Wordless Wednesday #3 (WTF??)

The Gummy Bear That Changed My Life Forever

I've been a little emotional lately.  I'll admit, I'm that guy that cried at end of Marley and Me.  I teared up when Goose died in Top Gun.  I cried during The Blind Side, Rudy, and I even cried when Teddy Duchamp, from Stand By Me, talks about his father storming the beaches of Normandy.

I am definitely an emotional dude, and I'm not afraid to show it.

But here lately, I'm emotional for a much different reason.

Fridays are my day to let it all out...  I'm off work, I can walk around the house in my boxers all day, I can stay in the AC all day, and I can cry like a baby all day if I want too, and no one has to see it.

It's become my favorite day of the week for many reasons.

It was Friday, December 10th, 2010, that my wife called me at 6:15am, while I was 100 miles away all week at school prepping for a huge exam, to tell me she was pregnant with our first child. 

The proof is in the pee.

This picture makes me cry and laugh, because I made my wife go buy the preggy test that had the words on it, because, even though she showed me the other 4 (with the double lines), this guy needed the hardcore proof.

I needed a WORD not a LINE.  Words speak louder than lines for me.


It was Friday, January 14th, 2011 when I heard our child's heartbeat for the first time.

I put together this little sample I recorded that day, so I could cherish that moment forever.  

Before we found out the sex of the baby, we chose a little pet name for it.  My wife loved the little Monchhichi pets when she was little, so we called our child "Monchhichi" for a while until the name evolved into "Cheech".  


Sorry for the "is" instead of "are" mistake at the beginning.  I did this really quickly, while trying not to lose it...


Here's a little video I sent to my wife one day.  (It was the first time, her "Monchichi" said hello to her.)

Yeah, we are weird, we know...

It was Friday, January 14th when I saw this gummy bear that changed my life forever. 

It's cute, right?

I've seen some beautiful things in my life, but this little Gummy Bear tops it all for me.  Who knew seeing a picture of a Gummy Bear could make a grown man cry, down right bawl really..., in a small room in a doctor's office.

From this moment on, Fridays would be Daddy's day and Cheech's day.  It's the day we connect and start bonding, even though she isn't here yet.

Most of our midwife appointments have been on Fridays.

I clean the house and continue working in the baby room on Fridays.

I read the new baby magazine on Friday.  And today...

I'm blogging on a Friday, about how a Gummy Bear changed my life forever.

A few emotional words for my daughter... 

(God, I'm crying for like the 3rd time already) 

As I write this today, I have teared up more than once thinking about how much more your mommy and could love this gummy bear more than we do right now.

We have about 4 weeks until your mommy is full term, and we are both antsy, crawling out of our skin, nesting, preparing, and just waiting for when you arrive.

You will be the most loved gummy bear that ever existed, and we both promise to try our best to be the greatest parents God could ever make.  We can't wait to see your face, little hands and feet, and to hear you cry for the first time.

Your daddy is a crier, so I will be right there bawling my eyes out as soon as you see us for the first time.

We truly can't wait for you to meet your sisters and brother (dogs..) Brady, Ellie and Sophie, your Mimi and Papi, Yaya and Papa, and aunts and uncles.  Your family has waited so long to meet you, and we all promise to do everything in our existence to raise you to be a beautiful women someday.

We love you so much Harper.

Sincerely,

Your Daddy

(Now to go cry some more...)  

Wordless (almost) Wednesday #2

An actual pharmacy about 20 minutes from my house.

Was I Invited To The 2010 Thanksgiving Baby-Making Party, And Didn't Know It?

Something really strange is happening around me.  The more I begin to network with new Dads, friends, and parents in the blogosphere, around the city, and in my own neighborhood, I've come to the conclusion that last year's turkeys had some "good sperm" genes in them, or something.

In our Bradley classes, 3 out of the 4 couples (including us), are all due on the EXACT same day.  August 18, 2011.  I just ran across another fellow dad blogger today, that is gonna be a "first-timer" in August too.  My wife's best friend, who lives 3 houses down from us... also due on August 18th.

