Double Trouble!

Last week our little bundle of joy got her 4 month check-up, as well as vaccination shots, and she has DOUBLED in size from the time she was born. Yes, I said DOUBLED in size. She's now a hefty 12lbs, 12 oz.

Who needs a BowFlex when you can carry this bundle of love around?

Baby Einstein may be leading the pack in music...

but Baby Kensington is tearing up the canvass, one brush stroke at a time.

Kensi loves - I mean LOVES - painting. At only four months, she's already getting ready for her first exhibition, at the Irwin-Dudek Gallery. Picasso created his first painting, El picador, when he was 5 years old. Our Princess Kensington created "Flamingos sentarse" (Perching Flamingos) at only 16 weeks. Booya to you Picasso!

Like any true art lover, you have to look at the colors, design and texture of her portrait and let your imagination sink into the spirit in which it was painted in. In this landscape/wildlife piece, you can see a father and daughter flamingo perching next to a waterfall. Look. Feel. Imagine.

For those of you that need some assistance, I've enhanced her piece digitally to give you a sense of what she was going for.

Before... and After.

As we approach our 4th month of fatherhood tomorrow, I am once again reminded of just how much things have changed in our lives recently. Less sleep, more poop, more noise, more work, less space in the house, more love than we could EVER imagine. As many gay dads would confess - we wouldn’t change anything, obviously, but we do have to admit that our lifestyle is just a wee bit differenet now. That includes the meaning of words and phrases around the ItsDaddies.Plural household.

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Obviously these are all in good fun.
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“Let’s go for dinner and a show.”

Before Kensington: On Saturdays, Chris and I would travel into the city, get tickets to the newest show on the Great White Way and head to a great little restaurant in the Village. We’d take our time, talk about our week at work and flirt a little… sometimes with each other.

After Kensington: Dinner consists of eating cereal on the couch… in shifts. One eats, the other one tries to put Kensington to bed. Then we select whatever show has been Tivo’d, and in the system for the last two month, and try to watch it over the screams from the angry baby in the nursery. One of us is asleep by 8:30. [side note… please don’t tell me who is winning on American Idol. We’re still watching the auditions. I’m kinda digging the new judge.]

“Let’s get out of the house.”

Before Kensington: Pack some things in a bag, grab the bare essentials and hit the open road. Where are we going? Who knows? Who Cares!!! We don’t need a stink’n destination, wherever we end up is good enough – D.C., Philly, Down the Shore, Connecticut, London for the weekend – where ever! No schedule, no timetable and no worries.

After Kensington: Um… and go where? What time is it? Hmmm, well we’ll have to make it a quick trip because she should take a nap in about an hour and she’ll never sleep if we break her schedule. So let’s pack the diaper bag. Bring a change of clothes. Wait, better make that two changes of clothes. Don’t forget the wipes and the extra diapers. Grab the camera. Wait… is the battery fully charged? Plug it in real quick. Did you bring the formula? And the bottle. Oh oh oh wait, we need the stroller too. Don’t forget her hat in case we end up outside. Oh, what about Duncan & Gossip? We need to take them too…. that means we can’t fit the stroller so we can’t go anywhere that requires us to get out of the car. Look at the time…it’s time for her nap. Let’s just forget it.

“Honey, we were invited to a party!”

Before Kensington: Our friends call, or sends an Evite, or even Facebook message to let us know there’s a soiree happening at so-and-so’s house. Whip up a dish of Hot Crab Artichoke Dip. Bring a change of clothes because you maybe staying in the guest room if it gets too late.

After Kensington: The Evite turns into a Winnie the Pooh card from other couples with kids. No one calls anymore because we’re too busy to ever answer our phone. The Cabernet Sauvignon has transformed into 16-oz of formula. The Hot Crab Artichoke Dip turns into chips and salsa. The only change of clothes we need is for Kensi, who will surely pick this opportunity to poop or pee her way through her onsie. We’ll never see another guest room again.

