Another one bites the dust...

[Pumpy Tudors]

how does she feel about new jersey devils

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Logan

Her poor father...she's the third of four girls.

Sounds like my grandpa. 5 daughters. I'm surprised he still had a full head of hair.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

how does she feel about new jersey devils

I had an ex girlfriend who was in love with Scott Clemmensen. Hence the "ex".

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Logan

I had an ex girlfriend who was in love with Scott Clemmensen. Hence the "ex".

ice cold

[Logan]

Update...Randi and I tied the knot on June 7th in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

I can't believe I started this thread back in 2011. We ended up with a long engagement, as we were originally planning on getting married locally in NYC/NJ but just didn't like what we were seeing. I finally broke down and agreed to do a destination wedding which is what she always wanted, and that took more time to plan. I wouldn't have had it any other way though. We were able to spend about 4 days with most of our 80 friends and family who made the trip, with some staying longer, and for us, it not being just a 5 or 6 hour event made it so much more special.

Last night we got back from our honeymoon in Tulum which was about an hour and a half south of where our wedding took place. Unbelievable beaches and I couldn't believe how amazing the food was. Highly recommend it if you're looking for something a bit more laid back and private.





Can't wait to get back all our professional pics.

[DeToxRox]

Congrats man.

In the process of (not getting in the way of) planning our wedding. Christ it sucks.

[Comey]

Congratulations!

[Lathum]

Saw the pictures on Facebook. Looked like a great time. Congrats and continued happiness. Your bride looks beautiful.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Congrats man.

In the process of (not getting in the way of) planning our wedding. Christ it sucks.

Thanks guys. The destination aspect of it was no doubt an extra stress, communicating with so many people through email and also people down there just operate on an entirely different time spectrum. Up here, if you don't have a photographer booked a year from your date you're going to be playing catch up...down there, they're barely interested in your business unless it's three months out.

Staying out is definitely the best way, just give her some emotional support when the stress piles. Eventually it ends.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

In the process of (not getting in the way of) planning our wedding. Christ it sucks.

Originally Posted by Logan

Staying out is definitely the best way, just give her some emotional support when the stress piles. Eventually it ends.

I told all my friends who were married after me, go to every place she asks, but under no circumstances should you make a decision.

She's known since she was about 10 how her wedding would be. No need for you to come in a year or two before and screw it all up!

And Congrats Logan!

[Solecismic]

Congratulations. I'm a fan of the destination wedding myself, but 80 - that would be hard to pull off. I don't even know how the 150-200 people even begin to plan.

[saldana]

congratulations Logan (and mrs logan)

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Congrats Logan.. You guys look great together..

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Congratulations. I'm a fan of the destination wedding myself, but 80 - that would be hard to pull off. I don't even know how the 150-200 people even begin to plan.

The size of the group was one of the easier aspects of it. First we negotiated our room rates with the hotel directly, prior to us signing any contracts, and having so many rooms likely being taken helped bump up the discount. Once that was done, we started working with an outside travel agent who dealt directly with all of our guests, getting them the rooms they wanted (ocean views, suites, etc) and handling all that goes with it. That was pretty much the end of where the number of people coming played a role for us - just little things after that.

[AnalBumCover]

Congratulations!

[Logan]

Apologies in advance for the length of this. I was thinking about posting about this elsewhere, and remembered that I had a thread sort of chronicling me growing up into the more serious stages of life...having posted about proposing to my girlfriend here and then us getting married.

My wife is now coming up on being 6 months pregnant with our first.

Thankfully there have only been some minor scares along the way (anybody hear about the Eggo waffle recall for potential Listeria contamination? Guess what my wife ate almost exclusively throughout her first trimester when it was the only food she could keep down, and stuck with it out of habit...all the way through to eating half of a box of a specific package that was recalled? All good though thankfully). We consider ourselves to be incredibly lucky and so excited for the baby to arrive...we're not finding out if it is a boy or girl.

Yesterday though...holy crap. We were driving to my sister in law's, and my wife is sitting in the front passenger seat. We're on a busy highway that's three lanes in each direction (280 West for anyone familiar with North Jersey). I'm in the left lane keeping with the flow of traffic when all of a sudden up ahead I see a tire fly over the middle divider, high up into the air, and is crashing down right at us. I start to slam on the brakes and the tire smashes off the front part of the hood, on the passenger side. My SUV starts fishtailing a bit but I manage to keep control, but I can only pull over to the narrow left shoulder as my car is shutting down. Thankfully an off duty corrections officer in her personal car pulled up behind us not too much later and basically blocked us off from oncoming traffic. My wife was hysterical of course but the impact was actually pretty minimal, in the sense that we didn't jerk forward, the airbags didn't deploy. I was able to calm her down...cops came, we got towed, all good. The car is likely totalled, not like I care.

As we're sitting there waiting I see an ambulance in the shoulder of the opposite side without a rear left wheel...it clearly just fell off and went flying at probably 70 MPH, up the divider, and over onto us.

All I can still think about is how a fraction of a second difference could have meant that tire going right into and most likely through the windshield in front of my pregnant wife. I don't know much about windshields and what they can protect against, but let's just say my thinking about it over the past 24 hours hasn't left me very confident that it would have withstood the force of a heavy tire traveling at that speed and also moving in a downward direction. I just can't even imagine what could have been.

