Zach’s best buddy throughout high school was Seth. The two of them together were a hilarious pair and I got to know Seth pretty much at the same time as I got to know Zach. It’s been so awesome to see our lives develop and to remain good friends through it all. He is now an awesome daddy to four awesome kids and recently started blogging about his experiences as a single dad and all the funny experiences he encounters. Y’all. I have NEVER seen a blog take off the way his has! It’s been so cool to see how many people have quickly gravitated to his blog and his way of storytelling. It’s been a great fit for Seth and I’ve loved having a new blog buddy to talk nerdy blog talk with 😉
In case you haven’t found Seth’s blog by this point be sure to follow along at Who Put My iPad in the Dishwasher . Today Seth is guest posting here to give you guys a chance to get to know him better! ENJOY! 🙂
Finding a new dream
I was living the dream. An amazing marriage, four awesome
kids, a great job, brand new house, two paid off cars, etc. It was everything I
had always wanted. We were all best friends, who enjoyed living life together.
I felt like the most blessed man in the world.
I still remember the exact moment I discovered a small crack
in the foundation of our family. I won’t go into details, but I felt like the
next two years was I constant attempt to make this dream work and keep this
family together. Unfortunately, that dream pretty came to an abrupt end. Two
years later, I woke up to be a single full time dad of four young kids with a
full time job and not really any family living around me to help. Luckily for
me, it happened over a long span of time. The kids’ mom just kind of slowly drifted off
more and more until she made herself more of a fun visitor. There’s no ill will
between us, it’s just the truth of the situation. The kids and I pray for her
every day. I’m sure one day; she will be recovered and healthy. But this isn’t the story of how my marriage
fell apart or how tough those times were. I want to talk about taking what was
left over after the dust settled and it was just me & the kids, and forming
a new dream for my little family.
Now, don’t let that last paragraph fool you. I’m not really
the serious type. I mean not at all. Seriously, no serious seriousness
here. About the most serious we get in
our house is our heated debates over is if #3 is actually diaharrea or just
peeing and pooping at the same time. We just take it a day at a time and try to
take life as light hearted as possible. Our family motto is “Make someone smile
every day.” Each night we talk about how we each did that during dinner.
However, the overwhelming portion of the Megow life is just
trying figure out why my kids are covered in liquid dish detergent or how 17
frogs got into my bathtub. I figured out pretty quick that I don’t have a ton
of free time with this life, so I really just try to focus on what I really
want my kids to learn in life. Everything else, I’m probably the most chilled
person on the planet about. I used to stress about things with the kids, but now
I just don’t have time to stress. For example, we might be out in public and I
notice Neela (my animal lover) in Petsmart, arm’s deep in the cricket bucket
picking them up one by one naming each one and giving it a kiss before gently
placing it back in the bucket, while at the same time Olive and Titus licking
the fish tank glass. Families will walk by just staring at us, mostly because
I’m dying laughing. Now don’t worry readers, Megow children have a pretty
strict moral code. They are expected to be well behaved, treat others respect,
clean up after yourself (especially in public or at other’s houses), and above
all be kind. But sometimes, kids will be kids, and kids for the most part are
HILARIOUS!
I have told about a ton of hilarious stories about my kids
on my blog, but I wanted to cover one of my favorites so far (please forgive me
if you have read these stories before) But I wanted to talk about grocery
shopping and my minivan. Both are something I’m sure a lot of readers on this
blog can relate with. Our stories (which are true J ), I really enjoy telling.
Mostly because I see parents everywhere worrying and stressing about things
which are beyond your control. You guys are busting your butts for your kids,
just take a moment and read some hilarious crap from the Megow family
adventures. If anything, I promise it will make you feel better about your
parenting tactics and techniques. I like to set the bar low. That way, Great-Aunt
Darlene can step over it at George’s 1st birthday party while simultaneously
holding her cat in one arm and her 32 oz. frozen strawberry daiquiri in the
other.
Shopping (Living the Dream):
I know most people with kids despise going to the grocery
store with all of their kids. That’s unfortunate, because I honestly think that
it’s a fun activity that can be loaded with fun. Life is what you make it 🙂
I’m not really big on giving specific advice or tips on any specific situation
or activity. Everyone is different. So instead of talking about how
“strategies” for the grocery store, I just want to share a little bit
about why I enjoy it.
