Time! There's never any time!

Sometimes I feel like "Jessie Spano" from Saved By the Bell...

Although, there are many similiarities I am lacking, but the things that stand out the most are how often I say...

"Time, there's never any time!"

Although, I never applied to Stanford... the amount of Starbucks I consume would probably be the amount of pills she was taking... I guess I am addicted to caffine.

I am constantly finding myself having to think three steps ahead because of work, school and family. It is really hard juggling everything and finding time to fit everything in...

Even finding a day to schedule getting my hair cut, having the oil changed in my car or running to pick up the dry cleaning has to be minutly scheduled due to everything going on...

I, thankfully, and hopefully, will be able to mark one off of that list come this May. I will be officially graduating from Kennesaw State University with a Bachelor's degree in Communication. It feels like the day will never get here and tonight my wife decided to be the voice of reason for me when I almost skipped my Economics class...

I sit in my chair in my Statistics class and my professer tells us all he will see us on Wednesday... I reach down to pack up by red, Northface book bag. I put my calculator in the front, zipper pocket and proceed to stuff all the notes I so dilligently took during the class. I then reach over to my gray, Blackberry smartphone and proceed to text my wife, Laura...

"I will see you shortly!"

I almost immediatley recieve a message in return - BUUZZZZZ (my phone is almost always on vibrate.)

"Why?"

I start to wonder, why am I leaving class early? But, then I know it isn't just because my day had been hellishly long, or I was tired or even that I needed to go to the bathroom... I was looking for any really good excuse to leave campus... was I feeling sick, no. Oh! I wanna see my family. I want to tuck my little munchkin into bed and rock him to sleep before he gets to big for us to do that.

I text back, "B/c I said."

"Was class cancelled?" she replied.

I thought, should I lie? Do I tell the truth? The angel and devil were sitting on each side of my Black, Calvin Klein sweater... the devil kept turning my cap backwards and the angel was tryin to fix it back... I thought...I am an honest person and don't want to lie..

"No," I typed

":/"

I went ahead and called her and she played the "voice of reason" or "the bad guy" as she would call it. I wasn't mad at her... I was disappointed. Disappointed because I want to be finished with school... I want to be home.. I am tired of the whole college scene. I am too old for this.

I mean I wake up at 6am... am out of the house by 7am with Mauldin in tow and to work by 8am. My days feel so long during the week, but the weekends just seem to fly by as if they never even happened at all.

The amount of time I am alotted with my family is such a sad amount. I cannot believe how we all do what we do day after day. If you think about it... we all work so hard during our younger years dating... trying to find someone suitable to marry... then you either both work of just one of you, but no matter what you are still apart. The hours just do not justify... however, if we didn't work we wouldn't be able to have a roof over our heads, food, etc... the essentials to survive are no longer good enough. We all must have cars, enough money to buy nice clothes, etc... The vicous cycle goes on and on and all the while you are working to survive you work even harder to maintain the relationships you worked so very hard to find in the first place. A lot of people use their weekends for "girl's nights out" or "guy's weekends" away from their wives... Why? I barely get anytime with my wife and son as it is! I added it up and right now my wife and I actually get to spend, during the five-day work week, a total sum of 22 hours, waking hours to be with each other... even less I get to spend with my child! It's insane.

Now what is my whole point in this seemingly bitter diatribe? None, none at all... but isn't that what blogs are for? Thoughts on a screen...

Well, the only solace I gain from this is I am about to go to my Econ class and learn about the economy system in India. Really? May 5th hurry... please!

When do you fold?

No, I am not talking about playing cards.

What then? Laundry... laundry is today's topic of choice.

Folding my son's clothes have become quite the task. The bigger he gets the more clothes he acquires. (This makes sense, yes?) Yes, you may not believe it, but I am a husband that does laundry.

What do I hate to fold the most? Towels and putting away our clothes, the adult clothes... (I'm not talking about lingere.) So, put MJ's stuff into the mix and boom... that is more laundry. So, who does the laundry folding in your home? Is it dad or mom... both?

I am sure there are those few men who help out around the house. (If I am offending you hold on... I am not being sexist.. just asking a question re: gender roles.)

