And the Money kept rollin' out in all directions...

Having children isn't cheap.  So, it makes sense (to us) to spread the cost of children out over a large period... like before conception.

 

For your mother, that means her favourite type of shopping - USED.  Facebook pages, Op shops, garage sales - and if I let her, the tip.  Grandpa Andy LOVES the tip!!

I don't have a problem with the second hand, but sometimes it's interesting to compare the difference between old and new, and wonder if the changes aren't for a reason.  Perfect example - Prams and cots.  In my day, it was timber cots and wicker bassinets.  By the time Auntie Sam came along, the classic fold-up pram was all the rage.  Somewhere around the time cousin Zane came along, prams came designed to incorporate the baby capsule; this allows for easy transference to and from the car without disturbing the baby.  When Zane was born, these were expensive.

I nearly bought one today for $35.

I say nearly because it is an older model, and the capsule wasn't offered with it.  So there was a concern here.  Not about money, just about the availability of finding a capsule that fits!

Also today - your mother sat down with the doctor to talk about a pre-pregnancy check-up.  Blood tests, a few more personal examinations, but otherwise the doctor basically urged us to start baby making.

Also, you may be interested that your mother and I got into geocaching this week.  Wonder how this affects your life??

Your mother graduated from uni, but failed tests!!

This week we confirmed through two methods that you don not yet exist - biology and biochemistry.  Don't make me spell it out - THINK about IT!!!

Get it, got it?  Good!

But this won't hinder us - not as much as Medibank Private did.  We upped our private health this week, with the consequence being that we don't have full cover until August 6.  Recognise the date?  You should - It's Pop Allen's birthday!!  I doubt we'll ever give him the satisfaction of that knowledge.

Also, your mother and I started casually looking around for furniture for you.  Your mother - true to form - has some strong ideas as to what she's chasing.  It probably is a little different to what I am envisaging, but I am sure you found it comfortable (and if you didn't, ring your mother and let her know!).

April, 2014

Maybe this will be an over-share, but the last week is part of the roller-coaster of what will eventually be your existence.

In April 2014, your mother Rebekah and I had been married a year (April 6).  Two weeks after our anniversary, we traveled to Brisbane for a band contest, before heading north to visit Grandma and Pop (my parents), the McCabes, and our friends in CSB and Salvos, and to march on ANZAC Day.  We were young, and still very much in love (and I hope this is still evident later on in life).

So we did what young people in love do.

What we weren't totally aware of at the time, was that your Mum had partaken in a glass of wine or two with Aunt Linda (who we know isn't your aunt, but we suspect will probably be a major person in your life).  As you'll learn in life, alcohol and certain types of contraceptive don't mix...

A week to the day later was my first prod of something potentially wrong, with your mother getting a little sick.  She was fine, of course...  but the running joke became for a while that she was pregnant.

And we started to believe it.  We started to want it.

We had always wanted kids, from before we were married, but we had opted to be responsible and get our lives set up as best we could before deliberately starting our family.  Had it happened earlier, it would have been a lot tougher of an upbringing.

But we found ourselves getting excited, and seeing every little biological clue as a sign Mum was with child.  I don't know who wanted it to be more - both Mum and I were pretty thrilled.  I wanted to scream it from the rooftops - but it had only been one week!!!!!

But in the end, it turned out it was not meant to be.  The disadvantage of such a high is the low that follows, and the low that followed was rough.  But it forced your mother and I to sit down, and put plans in place.

We knew your mother might be getting a transfer soon.  We knew her prescription for her pill (THE pill... do they still have this?) was going to run out soon.  So we used this information to plan.

Come Bek's 25th birthday (June), we would cease using the contraceptive, and actively start trying for children.  This gave us time to cope if we had to move, and get established in a new town, or position; but Singleton was a beautiful place, and the people so caring and nice.

April, 2014 - the date the thought of you became assured, in one way or another.

To my first-born child,

In the olden days, fathers would take it upon themselves to document the growth of their child.

A recent, highly successful television show finished airing a nine-year story about how a man met his wife, relating it to his kids.

And I have access to the internet....

I want to have a written record of what's happening before you can remember what's happening, and one day you can appreciate the adventure you've brought to the lives of your mother and myself.  As you'll probably be aware, my handwriting is atrocious... so this little blog is a good way to get it all down.

Your story begins, long before your birth, at Easter, 2014.  Mum and I attended the National Band Competition in Brisbane with our band Toronto Brass.  It was the year of the dreaded B flat bass test piece Sonata for Bass Tuba, by a crazy guy called Hindemith...

If all goes to plan, it will finish with you being a strong, smart, highly capable person, reading this at some late point in your life.  Maybe I'll be there with you.  Maybe I won't - and if that's the case, I am so sorry.  Regardless of what the future brings, please remember you were loved - from the moment you were an idea shared between your mother and I, until our final days on this Earth.