I don\u2019t know how else to say it except to come right out and put it down on paper \u2014 I\u2019m going to be a dad.<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s right. The world shall receive another Thompson, quirks and all. The due date is Dec. 23, and a masterstroke of planning for two people who like to think out everything, but could mis-schedule French toast. This should be one heck of a holiday season.<\/p>\n
I want to tell you everything, but these writing waters are treacherous. Why? The woman is pregnant, man! You don\u2019t make her mad in a column. I might die. Careful, I must be.<\/p>\n
So where to begin? Not the beginning, I\u2019ll tell you that. How about this \u2026<\/p>\n
It all began with a scream.<\/p>\n
It did. I thought there was a mouse loose in the bathroom, or that she had dropped something important (like the title to our house) in the toilet again. Little did I know the pregnancy test stork, the modern day harbinger of good news, had arrived.<\/p>\n
I ran into the bathroom, with tongs ready for the fishing expedition, only to find I\u2019m going to be a dad. What a pleasant surprise. The eloquent stick made a proclamation worthy of Shakespeare \u2014 \u201cPregnant,\u201d it said. Glorious!<\/p>\n
I wish they sold tape recorders that can capture emotions, the feelings of a moment. I want forever that joy, that excitement, the overwhelming sense of pride, the crumb-size bit of fear, the surge of energy through the room like it had been struck by lightning, and that \u2026 wait a minute, so you didn\u2019t drop anything in the toilet? I get easily distracted.<\/p>\n
But there is nothing in life I\u2019ve experienced as exciting as this. And I hope there never is. I\u2019m sure there will be times I will need a gentle reminder, but for now, it\u2019s all blue skies and white fluffy clouds.<\/p>\n
Life is changing quickly at the Thompson house. I am busy wrecking a room that was perfectly fine before, but substandard now that a kid is coming. Oh, I\u2019m going to make it wonderful so she has the best room in the house. The wife, the dog and I will stare in like poor people gazing into an upper east side mansion. We\u2019ll wonder why we don\u2019t have heat, smooth walls and nice window treatments.<\/p>\n
Oh, yeah, did I mention? We know it\u2019s a she.<\/p>\n
Yet, we still call her by her informal name, \u201cBaby T.\u201d My wife came up with that and I like it because it makes me think of Mr. T, as if there is a little gold-chained, muscle-bound, mohawk-topped black man in there saying things like, \u201cWhat you talkin\u2019 \u2018bout, fool\u201d?<\/p>\n
That aside, it\u2019s incredible how this all brings clarity to your life, and puts everything in perspective. I tear-ed up at the first sonogram I saw of her \u2014 so tiny, so fragile, so scary at certain angles. Is it a baby or an alien?<\/p>\n
She grows quickly and time races by. They say it speeds up when you have kids, and I don\u2019t even have one yet. What\u2019s it going to be like when I do?<\/p>\n
So much to think about. So much to plan for. I\u2019ve never changed a diaper in my life. The sight of a breast pump makes me feel woozy. I think I will be fine in the delivery room, but if my wife doesn\u2019t take the epidural, I will. There are birthing classes to go to so I can learn to breathe, and cribs to research. We have 22,000 books on pregnancy, and I\u2019ve only made it through the jacket covers. There\u2019s so much to learn and do!<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s all so exciting. To tell parents they will be grandparents, or siblings they will be uncles and aunts, and therefore are now officially old.<\/p>\n
Oh, and to know the little one is coming. How exciting, how exciting.<\/p>\n
Life is about to change for the Thompsons. Nothing will ever be the same again. And my column well already overflows with material. Too bad it\u2019s all designated off limits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t know how else to say it except to come right out and put it down on paper \u2014 I\u2019m going to be a dad. Yeah, that\u2019s right. The world shall receive another Thompson, quirks and all. The due date is Dec. 23, and a masterstroke of planning for two people who like to think out everything, but could mis-schedule French toast. This should be one heck of a holiday season. I want to tell you everything, but these writing waters are treacherous. Why? The woman is pregnant, man! You don\u2019t make her mad in a column. I might die. Careful, I must be. So where to begin? Not the beginning, I\u2019ll tell you that. How about this \u2026 It all began with a scream. It did. I thought there was a mouse loose in the bathroom, or that she had dropped something important (like the title to our house) in the toilet again. Little did I know the pregnancy test stork, the modern day harbinger of good news, had arrived. I ran into the bathroom, with tongs ready for the fishing expedition, only to find I\u2019m going to be a dad. What a pleasant surprise. The eloquent stick made a proclamation worthy of Shakespeare \u2014 \u201cPregnant,\u201d it said. Glorious! I wish they sold tape recorders that can capture emotions, the feelings of a moment. I want forever that joy, that excitement, the overwhelming sense of pride, the crumb-size bit of fear, the surge of energy through the room […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","category-parenthoodandchildren"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}