Zoe Had A Babysitter - Twice Yesterday!

Yesterday was a busy day for the California Blackwells.  It's a few minutes before the Super Bowl starts, and while I really care less about football, I want to make this quick so I can enjoy my Sunday with my friends.  Not that writing a blog isn't enjoyable ... but I don't want to be on the computer today.  ;)

No apologies for not writing the past couple days either.  It's a blog - that's the wonderful thing.  I can write,  or not write, whenever I want!  So take that!

Naw, it's just been a really busy week.  And yesterday topped off the busy-ness. 

To start off the day Mama Stacey got her hair did at an awesome salon in Hollywood at 8:30 in the morning! SOOO early!  But Hollywood that early is really cool, so Zoe and I walked around and got coffee and checked out the sites and peeps.  The Hair Artists' name is Laura Leon and Stacey would recommend her to you if you she ever got the chance.  Just ask Stacey for more details!

We also went to see one of our friend, Melissa Janneth, perform in Tustin, CA yesterday.  Melissa, who's website RLP completed this past week, was a stand alone performer yesterday in the Knights on the Radio, Foothill High School production.  Her voice was very mature and she knew how to keep attention not only by her voice.  She's a beautiful up and coming star with a good head on her shoulders and an amazing talent.  Check her out! Her mom watched Zoe for a couple hours while we checked out the show!  Thanks Patty!

After we picked Zoey Boey up from her first babysitter we headed back to the valley, then back to Hollywood where we dropped her off at our friends A & J.  After giving them thorough instructions ;) we headed to the ACME Theater in H-Wood to see Miss Amy Paffrath.  She owned the stage and made laugh my little flat tush off.  Very cool and exciting to see her on stage like that.  Good work Aims!

And now we're at M & M's.  Well, Mama B is out gettin' groceries and M and I are chillin' before the festivities begin.  I hope you enjoy your Sunday and are gearing up for another busy and productive week. 

Family Man

As a family man, I had a revelation today.  I need to take care of my family.  Don't get me wrong, I haven't been lacking on this ideal in the past ... but I can always be better.  I need to really take care of my family.  Just like my mother took care of our family; emotionally, physically, and on every single level.

Raising a human is a crazy experience because they are so dependant.  They rely on you for EVERYTHING.  Just like Zoe needs enough food, sleep, love and attention - so does Stacey. 

And that is my responsibility as a husband, a father, and a man to make sure they are taken care of on every level.  It's something I can be better at, with Stacey especially.  She's the best mother I know, and right now she is working for our family.  I could make sure she has lunch prepared, and I can always tell her more how beautiful she is.  I gotta step up and provide in other areas like making sure she's getting enough sleep and has security. 

I'm always learning.  This is just one thing that hit me today in the car. 

Thought I would share.

What can you be better at?

Testing Blogging from my iPhone

This is only a test.

-Marc Leonard Blackwell
Photographer

http://www.marcblackwellphotography.com
http://twitter.com/marcblackwell

Zoe Quacks In Her Crib

We put Zoe down to sleep tonight, turned on the baby monitor and came out to the living room.  A few minutes later we heard this!

Missing Blankets, TV Bob, Excersaucers, and more!

So much happens in a day, it's hard to keep up much less post a blog about everything.  I think that's why I'm a photographer.  A photo can say so much more than words ... plus I'm no good at spelling.


Before I tell you what we got yesterday at Wear It Once, Wear It Twice (because I know you all are anxiously waiting to hear what we got ... some of you probably lost sleep over it) we had a funny experience today.  Stacey was getting her nails did and Zoe and I were chillin' outside.  When we went to the car I didn't notice that Zoe Toe's blanket had fallen off her car seat.  Stacey noticed when we got to Trader Joe's a couple blocks away,  so we went back to the nail place and in search.  Now this wasn't just a normal blanket, it's a very special one.  Stacey's dad, Stan The Man, brought it back from Italy when she was Z's age.  So we were determined to find this blanket, and find we did.  Only it was under the tire of a Green Lexus SUV with the license plate "TV BOB".  So for the next 15 minutes I went into every shop on the strip in search of TV Bob.  A little bit later he came out with a pizza and a coke oblivious to the situation.  I kindly told him why I was standing around his sweet ride, he moved his car, and the blanket was retrieved!  Now to the washing mashing it goes...


