You're a girl!

Okay, so there is a chance that the title to this post is wrong.  Sometimes, they make mistakes when they determine gender prior to birth.  But you're probably a girl!  If you're not, my apologies.

With your two older brothers, I didn't want to know their genders until the day of birth.  At first, I didn't with you either.  But then your Mom and I had a discussion and I decided that I wanted to find out.

Some of your Mom's co-workers threw us a party to reveal the gender with cupcakes.  It was a fun little event, with a big bite into the cupcake revealing the color of frosting inside to tell us whether you were a boy or girl (pink vs. blue frosting).

I have to tell you that I am really excited to learn that you are a girl, but not for the same reason as most of the other Dads that I have talked to.

When a father has a daughter, the event is usually decked out in the trappings of "Daddy's Little Princess."  I've been told that I will be amazed by the unconditional love that a daughter will have for me.  I've been told that I will love having "Daddy's Little Girl."  Weebs, at not even two and not even understanding anything yet, has been told by others that he will be his "sister's protector."

But those are not the things I'm excited for.  In fact, I hope that all of those things are not true.

I don't want unconditional love from you.  To me, that's the wrong direction for love to flow unconditionally.  I will always love you unconditionally, and I want you to always know that.  But I want you to love me back for what I do for you, and for the happiness that I bring into your life.

I don't want you to be my little princess.  I want you to be big and strong and amazing.  I want you to take the world by storm and be my warrior, my powerful force of nature.  In short, I want you to be like your Mom.

I don't want Weebs to be your protector.  I want him to be your friend, your ally, and your confidante.  In all things, I want you to be equals, and I hope you will grow up in a world where you are able to do and attain everything that he does.

I'm excited because I cannot wait to see the kind of girl that your Mom and I can raise.

The simple fact is that, Twoops, you're going to have the deck stacked against you a little bit.  Unless the world has drastically changed by the time you read this, for a lot of things in life you're going to have to work at least a little harder to get the things you deserve and earn.

Know that I will always be there for you, ready to lend a hand if there is any way I can help you knock down walls and break through ceilings.

It isn't going to be easy.  I've witnessed your Mom running into it on many occasions.  But you couldn't possibly have a better role model than the one who we both love.  Your Mom played Football (American Football, not soccer).  Your Mom strong-armed her way into Medical School and into surgery (a currently predominantly male profession).

I can't wait to see what you do.

Love,

Dad

Stay at Home Dad

Hi there!  I have some exciting news that only fully came up recently.

Your Mom and I have reached a point that we can afford to get by on just one income, your Mom's.  I don't know how much things will have changed in the world by the time you read this.  Right now, it's a rare and wonderful thing for any family to not have two incomes, and even stranger still that it is the father who is staying home.

It is absolutely wonderful!  You're not even born yet and I already know that I am going to be able to be there all through the beginning years of your life.  By the time you read this, there's a good chance I'll have gone back to work (probably running a car dealership).  But, in the meantime, I get the joy of knowing that every day is just going to be filled with the delight of being your Dad full time!

I can't wait to meet you!  There will be another post in the next couple days, by the way.  Some of your Mom's co-workers are having a "Gender Reveal" party for us tomorrow, so at lunch time we will be finding out whether you are a boy or a girl!  Exciting times!

I love you, Twoops!

Dad

Love is nothing without respect...

Twoops,

Your mother told me something yesterday that made me terribly happy.  And since it had to do with you, I wanted to share it with you.  There's a pretty important message enclosed inside what she said.

She was talking to a co-worker at the hospital about your big brother.  I don't know exactly what they were talking about, but I am pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that Liam is just a crazy little ball of nonstop energy.  He's not really one for snuggling up with us, which is a quality that apparently your mom also possessed when she was his age.  I don't specifically know that they were talking about that, but I know that it was some kind of topic involving the similarities between Liam and your mother, because the co-worker said to her:

"Well, maybe the next one will be more like your husband."

Just thinking about your mother's response makes me smile.  I don't actually know the exact words that she used, but she basically said:

"Yes, that would be great."

Apparently, however she said it, she said it warmly enough to make the co-worker realize how much your mother loves me and respects me.  The co-worker responded to your mother with:

"You really love him, don't you?  That's so great to see."

This caught your mom a little off-guard.  Of course she loves me!  But the co-worker quickly pointed out how rare it is to actually see couples that love and respect eachother the way that your mom and I do.

So,  I guess this is the first meaningful message that I will be offering to you.

When the day comes that you decide to spend the rest of your life with someone, make sure that it is someone that you respect.  It should be someone amazing, who challenges you and pushes you to be a better person.  To put it simply, when you look at whoever it is, you should ask yourself...


"Is this person better than me?"

If the answer isn't at least a "Wow, they might be!" then you might be barking up the wrong tree.

I love you, Twoops, and I can't wait to meet you!

95 days!

Love.

Dad

Introduction

Hi Twoops!

I'm not sure how old you will be when you first start reading this.  At this point, I don't have any particular plans about when I will reveal this to you.  Will it be when you go off to college?  Will it be when you first learn how to read?  I honestly have no idea right now.  I only know that I will be writing this for a long time before you first read it.

As of this moment, you are four months away from being born.  So, we don't even know whether you are going to be a boy or girl yet.  So that's why this post just calls you Twoops since we don't have a name for you yet.  Twoops comes from 2.0 (you know, you're the second edition!).  In case that doesn't make sense whenever you're reading this, things used to be labeled as 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, etc... depending on which version of the original they were.

By way of introduction, I'm 42 years old at the time of this writing.  So, yeah, as I'm sure you know by this point, I'm a little older than the average dad at the time of your birth.

As I am sure you also know, I am absolutely thrilled to be your father.  Your mother has given me a lot of amazing gifts over the years (and more, I am sure, by the time that you read this).  Of all of them, though, the decision to have you and your brother is the absolute greatest.

The point of this blog is to try and chronicle some of the things that are going on in your life as the years go by.  I'm going to try to add in a few highlights each week.  This is designed to be a sort of living scrapbook so that later in life I can share all kinds of things that I might have otherwise forgotten.

I love you!

Your Dad