Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Well, I did it. I entered my very first cooking contest.
In entering the recipe that I did I also took a big risk. Even though the rules of the contest didn’t stipulate that the recipe had to be something simple or easy to prepare, I felt no matter what it was necessary for [...]

Google Buzz

Going for Two

by PJ Mullen on July 10, 2009

in Fatherhood Friday

The replay of the controversial 2-Point Conver...
Image via Wikipedia

The past few weeks have been interesting in our household. About a week ago my wife was shall we say, late, by about a week and it had us a bit on edge. We ran the gamut of emotions from nervous to excited to happy and back to nervous. Since she had resumed her clockwork like schedule after she finished nursing we were getting ourselves prepared for the reality that we might be expecting again.

After about four days past zero hour she took a pregnancy test and it turned out negative, but the test had also been expired for about a month. Deciding that since the test was so out of date we would pick up some more and try again the next day. Well, we never got that far and now I’m still dealing with the same flux of emotions.

Every talk we’ve ever had about starting a family revolved around the notion that if we were fortunate enough we would like to have two children. We felt that was the right size for us, but we also know that twins run in my mother in-laws family, so we have a chance of rolling snake eyes. Since my wife is in the whole ‘advanced maternal age’ category, we figured little man was at a good age to start trying for a brother or sister (or possible one of each, AHHH!). After all, can you truly be parents if your child doesn’t have a sibling to annoy the crap out of them? *grin*

My wife was obviously dissappointed despite her ‘it will happen when it happens, if it is supposed to happen’ mentality. As for me, I was a little sad, but oddly relieved at the same time. The planner in me had already started a mental list of things we would need to get and do to prepare to welcome another child into the world.

The first thing on my list of concerns was managing the care of two children, especially an infant and what would likely be a very precocious two year old. On the plus side my wife has dutifully saved her PTO at work so she would be in position to have a full twelve week maternity leave. However, the fact of the matter is unless I hit the lottery, or start the next Facebook and sell it, I’m going to have a lot more to juggle as a stay at home dad than I’m mentally ready for right now.

I’ve always been the type to psych myself out, be it tests in school, projects at work or the realities of starting a family. In all fairness to myself, I’ve also always managed, usually quite well, to meet or exceed expectations. It’s just a mindset I seem to default to whenever a situation I’ve never encountered before presents itself until I seek out more information.

Another thing I did is start reviewing the baby gear we own, evaluate how effective it was with our little man, decide what we would do differently now that we have some experience as parents, and identify other supplemental gear we may need, including cost. This all really started when I pulled out our stroller for a quick shopping trip and my mind started wondering what type would be best to transport an infant and a toddler. It’s a sickness and, no, it can’t be cured.

The last thing that kept me up a few nights was the whole issue surrounding our home. For those of you that don’t know, our house is presently on the market for sale by owner. I won’t get into it all here, so, if you are interested please check out the post I wrote about our decision to sell it right here. The market here in Charlotte is still tough, as I’m sure it is everywhere, and, what compounds our situation is that our home is very unique.

I know it is going to take time, time that I didn’t think I was going to have a week ago.  It is also going to take a special buyer for us to sell the house in a mutually beneficial transaction. In a perfect situation a retired couple, a couple with no plans to have children or a successful single person that wants to own a charming, fully renovated bungalow a stones throw from the city will come knocking on our door with a check, or at least a bona fide offer, in hand tomorrow. Since that is not likely to happen, I know I need to step up my marketing efforts and keep my fingers crossed.

In any event, it may be no where near the fourth quarter, but we are surely going for two.

Wish us luck!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Google Buzz
  • I'm so stupid...when I read the first few sentences I was wondering how your wife was a week late from work...duh

    I have to echo everyone else's sentiments. It'll happen when it is meant to and you'll still not be prepared. Our second took us over 3 years and medical assistance. The first one only took one try(that'll teach me to brag about how when I do something I do it right the first time)
  • Ha! That's what I'm worried about. We were expecting with our son so much sooner than we ever anticipated I'm trying to avoid being too casual about having #2 in the works :)
  • Good luck with the "possible" new kid(s)!

    The wife and I just brought home our second, and while he wasn't planned, we couldn't imagine our world without him. There is no "perfect" time for kids. You just have to jump on board whenever they get here and be glad for it.
  • That is true, I just like to have something to worry about :) Congratulations again on baby awesome #2. I like his name, very unique.
  • It's all going to work out no matter where you're living. I don't think there's a perfect situation. Good luck with number 2 and selling your house!
  • Tell that to my wife :) Actually, I'm willing to be patient with the house. We'd manage with an infant, but with two kids up and running around it will get crowded fast. But we have plenty of time before I need to worry about that. Thanks!
  • We are having our second (due in first week of dec)...scary and exciting. Good luck to you as go for extending your family.
  • Good luck to you with that, you must be very excited...
  • I can only echo mwfrantz. Things do fall into place. If everyone waited until they thought they were ready to have children we'd need a much longer lifespan. Best of luck!
  • Very true...my son is 15 months old and I'm still not sure I'm ready for children :)
  • Wishing you the best of luck...but, I am thinking u r gonna be allright...Kudos!
  • Thank you, sir...btw, watch out for your Any Major Dad post later today...I'm a bit behind on following up on comments...did a little mid-summer blog cleanup this weekend and it took longer than I expected...hope all is well!
  • It seems to me that there are certainly 'optimal' situations for kids to arrive into, but you'll never be fully prepared either from a monetary, gear, and maybe even mental perspective. That's how I was at least - always pushing off kids until we had more money, a better house etc. Finally my wife got me to relent, and everything just worked itself out. I'm sure when #2 makes it's appearance for you, things will fall into place. Good luck!
  • Thanks, I'm the classic overthinker, unfortunately. I talk myself out of stuff all the time. I'm sure if it does happen for us I'll revert to panic mode for a few days and then everything will work itself out.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: