I have gone on record before saying how much I love the month of March. However, this past March was by far the best one ever. In fact, from now on I will forever look upon the third month of the year with even more adoration than before. The birth of your child seems to do that to you.

You can’t have much of a better month when your daughter is born.

What a crazy and beautiful ride March 2017 was. It was perfectly broken up in two halves. The first couple weeks saw us preparing the house for Sloan, purchasing last minute necessities, and celebrating baby showers at work. Then, just like clockwork, things became a lot more real at the midpoint of the month on March 15. Sidney went to the hospital that morning and the doctor made the decision to start the labor process. A couple days later on St. Patrick’s Day, the best moment of our lives arrived as Sloan was born. The next two weeks would bring joy, surrealism, and enlightenment.

I accompanied Sloan to her first pediatrics appointment (this is me feeding her in the examination room). She had a great report!

April hit this weekend and it will no doubt be a second consecutive “best four weeks of my life” type of month. It will be our first full month with Sloan and we will undoubtedly fall even more in love with her as we delve into a routine and bond with her even more. April will be marked by a visit from her west coast grandparents as my mom and dad will arrive in Myrtle Beach on the 19th. We will also be able to share Sloan with Sidney’s extended family members and our friends as well. Yep, big things are in store for our baby daughter this April as the world opens up to her a little bit more each day.

The world opens up a little more each day for Sloan.

Making this month even a little sweeter, we will celebrate my favorite holiday, watch my hometown basketball team play in the national championship, and enjoy The Master’s/MLB Opening Day.

Life is good when you have so much to look forward to. Thanks to Sloan, we won’t have any shortages of motivation and excitement for a long time. Don’t Blink.

Yesterday I returned to work after my paternity leave. Going back to work after an extended time away from the office is always hard, but it is especially hard after the birth of your first born. On Monday morning I fed Sloan her bottle and kissed her (and my wife) goodbye. As I drove to campus, I had a new major motivation to work as hard as possible during the day so I could finish on time and get back home as soon as possible.

Technically, my paternity leave started that Wednesday when Sidney was admitted to the hospital. However, that whole five day stretch was more of a birthing battle than a time of leave. In my heart, I consider the entire week I got to spend with Sloan out of the hospital, starting that Monday morning when we were released and ending this past Sunday evening, as my true paternity leave.

It was a beautiful week. By the early afternoon that Monday, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law came back to our house with bags and bags of groceries. The contents in those grocery bags would feed not just our small family of three but Sidney’s family too, as her parents and sisters (along with their significant others and children) would join us for a week of meals to celebrate the birth of Sloan. It was a joyous time for everyone.

My paternity leave was spent bonding with my daughter and wife.

During the day when everyone was at work, the East Coast Resers (as my siblings refer to us) still had my mother-in-law to help us out. Brenda took time off from work to put Sidney and I in the best position possible to start off as great parents. She cleaned our house, did laundry, taught us baby techniques, took care of Sloan so we could sleep, and so much more. It was very nice having her around. When she left at night, it was almost like we were internally calling out Wait…do you really have to go?

But we managed to make the time special when it was just the three of us. During those evenings, Sidney and I would look on at Sloan and comment about how lucky we were. We would both jump up in the middle of the night to take care of her when she needed to be changed or fed. We would discuss who she looked like more (Sidney all the way!). We would watch episodes at 3 a.m. of a certain Netflix series we managed to complete during the week. We would doze off in a state of happiness when time allowed.

And of course we would rise in a state of happiness as well. The sun shined that whole week, a weather pattern that served as a metaphor for how we felt; bright, optimistic, joyful. I would run around our neighborhood in the mornings, knowing that when I would return from my exercise I would have a beautiful wife and daughter waiting for me. We would eat breakfast sandwiches, bagels, and fruit while watching Sloan sleep in a rocker in the living room. We would lazily watch morning TV, taking turns holding the new gorgeous baby taking up residence in our house. We would smile about our new lives.

I will forever remember and cherish last week. It was a time of bonding not just with my new daughter but with my wife. I will also always hold gratitude toward my mother-in-law for doing so much for us. What a lucky guy I am. Don’t Blink.

Over the past 10 days since Sloan was born, the one pearl of wisdom that pretty much everyone told us leading up to her birth has proved 100% true: Our lives will change forever.

Yes, it is true. Our lives are so completely different now. In fact, the comparison is pretty much night and day. Although it hasn’t even been a week and a half yet, the days when we lived a carefree existence where we just worried about ourselves seem so long ago.

When family and friends told me that life would never be the same again, they pretty much left it at that. They didn’t really elaborate. I now know why. The condition and responsibility of being a parent is kind of indescribable. Sure, you can describe the physical ways that being a new parent will alter your life (changing diapers, staying up all night, going to appointments, etc.) but those tasks don’t nearly measure up to what takes over in your heart and mind.

