Peas & Carrots

My wife and I have been married just a little over a year.  In that time, we’ve experienced a few things that we both felt compelled to do in this life.  Fenway Park was one of them.  After our wedding night we flew to Boston, MA and spent three glorious days touring the city.  We really didn’t have much of a plan, which you may find to be amazing, but we didn’t.  Simply put, we woke up and let the day take us newlyweds where it may.

Some days it took us to very historic places, Fenway Park for example.  Boston is chocked full of history, much of it of the colonial nature.  To stroll the same streets that Paul Revere once frequented, and eat at the oldest operating restaurant in America were treats that history buffs should do at least once.  I love history, especially United States history, and three days in Boston was quite simply nothing more than a tease.

I could spend years in Boston and New England and still not get to see everything I wanted to take in.  Some of the highlights of our trip included Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, Fenway Park, the North End neighborhood, and a stroll that took us to the USS Constitution (which was ironically closed the day we went) and a trip long, intimate knowledge of the MBTA subway system.  We even kept our Charlie Cards from the trip.

While walking around Boston though, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat like Forrest Gump.  I’d finally found my Jenny.  My wife, we’ll call her Kiwi from now on…she and I have a bit more conventional relationship than Forrest and Jenny did, but you get the point.  I look at Kiwi the way Forrest looks at Jenny.  She can plan all kinds of things for me and I don’t care, because I’m with my Jenny.  I’m much like Forrest in that I’m just happy to be included in Kiwi’s party.

The cool thing about Forrest is that he lives this awesome life that he doesn’t realize happens around him, because he’s so focused on the love of his life. 

I’m proud to admit that Forrest Gump is one of my heroes.

Enough Said!

Parenting 111

I will be the first to admit that I have about .2% experience when it comes to being a parent, and especially one that doles out the discipline around the house.  But, given my past history for practical jokes and "unique" management methods, Razz better watch it around the house.

Don't assume that I do not know how to sew.

Special thanks to http://www.thechive.com/ for the use of the images. Happy Thursday!

The Listening Express

I’m a listener.  I like to listen for different things in my daily life.  I often listen to National Public Radio to make myself learn something that day.  I have this habit that I picked up from my Granny of recanting stories or news that I have knowledge of to ones that I love. 

My Granny has been practicing this tactic on my Poppa for years now.  She will read the newspaper to him after he had read what he cares to glean from the latest newsprint offerings.  He smiles, goes about his routine and allows Granny to read him a story that he’s already probably read.  I think he views this as a way to spend time with the woman he loves while she gets to do one of her most favorite activities…reading.

Anyways, I practice the same tactic on my wife.  I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  Instead of reading aloud from the newspaper to my spouse, I recant stories that I’ve heard on NPR to her.  Sometimes, you can feel her groan when my opening statement starts our with “Today, on NPR I heard this story about…”  She never makes a sound, but you can hear her eyes roll from across the room.

I love the variety of subject matter that NPR provides.  As a matter of fact, just this morning I heard a story that scientists in the Amazon are finding, on average, a new species of animal once every three days.  In the year 2011, this is unprecedented ground science is covering!  Did ABC News cover the story?

They even cover sports!  Tonight is the start of the World Series.  American League vs. National League.  Texas vs. California.  Rangers vs. Giants.  There are so many subplots to this series it’s hard to figure out where to start.  We’ve got an All-Star slugger that is a recovering drug addict battling daily in his struggle with sobriety, an All-Star pitcher that has admitted to using and liking the wacky weed (sub plot to a sub plot, marijuana legalization is on the ballot in the state his team resides, making him a poster boy of sorts for Proposition 19) Both teams have had image and PR problems with steroid use amongst current and former players.  The Texas Rangers have never played in the World Series before tonight's game. The Rangers front office is led by one of the most feared pitchers in the history of the game, Nolan Ryan, who is a native of Texas and also a former player with the franchise.  Think it can’t get any more dramatic? Think again.  Something will happen, it always does.  It’s the World Series.

Planners of the Apes

My wife is a planner. That's just who she is. She has a plan for even the most simplistic of tasks. Let me be the first person to tell you that I am very lucky to even be in the same room with her, let alone have the privilege of being her husband. Usually within 15 minutes of us being up and moving around first thing in the morning, she asks the question: so what's your plan for today?

Some days I have one. Most days I don't. I'm a pretty laid back guy and usually roll with the punches of what comes at me in life and rarely does that mean that I have a plan for the day.

On days that I have a plan, it's all about checking stuff off the list. Clean the bathroom, check. Go to the grocery store, check. Take the guest bedroom to storage, check. Paint the old guest bedroom new nursery colors, check.

On days that I don't have a “plan”, per se, I still have a checklist, but it's only in my head. Sleep in, check. Go out to breakfast for over easy eggs, check. Figure out what time my team is playing their football game, check. Figure out what other football game I can try to convince my wife that we should watch because we have a connection to that school, check. You get the picture...

With Baby Razz on the way my planning has become more methodical. Yes, I called him Baby Razz. Raspberries are some of my most favorite fruits in the world. Growing up on a secluded farm wild raspberries were everywhere and I could eat my weight in them right off the briar if given the chance. When my wife was reading “What to Expect When You're Expecting” at the end of certain chapters it would say Week 8 – Your baby is the size of a Lima Bean (think of different small objects, and they compared your future child to it). Well, one day the comparison was to a raspberry. Bingo, our child had his first name of his life.

To get me back on subject though...planning for a baby takes much more diligence and daily planning. There are grandparent visits to arrange, doctors visits to attend, feeding and sleeping schedules to adhere to...there is much to incorporate into a day of a life of a child.  To paraphrase Crash Davis, "we're dealing with a lot of stuff here!"  Maybe my wife is subconsciously testing me...maybe she is trying to find a way to brighten my day (she often does) or maybe, just maybe....she is just being her.

IronDad Debut

So, depending on your beliefs and views, I may already be a father.  I may not be.  I definitely do not feel like a father yet because I haven't been thrown up on, changed a blowout diaper or gone 24 hours with little to no sleep because of my child's sleeping (or lack thereof) habits.  That being said, I can't wait to experience all of those things and those that are unknown to me.

I'm also trying to balance and further a career in the wonderful world of sports.  It's not as glamorous as it sounds.  There is no typical day in a career in sports, and often the hours are long and no one says thank you.  Regardless, I still love to know that my hard work gives someone the chance to see the wonderful game of baseball, or the ballpark that I call my second home, for the first time.

This journal will encompass many different things.  Not all will be about sports, not all will be about my humdrum life, not all will be about my new son.  I cannot promise that the content will ever be entertaining, insightful or pertinent, but it will be honest.

The reason I chose Baseball IronDad as my blog name is that I have worked for five seasons in baseball and have not missed a game.  My work ethic will not allow it.  So 300 games into my career and I haven't missed a start, I'm going to introduce bath time, car seats, daily bodily functions and sleep deprivation into my routine.


Bring it.