“I’m gonna take a quick shower.”

Before Kensington: Well, this one’s pretty self-explanatory If you wanted to perform the simple task of showering you just jumped in. End of story.

After Kensington: The only time we can shower is when we’re home together. Kensington cannot stand it when we go around the corner and she knows we’re in house. That means we have to bring her to the master bedroom while we shower, so we can hear her and she can hear us. Which also means we have to bring either the pack-n-play up or the bassinet, because if not she’ll roll herself off the bed, or if on the floor, roll under our bed – which is Gossip’s domain.

“Let’s watch some TV.”

Before Kensington: We were both HUGE television junkies. I start my mornings off with Matt, Meredith, Ann and Al… or if I woke up earlier than when they were on, I’d watch the shows that we’re on our upstairs Tivo unit. When we’d get home from work we’d watch Chelsea Lately, Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, Fringe, Reaper, Heroes, Brothers and Sisters… and then we can’t forget the 12 reality shows that are recorded and watched religiously.

After Kensington: The morning lineup is drastically different - Baby Einstein. When we get home, it tummy time and giggles… that’s our reality.

“I’m on my way.”

Before Kensington: The phone would ring with someone asking me if I’d want to meet up with them. I’d pick up the jeans that are laying across the ironing board, throw on a top, two sprays of Banana Republics Slate cologne and run out the door.

After Kensington: I’d pick up the jeans that are laying across the ironing board, throw on a top, two sprays of Banana Republics Slate cologne and run to get Kensington ready. Steps following that are changing her diaper and giving her five ounces of formula, burping every two ounces. Once feed, it’s going through her closet to find an outfit that she 1) Hasn’t worn in two weeks, 2) Hasn’t worn in the presence of the same company (she is a lady) and 3) Is favorable to the weather forecast for the next couple of hours.

“Sleeping in.”

Before Kensington: 11 a.m. on a weekend.

After Kensington: Not applicable.

“I need to be pampered.”

Before Kensington: Chris and I would frequently go to the spa for a deep tissue or sports massage… an occasional facial, followed by a mani and petti.

After Kensington: With no time to actually schedule an appointment, for anything, we’ve been reduced to using the Neutrogena Wave as the only form of smoothing out the pores. As far as a massage, there is that house located a couple miles away that never has any business and a flickering neon “Open” sign that is lit 24/7. I may have to give it a try…

“How Do I Look?”

Before Kensington: One of us would be getting ready to go out and casually ask if this shirt looks good with these jeans… am I overdressed or under-dressed for the occasion. Do these shoes go with this top? Brown belt or black belt? “Yes” or “no” to the cuff links.

After Kensington: Can you see the spit up that I just wiped off my shoulder?

“So This Is What Life Is?”

Before Kensiginton: Spending time with each other, our friends and our family.

After Kensington: Loving someone like you could never have imagined.


Thanks to Aaron at DaddyFiles for his creative influence on this post.

Finding Neverland...

Young girls should never be sent to bed... they always wake up a day older.

Okay, it's been three weeks since the last post. Where have we been, you've asked? Let's just say we've been teetering [no... not twittering] on the edge of the land of make-believe. Fatherhood has been amazing. It really has. While we've been busy, with me going back to work, Kensington starting school and the numerous engagements we've had, we've still had time to watch our little angel change on a daily basis. It seems to us that Kensington's trying to grow up too fast, and for that, we've opted to watch it - and not write about it.

I know, I know... how dare we!

When I come home, logging into the computer has been the last thing on my mind. I just wanna eat our little angel up. I only have a short time span to smile with her, watch her roll around (yes, she's rolling on her stomach AND back again on her back), have our 'Raspberries and Bubbles' competitions, and listen/watch her laugh. You do know that when a baby laughs for the first time, the laugh breaks into a thousand pieces, and they all go skipping about. And that's the beginning of fairies. Okay, that was a stretch to add another 'Finding Neverland" quote.

