Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This - Day 5

The first four days of The Daddy Experiment were a breeze and I was feeling pretty good about this summer.  I even said that this stay at home thing was pretty simple but I knew that everything was new and that tougher days would be coming...well, those tougher days wasted no time and arrived here on day five.

This morning started earlier than I had hoped with Eli waking up on the wrong side of the bed at about 7:15.  I got Eli dressed and fed him some breakfast then went up to wake Kai up at about 7:45.  Kai woke up on the correct side of the bed but was too excited about going fishing today and we weren't getting to the pond fast enough for him.

Eli didn't take a very good nap yesterday and didn't sleep very long last night.  His ear is draining a lot and his nose is running constantly.  He was due for a rough day and he let me (and Kai) have it!  He just cried all morning long.  He wanted to be picked up and then he wanted to be put down then he wanted to be picked up and then put down when, none of it stopped his crying...it was a loud morning.  Although Kai us usually very helpful he wasn't as patient as usual as he really wanted to go fishing and we weren't fishing and we weren't making any progress toward fishing and we weren't talking about fishing so he kept asking about fishing.

The boys eat lunch at 11:00 and pretty much as soon as lunch was over I put Eli down for an early nap.  He didn't fight it and Kai was excited because we could finally start getting the fishing stuff ready.  We went worm hunting in the back yard and got the fishing poles that Grandpa and Grandma Eridon got him for Christmas all ready to go.

Once the fishing gear was ready and the worms were in the fridge, Kai was fine with taking a nap.  I got Kai upstairs, tucked him in and Eli woke up.  No problem except the only thing Eli wanted to do was play with Kai so he just screamed for Kai for about an hour (good thing our oldest is a sound sleeper), he also dropped a major deuce which could have been some of the cause of his irritability.  After he was all cleaned up, I finally let him go wake his big bro.

Its about 2:30 now and its time to go fishing.  We get everything together, hook up the bike trailer, and head to the neighborhood pond.  As we arrive, you can literally see fish jumping out of the water...cool!

We park the bike and head down by the pond, as I start to get Kai's hook baited I look up and see Eli running in the opposite direction.  Darn!  I run and bring him back, disaster averted!  I then get the worm on the hook and we cast the pole and we immediately get a hit.  A nice little five inch blue gill. We cast again and get another blue gill, but this one swallowed the hook.  I forget that I'm a dad for a moment and go in to surgeon mode and try to get the hook out.  While I'm not looking, Eli decided that the water looked warm and inviting so he jumped right in. 

The water was warm and I was smart enough to bring a couple of towels so I took off Eli's shoes, gave him a quick scrub in the pond and set him on another blanket so I could console my oldest who thinks his fishing time is over...see Eli didn't have shoes on any longer and he really dislikes the feel of grass on his feet so he wasn't leaving that towel no how no way!

So, we cast and catch a couple more fish and make my four year old the happiest little boy in the neighborhood today.

After fishing, we went home to put our things away and took a bike ride to the local park for a little play time.  Then mommy came home and daddy went to track practice.

Today got off to a rough start and was very exhausting.  It could have been much worse but it was a good wake up call that being a full-time parent isn't all fun and games (with some laundry mixed in) and that there are days when it is a difficult job.  I'm sure that there will be more difficult days in the future so I'm glad that today was a bit of a dry run for a tough day and I will be better prepared for the next one.

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. - Deuteronomy 30:11



Four Days Makes One Week!

The nice thing about starting a new thing during the week of Memorial Day is that you only have to do it for four days instead of the usual five.  It is now Friday night and the whole family is in bed except me as I sit down to chronicle the last day of our first successful week for The Daddy Experiment!

Today started off with a little more crying than usual as the boys are getting tired from the extra action packed days that dad is planning for them.  I'm not the most sympathetic soul so I just let them cry it out and go about doing what needs to be done (I'm not heartless though, I do ask what's wrong and give hugs).  After all, Fridays are big days as they are grocery day and lawn mowing day so there isn't a lot of extra time for coddling youngsters.  The morning also started off with Eli taking a dry erase marker to our sofa.

