Out of all the baby gifts I received, the one that I could not live without, would be the battery powered swing that I got form my sister. That swing basically saved me from mental insanity during those first three months filled with crying and colic.

I would put the baby in the swing and I would try to grab a fifteen minute nap on the chesterfield. To most people, fifteen minutes may seem like no time at all, but to me, those fifteen minutes were what I looked most forward to each day.

The baby was happiest when he was in his swing and that made it the most valuable baby equipment that we owned. In fact, if I know anyone ho is expecting a baby, the best piece of advice that I can give them is to get a swing.

There are two things that my little girl loves more than anything else. They are, in no particular order, watching the Jetsons and dressing up. She would watch the Jetsons reruns all day long if I would let her and she is always dressed up in different outfits. One thing is for sure and that is that she has a great imagination.

For her birthday this year, I found her a Judy Jetson costume. I knew that she was going to be thrilled with it and I was right. She has worn it every day since. It is a good thing that it washes well because I have to put it into the laundry at least once a week.

The greatest thing about it was that she had no idea they even existed so it was a complete surprise to her. Now, if she is not watching the Jetsons, she is playing the Jetsons. That’s my little girl in a nutshell.

My daughter came home from school the other day, for a much-needed rest and to work on the big philosophy essay that she had due right before Christmas.  It was a great time and I had such a good time visiting with her even though she spent a lot of her time doing research.

This was a really big assignment for her and she wanted to do a really good job on it as she knew the professor marked very hard and she was prepared to put all of her effort into it.  I was really proud of how serious she was taking her first-year classes.

She showed me the list of essay topics that she had been given at the beginning of term and told me which one she was writing on.  I thought she was really brave as it was not one of the easiest topics but it was one that would teach her a lot and that was what she wanted most out of her university education.

As I sent my children upstairs to play, so that I could work on my dissertation, I felt a little bit guilty that I was neglecting them in favor of my studies.  I always told myself that I would make up for it when I was finished and have the time, but he did not realize how much they would grow and how much I would miss.

I figured, that it would not be a big deal for the kids to play together while I was working on my thesis, as long as I make sure they were fed and dressed and put to bed on time.  What I did not realize, is that though I was home, I pretty much left the kids to fend for themselves.

In hindsight, an essay would never be as important to me as my children were and they wish that I could have those two years back, so I could have been a better mom and built a better bond with them.

After the birth of our first child, not too long ago, my husband and I were given a gift certificate to go to a store and pick out her crib for her.  We looked around at several different cribs as we were not sure what we were looking for.  It was a very new experience for us.

We found one that we really liked that would later on convert to a toddler bed for our little girl.  It was very reasonably priced and because of this we were also able to get some new baby bedding to go with the crib.  I knew that it was going to look so nice set up in the nursery.

When we got home I could not wait to set it up.  As my husband had to go to work, I decided that it was going to do it by myself.  I am a pretty handy person and it turned out all right.  That night, when we put our baby to bed, she slept the longest she has since she was born.

It has definitely been an interesting journey for me as a father.  While there are good times, there are a bunch of bad times as well.

Perhaps the best part of being a parent to a young child is listening to what comes out of their mouth.  You see, they definitely can come up with some creative thoughts and they are happy to share them with you.

A good example would be what my son told me after we had gone to the circus.  While exiting the arena, I had to ask him what he thought.  He looked at me for a minute before he spoke:

"Dad, I want to be one of those circus and fire entertainers."

This made me laugh and look at him strangely.  Did he forget that he was my son who was afraid of fire?

Well, whatever was going through his head, it was great.  It sure beat his career choice for last week of being a zombie.

As the mother of two young children it did not take me long to realize how quickly your house can compete with Toys "R" Us for having the most toys.  I decided very early that I would not be buying my children any more toys.  As a result, I have had to come up with creative ideas for birthdays and Christmas.

I obviously, would not win mother of the year award, by buying my children nothing but clothes.  One of the best gifts that I ever gave my daughter for her birthday was a really nice child size set of gardening tools.  She loves to be outside and loves to follow me around the garden, mimicking my every move.

I gave her her own small section of the garden to grow her own vegetables and her own flowers.  She is very proud of the things she produced and she was very careful to keep her plots watered and weeded.  Every day she could be found putting on her little gardening gloves and taking her little hoe out to dig up some weeds.

As my children grow older, it becomes increasingly difficult to get them gifts that they appreciate. They are too old for toys and we refuse to buy them the video game systems that they desire. We are constantly trying to come up with unique ideas for gifts that they will like and we will allow.

When I was complaining about this to a neighbor, she gave me the all-time greatest gift suggestion. She suggested that we buy the theme park tickets. There is a theme park not too far away from us and she said that when she got them for her kids, it gave them something to do, they appreciated it and she never heard them saying they were bored all the time.

I told my husband about the suggestion and he agreed wholeheartedly. Our kids absolutely love rides and the theme park has a lot of good shows and displays throughout the summer. They are always begging us to go and this year they won’t have to. They can go as often as they like.

While I was looking for some good kids websites for my five-year old son the other day, I realized just how many websites there are out there that are filled with just stupid stuff. And it floors me as to how many of these are geared towards little kids.

I made it my mission to find some educational sites for him that would also be fun. I looked up the sites that had the best reviews for his age group. There were many of them and I had to now narrow it down as to what best suited him.

I did find some sites that were full of just cool stuff and I knew that he would be both fascinated and entertained by them. They also had at least a small level of educational material, which is what I was looking for.

I decided on five of them and sat him at the computer to try them out. He thought they were all very cool websites, and definitely picked his favorites very quickly. We bookmarked the ones he really liked and now, visiting the sites is one of his favorite things to do.

For as long as I can remember, my daughter has talked about getting a NYC Limo Rental to take to her Prom.  Now, I haven’t been too concerned with her desires since she has been so young for so long.  But, this past spring it was her time to have her Prom and she asked about her Limo.

I really had no idea what the rates were for a limousine, so I decided to check them out.  I did a search online for Prom Limousine New York and found many different companies to check out.  Not only did I call each company I found, but I requested a price quote as well.

As I opened the price quotes from the New York Limousine Rental services that came in my email box, I was shocked.  I had not anticipated that the prices would be out of our reach.  Whether it was that I was disillusioned or that we were not a family that was well off, my daughter was crushed when I told her we couldn’t fulfill her dream of driving in a Limo to Prom.  It was the first time in my life I had felt that I failed my children as a father.