Holy Crap I've Got A Kid!!!

So, I haven't updated this blog in quite a bit. People get busy, ya' know? Anyway, with a readership of like, 4 I don't think I'm disappointing anyone too much. Regardless, the main reason I haven't updated in a while is because I HAD A KID! Yep, the guy who can't grow hair on his own head has had a child. Well, I didn't birth the little bundle of joy myself, that credit goes to the wife, but I helped in the production department, so I get to call her mine. Angela Elizabeth (Ella for short) was born on January 25th at 1:16 am. She weighed 7.5lb and was 19.5 inches long, fully healthy and home with Mom right now. Being a new Dad is pretty humbling as now all of my decisions take that premise into consideration. I know everyone says it, but everything to my driving style to how often I call home has changed. Of course my sleep cycle has changed a bit also, but if you know me, I'm not a big sleeper so I'm not really losing any sleep. I do sleep a lot lighter than I did in the past.

Leading up to the due date, people kept asking me if I was nervous. Honestly, I was more nervous in that 5 minute span waiting to see if the wand would have a negative line or positive lines about 7 months ago. I was extremely calm ... that is, until they told my wife she could start pushing. It was kind of like that feeling you get when you're going into the boss' office for a performance review and you really don't know whether you're going to get a raise or get fired. Because honestly, until the kid comes out, they can't tell you if all the fingers are there, they can't tell you if she's going to grow teeth out of her nose, they can't tell you whether she'll keep breathing once she's out, they can't even tell you that they're 100% sure it's a she. So, I got a little touch of nervousness there, but I prayed with my wife and we found strength.

The Mrs. was amazing during delivery. I forewarned her that I fully expected to be cursed out in the delivery room. I mean, that's the story you always hear, right? Guys always talk about their wives punching them or degrading them or telling them they hate them or something like that. Well, my wife told me she wouldn't because she would be focused, and you know what? She was right. Maybe the epidural helped with that but she didn't curse or tell me she hated me so I really don't care what the reason was. She just stared straight forward and got the job done. Total delivery time (from when she started pushing to birth) was less than an hour. I will say this, I will take my wife in a fight over any woman who has not had kids because if you can handle that, taking a shot or two to the jaw is a cinch.

So I'm a Dad now. The kid only seems to cry when she's hungry and occassionally when she's getting her diaper changed. Other than that, she just wants to check out the scenery and relax. Fun times ahead boys and girls, fun times ahead.

Kicked in the "flin-flarn" head

So, as my readership knows, my wife is in her 38th week of pregancy out of an expected 40 - in other words, any day now. One of the things brought on by pregnancy is an increase in charley horses. Well, this became an issue in the middle of a deep sleep the other night. Understand, we've had the humidifier on in the bedroom so we've been closing the door. We sleep on the lower level in our house so if it's dark and the lights are off, you can't see your hand in front of your face.

I awaken to my wife yelping and crying at Oh-dark-thirty in the morning, cuz' you know, I think it's time (normally I'm a much sounder sleeper.) I ask her what's going on and she alerts me to the charley horse she's experiencing in her left leg. Calmer now, realizing that I don't have to actually get out of bed, the half-sleep takes control as I tell her I'll rub her calf like a good hubby. Hmm. It was obvious that my wife wasn't fully awake either because it didn't cross her mind that I had no shot of seeing or knowing that she was going to go ahead and swing her leg up to my "supposedly" waiting arms. While she's scissor kicking up, I'm reaching over and WHAM! I get kicked right in the mouth.

So I fall back howling grabbing my face and her crying goes off the charts. "Iiiiii'mmm ssssooorr-orrr-eee, YEOW, MY LEG!!!!" Luckily the stun of the moment was only temporary. I had her put her leg down and I went ahead and took care of massaging out the cramp. I also informed her that the next time she got a leg cramp in the middle of the night, to keep her legs on the bed where I could find them. All in all, I got out of it with a slightly split lip and a great story.

Happy New Year - I'm Back

What's going on, everybody (all two of you?!?!) No time to play around with pictures right now, but let's just say that New Years was awesome. I spent it at a suburban park district with some business partners and our families. There were about 100 people in all and we played basketball till about 11 or so. We also had a tremendous spread of food. Just an awesome thing to get family around. On the home front, baby Ella will be here any day now. I may post again with some sonogram pictures but I needed a detective kit to figure out what was what in the pics, so maybe not.

Anyway, expect 2006 to be an amazing year. There is so much that can happen this year and I am ready for it.