Tonight we bought our son a larger toy box than we had before. We were in desperate need of a toy box for all the new toys he has received in the last few weeks.  One year olds have a lot of toys!

We bought him a Winnie the Pooh toy box from Toys R Us.  I was all ready to put the toy box together.  I pulled out the directions to take look at how easy it was to complete.  Unfortunately the directions were the worst directions I have ever seen.  Instead of it taking 20 minutes to put together as any man would think, it took me a little less than an hour.

With my son’s birthday a couple of weeks ago, I am starting to realize what my dad went through with six kids.  I am seeing the joys and frustrations of putting toys and other kids things together.  The toys Rylan has received have been very easy to put together.  Now his toy box was more of a chore than it should have been.

I have realized this is just a warm up for the years to come.  As more children come, I will be putting even more difficult things together than a toy box. I love the learning experiences I am getting as a new dad.

1 year old baby cake

Real Dad Blog Version: This dad’s baby boy turns one! This is a dad rambling about his son’s birthday and first year as a baby boy.

Our son, Rylan, turned the big one yesterday. We threw him a little party that involved a lot of his family and friends. The day flew by like a blur because we were hosting a lot of people. At least we have pictures of the memories of the big day of our first child turning one.

Baby Eating Cake

His birthday involved eating of sloppy joes (easy to make for a lot of people) and a lot of other food. Then came the birthday cake. The fun part of the birthday party! I was thinking he was going to make a bigger mess than he did. He sure enjoyed the cake.

One Year Old Baby Birthday Party Friends

If you are a dad and have never experienced your child having a really sugary substance for the first time, just get ready for a child that will not sleep. That was our son! He had energy like he never had before after he ate his birthday cake. Watch out!

Our Baby Boy is One!

Our son’s first year flew by. I cannot believe he is already one. This has been the most rewarding year of my life. One year as a dad is beyond words. Being a dad or a new dad is the best job in the world!

A special thanks goes out to our baby boy’s mom for helping make being a dad the best job in the world.

Baby with underwear in mouth (it is clean) - What dogs teach babies

Real Dad Blog Version:  It is funny when your dog runs around with underwear in their mouth.  It is even more funny when your baby does it and you have pictures to prove it.

It is every woman’s nightmare having a dog as a pet.  They have company over everything is going great.  People are eating and conversing.  All of a sudden, they hear a chuckling and they see their dog run around the house with their underwear!  How embarrassing!  Our dog has not done the embarrassing wife’s underwear thing with company over.  He has done it with company’s underwear that is staying over at our house.   I think he may be out of the stage of running around the house with underwear dangling from his mouth.    There were many times where our dog Tanner would find my wife’s underwear and let it dangle from his mouth while we chased him around the house in the past.  What a fun game for him and a challenge for us to get the underwear from him.

Even though our dog is out of the stage of underwear stealing, our son Rylan must have learned the underwear dangling from his mouth trick from somewhere.  The other night we were folding clothes and left the clothes basket on the floor.  He must have grabbed my wife’s underwear when we were not looking.  The picture is how we found him.  Thanks, Tanner!  I just hope Rylan does not do the underwear trick with underwear dangling from his mouth with company over.  OK… Maybe I do.

It is great being a new dad and watching your son and dog grow up.  It is also great to get funny baby pictures.

If you like this post, you may like Baby Plumber’s Crack or Dad’s Best Friend

It all started about a month ago. Our son Rylan was fascinated with clocks. He liked watching the second hand move. We were trying to teach him the word for clock because when we would say the word clock he would point in its direction. When he finally tries to say the word, what does it come out as, the word, “cock.” He kept on saying the word over and over again even if there was not a clock. We just hoped he would not say that word in church. He still has not yet.

Rylan is picking up a lot of words, but, it is too bad he cannot pick up all the sounds yet. It does give us something to laugh at. Rylan is over at his grandma’s house a lot with his almost 2 year-old cousin. She likes to stand on furniture so she gets told to sit a lot. This past Thursday he picked up the word sit. He cannot make the S sound but he can make the SH sound. Which makes that word S-H-I-T. He has been saying that word over and over and over again. It does make us laugh hard. We just hope he doesn’t say cock or S-H-I-T in public.

