Life Before Baby Girl

This past weekend I was in my former home of Minneapolis and it gave me plenty of time to celebrate, reflect and self-analyze. One of the big topics of conversation (besides the obvious fact that Brian and Leah were getting married) was the upcoming birth of our first child. The good news was that despite our nerves, M didn't give birth early and I am now back home ready at a moment's notice to drive to Riverside Hospital.

Now as we look forward, I felt like it was time to update the old blog with a few words on life before Baby Girl. (This was actually my friend Shelley's advice.) First off - it has been made crystal clear to me how my life will change with our family growing by 50%. It was a common theme from recent parents that kind of went like "Having a kid is the most awful thing in the world. You won't sleep. You will fight. Your life is no longer about yourself. You will lose friends. Did I mention you won't sleep? Oh yeah, but it's great." I take that from a group of people, so please no one take offense to this somewhat accurate description of the advice on getting prepared to have a child.

Anyway, my current life consists of a lot of fun activities surrounded by a stressful, but rewarding job. Unlike in years past, I do love my job and find that often my conversation comes back to that subject. For example, I just finished a text conversation with a coworker about work, personalities, meetings, etc. It seems strange to me that people that often really don't like work (and there are plenty of people out there) seem to talk about it often. While I do have my complaints, I feel like an impostor in that I do like what I am doing on a daily basis. And if you think I am just am saying this in a public forum, then grab me after a few drinks and ask me the same question and see if you get a different answer.

Other aspects of my life include plenty of traveling for both fun and work. This year I've been to  Chicago (hockey game and visiting friends), New York (work), Miami (work), San Antonio (birthday/babymoon), Indianapolis (basketball), Montreal (Bachelor Party) and then most recently Minneapolis. I've been on a plane for three consecutive weeks, which is somewhat of an issue since I'm still not completely over the debacle of the US Airways flight form Miami that I wrote about here. Still I love traveling, and can't picture my life without it.

Also, another thing I enjoy is going out with friends in Columbus. It isn't an unfamiliar sight to see me at the bars in the Short North with the same group of people. My perfect weekend would be a wonderful date night with M (maybe Cafe Istanbul and a movie) on Friday and then out drinking with friends on Saturday. I know that a lot of this will change with the new addition to our family, but I think it is important to at least try and keep a balanced life.

On the smaller scale I love sleeping in (9:30am sounds good to me), reading the Sunday NY Times and taking naps on the weekend. I know this will sound fanciful in a month. Also, I've been on a walking kick lately as I got a fitbit and have been tracking my "steps" for over a month now. I've been walking about 11k steps a day, which is just over my goal number of 10k. I'm not sure how long this will last, but as it currently stands I enjoy this change in my life. I feel more active, more apart of my community and as a side benefit I'm closer to my playing weight. It does cut into my tv watching time, but when I am lazy and need to relax, I do like watching The Daily Show, Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey.

Also, when I am lazy I enjoy reading magazines like Kiplinger's, Money and Time, which means I am officially a middle-age man who likes conversations about personal finance and world events. Also, I've been on a kick with David Halberstam books and am currently reading one on the 1950s appropriately called The Fifties. There isn't much better than sitting in my backyard on a sunny day with a cocktail and something to read.

My life is generally one of leisure and fun. I do have some complaints about people being passive-aggressive or ungrateful, but I can already look back on those concerns and think that they probably aren't too important. Thankfully the big stuff (my wife, our house, our finances) are in order and instead of worrying about the next paycheck, I can be concerned about things of a smaller scale. In looking over Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs we are pretty much at the top, which isn't a terrible place to be.

Hopefully with the lack of sleep in front of me, I can come back eventually and update this blog to see truly how much life has changed. Maybe it will be as bad as everyone says? I think my expectations are properly lowered, but still I am excited about welcoming Baby Girl Malphurs into this world.