How's the weather?

You should probably know, this month, weather wise, has been pretty miserable.  Especially the last few weeks.  Now you may or may not have heard it by now but lots of people think Seattle is a rainy wasteland.  A marsh of forever gray skies and precipitation, but it isn't true.  Sure it rains a lot.  But usually from mid May until October it is quite pleasant up here.  The sun shines, it is green, the flowers bloom, etc...  Not this year.  No sir.  We had a mild winter and thus far spring/summer has been cool and wet.  Which doesn't work out so well for your dad who is riding his new motorcycle to work everyday so mom can have a car here in case of emergencies or if she needs to run errands.  The point of this post, I guess, is just so you know that the season in which you were born was not typical.  It may come up in conversation for your mom and I at some point

"I remember the year Brooklynn was born.  Boy was that a cool summer, eh?"

"Why yes, yes it was.  A lot cooler than this summer..."

Blah blah blah you get the point.

All that said, you may just want to take your Grampa Perkin's (P-Pa's) advice and just be born in June.  Not because June is the girl month (which it is) or because P-Pa and I don't want to share the month of May (we wouldn't mind at all), but more so you can say, "When I was born the sun came out and summer began and everything was right with the world!"  You had just better work out for the weather to be nice if you plan that.

I'm just saying...

Contractions?

That's right.  Question mark.  You try answering the doctor's questions about contractions when you have never experienced them before.

"Are you having any contractions?"

"How should I know?"

That is kinda the state your mother is in.  Except now she thinks she is having them. Not just back labor any more.  Which is encouraging to her.  She just can't wait to get you out!

But here is the story.  We had been fairly productive in the house yesterday, setting up your dresser and cleaning up a bit, then we went out shopping.  We picked up a few more little things to get ready and along the way we passed Red Robin and your mom remembered that we had a coupon for a free burger that expired the next day (Sunday) so we should use it.  I of course agreed.  I like burgers, but no where near as much as your mother.  If you haven't figured this out by now we need to look at better schooling options.

So there we are at Red Robin having the worst service I have ever had at a restaurant when she starts talking about her side aching and her stomach feeling pinched (or maybe just her side, it was her abdomen anyways).  She thinks this may actually be a contraction.  But how to tell?  Calling Grandma Perkins of course to see what she remembers!  Grandma couldn't remember very well as the last time she had them was 19 years ago when Aunt Ali was born.

Thank goodness for friends at church who JUST had babies.  Several of your mom's friends at church talked to us today after sacrament meeting and some of the topics were about contractions and labor, which really helped set your mom's mind at ease (so much that she is laying down for a nap right now).  Friends are great!

You made your mother cry! Kinda...

OK, OK.  So it was really me.  I finally told your mom about the blog on Thursday.  I don't remember what we were in the middle of watching on TV but she wanted to get onto the computer and it was being weird (not showing the display mostly is what it is doing lately, although today the letter "i' is not behaving either) so I have to fix it for her.  So when I booted the thing back up I loaded the blog for her to read.  She read it non-stop and when she got done she was sobbing.  I blame the hormones for that one, although a little crying would not have been unusual for her.  She was just very happy that I thought of it and thinks it is a good idea.

So she posted something about it on her blog and now the cat is out of the bag and everyone wants to read this.  Well  not everyone, but some people.  I had to think about it for a moment before I made my decision.  And while this blog is for you, it is also about you and my perspective of things.  Your mom doesn't always see things my way.  In fact she rarely does.  It isn't bad, it is just different.  Which also isn't bad in case you haven't learned that one yet.  So I think people would enjoy reading all about it.  And it isn't like they can change anything I post.  Even your mom can't do that.  Although if she tried really hard she probably could.  So could half of my family if they had any hacking sense whatsoever.  But that is besides the point.  The blog is up for people to see.  I will start "following" your mom's blog so there will be a link for others to click on and see this one.

Just thought you should know that you certainly aren't the first to read this.  And hopefully you won't be the last.  The idea is to have memories of your childhood, and like it or not your kids will probably want to know stuff about you as a kid.  And you won't be able to remember half of it.  But good ol' dad will have it all down in 0s and 1s (that means digitally).

Baby Shower... for Daddy?

Yeah.  It was a little weird but awesome all at the same time.  If you haven't already figured it out, especially since I mentioned it in one of the earlier posts, showers are for girls.  Boys don't go, boys don't want to go.  But everyone I work with thought it would be fun to have a shower as an excuse to give me and another co-worker here (who is having a little boy) some presents, which I never discourage.

It all started on Monday.  My boss, Mary, asked how the weekend was and I mentioned being over and seeing your cousin Chloe for the first time.  Since last week was my birthday she said she wanted to take me out on Wednesday.  I happily agreed.  There may be no such thing as a free lunch but I sure never turn one down!

Wednesday gets here and Mary invites the other co-worker who is having a baby, Scott, along for lunch.  The more the merrier.  Lunch time comes and Mary takes us out to her car, starts driving and says she feels like she is forgetting something.  What is she forgetting?  She isn't sure.  We don't get far from the office when she remembers what she forgot and says we need to go back to the office real quick.  No problem, say Scott and I.

