Who knew you don't need a license for this...

Seriously, Someone is giving these two a child?

Initially John and I were shocked when we found out that we are going to become parents in December. It took a few days to get used to the idea, as we couldn't quite believe anyone was going to let us have a baby....Shouldn't there be license for this? I had visions of some cosmic baby handing out board realizing their mistake and saying "you sent a baby to the Clarks??? the Clarks??? They are irresponsible winos who drive the most unsafe car on the planet and can't keep plants alive. What were you thinking? Take that baby back and give it to someone who has a 401K." But, so far no one's figured out their mistake, and in about 15 weeks we'll be parents to a little boy or girl who hopefully won't know what a 401K is either.

Looks like they did!

We have no delusions that we know the first thing about being parents, despite all the books and internet research, but surprisingly we both seem to be settling into the idea of being responsible for another being relatively well. Our child may have a different view on this, and I fully expect him or her to one day petition the cosmic baby handing out board in the sky and let them know of their error. He or she will likely asked to be transferred to the nice couple down the street who drives a car that rates high on the consumer report safety list and who have a beautiful tomato garden in their backyard.

So, in preparation for this petition we've come up with our own list to hopefully persuade this child we have some inkling of what we are doing. It's our baby wish list. We've started to write down all our hopes and thoughts for our first born. The plan is one day to show it to him/or her and convince him to shelve his grievance list and stick with us. While most of our list will remain private my father in-law sent us a great wish which was "I hope you can sit on the floor with the dog and share your biscuit with him." Very fitting we think for the child of a future vet.


Throughout the last 25 weeks we've been thinking and adding to our list and one wish that I don't mind sharing is that I hope this baby has a group of friends that are as special and supportive as the friends we've been fortunate to acquire. From childhood friends to our crew in Grenada, John and I have been blessed with a group of people who love us and lime with us despite our aforementioned shortcomings.

Good childhood friends. Fun Bobby and Johno!

This June I had the pleasure of watching my partner in crime, confident and one of the few people who makes me laugh in any situation get married to her perfect match. There was a time I think our mothers thought Katie and I might end up together in a beige pant suit commitment ceremony, but we both managed to find our perfect male mates, though without a doubt Katie is my ideal woman and best friend I've ever had.

When thinking about what I wish for Baby Clark; I hope he or she has a Katie in his or her life. Someone who makes you smile no matter how bleak things look and who you don't mind spending a very hungover day on a deserted island  in the South of France with...incidentally we were supposed to be going to St. Tropez, but as the "french speaker" I was too busy blowing chunks over the side of the ferry to listen to the announcement and we ended up not in beautiful St. Tropez, but instead on a deserted island with a bunch of frog families who who knew to pack pic-nics. Hideous day and an all time low in our Europe travels, and several years later we still think back to that day and shudder.

Not St. Tropez but thankfully not the deserted island either!

 We've held each others hands as we got one another down the the aisle to marry the amazing men who vowed they would put up with us for life, and we've held each other up as we've left the bar after one too many vinos. My wish for our baby is that he or she has a friend to share life's all time highs and lows with and everything in between. I've been so fortunate to find this and despite our lack of 401K's and consumer report rated automobiles; I think maybe the baby handing out board knew that this baby would be ok, because its got an all star team of support backing up its bumbling parents.

Katie and Mike on one of life's all time highs...!

Thanks to our wonderful friends and family who are holding our hands through the next step.

On second thought. We may be in serious trouble...