November 18, 2011

TGIF: Diaper Dads Edition

Welcome to....




Behold the new button!

Go HERE to read all about how this came to be.  Basically, it's about ending your week on a positive note!




To participate
1. Write a post about something good that happened this week (or if you don't blog, tell me by leaving a comment). It can be anything. Just keep it positive!
2. Grab the #TGIF button and include it somewhere in your post.
3. Come back here and link up.  Linky is open all weekend (even when I publish a new post).
4. Visit other linkers, leave comments and consider giving them a follow (it would be nice if you followed me, but no pressure).
5. Share posts on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc, if you are so inclined!
6. TGIF is now open to guest posting!  In fact, I'd like to have someone else here every other week.  If you want, instead of just linking your post to mine, you can write the post instead of me.  Just let me know by Thursday of the week that you want to do it, and I will happily step aside and let you take the floor!  Be warned, if no one volunteers, I might put you on the spot and you will feel obligated to do it because you love me!

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Today I bring you Scott who is a Dad Who Changes Diapers!  Sounds like a superhero.  Honestly, a dad who changes diapers kind of is a superhero!

Weird to have a guy here though, hu?

Well, his guest post here will illustrate his superhero-ness.  I know what he describes below qualifies because it involves blood.  That's all I'll say.

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So I got asked if I wanted to do a TGIF post. I thought, sure why not? THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!! WooHOO! No problem there. Oh wait, what?


This TGIF is different, you say? Oh crud...what DID I get myself into?


So...I'm supposed to be thankful about stuff. I mean, my week sorta sucked. Not the usual, oh no, my finger broke through the toilet paper type of suck either. This week sucked a golf ball through a garden hose. No really, this week sucked the chrome off of a ball hitch. Still not getting the picture? This week DYSON sucked!


My son fell in the shower and split his forehead wide open. And I'm thankful for it. No, really. Hear me out.


It started out like any morning. I needed to get some writing done. Okay, I needed to get a LOT of writing done, but I digress. So, my wife says, "Let me take a quick shower and you can disappear and you can get some writing done." I'm all like, "Sure!" The downside to taking a shower in my household is that our two year old loves showers more than candy. And if you don't let him in, he has a meltdown. So to keep him from going all Chernobyl momma takes him to shower too.


So there I am just pounding the keys. I'm not typing yet, I just like beating the hell out of the keyboard to know I mean business. And I hear a scream. Not unusual for Little Man to scream when you take something away from him. Then, I hear momma scream. Right then and there, I discovered that my fat ass has Warp capabilities. One second I'm sitting at my desk, the next I'm in the bathroom beholding a bloody mess.


The shear amount of blood was discouraging. It was deep and red, not like that normal watered down shower-blood you see in movies. (think Psycho). When he turned to look at me, I knew we needed to get stitches. Oh, and I might have freaked out just a little bit. I'd like to think that I'm all calm and analytical about  things like that, but when you see into your kids head and it's not because you're looking up their nose for booger-nuggets, it can be a little traumatic.


I stopped the blood-flow and we got everyone in the car and went to the hospital. No, my wife didn't go naked...she got dressed while I was busy playing M*A*S*H. If you didn't get the reference, google it. Now that you've stopped thinking about my wife naked, you can think about us getting to the Emergency Room. I won't go into all the self-doubting while I was driving there. I've covered that in my blog post about it. But I will get into the fact that when your kid is bleeding in the backseat of your car, you will selectively stop at stop signs and you will sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider 800 times in a row because he says, "Try again, daddy. Try again, mommy." This is a fact.


We get to the ER and they get us into our room and super long story super short, they have crappy cartoons at the hospital. No wait, that wasn't what I was going to say. I mean, the DO have crappy cartoons there, but that wasn't cogent to my story. It was just an observation. Okay...super long story mostly short is this: Your heart will make you feel like the worst person in the world when your child is screaming for you to pick them up while you are holding them down to have some stranger stab them repeatedly with a needle...in the face.


Now, I know what you're thinking. When the hell are you going to get to the TGIF part?? I'm getting there. Geez stop being so impatient already.


Okay, he's stitched up and they bring him a couple of stickers. He takes one. And demands that Daddy wear the other. Then in the car says, "Thomas Tank Engine sticker, good job." (That's the one he was wearing.) Then he says, "Batman sticker, good job, Daddy." (Oop, hang on, my eyes are watering again. Not sure why. Must be allergies.) Then we get home and he take a nap for like forever.


Being sewed up is strenuous work. So, why am I thankful for this?


