensure he was getting enough sustenance to keep his weight up. Problem is, that means pumping milk, mixing bottles and washing, boiling and sterilising ’til the cows come home.

(See my earlier post: It All Boils Down To This).

Enter, the Lactation Specialist to our rescue (“Come wit me if you vant to live!”), who provided us with a new approach to top-up feeding. (more…)
August 5

ROAD TRIP

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, The Baby Years, Tips
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5
AUG

Packing the car for Indy’s very first road trip to visit my family in the country, I’m struck by an astonishing realization.

How is it that someone so small requires so many things? We used to have only one suitcase in the back of the boot, but now, there’s a pram, two bassinets, nappy bags, blankets, car seats, clothes, spare clothes and did I mention…more clothes?

You quickly learn that babies require a bigger wardrobe change than Lady Gaga. Not because of artistic choices due to their imagination, but by necessity, due to the amount of baby-chuck that tends to spontaneously adorn their freshly changed clean clothes, like a random Pro Hart painting or a hapless Spiderman victim. (more…)
July 31

SECRET MAN’S BUSINESS

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, The Baby Years, Tips
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31
JUL

If you’ve ever been a dad (new or old), there’s always an area of slight embarrassment that you just don’t like to talk about. Where fingers rudely point and jeering smirks snigger behind your back. Where angst crawls up inside your gut and somersaults when you walk into a mother’s group.

That’s when you hear the phrase that pricks up the hairs on the back of your neck and your genitals shrivel up like shrinky dinks. You know the one…

“Nice bag…Dad“

If there was ever a type of bag that makes a man look genuinely effeminate (barring of course, the notorious “purse” or “handbag”), it is of course…

The Nappy Bag

Enter DadGear.com. A company formed by two dad’s specializing in gear that’s guaranteed to put Stallone back into testosterone when you’re out’n’about caring for your little man.

(more…)
July 11

BATH TIME

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, Dad Mishaps, The Baby Years, Thoughts, Tips
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11
JUL

There’s something very spiritual about holding your newborn son in the palm of your hands and watching him melt between your fingers, like a Kit-Kat on a sunny day, as you wash the warm sudsy water across his tiny soapy body. That spiritual bond I felt when his eyes first opened, embraced me again like a soft warm blanket thrown lovingly round my shoulders.

He looks into my eyes as if to say…

“This is the greatest thing I’ve experienced on tour, so far.”

And the feeling is mutual.

This is definitely a “Daddy Moment”. Caring and nurturing the most precious life in your hands, and he places complete love and trust in yours.

And that unspeakable bond has taught myself an incredibly valuable lesson…

Dad Mishap #2…

When you’re washing your son’s little bottom in the bath, if his bottom is OUT of the water…
it means…his head is definitely IN it.

And when I say, unspeakable…I mean, (let’s never speak of this incident, ever again…ever). (more…)