If you count back, that makes the Baby-Making Party, somewhere around Thanksgiving of 2010.  I guess that thing in turkey that makes you sleepy, had the opposite effect on me and other "wild dudes" that night.  No...

We didn't want to sleep after filling our guts with mashed potatoes, ham, turkey, corn and green beans.

Our party didn't stop when every one left the house after our good social family reunion.

You could say our party actually "started" when Mom, Dad, Grandma and our 3rd cousin left the house.  :)

It was time to join the baby-making parade and work off those 6000 calories we just devoured in front of our closest peeps.  We came to the party without an invitation, and walked out with a new perspective on life...

The last time that happened to me was when I, along with a few friends, walked into a Sigma Pi party in college.  We were Sophomores, who thought we had experienced true "drunken" paradise.  Our new perspective?  We couldn't hang with the "big boys," so we didn't last long and left pretty quickly.

But now, fellow dads, we can know that our little party last year, was the coolest party we have ever been too.

It was a party that changed our life forever.  One that will go down in the history books.

No Budweiser needed to know that you actually populated the Earth with someone that will look like you, talk like you, and might even grow up to be even "cooler" than you.  (Admit it, its probably gonna happen.)

So, Here's to you fellow August 2011 new Dad...  Here's to you buddy...

I raise my glass to what God put us on Earth to do.  Eat a little turkey and make a few babies.  We can now say we are good at both.  (I never add my doubts about the first one, but the second...)

The wife and I live in Bourbon Country USA, so life around here, now always includes a little Woodford Reserve, Maker's Mark, and Buffalo Trace when celebration time rolls around.  So I want to share a great Bourbon Turkey recipe that I made before last year's party.

I will suggest not using your best bourbon like I did.  I'm kindof pissed now knowing I used half a bottle of Woodford for this at the time.  (My wife was too...)

Here's some pics of me making it.  Super easy and pretty damn good too.

The essentials

Cheese cloth to soak up the bourbon

Take a sip first... or 2 or 3.

Oh you can already taste it, can't you?

Soak it up.  Take another drink from the bottle.

Loosen the skin so you can help it absorb the seasonings.

My seasoning concoction.  Lots of rosemary!!! 

Wrap the turkey in the cheese cloth and let it soak for 24 hours, then take it off and put the cloth inside  the turkey while you cook it in the oven.

I couldn't find the finished product picture, so as soon as I do, I will post it.

UPDATE!!!  I found the final picture.  

Enjoy fellas...  Comment below, if you were at the Baby-Making Party, or if you have tried this recipe before.  I'm a guy that loves to cook, and would love to hear your favorite BBQ recipe or any other food you like.

Tim

Video Update #1: You All Are Awesome!!

I've got alot of post ideas coming soon and tried to get one up by yesterday, but they are still a little hairy...  So here's a quick video I shot today just to update everyone on the blog, baby, and how much I love you!

Thanks so much for actually reading my post.

Daddy Dynamics has only been live for about a month and I feel the love around me...

***In my best Elton John voice***  "Caaaaannnn you feeeeellll the looove tonight?"  (I DO, I DO!!)


Here's a little proof that someone other than my wife actually love me.

Twitter Followers:  145
Facebook Fans:  17
Google +  Fans  (or Fellow Dad Bloggers Following Me) : 34
Blog Followers : 10
BabyCenter Fans:  (too many to count, apparently... but I know your reading and I thank you very much.)

Hey look!  I'm wearing my seatbelt!

Seriously...  You guys and gals are amazing.

Please tag along and press those buttons!  I LOVE YOU ALL, SO LOVE ME BACK!!

MY BLOG:  http://daddydynamics.blogspot.com/

TWITTER:  @daddydynamics

FACEBOOK:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Daddy-Dynamics/231987720151918

GOOGLE PLUS:  gplus.to/TimMiller

DADS HANGOUT ON TWITTER:  @DadsHangout

DADS HANGOUT ON GOOGLE PLUS:  gplus.to/DadsHangout

Tim

Wordless Wednesday

If You're Trendy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands...

