An Apology

There's something I need to get off of my chest: I'm not the greatest father.  There, I said it.  While I'm at it, I need to add this: I'm not the greatest husband either.  Whew, now that I've got that out of the way, let me blog a bit about fatherhood and being a not so great husband.

Let's dig in, shall we? I've discovered only recently that I'm not the best dad.  I didn't learn this from someone telling me.  I deduced it from personal insight.  I perused the welcome to fatherhood books and thought, blah, I'll wing it,  how hard can it be? I don't remember there being a chapter about how to do absolutely everything right and your kids will grow up to be great people.  Eh, I might've fallen asleep before I got to that part. 

I finally discovered what it is that seems to be my downfall: it's me.  I finally know what it is that I've done to make me be a not so great dad.  By no means am I self-bashing, but I need to let dads of all sorts(ones that have been dads for many years, a few years, or are just getting started) know what I've found out about myself and what could be a hang up for them as well.

I'm self absorbed.   I don't know if it's because I was the baby of the family for 16 years and I grew to realize most everyone in the family was willing to let me slide on things.  Also, being the youngest, you learn from your older siblings and I learned what to do and what not to do, or at least get caught doing it. 

For far too long have I thought about what others could do for me.  This didn't become apparent until after children.  I wish it could've been sooner, like when I met Melissa and fell in love and got married.  I think she would've been appreciative of the self enlightenment.  I hope that she is now.

I've always thought my time was exactly that, mine.  It wasn't until maybe a few months ago, I found that this isn't true.  I don't know what led me to this discovery, but I'm glad I've found it.

So here it is, my apology:  Dear Ethan, Hayden, and my dearest Melissa, I'm sorry for being selfish and using the time that I have to only do what I felt met the minimum of being a dad and husband.  Moving forward, and please know it's a work in progress, I give all my time to the pursuit of happiness, godliness, and helpfulness to give each of you what you deserve.  A dad who takes the time to teach and play, even after a long day.  A husband who does more than keep the kids until you get home from work and then turns them over. There is an abundance of others to list, but I find that list a bit tedious, please, just know that I am always striving to become a better father and husband.

 The three greatest people I could have love me deserve more than I am and the only person that can do anything about is me.

Something a bit more recent.

Molly has a small obsession with Elmo, she shows off her chops in this video. Below is a more recent photo taken of her riding on a plastic camel.

LONG TIME NO HEAR!

Hello? 

Hey there! It has been a long time but trust me when I say, it has gone by way too fast! I feel good about posting though and I hope to be posting a few videos soon. 



 This one is from our town's market street last year in 2012 as most of the photos are about that old.

 Who do we owe the pleasure for the next few post? Why my over loaded iphone of course! So rather than fill my Facebook page up with countless more photos and videos, I will attempt to log our adventures and discoveries here.

This one of Molly in the car was taken in the local mall here, she has a need for speed!
First time for Molly and I both 

on the Tombigbee River we had a blast!

I feel like these photos were taken yesterday, mind blowing this was all last year. So nice to reminisce, beautiful memories.

For memory sake today marks the first time we went poo poo in the potty. Now, that I made this post I have a date to torment her with in the future.

 Katie McDill's photography took this one, although shes not smiling I just like it. I'll post more take from this shoot later.

  Nude.

Cloth Diapers how-to instructional video, its so easy!

 

 

This "how to" video is just so easy to use, special thanks to Star & Micey for this really silly, but super fun to make video.

Some Assembly Required

Changing table in the works

The words in the title to this blog are known to all moms and dads, we soon to be parents are just getting started.  I believe there should actually be a book somewhere about having a baby that should also have this title.  We will never be through putting things together for our kids.  Whether it be furniture as in the most pictures on this blog post, or if it is trying to put together a life on the right road for our young ones.  There will be times when we mend broken hearts, or pick up broken spirits, just as our parents did before us.

Again with the changing table

Enough sentimental stuff, lets get to the meat of this blog.  Tools and little use of directions, which
came back to bite me only a few times.  We ordered all of our son's furniture off the Internet, from JcPenny, which worked out great.  We got a credit account which helped save us money, we also got free delivery... just not free assembly.  Oh no, nothing free about that, just you, your tools, and a wonderful wife there to tell you when you're doing it wrong, and to take pictures of the process, too!  Actually, Melissa didn't nag, which is true to her character, she really helped out, even while being seven and a half months pregnant. 


I decided to start with the changing table, you see there's a method to picking out which piece of furniture you should start with, especially if you plan on assembling all of it in one day.  I figured I'd start with the second most aggravating piece, followed by the most aggravating, then finish up with the easiest/ least aggravating.  According to my level of aggravation, I messed up the order.  We got everything completed all the same.

The finished changing table.

You've got to make sure you tighten everything
 down as best as you can, your child is depending on you!

We took a break after the assembly process was complete, we went to get something to eat and, I believe, we did a little shopping at Babies R Us. We purchased a Serta mattress for the crib, which was second on the list of assembly.  My sister, Joanna, stopped by and helped out with this process, which made it a little less frustrating.  Notice the glider and ottoman in the background, we didn't get any pictures, but we did have to assemble those as well, which wasn't difficult at all.  Except for buttoning the cushions on, that was a pain. 

