Getting somewhere

Alright, more than a month since the last post. Good for me, I say.

Anyway, much is happening, as you can imagine. For one, our baby is due on Oct. 2. I certainly hopes he chooses October as his birth month, and it's purely for financial reasons. I know, I'm a horrible parent already, and there's not even a baby to hold. Anyway, since I left my old company, or rather, since they booted me out, we've been doing the Cobra thing. That basically extends whatever healthcare you had, but makes you pay for all of it. You see, although I have a nice job now, I'm still just a contractor. Soon I shall be hired. Not soon enough. But soon.

With that said, the healthcare plan is actually changing on Oct. 1. Thus, if Asim is here before that, we'll have to pay about two grand, which is the highest out-of-pocket. Not that big of a deal, especially considering that I saw this as a possibility and starting saving for it. However, if he's here on or after the first, the new PPO will pay for all of it. Glorious!

What else is going on. Ah yes, Ramadan has begun. Today is day 4, which I'm pretty happy about. We started this past Saturday -- I should say that I started; Maria is not fasting. Asim may be for all we know, but that seems unlikely. Right. So day one was very rough, what with having to watch all that football without a hint of nachos. And the caffeine headache. Worst cure for that? Drinking caffeine at like, 10 p.m. and expecting to go to bed before 3 a.m. And then having to wake up at 5:45 a.m. to binge again.

Ah, yes, the bingeing. Let's discuss that. So you would think that, without being able to eat all day, eating lots in the morning would be a delightful prospect. It's not. I'm a cereal and eggs-only-socially guy, so after a bowl of granola, a bowl of Cheerios and some water, I'm done. If there's some cold pizza, I can handle that. But no dinner foods. No meat before noon.

The stoppage of the morning binge is about 6:21. The opening of the fast is at sunset, right around 7:40 these days. Not too bad. Ramadan is based on a lunar calendar, so it "moves" up every year. That is, next year it'll start a little earlier in September. How long does it take to go around? Well, Maria was born during Ramadan, on Sept. 4, 1977. So, what, about 28-29 years?

The "worst" will be in a few years when Ramadan is over the summer. Long, hot days, no water. The best, of course, has been recently, with shorter days and longer nights.

So you probably want to know about preparations for the baby. Yes, about those. Well, we've taken three separate classes through our hospital. A four-course Child Birthing class, a morning Breastfeeding class, and one just for new dads, Daddy Boot Camp.

The boot camp class was taken most recently, so I had a pretty good base already built up. Others in the class -- it was restricted to men only -- were evidently forced there by their wives. The highlight came with this exchange:

Guy: So, like, they have to feed every two hours during the first week?
Instructor: Yeah, pretty much.
Guy: And um, that's even through the night?
Instructor: Yeah.
Guy: Oh that sucks.

Hilarious. A lot of the class was devoted to improving your usefulness around the house and making sure the relationship you had with your wife before is the same after.

As far as around our place, we've got the crib all set up finally, the stroller put together, the diaper genie on standby, the closet jammed with cute little outfits. And yes, I did buy Asim a Steelers jumper. I mean, what else is he going to wear while watching the Steelers on tv and me on the sofa with nachos?

We've also taken to reading to him every once in a while before going to bed. Yes, I know. He's still in the womb. But whatever. He's getting used to the sound of my voice, I'm checking out the rather strange storylines in the books, and Maria is laughing at my snide comments. The latest book we got is a collection of Winnie the Pooh stories, so that should make for more interesting storytelling. Actually, I should probably start reading form the History of Pitt book that I have. Never too early to start the brainwashing.

Well, hopefully there'll be great news posted soon, along with plenty of photos.