Goodbye, Friends

Pregnancy

The thrill is as overwhelming as the uncertainty that dominates your time.

"Do we need that?"

"Breast feeding or bottle?"

"Diaper Genie or Diaper Champ?"

Plus binkies, onsies, unsolicited advice from strangers, and on and on. Your every thought is of just how life-altering that little, growing bundle will be. There is much to discuss.

Birth

You've totally underestimated the whole life-changing thing. It's as if you went to sleep on Friday night, and woke up Saturday morning on Mars. The familiar is gone. The simple is gone. The responsibility is insurmountable.

Also, the love you feel for this tiny little thing is as vast as the unbroken Martian surface. Every blink, noise, and (let's face it) poop elicits powerful feelings.

"How wonderful," you say.

"Did you see?" you say.

"My sweet baby," you say.

There is much to discuss.

Toddlerhood

They call them "milestones." I call them "prompts to baby-proof the house."

She rolls over for the first time. Before she could crawl, my Gracie tumbled across the floor like a log on a wet, grassy hill. We re-arranged the living room furniture to accommodate this. Outlet covers were applied.

Then she stood, and would scoot across the house, bracing herself on whatever she could find. Again, the living room was re-arranged.

We introduced solid foods, took away the binkie, let her sleep through the night. There were play dates, story hours and trips to the beach. Thousands of photos were taken. Hours of video was shot. There was much to discuss.

The Mill

So, what's happening today? Well, pretty much the same as yesterday. And the day before that. And the six months before that.

We wake up. We eat breakfast and go to school. I play with William for three hours, then bring Grace back home.

A few more hours of playing resume. Or sometimes we go to the museum, park, or library. Next it's dinner, baths, stories, kiss-and-hug, and bed.

Not too exciting.

I joined The Parenting Post about two years ago. In that time, I found much to discuss. Today, my well is dry. Instead of boring you with, "Today we ate pancakes, dropped Grace off at school and then had a picnic at the playground ... just like the last 364 days," I'm calling it a day.

Let me say thank you to Lilan, Ganda, Jesse, Jessica, Nikki, Sarah, and everyone at Parenting for inviting me to represent fatherhood on their weblog. For the past two years, I've been extremely proud to tell people that, "I blog for The Parenting Post, the official weblog of Parenting magazine." Everyone I've come into contact with at Parenting has been extremely friendly, professional, and supportive. I am grateful.

Also, let me say thank you and goodbye to DaMomma, Daring Young Mom, Dah Gurl, Boobie Juice, Notes from the Trenches, Halfmamma, Mighty Maggie, Mommy Needs Coffee, and Bilingual in the Boonies. Your writing is humbling and inspiring. I scarcely deserved to share a page with you.

Good luck to everyone. And for those of you who read and enjoyed my posts, thank you. Your simple comments made my day.

I'll see you around the blog.

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