News Flash- Have to share Will be back tonight

Some things are so exciting you have to do a quick blurb. I know I should be out the door already but I will get to my destination on time. I am hoping that this is the beginning of C.J. beginning to play her role on our team. She slept the entire night!!!!That is right from 11ish when we put her down and she is still sleep. Go C.J.!!! Now if she plays right she will be up most of the day and sleep through the night again tonight.

Just Live Your Life

I want to thank a very cool young lady for inspiring me today. We are victims of someone having expectations of us. What to wear, how to talk, where to go to school, who to date, what car you should buy, where you should live, and how you should act. At one time or another in all of our lives we have lived trying to reach someone else's goals for our lives. Truth be told this should never be the case.

Now some of you who see me more regularly know I joke around about my children all being meteorologists. My reasoning is that they get paid a nice chunk of change and can actual be inaccurate 75% of the time in their profession. So with C.J. being my first born it is now time for her career to begin taking shape, but that is what I want for her. Yes it's a joke and I want her to be whatever she wants to be as long as she is dedicated to it.

Because I didn't see C. J. since this morning when I left for work, I learned that laying a foundation is very important in a family. When a foundation is laid a child will always have those nuggets of life to look back upon and grow. This was you can go to sleep at night assured that whatever it is your child puts their mind to, they are carrying out the tasks with pride and purpose. This young lady today helped me (a perfectionist) understand that I will have to let C.J. develop into who she wants to be and not what I may think is ideal. The bible tells us to train up a child in the way it should go and when she (in this case) is old she will not depart from it.

As a parent I must understand that there will be things C.J. does that will irk and upset me but nevertheless I have to love her unconditionally. I have to believe in my heart that at all times I have allowed her to see true love, trust and whatever other values and morals I want her to possess. This way she will be a happy child who feels loved all the time. I missed my baby today but at all times, morning, noon and night C.J. occupies my mind and I am thinking of how I will parent to make sure she understands life and can apply what she learns from her Daddy!

That is all for today. I hope this touches others like it touched me. Let your kids live THEIR lives. Just be supportive and always remember to pray because prayer changes things.

YUCK!!!

Alright folks she baptized me and I'm the minister. She gave back some of her milk down my back. It was yucky and ran all the way down my back. Good thing I didn't have a suit on. I know that sounds very mean to say but dry cleaning is expensive and we want to make sure C.J. eats. Come on people, it's a joke, laugh with me.

So we have had other yucky situations too. Diapers changes have been become more and more smelly as of late and C.J. needs to learn how to spray the glade quickly. I mean it oozes and runs and the smell would make you think that she feasted on rotten milk but she does not and Daddy makes sure of that.

Today C.J. and I listened to music. She was quiet through George Clinton and Earth Wind and Fire. We danced to Daddy's favorite song, September, too. So this is all post bath time too. Usually she is asleep by now but she is up and about now. Why she is up, we don't know, but we are trying everything to put her down. I am sure a warm embrace from Dad will do the trick.

I've noticed that she seems to be a lot more active now which makes me excited because that means playtime with Daddy will commence, and who knows what will go on there. It's what I have been waiting for since she was born...the basketball is ready to go.

Welp tonight has to be short because I have to get ready for a long day tomorrow. C.J.'s got me today but tomorrow and the next day I will be ready for her, lol. As always remember to pray becasue prayer changes things.

Define Normal

In my lifetime I've had many conversations with parents. Whether it was as a teacher during back to school night, a counselor discussing admissions or as a concerned citizen speaking with parents in the community. I have talked with them all about God only knows what and none of them ever told me that I would never utter the word "normal" again. C.J. has come into my life and changed the way I do life, even waking up in the morning. Like today, I pressed the snooze button three times. C.J. wanted to be fed at 4:00am right when I was (again) entering that level of sleep where it gets real good. So I figured if I lose this time, by pressing the snooze button, I would make it up. The result, late to work again.

Now tonight, I come home ready to create a nice Asian dish for dinner, (OK, it was chicken stir fry over lo mein noodles),however, I had to make some minor adjustments since I wanted to hold C.J. and cook at the same time. So she watched me cook today. Hopefully she picked up some pointers. Operating with one hand made me realize once again that changes have had to be made, and I'd better begin looking at things differently right now.

Even when riding to the doctor's office, I have lost my co-pilot. Shatema now sits in the back seat with my little lady. Try having a conversation by way of the rear view mirror. Also I can't even play my music up all loud anymore, lol. So when my jam comes across the airwaves I have to just sway from side to side versus getting buck-wild like I used to.

Now one might say man does he sound bitter. Trust me I am not. So what, things will never be normal again. To tell the truth I am abnormal. Nothing I do is normal...I don't eat, dress, sleep, perform tasks, or even think, normally. So C.J. coming along just helps her old man think of new and exciting ways to be creative. Who needs normalcy anyway? We should all live our lives doing new and exciting things. Every day we should be innovative and inventive! So thank you C.J. for helping Daddy remain walking on the edge of the box, and I look forward to the day when we can be abnormal together. That is all for today, remember to pray because prayer changes things!

