smonk you: the best freaking daddy blog ever

So this went up early but it is Thursday in New Zealand and Australia and I have some great readers there so this one's for you. Well I was going to do a wrap up of the baby room but we just watched The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD and I decided the room can wait because the DVD had some great info. We heard about Harvey Karp, a pediatrician from Santa Monica, and his Happiest Baby philosophy from a bunch of friends who said it completely changed the way they calm their babies. He starts off talking about the idea that since babies (the human kind) are born much less developed than other mammals the 1st three months of life are really considered a 4th trimester. Then he speaks about the calming reflex which is when a baby instantly relaxes upon receiving cues similar to what is experienced in the womb. To get those cues of the womb he suggests the 5 S's: Swaddling – recreates confinement in the womb...he shows you a simple fast way to do it. Side/stomach position ...

In 2 days Staci is full term so you never know when she'll go into labor. Since she's a planner, which is good, we've packed a bag, prepared all info for how to get our dog Kalli to the spa, it's actually called a spa, and packed her bag as well. In Staci's bag is the usual things you'd see in birth bag or whatever it's called. I only have a pair of sweats and a shirt in there. I could get in to all of the contents but other people on the interweb have written that better than I can so I suggest a little Goggle search . I do however have what I consider to be the most important bag packed. My camera bag. In that I have: 2 bodies (Canon XTi and 7D) 3 lenses (the nifty 50 f/1.8, Tokina 12-24 f/4.0 and the Sigma 24-70 f/2.8...I had the craptastic 18-55 kit lens in there but as I was writing this I realized it's so bad and I don't need it.) 580EX II flash Kodak Zx1 HD video camera 2 back up batteries for the XTi plus 1 in camera 1 back up ...

When I was a boy I don't think we had stroller toys or rattles. I think I just played with my mom's keys except when we went grocery shopping. Apparently when I was in grocery stores I would play with Jello boxes and bread eating through both of their packaging. Warning: it looks much nicer in person. Now there are a bunch of things out there Velcro ® onto a stroller to keep your baby occupied. We just received this cute rattle the other day. Made by MiYim: Simply Organic it's a cute little pea pod stroller rattle with a small elastic piece that connects to your stroller. We have the Under the Nile Veggie Crate and this is a great way for the little MF to take his/her when we're out. It's super soft and the color is really nice. Miyim dyes the organic cotton in a water bath with dyes from plants and minerals. As it says on the packaging it's "free of harmful substances, from start to finish." Here is a quick low down on their organic cot...

How far along? 34 weeks and 5 days. Total weight gain/loss: I don't understand the question. Stretch marks? Nope.  Sleep: Nope. Best moment this week: Baby passed the biophysical with flying colors...8/8. Movement: Tons. Food cravings: Anything edible. Gender: Either a boy or a girl. Labor Signs: Head down (the baby's). Belly Button in or out? Sort of looks like the Snorks from the cartoon from the 80s. What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach. What I am looking forward to: Kissing the babies itty-bitty toes. Weekly Wisdom: It's OK to admit that while this is amazing it's not always easy. Milestones: So close to full term. How far along? Just under 35 weeks, according to the voodoo math. Total weight gain/loss: Down another half pound which makes the total 3.5 pounds...I've slacked a bit. Stretch marks? No. Sleep: I've been falling asleep an hour and a half earlier but getting up a half hour earlier so it's abo...

We had our baby shower last weekend and Staci and I both bought gifts for the pre-kid. So I thought I'd show those because I like them. I bought a Sex Pistols 'God Save the Queen' onesie . It's a super soft. The crown in her hair, and the safety pin in her lip are metallic ink which is a nice touch...I was just schooled by folks at work for just saying metallic and not metallic ink...hence comment number 1. It also comes in baby shirts. Staci got an Ebulobo Woodours Daddy and Baby Bear stuffed toy. She wins because her gift is awesome and it was sweet that she wanted to get a dad and baby toy. The baby bear, which has a rattle inside, lives in the daddy bear's tree trunk stomach. The Daddy bear holds a removable fishing pole and flower. The flower has crinkle paper inside. The dad carries a bag that has a fish in it, you can pull the fish, which is on a string, and it wiggles back in the bag. This video shows how everything works. While I don't unders...