First, kids are freaking hilarious. Even if I have one or two that are a little
grumpy or tired, I still have at least one or two that are in a happy, joking
mood. There’s something to be said about constantly focusing on the kids that
are whining or complaining. It just causes me stress or adds tension to the
situation. In my opinion, if that kid is safe and I’ve tried to cheer them up
to no avail, I just let them get over their funk and have fun with whoever is
in a good mood.
Not a shopping trip. I just love
this picture of my kids being silly and laughing J
For example, I remember one time a few weeks ago, we had to run to Dollar
General in Hahira for milk or something. The younger two kids were not really
feeling that fact that they could not get a bag of Doritos. However, the older
two were quietly whispering back and forth with each other giggling. They were
being so sweet and well behaved, but all of their attention seemed focused on
this little empty Styrofoam cup they were carrying around. I didn’t ask what it
was for. Honestly, I just figured it was for collecting some kind of bug or
making some sort of trap (they like to make traps, hahaha). Anyways, we walked
through the entire store and finished getting all of our things. I was loading
up all of my stuff at the checkout and I turn around to find Neela and Stevie
trying to convince the elderly lady behind us in line to spit in their cup
because they really needed her spit to add to their “collection”. I
literally had sit down from laughing. The lady and the cashier did not find it
amusing.
Since I dont have a bunch of time to go shopping, typically
I wait until we are “food poor” to go. That being said, usually when
we do go to the grocery store, it’s a big purchase. Hahaha, here’s a funny
story. I’m just writing these things as they pop in my head. Well, one time
about a month or two ago, I had our cart LOADED DOWN with food. I mean we had
been in the store for over an hour. Anyways, we get the check out line and get
almost completely done with our groceries being scanned and suddenly Olive has
this massive, spewing vomit all over herself, the shopping cart seat, and a
little on the conveyor belt. I asked her if she felt ok, she said yes with a
smile, but that she had “ate too much grapes at school”. So I just
kind of wiped her off and continued loading up the food on the checkout
conveyor belt. I mean honestly, what else can you do? I’m not leaving without
this food because we are out and there’s already throw up everywhere, so let’s
just get this thing done, right? I mean the food was clean and I only had like
a few items left. I did feel bad, but I could tell this young teenage girl just
kind of in shock. Here’s this dude handing her food with one hand, and a kid
dripping with puke in the other trying to explain to his six and seven year old
to push this cart with our bagged food close to their exit door, so puke isn’t
just piling up by the register. All the while, I look over and Titus is
completely obvious to the entire situation and is running around the front of
the store in full power ranger costume doing his karate moves for whoever
happens to be walking by. Well, we got through that one. As I walked out I
looked back and saw like 4 people cleaning up after us and just staring at me.
I would have let it get to me, but we bought brownies that night. No one can be
upset when you got some (non puke covered) brownies in your grocery bag.
jackpot
Speaking of carts, I am the only one who really loves those tank looking things
at Walmart. They are like the golden egg at Easter. I always want to find one,
but those things seem to be hidden in some secret spot that you need a map and
a Cracker Jack decoder ring to find. One time, I did have one recently. Yeah,
they are pretty much like driving a tank and I love it. You get so much
momentum with those things. You can’t really steer them, but that’s ok. Because
when other shoppers see you barreling uncontrollably down the cereal aisle with
one of these bad boys, they will jump up next to the Apple Jacks to avoid
getting pummeled.
“the golden egg”
Now that I’m on the topic of Walmart, let me tell you two fun stories that
happened at Walmart within the past two weeks. Actually, I think these are my
latest two shopping trips at Walmart. (Something funny always happens there).
The first were my kids were really hungry and I felt bad making them ride all
the way that hungry, so we went to the little deli there and ordered some food.
