Category — All About Dan

I think that it is somewhat natural for individuals to become more reflective during certain events of their lives. Those obvious events include births, deaths, and birthdays ~ all of those moments that force us to take a deep look at where we currently stand in relation to where we expected to stand. Today is one of those days for me!

It is my birthday. And nothing feels different from yesterday nor from last year and yet certain things are monumentally different…and others haven’t changed a bit. For example, I was up at 3am today. Now, I’ve been up at 3am on past birthdays as well. And like past birthdays where I was up at 3 am, I did have someone screaming at me. But this time it wasn’t the bartender indicating that it is was really last call and that we needed to leave; it was Reily anxiously wanting to be the first one to wish me a happy birthday!

And again, like past birthdays, I got sick last night. But this time it wasn’t due to the over-consuming of the nectar of the gods. Just a reminder that my stomach can no longer handle undercooked meat followed by a bag of reese peanut butter cups. And like past birthdays, I remind myself that it shouldn’t take ‘milestone’ events to occur for me to be reflective upon where I currently stand in this world. I would be better suited if I just incorporated it into my daily routine – add it to the list.

But today is different. I got up like normal at 3 am being that I lack the ability to fall back asleep like my other 3 roommates possess; and I was able to walk the city. There is just something amazing about the city before it is inhabited with routine. And likewise, I seem to find myself embracing the brisk morning air regardless of the temperature when its enjoyed in solitude during the early morning hours. Yet my perspective on the weather changes dramatically by evening as the once refreshing breeze is replaced by the harsh, winding wind that seems to enjoy battering any exposed skin that it can find. What is so different between the two occurrences besides the timing and my perspective? And there I have it – that is the difference!

Not one for change, I’m slowly learning to accept that the only constant is change itself. With that, I’m welcoming my 31st year (and here is where my father will argue that I’m in my 32nd year but that is for another discussion and one best enjoyed 5 beers deep!) and learning that timing and perspective are the secrets to this life of mine. Life is about details ~ and that is where the beauty lies. For when we go through the motions of our days then we forget the wonderful moments that are right before us. And I almost missed an amazing one this morning ~ something that yesterday would been looked at as routine. But not today; for I got to hold Reily during the first moments of my birthday – feeding him as he drifted back off to sleep next to his mom. And that is where my perspective changed!

I think it was my suggestion to do a final load of laundry before we go for another walk that got Dan’s attention. We thought for sure that last night was going to be our little guy’s big introduction to the world. We timed over 67 contractions ranging from 3:30 min to 8 min over the course of 6 hours, making initial phone calls and text messages to the grandparents to be, letting them know we thought the arrival was imminent…only to continue to watch the contractions vary in length and slowly taper off. Finally, finding absolutely nothing interesting on TV, we went to sleep last night around 2am.

I was able to sleep through the night and have continued to have some contractions today, but again, they are all over the place in timing and intensity. We have a doctor visit at 9am tomorrow, but we’re still hoping that our little guy will be here in time for the UCLA game tonight!

Well we’ve been trying to keep our minds off the ‘waiting’ but with Christine beginning some signs of ‘false’ labor, its been pretty tough. It took her a little bit of time to realize that the ’spasms’ she was having in her ab area wasn’t coincidental and that the rest of the women who are having a baby commonly refer to them as “contractions!” All teasing aside, she’s still doing great and we are just now hoping that this full moon doesn’t trigger little Boo to make an early appearance…at least that is what our doctor has asked given that she has left for a weeks vacation! So we had a little talk with Boo and asked him, if its ok with him, that we would be ok with waiting until after next Saturday. Time will tell but we’ll welcome him when ever he’s ready!

In an effort to kill some time, I’ve put together a video of the flip that my parents and I completed back in Akron. All work, with the exception of a few odd jobs and a few windows being installed, were done by myself and/or family (No – Christine didn’t do any ‘manual’ labor; ’silent’ partners don’t get their hands dirty!) All work is completed and its officially on the market and now its waiting for its new owner. This was an unbelievable experience – filled with lessons that can be applied to not only real estate but also life! I owe a huge thank you to my parents for without them this never would have come together.

So if you are interested in seeing the before and after, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D1j2Z7LsWE

or check the video below:

We’ve done just about everything we need to do to welcome our little guy to the world. Dan has successfully put the strollers, pac’n play, and crib together (at least twice). The car seats are installed. I have officially stopped working, thanks
to the wonderful laws of California. Today we checked
off a final item, picking the pediatrician. The nursery is ready and each day
brings us closer together waiting with anticipation. The only one not ready, is
Belle, our cat

It’s hard to believe that just a short eight months ago, I bawled in fear after watching the birth scene in “Knocked Up”, or complained that my belly wasn’t “pregnant enough”. The journey that Dan and I have embarked upon has been a true learning experience for us both. We have had to examine our true selves, identify where we are going and figure out how to achieve our goals. We aren’t at the end of our journey, in fact, it has really just begun. We’re about to become parents….for life! We talk during our morning and evening walks about what kind of parents we want to be, how we hope he likes baseball, but we’ll be enthusiastic if he decides to play water polo (it’s really big out here!). We talk about hypothetical situations where we can test our parenting skills. And who doesn’t look at other parents and say “we would handle that completely different”? Yes, we are in final stages of preparation to start our next journey.

Best of all, we’re pretty calm. I’ve never done this before, but I feel so well prepared by our family and friends stories, birth class, doctor advice, and prenatal yoga mamas that when I had my first false labor pain, I got just as excited as Christmas Eve! Every time I touch my stomach, Dan asks if it’s time and looks a little sad when I say that his new buddy isn’t ready yet. So I know that when it is time, we’ll be super excited and very ready.

Strollers – check. Car seats – check. Earthquake – check.

Well, that was our first experience with the shear power of the planet Earth! We are both fine and it appears as though the city is already back to normal.

I was at a Starbucks (also known as my satellite office) on a conference call. (Which reminds me, I probably should call those people back and apologize for my ‘What the #$%* is that?’ comment – but I found out that the guy was also in Los Angeles because he goes ‘I’ll have to call you back – we are having an earthquake!’ Good to know that my rep is actually local!) Christine was in her office in downtown and her first thought was that the guy on the other side of the wall was jumping up and down. She’s doing fine and is a little annoyed that she needed to walk down 20 flights of stairs to get out of the building.

Honestly, by the time you really figure out what is going on, its over. And then you know that your going to have some aftershocks – as of right now, we ‘reportedly’ had 27 of them but they are very small. I think Christine would agree that the most amazing thing is just watching how quickly the people go back to their normal lives ~ its truly remarkable. Everyone checks on those around them and do some integrity checks and then back to life. Its very calming actually.

So everything is slowing down and I’m working on getting Christine home right now but wanted you all to know that we are fine. Check this experience off our list and while unnerving, I would still rather have this experience than sleet and slush for 4 months!