AEK Forever!

I found out today that AEK, the Greek futbol club that my brother-in-law and I support, won their UEFA Champions League playoff to qualify for the group stage.  This coming after they had already won the Greek Super League for the first time in a decade, ahead of both PAOK and Olympiacos, who has won it for the last seven years.  Needless to say, my brother-in-law and I were ecstatic!

I sent him a message of congratulations and celebration on WhatsApp, along with a picture of me wearing my AEK jersey to work.  He responded with his own celebratory remarks and added, "My nephew will be AEK...I just want to be clear on that."  My wife was reading this to me while we were driving to work, and I was yelling, "Absolutely!" across the car.  Of course, she immediately had to point out that it could be a niece instead of a nephew, to which I replied, "Either way...he or she will be AEK!"

AEK Forever!

Announcement

Well, two days ago we hit twelve weeks, the requisite number of weeks before "safely" announcing your pregnancy to the world.  I have been toying and agonizing over the perfect way to announce it.  If you know me at all, then you know that only something perfectly unique, and perfectly us, would work.  I have been collecting ideas for over three years, waiting for that moment when I would need them.  And now that that moment is here, I can't decide.

I mean how do you adequately capture our journey over the last four years into a single picture?  How do you impart the trials, the struggles, the joys, and the faith that went into this process?  For obvious reasons, we didn't share these with many people, so for most this will be their first, and only, glimpse into what we went through.  So, it has to be just right.  But it also has to be just us.

UPDATE:  Okay, I finally finished the announcement and sent it to practically everyone on our contact list.  I'm sure back in the day, phone calls were the thing to do, but this allows us to reach more people in a shorter amount of time.  The response and outpouring of love has been amazing!

So, without further ado, here it is...

I had two main ideas in mind...a movie-poster style and a gaming connotation.  So, I first set up a photo shoot with my wife and I holding gaming controllers.  The third controller is empty to insinuate that that player has not yet joined the game.  The title of the movie, "Loading Player Three," also ties into the gaming theme that while that player has not yet joined the game, he is currently loading.

The second step was to pull in various images that capture our journey through the process.  So, starting with the top-left corner, you'll see a heart made from syringes.  That constitutes all of the needles that we used for one cycle of injections in Greece.  Moving to the top-right corner, you'll see our "hatching" embryo as it appeared on the day of its insertion.  And then finally moving down the right-hand side, you'll see the baby, showing off his little Buddha belly in his sonogram.  He is overlayed on our pictures to once again tie back to the theme of loading player three.  All of this is placed on a background featuring strands of DNA, illustrating the miracle of how God brings all of that together at a molecular level, and as a shout-out to my wife's passion.

The final step was to organize it all into a movie poster style.  The title of the movie, "Loading Player Three" is displayed in the center.  The tagline, "It Takes Three to Make a Baby" is at the top, a shout-out to God as the orchestrator of all of this.  Without Him we would be nowhere.  The due date of "February 2019" is at the bottom, just below the credits.  I give all of the credit to God.  I wanted it to be clear to everyone that that is where it is due.  Despite the wonderful people involved in every phase of the process, none of it would have been possible without God.  We tried many times on our own and failed.  It wasn't until God decided it was time that we finally had success.  We started this journey with Him, and we got to this point with Him.  It has always been about three (God, my wife, and myself) becoming one (the baby).

Overall, I am very pleased with the final result.  It definitely took on a life of its own after I started.  This was not at all how I imagined it, but I very much believe that God brought his paintbrush to the canvas to help me make it better.

So there it is.  World, we are having a baby!

What's in a Pronoun?

Lately, I have started to refer to the baby exclusively as a boy.  Partly because I hate referring to him as "it," but mostly because it irritates my wife.  She is convinced (or perhaps just hopeful) that she is having a girl.  So, my incessant insistence that it's a boy grates on her.  I think deep down it's because she's afraid I'm right, but she'd never admit that.

It's not that she wouldn't love to have a boy, nor that I wouldn't love to have a girl, we'd be happy either way.  She is just imagining shopping trips, cooking lessons, and make-up sessions with a little girl dressed up like a princess.  She doesn't realize that I'm going to counteract all of that with tomboy stuff anyway, so it's a moot point!  I am trying not to imagine any of that, because I'd rather just let it come however it may.  But I admit that it is fun to watch her exasperation every time I call the baby "him" or "he."

I even got my brother-in-law and some of the ladies in her women's group doing it now too.  She can't escape it!  If a baby's gender could be decided by pure willpower and osmosis, then it would be a boy simply by his atmosphere.  Sometimes, I think my wife believes that's exactly how it works, despite the scientist in her that knows differently, because she gets on to me to stop telling people that it's a boy.

Now where's the fun in that?!

Car Decal

For some reason, I have started to notice a lot more "Baby On Board" signs in the cars around me.  I'm not sure if it's the increased sensitivity based on our present condition, or if there just happen to be a lot more babies in the area.  Either way, it's got me thinking about what we might want to do when our baby arrives.

These mundane yellow diamonds plastered in people's windows seem inadequate for our family.  We have to be unique and have something that captures our own flare.  Besides, the "Baby On Board" signs are so common that nobody even notices them anymore!

So, I wanted to get a sign that says, "Tiny Human On Board."  That's how I imagine our baby, not as a baby, but as a tiny human.  Even as I write this, I see that I am not the first to think of it.  I thought I'd have to have it custom made, but I have already found dozens of variations for sale on the Internet.

Oh well, I still haven't actually seen one on a car, so maybe I'll be the first around here!

Diaper Ninja

One of my biggest fears of having a baby has always been changing diapers.  I'm sure I'll get used to it, and knowing me, I'm sure I'll perfect my technique until I am a master at it.  But no matter how much you try to perfect your technique, there are so many unexpected things that can go wrong when changing a diaper...especially with boys. 

Anyone who has had a baby boy knows what I'm talking about.  Boys like to wait until the diaper is off to pee.  Don't let anyone tell you differently, they know what they're doing.  You just have to look at the mischievous gleam in their eye to realize that.  Everyone has advice on how to deal with this, but no matter if you try to trick the baby or have another diaper in hand and ready to go, you still almost need combat training to accomplish it!

You need the reflexes and agility of a cat to dodge the "bullets," the speed of a fighter pilot to get in and get out, the accuracy and precision of a sharpshooter to have everything in the right place at the right time, and the fortitude of a Marine to walk into that battle even knowing what awaits you.  In a word, you need to be a diaper ninja!  Okay that was two words, but you get the point.