Hipster Dad Approved Valentine's Day Cards

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

We made a Pinterest board of "Hipster Dad Approved Valentine's Day Cards". Will add more throughout the day so check back later too :-)

-Craig

A Great Morning.

Good morning everyone. I'm on the bus right now and figured it would be a good time to write a quick note  about how my morning was the complete opposite of yesterday. It went perfectly. Sierra not only slept until my alarm went off she let me hit snooze for 10 minutes and then get everything else ready. Having everything all set, including myself, before having to start getting her dressed and fed is a huge leg up in the race out the door.

When I first went into her room she was crying a bit and asking for Lauren but after about 15 seconds of holding and a game where I pretended her fingers and toes were bananas and that I was STARVING she was giggling and ready to get help pick out her clothes.

We threw the clothes on, the 'clippies' in her hair and toast in her mouth and out the door we went. The rain that was pounding the window earlier in the morning had now subsided and the sun was just beginning to poke through the clouds making our trip much easier than yesterday.

On the stroll to daycare I noticed Fall had certainty begun to fall here in Boston. This is THE best time of the year to be in Boston in case any of you are considering vacationing in the next couple of months, its truly a beautiful time of year. On the walk I asked her if she knew why their were leaves covering the sidewalk and explained that the seasons were beginning to change. I explained that Summer is lots of fun because its warm, sunny and we get to go to the beach but that Autumn can be just as much fun, just in different ways. I explained about the leaves falling and the crunching sound they make when you walk on them. I asked if she remembered going to the apple orchard to pick apples and pumpkins. I reminded her about how we went on a hay ride and asked if she'd like to do that again to which she answered "Yes… some day".

It was a wonderful walk and as much as I miss our leisurely mornings I'm beginning to remember why I love the special mornings between just my daughter and I even more.

-Craig

A thank you note to Mama.

It's 10:05 PM and I am currently nursing a sore face (with a beer) due to being kicked by my loving daughter. I wanted to write a quick thank you note to my loving and caring partner. She normally handles bedtime as Sierra is still nursing but she was feeling pretty under the weather today so she tagged me in to get Sierra down for the count tonight. After 7 stories, including three different OLIVIA books Sierra got up and ran out of her room to our room and jumped into bed with Lauren. Lauren was OK with it but eventually I got Sierra again and tried to lie down with her on the couch with all our pillows, blankets, loveys and even a foot tall stuffed owl. Well after a few moments she was on the search again for Lauren who even in her "I'm about to vomit" state took her and tried again. I decided to do some dishes when 10 minutes later I was greeted by a laughing, running and jumping toddler at 9:45 PM, which is an hour past the time she's normally sleeping. At this point I was beginning to lose my patience and scooped her up and brought her into her bed, layed down with her and said "It is bed time we are going to sleep!" to which she began screaming MAMA!! MAMA!! and began kicking. Enter Super Mama who in 5 minutes flat got Sierra happy AND sleeping. I think I'm a pretty good Dad but there's a thing or two (or fifty) I could learn from Sierra's Mom who is never without patients or love for her baby girl neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness (or a "im about to vomit" moment) will be deterred from being a good Mom.


Thanks You Lauren. Truly.

WHO ME??!?!?

Look who got featured on Dani Hampton's Sometimes Sweet feature "Love Stories"

♥

Click Here To Read

Balancing Work and Family

One of the reasons I haven’t been posting here as regularly is because I have had an exuberant amount of freelance work this month. As some of you may know if you read my “Family Comes First: The Challenges of Being a Working Dad” post - I am a graphic designer. I have a full time job where I have a boss, an ID badge and an HR department. I also work many hours a month of freelance to try and bring a little extra income into the house. Sometimes I have rather slow months where I’ll only have two or three short gigs but other months I’ll be so busy that I sleep very little and am irritable but we get to pay all of our bills on time and maybe even save some money towards our vacation fund.

This month has been one of those good (yet tired) months. When I have a month like this my work schedule looks something like: Monday-Friday I work 9:30 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. at my real job and then am home by around 7:00. I then start freelance work at around 8:00 P.M. and work until midnight or later on average. My weekends are more sporadic with the hours but I’d say at least 4-6 hours each day. With all these hours being worked it’s hard to find the time to do much else.

Now I’m sure plenty of you other Dads and Moms do the same whether it’s freelance work, crafting things for Etsy, working a second night job or whatever it is you do to bring extra income to your family. I wanted to write a little bit about how I (think I) make it work without neglecting being a good Dad or a good partner.

Although you may not always have the time to spend the entire day playing choo choo trains or going to the park with your child it’s important to balance work and parenting in a way that is financially sustainable and mentally healthy for both you and your child. The way I make it work is to have a schedule. Now this doesn’t need to be down to the minute with alarms going off on your iPhone but it’s important to have some sort of routine. If you don’t it becomes very possible to get wrapped up in your work. Here are some things that I do that help me balance in a way I feel works for everyone.

