The Calm After the Storm

I haven't had much time to post as I've been finishing up a class I taught this spring. Grades were due yesterday, so for all intents and purposes I'm done! It was my first solo gig as a college teacher and I thought it went really well. Although I'm technically unemployed for the moment, I'm always looking for new teaching positions. If anyone needs a education instructor to teach online courses, drop me a line! Appointments are not limited whatsoever, but please still call now! ;)

As you can see, I'm including more pictures of the boy from January through March in this post to conclude what I started in the previous one. A number of folks posted or emailed to say how cute he is and my wife and I most certainly agree! He's standing with support and moving from object to object, getting more sure of himself each time. I imagine he'll be walking within the next month or so, but it's so hard to tell when he's going to make that next jump forward. His growth is just amazing on any level you can think of and he's just such a happy and content little guy!

Now that my class is over, we're going to take our first real family vacation! It'll be the boy's first experience with the ocean and I can't wait to see how he reacts to the beach. We're staying with my folks who rented a house for a couple weeks and we'll be there the first week. We're looking forward to getting out a few times by ourselves, but we've always had the experience that when the time comes for us to "do our own thing" we really want the little man with us! Still, alone time is important so I'm sure we'll want to slip away and his grandparents will be more than willing to offer their babysitting services. :)

He Ought To Be In Pictures

It's the end of another week and I could definitely use a nap! Fortunately I get to sleep in tomorrow. Yay! I've been working on the final exam for a class I'm teaching and my wife has been trying to get ahead at work before our trip to Cape Cod in June where we'll take more pictures than anyone but us would want to see. However, that made me remember today that while I wasn't updating my blog, I obviously wasn't posting any pictures here either. So, when someone recently commented to me how cute the boy was, I realized that any readers of this blog don't know how much he's grown. So, I'll take this opportunity to let you all see how our little man has changed.

At two months, most folks were saying that the boy looked more like me than my wife. What I pointed out to everyone, however, was the fact that we looked alike because our hair styles looked pretty much the same at that point! Yup, you have a receding hairline in the genes my boy and for that your ancestors humbly apologize. ;) The most repeated comment we received around this time was how happy he was, not only in pictures, but when they'd see him in person. Even now he seems so content and along with sleeping through the night since six weeks is why we never get any sympathy.

It was around this time that we took Brady on his first long distance non-grandparents trip. We went to Vermont for a few days and wondered how he'd do in the car. Other than waking up when he was ready to eat, he slept...well, like a baby the entire way. (Ok, you parents out there who haven't slept in months are really peeved now!) We had hoped for a nice Fall leaves tour, but when we got there we had nothing but wind, rain, and cold. It was really the boy's first experience in cold weather since when he was born it was about 90 degrees outside! So, the first time that a gust of wind came up he put his arms out and had a look of panic in his eyes. To this day whenever it's windy I say, "We're back in Vermont boy!"

By the time we got to December and the boy's first Christmas he was starting to hold his head up pretty well and was beginning to flip onto his stomach. As with many other kids, when he opened his presents he was usually more interested in the wrapping paper than the gift! Around this time he also started developing a very specific personality that has only developed since then. He still didn't care much for the cold, especially up in the Adirondacks, but always greeted new people with a smile. I tell you, he's such a flirt and women flock to him like you wouldn't believe.

So, that's enough for today and I'll begin next time with 2006. I think we have at least a few more pictures to post. ;)

Beck and Call

It's been an eventful week and I've tried to make time for an entry, but that isn't the only thing that's gone by the wayside. Actually, my last post didn't make it up on the blogger site until Wednesday because I kept getting errors when I tried to post! I guess they figured it out eventually; darn technology!

About a week ago the boy was relegated to an army crawl for getting around, but since then he's perfected the "hands and knees" crawl technique and got up on his feet with support for the first time. Now he's on his feet all the time and is even trying some sideway steps. It's funny to watch since his feet slide apart slowly and he doesn't notice until he's almost done a split. A normal adult reaction would be to readjust one of your feet and I wondered to myself why he wasn't doing that, but then I remembered that he doesn't know how!

