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Becoming a Dad: Gratitude

October 25, 2009

Fatherhood is vastly approaching. An estimated 36 days by the official count and about 25 days by prediction.

2009-10-24 18.36.06 The past eight months I’ve been blogging about everything that has to do with the ups and downs of becoming a first-time dad, and everything sideways too. From pregnancy hormones and car accidents to hospital visits and baby showers, I feel like I’ve written about almost everything. Now we can all relax. The big day is upon us and soon enough, you all will no longer have to hear all my non-stop ramblings. lol.

As I think beyond the changes I’ve made and how I’ve grown throughout this journey, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the support and love of the friends and family, All of you who have chosen to share in the experience of my becoming a father.

In my last entry, I remarked about feeling overwhelmed at the show of love & generosity our friends put on at our baby shower. In hindsight, I guess I’ve been feeling this way all along… completely amazed at gestures of selflessness thrown our way. Friends, family, teammates, co-workers… You’ve all been there for us and we deeply,deeply appreciate it. I’d name names but there’s just too many of you and admittedly, I don’t want to leave anyone about. But you know who you are.

There’s just no greater feeling in the world than knowing you are loved and cared out. We’ve gotten a lot of gifts but that’s the one we appreciate the most.

Thank you cards and all that are coming but Megan and I plan on repaying your gratitude in the best way we can – through being the best parents we can be this little boy. Guys… seriously… I want you all to know exactly how much Meg and I love this kid but I wouldn’t be able to find the words to do it justice.

One thing’s for sure though – After spending this past weekend washing clothes, putting furniture together, and generally nesting – I can truly say I am ready and excited for my boy to get here! (and not a moment too soon!

Thanks for reading. Love you guys.

Categories: Fatherhood
Tags: baby, dad, Fatherhood, infant, life, parenthood, pregnancy

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Becoming a Dad – 50 First Days

October 12, 2009

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Today marks the 50 day countdown to our anticipated due date! You know what that means? It means this baby could be coming in just a few weeks, depending on when he decides to make his way into the world. Based on how stubborn and impatient his parents are, mom-to-be and I are both thinking that time could be sooner rather than later. So yeah…. every day from now on is going to be filled with anticipation.

Wow. Two months shy of having our baby baby with us. What a sobering thought. So much still left to get done.

Laying in bed last night, Megan and I had a quiet chance to reflect on the past 7-8 months of this experience.

We’ve been so blessed within this pregnancy to not have experienced many of the common complications of many pregnancy. Stuff like gestational diabetes, kidney stones, and hemorrhoids… Or even nosebleeds, infections, H1N1, or illness of any kind. What a blessing it continues to be to not have to deal with any of that stuff. For that we feel so fortunate. It makes every other sacrifice and committment we’ve had to make seem so trivial.

It’s nice to reflect on the good stuff every once in awhile. Now we can face the these last fifty days with strength knowing that the wind is on our backs for the rest of the journey!

One last thing – Megan and I went to a 4-hour ‘Life with Baby’ course this past weekend that gave us a lot of material. Gone is the fear of the unknown. Now I know what I’m scared of. lol. Cue dirty diaper powerpoint in my mind.LOL. In all seriousness, this class covered everything from infant characteristics & diapering to safety, breast feeding, and how to deal with crying. Very helpful indeed. I’ll be covering all those in my next blog so don’t miss it.

Categories: Fatherhood
Tags: baby, dad, Fatherhood, infant, life, parenthood, pregnancy

Comments: 5 Comments

Becoming a Dad – His and Hers Days

August 15, 2009

Currently at: 24 Weeks and 4 Days.

Megan and I are lounging at home tonight after a “His & Hers Movie Day” in Sugar Land. Vince Vaughn’s “The Goods” fulfilled the masculine requirement so I was happy with that. Immediately after, we ducked into “Julie & Julia” a movie Megan heard good reviews about and wanted to see. No problem here but imagine my fear when I looked up the plot synopsis on my phone only to discover that it was *gasp* a Meryl Streep movie that read like this:

Julie Powell is 30-years-old, living in a rundown apartment in Queens and working at a soul-sucking secretarial job that’s going nowhere. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, and she invents a deranged assignment. She will take her mother’s dog-eared copy of Julia Child’s 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she will cook all 524 recipes. In the span of one year.

julie-julia-2 Okay, so at this point, I pretty much think I’m screwed. The theater was crowded and we ended up sitting next to a few lovely sextagenarian ladies. I asked one of them, “Is this one of those girly movies?” As if I didn’t already have that idea in my mind right? I just wanted to amuse myself. Convincingly, they all said yes but also that I might actually enjoy it so I looked at the movie with an open mind.

Surprisingly, I really liked the movie! Julia Child and Julie Powell are interesting. Cooks and Writers. Two types of people I readily admire. And the basis for the movie, Child’s book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I think I’ve seen it before at my mom’s before but never bothered to open it up. Who knew there was such a cute back story? I sure didn’t.

So yeah, thanks Megan for taking me to the movies. I guess the unexpected can be enjoyable if you look at things with an open mind.

Other than chick flicks, here’s a quick update on where we are at with life and pregnancy.

We’ve been car shopping for both of us recently. I actually found and bought mine last week. It’s not an SUV like I thought I was going to get but it is extremely reliable and safe. It’s sporty too but it fits a car seat so it’s fine. As for Megan’s next car, I think she’s getting close to a deal. That’s good news because being at a dealership practically every night for the past week has been a daunting experience. But hey, might as well tackle all this stuff now right?

