I am the King of Rest, But That's Not a Good Thing

A solid sleep schedule is something that I gave up a long time ago.

As soon as we gave birth to our first son, I pretty much gave up on my health and well being to focus on his.  For years I had been working at a job where I didn't have a set shift.  The only constant were my days off, but my schedule would change from day to day.  There were times that I would work at 3:00 in the morning and others where I would work at 3:00 in the afternoon.  With a newborn and a wife that works we decided that we needed consistency.  We couldn't go week to week with an unknown schedule and try to juggle childcare around it.

I approached my bosses about me working the early morning shift.

I began working steadily at 2:00 in the morning shortly thereafter. The idea being that I would be home around 11:00 to take our son from our nanny who would be there in the morning while my wife went to work.  The timing worked great and our son wouldn't be stuck being raised by other people.  The only problem was I was tired ALL THE TIME.  My first son was not a very good sleeper so getting him to take naps when I got home didn't always happen.  That left me exhausted and miserable.

I thought at first that the early morning shifts would allow me to spend time with my family in the evenings, and they did... until 9:00 when I had to force myself to go to bed.  Once in bed, I would usually toss and turn and fall asleep seemingly right before my alarm went off at 1:00.  I'd drag myself out of bed and spend the next eight hours at work in a semi-conscious state.  I'm not going to lie, there were a lot of times that I fell asleep at work and in some pretty bad places.

I remember one time I was sent to the river to capture beauty shots for our live television show.  I can honestly say that I set the camera up and fell asleep for the next two hours.  I would have my equipment all rigged up so that nobody could steal it without waking me up.  All of us who worked the morning shift had our little hacks that got us through the day.

Two years after our son was born, we had another kid and sleep was basically something that I would do when I died.  I was able to manage OK with my first, but with two I was falling asleep everywhere.  Afternoons with two kids at home meant me falling asleep on the floor with them playing around me.  I was really of no use them.  I would take them to the park and the same thing would happen.  Something had to give.

Falling asleep at the park was probably not the safest thing

That's when I became a stay at home dad.

It's been a lot better since that decision, but if you have kids you seem to get tired all the time regardless of how much sleep you got the night before.  I swear nowadays I could sleep for 24 hours, but be physically and emotionally exhausted after spending even an hour with my kids.  I don't know what they do to our bodies, but they seem to drain the life out of us.  Now I get catnaps wherever I can.

It could be before my son's football game

Or between innings

The one thing I have learned in the past 11 years of being a parent is that if you have the chance to get some zzz's DO IT. My in-laws are great at this sort of thing and learned this years ago. They have an amazing ability to be having a conversation and two minutes later be sound asleep. I'm afraid to ride in a car with them as I never know if they are going to doze off at a red light. Movies, shows, roller coasters... you name it, they have slept there. I am well on my to doing this as well.

The worst thing about all of this is that the kids have started to pick up some bad habits too. We have never really been that strict about bedtimes especially as they get older. What used to be 9:00 has turned into whenever, as long as they are in bed at some point. They do need to know that healthy sleep is a lifestyle choice. Much like a healthy diet and exercise are important, so too are good sleeping habits. Everything in their lives are powered by sleep. Those meltdowns they have... go away with a good nights sleep. Illnesses... a little rest is sometimes the best cure. Feeling stressed... take a nap (ha!)

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DISCLOSURE: I have partnered with Life of Dad and Restonic for this promotion.  All opinions are my own unless my wife tells me otherwise.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Daddy's 7 Summer Road Trip Essentials

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FuelTheLove #CollectiveBias

I am NOT a car guy.

Sadly this is one area that I will not be able to pass along my expertise down to my kids.  When they get older I will teach them how to change a tire, but for the most part I will tell them to have roadside assistance on speed dial.

My dad isn't really a car guy either, but he always changed his own oil.  I remember him being under the hood of the car, draining out the old oil, replacing the filter, and filling the car back up.  It looked messy.  There was always a piece of cardboard with a huge oil stain and a bucket with old dirty oil.  I have no idea what he did with that bucket; he could have dumped it in the woods for all I know.

Changing my own oil was something that never interested me.

A lot of it comes down to time and convenience.  I want to instill in my kids that their time has a value.  If you change your own oil, the oil costs around $20, the filter around $5, and then you have to find a place to dump the old oil.  So before you even begin the process you are $25 in.  Throw in how long it is going to take you and it's well over $30.  There are places like the Automotive Care Center at Walmart that change your oil for you cheaper than that.