As I sit on the floor, surrounded by mis-matched blue, white and the occassional red socks, 3-6 month onesies and the like, I wonder... do all husands/fathers do this? I mean I want to be the first to tell you this is a choice I make on my own. My wife does not "instruct" me to do anything. My wife does a lot... and I want to make sure I am pulling my own weight as a member of our family. I like to think that all chores, in the house, are shared between my wife and myself.

Although, she does 90% of the cooking... ok maybe 95%, and I do the dishes, on most nights... (I hate cleaning pots!)

As I sit folding my son's orange oneise that says "My dad is my hero," I cannot help but try and envision my male friends and fellow blogging fathers surrounded by mounds of baby clothes, burp clothes, blankets and wash cloths... and somehow I am at a loss and cannot do it. Do other dudes do this or am I the only one? Is this considered "mom's" job in your house or do you take turns?

I picture some men watching ESPN while their wife is upstairs folding their kid's clothes or I can just hear some guys whenever the *ding* of the drying sounds... "I'm off to the gym honey!"

Am I the only dad that folds his kid's laundry? Honestly, for my peace of mind... I really wanna know!

Is my son secretly taking growth hormones?

I know it was inevitable that, MJ, our four-month old baby would start growing, but at this rapid of a rate... no, I had no idea! The little guy is getting bigger every day.

A lot of his clothes are becoming a little more snug... he seems to be more and more vocal every day and now his diet has switched it seems as if he has began to spout like some child who just got injected with some sort of growth hormones. I'm totally joking of course. It is the evil clock... the time has just flown by... you hear everyone say "enjoy it... they grow up so fast!" Okay, I understand now.

His little legs are longer, he has begun grabbing at everything... either it is my nose, my mouth, my wife's boobs (which I can't blame him, they're huge), the extra diapers by his changing table or the book we read to him before we put him to bed... he reaches out to touch, touch, touch!

It is actually really cute and I can't help, but laugh while he is squeezing my lips.. I look up at his big blue eyes that are affixed on my face and as he concentrates a couple of drops of drool pour from his mouth... I used to think baby drool was gross... but "my" baby's drool... doesn't bother me!
We lie him on the floor he rolls over and starts to scoot... not like a dog scoot... that would be kinda funny but then that would follow up with a trip to the doctor. We know he will crawl any day now.. I just hope I am around the day it happens. So, our little man is changing before our very eyes! Here is my plea little dude... slow down, I am in no hurry to have your poopie diapers smelling like real poop. I will long for the day when I could honestly say "My kid's s*$% don't stink!"

Growin' like a weed

Mauldin sure is growing... how do we know for sure?

He can actually wear "Newborn" clothes now; versus only wearing premie stuff! Our lil' man is still in premie diapers, however. Saturday, April 18th he will be officially four weeks old!

Here are some recent pictures of him. Enjoy!

I deserve a gold star!

“Honey, can you take him?” whispered my wife, Laura, to me, as I lay in the bed, motionless, and donked-out! I was completely oblivious to any sound… all of a sudden I hear, vaguely, someone calling my name… I was away in dreamland… not sure what I was dreaming… but then I began to fall back into a state somewhere between asleep and awake..

“Eric? Eric…” continues Laura.

“aheummm???” I reply, half muffled, my face buried in the sheets and a warm, soft pillow. The bed was so warm.. I reach my arm out and the air in our room was bitterly cold compared to the temperature under the covers.

It is 3:00 A.M. and Laura has just finished nursing Mauldin and is ready to take on the slumber beast. I finally figure out what is going on and I immediately sit up.

“Can you take him?” she said. “Every time I try to swaddle him he breaks out in a fit and cries.”

At this point, in the wee hours of the morn, I really cannot function. As much as I would like to force a response to form; I can’t. I, in turn, nod yes with my eyes closed and arms outreached.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Laura says in a loving whisper… and a kiss on my scruffy right cheek.

I start rocking as I take Mauldin, in my arms, and immediately put him over my right shouldler… I know if I do this if he has any burping to do then this is when he may do it. Sure enough, the little booger busts out a tiny, but for him, quite meaningful release. I continue to pound lightly on his lower back and alternate the love pats with an upward rubbing motion. I have no idea if this really does anything, but from all the other mom’s and dad’s I’ve watched in the past this tends to soothe the child in some shape or form. I take that he is slipping off into dreamland as I hear little squeaks emerge from out of nowhere!