Our little boy is due in just a little over three months! I can’t believe… it’s coming so much faster than I thought it would. Time moves so fast after the fourth month of pregnancy! We’ll be looking at daycare options already next week. Those things don’t have finance offices like the car dealerships do they? Baby’s kicking so much now I think he wants us to hurry up and pick a name, daycare, everything!

Well enough of my rant for now. I smell fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen so I’ll take that as a sign. Back to some more quality time for mom-to-be and I.

P.S. – I stole Megan’s finger earlier and had her size rings. Maybe that information will come in handy at some point. 😉

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Categories: Fatherhood
Tags: baby, Becoming a Dad, Fatherhood, grocery shopping, julie and julia, parenthood, the goods

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Becoming a Dad – Putting Away Groceries

August 6, 2009

baby-in-grocery-cart Funny story from earlier tonight – So I’m at the grocery store (Kroger) right after the gym… You know, doing normal stuff like picking up organic milk and ladies speed stick. Typical night until I’m back at the car putting the groceries in the trunk.

As I’m putting bags away, the owner of the next car, who obviously just got done shopping, gets back to his spot as well. Mid-thirties Nigerian man. Friendly-looking enough fellow. But he wasn’t the one that caught my eye. He had what looked to be his year-old son sitting opposite the hand of his shopping cart. This kid was the most adorable little boy.

Well the kid was just having a ball. He was flapping around, laughing, just having a good old time. Sure enough I look over at him. I know the boy probably wasn’t laughing at my mundane task of stacking five grocery bags on my arm. I mean, what’s so funny about a guy struggling to put groceries in his car right? But I see the kiddo and start making faces at him, with my cross-eyed goofy look and everything to try and make him giggle again. As I’m doing that, his dad catches me making faces at the kid and sure enough, I’m about as embarrassed as a sheepish schoolboy caught red-handed looking at a pretty girl’s butt for the first-time!

What more could I say to the guy? Proudly I beamed, “Having one of my own soon man! I stare at babies all the time now!” Probably not the coolest thing to say but hell it was true. So the guy laughs and replies back in his accent about how its normal and how he did the same exact thing before his kid, also his first, was born.

So we stood and talked while we were both putting our groceries away. Nothing big, just chatting about the weather, that sort of thing. I helped the guy a few minutes later by pushing his cart back to the return while he put his boy in the car seat. Short interaction but as I drove away, I couldn’t help put think of anything else other than how happy I am to be a dad soon. Feels sooooo great. 🙂

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Categories: Fatherhood
Tags: baby, Becoming a Dad, Fatherhood, grocery shopping, parenthood

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Becoming a Dad – Bedtime Habits

August 5, 2009

Currently at 23 weeks. 17 weeks to go.

Before you read on, listen. I feel like I owe you a warning. This post is going to be intimate. Not in the way that you might imagine (shame on you), but rather in a very personal sense in terms of habits as a couple. So if you’re not in the mood for that sort of thing right now, that’s okay. There are plenty of other pregnancy & childhood blogs worth reading.

candles

If you’re still reading this, good. I’d like to tell you a quick bedtime story about mom-to-be and I. Just a small example of one of our habits as a couple. And if you’re in a relationship of your own, I know you’ll understand. After all, every couple has their quirks. This is one of ours.

My other half has developed a little bedtime routine for us. You might be wondering what I mean so I’ll give you the quick preface on our habits before I get to what I’m talking about.

1. I usually go to bed much later than her.
2. We both take our showers, brush our teeth, you know… all the normal stuff a little after dinner.
3. We both watch a little television or read before bed.

That’s where our similarities end. We’re completely different in terms of sleep schedules. To put it accurately, I like to stay up 2-3 hours later than she does. Always have.

Now here’s the nightly ritual I was talking about. Ever since just about month four, mom-to-be insists on me going to bed with her. Not to sleep necessarily but for me to ‘put her to bed.’ What this entails for me is crawling into bed after she’s done reading and soothing her to sleep. I run my fingers lightly down her back… the back of her neck… You know, that half massage, half petting thing. Sometimes I even entertain myself my drawing imaginary pictures or writing stories in invisible letters on her skin. I even made the mistake of telling her the other night that I write stuff like “I love you” on her back when I’m bored. Geez, now she’s trying to figure out what I’m writing every night. LOL. This is what I was talking about earlier when I said this post was going to be intimate. But it’s all quite sensual really, I guess. I know it seems silly but it really soothes mom-to-be. Thus, I don’t mind the sacrifice of my precious me-time so much.

The scary thing is that she’s gotten quite used to this routine. Whether by choice or not, my fear is that this routine isn’t going to go away. What the heck am I gonna do? And when the heck am I going to find the time to play my precious video games again? Sneaking out of bed after she falls asleep is getting to be such a chore. I guess I’ll have to gradually tone down the spoiling her bit and hope she gets weened off this habit of drifting off to sleep from touch. Or maybe I can develop more ninja ways of sneaking off for the next 60 years. I’m gonna figure this thing out somehow. Sigh.

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Categories: Fatherhood
Tags: baby, Becoming a Dad, car accident, Fatherhood, parenthood

Comments: 7 Comments