One: Some of Staci's friends threw her a baby shower this weekend. A bunch of our friends came as well as her mom...and my mom flew in for a special appearance. We got some awesome stuff so I wanted to thank all the people who came, and her friends for putting it on. Staci and I both got gifts for the pre-kid...I'll post them Thursday. Two: The baby room is just about done. I have to frame 2 pieces of art...then we need to get some sheets for the mattress. We started early...the slacked off...but it looks like we're finishing on time. Three: The baby turned head down and dropped. Since it wasn't head down in our last ultrasound Staci was able to get another to make sure all was good...in the pics they saw a full head of hair...kinda cool they can tell. The pre-kid's freaking huge...you can feel it's butt and head and see arms, knees or feet pushing out. Of course I mean huge based on it's current housing situation. Staci is worried that we'll blo...

I get emails almost everyday, sometimes a couple times a day from paypal letting me know that I've paid somebody for something. It's because Staci is a bit addicted to Etsy. I thought I'd share with you some of our fave finds...there are of course a lot more, but these are rising to the top to me right now. The first is Urban Thimble they have super cute onesies/bodysuits. Minimal felt graphics on good quality clothes, the one we got was American Apparel. Sadly I just found out she's giong out of business so if you're digging this from you should head to her store and snap some up. Staci did find Finch Design and they offer similar stuff. The baby bodysuits (what's the difference between a body suit and a onesie?) are all fair trade which is awesome. You can check out the Finch Design stuff here . Next is One Lucky Baby...maker of cool, super soft blankets and little stuffed animals called tweets. We just grabbed a the blanket shown, but might p...

So this is going to be a businessy post in hopes that I increase my rank in searches for 'businessy, ' which probably no one searches for anyway...and has no relation to my blog...but I feel this will be my ticket to making billions. Some day I'll do a post on the crazy searches that take people here, but besides businessy I can tell you I get quite a few people here from a search of combination of the words: squishy, fruit, plums, nectarines, pregnancy. A lot of people apparently search that stuff. It comes from my post about Staci's cravings. Any way google searches aren't the only reason I'm doing this post. I have an update on my giveaway for the book ABCs for Expectant Dads. Everyone who entered won. The author was kind enough to give signed copies to all the folks who entered...that's awesome. Congrats. I have another awesome giveaway going on. It's for some Kid Basix gear; first place gets a Safe Sippy2 cup and a Safe Starter bottle while ...

With the holidays coming up a lot of friends have been asking my opinion on what camera to get because they are looking to upgrade. Most questions are what's coming up? What looks good? And what's the best for them? I try to stay current but I admit I'm a bit behind since I bought my last camera a few months ago. I'd love to do a post about what would be a great camera for all my readers...but since you all have different needs that would be tough. Plus there are dedicated sites out there that rock...I'll get to them later. There are a couple of things I always look for when searching cameras..I'll share that info here. This is high level so you can use this as just a starter guide. I won't really get into what is the best. A lot of folks look at megapixels and think that more is better...this isn't always true. Yes 10 is better than 6.  If you're never print over 10x6 you'd be fine with 6MP, however what if you get an amazing shot? You...

2:00 A.M. Sunday morning Staci woke me up because she had some pains in her bellyish area/ribs. I comforted, cuddled her and took care of her in every way possible. Okay let's start this over a bit. I am not a morning person...at all. I can go to sleep whenever but I can't wake up early. And when I'm woken up I'm not happy...I don't talk...if under duress I will only grunt or spit out short sentences. That's why we have a plan that once the little dude/dudette is born I will be taking care of it late night. So here is how it actually went down. Staci told me she was having some pains...I said something like "yeah?" and went back to sleep. About a half hour later she told me she was still having pains...I told her they were Braxton-Hicks....and went back to sleep. About 15 minutes later she was writhing in pain...I asked if she wanted to go to the hospital...and told her it was probably Braxton-Hicks. She went down stairs and grabbed her coat. I too...

One: On Wednesday Staci learned that she had Gestational Diabetes. So on Friday we headed to a class to learn how to deal with it through diet and such. I was kind of dreading the class. Then I saw a clear tub with fake plastic food in it...wow...fake burgers, pizza and rice can't lead to good things. Luckily since it was the day after Thanksgiving we were the only one in the class. When all was said and done it was actually an interesting class. Of course a lot of info was basic but there was good stuff on carb servings vs. actual serving. It made me really think about when I order curry fried rice, eat the whole thing and fall asleep hard..maybe it's too many carbs. Thanks to all the twitter folks who gave me info on GD. Tomorrow I have another story about our adventures this weekend...that one includes 2 words I'm no longer allowed to say. Two: I wrote a guest blog for Jen over at MOmMy bRain it's about some of my new irrational fears including the crazy flo...