Seven Months of Daddyhood

It's been just over seven months that we've had Amélie in our lives. What an amazing experience. It's so gratifying in so many ways. She brightens up my day every time she smiles.

When you're having a kid, some people give you a courtesy heads-up on some of the challenges parenthood presents. Others paint a rosy picture of how amazing it is to have a child and how wonderful the entire experience is.

There's no question about the fact that, once your child is born, your life as you knew it is over. The impact of parenthood doesn't quite set in until the baby is out of mom and in your hands. The responsibility of parenthood doesn't set in until even later than that – for me, it was when we started researching college savings options.

Probably the most stressful part of becoming a parent is finding the rhythm of parenting. Everyone has some preconceived (no pun intended) notions of what it's going to be like when you're a parent. You'd like to think that you won't make the same mistakes your parents made, and that you're going to be a "cool" mom or dad.

The reality is, you have no idea what kind of parent you're going to be until you hear your child cry. You may remain cool under pressure, or freak out by the mere thought of your child in pain.

I think, having been at this for a short while now, the most important thing to keep in mind is to just be patient. Patient with your new baby. Patient with your spouse. Patient with your family – who will never stop giving you advise about how to raise your baby.

One topic that most people warned me about was the sleepless (or just restless – if you're lucky) nights. Once it's 3AM and you or your spouse have been up for hours, all you want is to sleep. – understanding, compassion, patience – it all goes out the window. A woman whom I work with, named Alex, gave me some sage advice when it comes to this topic. Anything said between the hours of 9PM and 9AM doesn't count – these are definitely some words to live by.

That said, there are so many wonderful things about being a parent that I didn't appreciate until I was placed in the situation. Whenever Amélie figures out something new for the first time – I often don't realize it, but I end up with this goofy looking smile on my face, along with a sense of pride to boot.

There are days when I'm leaving for work in the morning and Alin is giving Amélie her breakfast. On these days, Amélie sees me walking out the door and becomes a little distraught. She turns her head from side to side, slams her hand on the high chair, as if demanding my return. I can already see that this is just a precursor to her screaming "DAADDDDYYY!! Don't go!" It's both gratifying and heartbreaking, all at the same time.

Another joy of parenthood is that you now get one more day a year where you receive a gift. For my very first Father's Day, Alin spoiled me with two gifts that I've always wanted. The first, was a flying lesson at the near by San Carlos Airport. This lesson gives you the basics of flight, and you get an hour and a half "discovery flight" with an instructor around the bay area.

The other gift was a week's worth of boxing lessons – addressed from my daughter. You'd think, flying and boxing – not exactly the kind of activities you'd want a father to be partaking in. Nevertheless, my family loves me and doesn't want me to change who I am, at least not entirely.

Anyway, I suppose that's enough for now.

-s

Welcome to the family, Amelie

We're happy to announce that Alin and I are now parents to a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Amelie and she was born on November 24th at 5:17AM. She weighed in at 6lbs. 10.2 oz. and is about 20 inches long.

For all of you who are interested in the story of her delivery, read on.

On November 23rd, I arrived at home from work at 6:30PM. It was busier than most work days since I had planned to make it my last before I took my paternity leave. As with most week days, I entered through our garage door and said hello to my beautiful wife while she prepared dinner. She returned my hello, kissed me, and began to tell me about her day.

She started by telling me about her prenatal check-up at 3PM. The highlight of the examination was when both Alin and the midwife felt a contraction. The midwife finished the check-up and reassured Alin that baby was in the head-down position and that she'd be with us any day now.

Once Alin returned home, she noticed the contractions were beginning to happen more frequently and increasing in intensity. She decided to start tracking her contractions using her iPhone (yes, there's an app for that). She carried on with business as usual – preparing dinner. By the time I had arrived home, she said, "I think we might have the baby tonight!"

Panic ensued. What do we do now? Well, we acknowledged that delivery would likely be many hours away and the only thing to do at this point is to relax, finish dinner, and take it one step at a time. I grilled up some bratwursts on our Weber while Alin grilled onions and prepared the buns.

For the next two hours we cleaned house. I called Alin's brother over to help me put some Halloween decorations in our attic and tidy up the baby's room. We knew that it would help with our general mental state to come back from the hospital to a clean home.

