Welcome!

7/25/12

Welcome to my 2 newest adventures in life; blogging and being a dad! My wife and I are traveling down the road of bringing a new person into the world and we're looking forward to the adventure and happiness our baby will bring us!

Before diving into the new daddy stuff, I thought I'd at least give a quick background on how my wife and I made it to this point together in our first (almost) 9 years together.

We met in the first couple weeks of college in the fall of 2003 at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Laura was the cute blond that I immediately took interest in after being introduced by a high school classmate of mine that lived down the hall from her in the dorms. Our first date was a dinner at Grandma's restaurant in Canal Park followed by a UMD Bulldogs hockey game. From that moment on, I was hooked! We still debate whether she wasn't smart enough to run away from me or if she just didn't run fast enough when she had the chance, but needless to say, she's been my best friend, sweetheart, constant companion and my life ever since!!! Here are a few pictures of us from college:

First picture of "us", Halloween, Freshman Year, 2003

A New Year's Eve at the Lake

One of my favorite pictures of us!

 

We married on the shore of Lake Superior on June 13, 2009 in front of many family and friends. The wedding day was beautiful, complete with sunshine and a rainbow that showed itself after a short rain shower during dinner. A few months before our wedding, we bought a house in South St Paul, MN and have continued to work on making our house a home for over 3 years now.  I hope you'll enjoy some of these highlights of our wedding day:

 

This was taken shortly after I saw my beautiful bride for the first time prior to our ceremony



Our wedding party of our lifelong friends and some close family members.

My beautiful wife, and soon-to-be mother of my child!

I am a teacher.  I'm licensed in Social Studies (history, geography, political science, psychology, sociology, etc).  This fall, I will begin my 5th year of teaching, and 2nd year as an AVID teacher in the Inver Grove Heights school district about 10 minutes south of our home.  AVID is a class that prepares average students for college; and I couldn't be happier as a teacher!  I'm living my dream each day by working with kids and as a member of a fun staff.

My wife has recently switched careers.  She now supports computer software for medical clinics and is enjoying her new work...she just doesn't like the 45-60 minute commute to the other side of the metro in Minnetonka.  She graduated from UMD with a degree in exercise science and worked for 4 years in a neck and back physical therapy clinic.  After a few years of lousy treatment by the company and reaching the highest rung on the ladder with the company, she was ready for a change!

As for her and I, we have always discussed having kids since we were dating.  I've always loved kids and being around them.  As a teenager, I babysat for several families in my neighborhood.  Laura had the complete opposite experience with little exposure to younger kids.  I laugh as I write this because she has held a baby 1 time in her life, and has never changed a diaper!  She always said she was scared she'd "break" whichever little kid was around us at the time and wouldn't hold them!  Apparently, she'll have a lot to learn in 9 short months!  Before we got married, we knew we'd want kids and that we'd have them when we felt the time was right.  Until this year, I had always been cut from my teaching position due to budget changes in whichever district I was employed with.  In addition to the cuts, I was always a part time teacher or had subbed.  As of this moment, I'm still waiting to hear if I'll be full time or not next year, though as I've experienced each of my previous teaching jobs, this fall I'll have another class added to my workload.  Throughout many conversations we've had with older family members and friends with kids,  we learned that "you'll never be totally ready to have kids."  We've always wanted to provide ourselves with a stability in our home and life that would provide the best foundation to bring a baby into this world.  I had always wanted to get tenure as a teacher before having kids; but with the teaching/political climate in MN, I don't know if tenure will be around for much longer, but more importantly as a social studies teacher, I'm not sure how long it would take me to stick around a district for the 3 consecutive years to get tenured anyways!!!

