Save the 'Dad' Talk....

My wife is now 6 months pregnant. 99% of the people I come in contact with ask me “How’s Erin doing?” Or “How’s the wife doing now?” Or the less communicative people “Wife OK?"

However, I was recently thrown a curve ball: How’s dad doing? I think my exact response was an awkward smile and "uh, good."

But then I thought to myself: Yeah, why not ask me?

Well, probably because I don’t have to gain weight, lose sleep, throw up, not drink beer, buy new clothes, go through labor and so on.

I also didn’t like how ‘Dad’ sounded. Yet. I’m not a dad. When my child is born I will be but not yet. You can’t be a 'dad' unless you have a physical baby. Something that poops and pees and cries and drools. I don’t have one yet so let’s save the ‘dad’ talk. I can't tell my wife's uterus to stop crying so again, let's hold off on 'dad'.

But to answer the question I’m doing just fine. Some people, well my wife, would argue that my life hasn’t changed at all. Not one bit. I beg to differ. It's changed. As much as my wife’s? Well, of course not, but it still has changed.

Just the other day we switched bedrooms. The guest room is no longer the guest room. And I can guarantee that if a baby wasn’t on the way this wouldn’t have happened. It didn’t take a long time to make the change but the baby room transformation has begun.

Names. Not once in my life have I ever thought what might sound cool with the name Stafford. Well, probably because my name is Derek Stafford, and it sounds alright to me. Well, now I'm in charge of naming another Stafford, so much of my idle time is thinking of names. I can guarantee you that 5 years ago, hell, 1 year ago, I never was thinking to myself: hmmmm, does the name James or Emily Stafford sound cool?

Drinking. Can I still drink? Yup. But it’s not the same without my wife being able to. It’s not. I enjoyed being able to drink some beers with my wife and I do feel bad that she can’t. She thinks I just love to drink without her and use her as a ride home. Not true. Well it is nice to have a driver, ha ha, but I guarantee that when my wife gives birth and we do our first post-baby happy hour it’ll be a great time! And it will be the best jaeger bomb ever! That is if we ever go out again.

Nerds. The candy. I haven’t eaten Nerds since I was 9 years old. Now I buy them all the time. Just the other day I ordered a case of 36 boxes of nerds. Why? Because my wife can’t get enough of them. Had a baby not been on the way my last box of consumed nerds would have been August of 1988. As it stands I'm eating watermelon nerds as I write this blog.

The biggest change:? Me. I’ve changed. My wife probably hasn’t noticed because I’m so awesome to begin with but since she’s been pregnant I have tried my damndest to be as helpful, caring, loving as possible. If my wife needs a cup of water in the middle of the night I’m her man. If she needs an onion to make dinner than I’m her man. If she needs a back scratch then I’m her man. If she needs her sink fixed then I call the plumber and he’s her man for a while, then I’m her man. If she needs Del Taco I’m her man. If she needs someone to bitch and moan at then I'm her man. If she needs her towel rack fixed I'm her man.

Ok, so I guess, technically, my life hasn’t changed a ton. But it’s definitely changed a bit. Life is different when a kid is on the way because when a kid is on the way your life is literally weeks away from being totally different. So your life does change. I mean, it has to.

Many people say it’s wonderful. It's a blessing. Greatest thing ever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m sure it’s wonderful when your changing diapers at two in the morning. So, take ‘wonderful’ and ‘dad’ and put it on hold for awhile ☺


Until Nest Time....

Dad, I mean Derek.