Lollapalooza '91 - Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, one week before leaving for college and what would be the 2 greatest years of my life before Leo was born.

Six weeks in and it's starting to feel real. Not normal, per se, but real. And great. Even though I literally despise being around children, hanging out with the little guy is not only not horrifying, it's pretty damn fun.

At least it is now.

The first five weeks were something close to horrifying. Nonstop crying, constant fretting, and no consistent sleep really drained us. My poor wife especially, as she was bearing the brunt of it.

However, after the first day of the sixth week, he literally did a 180. His mood improved tremendously to the point where we could actually hang around with him while he would watch us, laugh, snooze, eat, and generally just be a baby without all that annoying screaming all the time. I don't know what it was - his digestive system matured, his bottle was changed, who knows - but it's been the best week we've had with him by far.

And my wife no longer wants to give him away, which is nice.

Oh yeah, I also quit my job of 9 years to take on a new position at a small company.

GAH!

My first child arrived on Tuesday, July 10th at 8:20 PM. My wife is a superhero - I've never experienced anything like witnessing (and trying to help) during childbirth, and I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world.

You know all those things you hear people say, about how their kids being born is the greatest thing that ever happened? When you hear people say it, it's like "yeah yeah whatever".

But now I know what that all means. Being in the room, literally watching as my boy was brought into the world by my amazing wife pushing him out of her body was the most emotional experience I'll ever go through. Simply a miracle.

So now we're home with him and I am a completely changed person and still the same guy. I know I am still the same because I am thinking about video games and sports. I know I am completely different because I will drop anything if the little guy needs some attention, and I have this constant urge to take pictures of him because he is just so darned cute. Weird.

So anyway, I am getting about 2 hours of sleep a night since he came home, but Danielle and I are (so far) not about to kill each other. Luckily, my parents are going to be here tomorrow night so they'll help us out so we can nap a bit in the daytime.

Here's an action photo of the little guy.

Another weekend without the arrival of my son. By Monday morning, my wife will officially be five days past her due date, and she is not the least bit happy about that. She's actually feeling quite well, considering, but everyone - I mean EVERYONE - is ready for this kid to arrive.

Each day, the same phone calls and emails from all sides of the friends and family groups - "no baby?" "where's the baby?" "no labor?" "eat some pizza!" "go for a walk" and so on. We've tried a lot of different things, but nothing's worked to get this whole labor thing going.

So it looks like I am going to work tomorrow. Tuesday is the next dr appt, and I don't want to use days off until after he shows up...if for no other reason to help provide a buffer between the hordes of friends, neighbors, and family members who will be showing up and/or staying over in the first couple of weeks after his birth.

So what'd I wind up doing this weekend?

Lots of goofing off. It was GREAT. Let's see...

• Watched three episodes of The Shield on DVD
• Walked 8 miles over two treadmill sessions (getting 2 more baseball games in)
• Finished my GamesRadar review of Luminous Arc (thanks for the feedback Christian)
• Lifted weights
• Watched gobs of the Live Earth coverage...no shining moments like Queen's Live Aid tour de force, but a few bands were passably good...Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Police were predicatably good, but what was up with Kanye West screaming during the performance of Message in a Bottle? AWFUL
• Played an hour of Forza 2 and another couple of hours of Motorstorm...and that's enough of Motorstorm. It's headed back to Gamefly tomorrow morning. Not a bad game, but gets awfully repetitive after a few hours. Online is fine but I still have no mic. Forza 2? Rawks.
• Mowed the lawn
• Fixed the grill by replacing the igniter (a huge, massive victory for a Mr. Can't Do Anything Around The House) like me
• Hung up an American flag off of the garage for the third time since we've owned the house

So, it was another tremendous weekend. We'll see (again) what this week brings. Let's hope by next Sunday night, I am spending some quality time with my brand new son.

So I thought last weekend would be it, but it turns out that this weekend may have in fact been my last as a non-parent. Danielle has been stuck in the same uncomfortable position for nigh 2 weeks now - large and definitely ready to, as it were, pop.

So, again, this weekend was another episode of my typical 36 year old existence.