Joanna was helping, Molly and Louie were not.
They were more interested in spending time with Aunt Joanna.

Finished product.

With blanket, which we learned in birthing class, we shouldn't
put in with Ethan, it can be dangerous.

Now for my coup de grace, the chest of drawers, I'm not even sure why I thought this would be an easy construction, but apparently at the time I did, boy, was I wrong. 

Getting the pieces organized with Louie's help.

Maybe it was the fact that I had been assembling all day, or because the first two pieces went so well, I thought I didn't need the directions this time, whatever the reason was, I know that this was a pain!

Molly and I having a moment.

Who is that handsome, handy man?

The drawers were pretty simple, so simple I could talk on the phone
at the same time!

Finished product, looks simple enough, but don't let it fool you.
I think the third drawer sticks a bit too, tried to loosen everything
and resolve problem, but, alas, I could not figure it out.

The aftermath

During my crazy month of December, I put together a few other items.

We purchased a Baby's 1st stroller/car seat.  Not much assembly required,
just attached the wheels.

The biggest dynamic going into the stroller/car seat
was learning how to operate everything.  Which
we found wasn't terribly hard.  Then again,
we didn't have a screaming baby with us at the time.

We also bought a Graco swing set.  Not at all fun to put together, but not
incredibly hard. I was finished in about 45 minutes.

It has different settings for swinging, slow or fast, it also
has different songs on it, two of which were in our wedding.
There are nature sounds and the mobile, which
isn't battery operated, it moves as the swing
goes back and forth.

We're pleased with all the items we've received so far, and I have even more to blog about later.  We've had three baby showers since the middle of November, with lots of pictures!

All Day Birthing Class

I will go on record and say that if you have a choice, never ever take an all day birthing class.  The only reason we did was because of our different work schedules.  We knocked out 6 classes in an eight hour window on November 19th. 

Each class had a different title, but since it was all day class, I don't remember any of them.  It was like a blur, so much info, so little time to compute.  The basics were fairly simple, I had no problem putting diapers on a doll that was not struggling or fighting against me.  Learning how to properly bath a newborn was informative.  I remember and firmly believe in, if you don't know if your baby is actually sick or just not feeling well, but you're not sure, call a doctor, or mom or mother-in-law. 

I know that the wife's recovery is very important and can take some time, which is to be expected.  The instructor mentioned to the guys that we might be on the hook for cooking and cleaning for the first  six weeks, which is about par for most mom's recoveries.  I just hope Melissa doesn't get tired of hamburgers, pizza, grilled cheese and such.  I'll be off for the first two weeks so maybe I can expand my menu, or we'll end up eating a lot of pick up. 

The videos we were shown were very dated, but covered everything you need to know about what happens at birth.  And, yes, guys, they are not pretty, but you need to go through this so you know what to expect in the delivery room of your own wife, or mother of your child.
Since we took the all day class, we didn't get a chance to learn baby CPR, we might be signing up for that later.  All in all it was a great day, time spent with my wife, met some new people, learned about delivery and newborns, but still suggest the night courses!

Good/Bad, Do/Don't,Yes/No of parenthood.

ABC song never sounded so good.

Man, I know it is a bit early for little Miss Molly to start watching any type of videos, but I am still honing my skills in the art of soothing a fussy baby. I really enjoy off-key singing to her as I attempt to rock her and quite her down. I have noticed that she is becoming more ad more alert as time goes by so I thought I would try a few videos out on her. Oddly enough I found this Alphabet seem to mellow her out pretty good and her eyes are drawn to it. I think it has something to do with her natural ability to recognize faces in objects. It also has a nice beat and has been stuck in my head.

I also have just recently bought a new video camera or"toy"and tried it out for the first time today. Katherine left me up to my own devices and alone with Molly for a few hours. I was just trying not to make her mad. I made a quick video, very off the cuff, showing how Molly likes to be held. You can see how awkward I get as she gets more fussy.

I'll get better at this stuff.

Baby on a roller coaster!

                                            Molly likes the thrills!!

Molly is here!!

"Spirit is in a state of grace forever. Your reality is only spirit. Therefore you are in a state of grace forever."

A Course in Miracles

Man oh man, what can I say. I'm a Dad and it feels great! These past few weeks have been emotional, exhausting, and extremely time consuming. I am not going to spend long on this post, but per Jake, I want to at the very least get some pictures posted. 

 Molly Grace Munson, was born on the ninth day of October, 2011. The doctor and I counted all of her fingers and toes together and were very pleased to see everything was in order. He also commented that he had never seen a little girl have such a perfectly round head after a natural birth... she gets that from me.

 Molly was born at 7:09 pm weighing in at a whopping six pounds and 7 ounces. At this time I would like to thank me and give myself a shout out for being the one to guess her body weight. So far I guessed that she would be a girl, she would be blonde, and now her weight. It's not easy being this good.

