impending fatherhood: crib

[jrtom]

My wife and I are now the proud owners of a crib. Our offspring is not scheduled for arrival until the end of January, but occasionally Megan and I get bitten by the early preparation bug.

As it is one of those cribs that can also serve as a toddler bed, it's kind of big. A combination of factors (darkness, extreme myopia, and the fact that our bed is two queen-sized futons stacked on the floor) converts what is already a decent-sized piece of furniture into a Looming Presence at the foot of our bed. As I said to Megan last night, the metaphors are getting a bit thick on the ground.

The cats, of course, think that it's a jungle gym. This will only be exacerbated when we get a mattress for it.

In some ways, I'm not ready for this, but they're generally practical: there are skills that we need to learn and things we need to acquire (preferably before labor starts), and I need to make more progress in my research (and to improve my work habits) so that I can finish my PhD in a reasonable time.

On an emotional level, I think that I'm ready for this; Megan and I have been thinking about having children for a while. But there are certain events--watching the video output on the sonogram machine, feeling the baby move under my hand, and buying a honkin' huge piece of furniture--that make it temporarily a lot more immediate.

No doubt the child itself, once it arrives, will provide me with plenty of immediacy. :)

Comments

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

Congratulations. :)

I'm sure that I don't have to tell you how excited Mom is about this. :):)

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

No, not really. :)

[paisleychick.livejournal.com]

congratulations. I think it's kind of like getting married. I knew it was happening, we were planning for it, and everything was moving forward, but it still didn't hit me. Sometimes I still look at kragen and say with surprise "you're my husband & I'm your wife!"

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's kind of like that, and I've experienced similar things (although probably less than most since Megan and I had lived together for a few years before we got married).

Although perhaps a better analogy might be an arranged marriage where you'd been told some things about the person you were going to marry (a picture, what their family is like) but had never met them. I mean, it's kind of weird, in a way, to think that I'm making this lifetime committment to love, honor and cherish this kid I've never met.

[karjack.livejournal.com]

You're spawning! o.O

His mother is all around him
His father is just a sound to him
Singing gently

This is an occasion for much squeeing! And congratulations.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Dammit, I keep discovering people that I thought I'd told about this and hadn't. Oops.

Um, anyway, thanks. :)

What's the quote from, by the way?

[karjack.livejournal.com]

From a song by Split Enz called, I believe, "Our Time" about, believe it or not, the birth of the singer's first child.

[karjack.livejournal.com]

I was wrong. The song is Our Day. The words are here. I have much love for the Enz. Also much love for the thought of you and Megan as parents. That's a lucky kid. :)

yeah, it's working on 2 years and i'm still not ready

[(Anonymous)]

but you know, we muddle along.

one more piece of useless advice: don't buy too much stuff before you know what you need. you never know a) what kind of parent you will turn out to be or b) what mountains of stuff people are going to give you. for instance, it turned out we never needed a baby monitor, as much as our collective geekiness really wanted one at points. it just turned out that she was never really out of earshot.

but speaking of b, we really need to figure out a time when we can come on down and dump stuff off at your doorstep.

quinn

Re: yeah, it's working on 2 years and i'm still not ready

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice; we'll take all you can dish out. (Following it is, of course, another matter. :> )

As for buying stuff: we're not buying much; we got the crib because we knew we were going to need that, and we knew that we weren't going to be able to get one from any of our friends/family. We've registered for some stuff, but both you and Kempe have threatened to send us things, so we're keeping it relatively low-key.

We'd be happy to see you, stuff or no. Just to remind you (I think I mentioned this already), we'll be in Portland the week of Thanksgiving. Otherwise I'm pretty sure we'll be here.