Once she goes to sleep at 7 pm, she's doing it in our arms (and on the boppy around our waists) until it's time to bring her to her crib (which should be 9pm, but has been more like 10, 10:30 because we want to hold her forever). And then it's time for us to try to get some sleep.

The nice thing has been is that she's been in day-care for three days a week. I've been taking one day off to spend with her (we've been on walks, strolls, and jungle-gyming it). She is LOVING daycare. So far, she's done baby yoga, has had stretch class, has done - yes, has done THREE art projects. I was so excited to see Kensingtons first art project she did in class (pictured here). I do believe we have a baby Van Gogh on our hands. Oh No! I love her little baby ears...both of them!

The Devil Is In The Details

Did Lucifer play a role in Kensington's Mazha and Fazha'a visit? It may sound crazy, but one of the driving forces in our day... all 12 of them, started and ended with the sights and sounds of Lucifer. That’s right, Lucifer, also known as the Devil, Satan, Beelzebub, FOXNews—you get the idea.

Anyway... we had to make an emergency call to Father Dan to get him to come and exercise the television. No... not put on a DVD of Richard Simmons... actually perform the reformed rites of exorcism.
We didn't think it would have to go to that extent... but it seemed like the remote would only let you turn to channel 360 on the satellite and there was a strange fuzzy "FOX News" emblem permanently embedded in the bottom left-hand of our screen. Chris and I would also hear some strange voice murmurring "Hannity" during Kensis 2am feedings.

Life... one inch at a time.

Hey all you new parents and expectant parents, we wanted to share with you a great new item that we came across.

BumpyName, which can be found at inchbug.com is every parent’s solution for labeling bottles, sippy cups, snack containers and other various drink/toiletry containers. This product is non-adhesive, reusable and personalized to meet your needs.

These are dishwasher and microwave safe and are sure to make your life simpler! No more "permanent" markers that wash away in the dishwasher. No more sticky labels that fade, peel, or leave sticky residue. These labels are easy to use - just stretch and release for a snug fit around a variety of containers. BumpyName labels are a must-have for pre-school and daycare.

InchBug is also the place to go for the "Diaper Vest" and "Cargo Jacket" brands by DadGear - the hottest innovations in parenting gear since the diaper bag itself! Instead of carrying a traditional diaper bag, dad can stash everything he needs for baby-care inside cleverly concealed pockets of this stylish fleece Vest or Jacket. With no bag to carry, dad also stays 'hands free.' Both the Vest and Jacket hold diapers, bottles, wipes, dad's cell phone and mp3 player, and even a slim changing pad. Thanks to the Diaper Vest and Jacket's sporty design and carefully placed pockets, no one will ever know that dad is wearing his diaper bag!

Hippity Hoppity...

All the way back to the real world. Today is the last day that I have on leave (sad face with tear trickling down my face). Mazha and Fazha left this morning to head back to the Red state. We love them and forgive them... for they not know what they do.

Fazha has SPOILED his granddaughter beyond belief. All she had to do was give him a look and she was in his arm... walking around the house... and spitting up on him, which never phased him.

We have TONS of stories and TONS of photos over the last two weeks that I will be posting in my free time (Ummm... I've had no free time during the past three months, so I don't know when/if I will be obtaining some, but if it's out there, I'd love to find it).

Being that my dance-card was open today, Chris and I headed to upstate NY to get another set of finger prints taken. We've had Federal, we've had NJ, we've had PA... why not go for another set to add to our collection. We feel, it's better to be safe and have this set just in case (as we're finalizing in NY) so we don't run into issues like we did when Kensington first came into our lives.

