Asides

Family

Gardening Dad

Aside Leave a comment

I have never had a green thumb…never. But the past few years, I have started to skew more green.

Last year, I completely dug up the area by the mailbox and put in fresh dirt and mulch. We (E and I) put in some flowers and had beautiful color from summer into late fall.

This year, I decided to try my hand at gardening. I’ve never had so much as a leaf come out of any of my previous attempts at lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, carrots…all fails and HARD fails at that.

With the advice of a good buddy, I decided to give tomatoes a try again this year. And FINALLY something worked. My tomatoes looked wonky at first but, man, have they been producing. We are probably going to wind up with about 100 cherry tomatoes total off of a $2 pack of seed. It’s been so cool to see what water and dirt creates. I’m excited to try more next year. The coolest thing of this has been how much my daughter loves pulling them off when they get “red enough”. She even reminds me to water them now!

We also have some lettuce that I’m hoping fully comes out before the first frost hits.

Funny part of this story – I don’t really like tomatoes.

Baby, General

???

Aside Leave a comment

We did a really good job this time in managing the diaper transition. We had JUST the right amount of newborn diapers and size 2’s to get our little man to size 3.

I found this little guy lying around today – the last of our size 1 diapers. It looks so tiny.  I can’t help but think if this will ever be worn…third Williams baby ONE day?

Baby, Family, Friends

TCON week 2017 – better late than never

Aside Leave a comment

You probably ALL know this but TCON is the Tennessee State Thespian Conference. It’s now held in Middle Tennessee (at MTSU) after years and years at Germantown High School (doesn’t it make more sense for a state conference to be in the MIDDLE of the state?). Anyway….

I could write this kind of post every week but this one has been extraordinary. Five externally women have helped take care of the kids while Mom (Becky) was away at a conference. So a big thank you again to Jenn Sanders, Patty Twaddle, Andrea Maguire and Arlenda Flannel and Keshia Williams. I wouldn’t have kept my little amount sanity without you.

Note – the week in question was back in January. I had both kids solo for the long MLK weekend and most nights the week before while the wife did rehearsals for both her spring musical AND a performance at said conference.

Working From Home Dad

Chronicles of a Working from Home Dad – Thompsons Station Edition

Aside Leave a comment

I have been lucky for much of the last 3 years to be able to work from home in some capacity. It’s been a great experience since I get to spend additional time with my daughter – and now infant son – that I would have spent with various people on I-40 and I-65. I probably get another 5 hours of valuable time with my family because of this. Granted, it gets difficult sometimes during the summer months or school/daycare breaks when the kids are home but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

The one thing I don’t do though is actually work from home. Some days I Just need more coffee than I feel like brewing on the Keurig. Some days, I need to be in an area of town where going home after daycare drop-offs and obligations doesn’t make sense. Because of this, the people at Panera Bread in Franklin and Cool Springs probably know my simple order of a small coffee and a bagel with butter before I even walk in. I tend to avoid Starbucks just due to the noisiness and people I know who I might run into there. I have a guaranteed two to three days a week at home for the remainder of 2016 and am going to be trying out a few new spots which I’ll detail here.

Today, Friday, October 14th, 2016
Honest Coffee Roasters in the Factory

https://www.facebook.com/honestroasters/
Great coffee! Busy environment! I DO enjoy people watching and there is a LOT to do here. I was told of this place by a good family friend and it didn’t disappoint. The coffee is good and beautiful….although I feel a little intimidated to ask too many questions being a newbie (are there free refills? what do you recommend? what makes your coffee different?). The coffee looks kinda like what you would get Fido’s.

It was really busy this morning and made me wonder if anyone in Franklin actually WORKS on Fridays. I saw the typical soccer moms and tourists but the traffic flow at 9:45 was a bit surprising.  People there seemed to know each other which speaks to a lot of repeat customers (a plus in my book).

As for the work setup…it’s not bad. There looks to be one or two charging stations (whose tables are taken and held on to tightly) and a long bench type table where about 8 people can work. Comfortable height and environment to work with a laptop, mouse and a  giant cup of coffee.

Will return = YES. IT looks like you can also work in some of the bench seats in the Factory too so I might have to try that out one day.

Baby

From a Dad – Remember when…

Aside Leave a comment

There are some things that happen now that I never would have imagined as a single man or even a non-parent. I thought I’d start a little list here and maybe update it over the years as E gives me more and more to laugh about.

I hope this strikes a chord with some other parents out there

  •  Nap time is cool again – for parents
  • Bathroom door locks are a good thing
  • Doors must be opened very slowly
  • Gates are your friend
  • Two parents are much better than one…heck, three might even be allowable!
  • Getting up at 6:30 in the morning was EARLY
  • You could go to the bathroom by yourself
  • You got to listen to YOUR music in the car
  • Walks in the parks didn’t require a stroller and a snails pace
  • You could exercise?
  • You were able to leave home with just your stuff
  • Overnight trips didn’t require 7 pieces of luggage
  • You could use your own cell phone without a tiny pair of hands all over it
  • You finished a conversation
  • After bedtime, the house didn’t become like a library (shhhhh)
  • TV shows weren’t all animated
  • YOU NEVER KNEW HOW HAPPY YOU COULD BE!!!!

 

Baby

Plans??!? With a baby?!?

Aside Leave a comment

One thing I have learned about parenting is how plans can fall apart so quickly. It’s almost better to have no plan at all sometimes.

A baby with a fever that has to be sent home from day care AND must then stay home the next day = finding a sitter on really short notice…or taking a day off from work on REALLY short notice. And what do parents do when a snow day is called and their kids can’t stay home by themselves yet? Which parent takes off?

Baby didn’t nap for the day and realllly needs one…well, cancel that coffee with a friend in the late afternoon and put that kid to sleep!

Guys night out at the movies and baby had a not so good day – better get that movie on Netflix in a few months!

I get envious of my friends who have family that live in the same town as them from time to time. It must be nice to be able to lean on a loving grandparent who lives a few streets away. Granted, they probably still have jobs too but anyway to spread the support must help out. I have never wanted to move back to Memphis (nor Becky to Michigan) but this, in addition to wanting E to be around more family as she grows up, has put the very notion on the table. It’s still a .000001 change but that’s more than it ever has been.

General

Some days…

Aside Leave a comment

After a Monday morning of a way too early wake up call from E, playing her new favorite game of being chased around on the floor and some teething inducted crying, this picture is what I got to enjoy for 15 minutes before heading off to work.

Daddy snuggles
Daddy snuggles

Parenting. Fatherhood. It’s all worth it.

PS. Did I mention she of course found our new mop and decided to chew on it too? Nothing below 4 feet fall is safe!

General

Halloweeeeeeeen

Aside 1 Comment

We had so much fun with our little one during her first Halloween. She had a ton of fun shirts to wear so she was wearing cute outfits almost the entire month of October.

our little first halloween pumpkin girl mommy's little pumpkin good morning world - halloween decked out
We went to Bass Pro Shops where they had a fun Halloween layout and got some awesome pictures made.

halloween at bass pro halloween at bass pro (3) halloween at bass pro (2)

We spent the actual evening at some of our best friend’s house (the Kirkendalls) and trick-or-treated with them. It was the coldest day of the year (at least to that point) so we couldn’t stay out long but we still scored some goodies!

me and my little monster mom and halloween monster trick or treating crew halloween monster (2) trick or treating with the kirkendalls (1) trick or treating with the kirkendalls (3)