First Thoughts On Being a Dad

For the first time in a long time, Friday doesn't feel quite like Friday. The days since Monday have strung together without any meaning besides bonding with my new boy. No work in the way, no plans in the way. Michele and I just spend each day exploring Cedric and learning more and more about him.

Today, we took him out for the first time. (Sorta like a car, eh?) He had his first visit with the pediatrician, Dr. Bob, and then went on a walk with us at the lake on Bowles and Wadsworth and to Babies R Us. Actually, he never did any lifting...he rode in shopping carts, and strollers and car seats all day.

Cedric, you lazy bum. ;-)

The days with the family are great. Aside from the doctor's appointment today, we've made no plans for anything, we take it one day at a time. Aside from Michele's parents, we've had no help from friends or family. (And we've gotten along just fine.) Heck, he even has a slacker uncle who has yet to meet him -- Kevin, Kevin, has anyone seen or heard from Uncle Kevin? Helllooooooooo?

But day to day, things are just great. :-) And along with the new youngling, in contradiction to what everyone will tell you, our lives are really just how they always were. We still dork on our blogs, I still play with new programming languages, Mobat and I are putting plans together for an upcoming Wii party (i.e., Mobat XBox 360 intervention!), and we get plenty of TV and radio time. Cedric, after all, is just a baby.

One of my new hobbies is to sit, holding the Cedrinator in my arms, whilst I read my "The New Father" book. It goes through the stages of the first year...and it's interesting to read about the things I readily observe of Cedric already, and the things I should expect to see.

A friend of ours who dropped by the hospital said to us, "Your lives will never be the same." I'm guessing he meant the things we'd no longer be able to do. And yes, there is surely a list of those things, a list I certainly worried about going into this. Yet, what I've learned in the last 4 days is that the list is a bogus one. I'll gladly trade it in.

Michele and I can't have our Friday-night dates like we used to. No. But, instead of dinner alone we get to share it with our new best friend.

Going to our monthly "Adventure Club" outings will be an impossibility with a little one. At best, we can go for short whiles and have Michele's parents watch Cedric for a while. But now, every day is "Adventure Club" for us -- and we're encouraged to do and learn new and exciting things in ways we never would have done before.

Anyone who has considered starting a family, or fears it, you should know that there is nothing to fear. You can't just go to a Chuck E. Cheese and observe some family where the parents are white trash or the kids are out of their minds and think, "I don't want that." No one does. But, if you're ever lucky enough to lie down in bed with your own little one asleep on your chest...even for a few minutes, it's a great feeling. :-)

Not one you would ever trade for anything. Indeed, life will never be the same.