7/9/11 6.6875 lb. 20.25 in.

Yup, those are the vital stats on my baby girl! She is here, and she is perfect. I'm so excited to have this new little addition to my home. She cries, she grunts, she yawns and she even smiles right before she falls asleep, and it is all wonderful! Let's leave the birth story at this: my lovely wife woke me up at around 6 on Saturday, July 9th (her birthday) to say that her water had broken! We had breakfast, and opened her birthday presents, and loaded up the car for the hospital. Check in was smooth and we went and my wife labored from around 8 am until around 12 noon, when she decided that she was ready for some drugs. They gave her a quick epidural, and I went for lunch and chatted with my mother-in-law and my mom and dad. I went back in around 1:45pm, and they said "we were just coming to look for you, she's ready to push!" What?! That was fast! After a little prep and an hour or so of pushing, our baby was here, at 3:21 pm! I cried, my wife cried, and we had a few special moments together and then brought some family in.

It's been a whirlwind week and a half, but I love being a dad already. I love bathing her, changing her, holding her, and watching her sleep...I only wish I could do more! I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for entrusting me with the care of one of His precious little ones!

Chivalry, a lost art?

Last week I was out with my wife, who is 39+ weeks pregnant. One of our favorite dates has always been to go out to Barnes & Noble and peruse the books and magazines, sit an read, and possibly buy something. We wanted to go one last time before the baby comes. So we walked around and looked at the patriotic displays and of course the children's books and then made our way into the sports section where my wife found a book she wanted to test out. We spotted an empty seat and she headed toward it and I continued to check out the titles on the displays. Suddenly, I hear my wife say, "oh, your saving that for some one? Okay." I turn around and my pregnant wife is walking away from an empty seat, denied her by some uncivilized 20 something man. I was pretty ticked! To top it all off, by the time I realized what was happening, this guy and his friend, who also happened to be a 20 year old dude, walked away from the seating area! (I decided not to confront because that makes my wife uncomfortable, otherwise, I would've had no problems telling that dude off.) So, what gives? Was this guy just an idiot? My wife is clearly pregnant, and the seat was open - pretty sure you can't reserve seats in Barnes & Noble unless you are eating at a table in the cafe area. When did men stop giving up seats for pregnant women, women, and old women? Ridiculous! I will resolve to be more chivalrous, to open more doors and give up my seat. That's part of what being a better man is all about.

Let Us Be Men

I want to...I need to...

Things are changing a lot around here. I graduated from dental school, and I guess I'm a Dr. now, it doesn't really feel like it yet, mostly because I haven't found the right job. So, I'm a pre-stay-at-home-dad, for the time being. Being at home right before my little girl comes has had great perks; I get to sleep in, which I won't get many opportunities to do for several more years, I get to watch crappy movies on tv that I had wanted to see but didn't get the chance (thank you DVR), I've gone to movies - by myself (actually kind of nice, I don't have to wait on anyone to get ready or leave, I don't have to find any seats for a massive group, just the lone wolf haha), I've read books for pleasure NOT FOR STUDY, and I've gotten into photography, too. WOW, what a run on sentence. Blah...

Anyway, some of those things get boring, seem mundane, and rather unimportant the longer I do them. I really don't want to look back at my life and say, "I watched a lot of crappy reruns and subpar movies in my day." Wow, lame, and not what I need to be doing.

I need to be learning skills, developing my talents, and looking for a job. I need to be increasing my faith through study and prayer and service. I need to learn how to be a great dad, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot of on the job training associated with that eternal position.

I'm sure I'm going to get great joy in the many years to come, because I already have in my meager preparations thus far. I've enjoyed painting a chair yellow for my daughter's room. I found frustration and I grew through searching out answers and starting and then fixing the crib that we bought for her, and I can't help but smile when she kicks while my hand is on my wife's stomach or after I've sang her a lullaby.

So, some of my "I want to's" are losing their appeal, while my "I need to's" are becoming more important to me, and maybe, even though they might not seem fun right now, "I need to's" are turning into "I want to's."

A long time

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted on this thing. So much for good intentions. I've run the Ragnar Relay in DC with my wife and some close friends. It took a lot of training, but it was a lot of fun. Since then, I kind of went down hill in all of my training. I've gained weight. I've studied a lot. I've taken a lot of tests. Lots of my rhythm for training was lost in rotation, i.e.- I was gone on lots of rotations for school, and couldn't get in as much exercise, and my meals were crap, delicious, fatty crap. But we ran the 10k again this year, and it was fun and I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Insanity workout program. One of my buddies did that, and he looks way fit and trim, so I want to try it. So that's the basic physical change of my past year.

Most importantly, however, is my social change. My wife and I found out that we are going to have a baby girl! I'm so excited. We've been wanting children for quite some time, and we are so happy to be in this position. I can't wait to hold her and feed her, to sing to her and carry her around. I know things are going to be hard; babies aren't easy, but I've been ready to go for a long time. It's weird to think that I'm going to be a dad, but there it is. There has been a lot of prayer about this, and I know my Father in Heaven has heard my prayers.