A month ago, our lives started to change when we rescued a puppy at a local adoption. Laura and I took a walk and decided we'd "just stop by" the adoption tent at our city's town square and see what kind of dogs were up for adoption that day, thanks in large part to our neighbors telling us about the adoption that day. I must admit that at first, Lexi didn't catch my attention nor stand out from the rest of the dogs and puppies there. She was calm, didn't bark, and was not jumping on any of the little kids running around and poking at the puppies. Laura was hooked almost instantly by her nice black coat and white feet. We took her for a short stroll to get away from the crowd and sat with her on the boulevard to discuss bringing her home. She was laying down and looked up at me and had such cute puppy eyes, I was hooked as well. Our neighbor arranged for us to bring "Annie Oakley" (as she was then known as) home with no commitment for a few hours that afternoon. Within a couple hours, we knew she wouldn't be going back to the adoption place nor her foster home! In the past month, Lexi has melted our hearts a little more each day. Within a couple days of having her, we began calling each other "mom" and "dad" and adjusting our schedule and routines to care for another life besides our own. We began joking with family and friends that she would be great "baby training" for us!!!

Though our lives will be changing within the next year, we've enjoyed doing many things together over the past 9 years. I live for Laura. In college, I passed up on going to the same keg parties on the weekends because I enjoyed her company and conversation in a quiet place. Since then, our conversations have continued during our long car rides to North Dakota to visit her family, on flights to far away destinations to share our passion for travel and during the cheering (and my swearing) during hockey games! We've always loved being outdoors together; whether it's camping, hiking, hunting or 4wheeling at one of our cabins/hunting shacks. I learned very early on in our relationship that Laura and I make a great team! We compliment and contrast each other at the most appropriate times. We are there to think of things the other would not have thought of when important decisions need to be made and in the most simple of ways that others may envy, we both share each others' chores around the house equally (except, I do not clean toilets! If it was up to me, we'd have an out-house!) She's my life, she's my love, she'll soon be the mother of my child, and most importantly, she's the most amazing, best friend a guy could ever ask for!!!

Laura's first Wild game, December 2003

(when telling her friend about this upcoming game back then, her friend replied, "You're going to a Wild game?!?!  What's going to be so Wild about this game?!"...apparently, ND folks don't watch much hockey!)

Chipmunk Falls and Laura's first trip to the Big Gun Lodge, Fall 2004

Camping, 2008

(Many people are shocked that my wife loves camping.  She replies, "well, I bought the tent!")

I'm not sure how often this blog will be updated, but as my life begins to transform into that of a dad, I will be sure to update this as I have no clue who will read it. I'm sure my mom and mother in law will enjoy the updates, but I'm not sure if any friends will check this out nor how often others may "check in" on Laura and I, but the least I can do is scribble some thoughts down. At the very least, this will be a new way to relax and relieve some stress and anxiety as well as share some happy moments over the course of the next 9 months, and the foreseeable future after our baby is born.

Now, we are ready for a baby!  I'm very excited, yet it still hasn't hit me that I'll be a dad.  I'm looking forward to starting the next phase of our lives together with my amazing wife and soon-to-be mother of my child!  She is an amazing woman whom I admire and respect so much!  I never understood it until I was married, but it is entirely possible to spend every day with someone you love and still love them a little more each day!  Needless to say, I've officially been a daddy for 7 hrs and 15 minutes now, and the next chapter of my life is just starting...

A rare pregnancy!

8/28/12

After I re-entered the exam room, Laura told me the doctor said, "You have a rare pregnancy in the fact that you have a 'low-risk' pregnancy!  You're healthy, you're active, your family histories and your baby all look very good!!! " 

I hope you forgive me for giving this post such a catchy title, but I was so pumped to hear that that I had to share it with you!  We had our first OB appointment tonight.  We're officially just past the 9 week stage, and things are looking great.  Keep your fingers crossed and your thoughts and/or prayers coming our way that things stay the way they are!!! 