It goes without saying that the boy is into everything and those days of putting him on the floor and expecting him to be entertained are over! He still loves the simplest toys, but he goes from toy to toy with hardly any transition. That's been made even more demanding by the fact that my wife hurt her back on Friday which left me to do all of the boy lifting this weekend. I don't mind it though since I'm pretty used to it from weekdays and I've been loosing a bunch of weight over the last few months! I dropped about 10% of what I weighed last November, so it's nice to know all that running around provided some benefits!

The highlight of the week has to be the little man saying his first intelligible sounds. He says "da da da da da" quite a lot and even some "ma ma ma ma ma" which left my wife and I tearing up. You know objectively that he doesn't know what he's saying yet, but you can see that glint in his eye that he's beginning to associate certain sounds with different objects. I think it'll be pretty cool when I can have a conversation with him, which absolutely blows my mind. To think, 10 months ago he wasn't much more than the size of a football and now he's standing up!

Well, duty calls as it's time for his feeding since I'm still at his beck and call for the time being. It's tiring, but since I know I'll miss this stage when it's gone, I don't mind one bit and am enjoying every minute of it.

A Not So Instant Replay

It's another week in stay at home dad land and I can't believe that the boy is about a week away from being 10 months old! The time has gone by fast in most ways, but I can remember every single thing that happened leading up to the birth. So, I thought I'd take today to recap some of the missing information from the blog and what kept me away.

The birth process itself was very trying, as I believe I reported before my hiatus. After numerous medications, pushing for hours, and finally having a c-section, my wife welcomed our little man to the world...while I was out in the hall trying not to keel over. Only after we were back in the room did it occur to us that I hadn't eaten anything for almost 24 hours! So, a tip to you dads is to bring snacks! In truth I did bring food, but in that moment when your wife is in pain and you are focusing on what she needs (and doesn't need), everything else pretty much fades away.

When we got home, I think my wife and I were in shock in addition to the obvious exhaustion my wife was feeling. I wasn't feeling especially spry myself, but I was the only one allowed to do stairs and I wasn't in any pain. Well, except for a pain in my ass, but I'll leave that for another entry! ;) My parents were here for awhile which made the situation both easier and harder at the same time. You obviously appreciate them being there for support and to help you troubleshoot if anything goes wrong. However, I think both my wife and I wanted time for just the three of us. In the end, my parents didn't have to do much more than be there for moral support since the boy slept at four hour intervals from the day we brought him home, but we so appreciated them just being there. To this day we get no sympathy because he sleeps so well, but I suppose that's to be expected. :)

After a couple weeks, the boy wasn't just sleeping at four hour intervals, but through the night entirely. He also took naps in the morning and afternoon and what I wouldn't give sometimes to get that time back since now he sleeps much less during the day. Well, that's true from a "getting things accomplished" standpoint, but I also wouldn't give up the time I've spent with him these months for anything. I have loved reading to him, helping him learn to flip and crawl, and just spending time with him. I suppose that's something that most dads don't have time to do or frankly don't want to do, but I think that's beginning to change.

During all this time, the boy had significant problems with acid reflux. Even at the hospital he was spitting up a large portion of his formula and we were concerned that he wasn't getting enough nutrition. The doctor assured us that he might grow out of it as most infants do, but he was below the average weight which seemed to us like a bad sign. We know now that although he was under weight, he was and is above average in height, so taken together it now seems very logical. He was also consistently gaining weight at the pace he should have which he wouldn't have done had there been a real problem. Eventually, after trying many different formulas, changing medications, and going for tests at the hospital, he slowly outgrew it and appears to be absolutely fine. However, we didn't know that at the time and it left us stressed and worried.

So, as you might expect, blogging wasn't high on my priority list, especially since we kept in almost daily contact with family and friends. There was also a time that I felt guilty for not having kept a record of the boy's development, so I ended up avoiding it for awhile. But last week I just felt compelled to go back to it and hopefully the last few entries are a sign that it will stick. I won't be trying to write a saga of the boy's life over the last 9 months as I post in the coming days, but will add tidbits here and there as the blog goes along. Here's to hoping I can keep it going! Cheers!