After getting the run-around about where to go (the State Police station told us to contact the local office, the local office told us to contact the State Barracks, which told us to be there by 10:30. We arrived on time and the building was empty. When we press the button at the door, we were transferred to the first station we called - which was 30 minutes away - and they told us just to go there to get processes). Once there, we had to wait about 30 minutes for someone to show up that could run our prints. But we were able to get it done, and that's all that matters. :)


So, after hanging out at the Police Station we decided to run to the mall to get Kensington's picture taken with Peter Cottontail, who was hoppin' down the bunny trail... getting ready to help our little Egg-cellent daughter celebrate her first Easter. We LOVE how the picture turned out. In addition to this picture above, I did two digital scrapbooking quick pages for Kensi's Everyday Display. These free pages were from Kimberly Stewart's "Ted E. Rabbits" kit,which can be found here.

The Laramie Project, 10 Years Later

Our friends, and now award winning host, Derek and Romaine have put a very special item up for a limited download: The Laramie Project, 10 Years Later - The Lasting Legacy of Matthew Shepard. Now you can download a copy of the radio documentary the GLAAD Media Awards have honored with a special recognition award here at their site - http://www.siriusoutq.com.

The two-hour documentary aired originally on October 10th, 2008 to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death. Conceived and produced by Romaine Patterson, the documentary examines the impact the award-winning play-turned-film The Laramie Project has had on attitudes towards hate crimes with interviews from playwright Moises Kaufman and members of Tectonic Theater Company.

The story of Matthew Shepard changed the way we talk about and deal with hate in the United States. For the past ten years, the legacy of this remarkable young man's life has challenged and inspired millions of individuals to erase hate in all forms. Although his life was short, it continues to have a great impact on both young and old alike.

Chris and I have had the opportunity to meet Judy Shepard on two separate occasions, as well and his young brother, Logan. These two courageous individuals, with their friends and family, have been able to keep Matthews memory alive and helped pass civil and LGBT issues such as the Hate Crimes Legislation: The Matthew Shepard Act. Learn more, and donate at http://www.matthewshepard.org

Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco III winner announced...

We're loving this series in the Dad-Blogs Fatherhood Friday's.

There were so many great comments, but this week winner has to go to WeaselMomma for the following:

After years of a dwindling audience, The WWF is pushing the limit of wrestling. This week it Chompers the Champ vs. Prissy the Pooch.

Cage match, throw down.

Go check out her blog, World Of Weasels, here.

Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco III

Thank you for joining in the third installment of our Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco.

We've missed the past two weeks because we've had family and friends visiting... but WE'RE BACK!

For our part in Dad-Blogs Fatherhood Friday's, we're posting pictures of other peoples children and we're looking for your best comments/captions. Why? Because you can be crowned the week's winner for best caption. What do you get? Praise. Laughs. Golf Claps. A virtual pat on your back. Oh... and a web badge that you can proudly display on your blog :)

You don't have to be a member of Dad-Blogs to participate...
Here we go:

From sea to "Holy See"

Before we forget... Chris and I have noticed that over the past couple of days, we've had two hits from The Holy See. Although the Holy See is closely associated with the Vatican City, the independent territory over which the Holy See is sovereign, the two entities are separate and distinct.

Just a little something that makes you go hmmmm....

ItsDaddies.Plural. is on Hiatus

Hey All -
Just wanted to drop a quick post to say that all is well here. We've been traveling the states with Kensington's Grand Mazha and Fazha, visiting great-grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins and adoring fans :) Besides some small bouts with teething, the overall experience has been amazing. Over the past week, we've taken over 1200 photo's, received probably 25 new outfits, and has had a very spoiled Kensi that has been held for 22 hours a day (that last part isn't a brag... it's been a little bit of a hindrance at 3 am when everyone wants to sleep, and someone wants to play).

We have plenty of stories to share and fun pictures to post... our blogging routine will return to normal in the next couple of days. Let's hope our sleep patterns follow the same.

"It's Just Not Right!"

It seems like Kensi's Great-Auntie Carole, and the Oklahoma contingent, were checking the site for a St. Patrick's Day picture... hopefully after your celebrations tonight (and don't even try to think about telling us there were not celebrations!) you'll come back by.

