Momania on vacation; Dad Days of Summer begin!
Starting Monday, I will be taking about a month off to spend time with my kids and my family.
But never fear. We won’t leave you without controversial topics to discuss and friends to disagree with.
I am thrilled to announce that for the first time in almost six years, a DAD will take the helm and keep you amused and informed through the Dad Days of Summer!
Andy, Lori and Ty Johnston. Andy will be hosting the Momania blog for about a month this summer. He's a freelance sports writer and a stay-at-home dad!
Andy Johnston is a professional sports writer and father to a fantastic 5-year-old son named Ty, who will be starting kindergarten in the fall. Andy and his wife Lori have been married for 13 years and live outside of Athens.
Andy has been covering sports for 23 years. A few years back, he quit his dream job of sports editor for The Athens Banner-Herald to become a stay-at-home dad and freelance sports writer.
He wanted the flexibility to play Legos with his son in the morning and then head over to cover the Bulldogs football practice in the afternoon. He has awkwardly attended playgroup, done the drop off and cleaned the spit up. He is truly a modern dad sharing childcare, housework and making ends meet.
Andy regularly covers sports from around the state for the AJC and The Associated Press, as well as other publications.
Andy is a Georgia boy. He grew up in near Kennesaw and attended North Cobb High School, Young Harris College and the University of Georgia .
His wife Lori is a freelance writer extraordinaire and my former college roommate and bridesmaid!
I am so excited for Andy to bring a dad’s point of view to the blog and give some new perspective through a hot summer. He is a perfect mix of professional journalist and father who is on the front lines of daily parenting with his hands sticky from glue, his heart warmed with love and his body exhausted from doing it all.
Please join me in welcoming Andy. If you have topics you would like to see Andy address, you can leave your ideas below or e-mail him at ajcmomania@gmail.com.
- By Theresa Walsh Giarrusso for the Momania blog
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62 comments Add your comment
motherjanegoose
June 24th, 2011
3:08 pm
comment gone …Tiger did I get banned too?
JATL
June 24th, 2011
3:47 pm
@TWG -I use “kiddo” and “kiddos” all the time. My mom and at least two aunts did too and we were all born and raised here in GA. My two year old will even exclaim when I call him something else, “NO! I kiddo!”
motherjanegoose
June 24th, 2011
4:20 pm
Hope my other post shows up….
JJ…wow do pet boutiques make that much money…in this economy? I wondered about the one in Suwanee Town Center…it seems to be doing well.
catlady
June 24th, 2011
4:40 pm
Thanks to Tiger and shaggy and others for their voices of sanity.
Theresa, truly try to have a relaxing vacation and don’t pick up any new phobias and fears to bring when you come home. It’s okay for you to worry about every little thing (afraid your home will be robbed. I am willing to bet you have a security system.) but eventually you make people, including your kids, fearful or rebellious. And folks start to avoid you. You aren’t “available” to comfort your friends because you are turned into yourself and your perceived troubles so much. It seems to me, you have a pretty great life–home at least 10 years with your kids with no 8-6 job, plenty of food and activities, a nice house, a professional, working husband, time to work on volunteer activities–to most folks that looks pretty good. Yeah, it’s tough you had to move so far from friends and family, but try to make it an opportunity for all of you to see a very different part of the US. And get some counseling so you can put your fears in a more realistic context. This is unsolicited advice from a nearly 60 year old who HAS had some tough times, but is remarkably blessed through it all.
Becky
June 24th, 2011
4:49 pm
@Wayne..I agree, not fair..I’m having a party for my two tomorrow & I feel (kinda) bad for my hubby, he will be the only guy (over 12) there..He’s like you though, doesn’t bother him one tiny bit..
djm_NC
June 24th, 2011
7:42 pm
@jeff—i cant believe someone told your friend to leave the park!!! i hope he stayed!!! and went back a LOT!
djm_NC
June 24th, 2011
7:44 pm
ditto to catlady!
Ann
June 24th, 2011
9:17 pm
My experience with birthday parties has been much different. I have been to at least 5 birthday parties this past year on Saturdays for 4, 5 and 6 year olds and at each one, there were almost as many Dads attending as Moms. At one party, my husband had another commitment and I was in the minority (being without the spouse). This has been the case at each weekend party, but not necessarily on the one party that was during the day on a weekday.
I also see lots of Dads at the parks and playgrounds around here, both weekdays and weekends. It sounds like Jeff’s story was about a specific playgroup rather than a general park/playground situation. The playgroup we are in has a stay at home Dad who is a member and he has been welcomed by the other Moms.
Jeff
June 24th, 2011
11:02 pm
Djm, he is a great guy and a wonderful father and husband. But being friends with him, I could tell how much it hurt him to be disrespected as a parent. We’re all trying to be the best parents we can and I’ve been around him enough to know that he is as wonderful of a parent as anyone. I used to lie down the steer from Sanjah Guptah, and he is a wonderful parent as well.
malleesmom
June 25th, 2011
8:06 am
TWG – enjoy your break. Welcome to Andy.
karma
June 25th, 2011
8:18 am
In your scenario, real or projected, you’re at a BEACH HOUSE with your kids, and you are “concerned” that your husband is at home kicking back in a quiet house? Are you ever happy? Do you read the papers? do you know how many people are not taking vacations and you never fail to whine about yours. This was a blog where you introduced the new guy and yet you turned into a travel blog, whining about your inability to control everything. Your comments average 30 for each blog (same 5-6 people). Why? because people dont want to read poorly written, unedited, or cut/paste whines that detail the minutia of a horrid, upper middle class existence in a ranch on a basement 3000 miles OTP.
fk
June 26th, 2011
9:07 am
Enjoy your vacation. We made a similar trip every summer, for 14 years, from GA to LI. Usually, my son and I spent 4-5 weeks up there, mostly at the beach, then poolside in the evenings. We all drove up together, and my husband would come back to work for a week or two, then fly back and join us for the last week. Those roadtrips alone make fun memories. Once my son was involved in high school sports, the trips were shortened. My husband and I still make the trip, with our now 14 y/o lab, but it’s for 1-1/2weeks – I went back to work fulltime when my son was in high school. Now that he’s in college, my son visits up there once a year. Because of the concentrated visits over those years, he really got to know my parents and extended family, I think more so than if he saw them once a week for a dinner. My dad died in April, he was 91. I am so happy that he was in my son’s life for 20 years. I grew up without grandparents, and when we transferred to GA in 1990, (1/2 way thru pregnancy), I was afraid my son would grow up and not know his. You are creating wonderful family memories. One of your children just may write about these adventures when they grow up. I keep thinking my son will become a stand up comic and retell ours. Have a great summer!