"It's okay Daddy, I'll help you!"

This is short and sweet on how my daughter wanted to help drown me. We were swimming at Casey's parent's house and enjoying the water. Ellie watched me go underwater and wave at her. I then came up for air and Ellie said, "Daddy, go underwater again!". I told her, "In a minute honey, Daddy needs some air.". She then starts to put her hand on my head and says, "You can go underwater again Daddy. It's okay, I'll help push you down!" and then starts to push me under the water! I laughed so hard as she was smiling the entire time. Now I make sure I wear floaties when I'm around her in the pool.

Imagination Grows

So, just recently I have noticed that Ellie is really starting to use her imagination and also get pretty creative. She is also learning to be a "matter of fact" kind of toddler.

The other day I was taking Ellie to daycare and she was making animal noises. All of a sudden she started to grrrr like an angry dog or bear. She said, "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Daddy, what's that?" I was a little thrown off and said, "What's what Ellie?". She again said, "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. What's that Daddy?" I said, "I don't know Ellie, is that a bear?". She laughed and said "No Daddy, that's an Alligator!" Haha. I now know if I'm in the woods and hear a grrr, that it might not be a bear at all and could be those lethal "grrring" alligators.


Just this past Saturday, all of us were watching one of the many Ice Age movies. After-wards, it was time for Ellie to go to bed. I was changing her diaper and putting on some PJs when all of a sudden she started to "pinch" her fingers together, as if she was going to pinch someone and started saying something like, "Don't Eat Me, Don't Eat Me!!!" and then proceeded to shove her fingers in her mouth, grring like the alligator she was impersonating earlier! What a silly monkey she is!

And the finally little tid bit that I can remember. We were all laying in bed on Sunday morning and finally got enough energy to start our day. As Ellie left the room, I said, "Ellie, do you want your water?" She stared at me and said, "No Daddy" Walked over and gave me a smirk look and was like, "It's Milk." and grab her sippy cup and walked away. I should have known it was milk.

That's all for now. Back to the daily grind of a working daddy.

Funny Stuff

So, I haven't written anything since last year! Wow, I'm so good at keeping this blog updated. I know that everyone gets a lot of updates from Casey, but I thought I would post some stuff that she doesn't hear or see. I'll try to post more stuff often.

Here are some of the most recent things I can remember;

* Ellie is now having a small obsession with the moon. The other, driving her to daycare, I pull up to a parking space and Ellie yells with excitement, "I gotcha moon! There you are moon. Moon right there daddy!"

* As I got her out of the car the other day at daycare, Ellie notices that I have nose hair. She says, "Daddy, hair nose, hair up there. " Thanks for pointing that out, I'll make sure to trim that up! :)

* Just this morning Ellie has a small meltdown. Why you ask? Well, she likes eating her bananas now with the banana peel attached and holding it. She ate about half of it, and then decided that daddy needed to peel the banana some more because she wanted more banana. When I did that and threw the banana peel away, she began to have a meltdown and yelled, "MINE!!! Banana Peel, no daddy!" Okay, now I know that the kid wants to keep her banana peel! Got it.

Happy Birthday My Baby Girl!

Happy Birthday Eliana Jean Portman!

What a wonderful day to celebrate today, the day of my child’s birth
I can’t believe it’s already been a year, since she was brought on to this earth
It was a long journey for us to take, to create a life of our own
How could we have thought it would take so long, how could we have known
Two years our hearts yearned for a little baby to hold to tight
We thought about it constantly, every minute of every day and night
Everyone around us seemed to be happy for celebrating the sign
Because they were ecstatic to be blessed by those two little pink lines
We were very happy for everyone, now don’t get me all wrong
It’s just a bunch of mixed feelings we had, because we had been trying for so long
But wait is what we did, and the test and medicine we tried
We loved each other harder, we laughed, got angry, and cried
It seemed so long back then, but really went by in the blink of an eye
We were about to take a break for now, but decided on one last try
I had a vivid dream in the weeks that were to unfurl
That I was holding and singing to our new little baby girl
So a week or two later, we waited anxiously for hopefully our last test
And then one early morning Casey woke me up from my dead rest
She said, “Come here, I want you to look at something. I’m not sure what it is!”
I was barely awake, confused, and I really didn’t want a pop quiz
She pulled me into the bathroom and said, “What do you see?”
I was like, “No way? Are you sure you took this right?” This can’t be!
But a doctor’s visit would surely confirm any of our doubts we had
Casey was going to be a Mom and I, a new Dad
So we celebrated finally and the news began to spread
We now had to start planning, think about the steps, we needed to look ahead
So nine months came and gone, it really did go by so fast
But I was really glad to get all that nausea and bathroom breaks in the past!
So Casey labored for 15 hours, but the baby’s heart rate kept getting low
So they whisked her away, gave me a gown, to the surgery room we go
A C-Section was not how we envisioned this, it was not part of the plan
But none of that mattered anymore, as we heard something so grand
It was the cry of our baby, as she took her first breath into this world
She was so beautiful, she was finally here, our little baby girl
A few couple months were hard due to the lack of sleep we had
But that didn’t matter because I’m so happy to be a dad
I look at her now and she’s changed so much in a short amount of time
And I look at her older pictures and still can’t believe she’s mine
Oh my beautiful baby, I love you beyond what words can say
But know that you bring me great happiness everyday
So Happy 1st Birthday Eliana Jean, and know that you changed our world completely
Because you made this family of two, into a family of three ever so sweetly