So, breakfast then a trip to the grocery.  The grocery store is always an adventure and I have always been in awe of the parent who's kids are well behaved and quiet in a store.  This trip was no different as Kai and Eli wanted to take different types of shopping carts.  Kai wanted to take the standard type of cart so he could sit in the basket and help me put the groceries in it while Eli wanted to ride in the cart with the car in the front.  I let Eli choose the cart this time and that brought on the fireworks!  Kai erupted there in the produce section of Kroger and was pretty much inconsolable.  At that point, I told Kai that we were going to try this later, put our apples and bananas back and started for the exit.  He calmed down pretty quickly after that and we went about our shopping.

After the grocery, we went home, put the groceries away, had a quick snack, then hit to open road on the bike...well, we went for a quick spin around the neighborhood.  It was unseasonably cold today with a high of about 55 or so with high winds and some misting.

Lunch was some sausage that I had bought from the store.  I bought one of those one pound sausage rolls and fried up about 2/3 of it for lunch.  That was not enough, so I fried up the last third and they ate that up too along with sides of bread and fruit.  Wow, if these boys eat like this at four and one, I'm really going to be hurting when they are 15 and 12.  Note to self, put sausage on the shopping list and buy several packages.

Play time and then nap...really short naps...naps that make for grouchy and irritable children.  Also jacks with daddy's schedule as I've got stuff to do during that time (like catching up on my daytime TV).  Oh well, bundle everyone up and let them play while daddy does manly stuff like mowing the lawn. 

Next up is another bike ride to the local Dillon Park to play at their playground.  Eli loves their giant twisty slide and always amazes folks with his bravery there.  We stayed at the park until mom came home.  I'm so glad I don't have to be "professional dad" for a couple of days and I can just be plain ordinary dad while the wife is around.

So, there is the last day of my first week (sort of) of The Daddy Experiment.  Everyone made it through pretty well and Kai has already asked if summer can last until his birthday (in January).  I'm not too sure about that but after 4 days in, I have to say that this is going smoother than I thought.

Well, off to enjoy the weekend, tune back in next week for more installments of The Daddy Experiment!

The Daddy Experiment - Days 1-3

I have been awfully bad about making time to blog for quite a while but this summer I'm going to use the blog to document my 2 1/2 months of being a full-time stay at home dad and part-time consultant.

For a little bit of background, check out my blog post about my trip to Haiti where I talk about leaving my successful corporate finance job to launch my own professional services firm and free up our family's schedule a bit so that we can invest in the things that are most important to us (people).  The start-up has gone pretty well but since things were still a little slow, we decided to pull the boys out of daycare for the summer and start "The Daddy Experiment".

This is the first week of the new arrangement and we haven't had any trips to the hospital and there hasn't been too many tears although I have to admit that I did cry a little (okay, a lot) when Eli stepped on my boy parts while we were wrestling.

Our first day of The Daddy Experiment was Tuesday, May 29th and it got off to a pretty good start as I was up for about an hour before the boys woke up and I was able to spend some time reading my bible and mentally preparing myself for this new adventure.  When the boys woke up, I made a big batch of chocolate chip pancakes, we ate breakfast, played outside a bit, trip to Wal-Mart to get fishing supplies, and then went to the library where Eli ran up and down the aisles yelling "go go go" the entire time we were there.  We returned from the library in time for naps. After naps, more playing outside.  Day #1 down, pretty uneventful and everyone survived.

On day number two for The Daddy Experiment, we woke up to pancakes (love having those ready to go) the hooked up the bike trailer for the first time.  We bought the trailer last winter from some friends but we hadn't used it yet.  Well, one ride in the trailer and the boys were hooked!  We took two lengthy rides before nap time, only stopping long enough to have some lunch and take potty breaks.  After naps, it was another bike ride followed by a trip to the pool.  Day #2 much better than day #1 but daddy's legs and bottom are pretty sore from driving a rickshaw all over Hamilton County.

Day #3 (today) was our most action packed day yet.  We woke up early, ate some breakfast, got bundled up, changed multiple stinky diapers, bundled up again (it started off a little brisk this morning), got on the bike and went off to explore Cool Creek Park in Westfield.  Cool Creek is a pretty awesome park with 2 playgrounds right next to each other.  It is about a 5 mile bike ride to get there (it's also a 5 mile car ride but it is a much easier 5 miles by car).  The boys had a great time on the playgrounds and exploring the Cool Creek Park Nature Center which has a bunch of snakes and turtles and stuff to look at.  After Cool Creek we rode the bike over to Chipotle for lunch.  The boys (especially me) were very hungry after such an active morning and we finished every last bite of our meals.  Then we rode back home and Eli fell asleep in the bike trailer (his head on Kai's shoulder...Kai loved it).  We got home at nap time and Eli went straight to sleep while Kai fought me a bit before giving in as well.  After nap and snack, we played golf outside in the back yard and watched a storm blow in so we picked up our toys and headed out to Chick-Fil-A to use a coupon that expired today and play on their playground.  After Chick-Fil-A, we came home and played outside in the rain running up and down the sidewalks and splashing in all the puddles.

