I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what a big commitment it is to have a baby. The number one thing that comes to mind is the issue of time.

Having children and getting married are both huge commitments, so I’ll compare the two. Getting married is huge because it’s the end of your independence. You can no longer do whatever the heck you feel like doing, but instead must always consider your spouse in day to day things. In some ways it can actually save you time. While your awesome wife makes you a sandwich (that’s for all the feminists) you can do something else.

But having a kid is quite different. I only know up through age two, but the time it takes just to feed, bathe, dress, punish, clean, chase, drop of at daycare, take on walks, and put to bed is amazing. I think most people only consider their personal maturity, and whether or not they’re ready to shape a young mind. All important things to consider, but for one main reason, I think the time issue might be the most important.

Now let me come back to marriage for a moment. I believe the number one cause of failure in marriages is selfishness. You don’t show your spouse how much you love them by what you buy them or what you say, but by what you do. If you’re selfless, then you do things like take out the trash, get water for your wife, let her pick the show to watch, and in general do things to make her happy (not necessarily yourself). If you’re selfish, you look out for yourself, and sometimes to the detriment of your spouse (and ultimately the marriage).

So back to babies. The time issue is so important, because kids require so much of it! If you are selfish with your time, then you aren’t being the loving parent that you should be, and I can see this being another reason marriages fail. In an instant, the amount of time you have to yourself is slashed, and it ain’t coming back for the foreseeable future. If you’re selfless, you give that time up. If you’re selfish, you leave. When people say they feel suffocated, what they really mean is they’re selfish.

I think society in general romanticizes love SO much, we’re told that our feelings should trump all else. That feeling of being in love is great, but that’s not actually love. Love is doing anything and everything for someone else, and whether you’re doing it for a spouse, child, friend, or family member, it means there will be less time for yourself. That’s something I think all potential spouses and parents should consider.

I posted on facebook this morning that I was starting a journal for Luke, so I thought I’d share what that is here on the blog. I mentioned it back in October, but I actually started it today.

I’m writing a journal to “future Luke” for him to read when he’s older. Right now our conversations are pretty simple, usually revolving around Elmo, our elbow, or bananas. I can’t tell him how cool it is to see him grow or how fun it is to tickle him, and if I wait 25 years…I’ll probably forget all this little stuff. So instead of waiting and having to remember it all, I’m writing it down for him to read some day. I don’t think I would have truly appreciated something like this from my Dad until I was married and on my own, or even until I had my first kid, but some day he can read it and I think he’ll enjoy it.

Today I told him all about the day he came into the world. There’s all these fun little details like how I had to run through the hospital to get the camera from the car, or how it was pretty scary that first day. I’m not sure I’ll forget that stuff, but it’s something that doesn’t come up in regular conversation. Either because we don’t consciously bring it up, or we get so busy in our day to day life that we forget to reminisce and talk about the past.

So now it’s archived for all eternity. It’s a long project that will take years and dedication to keep up with, but it’s also priceless. It would be so awesome to read what my dad was thinking the day I was born, and to read that 20+ years after he wrote it. Not only is it fun to read about yourself, but to get that insight into what your parents were thinking and feeling is something that’s hard to put a price on. I can’t say exactly how it will turn out, but I highly recommend all new parents give it a shot, because once you forget stuff, it’s gone forever.

I’m currently in the process of getting everything re-installed now that I’m on Windows 7, so I figured this was a great opportunity to hook-up the negative scanner! I’m glad to report it is working perfectly in Windows 7, woo hoo!

This is a photo from my 2nd Halloween, so I was a few months shy of being 1.5 years old. I’ll make sure to post an update after we get some pictures of Luke tonight for his 2nd Halloween.

I’m still amazed at how cool these pictures come out with a high quality scanner with scratch removal. And on top of that I can correct red-eye on a picture that is almost 30 years old. Thank goodness my parents saved negatives. I love them.

