Thursday, June 9, 2011

Still getting ready.....

It's been a few weeks since the baby shower and I'm still trying to get everything put together and have the room ready to go...but we have time right?  Well maybe, and maybe not.  The further on this pregnancy goes the more I'm convinced Rusty is going to make his arrival before his ETA.  At this point I would say his nursery is about 75% complete, I have two more pieces of furniture to put together and then we have all the toys, chairs, play mats, and everything else to put together too.  Once the room is complete I will take some shots and post them up for everyone to see.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Post-Shower Part 1

Last weekend (5/22/11) my parents and mother-in-law had a baby shower for Erin.  To be honest I would have liked to have stayed and opened the presents with Erin but it was a thing for the "women" as I was told so me and my dad went out for breakfast while they had their tea and crumpets. 

As my father and I were leaving the restaurant in the morning he informed me that my rear tire was getting low and would need some air.  Noting his suggestion I made a point to remind myself to swing by the gas station that night to fill up the tire and thought nothing more of it.  When we arrived back at the shower I was amazed to see the sheer amount of things we had received as gifts, the generosity of our friends and family was astonishing.  And after about another 30 minutes or so of talking with people and helping Erin open some of the bigger gifts I began the process of loading the van, only to find out that my tire was no longer "a little low", it was completely flat!  So we instead loaded up my parents mini-van and had my car towed to Brockton and had to go out and get a new tire.  Oh boy, what a memorable shower!

Tune in next time to hear about some of the awesome gifts we got!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Pre-Baby Shower

The baby shower is this weekend and while I won't be there for the whole thing I'm still super excited.  The thought of all of our family and friends gathered around to celebrate Erin and I having a baby is just beyond words.  I'm sure Erin will cry, and hell I might too, but it should be a great time!  Hopefully I will have some pictures and cool stories to post on Monday!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Special Thanks to my friend Laura

I just wanted to throw out a special thanks for a friend of mine, Laura, for providing me with the inspiration to rededicate myself to this blog.  She had told me how much she enjoyed the posts I had made and loved that a new father was doing this and thanks to that I realized how much I missed writing here.  So thanks Laura!  I owe you one!

Fred

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

My last birthday before I become a Dad

Today I turn 29 years old and I decided that my birthday gift to myself this year will be to recommit myself to this blog. 

A lot has happened since my last update (clearly) and I will try to wrap it up in short order.  We are having a boy, and we are about 90% positive on the name.  Unfortunately the pregnancy has been less than smooth for Erin as she has had a few issues but nothing major so we are still going strong towards July 27th.  The biggest thing so far has been finding out that Erin has gestational diabetes, which deserves it's own post that will come later this week.

The baby shower is in 2 weeks (May 22) and I think I might be more excited than Erin and I won't even be there to open presents!  We have the crib in our house now, I just have to put it together and clean out the rest of the nursery this weekend.  My current wish for my first child is that I will have everything done that I'm supposed to!

More to come soon!

Fred

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Waffling on Sex

We have recently come to realize that when we were told "it's easy to say you don't want to know the sex when you can't possible know, but once you CAN find out it's a lot tougher" that it may qualify for one of the biggest understatements during pregnancy. 

We have another Ultrasound next week and it will be the first time we can find out if our baby is a boy or girl.  Erin is a lot less conflicted about this than I am, she wants to know.  On the other hand I'm having a huge argument in my head about what I think will be best.  The logical part of me (which usually wins) wants to know so that we can plan appropriately.  While my emotional side really wants to experience that surprise and joy of being told as we are welcoming him/her into the world (and also part of me wants to stop having to type things like "him/her").

All of our parents like the idea of not know, and some are more staunchly opposed to finding out than others, and I've asked some friends and there seems to be good arguments for both sides, but when it comes down to it we have to decide based on what we want.  So come back next week to see which side won!

Movies: Must watch with dad

There are a number of movies and shows that I feel should be recommended watching for my child at some point (some early and some later on).  Here is a small list of movies that I will actively try to watch with my child (once the appropriate age is reached of course).

  • Rudy
  • Star Wars (all of them)
  • The Lion King
  • Cool Hand Luke
  • The Hangover
  • Up

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Wait, kids get up at what time?

One thing that neither I nor my wife have ever been any good at is getting up early, especially on the weekends. While my wife would argue that she is indeed awake early it doesn't count as being "up" in my book if you are watching TV in bed.  However this currently lackadaisical attitude is going to have to change whether we like it or not.