We know how lucky we are and we are so thankful that it happened just as it did and not even an ounce worse. I'm still pretty shaken, she is too, but thankfully that baby just keeps on kicking inside her letting us know he or she is doing okay. I'm still finding it hard not to keep on thinking of what could have been, and hopefully writing this all will help and I'll turn my focus even more on being thankful. That's how I truly feel but the complete fear of "what if?" still pokes through at times.

I've read a lot about how "a woman becomes a mother when she finds out she's pregnant, a man becomes a father when he holds his baby for the first time" or some variation. I've honestly felt very connected this whole time...maybe aided by me being at every doctor's appointment and then starting to feel the kicks a couple weeks ago. But I feel like what happened yesterday, and knowing how easily everything could have been completely destroyed, just took things to a whole other level. I don't doubt that I actually felt this before, but it has really cemented that feeling that I would do absolutely anything for our family from this point on.

Thanks for reading.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dude. Dang. Thankfully all are well.

Now on one other point ...

Originally Posted by Logan

That's how I truly feel but the complete fear of "what if?" still pokes through at times.

... I'll let you in on a little something, just so you can start to prepare: welcome to quite likely the rest of your life.

I suspect every parent here could tell you stories of the extreme degree of "what if" nightmares we've had at some point. From the worst-case-scenario type to the what-the-heck-did-you-eat-before-bed type.

The thing that makes that sort of worry endurable perhaps is that, to some extent, it kind of becomes ... abstract, for lack of a better word. I think you simply become so accustomed to a whole new level of "worry" that it gets to be subconscious or something of that sort. You have those moments of stark horrifying "what if" consciously but they usually pass pretty quickly, they just go with the territory & you get some sort of resistance to them built up so that they aren't debilitating.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Dude. Dang. Thankfully all are well.

Now on one other point ...



... I'll let you in on a little something, just so you can start to prepare: welcome to quite likely the rest of your life.

I suspect every parent here could tell you stories of the extreme degree of "what if" nightmares we've had at some point. From the worst-case-scenario type to the what-the-heck-did-you-eat-before-bed type.

The thing that makes that sort of worry endurable perhaps is that, to some extent, it kind of becomes ... abstract, for lack of a better word. I think you simply become so accustomed to a whole new level of "worry" that it gets to be subconscious or something of that sort. You have those moments of stark horrifying "what if" consciously but they usually pass pretty quickly, they just go with the territory & you get some sort of resistance to them built up so that they aren't debilitating.

I know exactly what you mean, in the sense that others (siblings, friends with kids) have told me very similar things. I think I've started along those lines, in that I've always been an overthinker/worrier...and as some of those minor things have popped up during her pregnancy, instead of worrying about it on my own my attention has instead turned to making sure my wife remains calm, keeping her thinking positively, etc. I don't really care very much about how I feel...it's so much about making sure she's in the right place mentally.

Appreciate the advice.

[rjolley]

Yeah, the "what if's" can get pretty downright terrifying if you let them run away. For me, I think about the "what if", but then think about the most likely outcomes and try to focus on them.

And it doesn't go away as they get older, the scenarios increase. You learn to deal with it in the best way that you can. And you learn how to pass on the concern to your kids without making them scared of everything so they can find their path. It can be hard to balance the two.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

... I'll let you in on a little something, just so you can start to prepare: welcome to quite likely the rest of your life.

This. Times one thousand.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Logan

Apologies in advance for the length of this. I was thinking about posting about this elsewhere, and remembered that I had a thread sort of chronicling me growing up into the more serious stages of life...having posted about proposing to my girlfriend here and then us getting married.

My wife is now coming up on being 6 months pregnant with our first.

Thankfully there have only been some minor scares along the way (anybody hear about the Eggo waffle recall for potential Listeria contamination? Guess what my wife ate almost exclusively throughout her first trimester when it was the only food she could keep down, and stuck with it out of habit...all the way through to eating half of a box of a specific package that was recalled? All good though thankfully). We consider ourselves to be incredibly lucky and so excited for the baby to arrive...we're not finding out if it is a boy or girl.

Talia Jade was born on January 27th at 12:33am, and shares the same birthday with her amazing mother...seems like she wanted to come a couple weeks early so she could be part of the celebration. She came in at 6 lbs, 3 oz, 19 inches long, and is perfect in every way.

The last few days have been insane, and things are finally settling down a bit. I have very generous paternity leave at work and am glad I'll be able to hang around for a while to help my wife out as much as possible.

Who wouldn't want to spend every minute possible with this little peanut? I'm completely in love.

[AnalBumCover]

Congratulations! My daughter also shares a birthday with her mother. Somehow stayed in the oven for a whole week past the due date to celebrate.

[Thomkal]

congrats Logan and welcome Talia!

[Edward64]

Congrats ...

(but watch out when she hits her teens!)

[BYU 14]

Congratulations!

[Chief Rum]

Awesome, congrats Logan! She's beautiful.

[rjolley]

Congratulations Logan

[JAG]

Congrats, enjoy that paternity time with your new arrival.

[jaygr]

Congrats!

[law90026]

Congrats!

[digamma]

Congrats!

[Logan]

Thanks all!

[Logan]

Somehow that little peanut up there is six months old already. Time is definitely flying, it's insane.

[frnk55]

That's a very cute peanut!