And now, much to my sister’s displeasure:

I’ve been enjoying summer so much that I forgot to blog! Now where to start…

The biggest thing we’re doing this summer is remodeling a bathroom. Originally I had dreams of remodeling it all by myself…but now we’re looking at maybe half the work. A friend’s dad will be tiling a new shower for us, and then I think I can do the rest. We went today to look at new vanities and countertops (oooh, quartz is pretty), and I might try my hand at tiling the floor. I had dreams of redoing both bathrooms this summer…but we might have to settle with one. We’re doing the bathroom in Luke’s room though, so once it’s all done we can start on our own. We’re doing that tile on the walls, a smaller 6×6 inch on the floor of the shower, and I’m going to try and put in an 18×18 on the floor. The glass/mosaic tile we’re going to use to make a stripe horizontally in the shower, and then also to make “diamonds” in the walls. Big thanks to Amanda and Kurtis for helping us pick it out!

Over the fourth of July we drove down to San Diego with Andrew and Sarah to see the Dodgers beat on the Padres. It was also the night Manny came back from his suspension, which was really interesting. Felt like we were witnessing a part of history. Every time he came up to bat the entire stadium was on its feet. It was half cheers, half boos. It was fun to spend a night away without the baby (thanks Grandparents!).

I’ve also been playing a game called Evony a lot. It’s an online, flash based game, but it’s far more advanced than you would think. You run a city (or multiple cities), collect resources, amass troops, and can attack other people. I’m in a great alliance with some other people, so it’s fun to protect each other and attack our enemies. If you want to sign-up, go here! I’m on world 5, in lower lorraine.

I have to put some Luke in here! We went a couple weeks ago for his 15.5 month check-up. He’s now 25.5 lbs, and 32 inches long. The kid eats like crazy…it’s like he’s never full. Our favorites are bananas, watermelon, strawberries, cheerios, goldfish, ritz crackers, cheese, and chicken. Come to think of it…he eats whatever we give him. He’s also letting us enjoy our summer mornings by sleeping in. The kid will go from 8pm when we put him to bed, and won’t wake up until 9am! Here’s some recent pictures.

Otherwise we’re taking it easy and enjoying summer. Stacie is headed to Las Vegas for two nights on Sunday, so it’ll be me and the boy! Should be fun, and tiring. Stacie’s going to put $20 on the Dodgers while she’s there, so Luke and I will watch the game and cheer them on.

In case you’re wondering, that caffeine counter is still accurate. Haven’t had any in two months now. Overall I wouldn’t say I have more energy…but I feel more balanced out. There are no highs and lows, just a nice normal all the time. I miss my friends Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper, but they’ve been replaced by Sprite. But somedays I have a couple sodas and then I feel gassy all day, so I might give that up too, haha.

That’s all for now. I’m promising a super cute video of Luke very soon!

I despise facebook because it allows people to limit their thoughts to ONE sentence. And it’s oh so easy to put down one thing, without elaborating, and be done. BLOGS FOREVER!

I only have to see students for two more days. Heading to Knott’s Berry Farm on Wednesday. I plan on taking a DS to entertain myself. Very much looking forward to this summer. I have dreams of redoing a bathroom, but that’s on top of wanting to start a new book, convert old family negatives to digital, and I already have a small list of home repair projects. The upstairs screens have big holes in them. Remarkably, one of the holes spans the entire width of the screen, but is only about 4 inches high. That’s because a sparrow can’t reach any higher. Apparently ripping off pieces of screen is a favorite activity of the sparrows.

I’m almost 30 hours into Final Fantasy VII for the original Playstation. It’s fun, and I’m finally getting to parts of the game that I don’t remember from my first play through (I got far, but never beat it). I’m not speeding through it, but I don’t feel the urge to uncover every single secret and side quest. I have VIII, IX, X, X-2, and XII all lined up (in that order) to play through next, so I should be busy for a long time.

