by Richard Rowell, Father-to-Be
Ultrasound photo from January 19, 2016 - Image (c) Lyn Lomasi, All Rights Reserved
On June 4th, 2016, or thereabouts, Lyn Lomasi and I will be welcoming a baby girl into the world. Her name will be Nova Skye Rowell. It's actually quite incredible how quickly we came to an agreement on that name, too. I apologize if this post becomes rather long and extremely verbose, but I've been meaning to write something about the baby for quite some time. This seemed like the most opportune time now that we know the gender.
On the Name
Lyn loves to come up with the baby names, using French and Native American influences. The naming process was something I was definitely looking forward to, but I was dreading the idea that I would become incredibly indecisive. Fortunately, it ended up being a much simpler affair than I could have ever expected. Lyn sent me a list of names she'd selected from a gender neutral list. Most of them are first names that are owned by famous actors/actresses, etc. There were others that I felt would engender far too many annoying jokes. Nova really stood out to me because you simply don't come across many people named Nova. While it's apparently listed among boy names, too, Lyn and I decided we both liked the name enough that we would have used Nova whether the baby had been a boy or a girl.
Funny enough, Nova was Lyn's favorite among the list of names she'd sent me, too. We didn't just pick it because it sounded "cool," either. Nova means "new" in Latin (and in English and French, too), but more importantly, it means "chases butterflies" in Hopi. So we had the Native American influence in there, too. We kept the name short and sweet and decided on Skye as a middle name rather quickly. In that case, we really just chose it because it sounds good alongside Nova. We also decided in the beginning that the baby would have my last name.
The best part is we've had overwhelmingly positive feedback about the name. The last thing I wanted was a fight over it, which is why I'm so glad we came to such a quick decision.
On Becoming a Father
I've always been fond of the idea of becoming a father. To be honest, I wasn't sure I ever would be. After undergoing intense chemotherapy for cancer early last year, it was quite possible that I would never be able to naturally father a child. So it was a bit of a surprise, but it's not like we weren't trying...
It's a bit overwhelming when you start thinking about all of the what if's. But as Lyn constantly reminds me, every baby is different. Even after having four herself, you always are starting over from scratch no matter how many kids you've had already. Lyn already has an 18-year old, a 17-year old, a 12-year-old and an 11-year old. So it really is starting over. It's really cool that the baby already has 3 sisters and a brother.
I know the first year or so I won't be getting much sleep. Probably not much for the next seventeen years, either. But I've always wanted to raise a child of my own, and this is my chance. So I better not screw it up...
On Everyone's Incredible Generosity
Lyn put up a Baby Register on Amazon in October, mostly to organize all of the various items we would need for the baby. We expected a couple of my family members and a couple of friends might buy one or two little things. The support has actually been overwhelming. About a dozen different people have purchased items for us, high priority stuff, too. Now that everyone knows we're having a girl, it will be interesting to see if anyone purchases any "girly" stuff for us. We're preferring to get items as gender-neutral as possible, but we're happy with anything we can use. We've also gotten a few donations of old baby stuff from friends that's been gathering dust. We have the Graco bassinet already that my mom got for us, and the only big things we still need are the car seat, high chair, and stroller.
On Keeping a Parenting Journal
Whenever I have tried to make a promise to write a series on a regular basis, I've never been able to keep up with it. But when it comes to the Nova Skye story, there's more than likely going to be enough I can write about. There will be so many pictures and home videos taken that I don't really have an excuse not to share a ridiculous amount of content about the baby. Being my first child, I'm sure I'll get carried away. I know myself too well - I may go a bit overboard. A lot of parents do, though. What I will definitely try to do is keep some sort of parenting journal. Perhaps even a mistake journal...
I'm extremely fortunate to have such an experienced parent be the mother of my daughter. There's so much parenting content that she's written over the years, and if something comes up that she somehow hasn't written about, I guess I'll try my hand at writing something up about it. Parenting is a crazy journey and there's obviously a lot to say about it - you're raising a human being to hopefully turn into a decent adult. That's totally the tallest task ever.