I've never seen my son so happy to get an oil change

Don't tell the dealership that we leased our car through, but I have been putting off getting my oil changed for a while.  I treat cars like I do my teeth.  Unless something is noticeably wrong with it, I won't take it to the shop/dentist to get it fixed.  Who has that kind of time to wait around?  But with summer here and knowing that we had a few road trips coming up, it was time to take the car down to Walmart because I knew I could drop the car off and pick up a few essentials along the way.

My garage doesn't have all of this

I've taken my cars to other quick service places, but the difference here is that I could drop the car off and go get some shopping done.  Everywhere else I have to sit in the waiting room and read a year old People Magazine.  My son happened to be off school that day, so I let him help me figure out everything that we might need.

As we said good bye to our car we decided to hit the store to pick up a few things that we just HAD to have; or at least HE had to have.

First and foremost you have to have candy.  Nothing helps a kid sit still in a six hour car ride more than a box of candy.  Fortunately there was a big bin of candy right outside of the automotive center.

Second, you have to have games.  You can never have enough games.  I've made the mistake in the past of not bringing along any games.  Just when you think your kid only wants to play on his iPod, they yell out that they are bored and want to play a game.  Have you ever been on Interstate 81 north of Scranton and all of a sudden your kid wants to play a game that you don't have?  Good luck finding a place to get one.

Third, you NEED toys.  I'm not sure how many toys we need, but it seems that we never have enough.  Grandma has plenty of toys at her house, but why would the kids play with them, when they can play with all new ones?

Fourth, SNACKS.  I'm not sure I need to explain this one, but they always need snacks.  The need for snacks is compounded the moment that you pull out of your driveway. You need every variety of snacks that they make.  DON'T SKIMP ON SNACKS.

Fifth, you need highlighters.  No idea why this is the case but apparently my youngest, along with everyone else in his class at school, is obsessed with highlighters.

Sixth, you need movies.  My kids haven't watched a movie in our car since we bought it, but I know that the moment that we forget to bring a movie along they will want to watch one.  Six hours in a car goes much faster when the kids are quiet with their headphones on.

Seventh and probably most importantly, is playing cards.  I have no idea how to play this game, but I know that we have spent too much money on these things. We've all had our obsessions in life and right now my son's obsession is this game. 

Once we were satisfied with our road trip essentials we headed back to the Automotive Care Center where our car was waiting for us. It couldn't have been easier.  Probably the most essential thing you need for a road trip is an engine that is running right.  Had I changed my own oil, I probably wouldn't have tightened all the nuts and bolts and my car would have leaked all over New Jersey.  Thanks to the folks at Walmart and their Pennzoil products I know that won't be the case.  Their conventional motor oil will make my car run smoother and with less friction than other motor oils.  Let's face kids in a car is more than enough friction for any parent.

So you can save money for your road trip essentials, Walmart is rolling back prices all summer long.  From now until September 9th, you can save four dollars off both Pennzoil High Mileage ($35.88) and Platinum Full Synthetic ($45.88) oil changes. That's quite a savings considering their already low prices.

With that savings I will be able to buy ANOTHER pack of playing cards and that deserves a thumbs up!

So where are you going this summer and what will you be taking along?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Touchdown Dance

Congratualtions, you just scored a touchdown!

Now what?  Personally I don't care for the over the top celebrations you see nowadays. The way I see it, you should act like you've been there and and that you are coming back for more.  When you start dancing you are making the moment about you, and not the ten other guys that helped to get you there.

It's something I've stressed with my kids… but it's not easy.

Carter is by all accounts the best player on his flag football scoring 15 touchdowns and being a threat to go the distance every time he touched the ball.  But what did he do when he scored?  He gave the ball to the ref.      

While I don't care for it, the touchdown dance has been around as long people have been scoring touchdowns.  Whether it's the Ickey Shuffle, the Lambeau Leap, or something stupid that Terrell Owens comes up with, players have been celebrating the score in some very unique ways.

What is your Touchdown dance?

StubHub wants you to share yours with them by entering their StubHub Touchdown Dance Contest.  All you have to do is post a video of you doing your dance on Vine, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube using the hashtag #StubHubTD.  One lucky winner will win a trip to next years Big Game in Arizona. There is no purchase necessary to enter and the contest runs through February 3rd. Dance away.

Since I don't dance, here is Carters.  He's just never allowed to do it in a game.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of StubHub.  All opinions and expressions are my own

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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