My SuperGirl!

Wow, this is my baby girl. My little SuperGirl. I can't believe in just two days we will have her first birthday party! She'll be officially 1 on September 22nd. I can't believe how fast it's gone. I'm just so excited to see how much she has changed in this one year. From a baby that couldn't walk and barely did anything, to a walking, babbling, beautiful little toddler (that loves to walk and get into everything) Oh and she's definitely a little monkey too because she loves to climb in, around, on, under everything too!

Her personality is really coming out lately. She laughs when something is funny to her, she'll definitely let you know if she's frustrated about something. Such as daddy gives her the toothpaste tube to occupy her for a few minutes, then takes it away.....yes, I got to hear all about how that made her feel!

She's also eating a ton...or at least tries and about half of it falls in her lap. haha. But all in all, she's growing like she should, she's healthy, and that's the best part of all of this. I was truly blessed to have Ellie brought into my life and on her birthday we will be celebrating not only her one year of life, but also the one year of amazing happiness she has brought my wife and I. Nothing can explain it really. It's such a different kind of happiness and love. Just thinking about the way she hugs me or looks at me and smiles or makes a face, just makes my heart laugh out loud with an explosion of happiness. Thank you so much for this little girl in my life.

Well, enough sappiness now. Get to a few more updates on her....she can now say a few more words like dog, more, milk, Mama, Dada, and hot dog. Yeah, I said hot dog. The show "Mickey Mouse - Clubhouse" sings a song with "hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog" in it and Ellie really likes it. She doesn't watch a lot of TV, but when Mickey and the gang get on, she usually will watch them for a little while. But that song gets her dancing and really excited. So Casey and I will sing it, to the best of our knowledge, and we usually just repeat the hot dog sequence over and over and that usually will get her dancing again. Well, I know it's been a while since my last update, but again, at least it wasn't a year! Until next time....

A Late Night Snuggle

So, not too good at keeping up with the updates, but hey at least it's not a couple months down the road! Anyways, to my update. I love that my little girl is growing up. She is constantly amazing me at what she does and says and it gets me excited about what is around the corner and all of the fun stuff she has yet to learn. Just this past weekend, she walked around in some sandals that Casey put her in that she was too small to wear before and she loved them. Wouldn't let Casey take her out of them. It was too funny.

It's little moments like that, which make me smile and laugh and just love her so much more every day. But last night I realized something in the fact that she is growing up and that all these moments that I am enjoying now will becoming memories. Makes me a little sad every time I think about it. Every night I go into Ellie's room and check on her before I go to bed. I usually end up putting her blanket on her, even though I'm sure the wiggle worm will have it off of her in the very near future.

But last night she ended up waking up and she sat right up and just looked at me and waved her arms around like she wanted to be picked up. I tried to lay her back down, but she just rolled over and sat up again, this time with some whimpers, like she wanted me to pick her up even more. I did just that. I grabbed her, the blanket, and her pacifier and we sat down into the rocking chair and with her head on my chest, we just rocked for a good long while. It was that moment last night that I enjoyed that memory. Like, I know I'm not going to get many moments like this all the time, so enjoy it. Plus with Ellie, it's rare that she'll snuggle with you anymore. She's usually too distracted with the world around her.

But it was nice. I just kissed her head and rubbed her back while her little hand tugged on my shirt collar. It's moments like that I realize how much I love her and how blessed I am to have her in my life. She makes my life sweeter every day. And what's even better to have Ellie in my life is to have Casey with me too. I give amazing "props" to the woman and men out there that raise a child on their own. Casey is my support on so many levels and I love her so much. I have two amazing girls in my life and I'm lucky that they love me back! haha. Until next time....