• I walked 7.5 miles on the treadmill while playing 2 more games of MLB 2K7
• Lifted weights while watching The Daily Show and Colbert Reports from earlier in the week
• Went out to dinner with my significantly nine-months-pregnant wife (Mediterranean food at Leonardo's in Hamilton...really good, but not exquisite)
• Watched parts of the Mets-Phillies series (Mets win 3 of 4, yay)
• Mowed the lawn
• Listened to as much of the 1UP Yours show as possible
• Wrote up a GamesRadar freebie preview of All-Pro Football 2K8 (man I hope Eric runs it)
• Came up with two preview ideas for Matt Leone at 1UP (to which he responded 'good ideas...let's talk after E3'....AWESOME!!!!)
• Blew off writing a Driver 76 review for Got-Next, which I need to get to toute suite
• Researched a little bit of Luminous Arc, my next review for GamesRadar, which should show up at my door on Monday
  

So now it's Sunday night, I'm full and a little tipsy from 2 glasses of Barbera, and it's time to chill.

Will I ever have another relaxing, enjoyable weekend like this? Yes.

But probably not for a very long time. Danielle's due date is Wednesday, and after that, who knows what will happen.

My as-yet-unborn son is due a week from tomorrow. Yet, I still continue to walk around in a state of strange calm, almost as if it's not going to happen.

Danielle is a full nine months pregnant, so it's not like it's not right in front of me.

Yet this weekend I did what I almost always do - worked out (walking 8 miles and lifting weights), played some games (Forza 2, NHL 2K7, Raindow Six), drank some beer (Raspberry Wheat), wrote a freebie GotNext preview (The BIGS), did a little lawn work (mowed and fertilized), and otherwise acted just like there wasn't some ridiculously momentous event hovering right over me.

Any day now my life will never be the same and yet in many ways it doesn't even seem like it is going to happen.

I just pray everything works out and he's healthy and happy. The rest should take care of itself.

I was shuffling through a Best Buy at lunchtime today to pick up a memory card for the new digital camera - which, because I forgot to bring it with me, I got the wrong one - when I found myself perusing the CD section.

Remember CDs? So do I.

I haven't bought one since the new Lemonheads disc, and that was only because I was half-drunk and poking around a music shop in Greenwich Village. Before that, I think the previous one I had purchased was the Foo Fighters' In Your Honor.

Back in the halcyon days of the early '90's, I would pick up one or two a week. Now? One or two a year. Not that I don't still get new music, of course, but most of it's thru iTunes (for better or worse).

Anyhow, I was moved to actually buy two CDs that I'd been meaning to get forever and hadn't gotten around to.

Picked up Black Holes and Revelations by Muse and Eyes Open by Snow Patrol. I know they're both good, but now I'll have the proof in my car and on my iPod.

It'll be interesting to see how my almost-born son will get his music in about 12 or 13 years, when he's got his own tastes and favorites (that I will likely despise, even with my fairly open attitude about all kinds of music). As it is, my lifetime has seen the passing of media from 8-tracks (yes, I am that old) and records to tapes and CDs.

There are only about 2 months left until my first child is born. Yet I continue to basically live like I have the last 36 years. Drinking, eating, and goofing off too much. It's a very surreal time. We're still debating the name (Leo? Jeremy?) but have gotten his room together pretty nicely. It still doesn't feel...real.

I was able to actually hang a heavy shelf and sign in his room today, though, so for that I feel good. Usually getting any sort of object to hang on a wall that involves something more than duct tape is impossible for the carpentry-challenged like myself. However, after a few tries and a couple of trips to the Lowe's for drywall anchors, everything appears to be working.

You be the judge.

OK, so that's not entirely true. But they have significantly chopped down how much music I listen to. The two or so hours a day I spend listening to my iPod now consist of such fare as the 1UP Network's Retronauts, 1UP Yours (we'll miss you, Luke), and EGM Live, independents like Achievement Junkies (not especially good but comedic enough to be entertaining), and a whole mess of ESPN compliations like Baseball Today and the best of Mike and Mike.

3000 songs on the damn thing and I listen to two idiots yelling at each other about the NFL draft. Strange, shameless, yet utterly accurate.

What I would really like to do is try my hand at one, since I think I could be at least as interesting as most of the others out there and I had something resembling a half-decent college radio show back in the day. However, listening to one person talk about anything is a recipe for crushing boredom.

Maybe I could petition Christian and Mikel to set forth a regular GamesRadar 'cast and I could Skype in once in awhile.

Ah, dreams.