Kai has been looking forward to his summer with daddy and Eli for quite a while and put together a list of things that he would like to do. I will put all of those items in a blog post later but I have to admit that it is nice to know what he would like to do so that when I see an opportunity I already know that he'll like it.

What strength it has in its loins, what power in the muscles of its belly! - Job 40:16

Haiti!!

Two times per year, Genesis Church (our church here in Noblesville, IN) sends a team to Chambrun, Haiti to serve on the campus of Nehemiah Vision Ministries. We have wanted to go for a while but haven't been able to because the teams have went in January and July while Stephanie and I are very busy at work.  A few months earlier, we had decided that it was time for one of us to get out of the corporate world for a little while to try and slow down the frantic pace that we had been living our lives.  Since I wouldn't be busy at work, God decided that He wanted me to go to Haiti for a week.

We left on January 3, 2012 and that day was unlike any other that I have ever experienced. I took the boys to daycare in the morning on my way to work at Republic Airways (ok, that wasn’t really all that unique) but this time I wouldn’t see them again for an entire week as I had an afternoon flight out to Miami.  

After I dropped the boys off, I arrived at Republic for my last day of work there. I had worked there for nearly 11 years and had experienced a lot of success and had made a lot of friends. I never thought it would be very difficult to hand over my laptop, my smart phone, my office keys and walk out the door; but it was very hard. I was thankful that I was able to send out the following Email to my co-workers as I left:
Today is my last full work day at Republic as I am leaving here to pursue new adventures.

I will be starting my new journey with a missions trip to Haiti with my church during the first week of January.  If you think of it, please pray for me, my team, and the people of Chambrun that we will serve while we’re there.

I will return from Haiti (hopefully without malaria) to a lengthy honey-do list of neglected items around the house, take care of my parents, serve my neighbors, read a few books, spend some time in the gym, travel with my wife and sons, and do some career development. 

In time, I’ll get back in the game and I hope that our paths will cross again because I have thoroughly enjoyed working with each of you.

I would like to encourage all of you to live each day to its fullest, always do your best in whatever you do, be honest, be yourself, be humble, and always be mindful of God’s presence and His character. 

This Email really seemed to touch many of them and I am thankful that I was able to send it out…hopefully it is a way that many of them will remember me.

After leaving RJET for the last time I got a haircut, had lunch with Stephanie, off to the chiropractor (had a little Monkey Joe’s incident), then off to Genesis to hop on a van headed to the airport.  
We had an overnight layover in Miami (RON in MIA for my airline friends) which was nice because a) Miami is warm and b) it was a comedy of errors as our hotel had just been sold the week before and there was a lot of confusion regarding our reservation. After we finally got checked in we had a late dinner at one of Miami’s finest IHOPs.

Early in the morning on the 4th, we got up for a 7:25 flight to Port-Au-Prince (PSP). I wish I would have known that the last mostly organized / scheduled thing I would see for the next week would be at the airport in Miami, I would have enjoyed it a lot more (even though our flight took a catering delay). 
Arriving in Port-Au-Prince (PSP) was a real trip. It is amazingly disorderly (some of that due to earthquake damage and some of it just the way Haiti operates). Well designed and well run airports tend to confuse people but PSP takes the cake. I don’t have good words to describe the chaos that welcomes you when you get off the plane, but what I can tell you is that the Nehemiah Vision Folks (NVM) have some good guys on the ground there at the airport that get you through that mess pretty well.

We were welcomed in the airport parking lot by Genesis Chruch’s own Brandon Hutchins who is working with NVM (along with his wife Katie) for at least the next year as their operations guy. It was really nice to see a familiar face and I’m sure he felt the same way when he saw all of us. He picked us up in a huge tap tap, it was open air with a pretty impressive welding job using rebar (everything in Haiti uses rebar) to turn a former box truck (I think) in to a people mover.