Daddy Daughter Day

Well, my wife got to see some of her old friends this Sunday. I got to spend some time with Ellie all by myself. As you can see by this posting, we survived. No house fires or anything broken. Of course the living room had toys strewn around everywhere!

Ellie and I had a great time. I think I could watch her facial expressions all day. Her little smirks, smiles, "questioning" looks are absolutely entertaining. Oh, and she finally stood up all by herself. She has already been pulling herself up on things like the couch and shimming around, but this was the first time she literally just stood straight up in the middle of the floor. She was smiling right at me and me right back at her, but of course there is never a camera, camcorder, cell phone, polaroid, etc. when you need one! But I'll at least have the memory of it. We will definitely get it on camcorder when she does it longer.

Overall it was a great day. Ellie and I have a blast and Mommy got some well needed time with some old friends. Now, another week of work begins. Wish me luck!

Hiatus Over Hopefully

I haven't written anything on this blog in a while. I was trying something new and basically got side tracked for the past couple of months. I will try to keep this going more often. Maybe something every couple of days if time permit.

So a lot has happened since my last point. Mainly, my little girl is now a little over ten months old! I can't believe it. As everyone has said and will say in the future, "Time does fly!" I feel just like last week I was getting up every couple of hours on the couch while my wife and I touch shifts to feed Ellie. Now she's crawling around and getting into everything that she can reach and touch. Even though that is a new level of toughness in becoming a parent, it's wonderful to see her develop and start to mature.

Her personality is really coming out and she's really starting to grow into her own little person. No longer is she the little baby that use to just watch me wash her bottles and snuggle. Now she's the little baby that can follow me around, and wants me to hold her so she can wash the bottles with me, and when we snuggle....well, let's just say that she loves my glasses and loves poking her finger in my eye!

She also has some new stuff that she can do. She can basically say the word dog, dada, and mama. She of course has her baby talk which is absolutely hilarious but mostly just sounds like a Sims character. The funny thing is that she can say dog and my wife and I thought that it was her understanding what our dogs looked like. Well, we were half right, but now she thinks anything with four legs that doesn't look like a human, is now a "doogg" Well, I'll post more and definitely try to keep up with this. For now, I leave you with a most recent picture of my little one.

One of the Latest Pics

Just wanted to post a pic of her in her bumbo. She's starting to like that more.

Good Stuff

So, I know by now while reading this blog, it seems that all I ever talk about is how sleepy and tired I am. I wanted to write a little about all the stuff I love so far being a new dad. I thought about it last night while holding my little girl. I never knew how much the smell of my baby would just make me feel comfortable and relaxed. There something about when I kiss her neck or head and I smell her right after a bath or just at the end of my work day.


It's hard to explain that smell. It's unlike any thing you have smelt before and it becomes familiar and calming. I also love when she smiles at me when she sees me. It could be because she thinks I'm funny looking, but I'd like to think it's because she is happy to see me. She's starting to hold on to things too. I love when I pick her up and she can now sort of wrap her arm around my neck. It's exciting to know that she'll only be able to do more as she gets older. Of course it's sad, because I know that as that happens, she'll never be this little any more.

So for now, I'll sit back and enjoy this small moments. All the smells and all the little things. It's a truly amazing experience to be a dad and nothing can compare to it. I hope that everyone that wants to experience this, can. Well, that's it for now. I'll post more later.

Animals

So, I thought that raising a child would be extremely hard. I could not imagine doing it with a toddler or another baby. But why is it that taking care of the pets you have becomes harder? I feel like we have been neglecting them recently with play time with them, but there isn't enough hours in the day to do that. And with that being said, it seems that they are "acting" out more. Isabelle decided last night that she would let me know she was lonely and starts to whine at 4a.m. I was so exhausted because I had just put Elle down to sleep for her 3a.m. feeding. Hopefully this won't happen again.

Elle is doing great now. I just got over a sickness, which kicked my butt for about a week. My wife is fighting it now and hopefully will be back to normal by this weekend. Elle is still a little sick as well, but she's always smiling through her coughs and such. I hope that her attitude towards sickness stays that way, but who knows. She's has her baby well check up on this Friday and I'll post her weight and length. I'm curious because I know she's grown because she's not fitting in any of her clothes anymore. It's time to move up to the 3-6 months finally :) Well, I'll post more later on Friday afternoon.

Sickness

So, I haven't put anything on here for the past while, but now the holidays are over and I should be able to update this more frequently. The past week, I have been sick. My little girl is sick too. That stinks, because that leaves mommy to fend for herself and take care of two sick pups. :) Hopefully I will be better by the weekend and Elle will too. Let's also hope that Casey stays well, and doesn't get sick her self.

