10 ideas for Father's Day gifts

Father's day is right around the corner! Well, for some of you it is, anyway. For me... not so much. Here it was a long time ago (many months!), but I remember how much I worried then and how much I scrambled trying to find the perfect gift. 

I did not have any idea what to gift Partner: buy something? make something? make Oath make something? (because, lets be honest, he wasn't going to do any gift by himself, at 9 months old!) pretend I forgot?

In the end, this is what we ended up doing, but in the process of searching the perfect thing, I came up with some of these ideas:

1. Photos. Be it a big print of the two (or more!) of them or a series of pics of the baby holding letters that spell "dad", it's the easiest way to remind him of his kid and all the good times they have spent (and will spend!) together.
2. Write a little story about how great a dad he is, and illustrate it with some picture of him with your little one. If you are good at being sneaky (I am so not!), you can take the pictures specially for this without him knowing it, like a little secret photo shoot of just the two of them.
3. Handprints / Footprints. Dip your little one's feet and hands in water soluble, non toxic paint and use a sturdy watercolor paper: you can use the dad's favorite team colors if you want to make it extra especial. Or, if you are a little afraid of the mess you can make with the paint, press the kid's hand and feet on a layer of modelling clay.
4. If it is possible, let him sleep in and, when he wakes up, bring a favorite breakfast to bed. This will be specially nice for him if you co-sleep and the baby is an early riser, or if he is the one to get up for night / early morning feedings.
5. Cook his favorite foods and add a little extra: a nice dinner with a special dessert, buy some of his favorite beverage of choice..
6. Pack your bags, put the baby in the stroller or the carrier, and go somewhere you used to go before the baby's birth. Do what you used to do, but with your new addition: go watch a sports match, have a picnic, hike an easy trail... as a family!
7.  How long it's been since the two of you, dad and mom, were alone? Leave the kid with a babysitter and go out for dinner. Then go dancing, or star gazing, or to the movies... do something he enjoys like you would have before having your child: we all know how easy it is for kids to take over the spotlight... let dad be the one there for a day!
8. Buy (or make) the baby something daddy related. A hat of dad's favorite movie character (R2D2, anyone? I know Partner would love it!), a onesie with a funny quote ("I listen to Dire Straits like my daddy", or the more common "I love Dad")... or maybe some matching shirts for baby and dad!
9. Buy (or make) him something non-baby related. He's a dad, yes, but he's also the same person he was before! Go with something you'd gift him any other day.
10. Ask him what he wants, if you have no idea. It's not perfect, and some fathers might not like it, but at least it shows that you care and that you want to do something he really enjoys. His answer might surprise you!

The best thing? You can do a couple of those, as many of them aren't really expensive. What about dressing your kid up as Luke Skywalker while dad sleeps in and bringing him breakfast to bed on a tray where a card with your baby's hand and footprints says "Happy Father's Day, Daddy!". I bet he'd love it!

Oath's mom

A weekend to catch up

It's a fact: a busy off-line life means a lack of online life. 

The silence on the blog just means that I've been running up and down, with lots of things to do and too little time to do them, not that I am gone. My mind has been occupied by my studies, mostly, and Oath's increasing taste for danger (his passion for outlets, power cords and trying to throw himself off of beds, cribs and couches are a constant source of activity in this house!) hasn't made things better, either.

But the blog hasn't been the only thing to suffer from my absence: our house is a mess. If I got a penny for every time I say this, I'd be rich soon, but it's true. When I have to let go of something to retain my sanity, order and organization are some of the first things to go (as is food, which explains my lack of menu planing lately). And oh, have I let go lately!

The old me would be so appalled that this happened that she would not know what to do. The new me (the mom me) knows what she has to do: start again, keep trying, not give up. Preferably before Monday.

Why? I do not work well when there's people around: if I feel watched, I turn into a clumsy bunch of nerves and nothing gets done. But Partner is gone this whole weekend and this means it's the perfect time to do a quick home rescue mission! Oath is here (but I can clean with him watching me, thankfully!), so a bit of organization and planning ahead is needed:

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This is how my weekend will hopefully go. What about yours? Now that summer is just around the corner, are you taking time to relax or, like me, frantically trying to get everything in order?

Oath's Mom