I Confess!

Well, Dan is out of town this week so I'll make an attempt to post something myself. I might as well tell on myself before Dan can rat me out anyway.

We went to view Max's 3 month photographs at Irwin Photography last week. Dan and I were both really excited about seeing the first professional photographs taken of our baby boy but I guess I hadn't prepared myself for the full experience. Connie, the photographer, has a beautiful studio very well equipped with the latest technology. So, she sat us down in a viewing room, dimmed the lights, put on the pretty music and projected the sweetest photos I've ever seen! Before I knew it, the tears were flowing. Those of you who know me know I've always been easily brought to tears. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive. Maybe I'm still a little hormonal. Maybe I'm a little stressed with Max being sick and requiring breathing treatments. Or maybe I'm just still completely overwhelmed at how much I love this little boy and seeing such amazing images of him is more than I can bear without a little release! Whatever the reason, I wear my bloodshot eyes and tear streaked face with pride. (And maybe it was just a spec of dust, but I think Dan may have had a little something in his eyes, too!)

There are a couple of other photos posted of Max under the "Worth the Wait" post at www.irwinphotography.blogspot.com.

Do babies really like this stuff?

I am upstairs in the office uploading lullabys and singalongs to iTunes. So far I have input the CD’s “Lullaby Classics” and “Playdate Fun” from Baby Einstein and “Loving Lullabies: 15 Christian Instrumentals” from Cedermont Baby.

“Why on earth are you doing that?” you may ask. I am doing it for two reasons. First, because there is a lot of research that says childrens brains are stimulated by music. Max has an iPod player in his bedroom and I want to fill it with soothing, happy songs. Second, because I do not remember any children songs and I have failed miserably at singing to my son.

Max is becoming very aware of his surroundings. He watches everything and likes to “talk” and interact with people. When you talk and sing to him he becomes very animated. He smiles and coos and kicks his legs. “Great” I thought “I’ll sing him some kiddy songs”.

So I start the first verse of “I’m a Little Teapot”. Now picture this in your head. Max is laying on a blanket on the floor looking up at me. I begin the song “I’m a little teapot, short and stout…” I am doing the arm motions and everything. I get to “here is my handle, here is my spout” and forget the rest. Of course, Max is a baby and he could care less that I am singing “something, something, something, blah, blah, blah”

At that very moment I could hardly remember the words to any song, let alone, one appropriate to sing to my baby boy. I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I can just imagine the look on Shannon’s face if she heard me singing “Breaking the Law” by Judas Priest to my impressionable son. I fumbled through the song and entertained Max for the next few minutes. I vowed to be more prepared for my next performance.

So here I sit learning the words to “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Pop goes the Weasel”. This kids stuff is okay. I am determined to work in The Beatles, Stones and maybe some Led Zeppelin too.

A baby can fall asleep listening to U2’s “Joshua Tree” right?

Max in his Lazyboy!

I Dig This Crazy Kid!

I want apologize to my readers for not keeping up the blog lately. I know both of you must have been disappointed. The truth is, I have been working a lot and when I get home all I want to do is hang out with my son.

Daycare is going well. I drop Max off around 6:30 in the morning on my way to work. I don’t mind driving him. We have some nice father/son conversations. Naturally, I do all of the talking. Right now it is still dark that early in the morning and I can’t tell if he is really listening. I can only hear Max jabbering in the backseat. (He is probably just mocking me.)

It is just a short drive to the daycare. We can usually make it in about 8-10 minutes. 99% of the time it is uneventful. There have been a couple of cranky mornings when Max needed a pacifier. On those mornings it didn’t take long for me to master the ability to find his pacifier and then his mouth without taking my eyes off the road and still having one hand on the wheel. I might poke him in the eye or the ear, but eventually the pacifier makes it into his mouth. Then he is usually quiet and content until I drop him off.

We did have kind of an exciting morning before daycare this past Wednesday.

It was about 5:30 am and I awoke to the sound of my son screaming and crying. I mean, red faced, losing his breath, tears streaming down his cheeks crying. I hadn’t heard him squall like that since Shannon clipped his finger while trimming his little nails. (That is a whole other story…he was sobbing, Shannon was sobbing…) Max doesn’t usually get upset like that so I hurried into his room to see what was wrong.