I won't go into too many details about our appointment tonight as it was awkward for me at times...heck, when the funky looking equipment came out, I left the room!!!  Nope...none of that crap for this guy!!!  While we were waiting for the doctor, Laura made a comment that her arm still hurt from her flu shot the other day.  I said that my arm (and it's matching flu shot) was feeling better and that I was proud that I didn't cry.  About that same time, an infant in an adjacent room began crying...presumably from getting a shot of some short...I could tell he/she was in pain.  Laura told me that I'd be horrible and would be uncomfortable when our baby has to get its shots.  I quickly agreed...and realized for the first time that seeing my child in pain will hurt me more than it will hurt it!!! I have to admit that I might get a couple tears in my eyes when baby has to get its shots because I hate shots, and they hurt like crazy, so I know it's going to hurt her/him!!!

I also made an observation (and shared it with Laura)...that the next time she was waiting for the doctor to come in and she was on a table with stirrups, (no worries, I left before any of the action started!) that I would most definitely not be on the business end of the stirrups!!!  Ha...seriously...I'm staying in the Northern Hemisphere on delivery day...none of that for me...otherwise I'd be flat out on the floor.  And...if that were the case, Laura would not be able to shout "YOU DID THIS TO ME!" as is expected from wives in delivery!!!...and I figured I should at least give her the opportunity, when the time comes, to shout that at me!!!

And with that attempt at humor, I'll wrap up this latest post.  I wonder if many people read this!?  (Well, technically, only a handful of people are aware of this blog at this time)  And with that, I wonder if many people will read this once the word is out?  People are publishing a lot of junk these days (some may think this is junk) but perhaps there is an audience out there besides our friends and family that may enjoy this Daddy Diary.  I enjoy updating you all when I have something worth while, so I hope you enjoy reading it.  Of course, when the word is out and we've moved beyond the danger period of the first trimester, I'd appreciate you sharing this blog with anyone you feel may enjoy this; whether it's your family/friends...or just some distant contacts you occasionally email.  Until then, we appreciate your understanding in our desire of not wanting the world to know about our developing little one and we greatly appreciate your respect of our privacy as we nurture our growing little baby.  As of today, he/she is slightly smaller than your thumb!  By 19 weeks (2.5 more months) we will be able to tell the sex of the baby, even though we're unsure if we want to know or not.  In 3 weeks, at our next appointment we will be able to hear its heart beat for the first time.  Just for your information, I will probably let a tear or two roll down my cheek when I hear my baby for the first time!  Until then, I'll keep you posted on any noteworthy developments.  As always, thanks for reading my Daddy Diary and we appreciate your continued thoughts/prayers.

Big Weekend!

8/26/12

We had a busy/big weekend...well, kind of?!!?  Friday night we had a couple of our good friends, Adam and Shana, over for dinner (us boys had a few beers!).  While they were here, we told them we're expecting and they were excited for us and had all sorts of questions.  Shana was tipped off when she was here for 5 minutes hadn't yet had a glass of champagne...which is definitely out of the ordinary when her and Laura are together!!!

Saturday afternoon saw the arrival of a good friend of mine that I used to teach with for a couple years in West St. Paul.  Julie brought her 2 month old and bundle of joy, Dominick, to visit us for lunch.  We grilled burgers and had an easy lunch.  The 3 of us had a blast catching up and talking about baby stuff, but the poor little guy wasn't happy about something and fussed for a while.  I must have a way with kids...he was fine until I picked him up!!!  From then on, he wasn't a happy camper!!!  Julie was nice enough to bring me a growler of Fitger's beer (my favorite brewery on Earth!)  With that, she gave us nice card and our first outfit for our little bundle of joy:

 

I don't know if Julie knows we're huge fans of "Deadliest Catch",  or if she just has impeccable taste for cute baby clothes, but regardless, we love them and can't wait to throw our baby in them!!!  Throughout our conversation over lunch, we were able to come away with quite a list (literally, a nice list) of things to avoid buying for the baby, and things we should register for that they hadn't thought of but have on hand all the time.  Julie, thanks for the wisdom and we look forward to many more conversations with you in the future (but not all of them will be about baby stuff!!!)!!!