“Squeak!”

It sounds sort of like a little puppy… adorable, I know. One day his squeak will disappear and only leave the crying and annoying wimpering… until that day I gladly accept that my son has a squeaker.

I leave him balanced on my shoulder while I take one of his cotton receiving blankets and lay it out on my side of the bed… I have learned from watching Laura, the best swaddler, ever, (sorry Charles) and take a corner and fold it down ever so gently. The amount of receiving blankets we own is staggering and it seems as if I am using a different one every day. Tonight this blanket is white with blue, red, and yellow polka dots… not my favorite one, but it was 3 AM and I was not going to the nursery and risk him waking up so I could have an aesthetically pleasing swaddle blanket that I know he will end up peeing on.

Mauldin, still on my shoulder, begins to snore, lightly, but still snoring, nonetheless. I know this because his face is turned towards my ear… I calmly bounce up and down as to keep him in motion… Mauldin, for some reason, loves to keep moving. “He likes to move it, move it!” LOL! I reach my right hand back and place it below his neck and with my left hand I place it firmly over his hips… I do this because this is where the positioned holds him when we place him in the cradle. The cradle we use is one that was passed down from my wife’s two sister’s… it originally belonged to out nephew, Drew, but he, of course, grew out of it, so next on the list was our niece, Annagrace, and now it’s Mauldin’s turn. I, certainly, do look forward to the day we can return the wooden wonder; however, it will be bitter sweet because it will mean our son is growing up… I am not sure we are ready for him to graduate to his crib just yet… I have become quite accustomed to our son’s late-night shenanigans.

I did finally get Mauldin swaddled good and comfy, and now comes the hard part… the part when I have to move him from my arms to the motionless cradle that sits on the otherside of the room. Our room doesn’t seem that large, but when you have a newborn who has just fallen asleep and not yet in the REM state walking across a room can be quite difficult. I am not sure why, but even a small creak from the wooden floor can cause his little eyes to pop wide open and I am back to square one.

I make it over to the cradle and sure enough the little beast awoke. I was not sure at first because the light in our room is so dimmed at this point and my eyes are so tired I was not sure what I was seeing. I look down at Mauldin, real close up, and notice his eyes are in a dead-lock with mine. It was as if he just wanted to say..

“Hey daddy!”

I kiss him on the forehead and follow up with a light “Shhhhh.”

I rock back and forth, front to back in a rocking horse motion and then switch it up to sway right to left… It is beyond me how he doesn’t get motion sickness from all my movement, but it seems to put him right at ease. The room has a chill in the air, a curious chill as if a ghost was standing next to me while I rocked our babe back to bed. I am curious as to how my body was retaining its heat! The my skin could feel the obvious cold, but why was I not shaking? Why wasn’t I… well, cold? Was I so tired I couldn’t distinguish the difference between hot and cold? Was my body so exhausted it had turned numb? Mauldin certainly wasn't cold... he was so wrapped up there was no way... besides he sweats when he sleeps. I know my feet were hot because my feet would stick to the floor if I was in one place too long while rocking. The sound of me pulling my foot up would make a deafening sound that I was sure would wake Mauldin. I decided to back up and stand on the rug that is placed under out bed…

I look over at the clock and it is now 3:28 AM. In my mind I talk to myself and decide…. “self, you are going to rock him for five more minutes and then put him down.” Then I rethink my stupidity… I look down at my son and his eyes are closed. How long had I been talking to myself in my mind? How long had I been going back and forth on what I would do? While I was striking a compromise with myself Mauldin had, again, fallen into the land of nod. Can I place him in the cradle and not awaken the savage beast? One, two… three… I place him down, tightly swaddled and not a peep… not a squeak… and eyes are still tightly shut. I take this as my confident cue to crawl away, slowly but fervently. I make it to my side of our bed and creep under the covers, which are now frightenly chilly. Now I feel cold? What is up with that?

Laura reaches over and her arm brushes across my chest and she rests her hand on my right shoulder… she says… “why are you so cold?”

“I am not sure…” I whisper “I was hot two seconds ago.”

