Random Thoughts

3/24/08

Almost two years later and there’s not a lot I’m worried about right now. I’m almost done w/ school and I can’t wait to graduate and start a career. It will also mean that I will have a bunch more free time and no more late night studying! Yay!

5/18/06

I wonder if I’m going to be scared to cut the cord. I’ve wanted to do it since we found out Rach was pregnant, and now I’m scared I’m going to like hurt him or be shaking like all hell and end up spraying blood all over the place. That’s about as Random as thoughts get Ladies and Gentlemen.

3/25/06

If you are, or ever know someone who is pregnant, make sure you feel the baby kick. It is probably the coolest thing I have ever felt in my whole life. Rachel has felt it so much that it gets a little annoying, but I laugh every single time I feel my baby kick. It’s like the baby’s way of communicating with you because obviously he or she can’t talk. Noah actually kicked and stretched and I could feel his foot pressing against Rachel’s stomach. It was a really happy feeling. I hope you all get to experience that one day.

3/05/06

I think when our boy (maybe girl) starts learning how to talk, I’ll teach him how to say sweet things to his mom like “Hubba hubba” or “How beautiful”… you know, stuff like that to give me some brownie points.

2/24/06

I just found out yesterday that a baby in the womb can actually taste what the mother is tasting. It’s no joke, for example, when a mother drinks a cup of coffee, the baby’s heart rate would increase due to the amount of caffeine in coffee. Then if a mother drinks decaff coffee the next day, the baby’s heart still increases because he or she associates that taste with a fast heart rate. That just blows my mind that babies can decipher things like that while they’re still maturing in the womb.

2/02/06

In the past few days, Noah has been kicking big time. If you look at Rachel’s stomach at just the right angle, you can see a little part of her belly pop out for about half a second. It was the second most exciting thing I’ve ever seen in my life (the first obviously was seeing the Daytona 500). I’m wondering since he’s kicking so hard because he doesn’t like certain noises, or because he wants to hear more certain noises. Maybe it means nothing at all, and he just kicks to kick. Who knows, all I know is that it’s very cool to watch and feel a baby kick.

1/19/06

This is very random, but I wonder what it’s like to be a baby. You know, you’re floating around in there and there’s not much to do. I wonder if Noah gets bored sitting in there just hanging out. He’s starting to move a lot more in there, Rachel tells me. He’s definitely kicking her bladder as hard as he can because she has to go to the bathroom just about every hour on the hour. It’s too bad we can’t give him something to do, like so he can play a video game or something. Oh well, I think he sleeps too much anyways. I’m getting anxious already to meet him.

1/09/06

Today, I am thinking about how life will be like not having someone there to do your own laundry, or not having someone there to do your own dishes. I have taken my mom for granted, and I know the day I move out, I’m gonna find out just how much she does for me. I can handle it for sure. I’m an Eagle scout, I can handle anything, right? Right?

12/31/05

I am starting to think about discipline once our baby is of the age to do something wrong, and know he is doing something wrong. I don’t believe in hitting, simply because my parents rarely, rarely hit me and if they did, I definitely had it coming. I also don’t believe in shrugging off things when a child does something wrong. I hope I can find a happy medium where I’m not neglecting him, but also I’m not beating him. I actually was beat by my babysitter, and I was too young to know any better to tell Mom and Dad. I hated that babysitter, what a bitch. She was actually caught biting a kid’s arm because the child had bitten another child. Now, if that isn’t eye for an eye, I don’t know what is. I still get shudders when I drive by her house.

12/12/05

I wonder if I am going to teach my child sign-language before it can speak. Now, now, don’t make fun. It’s actually proven that children can communicate better through physical actions long before vocal speech. So, even though “Meet the Fockers” took that idea and ran with it, I think it would be interesting. I’m also wondering when I’m going to have time for any of this….

