Preparation complete?

Thanks again for joining us.  Tonight's going to be kind of exciting - we've got two posts for this evening!

Rather than mash them all into one giant wall of text, I'm breaking it up into two separate posts, so that if one doesn't interest you, you can quickly jump to the other one.

On with the show!

Preparation Level: Complete! (Almost).

As time continues to fly on, Mrs. J has hit almost 17 weeks of our little adventure.  Hard to believe that we're almost halfway there. For anyone who is just joining us, or who doesn't know me:  I'm a very rigid individual.  You could almost go as far to say I'm kind of a control freak, and I like to have order in my life.  With that said, since we've found out that Mrs. J is pregnant, I've been trying to do everything in my power to be as prepared as possible for what's to come.

Too often do you read stories, or see features on the news about new parents who are so oblivious as to what's involved with having a baby, you'd almost think they didn't know they were having a baby until the kid pops out.  We don't want to be those parents. So, as we've been on our adventure, I've been trying to buy as much of what we need as we can afford, and any time there's extra or unexpected money, I've been trying to funnel those resources into preparation for our little one to arrive.

This has also been a source of much turbulence among some of our expecting friends, coworkers, and us.

In our social circle, there are many other expecting mothers, and so obviously, a common topic of conversation is what goes into preparing for a child.  Thinking about that, a frequent point of tension in this social circle is how prepared Mrs. J and I are, versus how prepared our expectant friends are.  A common question that we get from our friends is, "Why are you spending all of this money? That's what baby showers are for."  Or an even more common statement, one of very few in this world that make me cringe, "Oh, it must be nice."

I've never felt it necessary to justify our actions to our friends, but I'll show my work here:

Yes, baby showers are nice.  Sure, you get loads of free baby stuff, and the ladies spend the afternoon gossiping, eating, laughing, and having a good time.  However, I do not feel that expecting parents should put the burden of large, or expensive baby items on friends and family.  I've always viewed baby showers, and after discussion, Mrs. J shares this view, as a way to get together with friends, get some small essential items for your little one, and have a good time.  I feel that the weight of those large baby-related purchases should fall upon the expectant parents, and should the need arise, you can then reach out to friends and family to assist if necessary.  I think that it's an unfair, and unrealistic expectation to think that you'll finish furnishing your nursery by means of your friends and family.

The other caveat of a successful baby shower (success being measured in turnout) is a large social circle to draw upon for attendance.  This is certainly a luxury that Mrs. J and I do not have.  We can count on two hands the number of people we, at this point, feel comfortable inviting into our home.  As it stands, her baby shower will consist of family, a small number of coworkers, and a few close friends.

With all of this said, Mrs. J and I have been funneling the largest part of our expendable income into preparing for our child, and I feel great about it. We communicate regularly about the things we need, and have been slowly purchasing all of the major items we will need.  Every time we make a trip to Wal-Mart, we buy a box or two of diapers.  The last two weeks of November, I put in a ton of overtime at work, and was able to purchase a new crib mattress and travel system.  And as of this past weekend, I truly feel that the majority of our preparations have been completed, barring clothing, which we're holding off until we find out the gender of our little one.  Once the gender determination is complete, then I'll begin setting up the nursery to coincide with that determination (blue/pink accents, wallpaper, etc.).

This preparation has caused what I can only presume is a moderate level of jealousy from those of our social group who cannot, or have not, prepared at all for what's to come.

If you've stuck with me for this long, and are still reading, I have one piece of advice for any other first time parents that may have come across this blog:

Communicate often, and prepare early.  The last thing anyone wants is to be caught off-guard in such a major life event.