J.J. Goodman: Writings, Musings and More

  Okay, so, here's the thing….   (Oh bloody hell. What now?)   You shush. I was going to say that I'm sorry for the decidedly atypical and harsh tone of my last post. It's just that, well, the political climate of the last four years has made me a little hyper-sensitive when it comes to the women in my life. I don't regret that, either. I have a huge responsibility as a daughter-dad to do whatever I can to be the best, male role model she, and her soon-to-be-sister, will ever have. That can be a little overwhelming sometimes, and you know what happens when I bottle things like that up.   (Brain go POW!!!)   *squints menacingly*   I suppose I can't argue with that assessment. So yeah, that last blog post? Brain went pow. This one, however… let's get back to lighthearted and heartfelt, shall we?   (Am I gonna need coffee and tissues?)   Probably. Because today is, after all, Halloween. In a few short hours my betrothed and I will take Offspring 1.0 t

  To get up to speed on the Ramblings of an Expectant Dad 2.0 , please feel free to visit the links below: PART 1 PART 2 PART 3   PART 4 PART 5 PART 6 Otherwise….   ________________________ *YAWN* (Starting a blog post with a yawn?) I slept for all of about seventeen minutes last night. (Oh crap this one's gonna be a doozy, isn't it?) Little bit, yeah. So…. Offspring 1.0 is having a really tough time lately. Despite all our efforts, and despite her outward excitement over the prospect of her pending big sisterhood, she's not really okay. There's a lot of anxiety built up in that tiny little brain, and being all of less than four-months shy of three years old, she has no idea how to express it. There's been a bit of regression, especially when it comes to sleep. Sadly my betrothed and I have found ourselves sleeping in separate rooms a little more as of late due to the uncomfortable, late stages of her pregna

 To ramble back to the beginning of Expectant Dad 2.0, please visit the links below: PART 1 PART 2 PART 3   PART 4 PART 5  ________________ Okay, so apparently writing that last post got the proverbial juices flowing. Actually, it wasn't so much writing the last post as it was my finally being able to go to a doctor's appointment with my wife for the first time in thirty-five weeks. (You haven't been to a single appointment yet???) Nope. Thankyouverymuch upidstay ovidcay uckfay ouyay in your acefay. (Tell us how you really feel.) You know me well enough by now to know that not being able to attend a visit, not being able to hear my new little girl's heartbeat in real time, not seeing her for myself on the ultrasound screen, has been downright murderous. So to say it was a huge relief to finally be in the room, to hear that heartbeat, to see her tiny fingers, tiny little toes, tiny little face in 3d on the ultrasouDEAR GOD.  OH MY DEAR GOD.  (What??) Have you

  For prior editions of The Ramblings of an Expectant Dad 2.0, click the links below: PART 1 PART 2 PART 3   PART 4 ________________ I have been really struggling with putting things into words lately, especially when it comes to these ramblings. It's not that I don't want to write, mind you. It's more that most of the time I feel completely overwhelmed. The stress and anxiety accompanying the impending arrival of Offspring, The Sequel has been unlike any I've ever felt. I don't know why. I can't explain it. There's just so much more at stake this time. And I know that seems odd to say, but it's not just mom and dad's lives that are affected this time around. I have another daughter to think about, too. And as excited as she is, the notion of a sibling coming into her wee existence is perhaps a little more than her tiny little mind can comprehend right now. I… I just… *sigh* (Okay, breathe. In. Out. Repeat. Let it out.) I am breathing! Okay, hype

  This post is about a month overdue. Not because I was being lazy, or was too busy, or didn't want to write it, mind you. If you've been a regular reader over the years then you know that every year I try to choose a song as the basis for my annual birthday reflection and introspection. I had started giving this some thought well before my birthday last month, but I simply couldn't find the right words this year. 2020 has been without a doubt an incredibly trying and difficult year thus far. The global health crisis has clouded nearly everything I've done, from my regular employment, to my work with That Hashtag Show, to personal and business travel, right down to my roles as father and husband. Personally, this past year has been, remarkably, positive. Just in the last six months alone we were able to take a beach vacation just before the world shut down. Likewise, we sold our home and moved to a new one with more space for our growing family. And yes, growing, it i

  Soooooo remember last time when we discussed whether or not I could handle two miniature human beings as a parent? And how we collectively decided that   yes, yes I could? Well, about that…. (Oh no. What happened?) I'm glad you asked. (WAIT! Never mind. We don't want' to know.) Too late. I'm going to tell you anyway. Twice, within the last four days, offspring number one has had a meltdown. Not just a meltdown, mind you, but a meltdown of epic proportions. A meltdown of Trump on Twitter proportions. A meltdown of such proportions that my beloved first born was so inconsolable that neither mommy nor daddy nor mommy and daddy nor mommy and daddy and all the kings horses and all the kings men could put the humpty dumpty of her tiny little dilemma back together again. There were tears. All around. AND IT FUCKING SUCKED. That right there is one of the those things that they don't tell you about that I'm telling you now. Sure it's funny to see meme

So here we are at week twenty-three and offspring number two is now the size of a mango and offspring number one had a waffle with mango slices for breakfast and honestly that whole mango-mango offspring scenario kind of weirded me out this morning. (I… don't even know where to begin with that.) *sigh* I know. It's a mango thing. You wouldn't understand. (Please get help.) Sure. In my spare time. Of which I have zero to the trillionteenth power. I think you might have gathered by now that I've had a busy summer thus far. Between dad duties, work duties, general pandemic-related family duties, dad-to-be duties, and selling house-buying house-moving duties I forget to do certain things. Like sleep, or, you know, breathe. Thankfully the human body generally handles the whole breathing thing automatically. Point being… I have a lot going on and it's hard to focus. But… I have another little one on the way, so I have to focus. Thankfully, most of the above is