By midnight, Alin's contractions were regular, averaging about a minute in length every 3-4 minutes apart. We called Labor & Delivery and let them know we were on our way. About 15 minutes later, we arrived at the hospital and were taken to our delivery room.

Alin changed into her gown and they began taking some measurements. Her cervix was 2 cm dilated and 90% aphased. Unfortunately, her contractions had become irregular again. The nurses told us that it was still too early to admit her. They suggested that Alin try walking around for an hour to see if it helps progress the labor.

For the next hour, Alin and I walked up and down the hallway outside of Labor & Delivery, working through each contraction as they came. I tried to keep her mind off the pain any way I could.

At about 1:35AM, we went back for another examination. In that hour, Alin's cervix dilated from 2cm to 5cm – more than enough to get her admitted. A nurse helped Alin into bed and affixed two sensors to track Alin's contractions and baby's heartbeat. Meanwhile, I setup my iPod touch to play some mood music (Iron & Wine and Joshua Radin) then called Alin's mom and let her know that the baby would be delivered this morning and that I'd keep her apprised of her progress.

Alin's discomfort continued as the contractions increased in intensity and frequency. By 2:30AM, the contractions were happening in 5 minutes intervals and were very painful. The nurse offered an epidural but we had already decided that it was out of the question. After a few more contractions, Alin was reaching her pain limits and requested analgesics to help take the edge off. The nurse administered a dose of fentanyl and within a few minutes, Alin became more calm and controlled – a welcome relief.

By 3:30AM, the fentanyl began to wear off and the pain was back in full swing. At Alin's request, the nurse administered another dose of fentanyl and Alin was able to once again cope with the contractions.

At 4:30AM, Alin began feeling the urge to push. The baby hadn't dropped far enough yet and the nurse asked if Alin could hold on for a little while longer, as it would help shorten the delivery. I called Alin's mom and let her know that she'd be starting to push soon.

By 4:50AM, Alin couldn't resist anymore – her body was compelling her to push. The midwife came in and burst Alin's water – it was now show-time.

Hospital staff started to shuffle in and out and within minutes, the room was ready for our baby's delivery. The nurse told us to be prepared for upwards of 2 hours for delivery. I asked if there's anything I can do to help and the nurse asked me to brace Alin's leg and count to 10 through each of her pushes. Push after push, Alin would take a deep breath and exhale slowly – turning as red as a cherry tomato.

About 10 minutes into pushing, the doctor pointed out that we could see the baby's head. The nurse cheered Alin on, giving her reassuring comments and asking her to push as hard as she could. To everyone's surprise, after 17 minutes of pushing, our baby was born.

She came out purple as an eggplant, screaming before she was fully delivered – as if to announce to the room that she had arrived; ahead of schedule in every way.

They took her and placed her on Alin's chest – and we both began crying immediately. Alin looked at me and asked "what is it?", I gently lifted her fragile little leg and said "she's a girl!"

It was all quite emotional and amazing. We were both completely overwhelmed. The wait was finally over and our little, perfect, beautiful Amelie had finally arrived.

We Have an Important Announcement

Alin and I are having a baby. Yes. It's true. Our baby is halfway to the finish line, healthy, and quite active.

As we transition from just the two of us into a family, we will chronicle some of the more interesting moments during our journey. Be sure to check back for updates.

Here are some highlights from the past few months:

