Thoughts of the 1 month father...

Here are a few thoughts I have had in my month and few days of being a new dad.

• It feels great being a dad. Sometimes it is a little scary to know that I am responsible for a living thing that I can't put in a kennel, but it is a really neat feeling to know it too.
• It doesn't matter how long your baby lays on the couch naked for pictures and doesn't go to the bathroom, he will do it as soon as you are holding him.
• And it will get on your shirt.
• And your pants.
• And your socks.
• Strangely enough, you probably won't mind those last three things very much and your wife and the photographer will think it is hilarious.
• It's never to early to teach your baby the importance of making your free throws.
• It's never to early to teach your baby what bump drafting is. And that you don't bump draft in the corners.
• Reading to your baby makes you feel good. And if you read tongue twisters to them now, they're not old enough to know you messed up.
• Sometimes babies cry for no reason.
• Sometimes babies cry because their finger is bent backwards in their sleeve.
• Singing the multiplication tables to your baby might help put them to sleep when they are very young and fussy. You wife will think you are crazy, but it works. Plus I feel like it might help with future math grades. I'll let you know someday.
• If your baby won't stop crying, try carrying him up and down the stairs. I don't know if its the motion that they like or the knowledge that you're exhausted after only three trips, but mine stopped crying almost immediately when I did this.
• And he started crying almost immediately when I tried to take a break.
• Having a baby makes even the simplest trip to the store more complicated. But it isn't that bad.
• Most baby expressions are cute, but once they smile, it is awesome.
• Someone told me that baby's hands might be the cutest things ever; they might be right. Have you seen those tiny fingers and tiny finger nails? (Someone else once told me that science has proven that baby pandas are the cutest things ever. The debate rages on!)
• You probably don't need one of those womb bears that makes womb sounds to help your baby sleep if your dog snores loudly. It is essentially same thing.
• You never really appreciate 5 uninterrupted hours of sleep until you're not getting it.
• Natalie has been wonderful in letting me sleep through the night since I have gone back to work. Thanks, Baby.
• Natalie left the other day and ran an errand and I was home alone with Emerson. When she came back she told me she realized it was the first time she had left Emerson since we'd been home from the hospital, and subsequently, it was the first time I had been alone with him. I was glad she didn't realize that until after she left and didn't tell me until after she got home.
• Finally, It doesn't matter how many times people will tell you, before your baby arrives, that having a baby will totally change your life, and even if you truly believe them, you don't understand it until he is born. It is really really cool.

More later on. Thanks for reading.

-Robert