 

Today was an exciting day as well as Laura's brother, Brett, and his longtime girlfriend, Carissa, stopped by for a visit on their way through the cities back to Fargo after a weekend in La Crosse.  It was nice seeing them for a short time; even though they didn't bring the dogs with!!!  It was Carissa's birthday today, so she got a little card and a Caribou card from us...unfortunately for her, she wasn't feeling well and was stuck inside the car with Brett for a long day of driving!!!  Of course, while they were here, we told them we're expecting in April!!! 

 

I don't know why, but Laura doesn't get excited about telling people (especially family members and close friends) good things that are happening in her life...and honestly...it bugs the crap out of me!!!  Hell, the night I proposed, she called her mom, her dad, and her grandparents to tell them.  However, she only told them the exciting news (at least I thought it was) after a good 5+ minutes of mindless small talk!!!  Seriously?!?!  And with her brother today and with Adam and Shana on friday...she was in absolutely no rush to tell them the exciting news, and only seemed to do so after I gave her a few looks!!!  I'm sure this is an entirely different experience for her since she's the one carrying the baggage, so to speak...but I'm biting my tongue to not tell people this awesome, life-altering development in our lives, and she's just fine with having small talk!!!  I love her to pieces...and it's things like this that remind me daily...as much as I think I know this remarkable woman I love dearly, I'll just never figure everything out about her!!

 

And for the time being, I don't think there's too many more people we'll let in on our "little secret" until the next month or so goes by and we're "out of the woods" with the first trimester being wrapped up.  We have another Dr. appointment on tuesday.  I honestly don't recall what this one is for, and since Laura is in the shower, shouting the question just won't work!  I'll keep you all posted later in the week!  Until the next time, thanks for reading my Daddy Diary and we appreciate your best wishes to the 3 of us...especially those for mom and baby!!!

 



Happy Grandparent's Day!!!

8/19/12

Today was the day both Laura and I have been anxious for since we found out we were pregnant...we told our parents they would be grandparents!  Laura's parents came into town a few days ago to spend a few days of vacation with us at our house.  In our minds, we knew before we became pregnant that we'd want to tell both sets of parents at the same time...considering her parents live almost 6 hours away in North Dakota, and my parents live 10 minutes away, we didn't want one set of parents to know before the other. 

We arranged a dinner at our house tonight with the storyline of celebrating Russ and Laura's birthdays (Russ's is today, Laura's is wednesday).  My parents came over a while before our grilled chicken was ready, so we all moved to the deck to chat for a while.  Laura told me she was cold and wanted me to go get her sweater and than she wanted something to drink.  When I came back out to the deck I was carrying this cake:

When I set the cake down, they were all confused and not quite sure what was going on at first.  After the fact, they had all indicated that to some degree, they thought the cake was in celebration of our dog Lexi!!!  Once they looked at it a bit more closely and figured it all out, there was an abundance of happiness and a few tears on the deck!!! 

We had talked about how we wanted to tell them, and somehow we came up with the cake idea.  So I called the bakery my family has gone to for years (Thanks PJ Murphy's on Randolph Ave. in St. Paul!!!).  The lady asked what occassion the cake was for and I replied, "It's for the kind of occassion when you tell your parents that they're going to be grandparents!"  She was super excited to be making our cake.  I told her what we wanted it to say and then she asked what we wanted it to look like and I said, "I don't know...babyish?!?!"  She asked if we were alright with letting them be creative with the cake and I was more than thrilled to let my lack of creativity rest at ease!!!  I picked it up yesterday morning when I went to get some rolls for breakfast and was extremely surprised at how cool it looked...hell, I'll say it...it's a cute cake!!!

After our parents found out and a few pictures were taken, we sat back down on the deck and the moms started to piece together parts of the puzzle as to how long Laura had been pregnant by figuring why she hadn't had a drink, or why she didn't seem like herself, or hadn't felt well, etc...

Needless to say, the night was a huge success! 

