DanPar's baby shower books!

Back when I was but an unknowing Dad-to-be, we asked out family and friends to, instead of cards, give us books, with kind little notes written inside.
17 months into DanPar being a real person, let's take a look back!

This is an old book, (copyright 1985.) so I opened this up a few days ago, since DanPar is now more or less okay with paper pages now. Jessi's parents used to read through this story, and replace all the neighbors' and pets' names with actual people and pets from their own life. Which is just too adorable. It makes me think, "Wow, I should really get to know my neighbors."

Daniel, We are so blessed to have you coming into our lives.
We can hardly wait to meet you.

This is what really got me thinking. I send the little tyke over to their house a couple times a week, and so when I read this, especially "We can hardly wait to meet you," I thought, Well, I hope they're not disappointed. It was a weird thought to have, but for some reason, I couldn't help remembering all the hype there was around DanPar the Magnificent.

It's amazing with family. You can love someone before they're even here.

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This was given to me by my former DungeonMaster (whom I have dethroned) and friend since high school, Jared. Dude's awesome. I'm his freelance official editor, and he's working on getting his own website into popularity, over at The Nerd Cavern. (Check it out!)

You can be anything you want to be. Whatever you choose to be, be the best at it.

So, if we had our way, DanPar would be the lead scientist of a global fellowship of humanitarians, who finally find a way to provide plentiful clean water across the world.

But if DanPar has his way, he'll probably want to be a ninja.

So by golly, be the best ninja there is!

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The big joke here is that DanPar's "GramPar" is a Sanders. So, Pooh's crashing at big Joe's place, and it's funny.

Big Joe's a big softie when it comes to babies!

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I love this book. So much. I read it to DanPar on mornings when neither of us are morning-ing very well. I have a rule: Having a slow morning? Too bad, read Great Day for Up, and with gusto! 

"Congrats!" is such an interesting word to use. You got BORN, bro! Congrats! Of course, there's no better word, because there's no single word that could possibly encompass all the joy, newness, and sheer mystic power of new life.

I'm also excited to see my guy grow up. Kind of. I take a bajillion pictures of the guy now, and I hope that'll help. And so far, everything about the kid is perfect. I'm worried that when he grows into a real human being, he'll be just as flawed and human as everyone else.

Amy and Bryan's little sweetheart, Cody!

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I'm one of those parents who doesn't care if boys like girly things or vice versa. So bring on the princesses, and bring on the magic. Plus, as a teacher, I know the value of themed books and assisted reading books.

Thank you, Salvador Ramos! Your powerful words have really resonated with me, and your well-wishes are well-received!
(Yeah, I thought it'd be funny to include a random thrift store book we got. But I'm all out of jokes, so, um, done.)

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Luckily for DanPar's bookshelf, we have plenty of friends who have gifted him books. And lucky for me, because man, it's easy to write a blog post when it's just 'Hey, let's look at what everyone else said!'

Thanks for reading, reader!

He's just SO CUTE.