Several reasons:
1. As a dad, you always wonder how you would handle certain situations should they arise. I still don't know about the ninja apocalypse or zombie uprising, but I know how I would react when my child is hurt. Granted, I wasn't as cool as a cucumber, but I did alright.
2. My son loves his Mom and Dad and he sees us as ultimate protection. When the chips were down and he was in a bad place, he called out to us. So, I know that my son loves me and needs me.
3. I know that I can control my ninja fist of fury when someone is stabbing my son in the face with a needle. If she didn't have the Dr. badge on, however, it would have been on like DONKEY KONG! Seriously, I would have gone monkey-crazy from the top rope. (monkey-crazy n. State of mind that induces normally docile people into poop-flinging ninja warriors. Also, they do that ooh ooh ahh ahh thing that monkeys do too.)
4. When my chest tightened at the sight of his injury. When I sat and prayed fervently to please let me take his pain. Even now when he gets anything within two feet of his head and my guts go all Wubbly on me. (Yeah, that's my word. You can use it though.) I know that I love my son in a way I didn't think was possible.
5. I know that my son, not only loves me, but is empathetic enough that even in his traumatized state could see that daddy was suffering and offered me one of his prize stickers.


So, I walked out of the ER with a bloody t-shirt on. And on that bloody t-shirt was the rockingest Batman sticker a dad has ever worn. I earned that sticker, at least in my son's eyes. And by God, if I can't be grateful and thankful for that then, what's the point?


It's like I've told my son: Life will have pain. But the suffering is optional.


And as an aside, the next morning he was up and running around like a crazy man. As if nothing happened. So I could say as a provisional #6. My kid has the tuff. :D


May your Friday be as blessed, and happy as mine is.
-DiaperDads

Scotty Schrier is a stay at home dad with two boys. He runs Dads Who Change Diapers  and blogs about being a dad. He is currently trying to list every location with a changing station for daddies. You can also follow him on Twitter as @DiaperDads where he enjoys stirring up trouble.
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And the crowd goes wild! Seriously, I know how this is because we once had to take AJ to the ER for a split eyebrow where he got 6 stitches. Thankfully, though, there was no needle stabbing IN THE FACE! Our ER had this handy-dandy numbing cream. Oh wait, even with the numbing cream, there was still stabbing with a needle. How else do you sew stitches? DUH, Jen. I think I tried not to watch.

This is why I needed a guest poster this week! *ahem*


By the way, I will still be here next Friday. No, I do NOT partake in Black Friday shopping. My husband works it, and that's quite enough!



So, what awesomeness can you tell Scotty and me about? Go! Write a post and link up! Or, leave happy little comments below. Right down there....


13 comments:

  1. Well done!! I hate seeing my kiddos get hurt and we haven't really had anything major.
    Jenn

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  2. I remember sitting next to my daughter as she was put in to an MRI machine in the ER after she fell off her bed and hurt her neck. Its one of those reasons my hair is graying.
    I'm so glad Little Man is ok and from the sounds of it, he gets his tuff-ness from his poppa.

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  3. I am pretty sure that I imagined you wearing a Batman suit the entire time I read this post. (I blame your previous posts and the Batman sticker LOL)Then it went in comic book form. There was that swift move from the computer to the shower with a "swoosh". Seeing a child hurt is not easy as ALL. I can see blood from others and it doesn't bother me, with my own kids all of a sudden I am light headed yet somehow manage to stay conscious. Freaking kids, one day though it will be there turn to feel what we feel.

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  4. Okay, I always knew @diaperdads was the bomb, but now I'm oficially in love. There are few things better than dads who are willing to go monkey crazy for their kids. I am SO glad Little Man is ok.

    Great TGIF! I laughed and I cried.

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  5. I didn't know you had a Friday linky!
    I'm not linking up since this week's post is a downer. But I will next time I have a positive Friday! (-:
    I'm now going in search of your Listicles topic for next Monday ... so glad you are picking it! (-:

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  6. I feel badly for getting so much joy out of that post. I mean, with a hurt child and all, but crap, that was funny.

    We are all so proud of you too! What a good, brave daddy you were.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Probably won't be able to link up today (too many dishes - haha), but just wanted to say...Love the new button!!

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  8. Wow I really like this idea. I just started following you over on Twitter. This is my first time on your site. I like ;)

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  9. great post, i dig his sense of humor...spot on with his remarks

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  10. Wow, that's crazy scary. I'm so glad he's ok. I think we always surprise ourselves at how well we actually handle those situations.

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  11. Thanks for the comments guys! I wasn't trying to make this post a 'downer'. I was just trying show how you can make a positive from a negative. It's something I've had a hard time doing for most of my life. But my kids show me the good in everything whether I like it or not. :D

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  12. This was my first introduction to Diaper Dad and may I say I was thrilled to hear from a dad amongst this sea of estrogen up here in the mom blogosphere. I am always fascinated with stay at home Dads as they inhabit (bravely) the realm of well, SAHMs! - and yet they're men - the ones I know who stay home (the few) are to be honest better mommies than their partners, and it's pretty cool to watch. Anyway I loved that comment about your arse going to warp speed to help your son. Thank God for Daddies.

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  13. OMG, what a great post! Hysterically funny and touchingly sweet. WTG Dad!

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