Link-apalooza #8: Just Getting By

Can you really call it a palooza if there is only one link? Think that’s a gray area, but I’m going to go with yes. To be fair, it is quite a long link and one long article was about all I had time for: these photos sum up our week...

Leave Me Alone

Sure, why not?

Actually, I may or may not have even read the whole thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Atlantic, but do people really read articles longer than 800 words anymore? I didn’t do a word count on this one, but all of their articles feel like they are about 50,000 words.

Anyway, now that I’ve sufficiently stoked your interest, here it is…

Women’s World Cup: How U.S. Players Balance Motherhood and Soccer

I like this one for two reasons: it’s quite topical (Go USA!) and it provides a new perspective on the work-life balance theme I’ve been exploring lately. Over three years into this parenting deal I’m still completely confused how people have careers and kids. Like, really? How does that work? And, after this last week of solo parenting, I have absolutely no clue how single parents do it. I actually forgot I had a job. And that was in one week. So, how do professional soccer moms manage? Read this to get a glimpse.

Watching Airplanes

“Hurry, Daddy! Mommy’s plane is going to leave in five minutes!” my 3-year-old, Jacob, was just a bit excited about the unexpected variation in his typical morning routine. We had just dropped Mommy off at the terminal and were driving to the cell phone lot to watch her plane take off. Luckily, despite Jacob’s concerns, the airport gods were smiling on us and we made it just in the nick of time.

Not Mommy's airplane in the background; Jacob looking on

Link-apalooza #7: Of Presidents, Bloggers, and Dads

It’s time for Lucky Number 7, people!

First, a couple quick notes about goings on in and around Explorations. The whole crew took yet another road trip to North Carolina this past weekend: Drove up Thursday, hung out Friday, attended three family events on Saturday, and drove back Sunday. I feel like it went pretty well. Probably will never do it again, but all in all, can’t complain. 

5 Boring Things Parents Love

As I was waking up in the hospital after my recent colonoscopy, one of the first things I heard was a man in the recovery bay next to mine telling his wife how incredible he felt. “I haven’t felt this great in ten years,” he said. “Can I just stay here forever?” I didn’t ask, but I’m almost certain he was a dad because I could totally relate. Sure, maybe it was mostly the lingering haze of anesthesia talking, but the sentiment was real: never had a routine medical procedure felt so freeing. Of course, leave it to his wife to bring a heavy dose of buzz kill to the situation. “No,” she laughed. “You have to mow the lawn today.”

Still, it did get me thinking, what kinds of boring and routine things do parents love, perhaps more than they should? I’m not saying parents love these things more than their own children, but sometimes it might be up for debate.

Link-apalooza #6

OK, I’m back. I’m not entirely sure, but it feels like I missed a week. Yeah, I could look at literally the webpage I just clicked off of to check the date of my last post to see exactly how long it’s been, but where’s the fun in that? Don’t worry though: I double-checked and no one has written anything worth reading or broadcasted anything worth listening to since we were last together.

Link-apalooza #5

Welcome back, peeps! It’s time to do this thing again. This is the fifth edition already: Can you believe it? Yes, I am still maintaining this charade.

Anyway, let’s keep it short and sweet this time around. I’ve got one article and two podcast links to share; I really enjoyed all of them. I know that no one really likes reading anymore, it’s so 20th century, so I’m trying to include as much audio as possible. Also, in case you missed it, here is a link to my article from last week that hopefully you read here, but was also picked up by Huffington. Green Day and parenting; it doesn’t get much better than that.

Let there be links! 

Time of Your Life

In case you haven’t been keeping up lately with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, just wanted to let you know that the punk rockers from Oakland known as Green Day were inducted in April. I’ll go ahead and say what we’re all thinking: Yes, they are the greatest band of all time. I mean, for anyone between the ages of say 30 and 45 listening to the Dookie and American Idiot albums from front to back for the first time were life-changing experiences. That’s an incontrovertible fact. And that’s two life-changing experiences produced by a single band: Top that, The Beatles! 

Link-apalooza #4

What did we learn last week? To a 3-year old, adult birthdays are a huge disappointment. Jacob was quite depressed that there were no balloons or big presents or bounce houses or even piñatas. I can’t blame him, really. He pretty much caught a glimpse of his future and it made him say, “No thanks. I’ll keep my balloons.” In an attempt to cheer him up, we took him for putt-putt to celebrate because that’s what adults really do on their birthdays. Well, at least that’s what Explorations does (not the blog, the puppet master behind the curtain). 

Link-apalooza #3

Welcome back, folks! 

We are on time this week and chock full of great links. But first, a couple exciting updates on goings on in and around Explorations. 

Link-apalooza #2

Welcome to Link-apalooza #2! 

My apologies for being a bit late this week; however, in my defense, I did technically meet my somewhat nebulous publication schedule. If you missed out on Link-apalooza #1, check it out here and get up to speed on what this is all about. 

