Cramped quarters

The baby's current housing situation must be getting a little cramp. We can feel it kickin' and thrashing around in there, probably trying to make itself more comfortable as it continues to float around in the life creating ooze. Or it's getting ready to rock 1980s hair band style, BABY!

Maybe I'm just a dumb guy who lacked any hands on experience with pregnant ladies, but I am surprised by how hard the Wife's round belly is. For some reason I thought it was going to be all jiggly and soft like Santa's. But, no! When I rub her tummy it actually feels like there's a bowling ball or a basketball tucked under her skin. I'll admit it. I'm a belly rubber. There's something about seeing that round shape that makes me want to touch it. I saw a TV program once about the differences of men and women when it comes to attraction and what's sexually appealing. All the scientists said men are just programmed in our DNA since prehistoric times to be aroused by round shapes. Hence our preoccupation with other female body parts. (Sorry to Wife's family members who read that.)

Anyway, the Wife is almost at 22 weeks and we've started to get serious about getting the nursery ready. We bought a crib and changing table today. It's one of those convertible models that can be crib, toddler bed, day bed and a full size bed. We weren't sure whether to buy a changing table but we thought that once it was no longer needed for changing diapers we could use it maybe in the kitchen as a serving cart. Disgusting thought at first, but hey whatever!

I've also decided that I will be the parent at the mall or Wal-Mart who has a leash on their kid. It might be a cute monkey looking backpack thing where the tail is the leash, but if some mother comes up and says, "you should be ashamed to have your kid teethered, like a dog" it's going to be on like donkey kong.

A Free Range baby?

As we began getting the baby's room put together this weekend, me and Wife had our first clash in parental styles. Should we have a crib.

I'm not a fan of putting my baby inside a crib. I told the Wife that I don't want our child spending its first years of life living behind wooden or plastic bars. I want my child to be a free thinker, a toddler who thinks, plays and sleeps outside the box. I'd rather clear the room of anything dangerous and put a mattress in the center of the floor. The Wife's reaction, "You want to raise a free range baby?" My response, "Yes, yes I do."

From the first day it's born, I want my child to know that he or she can be anything it wants, to not follow the trends and social norms, to be a person who thinks and feels and acts without fear of being called a weirdo. The crib is a mini-prison that starts forming walls inside my tiny, developing baby's brain.

The Wife, after I explained to her my thoughts on the benefits of my alternative child raising philosophies, gave me that, "We are not going to just put the baby on the floor" look and sighed. Enough said, I guess we're going to go crib shopping in the near future.

What you see above is going to be the baby's room, and no, the power drill on the cabinet will not be one of its toys (the baby is still an "it" until our next appointment in two weeks where we'll find out the sex). I think we're going to paint the room in a shade of yellow and buy some good curtains for the windows.

The room is going to be pretty simple: A crib ( I suppose), the glider chair and glider footstool (the Wife loves it), and a bookcase. Maybe a dresser that can also serve as a changing table.

A wonderful new world

Welcome, and join me as I'm about to boldly go where I have never been before: Fatherhood. After many months of keeping this secret to ourselfs, I can now tell the world that me and the Wife are expecting our first child on Dec. 5.

The Wife is fastly approaching the halfway point in her pregnancy and I'm, well, fastly approaching a critical overload of feelings ranging from joy, pride, anxiety, hopelessness and all the typical things fathers-to-be probably experience.

This blog is replacing my previous, "What I'm I doing in South Dakota?" Being a first-time dad is going to provide lots and lots and lots of fodder for blogging. Don't worry, this blog won't be strictly baby talk. I will blog on many topics from trips we take, to movies to just random crap that comes into my mind.

So, thanks for stopping by and keep coming back because this is going to be a fun ride, and I hope to share it with all of you.