Going Off Track

In this post I'm going to derail but stay with me, there is a point to all of this madness. Over the past few months I've really been thinking about what I really want to do. I dumping all of this money into school and I want to get a degree in something that I love to do. Right now I'm going for my degree in Mechanical Engineering. The problem with that is, I do it on an everyday basis. I design, build, and automate industrial machinery for various manufacturing plants. I'm content with what I do, but it doesn't make me happy. I work too much and I just don't feel like I have a life anymore.

For the past couple of months my wife and I have been talking about what will make me happy. I have decided to change my major to Aviation. I already have a private pilots license and want to go all of the way with it. I love flying so much that I would like to make a profession out of it. The good thing is that all of the classes that I've taken this far work with the Professional Pilots program at OSU.

The down side to all of this is it will consist of a lot of traveling. With the new one on the way I would really like to be around my family as much as possible. The great thing about my wife is she is very understanding and she sees how excited I get when I talk about flying. She is behind me 100% and that's what I love about her.

Problem number 2 is that I've never jumped outside the box. I've always done what is comfortable and where I don't need to take risk. In my job now I know what to expect from day to day. Now I'm stepping into a whole new world. Sometimes I think I live for the stress and I actually feed off of it some how.

The Guest Blogging Experiment

Guest Blogger did a good job keeping the flow of my blog going. They got a good sense of where I was coming from and what I am going through. They understood the trouble I'm having adapting to this new time in my life. The person that wrote the post even refered my wife as "my wife" which made it seem like they really put themself in my place. Guest blogger did get a sense of me getting very excited now. It has really set in with me and I'm very happy to be having a girl now. I think now I'm happier with that than I would have been with a boy. Guest blogger understood how important it was to me that I keep the name a secret and I want that to be special for my wife and I.

Understanding the person that I really am, I usually don't give in as easy as the blogger might think. It is nice that they think that of me but I really do have a hard time of what would be good for my daughter. I still have no idea about girls clothes and what they would like. I know at this point it doesn't matter, but it will only get more complicated as they get older.

Overall I think the guest blogger did a good job and they represented me very well. Thank You

Guest Blog by Alyssa S. Gartner

Thank you for all the congratulation comments I got responding to the previous blog that I posted. I am really beginning to get very excited. Although, I did sort of want a boy first, like most men do, I am thrilled just for the simple fact we are having a baby. Boy or girl it will most definitely be loved the same. I did want a boy first, and then possible a girl that way the older brother could have looked out for his little sister, but it doesn’t matter all that much.

I went shopping again, with my wife, looking for baby clothes. We picked out a few outfits, and it was actually really fun. I wasn't very good at picking out the clothes, but it was a really fun experience thinking that I will have a little one wearing those clothes very soon. My wife and I have thought of a bunch of baby names for our baby girl lately. It’s easier to think of more names since we know what the sex is now. Like I’ve said before though, the both of us would like to keep them a secret because we don’t want everyone’s input on the name; we’re going to name her whatever we would like to. We've found a lot of really neat names off of the internet.

To Answer the Questions

Everybody has been asking me, How do you feel about having a girl? There is a part of me, a big part of me, that is very excited. I know that it will be unfamiliar territory for me, but thats the kind of guy I am. I like a challange. It will be a whole new challange for me but I can't wait. The biggest challange right now is picking out little girls cloths. We've been going to BabiesRUs and I'm really lost when it comes to girls cloths.

Another question everyone ask, how will I handle boyfriends in the future. I am really worried about that becuase I remember how I was at the dating stage. I would do anything to feel a girl up, thats if she would let me. I was a frisky little guy. I think I have a while until that day comes and my wife, daughter, and I will all be different in some way. I may not think about it the same way I do now. I do know that I will be a little protective of her.

I'm sure my thoughts will change in the months to come but at this point I'm just happy and excited. I'm really curious to see how she will change my life and how I conduct my life differently. I know she will make a softy out of me. She will be daddy's little girl.

It's a girl

Well what do you know, it's a girl. We found out just this past Thurday. Talk about your worst nightmare. For a dad anyway, the first few thoughts that came to me was boyfriends and I have to pay for the wedding when she gets married.

It was the coolest thing that I have ever seen. On the ultrasound we saw her little fingers, toes, and her little face. Oh yeah, we seen the private parts too. That is kind of important. At one point it looked like she gave us the thumbs up, thats my girl. She was pretty active while we were doing the ultrasound and our doc could tell her size and weight at this point.

So whats next? We are talking about doing the 3D ultrasound next. If you haven't seen a 3D ultrasound they are really cool. They are so detailed you can even see the babies facial expressions. And for now, we are just running around telling everybody what we are having. It's just a really happy time right now.

Still Going

Things are still moving along. They are actually moving a lot faster than what I had expected. Here we are at the half way point of the pregnancy and it feels like yesterday I just found out the good news. The wife is definately showing signs now and is getting a belly on her. My wife has always been thin but it is funny to see her with a beer belly. We are just taking it all in right now and enjoying the time during pregnancy. I did finally feel the baby kick the other night and if there was any question who it would take after, its definately me.

We find out tomorrow what we are having. The big day is finally here. I'm still on the fence about this one because I think they both have their pros and cons. I am just excited to here the news tomorrow and tell my family what we are having .


We've been keeping our names for the baby a secret, because I really don't want to hear people's opinion on what we are going to call our child. Too many people (my family) try to put their input on what they think would be a good name. Sometimes they even tell you that they didn't like the name that you picked out. Well, I don't care what they think, it's not like I'm going to name it Clyde or Chuck. I have to be careful with my last name anyway. Wood doesn't work well with a lot of first names, Chuck Wood. See what I mean, its a real kick in the pants.