Week 35 Day 1

   There are a great many resources out there for pregnant moms and moms-to-be.  And there are beginning to be excellent sources for impending fathers to seek help as well.  But there aren’t nearly as many for us.  Not sure why other than the decades of cultural programming telling us that the woman stays home with the children while the man earns the money.  Yeah…  I guess that’s pretty much the reason.

   Thank goodness for the 21^st century, right?  Someone might want to tell that church in Kentucky what year it is.  And make sure they know it’s 2011, not 1911.

   But I digress.  I was talking about excellent resources for dads-to-be.  Sources like Empowered Papa.  I feel fortunate to be able to find guys who feel the same way I do.  It’s refreshing after slogging through all the ‘expectations’ (or lack thereof) that people have of me and my role in the birth of my child.  On the other hand… with the bar set so low, I could really excel without even trying very hard, right? 

   But that would make me an ass.

Week 32 Day 7

   Being a man, I really don't know what it is like to be pregnant.  I can ONLY imagine and even that probably pales in comparison to reality.  My wife puts it nicely here:

I imagine a bowling ball with angry eyes a la Mario Bros.  Maybe a Bullet Bill crossed with a Bob Bomb.  And this bowling ball is charging down the lane.  And my wife and I are the pins waiting to be knocked down at the end of the lane.  
   The best thing about there being 2 of us and one baby is that if we are pins with a 1/10 split, the kid will likely only knock one of us down leaving the other to pick up the pieces.  
   I know that being a parent is going to be hard, but I can count on my wife to not be an ass most of the time and I hope she can say the same about me.

Week 32 Day 5

Here's a visual update of what's going on with the kid.  If you can keep your eyes from crossing due to the Beetlejuice striped nighty, you'll see a lot of baby movement towards the top of the screen.  The baby is head down and has been pretty much for the last couple of months at least.  So what you're seeing is the baby's feet doing a tap dance.

Week 31 Day 7

If you don't know what TED talks are, you should.  Here is one that is really spectacular and relevant.  I'm not sure I'd have watched it a year ago.  But it has a great deal of meaning to me, now.
   And to think that this is all going on in my wife's belly is pretty awesome.  Speaking of my wife's belly, here is a shot from her point of view.

Notice the larger bulge just to the left of the track pad on her laptop.  Yeah, the kid likes to stay mostly over there.  Obstinate.  Like it's parents.

Week 31 Day 5

   Wow, this is like 3 or 4 posts this week.  I must have some extra time or something.  Work is also slowing down a bit as we near Thanksgiving.

   So here’s something else I take for granted.  As the belly gets larger, it really does limit the ability to do certain things… like doing the dishes.

   Here my wife illustrates just how far the belly pushes her away from the counter.  We’ve always joked about her Tyrannosaurus arms but I think she’s really feeling it now.

That, or she’s using it as an excuse to not do the dishes…  Pretty good excuse.

   And she’s looking pretty good, too, dontcha think?

Pregnant.  Check.

Kitchen.  Check.

Barefoot?  Not sure.

Yes.  I am an ass.

Week 31 Day 4

Can I hire this babysitter?  Especially if he just works for dog treats.

Week 31 Day 3

   The closer the birth of our baby, the more we are realizing the impending responsibility of raising another human being to be a productive member of society.  Fortunately, everyone who does this is an ass at one time or another.  Here is a great article from a PHD mother talking about not being perfect.  (Thanks for the link, hon) And hey, if a DOCTOR makes all kinds of mistakes, how can I NOT make mistakes!  So it will be alright… right?

   This is great for taking some of the pressure off us.  But it still doesn’t change the fact that one day we will be 2 and the next there will be 3 of us.