She's still a little under the weather, poor thing. Hopefully her spirits will rise when her grandmazha and grandfazha arrive from Texas tomorrow. If you think she's spoiled now, just you all wait. They're probably hauling a trailer with a pony behind them... we know there's a trailer being pulled with all of the luggage and Aqua Net that's needed for a two week stay. Hey... don't laugh. We're a little bit country, and at times, a little bit rock-n-roll.

As far as the "Tax Deduction" comment on the shirt... it was either this one from Rebel Ink, or one that said, "Kiss me, I'm Irish."

Well, two things:

• She's not Irish.
• If you're a boy, don't be trying to kiss our baby.

Like Beyonce said, "If you like it then you should put a ring on it". When she's 32 we'll let her look at all of the rings. If she picks yours, we call you. Let the Courtship of Kensington Grace continue... :)

Oh no...

Guess
who's
teething?

Yesterday, Chris and I noticed all of the signs of a teething baby... but at 10 weeks!?!? We did a little research and, though it occurs in most babies around the age of 4-7 months, it CAN occur in as early as 10 week.

BINGO.
We have a winner!

The symptoms most likely to trouble a teether include:

Drooling... which can lead to a facial rash. (Check)
Irritability or fussiness (Double-check)
Biting behavior - putting fist in mouth (Check)
Refusing food (umm... not so much)
Sleep problems (CHECK!!!!)
Gum swelling and sensitivity (Yep... we see broken skin along the gum line) :(

Daddies Daylight Savings Time...

I don't know about you guys, but this "daddies daylight savings time" change is kicking our butts. It's disrupted Kensington's scheduled naps, feedings, and bedtime... and when those are disturbed, our sleep schedules get out-of-whack.

Chris had to go into the office this morning (he works from home 4 days a week). When this happens, I make sure to cover the night shifts so he can get a good nights sleep because he's up at 5am and out the door by 5:45-6.

So yesterday I tried giving her her naps a half hour early, which would make them really a half hour later (I think... I'm still sleep deprived so I may not be making any sense here). Kensington didn't like that at all... and I paid the price. At 9 pm I gave her a feeding and put her to bed. Then I stayed up until 11:30 (big mistake). She was up at 2. So after another feeding, and about 45 minutes of rocking her back and forth, I thought I got her to sleep. Once I got into bed, she talked to herself for about 30 minutes which kept me up (darn monitor).

At 4:30, there was a thud on the bed. It was Miss Gossip... the cat. She always make a noise when she jumps up.... it could be the effort and force it takes to get her 80lbs body on the bed. Okay... i exaggerate a bit. She's only 60lbs. :)

She waddles up to me and kisses my face and meows. Now... if I would have gotten enough sleep, I would have known it was Gossip. When my mind lead me to was nowhere near reality. I thought it was Kensington. These words honestly came out of my mouth, "Kensi, how did you get out of your crib? You're going to hurt yourself by jumping out of it." All I got was a meow. (Seriously, if you were Gossip, what would you have said?) "I just fed you". Another meow. "Okay baby girl... let's get you another bottle." I lifted her over my shoulder and walked down stairs into the kitchen and proceeded to make a bottle. Mind you... I left my glasses on my night stand. Not that I'm using that as an excuse not to be able to tell the difference between my daughter and my cat, but it should count for SOMETHING.

For those of you that know Gossip, you know she'd normally never stay on my shoulder for long, but with formula just inches away from her, she'd pretend to be the Gerber Baby if it would help her case.

After the bottle is made, I head back upstairs into the Nursery and put Kensi/Gossip on the changing pad. Kensi jumps off to the floor and out the door. That's the moment when I realized something was wrong. Yes folks... it took me that long.

I ended up giving Kensington half the bottle and went back to bed. Kensi stayed sleeping until 8... and so did I.

Wow... what a rough night. Let's hope Duncan doesn't jump on the bed tonight and I try to put a diaper on him.

