Will's expressions of love

Our oldest child will be 3 years old this week.  He's at the age where he's coming up with his own thoughts, stories and just hilarious sayings.  He tells us stories about his day that include things that actually happened and then things that happened in his imagination.  It's pretty funny once you get him going.  He also has interesting ways of showing that he loves us.  Sometimes, his simple expressions of love will come while we are just sitting on the couch and he'll ask if we will hold his hand, or put our hand on his tummy.  

This morning, after I had been up with our 6 month old for 2 hours trying to get her back to sleep, I finally got back into bed.  I had only been there for just a minute when around 5:45am Will came upstairs from his room to our bed with me.  By then, my wife had been at work for a couple of hours, so I didn't mind him coming into bed with me.  We laid there, and I asked him if we could sleep a little longer.  He said yes, but asked if I would hold his hand.  I have to admit, it was very cute, and when I pulled my hand away for a second to scratch my face, he ordered my hand back. 

Eventually, he fell back asleep, changed positions and ended up with his bum in my face. 

Then he farted.

Yes, these are Will's expressions of love.

A new direction

Lately there seems to be a trend of blogs getting a lot of "viral" attention these days.  Mainly these blogs are written by women, listing reasons motherhood is hard yet rewarding, or how to be better in their marital relationships.  Trust me, I've read them all.  They have amazing advice, and there is very good insight into many different subjects of life.  I'm not entirely sure why I'm drawn to reading these blogs - perhaps it's the fact that I'm a sucker for lists of any kind - but I end up reading a lot of them.  And while I am reading all of these blogs, there is something that has really stuck out to me.

Women are writing the majority of these blogs on parenting and marriage but men aren't.

I'm sure there are good reasons for this.  I know there are men who write blogs on parenting and some on marriage.  They exist.  They just aren't getting much exposure. 

As I was reading another viral blog today on parenting, titled "15 Things Experienced Moms Really Want To Say To New Moms" I thought to myself, "Where is a dude's perspective on something like this?" (I really said that out loud to myself.) I immediately took to Twitter and said I was going to start a similar blog from a male's side of parenting.  

I'm not looking to be some big time blogger.  I'm not looking to go "viral".  I'm not professing to be the world's best father or husband by any means.  I'm even having an internal struggle even typing the thoughts in my head about parenting and marriage in a blog form.

I just think there are thoughts, ideas, and advice that could come in handy from a male perspective, and as I searched around the internet for advice on a sick 6 month old these past 2 weeks, I found the only places that I was reading information from was from moms.  Believe me, as a married husband who turns into a single father after 7:30pm every night (that story coming in a future post) I rely heavily on those blogs and advice from other moms out there.  Their advice is golden and it's helped me immensely.  That being said, I do know that I'm not the only guy out there looking for advice on parenting from another guy.  

So my purpose in this post today is to say, I'm going to give it a shot.  I'm going to write about being a "hands on" dad and a good husband. As I get more into this, I'm going to try to have better content and interesting stories on my attempt at parenting and trying my best to be a good and supportive husband to my wife.  

Here we go.

Year In Review 2012

Here are my top 20 albums this year. (Here is the Year In Review 2012 Mix, with my favorite song off of each album.)

1. Jack White/Blunderbuss
2. Alabama Shakes/Boys & Girls
3. Electric/Guest Mondo*
4. Grizzly/Bear Shields
5. Frank Ocean/channel ORANGE
6. Muse/The 2nd Law
7. Japandroids/Celebration Rock
8. Divine Fits/A Thing Called divine Fits
9. Delta Spirit/Delta Spirit
10. Cloud Nothings/Attack On Memory
11. The Lumineers/The Lumineers
12. Best Coast/The Only Place
13. Mumford & Sons/Babel
14. A Silent Film/Sand & Snow
15. Gotye/Making Mirrors
16. The Shins/Port Of Morrow
17. Alex Clare/The Lateness Of The Hour
18. Father John Misty/Fear Fun
19. Ben Folds Five/The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind
20. The xx/Coexist
*Best New Artist

Honorable Mentions:
Animal Kingdom The Looking Away
Band Of Horses Mirage Rock
Beach House Bloom
The Killers Battle Born
Sea Wolf Old World Romance
What are your top 20 albums of the year?

Year In Review 2011

Here are my top 20 albums this year. (Here is the Year In Review 2011 Mix, with the best song off of each album.)

1. Wilco The Whole Love
2. The Strokes Angles
3. Bon Iver Bon Iver
4. Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
5. Foster The People Torches
6. Young The Giant Young The Giant
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers I'm With You
8. Adele 21
9. The Black Keys El Camino
10. Radiohead The King Of Limbs
11. Incubus If Not Now, When?
12. Foo Fighters Wasting Light
13. Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes
14. Mister Heavenly Out Of Love
15. Coldplay Mylo Xyloto
16. Holy Ghost! Holy Ghost!
17. Washed Out Within and Without
18. Grouplove Never Trust A Happy Song
19. The Head And The Heart The Head And The Heart
20. Wavves Life Sux - EP

Honorable Mentions:
Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2
The Decemberists The King Is Dead
Death Cab For Cutie Codes & Keys
Jay-Z & Kanye West Watch The Throne

What are your top 20 albums of the year?

Will has been walking for about 2 weeks now, but in short spurts. That is until we let him loose in airports and the Kirtland, Ohio Visitor's Center.

Freebies2Deals

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Top 5 Deli Sandwiches

1. Chicken Salad sandwich from The Quilted Bear.
2. Turkey Bacon Avacado sandwich from Kneaders.
3. Italian Night Club from Jimmy Johns.
4. The Empire State from Gandalfo's.
5. Blimpie Best sub on white from Blimpie.

(I realize I've left off Philly Cheesesteaks. I didn't consider them "Deli" sandwiches, but if I had to choose it would be a close tie between Moochies and DP Cheesesteaks.)

Will's Top 5 recognizable TV show intro's

1. Sesame Street Intro
2. KSL News Intro
3. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Intro
4. Little Einsteins Intro
5. Sportcenter Intro

Top 5 explanation.

I was recently reminded about the movie High Fidelity with John Cusack, which comes from the book of the same name written by Nick Hornby. In it they are occasionally making top 5 lists of music, girlfriends, movies, episodes of Cheers etc. This made me realize I am constantly making top 5 lists in my head about everything: Top 5 fry sauces, top 5 bread appetizers at restaurants, top 5 songs that remind me of my junior year in high school, top 5 jobs, top 5 ANYTHING.

I realized that though I have been lacking in the photo a day posts, these top 5 lists could come in handy. I also have a couple guys I work with that I always need to have top 5 recommendations in ANY food category handy at any given moment. Sometimes my top 5 lists go into a lot of detail and can change at any given moment. But for the most part, they are just fun for me to compile.

So, in light of the movie/book High Fidelity, todays top 5 is: Top 5 Records: Side One, Track One (Opening Track).

1. "Everything In It's Right Place", Kid A, by Radiohead.
2. "Dance Yrself Clean", This is Happening, by LCD Soundsystem.
3. "Black Dog", IV, By Led Zeppelin
4. "My Name Is Jonas", Weezer (The Blue Album), by Weezer.
5. "Privilege", Make Yourself, by Incubus.

Near & Far with Will

Our little boy Will was cracking up when I was doing my Grover impression of Near & Far with him.