Chris Widner

Sadly I can relate to a lot of this already. 

bita:

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection. ~Sigmund Freud

One thing I find surprising when seeing other dads with their children is how serious they can be. Not the kids, the dads! Of course I’ve never been one to be too serious, but I’m surprised simply because kids love silly. When I talk to Payton with my “normal” voice she doesn’t seem to be very impressed. However, when I break out in my Bee Gees inspired song “Foot in Your Mouth”, she lights up. I’ve copyrighted this hit single, so don’t EVEN think about copying it Bieber.

Foot in your mouth
Foot in your mouth
Payton Grace Widner’s just like her daddy
With her foot in her mouth

I can’t wait to cash those royalty checks. Anyhow, my point is simple. Dads, even when strangers are around, live it up! Let’s show our kids how to have fun without Nintendo DS XLI Super Camera Enhanced 3DS Ultra Pro and Playstation 3s. The more they see you having fun and being silly, the more likely they are to do it. It’s cheap, easy, and fun. Just not appropriate during funerals.

(via thedailynet)

One of the most common techniques for creating and using a to-do list is to file each task into one of four buckets. 

1. Important and Urgent
2. Important but Not Urgent
3. Not Important but Urgent
4. Not Important and Not Urgent

I have used this approach for well over a year while using the Remember the Milk (RTM) and it has been a fairly successful approach. (If you’re not aware of my obsession with RTM, check them out.)

I’ve found a few problems with the approach listed above, though. The first problem I ran into was that I had the goal of clearing my to-do list. Unfortunately I was rarely able to clear my list and it started to feel like a never-ending pile of work. To counter this, I removed my ability to easily see how many tasks were left in my list(s) and only looked at the items that had to be done that day.

Forcing myself to just look at the items on my list for that day was an improvement, but each one still felt like something that I had to do. The only thing differentiating each task was how I prioritized it. While reading Time Management by Richard Walsh, I found one of his ideas refreshing. Overall I found the book to be pretty basic and I had tried most of the ideas he listed, but I found this one to be unique. Instead of organizing my tasks by importants and urgency, organize them like so:

1. I have to do it and I want to do it
2. I have to do it but I don’t want to do it
3. I don’t have to do it but I want to do it.
4. I don’t have to do it and I don’t want to do it

I’ve been using this approach for only a week but I’ve already seen dramatic changes in how I feel about my to-do list. I have a great job, working for a great boss and a great company. I have very few items or projects dumped on my desk. So I’m able to see that the majority of the items on my to-do list fall into categories 1 & 3, meaning they are items I want to do. If there is an item in category 4, I need to stop and see why it’s even on my list. I either need to delegate it to someone else, or scrap it from the list all together. Another benefit of this approach is that I’m able to just take one task at a time, whereas before I was counting how many were left and worrying about all of them in the back of my mind. 

If you’re in a rut and feeling overwhelmed with your to-do list, I highly recommend you try this approach for a week and see how you feel afterwards. I’d love to hear from you once you try it out. Let me know your thoughts and if you have any questions.

I figure since I talk about Payton non-stop, you should see the object of my affection.

Payton is 12 weeks old today and since her birth Ry and I have referred to each other as Mommy and Daddy. Often times you’ll hear me tell Payton “Daddy loves it when you smile.” or “Daddy loves you.” Completely fine and normal, right?

Yes, until you get in the habit of referring to yourself as Daddy when Payton and Ry aren’t around. Case in point: This week I received a snazzy new 24” widescreen monitor at work. My first reaction?

“Daddy likes this. This makes Daddy very happy.”

Had Ry and Payton been around this would have been acceptable and even “cute”. Unfortunately they were not around which gave me a creep factor of 10 or 11. Thank God no other small children were around when those words were spoken.

While there is very little you can do for your baby directly, you CAN still help her. Commit these to memory:

If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

Happy wife = Happy life

So be selfish and do something for your child at the same time. Help your wife. 

Babies can projectile vomit through their nose while breastfeeding and not miss a beat. You will be proud of your child when this happens.

When standing “still” you will suddenly find your hips swaying side to side. They do this on their own. Don’t try to fight them as this comes in handy more times than you’ll be able to count. 

Kids learn to make associations very quickly. When Payton freaks out and I’m holding her, I tell her “Daddy loves you” while I’m trying to calm her down. Nothing wrong with consistently reminding your child you love them, right?

Now when she’s NOT freaking out and I tell her I love her… she gets upset. I’m guessing she associates “Daddy loves you” with something bad happening. I suppose I’ll have to turn to “Knock it off, you’re fine” instead.

Thanks to Alan for showing me the Metallica lullaby CD that led me to find this:

Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of the Rolling Stones

Before you have your own child you know that babies are boring.

Once you have your own child, babies are still kinda boring.

Ok, well other babies are boring.

But not yours.

She can do things like… Well, she’s yours, so she’s not boring. 

It doesn’t matter how much you’ve read. It doesn’t matter how many of your friends have babies. It doesn’t matter how many videos you’ve watched, how much your wife knows about babies. It doesn’t even matter how many questions you ask leading up to the delivery. You’re not going to be prepared for this. So just strap in and enjoy the ride.

I’d explain what really happened in this photo, but that would take all the fun out of it.