Next Calvin Klein Model

Take a picture...

it will last longer.
With the weather being 34 degrees today, we can't believe we had one enjoyable day this past week with weather being 70... yes, that's right. It hit 70 on Saturday. So, Chris and I did what any other couple would do when they've been couped up in the house for a couple days - - road trip. We headed to the outlets (smile). While the pictures don't show it, there literally had to be THOUSANDS of individuals at the outlets. Some stores had so many people in it, we decided not to even attempt it with Kensington and a stroller.

When we first arrived, Chris and I instantly noticed that we were turning heads. Two guys... a baby. Even though it's 2009, I guess it's still not a sight people see everywhere they go. Every store we went into, people stared and bumped into clothing racks because they we were not watching where they were walking. Hillarious.

Oh... and the saying is ABSOLUTELY true... baby's are a chick magnet. Too bad I'm not in college anymore (Sorry mom... I had to say that!) :)

Banana was great... but so packed Chris had to sit on the sidelines with Kensington while I did the shopping, and at Kenneth Cole, they showed us a corner that the stroller would fit in so we could go shopping (I'm kidding... one of us would shop while the other would stay with her). Ton's of stiff at 'Osh Gosh, Children's Palace and Ralph Lauren Kid's.

Kensington, of course, spit up on me while she was in her baby bjorn... but what better place to have it happen than French Connection UK. New shirt for me. I'm kinda getting the hang of this :)

Everyday is an adventure...

with Kensington Grace.

Whether it's lounging and laughing on the couch, coo'ing in her swing, having story time in her rocker or tummy time in her explorer gym, there is never really a dull moment in this house. Kensington is now smiling... A LOT - which is the most precious thing ever. I took these photo's the other day and have tons more of her grinning ear to ear.

I got bored last night (again, too much caffeine to allow me to get any real sleep) and decided to create a new digital page. I used pieces from It's Child's Play created by cre@bisontine.

Easter... 2010

While in New York, Chris and I came upon the most precious Easter Dress from Rare Editions. The only thing is, Kensington's Mazha and Fazha bought her a dress for this year already... so we bought it for Easter 2010. Come on... just look at it. We had to buy it. If it was up to me, we would have bought one for Easter 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Calling all brides...

if you're in need of a flower girl, we gotcha covered.

Vaccination time...

This past week, Kensington received her first round of vaccination shots. While I won't go into the details of the visit, I will say that it pained me to see her cry - and bleed a little - after getting two shots (one in each leg). At the visit, they also weighed and measured our little chickpea, and sh'es growing up so fast. She's now weighing in at 10lbs, 12oz and is 22 inches long.

She sleep for almost 2 days straight after getting her shots. While we would NEVER complain about her sleeping, we don't want her sleeping because of chemicals in her body :(

The doctor told us to watch her left leg, the one that got the TDap shot (the one that made me whine like a baby for three days when I got it in December), for any swelling or pain, and if needed to give her some Tylenol. The good thing was, while it bruised a little, she was showing no signs of swelling or discomfort. Not looking forward to going through this again next month.

Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco II winner announced...

Chris and I have been having an absolute blast reading all of the comments for this weeks Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco entry. Between the blog, facebook, text massages and emails, we've received 47 comments. Wow! It was tough this week to determine a winner as Chris and I had different opinions (what's new). What it all came down to was the voters choice. Yes, that's right. You all decided with your comments. So this week I'd like to give an Honorable Mention to Andrew's Daddies who came up with "Daddy?..I think I Ducked Up!". When I saw my blackberry light going off at 11:40pm, I checked it (because, even though I needed and wanted sleep, it just wasn't happening - too much caffeine in me) I started laughing out loud, which caused Chris to wake up and ask me what was so funny. When I shared it with him, his response was, "Wow... that's my favorite", and then rolled back over and continued snoring (that's the story of my life).

