Dad Wisdom

This morning I had breakfast at Panera Bread with a couple dads from the Training Station.  They’re twin brothers and have seven kids between them.  Very interesting guys!

Every time I see them around their kids, they have that whole dad thing going on.  Their kids are their pals, but also respect them as parental authority figures.  That’s a pretty cool trick to pull off!

I had a great time with them and learned a few things, too.  Some highlights:

  • Parenting is like a lot of other things: how much you put into it determines how much you get out of it.
  • When a second child comes along and requires more attention from the mom, it can be a good opportunity for the dad to build a bond with the first child.
  • Hit the bottle!  (Not that bottle.)  Otherwise, forget trying to get a babysitter for more than an hour and a half during the first two years.
  • Relax.  The dad instincts will kick in.
  • On delivery day, bring Kleenex.  Be prepared for a new level of emotion.  There will be crying involved.
  • With a girl, forget trying to be macho.  Accept the fact that I’ll have tea parties and practice cheers.  Just be sure there are no YouTubers with cell phones nearby.
  • She’ll be watching me.  Always.  Just be aware of what I’m teaching her through what I say and do.
  • Cherish every moment, because it’ll fly by!

Thanks Greg & Dennis for sharing your combined quarter century of experience!

Published in: on February 3, 2009 at 2:01 pm  Comments (7)  

The Shot Heard Round My Mailbox

When I was a kid one of my hobbies was collecting autographs of baseball players through the mail.  Recently I’ve been reading The Echoing Green, a book I borrowed from my brother Dylan about what is probably the single most famous home run in baseball history.  So I decided to revive my old hobby by writing to Bobby Thomson.

In 1951, the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers battled for the pennant down to the last game of the season.  The Giants staged an amazing comeback and forced the Dodgers to a playoff.  In the deciding game, the Dodgers were up by two in the bottom of the ninth.  With the Giants at bat and two men on base, Bobby Thomson hit a rocket into the stands in left field to win the ballgame and the pennant, sending them to the World Series to face the New York Yankees.

This famous home run has become known as “the shot heard round the world.”

I bought an 8×10 photo of Thomson slugging the famous homer and mailed it to him with a letter and a self-addressed stamped envelope.  It’s only been a week since I mailed it, so I was happilysurprised to find it waiting for me in the mailbox today.

Mr. Thomson signed the picture and wrote “The Shot Heard Round the World, Oct. 3, 1951.”

Though I’d never done this before, I decided to send a brief questionnaire with the picture.  I never thought he’d actually fill it out and return it!  But he did, so here are the questions along with his answers:

  • Who were your favorite teammates?  Whitey Lockman and Alvin Dark.
  • What were the personal highlights of your career?  Hitting “The Shot” against the Dodgers & winning the pennant in 1951.  Also the homer I hit on Oct. 1, 1951, to win the first playoff game.
  • Who was the toughest pitcher you ever faced?  Don Drysdale.
  • Who was the toughest team you ever played against?  Brooklyn Dodgers.
  • Who was the greatest hitter you ever saw?  Ted Williams.
  • Who was the greatest pitcher you ever saw?  Allie Reynolds.

Pretty cool mail day!  Now I remember why I had so much fun doing this as a kid.

Published in: on January 30, 2009 at 10:51 pm  Comments (4)  

Our First Glimpse of Little Laura Marie

Okay, a little more info about yesterday’s ultrasound…

Carolyn’s parents and my parents all joined us for the sonogram at RMS Sonography in Salisbury.  When we went back to the room where they do the ultrasound, we were all very impressed with it: it looked like a very cozy living room.  There were leather couches and chairs, plants, lamps to provide light but still keep it dark enough for us to see the big TV screen hanging on the wall at the end of the room.

On the other end was the table where they put Carolyn for the show.  Right away the baby popped up on the TV screen.  We all gasped–it was so awesome!  The technician had already asked if we wanted to know the gender, if she was able to see it.  She was definitely able to see it!  The baby had her legs stretched out toward her head, so we were all able to see very clearly what the technician announced very nonchalantly: “It’s a girl.”

A girl!  Woo hoo!  Carolyn’s wanted a baby girl all along.  She had even bought a little dress already.  We would have been thrilled either way, of course.  But Carolyn was extremely happy to hear that it’s a girl, and I was just happy that we can now call the baby by name: Laura Marie Hyde.  It’ll be nice to say “she” and “her” instead of “it.”

For about half an hour we looked at the baby’s arms, legs, heart, stomach, brain, spine, skull… even her cute little tiny bladder!