• You remember all that stuff they told you in school about how easy it is to get pregnant? Well, it's easy – but not THAT easy.
• Many women have this romantic vision of what pregnancy is supposed to be like. They have dreams of wearing cute pregnancy clothes, shopping for baby stuff, planning a baby shower, and so on and so forth. Too bad pregnancy symptoms define what you can and will do over the next 9 or so months. Exhibit A: Morning sickness. Exhibit B: Having to pee every 15 minutes. Exhibit C: Constant hunger. Exhibit D: Soreness, swelling, and other discomforts. Exhibit E: Emotional roller coaster. This list goes on.
• The first time you see your baby move during an ultrasound is the moment you both realize that yes, this is all real and it's happening to you – and it's completely scary and awesome at the same time.
• Deciding how to tell your family and friends that you're having a baby is, in fact, quite fun.
• We're not going to find out if it's a boy or girl, so don't bother asking. It's a surprise for one and all.
• Your TV viewing habits begin to change. Case in point: TiVo has these presets of shows you can record based on interests. The guide for "Stay at Home Mom" didn't really have anything new to add to Alin's TV schedule.
• Parents often tell you that your social life ends once you have kids... I'd like to clarify that it actually ends once you're pregnant :P I hear it due for an encore in the second trimester but we're still waiting :)
• You thought deciding what's for dinner was hard before. Try it when 90% of what you used to eat now makes you nauseous and the ingredients for remaining 10% never seem to be in your kitchen.
• Listening to your baby's heartbeat is an equally mind blowing experience. It's much faster than you imagined it would be.
• You thought you were in love before. Looking at each other and knowing you're having a baby that's part of both of you changes... everything.
• Our baby is due on Thanksgiving. Hurray for that! Just far enough from Christmas to ensure they'll always get both sets of gifts and the perfect holiday to ensure that family will be around to celebrate. Who could ask for anything more?

Check out the official first photo of baby Gedikian.

There's more to come, but we hope you enjoyed these tidbits.

Love,

Steve and Alin

iTunes Quick Tip: Search the iTunes Store from any view in iTunes.

If you're like me, you use iTunes all the time. You play your music while you work, play, cook, clean. It's just a part of your every day life.

Part of my regular use of iTunes is buying new music to listen to. That's why this tip is useful for those of you who use the iTunes Store regularly.

By now, you've come to depend on the search box in the top right corner of the iTunes window. It's how you find things in your library, playlists, and the iTunes Store. Did you know that you can use that search box to search the iTunes Store from any view of iTunes?

To search the iTunes Store from your library or playlist:

Windows

• In the search box, type in what you're looking for, like a song name, artist name, movie title, etc.
• While holding the Shift key, also press Enter.

Mac

• In the search box, type in what you're looking for, like a song name, artist name, movie title, etc.
• While holding the Option key, also press Enter.

Voilà. Instant search results on the iTunes Store.

Check back often for additional useful tips on getting the most out of iTunes.

Mother's Day

Today (actually yesterday, now) was Mother's Day. The one day a year that all mothers in the U.S. get to be recognized for their hard work, showered with praise, gifted with flowers, hugged with love, and so on and so forth.

We spent ours by going on a picnic. That was quite enjoyable. We sat out at a park near a beach, took in the sun (and the wind), and enjoyed a nice family outing. After lunch, we went on a short little hike to enjoy the local views of the beach.

While we would have loved to spend more time there, the wind was a bit of a turn off, so we made our way back home fairly early. Once we got back, the boys killed zombies while the girls raced in MarioKart.

Later in the evening, we all sat around and watched the season finale of Celebrity Apprentice, which ended favorably - I still can't believe that Joan Rivers is 75 years old.

A mellow Mother's Day for sure. I only wish I could have had my family be there too...

-s

iTunes Quick Tip: Instantly Fill In Missing Details for Your Track 1s, 2s, and 3s

If you've ever imported a CD without an Internet connection using iTunes, you've undoubtedly noticed that iTunes will name each of the imported songs Track 1, Track 2, Track 3, and so on.

Songs missing vital information such as the artist, album, and song names are harder to identify, organize, and find on your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV.

But who has time to turn all of their Track 1s, 2s, and 3s, into the properly "tagged" songs they deserve to be? It's time consuming because it requires you to dig up the CD and type-in the information one song at a time -that's just so 1995.

Fortunately, iTunes makes it easy to download and update the song details for any song you've already imported with iTunes. Here's how you do it:

1. In iTunes, search for the word "track" in your iTunes library.
2. Next, select all the songs that are missing details.

• You can select one song at a time by holding the Control key (Command key on the Mac), and clicking once on each individual song.
• You can also select a set of songs by holding the Shift key and clicking on the first and last song you wish to select.

3. Now choose "Get CD Track Names" from the Advanced menu.
4. When asked "Are you sure you want to get CDDB information for multiple items?", click OK.

iTunes will connect to the Gracenote service and immediately update any selected songs to fill in missing information.

Check back often for additional useful tips on getting the most out of iTunes.