After dinner, Laura opened a couple of birthday gifts: several candy cane Hallmark Christmas ornaments missing from her collection and a Zach Parise Wild jersey.  As thrilled as she was, I think the big winner for the birthday gifts was my father in law, Russ.  I'm sure he won't forget the gift he received (or learned that he would be receiving later) on his birthday today.  So, by early April next year, we'll be parents.  Laura's super thrilled that our child, who will undoubtedly become a big smart ass like it's parents, could potentially be born on April Fool's Day....while I'm curious if the baby will arrive a little late on my mom's birthday (April 8th) or on mine (April 9th).  Perhaps we'll make a streak of birthdays in April with 3 consecutive birthdays?!?! 

With that, I'll wrap up this post.  Thanks for sharing in our special day with our parents and ourselves today.  Thanks again for reading my Daddy Diary...and I'll leave you with another picture from our night:



Good Ultrasound!

8/15/13

Laura heard back from the Dr. yesterday evening that everything looked great on the ultrasound from last week!  It made us feel much better knowing that the first (of many) test came back with positive results and that all is looking good and normal so far!  This friday, Laura will be 8 weeks along, which means we're 2/3 of the way through the most important/scary part of the pregnancy known as the first trimester.  Neither of us were aware of it before, but we soon learned through some books we've accumulated that the first tri is the time period where most miscarriages take place.  It's because of this that we aren't telling many people during this first trimester.  Heck...we aren't even telling our parents until this weekend when her parents come visit and my parents come over for dinner when we'll all be together. 

This is the most uncomfortable time period for moms in regards to their changing bodies.  Laura has been pretty sore, exhausted, and having a few bouts with nausea lately.  Again, I feel worthless because I can't do anything to help her feel better or bring her comfort.  It's funny though...she caught on pretty quickly that back rubs and shoulders rubs REALLY help her feel better!!!

Well, until we make our announcement to our parents this sunday, I don't anticipate anything too exciting happening on the baby front!  I'll be sure to share the "announcement" story in its entirety in a few days.  Thanks again for reading my Daddy Diary and we appreciate your prayers and/or best wishes!

A tiny, beating heart

8/9/12

I saw my baby's heart beat for the first time today!!!  Nothing means life more than a beating heart, and nothing means parenthood more than seeing the heart beat for the first time!

We went for our first ultrasound this afternoon after Laura got off from work.  We were surprised to work with someone without interacting with our doctor at all during our visit.  We went into a tiny room with a bed, a couple chairs, and a cart with an A/V cart with a huge screen a sweet looking control pad that might make for a sweet video gaming experience if it weren't in a doctor's office!!!  The process was quite easy (not that I thought it'd be difficult)...at least for me it was easy.  We did two ultrasounds today.  Since we are fairly early on in the pregnancy, the technician said we'd have to do an external and an internal ultrasound to be sure of the measurements and such.  I won't go into details, but Laura wasn't a big fan of one of the ultrasounds!!! 

Throughout the whole process, I had my eyes jumping back and forth between my wife and the screen.  The room was dark and I was trying to gauge Laura's reaction and comfort while constantly shifting my attention to the big screen on the "video game" cart!  I must say, our baby doesn't look like much now, but I was able to recognize it right away!  I've only looked at ultrasound pictures of others about twice in my life, so I had an idea of what I would see...but that little pea-sized, white spec of a bundle of joy anchored to the wall in Laura's tummy was easy to spot against the black void of the baby factory!!! 

At one point the technician said, "this is the fun part!  We get to measure the baby's heart beat!"  After a few seconds, she gave us the good news that the 137 beats per minute of the baby's heart is good and normal!

At the end of a bunch of different measurements and observations, the technician printed a strip of 4 pictures of our baby.  I must say, I have the cutest baby in the world!  I know it definitely is not what it appears to be, but the our baby kind of looks as though it's standing, facing the camera and waving with it's right arm with a smile on it's face.  Don't think I'm stupid...I'm not imagining this...I know it's not what it's doing, but it kind of looks like it!  See below... (To imagine the baby standing and waving as described above, directly left of the arrow appears to be the neck, the eyes and mouth are black specs, and the right arm is the thing to the left in the image)

And with the exciting news that we could see our baby's heart beating, I'll wrap up this latest post in my Daddy Diary.  The technician said the doctor would review the ultrasound and would call us in a few days with the results.  I'll be sure to keep you all posted!  Until the next update, we appreciate your best wishes/prayers for the continued healthy development of our little baby!!!