Laura, pulls herself closer to my side… I can feel her playing footsy and then she runs her hand down my leg and rubs back and forth, on my thigh, trying to cause some skin on skin body heat to emerge.

“Thank you,” I say.

I am taken back to another time in our lives… but while my mind began to wander…

The beast emerged from his sleep… Laura grabs the monitor, from her bedside table, and clicks the top of it to see the real-time screen to check on what he was up to.

“He has busted out of his swaddle.” Laura said.

“Fine.” I reply while throwing back the covers and walk over to our restless babe. I reach over and put his little squirming arms back inside his blanket and rest my hand over his chest. “Shhhhhh….”

He quiets down almost immediately. I look over at the clock and it is almost 5 AM. Where has the time gone? I wondered.

I rush over back to my side of the bed and slide over to Laura hoping to return right back to where we left off…

“I re-swaddled the beast!” I quietly whispered in my wife’s ear.

“Laura…” I say again… she was asleep. I take a deep breath and roll over and reposition the pillow under my head… I look up at the clock… In it’s yellowish green light emanating from our armoire: 5:15 AM. I feel like I can’t win.. the clock just keeps on ticking… So, there I am… lying wide awake while my wife and son are sound asleep. Well, my only consolation was that I got Mauldin to sleep… I did not need help from anyone… I did it myself. I think that is pretty cool – and certainly worth a gold star… or a cookie!

My son, the night owl!

We are never really certain what nights we will be able to catch our ZZZzzzz’s lately. Our newborn son, Mauldin, loves to keep his new mommy and daddy on their toes. Although, only being a week old I am more than sure he doesn’t understand what “sleep” time is; considering he sleeps 90% of the day. How can he actually determine when he should be sleeping and when it is optional? So, I guess I can cut the lil’ guy some slack. Talk to me again about this in six months.

“I think Megan will be voted off tonight,” I said while sitting on the couch next to Laura. “She is really cute, but I just can’t get past the tattoos!”

It is Wednesday night, and nothing we really watch is on TV, so we watch whatever is available. This season we have caught maybe two episodes of the Fox reality talent show, American Idol. I pretty much loathe the show, but we still catch the occasional episode to stay up on the pop culture phenom that has spread across the nation.

Carol, my mother-in-law, is sitting, comfortably, rocking Mauldin, in the wooden rocking chair that was my grandmothers while my wife, Laura, and I sit, side by side, on our laptops, lounging between the pillows, on the couch behind her. We sometimes enjoy our laptop time right before bedtime, in the bed, or just sitting around in the kitchen, but most of the time it is on the couch in front of the television. I had just finished my late-night cup of decaf coffee and bowl of cheeszits. This used to be a normal night for Laura and I, minus the mother-in-law, but we have not had time lately; mainly because Mauldin really likes to monopolize our time! How dare he, I know.

“There,” said Laura. “I just got finished uploading pictures to facebook for the first time since we got home from the hospital.”

Ever since we have gotten home, a week ago, we have taken probably 150 pictures… so if you really think about it is about 21 pictures a day… give or take. I am not counting the ones we’ve deleted! I mean can you blame us? Obviously, we are a little fanatical about our first born.

We usually head up to bed around 10PM. I hop off the couch and make my way over to Laura’s mom to scoop up the little man. This sometimes comes with some form of protest because Mauldin is such an addiction that anyone who holds him becomes entranced in his aura. It is like his baby pheromones, he gives off, trap anyone who has embraced him.

“Alrighty, Mauldin, it’s time to go upstairs,” I say with a fervent voice… I always plan for a whining and “awwwhhh” to follow after I spout the words from my lips. He looks so comfortable and cozy. The little man is in his little onesie that dawns a baby blue elephant, on the front, with the words, “lil’ peanut” embroidered under it. Mauldin squeaks a little as I slide my right hand under his warm head and my left under his itty bitty booty.

“All-right little man, it’s time for your late-night din-din!” I exclaim.

I always try to wake him up before he eats… otherwise he will just lie in Laura’s arms, his face against her bosom, totally zonked out. Now please understand… our child sleeps probably 18-20 hours out of the 24 hour day our Earth is known for! I asked our pediatrician how long this will go on for and she winced at the very utterance of my query.