The drive to the NVM campus was an eye opening experience. There were countless people who appear to have nothing to do and no particular place to go. What an amazing blessing MEANINGFUL WORK is! Of course I noticed the poor living conditions, the filth, the smell, the crazy traffic, the honking of horns and such but all I really paid attention to was the people wandering around looking for something to do.

Since we were down there during the first week of the year, nearly all of the staff that work on the compound (the doctor, the nurses, teachers, students) were still on Christmas vacation so it was a great time to get things done in the clinic and in the school buildings. Our days were filled mostly with work around the NVM campus. They had our team painting the interior of the clinic and they would like our team to paint some murals for the kindergarten since we had an artist on our team.
We did get to take a couple of trips off of campus. We were able to go out to Onaville a few times which is a city of 150,000 people who all share the same story: they are sojourners who have been violently displaced from their true home. Its an encampment of tents and ramshackle huts cobbled together by earthquake victims who lost family, friends, and a place to call home. In simple terms, it is a place where the Haitian government is sending displaced people from Port Au Prince so that they can rebuild that city without homeless people coming in and living in the new structures while they are building them. We also walked to the Children’s home in Chambrun to play with the children that live there.

The below picture is of me spinning one of the kids at the home.  We spent a lot of time doing this no matter where we ran in to children.

In addition to the work around the compound, some of our team built this awesome latrine for the NVM church plant in Onaville.  It is well built by talented craftsmen and should provide for the potty needs of the church attendees or several years to come!  I helped with this a little bit by adding the Genesis flower logo to the side but they have probably painted over that by now.

Below is the market in Onaville.  It is quite the happening place and I'm glad that we were able to see it.

As a mom and her baby were waiting to get in to the clinic, I played some soccer with one of her "older" kids.  I think that this boy is about 2 but he is super tiny.

We were very safe on the campus at NVM.  This is my friend Junior.  I taught him how to throw a football.  It is difficult to throw a football with a 12 guage but Junior did a pretty good job.

Our time with Nehemiah Vision Ministries was fantastic.  They are doing good things down in Haiti. Our team worked hard to get all of our tasks done several times working past midnight and in to the wee hours of the morning painting the clinic and the murals.  I am proud to have been a part of such a good team.

Here are some things that I learned while in Haiti that I think you should know.  1. There are 2 lane roads separated by a yellow line like here in the US but in Haiti it is just a suggestion as traffic sometimes runs 4 across.  2. Haitians are up before dawn and they were at work before most of us Americans had got out of bed.  3.  Primary modes of public transportation in Haiti are tap taps (pickup trucks with toppers) and motos (motorcycle taxis), there is always a lot of folks crammed in to a tap tap, they say that a tap tap is never full and there is always room for one more.  4.  The boys are not circumcised and you will see a lot of boys running around without pants.  5.  Haiti doesn't smell particularly good, everything runs on diesel fuel and there is a lot of poop everywhere.  6.  Malnourished people (especially children) are heartbreaking and easy to find in Haiti.  7.  Cleanliness and appearence is very important to Haitians, they sweep their dirt floors often and they feel terrible if they happen to make you dirty.  8.  There is rebar (iron bars) sticking out of the top of almost all buildings, I guess that if there is still rebar exposed that the construction isn't considered "complete" and therefore isn't subject to tax.  9.  Haitians enjoy their personal space and most property is marked by fences or wood stakes.  10.  The "LOTO" is the game of choice down there and there are little loto booths set up all over the place.  They don't have their own drawing so they use numbers from american lottos, I don't know what all they use but I remember seeing New York quite a lot.

At the end of our trip, we went to a resort in Haiti and played on the beach.  Here is our team's only group picture during our entire trip.  Go visit, go serve, God will bless you way more than you bless the people of Haiti.  The country is beautiful, make your travel plans today!

The priest answered them, “Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD’s approval.” - Judges 18:6

Holidays 2011

It is mid January and we have finally found a few moments to fill you in on the Lesnet holidays.  Since I am terribly behind on my blogging and have a post that I need to get done for a trip to Haiti that I made at the beginning of the month, I'm going to keep this pretty short. 

The boys school, "The Little Lamb" had their annual Christmas program.  Eli loved being on stage in front of everyone and when his class was done he still kept trying to get up there.