When we got it, I finally noticed that there were no more little tables or
anything to sit down at, so I let the kids pick a low traffic spot and we set
up a Walmart picnic. I turned on my phone and played some music and we just sat
down around the baby and shoes area just hanging out for about 30 minutes
eating our food. I think the reason I enjoyed this so much was because it was pretty
much the most redneck thing you could possibly do. Eating Walmart deli food in
a picnic on the Walmart floor and drinking sweet tea and orange soda. That junk
is country, son! I love it. hahaaha
Don’t worry germ people. The food never
touched the floor 🙂
My last shopping story did take place in Walmart too, but I gotta give a little
backstory. I’ve been working for Bouncing Balloons and costumes since I was 18
or 19, so about 12 years. I do kids birthday parties as superheroes, clowns,
mascots, etc. However, I think what I am most known for is doing Spiderman.
I’ve done Spiderman probably about 200 times. It’s always fun and kids have a
blast with Spidey.
However, that spiderman suit is completely spandex. This
costume can legitimately be balled up and fit into a mason jar. Needless to
say, this suit doesn’t leave too much to the imagination. It took me about 3 or
4 years to get the perfect crotch cover wear. If you wear just a pair of boxers
or boxer briefs, you won’t be leaving much to the imagination. It didn’t take
me long to figure out how awkward it is having spiderman at birthday party and
all the kids pointing and telling their parents “Wanna know how I know
Spiderman is a boy?” hahaha. So then I tried, wearing a cup. Ok bad idea.
I won’t go into that, but the cup just made Spiderman look really excited… I
will leave it at that. After all of that, I started just wearing a few
different pair of underwear to try to effectively hide the thunder. That
approach didn’t really work well because it was so bulky it made Spiderman look
like he was wearing an adult diaper under his suit. Finally, after much trial
and error, I finally found the perfect combo. (I promise I am getting to the
Walmart Shopping Story, hahaha). Anyways, the trick is wearing like these
little men fashion briefs. Google them if you are curious. I promise
you won’t be looking long. They aren’t the most masculine looking
things (think male lingerie), but wearing those under some boxer brief really
does the trick. I call them my Spiderman underwear since I only wear them for
Spiderman. So back to my story, I got off work and I remember it was raining
and we were all soaked after I picked up the kids from their summer care at the
YMCA. So I had to change everyone’s clothes. Well being a single dad, I always
feel like people are expecting my kids to look homeless with unkept hair, so I
always try to make them look nice. So I get my kids in somewhat nice clothes
and I just grab some shorts and a tshirt for me out of the dryer and run out of
the door because I know we still gotta go to town, shop, come back, cook, eat,
baths, clean, etc. Well, the shopping trip goes fine but Walmart is packed and
theres only like two lanes open. So I get to the check out line and just wait
there with the kids. I remember bending over and do something like tie a shoe
or something and I felt something slip out from the back of my pants. I turned
around and find this big guy decked in camo picking up this little black thing
off the floor and looking at it. Well, of course. It’s my spiderman underwear.
I guess they just clung to the inside of my pants while in the dryer and I
didn’t notice they were wedged between my thigh and my shorts. They must have
fallen out when I bend over. Anyways, me and this guy just kind of stand there
looking at each other. I can tell he’s wondering why these sexy little panty
looking things just fell out of my butt and I’m trying to think if I should
explain the situation or just take them back & say thanks. I did the
latter… So I stuffed them in my pocket and just turned back around. Of
course, we stood in line for another 5 minutes it was our turn to checkout.
So that’s kind of what my life is like on most days, just me
and my kids living each day trying to discover what adventures we can find and
just “living the dream”. It’s a fun ride and I try to keep pretty consistent
with sharing it with the world.
http://www.whoputmyipadinthedishwasher.com/
-Seth
P.S Thanks again Emily for letting me terrify your readers.
Side note: I have known Zach and Emily for a long time. I
think I might have been the one that suggested that the groomsmen’s take their
pants off during their wedding photos. If she hasn’t posted those, tell her to J The Parkers are legit
the coolest and if you read this blog then you already know that. They are my
best buddies and have helped me out so much. They are too kind and humble to
ever say anything, but my kids and I love them so much and are extremely
grateful for their friendship J
My work has been featured on Love What Matters, Today Parenting and Babywise.Life. I'm also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.
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