Computer Outage

Sorry for the long hiatus between posts! My computer died about two weeks ago, and I was unable to get a replacement until last week. I'm still waiting on my new network card, so I haven't been able to post. I'm posting this update from work (which I'm not technically supposed to do), but I'll make my next "real" post as soon as I'm able to connect to the Internet from home. Thanks for your patience!

Book Review: The Expectant Father

When I first found out that my wife is pregnant, I began devouring every pregnancy and baby book I could get my hands on. As you would expect, nearly every pregancy book out there is written for the mom-to-be. It's pretty slim pickings for soon-to-be fathers. Then, I discovered The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be, by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash. Here, finally, was a funny, but practical, geared toward the issues that the new father deals with. Brott and Ash do a great job of telling you month-by-month what's going on with the baby, what's going on with your wife's body (and emotions), and what you should be doing to prepare for the arrival of your child. Not only do they give practical advice (questions to ask your wife's caregiver, what to pack for the trip to the hospital, life insurance, etc.), but they also explain what emotions you are likely to experience.

This is the first book in Brott's “father” series. He also has written The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year and The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the Toddler Years. He even has a book geared specifically toward single dads. He has a website that's packed with great information as well.

I highly recommend this book. I flew through it in just a few days, and I've been re-reading each chapter as my wife reaches that month. I've recently started reading the second book (I was able to find both books on Paperback Swap) to prepare for the time after the baby arrives. I plan to give copies of both books to my brothers when their wives are expecting for the first time.

Get a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting for your wife, and get a copy of The Expectant Father for yourself, and you'll both be informed and ready for the birth of your child!

Useless Baby Stuff

I'm all about learning from the mistakes of others. All too often, it feels like it's the other way around. One the first blog feeds I subscribed to was The Simple Dollar, a personal finance blog. It's still the blog that I most look forward to reading each morning. Back in March, when I was reading all the baby literature I could get my hands on, Trent wrote an article Titled Eight Baby Items We Bought That Weren't Worth the Money. Since it covered two of my favorite things (babies and money) in the same article, I bookmarked it and have referred to it several times as my wife and I have registered for baby stuff. Here are a few of the highlights:

Bottles with Disposable Liners: I've never understood these things anyway. They're more expensive, aren't they?

Baby Wipe Warmer: You have to be kidding me. My parents used cold wipes on my bottom, and I turned out just fine.

Bottle Warmer: The first time I saw these two words together, I thought it was just a fancy way of saying "microwave."

Diaper Genie: I've seen enough paper jams in my printer to know that an automatic diaper pail is a bad idea.

Chamois Lamois or Chambie Lambie?

Well, we bought and assembled the crib! It's the first piece of furniture that we've purchased for the baby's room. Actually, aside from a short chest of drawers (which we'll put a changing pad on and use as a changing table), the crib is the only piece of furniture we'll buy for the baby's room. We have an old bookshelf that I'm repainting, and we have a rocking chair of my great-grandmother's that we'll move upstairs into the baby's room. My wife (Katy) and I went to Babies-R-Us several weeks ago and narrowed the huge selection down to a few styles that we liked. My grandmother offered to pay for the crib as her gift to the baby, so as soon as her check arrived, Katy went down to Babies-R-Us and made the final selection. It's a white “Josephine” crib manufactured by Jardine Interprises. It wasn't until the store associates brought it out to the car that anyone realized that the carton was much too big to fit in her Explorer! Katy called her brother, and he agreed to pick it up in his dad's truck after work.

Fast-forward a few hours, and my brother-in-law and I are lugging this huge carton through the front door. That was actually the hardest part of the entire process. The actual assembly of the crib was not that difficult; I did it by myself in about thirty minutes. We didn't think to go ahead and buy the mattress at the same time, so we'll have to make another trip to Babies-R-Us this weekend. We purchased a Pottery Barn “Chamois Lambie” crib set on e-Bay, which I highly recommend. We paid $120 for a crib set that sold for over $300 direct from Pottery Barn. Don't be put off on buying used baby stuff. Stuff like crib sets, clothing, even some toys only get used for six-months to a year before the kid outgrows them, so there's tons of deals to be found on lightly-used baby stuff on e-Bay!

Father in Training

Welcome to the first edition of the Father in Training blog! Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a 29-year-old engineer in Huntsville, AL, and in January, my wife and I found out that we are expecting our first child in September. Being the analytical, studying engineer that I am, I decided that I'd better do some research on what I, as a dad, am in for. I studied books, queried my friends and relatives who are fathers, and scoured the internet for information. I decided to start this blog as a way to share some of the better nuggets of knowledge with other dads and dads-to-be out there. If you see something that you disagree with or have additional comments or tips on, please leave a comment!

Why Father in Training? As I was trying to think of a name for this blog, I wanted to describe fatherhood as a lifelong learning process. I don't expect to become a fatherhood expert overnight. The best fathers that I have spoken to and observed are those who never stop learning from their successes and their mistakes. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I learn more from my children than they ever learn from me! Father in Training does not describe only the stage between conception and childbirth, but the stage of life that started when my wife told me that she's pregnant, continues through the actual raising of my children, and into the time that I get to spoil my grandchildren!

Thanks for reading!