For father’s day we got our dads meat from Omahasteaks.com. We bought ourselves some too, and while we haven’t eaten any of it yet, I must say it’s super cool to get food in the mail. It comes in a styrofoam cooler with dry ice, and each meat is packaged in a separate box, and each piece of meat is separately vacuum sealed. Place it in the fridge the night before, and you’ve got thawed out meat to throw on the BBQ. The top sirloin looks awesome. I’ll be sure to report back on how it tastes.

And finally…I have a quick story that I think is pretty cool. On the way home from my parents we stopped behind a newer corvette at a red light. I remarked at how bright the 4 big tail/brake lights were, but a moment later the rear lights flashed briefly, and the tail lights dimmed. The man had put the car into park while waiting at a routine red light, and I could only think of one reason: he knew his brake lights were bright. I know, this seems minor, but the more I thought about it, the more impressed I was. Here was a guy who had gone to the bother of putting his corvette into park for a red light he knew wouldn’t last more than another 30 seconds or so, just because he didn’t want to blind us in the car behind him. How thoughtful is that? Most people would never even know they were bright, let alone go to any bother to look out for the people who would have to stare at them. Kudos to you Mr. Red Corvette guy. And even if that wasn’t why he did it, I’d like to think there are people out there who are thoughtful enough to do that for someone else.

This is a very special post, because it is number 1000 here on the blarg. Can you believe it? One thousand different posts in just under five years. I’ve certainly slowed down now that I have Luke…but still, that’s hard to believe. Since it’s such a monumental post I thought, what better to write about than our family’s future.

I don’t know about most of you, but I try and strike a healthy balance of planning for the future, but enjoying the present. If I spend all my time thinking about the future, I won’t enjoy the awesome moments of life right now, but if I only live in the present, I might not be adequately prepared for the future.

A person could go nuts checking home prices everyday and recalculating projected savings. Throw on top of that planning for future children, if we’ll have enough room for them, how old we’re getting, and it’s all a lot to think about.

We know we can’t stay in our current place forever, but in the meantime it’s great. It’s just the right size for us, and we could probably survive here with a second child for a while. But eventually we’d like to move areas…perhaps to the Los Alamitos or Cypress area…or Huntington Beach or Fullerton if we wanted to go farther. Just like my parents moved us to a better area when we were younger, we want to do the same for our kids. It’d be nice to be able to park a car outside and not have to worry if something will happen to it, or live in a district with public schools we’d be happy to send our kids to.

My guess is another three years or so and we’ll be able to do that. It’s hard to say with such a crazy housing market, but that’s what patience and prudent saving are for. For now though we are making sure we enjoy the life we have, and all the wonderful things we’ve been blessed with. Today we celebrated what an awesome woman I am married to, and our son is a constant reminder of how lucky I am to be raising him with her.

Here’s to another thousand posts…

Ever since the boy turned one I’ve been promising my thoughts on being a father, and I’ve finally been motivated to do that.

This morning I stepped onto our small back porch to water the few surviving green plants of winter. As I did, Luke crawled out onto the prickly mat just outside our sliding glass door and stared up at me. I walked over with the water nozzle spraying and sat down next to him. He stood up, held onto my shoulder, and grabbed the handle with me. We stood there, watering the backyard together, and it was perfect.

While a lot of work at times, I wouldn’t trade this time for anything in the world. Watching Luke grow and do new things is priceless. It gives me an appreciation for life and family that I otherwise wouldn’t have. I get to see how loving and caring my wife is, and what a great mother she is. I now understand the joy my own parents felt when I was a child, and what it was like from their perspective as I grew up. I realize what an important task God has given us as parents to raise and nurture our children. I’m sure it will be tough at times, but it is all worth it.

Being a daddy is awesome.

Went to see Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman tonight. Stacie heard about it on the Fish, and thought it would be fun, so we went with her parents. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot, but it was actually really good. They did a lot of worship songs, and some touching stories. I can’t say I was really in the Easter “mood” at all, but it was a great reminder of what this weekend is really all about.

Hope everyone has a great Easter with their families, and has a chance to reflect on what an awesome gift we’ve been given.