Hopefully, I do OK.
This isn't even the beginning. This is only the prologue. Chapter one won't be for awhile.
On the Name
Lyn loves to come up with the baby names, using French and Native American influences. The naming process was something I was definitely looking forward to, but I was dreading the idea that I would become incredibly indecisive. Fortunately, it ended up being a much simpler affair than I could have ever expected. Lyn sent me a list of names she'd selected from a gender neutral list. Most of them are first names that are owned by famous actors/actresses, etc. There were others that I felt would engender far too many annoying jokes. Nova really stood out to me because you simply don't come across many people named Nova. While it's apparently listed among boy names, too, Lyn and I decided we both liked the name enough that we would have used Nova whether the baby had been a boy or a girl.
Funny enough, Nova was Lyn's favorite among the list of names she'd sent me, too. We didn't just pick it because it sounded "cool," either. Nova means "new" in Latin (and in English and French, too), but more importantly, it means "chases butterflies" in Hopi. So we had the Native American influence in there, too. We kept the name short and sweet and decided on Skye as a middle name rather quickly. In that case, we really just chose it because it sounds good alongside Nova. We also decided in the beginning that the baby would have my last name.
The best part is we've had overwhelmingly positive feedback about the name. The last thing I wanted was a fight over it, which is why I'm so glad we came to such a quick decision.
On Becoming a Father
I've always been fond of the idea of becoming a father. To be honest, I wasn't sure I ever would be. After undergoing intense chemotherapy for cancer early last year, it was quite possible that I would never be able to naturally father a child. So it was a bit of a surprise, but it's not like we weren't trying...
It's a bit overwhelming when you start thinking about all of the what if's. But as Lyn constantly reminds me, every baby is different. Even after having four herself, you always are starting over from scratch no matter how many kids you've had already. Lyn already has an 18-year old, a 17-year old, a 12-year-old and an 11-year old. So it really is starting over. It's really cool that the baby already has 3 sisters and a brother.
I know the first year or so I won't be getting much sleep. Probably not much for the next seventeen years, either. But I've always wanted to raise a child of my own, and this is my chance. So I better not screw it up...
On Everyone's Incredible Generosity
Lyn put up a Baby Register on Amazon in October, mostly to organize all of the various items we would need for the baby. We expected a couple of my family members and a couple of friends might buy one or two little things. The support has actually been overwhelming. About a dozen different people have purchased items for us, high priority stuff, too. Now that everyone knows we're having a girl, it will be interesting to see if anyone purchases any "girly" stuff for us. We're preferring to get items as gender-neutral as possible, but we're happy with anything we can use. We've also gotten a few donations of old baby stuff from friends that's been gathering dust. We have the Graco bassinet already that my mom got for us, and the only big things we still need are the car seat, high chair, and stroller.
On Keeping a Parenting Journal
Whenever I have tried to make a promise to write a series on a regular basis, I've never been able to keep up with it. But when it comes to the Nova Skye story, there's more than likely going to be enough I can write about. There will be so many pictures and home videos taken that I don't really have an excuse not to share a ridiculous amount of content about the baby. Being my first child, I'm sure I'll get carried away. I know myself too well - I may go a bit overboard. A lot of parents do, though. What I will definitely try to do is keep some sort of parenting journal. Perhaps even a mistake journal...
I'm extremely fortunate to have such an experienced parent be the mother of my daughter. There's so much parenting content that she's written over the years, and if something comes up that she somehow hasn't written about, I guess I'll try my hand at writing something up about it. Parenting is a crazy journey and there's obviously a lot to say about it - you're raising a human being to hopefully turn into a decent adult. That's totally the tallest task ever.
Hopefully, I do OK.
This isn't even the beginning. This is only the prologue. Chapter one won't be for awhile.
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