Monday thru Friday our whole family wakes up at around 6:30 A.M. It takes our troop one hour from wake up to pulling out of our driveway and in that time each one of us has duties. I look forward to this morning time as it is a great time for me to bond with Sierra as I won’t see her for nearly 12 hours after I drop her off at daycare. I am usually the one who gets her dressed, brushes her teeth and make sure she eats breakfast. Now although those seem like nothing it’s a nice routine that is just Daddy / Baby time every morning. Mama does basically everything else including make everyone’s lunches and makes sure Sierra has all her things she’ll need for the day at daycare.

Next we bring Mama to work and then it’s just Sierra and I for the 15 minute drive to daycare which although I’m driving can still be a bonding experience. We talk, sing songs and just enjoy the last few minutes before an extended time apart. Lastly is drop off at daycare. Although not the happiest time it is still a moment to be cherished everyday as Sierra is normally much more clingy and affectionate. She knows she won’t see her mom or myself for many hours once I leave. It is met with lots of hugs, kisses and even tears some times.

We have similar routines for after work. Like I said I put in a good 4-5 hours every night during busy months so it’s very important to take time every night to also spend with my family away from the computer screen. Almost every night we eat dinner together. We sit at the table, eat a home cooked meal and listen to music. We do all the normal things:  the “how was your day” conversations, taking turns making sure Sierra actually eats, etc. It’s a nice thirty minutes where we just enjoy one another with no distractions.

Next we do the bed time routine where one of us gets Sierra P.J.’d and then I read anywhere from 3 to 10 (if Sierra gets her way) books while Mama and Sierra both snuggle up in the bed. Lastly is goodnight hugs and kisses and I shut the door and start work right away. I get as much done as I can as fast as I can so I can still spend a solid thirty minutes or more with Lauren at the very end of the night (computerless) before we both pass out to wake up and start the routine over again.

Although collectively that’s only a couple of hours (if I’m lucky) a day during the work week we make the most of it. The weekend is a bit more relaxed and enjoyable. We don’t have as rigid of a routine and my trick here is to just do my work during Sierra’s nap and after she goes to bed for the night.

I do my best to work as much as I can so I can provide for my family but I also do my best not to let it get (too much) in the way of truly being there and accessible at all times. If any of you have any tips or tricks for balancing work and parenting I’d love to hear them!

-xo Craig

Disconnect Days

Social media is a great tool for keeping in touch with family, networking with clients from around the globe and sharing your opinions and lives with people you don't even know but can it get in the way of real life? My family and I are exploring that theory with what we are calling "Disconnect Days". Don't get me wrong, Lauren and I are big supporters of all things social media, both having (multiple) accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and of course Blogger but with 5-10 websites and accounts to check and update daily it begins to take up a lot of time! A normal night for us consist of listening to records, having a beer and enjoying one anothers time with our noses nestled sweetly in our.......iPhones. "Look at this cute photo Adriana just instagrammed!" or "WOW I can't believe what AJ just tweeted!" are normal conversation pieces around our home. Now I find nothing wrong with this, social networking is fun and especially useful for me for my freelance and business ventures but theres comes a point where you need to step back and smell the roses instead of putting vintage filters on a picture of them for your friends to post comments on.

"No time for cameras, we'll use our eyes instead" - Matt Johnson & Kim Schifino

Our first Disconnect Day (DD) was last Sunday and it happened to fall on a day that we had planned a cookout & pool party at our house. So the night before I texted everyone who would be attending and said "Tomorrow is Lauren and I's first disconnect day, long story but we won't be reachable by email or phone so the time is 1PM and you know the address see you tomorrow!". We woke up and Lauren asked "what time is it?" and instead of checking my phone I ran to the kitchen and checked the oven clock and DD was officially on. I did leave my phone on just incase somebody who was coming to my house was lost or needed to ask something - but I didn't answer texts or emails and once everyone had arrived I shut my phone off. It wasn't as hard as you would think and there was a noticeable change in our behavior. During the cookout I found myself more engaged in conversation and just enjoying my friends company instead of tweeting about how much I was enjoying it. Once everyone left for the day it was fun to just sit with Lauren and relax without both being on our laptops blogging or looking up soccer news. All in all I like our Disconnect Days and can not wait until Sunday to shut off the internet. You should give it a shot sometime!

Photos from DD (1 rule was our camera was allowed!)

Watermelon Babies!

Henry and his beautiful curls.

Christian knockin' back a cold one (root beer of course!) 

Sierra pulling a "Kiss and Run"

Cooling off in the pool!

This picture is way over-exposed but I love it anyway.

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