’ve never meant for
this to become a bi-weekly journal, but I think it has. As usual when I
stop writing for an extended period of time, it’s a shame, because there
is so much going on, and most of it is pretty good. Let’s see what details
I can come up with from the past fortnight or so….
We are slowly preparing for the imminent arrival of the baby. Although
we’ve had eight months to prepare for this so far, we are by no means ready.
We just realized that we basically have nowhere for him to sleep. Of course,
all of our plans were on hold for a while, since we didn’t even know what
state we were going to be living in, but it seems like we’ll be here at
least for several more months or so (it’s hard to go flitting all over
the country on interviews when your wife may go into labor at any moment).
We did get a carseat/stroller/carrier thing, though. We got a great
deal on it, too -- only $50 for the whole thing. I swear the whole setup
is bigger than our car. It’s gorgeous, though -- nice, big wheels. drink
holders and bottle holders and levelers and even a sunroof on the stroller.
It’s amazing how often we get these kind of amazing deals on small things
-- but we always seem to get passed over for the big ones. That’s why I
still have faith -- I think one day, we’re going to stumble into a situation
that is so amazing that we’re going to think that we’ve died and gone to
heaven. Of course, I also believe that one day we will literally
die and go to heaven, so maybe having a crummy apartment right now isn’t
that important anyway.
On a related note, we attended our first birth class. It’s a little
later than I would have liked it, but as long as the kid is still tucked
safely inside, we’re OK. I actually feel a little better about things,
now that I know what is going to happen. I even survived the videos without
fainting. I have to admit, I’m not looking forward to my wife being in
excruciating pain and not being able to do anything about it (oh, yeah,
like all that breathing is really going to help). Luckily, it won’t last
forever -- just a few hours of really intense stuff. And luckily, they
have drugs….
Besides all of the important stuff, I’ve joined a softball team. You’d
think I would have learned from my experiences, but I’ve still decided
to play again anyway. I haven’t embarrassed myself too badly so far; I’ve
made a couple of nice catches, and got a hit (albeit an infield single)
and a couple of walks. It’s fun to be playing again, and the team is a
great bunch of guys. Maybe it’s not the best time to assert my independence
from my spouse when she is eight months pregnant, but it’s something I
need to do a little more often. Besides, she said she’s actually going
to come watch the next game (which assures that I will either strike out
twice or sprain my ankle).
We went to the Chicago concert last night at Coors Amphitheatre, marking
the eighth time I’ve seen them live. We barely got there by 8:00, missing
the two opening bands, whom I think would have been interesting to see,
but what can you do -- prior commitments. Anyway, we sit down in our fifth-row
orchestra seats and then, only then, does my wife say, "I hope the loud
music doesn’t hurt the baby". I hadn’t even thought of the possibility.
Here we are, just feet from speakers the size of the Statue of Liberty,
with a fragile creature inside of her (my wife, not the Statue of Liberty).
"If I would’ve thought of that, I wouldn’t have even come." But we were
already there, and I wasn’t about to leave.
We looked it up in one of my wife’s library of baby books, and it said
that prolonged [my emphasis] exposure to high-decibel noise may
cause some high-frequency hearing loss in unborn babies, but more study
needed to be done on it. All in all, I’m sure he’ll be OK, and probably
the worst thing that’ll happen out of it is that he’ll become a Chicago
fan at a very early age.