But... do to the overwhelming response from people who loved a certain caption... which spun (no pun intended) off numerous other themed comments, This Weeks Winner is - once again - Bella Daddy with "Spidey Duck, Spidey Duck, does whatever a Spidey Duck does..." So go check out Mr. Ghetto Fabulous in his Ed Hardy jeans and give him some mad props for this weeks contribution. Way to go...

Delayed Valentines Day Pics...

Now that Kensington is starting to get out of the house more, we haven't been as diligent to post pictures of her and her adventures as much as we use to. My bad. When transferring over our pictures fro the camera to the external drive, I noticed the pictures from Valentines weekend didn't get uploaded onto the site. Well, here they are. Hope you enjoy :)

These are from our dinner outing at Rudy & Jorge's. Here are there gorgeous kids - Christina, Frankie and Bennie.

Kensington is loving laying on Jorge. Come on guys... go for a fourth :)

Unfortunately, we had to call it an early night and we left the diaper bag next to the garage door and didn't notice until we were getting out of the truck. I now have the 'prop list' taped to the door to ensure that everything is packed before our next outing.

These are from the next morning when MaryCay, Mollie and Meggy came over. For those new to the site, visit here to get a recap of the fabulous M2 adventures.

Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco II

Thank you for joining in the second installment of our Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco.

So, for our part in Dad-Blogs Fatherhood Friday's, we're posting pictures of other peoples children (only because Saturday through Thursday we post of our own - ha ha ha) , and we're looking for your comments/captions. Why? Because you can be crowned the week's winner for best caption. What do you get? Praise. Laughs. Golf Claps. A virtual pat on your back. Oh... and a web badge that you can proudly display on your blog :)

You don't have to be a member of Dad-Blogs to participate...

Here we go:

Yum-Yum... Say Chee-eee-se!

[okay... I'm a couple days behind on blog posting - and sleeping - so hopefully I can catch up a little tonight while Chris gives Kensinton a bath]

Today, Kensi went to get her first set of pictures taken. I wish we had them to share with you... but we don't. I didn't get a proof/contact sheet of the prints we ordered, only the ones we didn't (didn't make sense. I guess it's in case I change my mind once I got home they wanted me to know what we were missing!?!?!?)

So, being that it was a Wednesday, and the place is cutting back hours/staff, they only had one employee working... no biggie. I was early so I got Kensington ready (stripped her out of her diaper so the imprints around the waist and legs would go away...), and begged her not to pee on me. I lightly placed a diaper around her and swaddled her up, and that little stinker pee'd thirty second later. So I changed her again and begged her not to pee on me, or any of the props they'd soon lay her on.

The photographer came out and asked what we wanted to do and my hurried comment was, "Let's take the bare photos now and then we can talk. With her track record, she's gonna explode on us any second now... "

These were the bare ones we didn't get:

Then the phone rang and the photographer apologized and explained that she needed to get the call. "No problem". Well, apparently Kensington had an issue with this because she spit up formula all over the black velvet backdrop. I was MORTIFIED! I'm rummaging through the diaper bag looking for wipes and trying to get everything cleaned up before the photographer came back in. Then I'm trying to re-arrange the velvet... it wasn't a pretty sight. But thankfully, I got everything taken care of before she came back in.

Then it was time for her "yum-yum" oriental dress.

All went well with this set... and then on to her purple and white knit outfit.

After all of the shots were taken, it was time to get Kensi settle in the stroller and she fell asleep before I could even change her. The photographer deleted all of the "bad" pictures and left me with about 20 to choose from. She then spent the next 15-20 minutes adding borders, text, playing with the color and tones of the prints. Each of these options would have been an additional $10-$35 per print. She then put together a 10x10 colliage with her name in it - $80, and then a tri-fold picture - $120. All of this was a waste of time... these things I could do from home. I just want the prints and the CD and I'll be on my way, thank you. Then I saw the price of the CD with High-res picture. Um... I'll scan them in :)

The pictures will be ready in two weeks... and we can't wait!

