There's a first time for everything.

I spent the last week with my wonderful, amazing and pregnant wife, Erin, in Brooklyn with some of our closest friends, Matt and Maria.  They have a beautiful home and a beautiful family and we are lucky to have them in our lives.  I've been friends with Matt since I was six years old and he was seven.  He's the best friend you could ever have.  He's also the smartest person I know and it's not close.  I know a lot of smart people too. So when he speaks I am generally inclined to pay close attention to any advice he might have.  It's not like he is spouting off endlessly about how to live either.  You have to be paying attention because you never know when he's going to help you out.  He and his wife have two children, Alex (8 years old) and Madeline (7 years old).

Now Matt and I, along with another friend, Wally, had quite a run in the 90's.  Let's just say that we had a very good time living in Manhattan and took advantage of all that place had to offer.  Ever since the family, however, things have changed.  I continued to party and live the single life for many years after Matt was married.  Now all that's happily changed.  I'm looking forward to being a Dad and experiencing all that parenting has to offer.  Then Matt drops this little nugget on me over drinks last Wednesday:

"Oh enjoy these last four months of sleep and relaxation bro.  Get in as much sleep as you can."

And then he orders another Roquefort 10 like nothing happened.

Now I've been told by countless friends and family members and coworkers that babies require, more or less, that you just don't ever sleep. "Everything's going to change!" they all say all the time. I'm sure that all these people are right, but coming out of Matt's mouth the words had a more weight. More gravity.  The nonchalant way he told me I'm basically never sleeping again took me by surprise.  For the first time since we decided to have a baby the idea of how serious parenting really is started to sink in.

I know that sounds terrible.  It reads like I haven't taken any of this too seriously, but let me tell you, that isn't the case at all.  Since meeting my wife I've gone to great lengths to create as much stability as possible in our lives.  I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say that I am totally on board with raising a family.  I am so happy these days that most people can't stand the site of me.

But that off hand comment from Matt really hit home.  How ready am I?  What have I really gotten myself into here?  Getting married and getting a dog is one thing,  Raising a child is serious business and here I am thinking, "How hard can this be?"

So I've decided that with 4 months left before William is born I'm getting all this started. All the preparations up to know are prologue to Dad Time.  I have officially turned the corner.  Once we returned from our trip I stopped be an expecting father and have now entered full blown Dad Time.

I will be  chronicling my life as a father starting today.  I want to try and put together a list of experiences that either debunk or validate these myths and legends behind how much your life changes once you have a baby.  Hopefully we can learn a little bit together.