The first time work-at-home dad Chris Illuminati was home alone with his son Evan, who is now almost 4, he wrote down everything he'd need to remember on one Post-it note as a joke: "Feed baby, change baby, don't feed baby to the cat, etc."
Then inspiration struck.
"I thought it would be funny to write wise-ass (can I say that?) things on them," Illuminati explained via e-mail. And instead of just leaving them around the house, he started posting the Post-its on his Tumblr, Message With A Bottle.
Parents of the Internet agree: Yes, it is definitely funny. He now has many thousands of fans following along on Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more corners of the web.
Plus, the hilarious project has turned into a learning experience. "There are hundreds of thousands of parents out there just like me," he says. "Parenting sucks a good majority of the time, but we all accept that fact, and move on with our lives. I've also learned NO MATTER WHAT I DO I'm screwing up my kid in some way. So I stopped trying to be perfect."
He also realized that within all that "suffering," there are moments of terrific joy -- and he did what so many other parents do in his situation. Chris and his wife welcomed new Post-it material (aka a baby) to the family, nine months ago.
Check out some of the greatest hits from Message With A Bottle.