The one dissapointment of the day was that the apparently the photographer didn't like any of the bare bear pictures (I brought the bear that our cousin Brayden gave her before she was born) and deleted them. I tried taking some of my own a couple weeks ago and they didn't turn out good at all. Looks like we're going to have to go back for more pics :)

First Weekly Winner

We are very pleased to announce that we have our very first It's Daddies. Plural. winner for our "Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco" Challenge. Wow... say that five times.

Chris and I have spent the day laughing at the post on the blog, the text messages and the emails. This weeks winner was very easy for us to pick out because you all told us who should win.

It's none other than BellaDaddy, with "SHIT EATING GRIN" . Come on... You all wanted to say it, and just didn't have the guts to type it! Well, Congrats to the bois over at http://belladaddy.blogspot.com/ for stepping up to the plate :)

Fatherhood Friday Foto Fiasco

We're jumping on the dadblogs band-wagon and partaking in their popular "Fatherhood Friday" supernova. And with that being said... foto (okay, really it's 'photo' but I'm trying to add a literary alliteration - a touch of swank if you will) fiasco will be my theme. And why you may ask? Because I thought I deleted a majority of our pictures of Kensington by moving files around on my computer [yikes].

I was informed last week by Jason, our IT (computer - not 'it') guy, that I would be receiving an email from our VP of IT because of the amount of files I have on my computer. Apparently everyone with 3GB or more in their "My Documents" (items that get backed up to our main server) were being notified that they needed to clean up and delete obsolete files. No biggie. I can clean items up.

Well, I had folder on my desktop (items not backed up) of all of our pictures since Kensington's birth. I've had to place them on my work laptop because our personal laptop was being worked on by Toshiba because of a bad battery thing-a-majig.

While I was moving items to a new external drive, I noticed in the upper left hand corner a 'delete' box with file and folder names that I didn't want to delete. It was my photo folder. Lets just say several expletives came out of my mouth. loudly. I quickly hit cancel and then looked in my recycle bin. Empty. They were gone. I ended up deleting all of our December pictures and about the first week of January. I cried.

I went into the office today and went straight to Jason. I was told there was no hope. It was on the desktop and not backed up. But while I was there, he wanted to show me his spreadsheet about my storage space. I was using approximately 58% of the server space from our office (of 25 people). Then he pulled the organization report. There was one person in NYC (Pam... hahaha, it's you) who used more space than me. Out of 500+ people, I'm the second highest storage waster... with 19GB of files on the server. I needed to clean it up, and pronto.

So I spent the day looking at my "My Documents" folder, and seeing what could be deleted, what could be moved to the shared drive and what needed to stay. While doing this, I saw something out of whack. I had a "Personal", "Desktop", "Desktop1234" and a "PEID" (my initials) folders. Last month when I got a new laptop, I backed-up my files in a "PEID" folder (I've had my files deleted in the past when getting a new laptop and learned my lesson. I want to keep my files, my fonts, my favorites and my settings and not put my complete faith in someone else's to-do list). When I went to back up, it said "102 minutes remaining" so I headed to a meeting and told Jason that I'd give him the old laptop after my meeting. About 30 minutes later, I saw that Jason left a note on my laptop and the files stopped transferring. So I created a new folder, "Desktop1234", and transfer ed again. While I was transferring files in my computer, Jason was actually transferring all of my files to a "Desktop" folder from his office. And for some reason, there was another set of the files in a "Personal" file. So I actually had 4 backups of these files... so I didn't have to scour through files to see what I needed to keep versus what I wanted to keep. All-in-all, I was able to reduce my storage space down to 3GB's. Jason and I are both very happy... but Pam - gurl, you have issues!

So, for our part in Fatherhood Friday's, I'll be posting pictures that children may have wished their dads would have deleted, and I'm looking for your comments/captions. Why? Because I said so, [I can't wait to say that... I've been practicing], and you can be crowned the week's winner for best caption. What do you get? Praise. Laughs. A virtual pat on your back. Oh... and a web badge that you can proudly display on your blog :)

Here we go: