Life is a balance. I’m recently a new dad who waited later in life to have my children. That decision was balanced by the fact that I wasn’t mature enough to enjoy kids in my 20’s. Now my little girl…who’s only 9 months old…is the most amazing and exciting thing to ever happen. Not everyone takes the same path I did. Many people who do, all have different reasons why they take that path. Likewise, everyone has profound moments of discovery in their lives, and we’ll continue to have those moments throughout life with any luck.
I would like to say my blogging on Life of Dad will change your life…that simply isn’t true. The truth is I’m just tired of facebook and want a more like-minded audience. What better place than here?! Hello Life of Dadders! My name is Marshall, and this i my formal introduction to you.
I had a small daddy lesson in balance yesterday that I’d like to share. I am happy to have experienced as awkward as it was.
On top of being a new father, we have one on the way. My fiance is 16 weeks pregnant with our 2nd child….last child. Yesterday was GYNO day. So, I dropped Sierra (who’s my fiance) off at the doctor and headed off to Sam’s Club with the baby to print pictures while mama does her thing. Upon mother’s departure Lily (our 1st born) starts to meltdown. I call these moments her nuclear moments. I’m only driving about a 1.5 miles through traffic, but with a nuclear baby it feels like eternity, and the Baby Einstein cd isn’t doing any good. I figure right about the time mommy stepped out of the car, our bundle of joy probably destroyed her diaper. No biggie. I’ll just deal with the crying for a couple of minutes until we can get to the restroom at Sam’s.
This posed a whole new set of challenges that proved I can still evolve given a clutch moment. I open the door to the ‘family’ restroom to find a few toilets of various size, a sink, and a changing table. I hit the jackpot to find a changing table. Most places around here don’t facilitate the father’s carrying a baby into the restroom. Upon further inspection I realize there’s no hook for my large…cumbersome…all be it very useful shoulder bag full of toys and diapers. So I leave it on my shoulder while holding the baby (who’s slipping through) with one arm, and digging into the bag to pull out a baby wipe, diaper, all the usual suspects…to make this exchange of butt cover the success it deserves to be. I get the baby changed without picking up Germ Zero. (my fiance has everyone freaked out that our first baby will be the only baby in Montgomery County to come down with an incurable disease by touching tables and chairs and all the other normal stuff we use everyday)
Now its my turn to pee.
Remember the moment when your wife or girlfriend looked at you with glaring judgement and said, “That baby’s not old enough to ride on your shoulders babe.” This is the moment all that pays off. I throw the baby up on my shoulders and go about my business. A few seconds later I discovered the err in my ways. As she leans over with now my beanie in one hand that she just pulled off, and her Dora doll in the other, I start to find panoramic peripheral vision I never knew I had. I know what you’re thinking, and we all want to say it, but no…nothing fell in the toilet. Not even my hat. Now after 34 years no one ever taught me the importance of washing one’s hands before touching the baby quite like a new mother did to me. Being fully committed to my endeavor I left the baby on my shoulders thinking the danger is gone now that we’re away from the toilet, right? She’s a curious one. Curious enough to shift her weight towards the running sink water in such a manner that my panoramic peripheral vision and slow motion bullet time kicked in again…and nothing happened once more. You would think after the lesson I learned over by the toilet not 45 seconds earlier that I’d be prepared for this. I wasn’t.
My point is that everything is a balance. Lily was able to balance on my shoulders while holding Dora because I already taught her how to sit up there. I didn’t know we could make all that happen together, but we did. Togetherness makes all kinds of awesome things happen. I’m know that by reading other stories on here I’ll find things to apply to my life of dad. I can only hope you’ll get something from my ramblings in such the same way.
Thanks for having me here!
– M