Hello My Friends Happy New Year 2012 and Welcome to Robby's Lobby this month, the first edition of this New Year and a time that saw one of the biggest and most emotionally charged moments of my life unfold. I have played in for 10s of thousands of people in jam packed stadiums, been in plane crashes, toured active military zones, went parachuting, been in a German prison, spent time at a Mexican circus less than 10 feet from uncaged lions (no lie. I really did that) and done a long list of things I can't even bear to mention ion public, but nothing has measured up to the last few days of my life.

You may have caught last month's column where I had mentioned my wife Miyoko and I were expecting our first child, well; at 3:04pm on January 20th 2012 it all became a reality! After many hours of watching my wife bravely make her way through the final stages of her pregnancy and labor, we and a team of unbelievably awesome doctors and nurse delivered a beautiful 7lb 12oz baby girl. It was truly the most amazing thing I have ever experienced, to hold a little pink baby girl that was made up of parts of both of us, a life that we watched grow inside of my her for the better part of last year and now that little girl was in our arms (although still a little messy from the 9 months of living in my wife's warm belly). I'm usually pretty good at putting things into words, but I can't begin to find the words to do justice to the emotions I was feeling at that moment. I hope you all have the chance to feel these things some day if you haven't already, it truly is an unexplainable gift.

We named her Hana Margaret Hana because we thought it was a beautiful name and we wanted her to have a name that is used in Japan as well as the United States as we she will be a duel citizen. And her middle name Margaret, after my late grandmother. My wife's family came from Tokyo to join us as we bring the baby home to a house full of love and stuffed animals for Hana to spend the first few years of her life amidst. It's like a pink bomb went off in my house, I never had much pink in the house, a lot of black, but not much pink, that's probably not the only thing that's going to change.

Now it's the reality of having a baby at home, the diapers, the night feedings, the doctor visits, the never ending lessons of raising a child and everything else that comes with it and I couldn't be happier.

So, because I'm pretty worn out and I'm going get home as fast as I can to play with my new baby, that's all I have for you this month, I'm so glad I could share this experience with you all, (I've included a picture of Hana Margaret Takac on the day of her birth !).

I've been very busy with the baby so my band mates have been great about it, but now it's time to get the next series of rehearsals together and get new songs together for the next Goo Goo Dolls album, (this will be our 10th studio album, crazy, right?), we're currently on a pretty light schedule of live shows with a few appearances scheduled at places like Universal Theme Park in Florida, a legendary Pro Golfer's Association performance in Scottsdale Arizona as well as a few other scattered dates in the US, I'll fill you in more next month !

All the best to you all in the New Year The Year of the Dragon. I love that !

Peace !

Robby