Saturday, April 4, 2009

Like A Sack Of Bricks

I've known and been excited about the imminent arrival of Baby2.0 but today the reality of it hit me—like the title of this post.

Marissa went to a shower this afternoon while I stayed home with Aidan. He went to sleep almost immediately so my job as babysitter was fairly easy: I shot asteroids and defended my mothership. He didn't wake up until about 10 minutes before Marissa got home.

When she did, she brought home a vanload of loot and encouraged me to go through it to see everything. There's a potty-training seat and a booster seat for Aidan. Fun stuff. Oddly enough, I'm actually looking forward to using those. It was the heavy packages of wipes and newborn-sized diapers and all the bibs and lap pads that did me in. It's not that I'm afraid of the messes (I just changed an Aidan diaper worthy of its own post); it's all the responsibility that comes with a newborn. And I'm an only child, so this whole sibling thing is completely new to me, even in theory.

Old fears of being able to safely hold a newborn and provide for a growing family returned. It seemed like it would all fall on me. I'm so glad I'm not having to do this on my own; Marissa is a great partner in parenting and God will give me the strength and creativity to do what's necessary. It was just an overwhelming moment to see all the baby stuff. Surely the experience of Number One is helpful in raising Number Two, right?

Any second-time dads out there have advice or experience to share? I'd love to read your comments.

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