“Usually babies continue on this type of sleep pattern for about..” she said while pursing her lips and pausing to look through his manila office folder. “About three-four months,” she finished.

“Please wake him up…” says Laura. “It is so hard to feed a sleeping babe.”

“I’ll do my best!” I replied.

One certain way that I know can wake up our child is to take him and place him on the changing table… Our child, for some reason, hates to have his diaper changed. I have a theory, as to why he does not enjoy the changing of the diaper. My hypothesis is that he is brought back to a time when he was strapped down and a cold clamp chopped off a bit of his… well, you know what I mean. That certainly would make me rethink some things! So, lately he has been a little more docile when we have gone to clean up the mess that was left on the underside of his buttocks. Maybe he has placed the memory of the circumcision waaay back in the black hole of his baby psyche.

“Mauldin, comon’ lil man, lets wake up so we catch have some of mommy’s yummy lactation!” I said.

“Eric… that would not make me wanna wake up…” said Laura while positioning herself on the bed with a brown boppy by her side.

“Well, what else should I do?” I reply with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know! Be creative!” replied Laura.

Thankfully, he awoke from his slumber, still a little groggy, but a form of consciousness! This time is the perfect window to introduce the “milk” to him. However, after about 10 minutes of feeding Mauldin tends to start slipping into his milk coma. Although, this night was not one of those nights. The more Mauldin eats, from his “breast” friend, he more he is roused to an awakened state.

“No, this is a little bad…” I said… “Why is he so awake? It is almost 11:30 PM! He needs to start winding down again… for his bed time!”

“I don’t know…” said Laura. “Maybe he slept too much today! Maybe he has to poop, maybe he has gas… maybe he…”

“He what? He wants to stare at the fan more?” I said in a confused and perplexed voice.

That is just what the little guy did… he laid in my arms and kicked and squirmed and would not stay still… then I heard the beautiful sound that I had been waiting for… *burrrp!* He burped! He usually does this about 3-5 times before he winds down for sleepy time and the sandman isn’t far behind. But, this night the sandman must of taken a vacation. Mauldin laid on the bed wide-eyed and awake. It is now 12AM and my wife is lying by my side asleep. I know this little guy is not going to give in anytime soon and I have to get up at 6:30 AM to get ready for work! I did the thing I really didn’t want to do… I gave in… I got up from the warm bed and made my way into the guest room where my mother-in-law was sleeping soundly. Or, for all I know, was lying awake just waiting for a little knock-knock on the door. Mauldin’s crying was so sporadic it was hard to tell if he was upset or just irritated that we were trying to make him go to bed.

Maybe he is just a night owl and wondering when he will be able to stay up and watch that colorful screen that his parents watch on a daily basis. What if he is just testing us to see how much power he has… “Maybe I can change the entire time-clock in this house! Mwhahahahaha!” –thinks Mauldin.

All-in-all I felt really bad giving up my son, to someone else, to Carol, my mother-in-law, to soothe to sleep… I am his father! Why can’t I do it? I am thankful to have had my mother and my mother-in-law the past two weeks, but, I, honestly, almost cried about it because after Friday Laura and I are on our own. What if this happens every night? I was hoping I would be a better father… A father who could soothe the savage beast inside my son. How could it be that our son would be put in the statistics book of the amount of children who grasp hold of their parent’s night and choke them to death until they are reduced to a walking Inferi, a zombie-like corpse that is dead to the world yet still sits behind a desk during the day…

It would be that as soon as I ditched my pride, for my sleep, he quieted down almost immediately. Well, I guess this parenting thing is about compromise and right now my sleep is being highly compromised. Well, let’s hope and pray by… counting in my head the months… June… he will be a little more adapt to our sleep schedule. I anticipate we will successful and can blend our son into the normal society sleep program. If not… I may need therapy, or a long nap!

A New Normal...

Today, it was certainly evident, to me, that my wife is getting frustrated…

Laura is ready, ready to… well, NOT be pregnant anymore. Now, don't get me wrong… this pregnancy has actually been a fairly easy one, from my point-of-view, and not too many complications; aside from the occasional pre-term labor scares and the couple of weeks on bed rest. But, she sent me a text message today that said…

"I can't wait for our baby to be here so we can just get back to a normal pace."

I guess after almost 39 weeks of sharing my body with something I would be ready to have it back too!

