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Lately I haven't had the opportunity to pour out some of the
creative juices brewing in my brain. The past five months of my
life have been a whirlwind of activity and emotional buzz with
enough stimulus to counter the effects of three large
Quaalude's. I don't really know what sizes Quaalude's come in,
but using my imagination, I see them being roughly the size of
clay pigeons.
On Thanksgiving Day, 2003, I was partially credited for bringing
new life in to this world. I say partially because as much as
I'd like to take full credit for this event, my wife did play a
small part in the conception. Albeit small, it was a vital role.
It's not easy to find a dead horse to have sex with. Please
don't take that out of context. It's actually very easy to find
a dead horse to have sex with.
So after I stuck my penis in her vagina (my wife, not the horse)
we begat life. Halle Rose was born on November 27th. The
diameter of her head, much like my giant quaalude, was the size
of a clay pigeon. Fortunate for me, I managed to keep my head
forward of the happenings down below. But as hard as I tried not
to peak, I just couldn't help looking. No disgusting analogy can
do the event justice. But just in case, let's try a couple!
* Like watching a bloody melon squeeze through two cuts of
swollen, raw sirloin.
* Like watching the insides of Chicken Cordon Bleu squirt out,
except instead of cheese and diced ham, it's a giant,
slime-covered ham that blinks. BLINKS!
If I haven't yet deterred you from having children, please read
on. Since that day, life has been nonstop
fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants (if you can even find them amidst
a pile of vomit-ridden burp cloths and seedy-mustard-shit
diapers) action. They tell you that your life will take a
serious change once the baby arrives. That statement doesn't do
justice. Social life? Out the window. Personal time? Out the
window. Subscription to Naughty Neighbors? Out the window. My
wife threw them out the window.
Then there's the sleep. If you're anything like me (hairy back),
you cherish sleep. You love sleep. People make fun of you
because you're in bed at 9:30 on a Saturday evening. But you
don't care. YOU LOVE SLEEP!
With a baby, you kinda' forget what it's like to have real
sleep. Before you had a child you lived a sedentary life with
the occasional excursion. Nothing too taxing on your system.
Now, you're up all day bouncing the baby and holding the baby.
Feeding the baby and rocking the baby. Changing the baby's
diaper and trying to figure why the baby is crying. WHY IS THE
BABY STILL CRYING? "Give it milk!" I GAVE IT MILK! "Check her
diaper!" IT WAS DRY! "Burp it!" I DID BURP IT WHAT IS GOING ON?
"Calm down. Babies can sense tension!" I DID THAT, TOO! HOLY
SHIT HER FACE IS TURNING RED AND SOME SORT OF LIQUID IS SEEPING
FROM HER EYES! CALL THE DOCTOR!
What I'm trying to say about sleep is that once you have a
child, there are no more opportunities to make up for lost
sleep. And guess what happens to you when you don't get enough
sleep?
You turn in to a whiny, irritable bitch. I mean really. A bitch!
Lately, my wife and I have been on each other's last nerve.
"’Don't swaddle the baby that way?’ What the fuck is that
supposed to mean?" "You think you have all the answers!" "Don't
rub the diaper-rash cream in! Just smear it you dumbass!"
You can spend an entire day pissed off at your significant other
and not know why. I don't know why I hate your guts right now,
but I do and it's because you did something to piss me off and
it had something to do with the baby.
And babies are selfish! I bet no one told you that one, either.
All they do is think about number one and the parents
instantaneously become mere providers. Mommy = milk jugs, Daddy
= Good Swaddler.
During a late night session with Halle, I was using all means to
get her to sleep. This is a common tactic employed by parents;
do any and everything you can to get the baby to sleep. Whisper
in their ear. Bounce them. Rock them. Turn off the lights. Turn
on the lights. Play music. Turn on the television. Pacifier!
Swing! Sing? Cradle! SNUGGLI? CARSEAT? CAR RIDE? LATE-NIGHT
WALK? WHY ISN’T ANY OF THIS WORKING?!
Over the course of a few minutes her eyes would slowly close and
relief would come over me. At the first thought of putting her
back in her crib, her eyes would pop open as if to say, "HAHA
dad! Fooled you! I'm WIDE AWAKE!" So I'd grit my teeth, beg and
plead to god for my child to fall into a deep slumber. One that
would keep her comatose for 8 hours. Okay, I’m lying. I actually
prayed for 8 days. Is that wrong?
At that particular moment of trying to rock my daughter to
sleep, she fixed her giant blue eyes with mine and formed a
smile. It was a toothless smile; gums from ear to ear. My heart
melted and my disposition changed. This kid has me wrapped
around her tiny little finger and I'm not ashamed to say it. I
don't care what you say, there is nothing more rewarding than to
see my child smile - and there's no way to truly understand that
unless you have your own.
Amidst all the confusion, chaos and lack of intercourse, your
child will use a smile as a beacon of light. It will remind you
that despite your superior intelligence and ability to provide,
even on a fledgling level, you’re merely a puddle of smitten goo
in the palm of your child’s hand.
And I guess what I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t take much
to completely change your life. And you can’t truly understand
the joy of having a child unless you have one.
But I wouldn’t recommend having one.
note: McClain is currently building
a barricade around his big toy collection in hopes that Halle
won't be able to puke all over them.
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