Apparently kids like to wake up really early!  Not sure who is telling them it's a good idea (and if I find out who it is there will be retribution) but such is the way of the world.   In order to make this a little bit less of a dramatic change in our normal timetables I think Erin and I are going to have to start getting up earlier on the weekends on our own so that when the baby arrives we will be seasoned pros at watching the sunrise through bloodshot eyes.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Hopes: Never be satisfied with "Because"

I hope that my child will never be satisfied with accepting "Because" as an answer.  While I know as a parent this may come back to bite me in the future I hope that my child will always want to know they why and how of things and never accept something just cause they are told to. 

I hope that my child has such a thirst for knowledge that when presented with a problem or just something that catches his/her curiosity that s/he will go to the lengths necessary to solve the problem or understand the concept and not simply stop when the road to knowledge becomes difficult.

A child that is asking "Why?" is not doing to be rude or annoying, they are telling us that they want to know more and learn and we should do our best to fill them up with knowledge.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Thank your parents!

Ever since I have started talking with people about becoming a parent I have learned that there are more schools of thought when it comes to parenting than I had ever dreamed.  There are as many different theories as there are children!  The important thing is that you find what works for you and your child.  That may mean that you try and emulate everything your parents did for/with you, or it might mean that you start at the drawing board.  But before you go thinking that you know how to do everything better than your parents or that you didn't like things that they did remember that they raised you, and you are still here to tell the tale so it couldn't have been all bad.

All in all I guess you could say I'm not a big fan of the new wave of parenting theories I've heard about.  I'm very old school I guess.  If a kid acts up he deserves a spanking, if they can't be quiet in the restaurant you take them to the car, if they won't eat what is made for them they go without.  It's your child and you can raise them and discipline them however you like, that's your right as a parent.  Just don't expect me to agree with you, and you shouldn't care if I do agree with you.

Bottom line for me is that now that I'm going to be a parent soon I find myself thinking back more and more on how I was raised and I have to admit my parents did a damn good job with me and Timmy and I hope that I can do half as good as they did.

Fred

Saturday, January 22, 2011

To Do List: Fall asleep watching a movie

Along with my experiences and thoughts on becoming a father I also thought it would be good to keep a log of all of the things I hope to do someday with my child, so here is the first in what will surely be a long list.

While relaxing on the couch watching TV with our child I really can't wait for us to just drift off to sleep together. This may not be anything new or exciting but having seen other people do this with their kids and hear about it as well it just seems like the kind of experience that while simple and common can be really enjoyed between a father and his child.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Who in the world is Rusty?

Some of our close friends have heard us refer to our baby as "Rusty" and have asked why we are using that name to refer to our baby.  The answer is both simple and ridiculous.

A number of couples that we are close to that recently had children all used nicknames for the baby before they were born.  For some of them it was a way of being cute or intimate or in some cases it just happened out of humor.  Both Erin and I liked this idea and decided that we would have to come up with a nickname for the baby until he/she was born.  So why Rusty?  Well that's where the story gets funny.

Erin and I had decided we would start a list of baby names that we can both add to but neither of us would have the right to remove or criticize a name until later on when we got serious about discussing a name.  So when telling a friend of mine from work, Matt, he suggested that I add the name Rusty as a joke to get Erin going.  So I agreed that it would be funny and added the name to the list, and when questioned by Erin over whether I was serious or not I tried my best to convince her that I felt it was a good choice.  Needless to say after a few minutes the jig was up and she saw through my ruse, but the name had to stay on the list.  So after about a week of joking around about using Rusty as the name it kinda stuck as our nickname.

So if you see or hear us talking about Rusty now you know why, and no the babies name will not be Rusty.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Is it a boy or a girl?

One of the most frequent questions that we have had to answer is the boy or girl question.  While we understand most people find out the sex of their baby before they are born we are choosing not to find out.  We thought long and hard about this and in the end we really feel comfortable with our choice.

While I know there are benefits to finding out I don't think any of those will be greater than the surprise of finding out when our child is born. 


While I will admit that I believe that our baby will be a boy this belief is based solely on a "gut" feeling, but no matter what I will love our child and really that's what counts.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Welcome

Welcome to my adventure!  I am inviting you all along to share with me the journey of becoming a parent for the first time.  Every day I am inundated with new thoughts, hopes, fears, etc and most of these things I do not want to let go of.  So in order to preserve my experience I will share them with the world.

I hope you all enjoy reading my posts and I am always willing to take advice, suggestions, or just swap stories so feel free to comment.

Thanks,
Fred