This was taken just before birth. We rushed to get to the hospital, flying down the two lane hwy going 90 mph. Louise (grandma) was busy in the back seat chatting it up on the phone as Katherine would give me dirty looks for going too fast. 

 Melissa Cooper, a good friend, had been tracking Katherine's progress through out the morning. She is holding Hattie, Molly's cousin. Louise is to the left. Melissa and Katherine's sister Elizabeth followed behind us, and we were blessed to have them at the hospital during the birth.

 Molly (right) didn't want to sit still for her first picture with her cousin Hattie (left), who is only  a month older. They look like the same size, but I believe molly was a few ounces lighter.













Just thought I'd blow a few of these up. The camera phone just doesn't do her justice.

She was so hungry for the first few days as we waited for Katherine's milk to come in, I would have to appease her with my knuckle. 

 We use Katie Mcdill for all our family photos, she did extremely well. Molly was only four days old and very fussy. Below I posted a video of me rocking her to sleep in a pumpkin. I never thought I be the type of parent that would put their kid in a cold wet pumpkin for photos. I am though.







   
On the left you get to see Molly preforming her very first "plank". This could be monumental, because I don't know how serious of a planker she might be one day.

 This Youtube video has been giving me some trouble all night, I hope it comes through ok, if not, you get the idea. You can't hear me very well but I am telling Molly I'm sorry I did this and that it was not my idea.

 Jake get ready, having Molly has been better then owning your very own masterpiece. When the Doctor handed her to me, I knew she was mine and meant for me. Like a work of art, I look at her and am amazed at her detail, her beauty, every wonderful brushstroke of genius God put  on her body. It's super cool.

The Final Countdown

Before I get started, I want to congratulate fellow blogger Ryan and his wonderful wife Katherine on the birth of sweet, beautiful Molly Grace.  I also want to get on to Ryan, not for not blogging, because we all know how busy having a newborn makes us, but for not posting any pictures of his angelic daughter on the site!  Chop chop, mister!



This is it, the last three months of pregnancy, the final trimester, the end of us being a couple and the beginning of us being a family.  We have a lot on our plate for these last few months. Not only showers soon to be here, but a full day of birthing class, bi-weekly doctor's visits, then weekly ones, and to top things off the wonderful holiday season.  Also, Melissa is going to be traveling for work soon.  Ah, the holiday season, a great time of year, a time I truly enjoy, but also the busiest we'll be at work.  I'm not sure how, but we'll make it through this season and before we know it, Ethan will be here.

Not much has happened since my last blog, we did get the baby furniture in, it hasn't been assembled yet, but it's here.  We also had a very enjoyable trip to San Francisco with Melissa's parents.  I had never been to California before, even though most of my family(me included) are huge San Francisco Giants fans, it was a tremendous treat to say the least.  We did some sightseeing and even toured AT&T Park where the Giants play.

My beautiful pregnant wife hanging from a stationary street car.

This was at the end of the street car line not far from Fisherman's Wharf.

Can't go to SF without going here.

Great shot of the street car line, and the very steep hill we came down.

Gotta go here too, they make some pretty good chocolates!

We took a boat tour of the bay, I got this shot of the Golden Gate Bridge on my iPhone.

Yours truly sitting in the Giants dugout, Melissa kindly pointed out that the Giants behind my head with the s covered made it an accurate description of my noggin.

Full House houses, aka the Painted Ladies.

Can't see it very well, but that's the 18th green at Pebble Beach

My lady standing in a Redwood.

Biggest trees I've ever seen, I'm sure they make a sound if one falls and no one is around.

Alcatraz, or as Sean Connery would say "The Rock"

The traveling baby bump is back! Notice, it's grown a bit since Florida. 

Baby Bump at the ballpark.

Baby Bump cruising the Bay.

Baby Bump at the beach in Monterey.



Baby Bump at Pebble Beach, which in this photo is not so pebbly.



There, I'm done channeling my mother, for those of you that don't know, she loves to take and share pictures! Speaking of mom, before we left for San Francisco my parents were in town for a few days on their way through to Illinois to visit more family.  We had a great time, which to my family is hanging out and eating, especially Guadalajara Grill.

We had a doctor's visit this past Monday, a check up and for Melissa to take her sugar test, which she didn't pass.  Therefore, she's going back in a few hours to do an even longer test, I think they said it will take three hours for this one.  We're hoping things go better this time.  I got quite a few responses when I posted this on facebook and most were mothers who had gone through this a few times during their pregnancies and everything turned out fine, but we still have our fingers crossed.  For the first time the nurse had no problem finding our boy's heartbeat.  Every other time he's either turned away or hiding some how and they have to chase him around, all the while smearing jelly all over Melissa's tummy.  Other than the test, everything checked out just fine on the visit.  I believe Dr. Chauhan said he's on his way to being better than seven pounds before he's born, which Melissa blamed on my large head.  What can I say, I come from a family of large noggins.

That's about it for now, I'll have more in a week or so (baby shower next week), and definitely pictures of baby furniture assembly party! We call it a party so people will come help us, hey, promise some food and you can get folks to come out.