It struck me… Normal pace? We will never be living at a normal pace again. No matter if our son comes today or two weeks from now… we can never go back… we will have a "new" (slightly sleep deprived, yet improved) normal from the moment he is born! Please, understand, I am excited about our "new" normal, but I know we both do not take a quick change as easy as people may assume.

One thing I am confident of is… Laura is keen on getting back into shape and back into her old clothes… She complains about how nothing fits anymore… how her "cankles" ache. (Please NOTE: her idea of cankles are hardly cankles!) As we walk by the bikinis at Target or she flips through the Victoria Secret catalog… she automatically says,

"oh, one day soon my friends… just you wait! I will be with you soon!"

I know that she is raring to go and have this labor begin. Although, when it starts she may change her tune; we will just have to wait and see.

I know that my wife is one of the strongest and most positive people I know… so labor, complete with epidural, should be a walk in the park. (Notice how I can say this because I am a man and have no idea what it would feel like to have something the size of a watermelon come out of my… well okay.) I, of course, will be there supporting her the entire time… One thing I will not be doing is making sure I institute the teachings of the church of Scientology. If my woman wants to scream… let it be known… she can yell, scream and shout out anything she wants!

We are truly ready for our lives to never be the same. One day maybe Kelly Clarkson will change her mind... this is such an exciting time for us... I couldn't imagine not wanting to experience being a parent.

Not to get too psychological, but after the labor, our "new" normal will begin to unfold… the new tapestry that is weaved into our lives will be set forth into motion. The old becomes new, different… and our future will have arrived!

Mauldin will be our "new" normal…

Baby Gap

It is one thing to be prepared, but a totally different thing to be Eric & Laura Skates. We are known to over-plan, over-worry, over-spend & above all, over-pack!

“As soon as you guys relax” says Janice, my mother, in a tone that echoes years of experience of a woman way beyond her years… “and are unprepared, it will happen... He wants to surprise you!”

Laura and I have been so surprised at how slow this process of, the end, seems to be! Why won’t he come? Why? We have heard it all… patience.. he will come when he comes.. blah, blah, blah…

Okay that is good and all, but hurry it up, lil’ man! We are ready to see you…

“Thanks mom,” I reply with a hint of annoyance. “But, it… I.. okay, fine...”

For some reason parents tend to be correct, no matter how much you don’t want them to be, but soon I will be one of “those” parents, so I guess I can cut my parents, and in-laws, some slack, huh?

This past weekend, my wife Laura and I went out to do some last minute shopping… you know to better prepare Mauldin for his arrival into this world. We figured one more pair of socks would do the trick.

“You know,” said Laura, “if he waits just a few more days he can be an Aries, like his daddy!” She says this with a bright-eyed smile across her face all the while sliding hangers around a for sale rack in Baby Gap.

“Can you handle that?” I replied.

“Ohh… well, I guess we’ll see!” she quickly replied.

“Well, if he comes this week, on the 17^th, he will be a lucky baby!” I interjected. Tuesday, March 17^th is St. Patrick’s Day… the day Laura picked in the Mauldin Baby Pool!

“Yah, and I would be right again.” Said Laura, turning around and pointing at herself with a resolute finger. “That means I would be right! Again!”

“Yes dear.” I said in a hesitant agreement. Laura and I are both competitive individuals and so one of us always is right… guess which one that is…

“He just has a few more days,” I said while holding up my hand counting on my fingers. “A few more days and he will be a Pisces!” Baby Gap has astrology onesies and it would be just our luck we buy the one we think he will be and will end up having to return it for the other…

Soon, lil’ man, soon… we keep sayin’… he has heard about how bad the economy is and doesn’t wanna come out! We got your stimulus package!!!!!!! LOL!

Baby Talk

The other day my wife, Laura, and I were sitting around in my son’s, currently vacant, nursery and were in complete awh of how it is almost finished… almost because it is missing one significant, little tiny, but most important detail! Mauldin!

“Can you believe it?” said Laura while rocking in our big, brown comfy chair. “It seems like just yesterday we were moving the twin bed out of here to make room for all of Mauldin’s things.”

“Yah,” I said while sitting in the floor Indian style, like a small child waiting for a present. “I didn’t think this nursery would ever be complete.”