12/01/05

If you’ve ever heard rumors of “sympathy pains” I’m going to be the one who will tell you that I’m having them already. In fact, I’ve already come up with a new type of sympathy pain: “sympathy weight”. Since Rachel became pregnant, I’ve gained 5 pounds. Now that may not seem like much, but I’ve remained at the same weight for about 3 years now, so 5 pounds in just a few months is huge! Secondly, I’ve noticed that I have to go pee more often every day. I hate going pee, it’s such a waste of time. It’s a huge hastle when you’re in the middle of something and then all the sudden you have to get up, go to the bathroom, do your thing, wash your hands, dry them off, open the door, and finally get back to what you’re doing. Terrible. Thanks a lot Rach for the sympathy pains!

11/30/05

Today I’m thinking about my parents being grandparents. It will probably be strange to start calling my dad “grandpa” around my child, but I will probably get used to it because he already has grey hairs. My mom looks nothing like a grandma, but I know she’s excited as all get out. She teaches a kindermusik course, which basically means she hangs out with babies all day, which basically means she loves babies. As far as great grandparents go, my dad’s mom probably won’t be too excited, because she’s never excited about all that much, but I’m sure she’ll want to hold it. I won’t let anyone else on my dad’s side touch our baby because they’re all scary. What do I mean by scary? What Thanksgiving have you ever been to where your uncle brings a tazer to the table? Yup… that scary. My mom’s side is a bunch of angels. I don’t even think they know about the pregnancy yet, but when they find out I know they will be excited for us.

11/17/05

Tonight, I’m wondering what our baby’s first words will be. As you know, a baby’s first word could range anywhere from “mommy” to “shit”. I’m hoping it’s not the latter. As a normal human being, I use swear words on an above-average basis. I will probably have to start working on not swearing as much because it may rub off on our virgin ears baby.

11/15/05

I’m wondering what our baby’s role will be when Rachel and I get married. Will the baby just hang out with grandpa and grandma, or will the baby be a little flower girl or a little ring bearer? I don’t know what’s ethical in this situation, so I’ll have to find out.

11/11/05

Today I am wondering if my baby will be a boy or a girl. It is sort of pointless wishing for a boy or a girl because then you end up disappointing yourself if you end up having the opposite of what you want. At this point, I’ve decided that it does not matter what gender the baby is, all that matters is that it’s healthy! If it’s a boy, I will probably know how to relate to him more, because, well, I’m a guy. If it’s a girl, I will have a tough time with it because I’m not sure how I would go about raising her. All in all, I think I will do OK no matter what sex the baby is.

11/08/05

I am starting to ponder whether my baby will be a democrat or republican. I know you may think it’s absurd for me to wonder that, but it is important to me. I am a government major in college, and even though I live in the very republican state of South Dakota, I am an advocate of the democratic party. The very last thing I want coming out of my child’s mouth is “Bush!” The baby’s first phrase will most likely be “Bush sucks!”, followed by “Vote for ____” whoever is running against the republicans in 2008. I am certainly not going to impose my political beliefs on my child because I think they can make up their own mind. However, like my dad did for me, I will paint them a vivid picture of the evil republican empire.

11/03/05

I just realized that I have never, ever changed a baby’s diaper before. I am probably in for a load… literally. I am taking some parenting classes (one of which is tomorrow) and hopefully I don’t make myself look like a complete idiot in front of all the other parents. So, if there’s some guys out there reading this that have no clue how to change a diaper, you’re not alone. But am I?

10/30/05

I wonder tonight whether or not I will be a good father. I think every parent (expect for most drunks and drug addicts) strives to be the best parent they can be. I hope I can be a great father and I hope that school and work will not get in the way of being a good dad. I’m starting to wonder about what a good dad does and I’ve decided that a good dad will do the good things that his father did. If everyone thought like that, the world would be a better place, hands down. I stole that idea from a song called ‘Daughters’ by John Mayer.

10/26/05

I’m wondering how much homework I will get done after we have our baby. I currently have 5 1/2 years of college left (I am hopefully going on to law school) and right now, I have trouble getting all of my homework done. This is partially due to me wanting to play videogames all day… but having a baby would be like the same thing! Please leave reassuring comments.

10/25/05

I am pondering whether or not to start playing Mozart or some other music for the baby because I want it to be a genius. I have done some research on playing Mozart for babies in the womb, as well as in the first year. What I found out is that there is no clear statistical data proving that playing Mozart will make a baby smarter, but there is a close correlation between playing the music and children doing well in math and science.