We get back to the office and Mary says she is going to run upstairs to the office.  Scott and I volunteer to stay down in the parking lot since it is such a nice day.  A few minutes go by and Mary comes back downstairs saying she isn't going to be very quick and we may as well come back inside.  Slightly disappointed we returned to the office.

When we opened the door, being somewhat of a couple clowns, Scott and I begin to say how wonderful our lunch was.  Then we are surprised to see a spread of lunch and a bunch of presents at our desks!  Surprise indeed!  We had no idea it was coming.  Mary and everyone else in the office was very worried that we were wise to their plans, but we assured them we were both blissfully ignorant of any such subterfuge.

So the shower began with a lovely lunch of barbecue pork, potato salad, salad and lemonade.  Cake was served later.  Everything was delicious.

Shortly after everyone had stuffed themselves on the yummy fares it was time for shower games.  This is one of the main reasons boys don't like to go to showers.  These games are silly.  There is no other way to describe them.  Best part of it is the only competitors for the games were two boys: Scott and I.  Joy.

It actually turned out to be fun.  We did a rubber-band shooting game, where the object was to shoot the rubber-bands from across the room into the right basket.  The person with the most rubber-bands in their basket would have the cuter baby.  So we were told.  I won this game.  Which is why you are so cute!  That and genetics or something like that.

This game was followed by a balloon blowing contest (I won), bowling for baby bottles (Scott won), baby food tasting (I won), diaper stacking (Scott), picture drawing on plates on top of our heads (me) and picking clothes and clothes-pins off of a hanger (me again).  Supposedly, we were told in order to get our interest and competitive juices running, the person who won the most games was to be crowned champion and given the Spoon of Achievement.  The Spoons of Achievement were nothing more than baby spoons.  But since I am super competitive, I gave it my all to make me and your mother and you proud.

The games were soon followed by presents and cake.  We got a wonderful play mat (which I hope you use and like), some cute little outfits and a blanket.  We also got to keep the diapers we stacked from the diaper stacking game, half a box each from Costco or something because there were lots!  You were also given a leash, but I am trying to talk your mom into taking that back because I do not believe in putting kids on leashes.  It is demeaning to child and parent.  You and I should both have more control than that.  You over yourself and me over you.

In summation it really was quite the wonderful surprise.  It is nice to have such awesome co-workers who have so much fondness for you that they HAVE to throw a shower for you.

One of the ladies in the office did take a bunch of pictures.  I will see what I can do about getting copies and putting them up here.

Ready (or not)

I was going to post this yesterday, but figured two posts back to back just seemed rather lame.  Of course there was the fear of "what if you came between posts" and I was not able to post this one.  But with your mother not really in any form of labor yet (except back labor very sporadically) I figured it was safe to wait.

I don't think you will ever realize how much work goes into preparing for a child until you do it yourself.  There are all the gadgets, the clothes, the furniture, the finances to manage, the emotions to check... It is a lot to do.  That may be why we get 9 months to do it all.  You may think that if you have a list you can get it all done in one fell swoop.  Well you are wrong.  Mostly because you can't do it that way.  You don't want to, either.  It is a lot of stuff and it adds up over time.  There are showers, little parties that women throw and don't invite men to (and men don't want to go to), no one knows why they are called showers (many speculate), so people can buy a bunch of the stuff you need.  Once the showers are over the real work begins.  What do we still need?  Where do we get it?  Repeat until "ready," which is pretty much never since no one is ever really ready for a baby.  Just ask someone.

Fortunately for us we are not as broke as I pretend to be and we have loving family and friends who have helped us all prepare.  We are expecting a crib to come from a cousin of mine and that should complete everything we really NEED to be ready.  There are of course some things that we would want, but wanting and needing are two different things and I hope that you can learn that (soon!).

So now we are waiting for you to come out.  Your mom thinks that you are a little misdirected and you are trying to come out the top sometimes because you keep kicking her in the ribs and crowding her lungs.  She would very much like to breathe and have less pain in her ribs.  And I would like for her to be comfortable so I can have some comfort, too.  I know.  How selfish of me.

You aren't even due for two more weeks and we are eager to meet you.  To see your precious little face.  I can only hope that we really are ready, and that you are as well.  It is an anxious time for me.  I really am not good at waiting.  But I think we have a handle on things.  And I will keep praying that you are born a healthy, happy baby.

A blog for my baby...

I am terrible at journaling. I think it is all part of growing up in the digital age. Something I think you will come to understand as you get older. It is just SO much easier to type things than slowly write out the thoughts that scroll across my mind.

With that in mind, I decided I would create an online journal of sorts to chronicle your life. If it works out then you will have a "written" record of your youth. Something to immortalize the passing moments of childhood and make them easier to recall down the avenues of aging.

I also think that with this being electronic there is a greater chance for me to be consistent. All I have to do is put a bookmark in my favorites in the web browser at home and *BAM* every time I am online I will be reminded that the journal is here, waiting for an update.

I hope the URL for this is easy to remember. http://fromdaddytobrooklynn.blogspot.com

Because that is really what it is. From me to you. My thoughts, feelings, actions all in regards to you and your actions, feelings and thoughts (I assume they will come in that order as you get older).

So here it is, the start of something wonderful (I hope).