So what did we get yesterday!?  Well, Zoe got a lot of cute clothes that you will see later in photos, I'm sure.  She's getting bigger, which means she needs bigger clothes.  Crazy, huh?  Daddy got a Baby BJorn to get the sensation of what it feels like to be pregnant. :)  It's cool, and much better than Stacey's purple sling.  Zoe also got an Excersaucer!  For the longest time I thought it was called an Excersiser and Stacey's Texan accent was prohibiting her from saying it correctly.  But nope - it is an excer saucer.  Yesterday was one of the best shopping experience I've ever had.  Again, we highly recommend Wear It Once, Wear It Twice in Burbank.


We hope you enjoy the little video we took of her first time in the Exersaucer!



Like I said, a lot happens when you have a 4 month old.  In a couple hours or a couple days your entire perception and life can change.  This whole "E.A.S.Y" process is brilliant.  And we think it's working.  The past two nights Zoe has only woken up twice.  We've been feeding the little monster rice cereal before her bedtime routine, which is bath time, massage and lotion, a book and then the crib!  I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Hope you're having a great Sunday!

Peace,
-marc

Wear It Once, Wear It Twice.

This morning we had a fun family outing to a great store Wear It Once, Wear It Twice (their website sucks ... but we'll fix that later! ;) ). It's like a Buffalo Exchange for babies ... or like a resell store for those of you outside of California.  There were so many fun things for Zoe and we got a lot of great stuff.  Our good friend, Uncle Lucas got ZB a bunch of awesome clothes there a couple months ago and we've been meaning to go for a while.  So we packed up the car early today and headed down to Burbank and a few hours later we came back with a bunch of great used/new things for Z!

What'd we get?  I'm saving that surprise for tomorrow.  Gotta build the suspense!  There's even a VIDEO!  Ohhhhhh boy!

We highly recommend if you live in LA and have a little munchkin to buy things for, check out Wear It Once, Wear It Twice.  They're a great shop with kind earthed owners and workers.  They were very helpful and friendly and reasonably priced!  I'm going to post a picture of the postcard because I'm too lazy to scan it.  ;)  Tell 'em the Blackwell's sent ya!  Haha... I'm such a dork.

We hope you're having a great weekend!  Even if you're in the midwest and snowed in, we're enjoying a beautiful sunny, 62 degree day and thinking about you. 

Much love!
-marc

The Tough Stuff

My friend Kayla suggested I write about the tough stuff when it comes to parenting.  She said my wife and I made it seem so easy that she wanted something like 5,234,342 kids or something.  Obviously she doesn't have children presently.

So you wanna know what's hard about being a parent?  It's not all smiles, photos, kisses and cute clothes.  There are several issues that could be considered tough in my opinion ... I mean, I was still trying to figure out how to take care of myself - now I have to take care of another human.  But that's another story.  Aside from the dirty diapers, the spit ups and occasional crying the hardest part of being a parent is trying to get your baby to sleep through the night.

Apparently this is a big issue with new parents.  There have been books written about it, philosophies debated and lots of techniques thrown into the mix.  Stacey and I of course thought we knew everything about raising a child before Zoe was born so we skipped the notion that she would wake up every other hour during the night.  Now...4 months in, we haven't gotten a single full nights rest and we're tired.  We just want her to sleep like a normal person so we all can get a full nights rest.

Last night Stacey showed me this blog post from her friend Laura.  It's an entire post dedicated to how she gets her baby girl to sleep.  She even posted it 6 days before Zoe was born.  WHY HAVEN'T I SEEN IT TIL NOW?!?  Well I'm glad I saw it when I did because it's not too late to try something new.  I guess there's a book, but what LaLa wrote is about is a philosophy called "E.A.S.Y".  "Eat, Activity, Sleep, You."  The you stands for sleep!!! :)  So we're tryin' it out.  We've been letting Zoe Toes go to sleep after eating, during eating and just whenever.  Not any more.  We're in the army now and on a schedule.  She'll get to eat every 2 1/2 - 3 hours and then we'll play until she's tired.  Once she's sleeping, it's "You" time and that can mean work, sleep or whatever. 

We may not have the whole parenting thing figured out completely.  We'll probably get it perfect when she moves out of the house.  But until then we're trying our best to make sure that our little baby girl is healthy, well rested and happy.  And that means Daddy and Mommy gotta be healthy, happy and for now, most importantly, well rested.  Here's to the adventure before us!

How do you, or how have you, gotten your baby to sleep through the night?  Tell us your secrets!