“Well, it isn’t yet… yah know?” said Laura.

“I know,” I said. “but as soon as he gets here…”

“It will be totally complete.” Said Laura as she scanned the room; from the cherry finished crib to her left to the open closest, that stood open, in front of her. The closet is so full now. It has a wide range of baby clothes from 0-3 to 6-12 months. Little osh-kosh overalls, cute little polo rompers and of course the little new balance shoes that hang so innocently in the shoe hanger on the door.

“Do you think we will remember what clothes he has?” I said wide-eyed and starting to get a slight head-ache. “I mean, we have so many clothes… how can we possibly get him in all those clothes by the time he grows out of them! I seriously think we have over 200 onesies!”

I reached over to my left and pulled open the top drawer to his changing table. The drawer was a little cumbersome to open without some of the clothes spilling out.

“No, I don’t think we will.” Said Laura with a sweet coy smile. She was holding up one of the little, blue newborn shirts with a pink pig on it. The shirt read Our lil’ Ham!

“But, we certainly will try… how cute is this?” she continued with a voice that is a little more high pitched than normal and a hint of baby talk. “He is gonna be so adorable!”

“Yes,” I started. “But, lets just hope we don’t hear the… awh what a cute outfit, instead of, awh what a cute baby! That’s when you know your baby isn’t that cute.”

Laura didn’t even reply to my comment; she continued with her nesting, all the while she was still sitting in the big, brown chair. Laura was focused on folding some of the receiving blankets. She was using her pregnant belly as a way to assist her in the folding.

I sat on the floor and my mind began to wonder off into what it was going to be like, in a few weeks, after my son had arrived. Would his poop make me wanna puke? What if I give him the wrong kind of advice, as a father? More importantly, will he like Star Wars? All of a sudden, I am brought back to the present… as I hear…“would you like that?” Was my wife talking and I was not paying attention? How long had I been gone? Can I play this off without her knowing? I think of that Ellen skit where she shows you how to play off that you weren’t paying attention. I figure, oh why not try it!

I look at her, smile and shake my head as I am nodding yes… Yes! I passed it off… she had no idea! Then I thought.. holy crap Batman – I have no idea, at ALL, to what I was agreeing to. I was hoping it was just about what we would maybe be having for dinner…

I immediately follow and say “hey, you wanna go watch Smallville?” We are big Smallville fans... we have every season except for the current one, of course.

Laura is usually always up for that and this time was no different… my wife is used to my ADD tendancies, so this did not phase her at all.

So, where was I? Ooooh Shiney!

It's never too early for Water Safety!

“Hey honey!”

Is what I usually hear from my wife when I get home from work, and this day was no exception. I drive in to the drive way, the garage door, magically, goes up and I pull in. After I basically fall out of my ’06 Black Honda Accord, I have to go through the labyrinth, that is my garage.

“We really need to get it organized sometime soon,” I say to myself under my breathe as I squeeze by my wife’s gray and slightly filthy SUV on my way to the door to the house.

“Hey sweetie!” I say as I walk in the house. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh I am doin’ okay…” she says with no hint of sarcasm. I actually believe she is feeling okay; which is a pretty nice relief considering we have been to the hospital four times now and three of those visits on Thursdays…

“I was looking through the community newsletter,” she says on her way to the kitchen to refill her glass of water. “They are offering a ‘water safety’ class! I wanna take Mauldin.”

“Oh really,” I said. “Well, when is it? What if I wanna go too? Is it during the week? How much is it? Come on now, you can’t just say you wanna do something and not back it up with important factual content.”

“I don’t know, I just read it and wanted to do it.” She said with a longing look.

She was looking at me with her beautiful blue eyes that say… I know you will say yes… Her eyes sometimes just hypnotize me and then she wraps her arms around me and snuggles… okay.. ahem…

As you can tell she makes me forget what I am agreeing to. For example, buying stuff from her sister. Her sister Jennifer has become affiliated with “Orient Expressed.” (I think that is the name of it.) It is a line of children’s clothing… anyway she had a clothing trunk show and we ended up with a couple of swim suits from this show she had... did we need these things, no. However, she wanted them for our child… so, so be it.

