But even though Whitney and I are extremely anxious to bring the baby into the world, the past few days have served to be very reflective for me. I've said it many times before over the past few months, but things are starting to get very real.
As Whitney and I have made preparations here and there, it became more and more apparent to me that we'll soon have a little baby boy for whom we are solely responsible. When we went shopping for baby clothes, I would hold up a shirt with a bass guitar and think it would be so cool to get for our little boy, and then when I'd pull it out of the shopping bag on the way home, it would strike me that soon there will be a little body wearing this shirt.
Working on the nursery made things very real to me. We found our crib and changing table only a few weeks after finding out that Whitney was pregnant. We also decided early on that we wanted to paint one of the walls of the soon-to-be-nursery a sky blue, so that was our next task. We then went about finding a rocking chair, a dresser, and everything else that goes into a nursery. After many weeks and months, the room was finally finished and ready for a new occupant.
I have to say that when the nursery was finished, I had to take a step back and smile because of the work we had done. This little room was going to be somewhere that we'll spend a lot of time with our baby boy--especially Whitney--and we really did our best to make it feel like home. With the help of Whitney's sisters and sister-in-law, we were able to decorate the crib area with a colorful banner and an origami crane mobile that I managed to hang from the ceiling without falling off the ladder.
It was also very important to us that we have a picture of Jesus in the room, so we mounted one of Whitney's favorites just above the changing table. Above the picture we hung a photo of the Mt. Timpanogos Temple that was taken the day of our wedding, which to me is honestly better than any picture that could have been purchased at a store. Finally, next to the picture of the Savior is a small mirror, so that the baby can look at himself while being held and changed and see himself next to his Elder Brother.
Yes, I'm very happy with the room. I'm also sure we went overboard in some cases, but as a first time parent I'm completely alright with that. Not only did we buy the Angelcare baby monitor that detects sound, temperature, and whether or not the baby is moving so as to prevent SIDS, we also decided to get a video monitor that I mounted on the wall so that we can check on the baby any time at night. It is actually very handy and can be accessed from our laptops or from an iPhone app. Knowing how we were when we transitioned our puppy into another room, I know that we'll be pretty paranoid about our baby in his crib at night for the first little while, and it will be nice to quickly calm any fears by checking up on him without waking him up by opening the door.
But preparing ourselves physically is only a small part of what is to come. It has been so crazy for me to think about the this next week. Within the next few days, I will be changing diapers. I'll be rocking and singing a little baby to sleep. I'll be burping him over my shoulder. I'll be a daddy.
I have had a lot of time to think about this, mostly while laying in bed in the middle of the night. I feel like a movie reel is constantly rolling through my head. During my sleeping and waking moments, I have visions of loading a baby into his car seat, holding him on my lap to play with him, pushing him in a stroller, and just looking into his beautiful, shining eyes.
While I'm also terrified of being responsible for another life, I am extremely excited to be a father and can honestly say that I am looking forward to it with bated breath. Over the past year of being married and the time leading up to it after Whitney became a part of my life, I have been happier than I can remember. I'm sure that the same thing will happen when our little boy officially joins our family, and my level of happiness will skyrocket. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful opportunity to be a dad and am so thankful for my incredible wife and everything she has had to endure during this long pregnancy.
Let the adventure begin!