My favorite swearing of all time was from a nephew of mine who was four at the time. His older brother is named Nicholas. He could not say the N sound but could say the D sound in its place. So it came out Dicholas. He would run around the house trying to get his older brother’s attention by saying, “Come here Dicholas.” My immature self could not help but laugh.

As a new dad, you are going to hear your kids swear. They may actually pick it up from you or they may replace letters instead. Please do your best not to swear around your kids as swearing in front of any kid does make you less of a role model

Please tell about your favorite kid swearing moment. We know they do not mean it but we all know it can be pretty funny hearing those words come out of their mouths!

As time goes on, you may brush your baby’s teeth with a baby’s toothbrush.  Start this when your baby gets their first teeth.  Our son Rylan loves getting his teeth brush with a baby’s toothbrush.  We tell him that we are going to brush his teeth and he throws his hands up and down in the air with excitement.

When you watch the video of us brushing our baby’s teeth, you can tell Rylan enjoys it. We did things to help with his enjoy of getting his two baby’s teeth brushed.  We brush our teeth around Rylan.  It got him intrigued with us brushing our teeth and he then gets to join in on the fun.  We also have been doing this since he has born starting with the washcloth cleaning his mouth.  He has been exposed to good oral baby hygiene by having good adult oral hygiene.  This new dad likes to have clean teeth and a clean mouth.

Chris started The New Dad Guide 2 months ago.  The New Dad Guide is exactly what it states it is, an informative new dad guide.  Chris writes about what to expect before a child is born like labor contractions, birthing positions and even facts about babies.  His facts are entertaining and beat the books that many doctors suggest a father and mother reads.

Now that he is a real dad, I am excited to hear about his new dad stories and helpful information he has for everyone.  The journey has begun for his family.  The let fun begin!

New Dad Blog Prayer Request:  God bless the new family Chris, Amber and Allison.  May the most special journey of life, that being a parent, be a blessing like no other.

Reald Dad Blog Version: Congrats Chris, Amber and Allison.  Parenting is the best job in the world!

Terms of Endearment

Real Dad Blog Version:  Once the child is born, they get all the terms of endearment.  The term of endearment for this dad is now amounted to the word “butt.”

Before we were married, Melissa and I had a lot of words of endearment for each other.  They were words such as “love”, “hot one” and “sexy”.  We did not use any weird words such “pookie” or even “sweetie”.  We did have other words too to say how much we love each other but I will keep that between my wife and me.  It would be like calling someone “pookie”.

Just like the old saying goes, a lot of things go after marriage.  One of the things that go, is the terms of endearment.   It went both ways.   I stopped saying a lot of those terms to my wife while my wife did also.  I think that being a guy I still use it a little more than my wife.  Talking to other married men, it seems to be that way unless they get called those weird names as “pookie”.

Once I became a dad, the terms of endearment stopped.  I think it goes directly to the kid.  It sure went directly to my son.  His mom tells him how much she loves him, she calls him “sweetie”, “lou-lou” which is short for “lovey lou”, “love” and the terms of endearment go on and on.

Being a new dad and a husband, I may be a little jealous of my son getting those terms of endearment instead of me from his mom.  I am just lucky to be called a “butt”.

To my wife: I still love you hot one and yes you still call me babe.

To all the readers of the Real Dad Blog:  We still do other things that keep the flame going besides terms of endearment.  To have a great marriage and to be a good role model to your children, you must keep that flame going.

If you like this post you may also like other stories in the Funny Dad section of the Dad Blog

Funny Nuk Baby Face Picture

We are lucky that our baby Rylan has only needed a Nuk to sleep or when he is really tired. It is more like a toy when he is really tired as you can see in this funny baby face picture of mom holding Rylan. In two months, we will have to wean him away from the Nuk.

Before Rylan was born we were hoping that we did not need a Nuk.  We found it to a savor of sleep for Rylan, mom and dad.  Rylan still uses it at the age of 10 months.  I love going into his room and see him making music with his two Nuks hitting together or the back and forth sound of the Nuks rubbing agaist the wood frame of the crib.