Lies and Deception

8/8/12

Laura and I are continuing to live our lives with lies and deception amongst our family, friends, and neighbors as we await the day to tell our parents.  Once our parents know, then we'll make it known to everyone else as well.  The most obvious sign we have to cover up when we're with others is Laura's lack of drinking.  Though she typically does not order a drink while we're out, she has been gathering a lot of attention over the past couple weeks.  We had a trivia night at Old Chicago with our neighbors last week, and we celebrated National Night Out last night...both of which, of course, she didn't drink.  Those that know us best, know that she doesn't drink too much...a glass of wine or a cocktail here or there!  So coming up with an excuse is increasingly made more difficult as we encounter some people more frequently and have to have an excuse ready.

This deception we're involved in totally sucks!  We'd love to just "shout it from the top of a mountain" in the words of Ron Burgandy, but we're holding back until we can let both sets of parents know at the same time...we don't want to have to tell one set why the other was told first!!!

Until then, we'll continue with our lies and deception...something we hate doing!  In the end though, I think it will be worth it, and I suspect people will be very understanding in hindsight.

Tomorrow night we have our first ultrasound!  Apparently, they should be able to more easily give us a due date at that time, and we should be able to do a preliminary test to ensure there is proper fluids visible behind the baby's neck, which will tell us if there is an increased chance of the baby being born with Down Syndrome.  My worries as a dad officially began when the doctor told us about this early ultrasound and the reason behind it a couple weeks ago.  I haven't lost sleep, by any means, but it is definitely on my mind.  As I said in an earlier post, since I've been working in schools, I've prayed for healthy and normal children.  Now that our baby is growing and taking shape, I'm hopeful my prayers have been answered.  I can't wait to end the lies and the deception so I can ask his/her grandpa to put in some good words for her with the Man upstairs!!!

Until the next post, possibly tomorrow night, take care and thanks for reading my Daddy Diary!!!

We're Pregnant!!!

7/25/12

When Laura and I first started trying to get pregnant some time ago, I told her I wanted to be surprised when we got pregnant.  Well, I got that surprise this morning at 6:15 when Laura woke me up by turning on the lights in our bedroom and saying, "Sweetie, look look!!!" as she held the pregnancy test in her hands, "We're pregnant!"  Needless to say, I was shocked!!!

When she came into the bedroom this morning and was speaking to me, I knew something was different by the tone of her voice.  I was expecting her to be carrying our puppy into the bedroom to cuddle!!!  Instead, I opened my eyes to see the test with a little blue "+" sign!!!  I'm sure this little symbol indicating something positive will become the first of millions of positive things I see and experience as a dad; and I must say, I'm looking forward to it!!!

The first few hours of being a dad have been a mix of emotions as I've been inundated with tons of thoughts about the future; some happy and some scary!  I've always loved being around kids and babies!  I love holding kids and playing with little kids, and especially teaching kids...but now I'll have my own!!  It's sort of funny...whenever I held a baby before, if it cried, I could hand it back to the mom and I could forget about the baby crying and let the parents deal with it!  Now, if I hand my baby to it's mom when it's crying, I could potentially get slapped for not pulling my fair share of the weight!!!  Before, if the kid smelled, the parents would change the diaper and I would secretly giggle if there was crap everywhere when the diaper was opened...now, I'll be the one wiping the ass!!!

Last November a good buddy of mine that I used to teach with welcomed a baby into the world with his wonderful wife.  Since then, we've seen them a handful of times when they've visited from out of town and I've been able to hold the little guy and make funny faces at him!  In our frequent emails we exchanged, he always updated me about his son, Henry's, progress as a growing baby and how much joy the baby brought to his life and his marriage.  I'll be honest, I was often jealous to hear of his stories of laying on the couch and watching TV with his son laying on his chest or reading  a book with his son in his arms.  Now, I'll be experiencing that soon myself! 