Apparently, the wife and I are cooler than we thought...

We have an iMac, iPhones and iPods.

We buy vintage things.*

We love independent films.

We buy our veggies at the farmer's market.

We named our daughter Harper.

Wait...?  What?  How does our daughter's name make us cool?   Well, today Victoria Beckam (Posh Spice to you Gen X'ers out there) released the name of her first daughter and guess what it was?

Here's a picture for all of you not up on pop culture.

Harper Seven Beckham.  Why not Harper Eight Beckham?  Or Harper Sixteen Beckham?  Lucky number Seven I guess.

We published the name of our daughter about 3 months ago, so our friends have known for a while now what our first child's name was.  Harper Quinn has a much better ring to it than Harper Seven.  Well... we think so.

I do have to be honest here.  We aren't really trendsetters.  We do all the things mentioned above because we simply like to do them.  We named our daughter Harper Quinn because we thought it was unique, not because we wanted to start a trend.

So, are we upset a little when we heard this news?  Of course we are, because if you know anything about the Beckham's or any other celebrity our there, they influence the world in a ridiculous way - hairstyles, baby names, and meat dresses alike.

So now I guess this dad will have to live knowing that my daughter will most likely have a few other kids in her first grade class named Harper.  Thanks alot Posh Spice.  Really, thanks alot.

*Stay tuned for a future cross-promotion blog on our vintage buying addiction.

Tim

So to Finishing That Music Degree...

I've been so focused lately on preparing for the arrival of our baby girl, that I almost forgot that I have to actually finish my doctoral degree really soon.

I'm still in college after 11 years.  I'm still in college after 11 years.  I'M STILL IN COLLEGE AFTER 11 YEARS!!

  (Sorry...  a little freak out moment there.)

I could have been a freaking brain surgeon by now, but after 11 years in college, I can't fix your brain, but I can sum up the past 2000 years in music history fairly quickly.

I'm a composer and music educator and I decided early on in my music studies, that I wanted to go all the way through and get all my degrees without pause.   Currently have a bachelors and masters degree in composition, while I'm about one year away from finishing my doctoral degree at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

After 200+ credit hours, 11 years, 400 papers, 2000+ years of music history, 526 concerts, the 243rd time of listening to Beethoven's 5th Symphony, and learning that all composers were crazy, you can pretty much see why I'm ready to get out of school and move on with my life.

Here's a pic of me doing what I do best.

Sorry... my stomach says that I might be better at eating than composing music, but I have to have something to show for these degrees.  I am guilty of that extra "sympathy weight" that most first time dads get.  Check out my story about that from an earlier blog.

So here's a pic of me doing my thing in the music world.  Well my back anyway...

Its really happening... and I love that feeling of not knowing what's gonna happen next.  I'm pretty sure that reading books, iPhone apps, and watching videos can't exactly prepare you enough for fatherhood.  The whirlwind didn't really hit me until yesterday, until I explained to someone on Facebook why I'm starting to freak out a little..

2011-2012 Checklist

1.  Start my new "first real job" at the end of Aug.  (Teaching 2 classes and private students)

2.  Take one more class to finish up my coursework

3.  Finish composing two 10min pieces of music for my final recital

4.  Find people that actually want to play my music for that recital

5.  Rehearse all that music

6.  Perform all that music

7.  Study for my two minor field exams

8.  Take those exams

9.  Study for oral exams

10.  Take oral exams

11.  Study for written exams

12.  Take written exams

13.  Start my dissertation

14.  Complete my dissertation

15.  Graduate

Oh... and have a baby too.  Sleep?  Haven't figured out where that fits in just yet.  

Just for your enjoyment, here's a pic of me tonight in our Bradley class trying to figure out the whole baby sling thing.

(The coolest thing about this picture is I kind of look like Captain America!!  Where's my shield!??)    

Thanks for checking out my blog and please comment below and give me any advice on how I can get through this next year!!!

Tim