28 weeks, 6 days - A Note from Dad

Really starting to get real

The fact that the little one poking out of Amanda’s belly every few seconds will soon be introducing her/himself to the world has started to become very real.  I feel a bit guilty saying that; it has been real up until now, but when I realized how soon Baby will actually be here, that feeling kicked up several notches.  I might be more in the neighborhood of where Amanda has been for a while now, getting kicked and prodded every which way at all hours.

I don’t know what has changed, but this weekend, I was telling Aunt Amy and Uncle Dave how, since the pregnancy, I’ve become a lot more aware of the historical value of the time we’re currently in and how much I think about the need to capture or document it for our impending posterity (on that note again, Amanda’s well ahead of me with her blogs).  Specifically I was saying how I want to make sure we get a picture of me, Amanda, and baby standing by the car before we make the trek to Georgia, as this’ll be a nice picture with a good story behind it.  Halfway through this point, just how soon that moment would be here washed over me, along with a few healthy flashes of panic.  When that moment does come, there’s going to be a baby around—and not just for nice moments but all the time.  That rather stopped me in my tracks.

This was a good thing to realize.  Besides the fact that I need to be going forward with bug eyes wide open, the panic and fear left almost immediately, replaced by happier realizations such as the time will also soon be here when Amanda and I are living under the same roof again.

And as if to make sure I didn’t get too panicked or begin to take my moment of clarity too seriously, Aunt Amy and Uncle Dave laughed at me for quite a while when I told them how I had to stop talking about when the baby comes because it’s freaking me out.  Almost like they were really enjoying seeing me in that state, kind of like they knew all about it.  Jerks.