It’s somewhat past time for me to make an important personal announcement. I’m not sure what is the proper way to do it in a forum such as this (Miss Manners would probably frown on it, but I’ll take my chances), so I’ll just come out and say it:
My wife and I are very pleased to announce that we are expecting our first child in May.
Last week, when I wrote about my first ride on the light rail system, it was to get to St. Joseph’s Hospital near downtown, where Tiffany was scheduled for the Big Sonogram. Best as we can tell after ten minutes of poking, prodding, and peering is that we’re getting a girl. Given that we had settled on a boy’s name but not yet a girl’s, this was to be expected.
Obviously, we are very excited and are getting everything ready for the baby’s arrival. We’re still working on the nursery, which began life as the extra bedroom in which we stored all of the stuff that had no other good place to be. This includes all of our power tools, which I’ve pointed out to Tiffany technically don’t have to be moved until the kid is self-propelling. Hopefully, by then we’ll have figured out a good alternative.
As with most new and exciting experiences, I’ve already learned quite a few things. One of the more useful items I’ve learned was courtesy of my old college roomie David, who discovered during his wife’s first pregnancy that he could justify almost any purchase by saying it’s “for the baby”. I parlayed that into the TiVo – that “pause live TV” thing sure will come in handy when the baby cries, after all.
In the meantime, I plan on storing up all the sleep I can between now and the end of May. Thanks to my disreputable past as a graduate student, I have plenty of practice looking sleepy and disheveled, so on that score at least I’m ready for fatherhood. After that, I’ll be making it up as I go along. Wish me luck.
Hey, congrats! Keep us updated on Li’l Kuff.
You joke about the TiVo, but it really is a great thing to have. I also recommend a boat…for teaching your child the laws of the sea.
And congrats! If you need any newborn girl’s clothes, let us know. We should be just about done with our 0-6 month sizes by May.
Congratulations, Chuck! One thing I’ve been told about being a parent for the first time from both my brother and my sister is that you can store up all the sleep you want, but you’ll still have to get used to waking up in the middle of the night for a while.
Congratulations! Does this mean you’ll support Wesley Clark and his proposed massive giveaways for families with children now? 🙂
Hey, congratulations, Chuck! (Can I call you “Chuck” out here in the open? Or is there some special area for Trinity alums? Is it now a secret name from your misty (musty) past?)
Parenthood is fantastic, and I was unprepared for how much I would love it. Downsides are there, to be sure, but don’t let anyone scare you too much: the pros FAR outweigh the cons. (Of course, neither of my two have hit the teens yet…)
Congratulations,
My wife and I just had our second. I don’t know if you chose St. Joseph’s after a long search or from necessity, but I highly recommend St. Luke’s for the whole experience. Also, a word of caution for what it is worth. My wife’s Ob told her that when the time came to get to the closest hospital available, unless it was St. Joseph’s.
Best of luck, it is a life altering experience in ways both trivial and profound.
Congratulations!
Thanks, everyone!
Tim, I support all government programs that directly benefit me. Everything else is, of course, Pure Pork which Must Be Stopped Now.
CrispyShot, I’m still Chuck. Tiffany is the last holdout to regularly call me Charles – even my mom gave up a few years ago. My in-laws have called me Chuck since they met me.
Doug, St. Joe’s is where my wife’s Ob/Gyn practices. She’s happy with him, so that’s why we’re there. One of her aunts is a nurse there, too.
And you’ll be setting up a “college fund” link, so we can contribute to her education, won’t you? Just think, with compound interest, if each reader donates $5, she could actually afford college in 2022!
Congratulations!
Splendid news, Charles! Congrats to you and Tiffany. I hope you enjoy parenthood as much as… oh, wait, I don’t have any kids. Anyway, congrats and best wishes! Keep us informed.
Congratulations — how about setting up that account for Li’l Kuff?
Congratulations, indeed.
Kuff, my advice is not to store up the sleep, but to get all the late nghts and partying out of your system.
The first couple months certainly are sleep deprived, but you’ll soon settle into an acceptable routine after that. What you’ll not ba able to do is vary from that routine. My little boy (8 months) wakes me up at 6:30 am 7/365. Consequently, I have to go to sleep at 10:30 7/365.
It’s the occasional late night or saturday sleep-in I miss, not the total volume of sleep.
Wonderful news!! My advice is to start practicing now. Set your alarm clock to go off every three hours throughout the night and then get up each time and pace around the house for half an hour.
Don’t worry. It’s worth every minute of missed sleep.
Congratulations!
Congratulations, that’s absolutely wonderful. I only know about you from reading your stuff online, but I think you’ll make a great dad. And since my sister just had Republican twins, we’re still ahead.
Late to the party as usual, but what the heck. Congratulations and best wishes to all three of you!
Congratulations!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
I think we need to do a Blogger COngrats Lunch at Chipotle on Dryden for you, man 🙂
Yay for babies! No sleep and they grow up to sass you, but indescribably worth it.
Y’all just let me know if you need any breastfeeding resources. 😉
Thanks again, everyone!
The good news is, I’m already used to getting up at a ridiculously early hour. Sleeping in on the weekend means “later than 8 AM”. So that part at least won’t be too bad. Of course, that “every three hours” thing is gonna suck…
Woohoo! Welcome to the ranks of fatherhood!
And don’t worry.. they only do the “every three (or two) hours” thing for the first four months or so.. [evil grin]
Heck, Lucas is now 7 1/2 months and he still wakes up at least once during the night more than half the time. (Teresa’s a softie and doesn’t want to let him cry it out. I’m a sound sleeper, so I don’t mind.)
Boy, you wander off for a couple days and look what happens.
As we Newyoricans always say, mazel tov!
Congratualtions!
Start storing up sleep now.
“I parlayed that into the TiVo – that “pause live TV” thing sure will come in handy when the baby cries, after all. ”
Hee. That, believe it or not, was the argument my wife used to finally push me into to getting a Tivo.
Kuffner to have Child
Well, Charles wife is actually going to be the one having the child but, at any rate, Charles is going…
Congratulations! Look forward to seing you rolling her up Bayland in a stroller in the near future.
The more things change…. Our oldest daughter was born in 1989, which caused us break down and buy our first VCR (maybe the last yuppie couple in Houston to do so). Soon after, we bought our first microwave, for heating up her food.
(Is this is why y’all recently bought your first SUV?)
Just read through your blog to discover that you are having a girl! Congratulations!
You’ll figure out the sleep situation but do rest now…fortunately, you’ve both been to grad school and understand the no-sleep thing.
How do you think I got Bill a DVD player for Christmas? Surely, when I was pregnant and needed an excuse. Same with a host of other criteria. New wallpaper? For the baby. New vacuum cleaner? For the baby. Need to stock up on wine? Well, not for baby but for us. (=
Congratulations and all sentiments warm and thouhtful sent your way. You will both be wonderful parents!!
E
Just read through your blog to discover that you are having a girl! Congratulations!
You’ll figure out the sleep situation but do rest now…fortunately, you’ve both been to grad school and understand the no-sleep thing.
How do you think I got Bill a DVD player for Christmas? Surely, when I was pregnant and needed an excuse. Same with a host of other criteria. New wallpaper? For the baby. New vacuum cleaner? For the baby. Need to stock up on wine? Well, not for baby but for us. (=
Congratulations and all sentiments warm and thouhtful sent your way. You will both be wonderful parents!!
E