Overall, Elle is doing great and I love being a Dad. She went through a little growth spurt and bundle that with a sickness, she was getting up about every hour on the hour throughout the night, which made it very difficult for me to get sleep. I'm on the night duty! But now, she seems to be feeling better for the most part and is pretty much sleeping from 7ish to about 2-3a.m. Gets up, I feed her, and then she goes back down to bed. Then I usually have to wake her up in the morning to take her to the babysitters. Well, I'll post another pictures soon and give a little more updates later.

Morning Always Comes Too Early

When you don't go to bed until 1a.m., 3a.m or 6a.m. comes all too early. I think that the brain should be able to run off of just a couple of hours, but that's of "solid" sleep. It is getting better and Elle is finally sleeping about four to five hours straight now. It's not what we want exactly, but it's better than it has been in a while. We are going to try some rice cereal, told to do this by our doctor. This is suppose to help Elle sleep longer because it doesn't digest as fast as the baby formula. Wish me luck in that and hopefully this will get me about six hours of solid sleep. I can work with that.

Whatever happened to 8 hours of sleep?

The other night was the first time my little girl actually slept for more that a few hours. She actually slept for seven hours straight! I was very excited, but my wife and I both kept hopping up because we wanted to check on her and make sure she was okay. She had never done that before. So, now that we know that she can do it, we want her to do it all the time, but of course that's ridiculous for us to hold a small new born to that standard. I remember all the nights when I was younger, staying up late playing video games, drinking out with friends, or just hanging out late with some peeps. What I realize now, is that I should have taken that time to enjoy multiple hours of sleep. I'm not asking for much, just a few hours of "solid" sleep. Something around four hours would be nice. But when you don't put your little girl down until 10:30ish p.m., and then try to enjoy some "self" time, and then you have to change and feed her at 12:30, and then again at 2:30a.m. You start to get a little tired. All I got to say is I'm very thankful to all those caffeinated drinks. So, I'll gladly celebrate the end of the week, where I consistently get more than 4 hours of solid sleep. Until then, bring on the Mountain Dew, the coffee double shot expresso Venti style, the jolt gum, and anything else that can keep me going through the day!

Weekends for Myself Please

So, it was another busy weekend. We had tons of stuff to get done on Saturday and Sunday was another visit from Family. I'm not saying I don't mind family coming up, but it just seems we have someone coming every weekend. So, my wife and I have decided to make sure we have at least one day to ourselves on the weekend. We may upset some people, but we need that family time. We are definitely going to need it when it comes to my wife going back to work and I'm already here too. Hopefully friends and family will understand that we need that alone family time to bond. As for this weekend, it was definitely nice to have family over for food and fun. Wife made an awesome meal and family got to see Elle. This weekend we have decided that we are taking the whole weekend to ourselves. Sorry folks, but it's time for us to lay in bed all day with the baby and enjoy each other's company. Until next time....

Dogs and Baby Diapers Don't Mix

So, when your wife tells you, "Honey, the diaper genie is full and I've put some diapers in the trash. Make sure you empty it before the dogs get to it." DO IT!!! I don't want to post the picture, but she emailed me something that wasn't a pretty sight at all. Lesson learned! She was awesome and cleaned it up, but there has been guilt all day and probably the rest of the week. As for an interesting pic.....Squirrels are pretty creative and sneaky buggers. The dog was barking and my wife got up to see what Isabelle was barking at on the porch. She sees the little squirrel stealing one of our small pumpkins.

It's Halloween!

Okay, so I know it's a couple of days after Halloween, but I had to post this one! She's Batgirl and is on the prowl for bad guys. Halloween was okay this year. It's way different with a little one. My wife and I really didn't have time to get dressed up, so we thought we would at least have Elle in something fun. My wife and I are HUGE fans of Halloween. Next year, we will be more "prepared" for all the pre-planning we will have to do. But overall, all the trick or treaters loved her costume. Hmmm....next year we will have to see if she can be Wonder girl.

Latest Picture

Here's the one of the latest pictures we have of our little girl. She's now weighing 9lbs. 3ozs. And is 22 inches long. She is now smiling, and is a wonderful baby all around.

The Baby!!!

This is my new baby girl, Eliana (El-e-ahhna) Jean. This picture was taken about 12 hours after she was born. She was 7lbs. 9oz. and 20" long.

The Sister Pup

This is Isabelle. She's our second fur baby. She is a little over one year old and is such a scaredy cat. She has a big bark and sounds mean, but is scared of new people. We adopted her from the SPCA and we think she might have been abused, but we took her in and have tried to get her to trust people. She usually warms up to strangers/family, after they have been around her for a little while. But she's the cutest happiest saddest dog ever!