Baby Prep Classes No Waste Of Time!

My wife coaxed me into attending a Breast Feeding Class at St. David's Hospital this past Friday and oh my what an experience. To me it was pretty much the equivalent of when they send juvenile delinquents to the school of hard knocks aka prison, to get a dose of what they can expect if they continue their self destructive route. Except in this case if we continue, we get a beautiful blessing that will poop, pee, cry, flop, whine, hinder me from travel, prevent me from dinner dates with mommy, cause all sorts of financial strain, and then will grow up and stress my life when they start driving, dating, and head off the college causing more worry and financial strain. 

In the midst of all of this there will be a glimmer. A glimmer of why it was all worthwhile. A glimmer that displays love, warmth, inspiration, tenderness, anticipation, hope, devotion, and an undying affection. Many say that love at first sight doesn't exist, but I disagree. The moment I saw that floating bag of bones on the ultrasound screen, I instantly loved him more than any material possession or anyone I have ever met. Sorry antique blowtorch collection and sorry mom. 

I have no idea where I was going with this, but the excitement is building. These classes really bring to light a wealth of information that I didn't really think about. I thought you just kind of put the breast by the baby's mouth and they eat until they're done. I really didn't know what "engorgement" was, that you need to pump breast milk all the time, or that if you get drunk you have to drain a batch so the baby doesn't get drunk through the milk. These are important things that you don't give much thought to, because when you're baby is flopping around and his eyes are bobbing around like he's on a rollercoaster you start to regret skipping the breast feeding class. You probably shouldn't be handling a baby trying to feed it when you're drunk anyways.

I bet when you came to this blog, you didn't expect to hear my adventures with an education on breast feeding. But hey, I don't really care. This is probably the only blog on the internet that mixes real estate with breast feeding, pregnancy, and getting babies drunk through your breast milk. There are lots of young parents out there going through a pregnancy and interested in Austin real estate. I'm sure one day they'll stumble across this blog and think "Oh, perfect. I can read a first-hand account of a guy going through the exact same thing AND learn about the goings in a market! Hey honey, did you know the baby can get lit from drinking your spiked breast milk?!" Still have a couple classes including Lamaze class. Stay tuned!

Single Family Housing Starts Unchanged While Crib Building Starts Skyrocket

The numbers are out for the month of June for single-family new home construction starts! I know you have all been eagerly awaiting these numbers. Well gather yourself for just a minute, because NOTHING CHANGED! Single-family housing starts in June were practically unchanged from the previous month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000 units, according to the most recent reports by the U.S. Commerce Department.

There was a decline however, but it occurred for multi-family construction starts. Multi-family structures, such as duplexes, tri-plexes, and four-plexes, fell 21.5% from May numbers, albeit that market is more volatile and irregular. The drastic drop in multi-family numbers effected the overall housing production number, which fell 5% to a 549,000-unit rate.

On the more personal front, my wife forced me into manual labor constructing a crib and bayonet. That is one more crib than I've ever built, so I suppose that means that new crib starts rose 100%! Of course, as a man I will never understand why it is so important for me to stop my important business where time is of the essence to put together a bed for a baby who is about 3 months away from sleeping in it. It brings her immense comfort to see the baby room and have it all set. Crib, changing table, pictures, paper lamps (he's half-Asian!), nursing chair, and diaper basket. The last one brings tears to my eyes. 

My life is about to take on a new set of experiences. They will in turn make me a more rounded man. I will possess a new set of skills, like a Navy SEAL. They time themselves cleaning and putting their gun together. I'll time myself cleaning a breast pump and arming it for flawless use. You can't have it catch during battle. That's the difference between life and death.

I know it's a "bassinet" and not a "bayonet" by the way. I know that was bothering most of you; it was a test. I know my child will sleep in a comfortable, rocking bed and not a sharp, stabbing blade made for war. 

Babies...with my Real Estate?

My first post on my internet diary. My wife is pregnant with our first child right now, so many of my posts from now until October will probably have a looking-after-a-woman-who-has-never-had-a-football-sized-living-thing-in-her-belly-before type of influence. Forgive me. I wanted to do a real estate blog with a tiny bit of my life mixed in. It’s not my fault I had a birthday and my wife started kissing me suggestively and motion directed me with her eyes to the bedroom and the realm of space and time literally collided to generate an energy proportional in magnitude to the frequency of the radiation it represents.... Literally.

Maybe I should have called this the “Soon To Be A New Dad Blog.” I could have decorated the borders with opposite sides blue and pink and had butterflies and dandies and little boy and girl angels. Maybe some birds and bees having a "happy fight." I didn’t though, it’s too late. I don’t want to go back and create a new one. Two blogs is too much responsibility. Not to mention, I can’t scare away two of the three people reading this blog (the other being my wife) just yet.

I’m not psyched about it, but I need to learn how to wear a papoose and still look cool. Jason Statham and Ed Harris look so cool bald and they're always intense in every character they play. You can’t even picture what they would look like with hair, but probably not as cool and intense. Basically, I want that to be me: cool when it's a challenge to be. Except in reality, you can substitute “bald” with a papoose strap and an infant encompassed within and “intense” with milk puked all over the front of my shirt. Anyways, this is some of what I’m thinking about right now. Million thoughts about babies and how my life is going to become a challenge.