Kai did great on his performance.  This is some hang time after the show where Kai is serenading a much taller young lady.  Gotta hand it to the boy, he's got skills like his daddy!

Of course what would Christmas be without trips to Ohio to spend time with the grandparents and other family members.  We started off our trip with a visit to Bowling Green to see the Eridon folks.  Here is a photo of the boys with their grandpa. 

Family Shot with Uncle Kris and Aunt Bev.

Next over to Edon to see the Lesnet grandparents.  Here the boys are with Grandpa Lesnet.

And a picture with Grandma Lesnet.  She is always so focused on being a good hostess that she refuses to stop long enough to take any pictures.  This was the best I could do.

Grandpa and Grandma Lesnet are great but the fun really gets going when we head out to the barn.  I took Kai up in to the straw mow this year.  He thought it was big stuff to go up the ladder.

 Eli petting a ewe.

I really feel like I start to feel my age this time of year when I am excited about my "yuck" presents.  You know, the ones like socks or underwear that you got as a kid and were disgusted.  Yeah, I like those now.  My favorite gift this year was a new knife set.  Stephanie's favorite was a vacuum sealer for storing food in the freezer.  Rock on!!

Christmas with the family was great this year and thankfully we were all sleeping soundly as the ball dropped and 2012 began.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. - Isaiah 9:6-7 

Halloween 2011

We still aren't able to make the time to blog but we wanted to get some pictures out there for some of you that would like to see they Dyanmic Duo and their super friends.

Here is mommy with her heroes

Caped Crusaders, the Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, Kai and Eli.

The contemplative Robin.

Na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMEN BATMEN BATMEN!

Superfriends...EVILDOERS BEWARE!!



the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, - Isaiah 3:2

Eli's 9 Month Pictures

As you can probably guess from our lack of blogging, our lives have been extremely hectic lately.  Life has been good and we are all doing very well.

Time flies when you're having fun, it flies even faster when you're a parent.  If it weren't for the sleepless nights and nasty diapers, it would seem like Eli was just born yesterday and now he's getting ready to take his first steps.

We recently took the boys to the photographer for Eli's 9 month pictures.  Both boys were pretty happy so we wound up with a very successful shoot.  Enjoy!

The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork. - Job 39:13

February 5, 2011 Professional Photo Shoot

On February 5, 2011, us Indiana Lesnets got some professional pictures taken by Amy Harnish at Portrature Studios down in Fishers.  She holds the copyright to these awesome pics (and bushels of patience as the Lesnet boys were not very cooperative) so you can look but you can't touch or sell or anything like that.

Our goal was to get some good shots of the boys together and if the boys were holding up okay, go ahead and get a family shot.  Well, it didn't quite work out that way because when we first arrived at the studio, Kai was all ready to go.

Kai sitting there quietly taking pictures while Bubba is screaming on the other side of the studio. 

Now Kai is starting to get distracted by the commotion so Amy brings in a prop.  A very old Polaroid camera.  Kai likes this!

All right, Eli has now calmed down and is ready for some picture taking!  

He's doing an awful good job looking at the camera while Kai is in full melt-down mode.

Bubba looks like such a little man here.

In these pictures Kai was still angry and Eli was still happy.  These 3 shots probably took 20 minutes!

Okay, well...both boys are out of patience and so maybe we can get some pictures if they are with old mom and dad.  Fortunately, they both really like us for now.

Now Eli is in full melt down so I toss Kai up in the air a couple of times to distract him from losing it as well.  The photographer caught me comforting Kai on film...pretty cool!

Eli is now all better and ready for some more pictures as long as he's held by either mommy or daddy.  Time for a couple of more family shots.

Amy had a stuffed pig that she had on her head for these shots.  Kai couldn't stop laughing at the silliness!

Kai's turn for melt down so daddy will play with a very content Eli.  Again, the photographer liked the baby with daddy moment.

Kai has now been bribed with ice cream after the photo shoot.  He is now very cooperative!  Too bad we couldn't get Bubba to look at the camera at all during any of these shots.

No one has to look at the camera for a foot shot.  Maybe we should have got more foot shots!

Time for ice cream yet?

Does Bubba get ice cream too?

Shouldn't we be eating ice cream by now?

Last picture?  Still getting ice cream right?  Yayyyyyy!!

But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. - 1 Thessalonians 3:6