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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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