But, for this particular instance…the pretty blue eyes weren’t phasing me… Probably because I was so tired and when I want to be involved I tend to be more focused.

“Alright,” I said, “find out some of the info and maybe we can get signed up!”

It wasn’t because I didn’t want to take part, to the contrary.. I wanted to! But, the way things work, well, I am impatient. My wife, Laura, precedes to head over to the couch to sit down and drink her beverage. Obviously, with it being 6 o’clock, in all likliness there will be no one to answer when we make a phone call to the number on the advertisement, but when has that ever stopped me?

“I want more information about this…” I said!

“What are you doing,” Laura retorted. “Are you…”

“Hello, I would like to sign up my son for your “Water Safety” class this June.”

Well, to make a long story short… I called, found out the information, time, place, cost, etc… because I wanted and got Mauldin signed up for the June 16^th-19^th “Water Safety” class! Aren’t we just ahead of the game? So ahead of the game even he is the first one on the list! I mean how hard will it be for him to learn…? Hasn’t he been swimming for, what, eight months now? Anyway, I even put in to take a ½ day off at work so I can go and participate on his first day. Look at me, such the involved father.

It will be fun to see how he reacts to the pool… I’m sure I will feel like Dory from Finding Nemo: “Just Keep Swimming… Just Keep Swimming!” Or as my nephew Drew would say, "Kick, Kick, Kick!"

"Practically Perfect in Every Way!"

"Practically Perfect in Every Way!"

That is how I would describe the situation we are in right now with child care. We received word yesterday that Mauldin officially has a spot at an in-home child care facility.

We have found our “Mary Poppins!” Her name is Gloria and she already keeps our beautiful niece, Annagrace and my wife’s little and rambunctious cousin, Grant. She is everything we want in a caregiver and because she keeps the children at her home he is less likely to contract sickness from other little wicked chilrun’s… (no-offense to those who use commerical care, it is just not the path we chose to take.) Although, I am sure he won’t be immune to disease, but just less likely to be sick ALL the time. Please Mauldin, don’t be allergic to everything! Gloria currently keeps six children and most of which are boys. I have seen her in action and have no doubt in my mind Mauldin will be in the best care possible. (That is other than his parents ;) )If it were where we could, my wife, Laura, would stay home and keep him, but since we are not in that position we are glad he can be somewhere with other kids so he can mesh into society with no problems! LOL! Gloria’s will be a way for him to begin to make friends and learn how to be “nice” and “share,” that is while he is away from us and until he enters school. By which, I hope he has learned to be “nice” and “share” before that time!

We could of sent out an advertisement or as they say in England “Ad-vert-TIS-ment”… and I guarantee she would of flown in with her umbrella in hand!

It would probably of sounded something to the effect of:

Wanted a nanny for one adorable baby…

[Sung]
If you want this choice position
Have a cheery disposition
Rosy cheeks, no warts!
Play games, all sorts

You must be kind, you must be witty
Very sweet and fairly pretty
Take him on outings, give him treats
Sing songs, be sweet

Never be cross or cruel
Never give him castor oil or gruel
Love him as a son; not a daughter
And never smell of barley water

If you won't scold and dominate him
He will never give you cause to beat him
He won't hide your spectacles
Because he can’t walk
Put toads in your bed
Or pepper in your tea

Hurry, Nanny!

Many thanks...

Sincerely...

Laura and Eric Skates.

Thank you Gloria! We are really glad to have you!

Pick A Date!

Alright... it's gettin close...

the birth of Mauldin is upon us!

March 27, 2009 is his official due date... so pick the date of when you think he will arrive!

It’s all in good fun… so start guessin!

Can I pass on my special 'abilities?'

I know and have known this for a good while...
what is it you wonder?
Oh, that I'm 'special!' I guess I haven't truly noticed my powers until I began watching Smallville.

I wasn't totally sure it was known to everyone else (you know, my secret identity) until I posted this picture... (see red eyes).

Now I can't fly faster than a speeding bullet, I can't jump tall buildings in a single bound, but I am pretty sure I have heat vision... this picture proves it! (Well, that or I'm possessed)

Well, lets just hope Mauldin inherits my abilities... hahaha and if he doesn't it will be okay, I can always teach him the ways of the force...

I've always wanted a padawan...