Scheduling Conflict

In my short month as a parent I would not have anyone believe that everything has all been good. As with any new experience you have your ups and downs. You wonder a lot and you have those moments where you simply say, "What the heck did I get myself into?" I would have to say that the biggest issue in the house has been that of scheduling. Mommy has her schedule, Daddy had his and C.J. operates on her own schedule. The problem is that none of the schedules are in sync.

I will go on record to say that I do not buy any of this C.J. will begin to follow our schedule soon. I believe that she should sleep when she wants to and be awake when she wants to. Now I do feel that she should sleep when her parents sleep and be active during the day when we are out and about. I know many people, especially the mothers, will chalk this comment up to me being a rookie on the fatherhood team and you may be correct. However I believe that everything will come together sooner or later. I don't want to rush anything. I just want things to fall into place.

This week this scheduling came into play. Realistically I saw C.J. in the mornings, then again at night, and at both times she was asleep. I am already dreading this weekend when I know I have to work (though not really doing much, I still have to go in.). I'm saying to myself that I really would much rather be at home with C.J. than down at that school. I love my job but C.J. and I need to keep our bond strong. It was evident that she missed me because she slept on me for a long time last night without a peep. On the other hand she showed her disgust in me not being around by crying anytime I held her today. So automatically the wheels started turning in my head as to what I need to stop doing RIGHT NOW to ensure that this does not happen again.

The daily happenings of C.J. continue to amaze me. Every move, sound, gesture and that smile helps me to understand that she is the Princess in my home and that she is already setting her agenda. One day I guess C.J., Shatema and myself will need to sit down and discuss all of our agendas to make sure that we are all on the same page moving in the same direction.

That is all for today, I'm surprised I stayed this focused with the Giants and Cowgirls playing today. Always remember to pray because prayer changes things.

What Is With The Closed Fist

OK, I have taken pictures of my twin (C.J.) everyday since she has been upon the earth and one thing is the same all the time. C.J. loves to clinch her fist in photos. Now I didn't know that my crush on Laila Ali would amount to this. I want her to be able to defend herself but she looks like she is gearing up to be a fighter. Some may say not to worry about the fist. Maybe she is going to do an in depth study on Angela Davis. No matter what reason one will choose to go with,the girl has the fist clinched and ready to go whenever she needs to.

Today was another one of those long unusual days. I had a meeting early this morning and then was invited to a football game this evening. Needless to say I didn't get to chill with C.J. and watch football today, and me knowing my loving wife, (SMILE Shatema because I know you will read this) can bet all I have to say that she didn't have C.J. no where close to the television to get her sports in for the week.

As we tailgated in the parking lot I saw a man with a Baby Bjorn carrier bringing his very young child to the game today. (Now people the child looked to be C.J.'s age if not younger). I am all for bringing your kids out to enjoy a nice game but this guy was nuts. My wife, mother, grandmother, aunts, mother in-law and sister in-law, not to mention my own dad, would have called the police on themselves after they took part in my burning at the stake if I pulled a stunt like that. I visualized myself and C.J.adorned in our favorite players jersey, grilling some burgers, her with some candy and pompoms and dad with some peanuts getting overly excited as we make our way to our seats after some annual tailgating. It is funny I just remembered one of my college roommates asked if she would be coming to homecoming this year. I said, "Not this year but she will be out and about next year."

It will be great to do things like that with her and I look forward to it. Of course we will take pictures and probably she will pose with her trademark of a closed fist and a smile. I will admit, I do hate not being around her 24 hours a day but I will work on that. We all know it won't be a raise on the job, Jimbo Corzine has saw to that. That only leaves me to hit the lotto...if I only played. Maybe it is time for me to exercise my one dollar and a dream! That is all for tonight folks, time to go get some rest and prepare for Worship tomorrow. As always remember to pray because prayer changes things.

One Day At A Time

Well I have to admit something to you all, the sound of a baby waking up at 3:30am is a sound that has become all too familiar. She will whimper, squirm and then let out a cry that says, "You all know the drill, get up!" So it was my turn to get her back to sleep and last night I figured out that the rocking motion helps a lot. So needless to say, I did not have to stay up too long.

Now one thing I try not to do, but in my line of business you can not do all that well, is bring work home, mentally or physically. Today was different. I needed to vent and home was the only safe place. So I had to tell C.J. about my day. I must say she is helping me to curb my tongue. I might have slipped twice. OK, it was three times but if you know me you know that means I have gotten better. I think it is healthy for her to know that Daddy is not happy all the time. I think this is important because she will one day have to deal with a lot of emotions. I would hope that throughout her life she will see how to deal with all emotions effectively. I think I did well though, I vented, received feedback and developed an action plan. A process I will pass down to lil C.J. one day.

C.J. was her usual self when I got home. I quickly washed my hands so I could hold her for a while and listen to what she had to say. I also decided to stop in on reading time today. Mommy is reading Hill Harper's "Letter to a Young Sister" to her now. Today it was about a young lady finding purpose and maximizing potential in college. How ironic that college for kids was the lunch discussion today. I made the statement, and will stand by it, that as long as C.J. loves what she does she can be anything she wants to be. That means a meteorologist, ballet dancer or plumber. I will make it my business not to live her life for her. My life is tough enough so I will let her do her.

The night was easy...she is bathed, fed and now sleeping. I decided to wait until late tonight because I wanted to process how my venting could affect her. I think she will be just fine. So as always, remember to pray because prayer changes things.