Well, I’m finally doing it. I made a promise to my wife (and Brenda) that I would share my fatherly thoughts on the JerseyMomsBlog…despite being the daddy. I’m sure there’s a more gender specific blog out there somewhere, but I see a greater value in sharing a male outlook on child rearing amongst mothers, and I’m far too lazy to Google around for a daddy blog.

This month, our son Tyler will be ten months old. I can still smell the aroma of Riverview Medical Center’s interior, and yet I find myself concurrently contemplating ideas for his first birthday party in August. Wow…a good friend of mine was right when he said that if I keep my eyes closed long enough, I’ll open them to find myself sitting on bleachers watching him play little league baseball. Time…it is a-flyin’.

To sum up how my wife and I got to this point: boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy and girl overcome medical, financial, occupational, and other challenges, boy and girl make a baby. What I didn’t expect was, well everything. My toilet-side collection of Parenting Magazine, Baby’s First Year paperback novel, constant advice, even classes at the hospital couldn’t prepare me for the changes and challenges that I would experience. But you moms out there know all of these things already…and I’d hate to be repetitious.

What’s astonishing is how the baby changed me! Here are my top ten tidbits of male insight you might be lookin’ for…about how a man can grow WITH his baby if he wants to:

1. Fear Not the Poo: I went from an OCD clean freak to changing diapers without hesitation. Even the spit up, of which there is no warning or protection, no longer bothers me.
2. Holy $%&#*:I’m a churchgoer now! Although my analytical brain may never comprehend the scientific basis behind resurrection, I’ve nonetheless embraced the many virtues. [Read more...]