Speaking of bladders, did you know that before you have a sonogram you have to drink 32 ounces of water–and hold it?!?  Carolyn was such a trooper!

For most of the time the baby was squirming around, tossing all over the place, doing flips.  At one point she turned her head toward the screen as though she was watching us.  Another time she stuck out her little hand and–I’m not kidding–gave us a thumbs up!  It was so amazing.

Here’s a pretty clear shot of Laura Marie’s cute little tiny foot:

And here she is lying on her back and reaching up as far as she possibly can with her legs so she can kick her mom’s guts:

I’m still kind of spaced out, shocked, by the whole thing.  I’m having a daughter.  Wow.

Published in: on January 13, 2009 at 2:46 pm  Comments (8)  

Laura Marie Hyde

It’s a girl!

Published in: on January 12, 2009 at 4:58 pm  Comments (7)  

Baby Appointment #2

Carolyn and I had her second doctor’s appointment yesterday afternoon.  We listened to the baby’s heartbeat–we recorded it this time.  She (the doc)answered a few questions, went over some test results, and helped us set up our sonogram appointment.

The sonogram will be next Monday morning.  We’re praying that we’ll be able to find out the gender!  That’ll be so awesome.  I can’t wait.

Published in: on January 7, 2009 at 5:01 am  Comments (6)  

Live in Concert!

It was 22 years ago today that my dad took me to my first rock concert.  We saw Eddie Money.  Ahh, the memories.

Published in: on December 18, 2008 at 9:42 am  Comments (2)  

My New Favorite Paragraph

I have a new favorite paragraph.

It’s from page 115 of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.  The narrator is an old dying country preacher writing about dancing the waltz alone in his study:

“I plan to do all my waltzing here in the study.  I have thought I might have a book ready at hand to clutch if I began to experience unusual pain, so that it would have an especial recommendation from being found in my hands.  That seemed theatrical, on consideration, and it might have the perverse effect of burdening the book with unpleasant associations.  The ones I considered, by the way, were Donne and Herbert and Barth’s Epistle to the Romans and Volume II of Calvin’s Institutes.  Which is by no means to slight Volume I.”

Now that’s rich.  What an amazing writing gift.  And what a lovable character!

Published in: on December 13, 2008 at 12:09 am  Leave a Comment  

Caffeinated Art

Last night my brother-in-law Michael created a caffeinated masterpiece.  He’s already a very talented latte maker, but last night he added some coconut depth that just took it to a whole new level.  It was so delicious it made me emotional–for a minute I thought I might even cry.  It was just beyond words; it was even beyond poetic expression.  So smooth, rich, and foamy, with a flavor that was pleasing at first taste but quickly crescendoed into ecstasy.  It was unbelievable.  It was such an amazing creation that it caused a dilemma: to drink it meant that it would be no longer, but not drinking it was not even to be considered.

In the end I followed the advice of a beer billboard I saw: Sip.  Savor.  Repeat.

A portrait of the artist as a (barely) young man:

Published in: on November 21, 2008 at 11:54 am  Comments (2)  

11 Weeks

A friend of ours from the Training Station recently loaned us a book called Pregnancy Week By Week.  It’s really cool because the people that wrote it seemed to have thought of everything possible related to pregnancy.  There’s a chapter for each week of pregnancy, and in each chapter they explain what’s going on with the mom’s body and how the baby is developing.

One of the coolest things is that each week has an actual-size drawing of what the baby looks like at that stage.  When we first got the book last week and I opened it up to week 10 and saw the picture, I almost cried.  Yeah yeah, I know I’m a weenie, but it was such a shock–the baby is already bigger than an action figure and looks like a real person!  Very cool stuff.

Carolyn and the baby are now at 11 weeks.  The baby has fingernails now.  (As you probably know if you saw the movie Juno.)  The baby weighs about three-tenths of an ounce and is just under two inches long from head to butt (apparently that’s how babies are measured before they’re born).

Here’s what our baby looks like.  Isn’t s/he cute?:

Published in: on November 19, 2008 at 10:23 am  Comments (2)  

CrossWay Church Celebrates 25 years

This Sunday, CrossWay Church will celebrate our 25th anniversary.  The church began as Ocean City Mennonite Church the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 1983.  (The church is now a quarter of a century old, and in its lifetime the Baltimore Orioles have not been to the World Series.  Tsk tsk.)

It’s gonna be cool.  Two of our former pastors, including the founding pastor, will be with us along with some interim pastors and former members.  After the service we’re having a lunch catered by Famous Dave’s.

It’ll be good!

Published in: on November 7, 2008 at 5:25 am  Leave a Comment  
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