Thursday, December 16, 2010

Three Months Into it

So, it's been three months and here we are. Still alive. After many nights of not sleeping, countless days of feeling like Zombies from the latest resident evil movie we managed to keep our sanity and made it through the first three months of our baby's life.

I got to tell you, sometimes it is amazing (There are absolutely no words to describe the feeling one gets after that first smile from your daughter) but other times, oh man, other times (not to scare any of you), but other times you wish babies came with a return address.

I would have to say that the hardest thing to get used to (as you may have noticed by my references in my first paragraph) is the lack of sleep. Staying up late, or staying up the whole night is a lot funner when there is not a crying baby involved. But if there's one thing I've learned is how adaptable we are. I mean it is amazing how our bodies can go from sleeping 8 hours a day, to two and still keep us useful the following morning at work.

But i might be exagerating a little, i mean the rough nights really only last through the first six weeks (at least for us) afterwards the baby begins to sleep more and more. I'd have to say that the main highlights of these past three months for my wife and I have all involved (unfortunately) poop, vomit, or some sort of bodily fluid. But without any doubt it has all been worth it. Hopefully the next three months will be as exciting.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

... a little random

Dude's Jobs

I woke up this morning with some really funny thoughts in my head, really i was laughing the minute i woke up thinking about this post.

I spent the whole night thinking about dirty jobs. No, not the television show. Dirty jobs that get done in each family.

Like, for instance, eating all the burned rice or slightly overcooked cookies to not hurt any feelings. Now, who is it that does all these things? Of course, it’s the dudes in the household. The dads.

And that got me to start thinking about other jobs we dudes get to add to our resumé.

1. Frog patrol. For some reason, right behind cockroaches and spiders, frogs are the worst enemy of most ladies of the house. I mean the girls see one of these and it's superman to the rescue really. Have you ever been watching TV and all of a sudden you hear a yell from the kitchen that sounds like someone is dying? You sprint from the couch and in record time make it to where your lady is to save her, only to find out that it was just a frog. And i don't mean 5 inches long bullfrogs, i mean tiny little critters that quite frankly i find kind of cute... (weird I know)

2. Unclogging toilets. Do I really have to go into this one?

3. Finding out why the garbage disposal won’t work. I know about this one. I’ve spilled gallons of water under the sink while unhooking pipes and searching for clogs. And what is the result of all this diligent effort? Appallingly smelly, jellied brown goop. Sorry. Need to move on. Bad memories lead to bad flashbacks. Don’t need that now.

4. Changing light bulbs. What? They’ve never heard of standing on a chair to reach something higher than they are? Apparently not.

5. Taking out the garbage. Which, fortunately I will only have to worry about for a few years now, after all that's why I'm having my little dudette. Soon all I will have to do is supervise, walk along behind and clean up any mess and generally make sure things are done to a minimal level of acceptable.

6. Cleaning up after the dog. Well i don't really need to worry about this one, but I'm pretty sure that it's part of a dude's duty. And they should really invent an appliance for this one (Well I'm sure there already is, but since i don't have to worry about it I wouldn't know).

That’s all for me. What are your ideas? What dirty jobs do we dudes get stuck with, just because we’re dudes?

Saturday, July 10, 2010

... What now?

So your a few months into finding out your going to be a father and you've gotten over the initial shock, what now? Well I really don't know what your experience will be, but i can definitely share mine. Hopefully you DON'T have the room ready by now, that would just be weird, plus you don't even know if your having a boy or a girl yet. Actually during this time that was all i was thinking about. Will I have a boy or a girl? Also names.... yeah I would say that is actually one of the main conversation topics i had with my wife at the time. We went through HUNDREDS of names, and I'm not exaggerating (Joe).

But all in all this was probably one of the most exciting times for us as a couple. My wife's belly started to grow a little (really started to grow after the 3 month mark) and to my surprise my belly started to grow too! except mine was not growing because i was pregnant...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

... On the issue of first finding out

On this issue I have to say just one thing. It is probably one of the most exciting things your wife will ever tell you (really after "I do" and "I'm pregnant" it all kind of goes downhill) but it is also one of the most shocking. Take for example the day you asked your wife to get married, you prepare for the moment, visualize what you will do, what you will say, and of course visualize the girl saying yes, which sometimes is not the case, and I'm not saying this from personal experience. The point is you are completely prepared for whatever the outcome might be when you speak to her.
But when you find out your wife is pregnant there usually isn't a whole lot of preparation time going on. For me, just to site an example I'm sure it is different for everyone else, it was as simple as her calling me in the middle of the workday to drop the news. It was fine, and although i got over the shock fairly quick (I was heading to a sales call) I can assure you i did not sell a thing the rest of the day.
I remember that day I was overwhelmed by joy but also worried, you see as a man when you find out a child is on the way immediately your whole perception of what your future might have looked like changes. All of a sudden those plans to spend two weeks in China with your beau don't seem as achievable as before. And of course you can forget about that sports car you have been eyeballing for a while. But the amazing thing is that under normal circumstances if all of these plans were ruined by someone else for you, you would be angry as heck! but in this case it all seems kind of worthless and the only thing that starts to matter now is, how do i take care of this child?
After 8 months that is still a question that i constantly ask myself and I'm sure i will be for the rest of my life. But all in all I think it is a good question to be asking yourself, one that with a some hard work, the support of good friends, and a strong faith I hope to find an answer to soon.
I guess the main take away from this post is, ladies finding out you are going to be a parent is just as life changing for us as it is for you. ;)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Intro

After 8 months of dealing with a pregnant woman, I've come to realize that there is nearly not enough information on the internet for soon to be fathers. My wife (being the lovely lady she is) has of course spent a countless amount of hours reading information about how her body will change, the effects having a baby will have in the rest of her life and so on.
Being a curious being i tried reading some of the literature she had, but after a couple of hours of reading about growing breasts, expanding hips, and possible hormonal changes that might come along with pregnancy a thought hit me like a brick in the head.... Isn't my life about to change too? Although my wife is suffering from the side effects of pregnancy, don't those side effects affect our relationship which in turn affects me? What do i tell my wife when she asks, honey are my hips too big?
So after a few brief moments of panic, i decided to do something about it. I will write in this blog about how to be a father in training. Now I'm not an expert, but quite frankly i don't need an expert right now, just someone with experience. And that's what i will be to all you guys who are about to embark in the wonderful journey of expanding your families. I hope you enjoy reading my posts, and more importantly i hope it helps you get through the very hard times you will have to face. I know that writing all this helps me.