Having a baby changes your entire mindset.

However, like I said, it is tough to explain. Here is just a crude example of the thinking that is so hard to describe. The last full day we were in the hospital, I slipped out for 30 minutes so I could swing by my office real fast and pick up a flash drive I would need during the week I would be on leave. I got to campus, parked my car, and walked into the building I work in. Although everything was intact and the exact same from when I left it the day I dashed off to be with Sidney at the hospital, it felt completely different. My computer, my papers, my office supplies seemed to radiate a different vibe. The air in my office didn’t feel the same. The equipment in my office and throughout the building didn’t seem as important. Although Sloan was in the hospital a couple miles away, her birth had changed my outlook on everything, even the way I felt in my office.

I have noticed something else as well. These last several nights after I have been up with Sloan in the wee hours and then put her down, I couldn’t just close my eyes and go right back to sleep. Although sleep deprived and tired, my body and heart wouldn’t let me just immediately doze off like if I had gotten up in the middle of the night to adjust the air conditioning or get a bottle of water. I just couldn’t do it. Rather, I was thinking about how I am now a dad and I have a little girl in the bassinet right next to our bed who depends on me for everything and is the center of my world.

This girl is always on my mind, even when she is sound asleep and I should be asleep as well.

Life has so much more of a purpose now. Even though this “purpose” brings with it a lot more pressure, we wouldn’t want it any other way. This will be the greatest chapter of our lives and my wife and I couldn’t be happier to write it. Don’t Blink.

Last night, I was talking babies with my wife. I asked her something and she responded, “You will have a lot to learn.”

“Well, won’t you have a lot to learn too?” I asked back.

“No, not really. But I will have a lot to teach you,” she countered.

Then, not too long after that, she spoke again.

“And I can’t wait.”

————-

No joke, that is how the conversation went verbatim. But don’t think that Sidney was giving herself too much credit. It is true, she is a baby pro. She has taken care of babies and kids since she was a teenager. Parents swear by her. She has been called a “baby whisperer.” She worked in a popular Myrtle Beach baby store. She has dreamed about having a baby to call her own since she was little.

So, when our daughter is born, it surely won’t be the blind leading the blind. It will be someone who knows her stuff teaching someone who has never even changed a diaper before.

The first step to preparing yourself to learn is by admitting your ignorance. CAN YOU HEAR ME!? That is me jumping up and down saying that I know very little about baby care. Well, perhaps I can cut myself some slack. I have definitely done my due diligence the past eight months reading books, asking questions, and picking the brains of other dads. So perhaps I do have some knowledge when it comes to babies but I have very little practical experience. The learning curve will be steep.

But that is why I am so lucky to have Sidney, a woman who not only is excited to teach me but who is a teacher by profession. Motivation and skill on Sidney’s part will go a long way to helping mold me into a good dad.

Perhaps that is why I am not scared (yet) for the baby to come, just a little nervous. There is no reason to be afraid when I know I will be taught the tricks of the trade by the best person possible. The nerves come from the fact that I know I will still screw up plenty of times and probably look stupid in front of my in-laws. But I can handle that!

Pretty soon I will be receiving on the job training from a seasoned professional. Hopefully Sidney will still be excited to teach me a few months in. Don’t Blink.

For tonight’s blog post, Sidney and I just want to say THANK YOU. Leading up to the birth of our daughter, we have received so much from our family, friends, and co-workers. It has reached such a humbling point!

In December, my aunts threw us a mini baby shower when we were in Spokane. At the end of February, Sidney’s sisters organized her official shower. Today, our places of employment celebrated the upcoming birth.

This afternoon, once class ended for the day, the teachers and administrators of Palmetto Bays School treated Sidney to a special baby shower complete with food and decorations. With all the attention on her, Sid sat in a rocking chair and opened up gifts.

Sidney works with a great group of teachers! They made her feel so special today.

A few hours before Sid’s shower at school, I was loading up my car with gifts given to me by our communication office at Coastal. My co-workers and bosses have done so much for me since the moment I stepped foot on campus almost three years ago and this was just another example of them going above and beyond.

My Coastal family has treated me so well since I started working there. I took these gifts home today.

However, each material gift we have received from someone has seemed to come with something better. Whether it be a heartfelt card, a text asking how an appointment went, an office poll on when our baby will be born, or the constant reminder that we are in prayers, we have been the benefactors of so much love from so many different people. We are so grateful.

My office predicted when our baby will be born. Should be interesting to see who wins!

We will get around to personally thanking each and every one of you in the near future. Until then, please know that we are extremely appreciative. We feel very spoiled but we also feel very loved. THANK YOU. Don’t Blink.