Boston, bad people and my kids

It's been a looooooooooong time since I've posted to this blog. Looking at it, it's been over a year. Obviously I am not the blogger I thought I was going to be when we had our little girl. But today I feel the need to put this out there....

I, like you are probably, am watching the news out of Boston. The manhunt for "Suspect #2" is ongoing and the country is watching. Live. This is pretty new to all of us. We can watch 24 hour news coverage, read Twitter, Facebook, text with friends, etc. to be our own armchair journalists. Scary if you think about it. Anyhow....

After Monday's bombings at the Boston Marathon, a single acquaintance of mine who does not have any kids asked me "why would anyone want to bring kids into this crazy world"? Now, I have my 20 month old Pumpkin and a son on the way due July 12th. I did not respond in anger or defense but simply stated that I can't wait to raise kids in this world. Why? Because my kids, our kids, CAN make a difference. We can use this evil that we are seeing today and raise our kids up in loving, caring and nurturing homes. We can teach our kids to love those that may be a little (or a lot) different that we are. To take care of those that need it, and those that don't. Sure, there will always be violence and bad people in America and around the world. But if we can raise up our kids to know right from wrong and good vs. evil then this country just might stand a chance to be the proud country that it always has been. Agree?

Ah, December

Hello again. Been a while....in fact, been a LONG while. Since September. You see, I've got a baby now and a tired wife. Ye ole blog is not on the tops of the charts these days. I miss it. It's fun for me and maybe for you too?

Anyway, here we are in December. Where did summer, fall and football season go? Oh yeah, to the diaper pail, to sleeping whenever I can and to falling completely in love with a five month old girl.

What's changed? If you are a parent, you know. The Bride and I have been more of business partners lately than lovers. That's OK. The little one takes a lot of energy, time and decision making. They don't give you a manual at the hospital or let a nurse come home with you. We've been learning as we go. The baby is at daycare three days a week, with my mom (Gram) one day and the Bride has off every Friday. I was not, and am not still, OK with the thought of my baby at daycare. Each to their own, I am not judging you by any means, just not what I wanted for our baby's first few years. But, I guess it is going as well as can be.

Thanksgiving came and went. I think all we needed to do was to get our baby to each grandparent's house and then we could have left for two days. We don't matter any more. Only our girl. That's fine, I got to watch even more football than normal! :)

Christmas is coming up. I LOVE Christmas. Always have, always will. It's really the only time of the year left that people are very intentional about seeing and speaking to each other. I am sure your calendar, especially weekend calendar, is full of parties, get togethers and that dreaded work party that you feel like "I should make an appearance". Urgh.

I hope that the holiday finds you well and that you and yours are truly blessed. Merry Christmas is what I will say but have a wonderful holiday whatever celebration you find yourself having.

TBD

Decisions decisions

The Bride has been on maternity leave since the baby was born. (Wow, 10 weeks ago today, where does the time go?) It's been a blessing. My wife is a natural. She is nursing so being at home this long has certainly been a awesome. Their time together every day is well spent. They take walks, friends come to visit, both of our mothers have been over many times. It's a perfect setup...

Then you consider finances and the long-term security of the family. urgh! Why do we have to have money to make the world go round? Our rock and hard place is that my wife makes more than I do. Not just a little, a significant amount. She also really enjoys her job. Me...not so much. While I am doing fine financially, I really don't enjoy what I do. I am more of a go out and get em markeing/business guy, not a sit in front of a computer for a megga-corp guy. I did not choose this job, the failing music industry in Nashville chose it for me. All that to say, we don't want to put our baby girl in daycare for the first 2 years of her life. This is not a judgement to anyone that does, we know daycare certainly has its advantages. It's just not what we want to do. So, do we give up the enjoyable job and higher pay so that momma can be home with her baby girl or do we become new millineum cool and I stay at home while momma goes off to work. Both options would work for us, it'sjust WHAT IS THE RIGHT DECISION?

Prayers are appreciated for us.

HELP! I need somebody....HELP

Help. Beatles song? Bestselling book with a movie coming out in a few weeks? For us, the Bride and me, help has taken the shape of many people over the last 4 weeks. We've been home with our new baby girl for a month. Wow, where does time go? In these 4 weeks, the Bride's mother has been here twice for almost a week at a time. My mom has come over during the day and stayed with the Bride for 8 hours at a time. The Bride's sister from Knoxville was here for a weekend. Countless friends have brought meals and some have even brought 2...one to eat now and one to freeze for later.

So, not that we "needed" the help, but we are beyond thankful for it. These friends and family have made our transition from DINKs (double income no kids) to parents as easy as it could possibly be. For that, we are forever grateful. Thank those that HELP you to make the days go a little bit easier.

The first few weeks...

It's been a few weeks since my last post. Why? I've been busy. Why? My baby girl is HERE! She was born on July 5th. We induced. She was not ready to join us even 8 days after her due date. Delivery went very well. I am SO proud of my wife. She is a true champ. She was even giggling during delivery at points. Nurses, Doctor, entire hospital staff was great. We could not have been happier. Most importantly, our daughter is perfectly healthy! Thank you Lord!

I went right back to work after we got home because my Mother In Law stayed with us for a few days and then my mom took over for the next week. So, this week is my time and am home all week. This is the life! I need to win the lottery so that we can all be home together all the time. I am loving it. My wife and I are making a pretty great team figuring out this baby thing.

My friends with kids always said "I can't really explain how great it is to have kids. Words can't describe it". And they are right, I now understand.

"Did you have the baby yet?"

I wish I had a dime for every time I have heard this question this week. I work in an office. I work close to the breakroom in my office. Everytime a person walks by and sees me still sitting here I get the same question "Did you have the baby yet"???!!!! Now, is this just each person's way of starting a conversation or do people really think that from this morning at 8 when they asked me this to just after lunch that yes, I went to the hospital, supported my awesome wife through labor and delivery, and am now back here at my desk because I love you people so much and just love to sit a computer all day? Several people ask me this several times a day.

Just an odd observation. I am sure it's pretty normal.

Sittin, waitin, wishin

Any Jack Johnson fans out there? I was sittin, waiting, wishin he sings in one of his songs. That is what I/we are doing right now. Our due date (or HER due date as many people refer to it) is next Sunday, the 26th! The Bride's belly looks like it's got a whole watermellon tucked into it with no room for anything else. The little girl says hello often with a punch, kick or whatever she is doing in there. Thursday was our 5th anniversary. As we said goodnight, we were both a little thankful that she did not come on that day. We want our anniversary for our day and our little girl's birthday to be her special day. Then the wife said "I just want ONE more Saturday to do nothing. Sleep in, eat at my own pace, get whatever we want whenever we want for dinner." It's early afternoon, but so far it's looking like that is going to happen. Who knows what the next few days or even weeks brings? Whether it's tonight or two weeks from now or any day in between, I am ready. So for now, I'm sittin, waiting, wishin....