The Swine Flu and Life After People...

At this point, it's impossible to avoid the news media's intense focus on swine flu. Am I the only person who feels as though the news media is portraying the outbreaks as though it's the beginning of the end of all of humanity?

While it's sad that some people have died, the vast majority of those effected experience symptoms no worse than the typical flu. Unfortunately, that's not how this is being presented. The fear machine drives far higher ratings than a calm, drama-free, presentation of the facts. You'd think we're on the brink of having 28 Days Later become a reality.

Tonight I wanted to escape from the madness so I turned on TiVo to see what was recorded. Of course there were the typical staples found on many TiVos, such as 24, Heroes, and The Office. But today, there was something new, something perfect for the occasion. The first of a multi-part special from the History Channel called "Life After People."

The mini-series is a window into what transformations might take place if people were to disappear from the Earth suddenly. It starts at "Day 1 After People" and progresses through the coming weeks, months, and years.

At first, it's quite sad. The world would plunge into darkness in few short days as power grids go offline, many of our pets would starve to death, and the slow but certain march of wiping all traces of civilization would begin.

But this story is actually one of hope.

There's no question that we've polluted our atmosphere, devastated habitats the world over as we're reshaped them from forests to cities, and pushed millions of species to the brink of extinction. In the end, it doesn't really matter.

In a few hundred years, our sprawling suburbs would become forests once more. Our cities would be converted into new habitats for the wildlife that would undoubtedly return, at least until they crumble into piles of rubble. Slowly, the man-made world we live in today would return to the shapeless minerals and metals from which they came.

Sure, it's sad for all of us, but that's a selfish view of the world. Life would just go on... All traces of man would just turn to dust and blow away in time. I found that strangely comforting -- but maybe that's just me.

-s

iTunes Quick Tip: Making Your Own iTunes Store Wishlists

If you're like me, you stumble onto new music to listen to, great movies to watch, or hit TV shows to become addicted to all the time, but often lack the funds to buy them all.

What's worse, if you've made a great discovery but are strapped for cash – you probably won't remember to buy it later.

That's why I keep a wishlist in iTunes so that I can download them when I've got more funds available.

Making a wishlist in iTunes is incredibly easy, but not at all obvious, here's a quick set of steps to make your own wishlist.

Create Your Wishlist:

1. Create a playlist in iTunes: File > New Playlist
2. Name your playlist "Wishlist"
3. Now, visit the iTunes Store to make your profound discovery.
4. Once you've found something, follow the next few steps to add it to your wishlist.

Adding Music To Your Wishlist:

1. Go to the album page on the iTunes Store
2. Select a song from the album
3. Drag and drop it onto the Wishlist

• Note: You can only buy individual songs from your Wishlist. If you're an album shopper like me, just pick the most popular song as your reminder and visit the album page to download the complete album.

Adding a Movie or Music Video to Your Wishlist:

1. Go to the movie or music video page on the iTunes Store
2. Choose "Show Browser" from the View menu
3. Select the movie or music video from the list
4. Drag and drop it onto your Wishlist.

Adding a TV Show to Your Wishlist:

1. Go to the TV season page on the iTunes Store
2. Select an episode from the season
3. Drag and drop it onto the Wishlist

• Note: The same limitation on buying albums is also true on buying TV seasons. I just pick the first episode of the season as my reminder.

Check back often for additional useful tips on getting the most out of iTunes.

Twitter makes me laugh.

I've found that most people using Twitter, including myself, use it to tell their friends about mundane events in their lives, like brushing their teeth, clipping toe nails, etc.

Then I discovered Tina Fey, and about a dozen other comedians and associated funny people. Now, my Twitter feed is filled with updates from people that make me laugh. Score!

Who do you follow on Twitter that makes you fall out of your chair?

-s

What a day...

So while the rest of the overworld was out enjoying the amazing weather that mother nature has so generously graced upon us, I - along with a small group of friends - decided to stay indoors and play video games almost all day long.

If it wasn't for Alin asking that I do her a favor and run some errands for her, I would have stayed chained at this desk the entire day.

Now, it's 3:15AM and I'm still here. It's probably about time that I actually do something the rest of the world does every night... Get some rest.

-s