Parenting Lessons From My All-Star Mom

My favorite part about Mother’s Day in the social media era is learning that everyone’s mom is “The Best Mom in the World!” That moniker has become the equivalent of the ubiquitous participation award in youth sports. Everyone gets a trophy, hooray!

Sorry folks, I’m here to deliver a little slice of harsh reality this Mother’s Day: All your moms are scrambling for the runner-up trophy, because my mom has a strangle hold on the top prize.

Link-apalooza #1

Exciting times here at Explorations! We just launched a Facebook page; please feel free to like it for updates on new posts and random musings. And today we are rolling out a new feature: Link-apalooza!

And We'll Never Be Royals...Or Will We?

First off, congratulations to Will and Kate on the birth of their second child: a girl with a yet to be revealed name (I’m rooting for Katniss or Pixie). 

Money Store Man

Sometimes it seems like yesterday that I was a young(ish) lad, energized by idealism, prowling the cobble-stoned streets of Cambridge in my vegan loafers. Of course, it wasn’t yesterday; it was almost four years ago. And to be totally honest, most of the time it feels like if it was 100 years ago or that perhaps it never even happened at all. 

Update and A Few Links

Hello everyone, it's been awhile. I haven't posted much lately, and frankly, I don't really have much in the pipeline right now. I've been busy writing and submitting some pieces to outside outlets, so, fingers crossed I'll have some news to share soon. Worst-case scenario, I'll have a couple new pieces to post here that no one else wants. Try to contain your excitement.

However, to try to fill the gap a little, and because I don't really know what you all do to fill your time when I'm not around, here are a couple articles written by others that I think are worth reading.

1.  “What a horrible mother:” How a call from a “good samaritan” derailed these mothers’ lives

I always find it interesting to read perspectives I hadn't really thought about before. This is definitely one of those.

2.  I Want to Have a Baby -- Cue the Friend Fallout

Good writer; like her stuff. Another interesting perspective and another one I hadn't thought much about. I guess not having friends has its advantages.

3.  Why it's not easy to be a dad in a mom's world

Can you say right in my lane? Kind of wish I'd written it, well, I kind of already did, but still. Good piece. I do think we have to be careful, as men, about playing the woe is me card; I mean, how many advantages do males really need? However, I think this writer does a nice job of walking the tightrope.

Have a good week!

P.S. This week's nugget of wisdom courtesy of Jacob: "You can ride horses, cows, and zebras...but not tigers or lions." Keep that in mind, people.

Hopeless Wanderers

But hold me fast,

Hold me fast,
'Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer

The last several weekends, usually early on Sunday mornings after another harrowing night starring a restless just-turned-1-year-old, I roll out of bed, load the big guy into his car seat, and set out for a driving tour of central Florida to give Mommy an hour or two of rest. I once looked upon this as a bit of a chore, preferable to trying to keep the baby quiet in the house, but still nothing to look forward to. This past Sunday though, it felt different.

#BigBen Strikes One

Forgot the hashtag, but you get the idea

Few things in life are quite as ridiculous as birthday parties for 1-year-olds. Think about it. Besides weddings, where else is a central protagonist of a celebratory event more irrelevant or overlooked? Nowhere. Grooms and 1-year-olds, that’s the list.

For Any Podcast Fans Out There...

Podcasts are kind of my new thing. Actually, my not so new thing. My passion for them is starting to recede already (after discovering them maybe 6 months ago). Anyway, maybe I'll talk about that more later, but wanted to share one I listened to today in case anyone is interested. It's the most recent episode from The Longest Shortest Time by WNYC. The topic, of course, is gender roles, parenting, and traditional role reversals: My all-time favorite topic. Check it out; it is very well done and thoughtful.

Hitting the Snooze Button on #BigBen

In honor of B’s birthday week, welcome to another installment of our new favorite series: Things B Does That Annoy Us. Just kidding! It’s definitely nothing personal; any parents out there who have had a difficult sleeper will understand the struggle. For those of you who don’t have or have never had a B, go back to watching The Bachelor on TV while eating bon-bons or whatever it is you do at night.

You wish

Despite the challenges, I should add (for my Mom’s sake), that B is very cute and snuggly and has such a great personality for a soon-to-be 1-year-old. Just not necessarily at night.

My true aims here are threefold:

1.     Provide a step-by-step guide for the overnight babysitters that I expect will begin to queue up as soon as this goes live.
2.     Create a written record of this experience for future reference (i.e., something I can email myself monthly in case I ever get any ideas about future procreation).
3.     Provide an alternative to the crazy idea of “sleep training” that seems to be gaining momentum. My way is clearly better.

And off we go…

March Madness

Some days this whole parenting thing really sneaks up on you. It’s like routine, routine, routine, then suddenly, boom: Butterfly visit!