A couple of months ago, a girl I teach with across the hall from me found out she was pregnant.  Her and I had discussed babies before as we realized during our brief passing time conversations in the hallway that our lives, marriages and futures were on very similar paths and timelines. 

Earlier this week, we met up with another buddy I used to teach with and had dinner with his wife an 11 month old girl.  It was fun catching up with him and his wife, but it was really entertaining to watch his girl during dinner and to watch how our friends' interaction with the baby throughout the meal:  A parent's 6th sense is amazing!!!

Of course, it's still waaayyy to early to know whether our baby will be a boy or girl.  My wife, who wants to know how the movie ends before it starts, will probably want to find out the sex of the baby before birth.  Whereas I like a good surprise, I'm not sure if I'll want to know ahead of time or not, though it would be nice to have an idea of what the baby is ahead of time.  I think every dad hopes for a baby boy and I'm no different.  There's nothing I'd love more than to have a boy and take him hunting and teach him how to play baseball and chase him around the yard playing with water guns.  However, over the past year, I've had lots of "baby dreams" in which Laura and I were parents of a little baby...each of those dreams involved a baby girl!!!  Over the past month, Lexi has shown me that I'm very receptive to daddy's girls!!!

I'll end the first chapter of this blog with some words of hope and optimism.  As I enter my 5th year of teaching this fall, I've met and worked with over a thousand students.  I've been priveledged to teach some wonderful young individuals, but I've also worked with some kids that have unfortunate things wrong with themselves or in their lives.  I'm not a very religious guy, but since I became a teacher I've often prayed for my wife and I to give birth to a healthy baby and for them to live a healthy and safe life, especially during childhood.  I'm frequently reminded of how precious kids are, and how special they are and I'm looking forward to bringing a child into this world with my wonderful life.  If you're a religious person, please keep our new baby in your prayers as he/she begins to grow.  If you're not a religious person, keep us in your thoughts and feel free to silently send your best wishes our way!  Thanks for being a part of my first day as a dad by reading my Daddy Diary!!!

Confirmation

7/31/12

It's official...Laura and I will be parents.  About a week to the day that Laura took the test to find out at home, we had the home test confirmed by tests at the doctor's office!

I think both of us were a bit nervous going to the appointment, not knowing what to expect, we both left relieved and happy knowing that we are indeed pregnant!

Officially, we are 5-1/2 weeks pregnant.  Next thursday we will need to go for our first ultrasound.  Apparently, even at this early stage, we will be able to see our baby's heart beat!!!  As of today, the little guy/girl is about the size of a mustard seed.

We met our doctor for the first time and we both think she is a great lady.  She is a family practicioner, but specializes in the baby department.  She loves delivering babies, and so far this year, she's already delivered 75 newborns!!!  It was comforting to know that we could call any time with any questions and chat with the doctor who will be delivering our baby.  It was also cool to know that we'll be having the baby at United Childrens' Hospital in St. Paul when the time comes (I've gotten to know this hospital very well over the years with my many cuts and stitches and a bout with pneumonia).  As we left, she gave us a book to read and have as a resource.  That brings our baby library up to 2 books, and I'm sure it will grow with time!

I also realized during this visit with the doctor that I have a lot of growing up to do!!!  I'm not talking about the maturity and responsibility to raise a kid...at this point, I understand that concept as much as I can...I'm talking about my need to not giggle and say "that's what she said!" nor "ewww" every time I hear a funny word or the proper words for body parts!!!  It was great going with the first Dr. appointment with Laura and I look forward to going to the many future visits as well!

Lastly, it's tough to keep our exciting news a secret!!!  We've only told a few people as of this moment, and don't plan to tell everyone until we've let our parents know.  We plan to tell them in 2 weeks when Laura's parents are in town and we can have dinner at our place and fill everyone in at the same time!!!

Well, that's it for now.  I'll keep posting as we keep learning and growing!  Take care and thanks for reading my Daddy Diary!!!