Some babies need a pacifier and others do not.  Just make sure as a parent you start weaning them at the age of one as other things can be used to calm them even if it means a few days of crabbiness. Dads, buck up and get ready for a few sleepless nights when the weaning process starts. Your baby does not need the Nuk after the age of one.

Baby with Nuk

Notes: Nuk is owned by Gerber. It is the brand our baby Rylan prefers to use. Our doctors recommended to wean our baby away from the Nuk / pacifier at the age of one.

Last Child Leaving Home

My younger sister will be the last of my siblings to be married this weekend.  I grew up in a larger than average family of 3 brothers and 2 sisters.  I am the younger middle.  This weekend will be the end of my parents having their kids live in the house.  My sister has lived at my parents’ house throughout completion of her master’s degree.  I find this crazy because that will be almost 40 years of raising their children.  I think it causes a lot of sadness to my mom, as she loved being a mom.  My dad probably will not show his sadness as much as my mom.

That is a scary thought of having Rylan getting married and the other children we plan on having getting married.  I am still considered a new dad.  I believe it will be a sad day having your children leave home; especially because of the connection I already have with my son, Rylan.  Since I am a new dad, a better way of thinking about it is not to worry about it now and live in the present of being happy for having a great child.

My parents are living a happy life of watching their kids grow up, have children of their own, and watching us raise some great kids.  I owe a lot to them of instilling great qualities for me to be great dad.

I am excited to spend this week with family, some that I do not get to see too often.  I get to share my pride and joy of my son while the rest of my family gets to share their prides and joys in their children.  As times goes on, we each get to see our families see their kids leave home.

Being a new dad, I am seeing a lot more things I never have thought of, like the future and them leaving home.  I get to see it first hand with my parents.  I am excited to at least take it a day at a time along with a great mother and wife in Melissa.

Real Dad Blog Version:  My parents are having their last child get married this weekend.  They will now be empty nesters.  Being a new dad, I must live each day with my child and future children and not worry about the future.  (I will still plan for their future but worry).

Expensive Sunglasses- Forgetful Mom and Dad

I remember when Melissa was pregnant with our son, Rylan, she was very forgetful.  She would tell me something and then tell me the same thing 2 minutes later.   She would forget a lot.  It was like her IQ dropped 10 points.  This is very common for moms to be.  For new dads to be, get ready to be the memories of your wives.

Don’t worry the memory does come back.  Once your baby is born, your wife is your memory.   She will tell you what needs to be done and when.  As a dad, you will even ask if you are doing everything right.

A couple of days ago my wife, Rylan, and I went shopping at Kohl’s.  We had a 30% off coupon so we did our best to be frugal.  On the way into Kohl’s I complained to Melissa that I still had sunglasses on top of my head and I didn’t want to leave them in the dressing room with me.  All three of us got clothes.  Melissa and I had to try ours on.  We probably spent an hour shopping.  We had some great mom and dad teamwork.  I would watch Rylan when she was trying on clothes and I would watch Rylan when she would try on clothes.

We paid for our clothes and some other things at Kohl’s with our 30% off.  About the same spot I complained to Melissa about bringing in my sunglasses, I said, “Oh crud, where are my sunglasses.”  I really said some other words that I should not say in front of my son.

Then Melissa said, “Oh crud, I don’t have mine either.  I hope they are still in the dressing room”

My sunglasses wouldn’t have been a big deal since they were the grocery store special.  Melissa’s sunglasses were a different story.  I believe they were a $300 gift of very expensive plastic.  I sure can’t tell the difference between them and my grocery store special glasses.

Needless to say, either Kohl’s customers do not know anything about designer sunglasses like me or they are very kind and let the person come back and retrieve them.  This dad will take both of those answers.  I am just glad we both got our sunglasses back and our mom and dad forgetfulness was not costly.  I am also glad that we both forgot our sunglasses or my wife would have something to hold against me.

Real Dad Blog Version:  My wife and I forgot our sunglasses.  We got them back.  Phew!  Never bring your sunglasses into a store’s dressing room.