“What is the matter?” I said through bloodshot, sleepy eyes. “I don’t know,” said Shannon, “he has a clean diaper, he slept good. I think he is hungry but he won’t eat and I really need to feed him or pump.” I went in the kitchen to warm a bottle for Max so Shannon could “relieve some pressure”. (I don’t know what PSI her chest gets to, but I bet it is pretty high.)

So I am sitting in the chair holding my crying son. His eyes are red and his cheeks are wet from tears. I put the bottle in his mouth and his wailing softens to a sob. After about 20 seconds I hear a rumble in his little tummy. Just then he lets go with a phttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt in his diaper. I could feel the fabric pouch filling against my forearm. It was like the Old Faithful geyser. Within seconds a little odor wafted up to my nose. “Peww!” I said. “Buddy, you stink” . He stopped eating and a big smile came over his face. He was happy for the rest of the day.

If only life were always that simple.

Max Goes to Daycare

We reached a bittersweet milestone this week at our house. Max went to his first day of daycare.

The day started out like any other. Shannon was feeding our son in his bedroom while I walked the dogs and got ready for work. When Max was done eating, Shannon changed his diaper and got him dressed for his new “school”. He was wearing soft, terry cloth jammies with feet in them. They were red and tan striped with a fuzzy teddy bear patch on the front. It sure would be nice if we could all wear stuff like that to work and school. I bet people would be a lot happier.

When Max and I were both dressed for our day we began packing the supplies he would need at daycare. There were diapers, bottles, baby wipes, diaper cream and a couple changes of clothes (in case they go to a nice restaurant for lunch I guess). I began to wonder how long he would be at this daycare. We loaded the items in a bag and put our darling son into his car seat. Max was in a pretty good mood. If I were a weather man I would say he was mostly sleepy and partly happy. He would likely turn happier as the day went on. As always, there is a good chance of precipitation. Shannon and Max got in her car. Because I was on my way to work, I followed in mine.

Daycare is not what it used to be. Gone are the days of the sweet little old neighbor lady who would keep kids in her home for a few dollars. Now there are rules and regulations. Forms and procedures. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful that they are so careful. You don’t want just anyone to have access to your children. It just feels strange to have to punch codes and keypads to drop your son off at daycare. So, as we were standing at the front door punching in the access code to open it, I expected to see Max’s grandmothers hiding in the bushes ready to “spring him” once the coast was clear. (Neither Alice or Ginny were too fond of putting the little man in daycare) I could just picture them in camouflage, faces blacked out like a couple of Navy SEALs.

By the time we finished dropping off the paperwork, learning the drop off/pick up procedure and talking to Max’s “teacher” Nancy, the poor little guy was almost asleep again. Shannon and I didn’t really want to leave. We just kind of stood there looking down at our cute little baby boy. I was thinking to myself, “I wish I would win the lottery so I could just stay home and hang out with Max”. After what seemed like a half hour (it was really about a minute) we left our son in the capable hands of the daycare staff. There was no crying or whining. Not even from Max.

From what I understand, he slept all morning. His Granny Alice showed up a couple hours later to “check on him” and ended up giving him his bottle. After that, I think Max slept until Shannon picked him up in the early afternoon.

All in all I would consider that a successful first day.

Saturday Morning with Max

Last Saturday morning, after Shannon had fed him, I put Max in the bathtub. His hands and feet were stinky and his second and third chin smelled like sour milk. He needed a good scrub. I ran warm water in the tub and stripped him naked. I lathered him up and scrubbed him clean. (He especially liked it when I was washing his little feet.) Max is happy in the tub as long as we keep warm water on him.

When I was done bathing him I put a clean diaper on him, greased him up with baby lotion and then put him in a new outfit. “Good as new,” I said. He was smiling from ear to ear.

We both went into the living room to hang out. The older Max gets, the more fun he is to hang out with. He is two months old (after 8 weeks you can start giving their age in months) and he is starting to enjoy “playtime”. Playtime is that magical, yet brief, period between breastfeeding, pooping, burping, baths and napping.

I put a soft blanket on the floor so Max and I could stretch our legs. The TV was playing music videos but we weren’t watching. We listened to the songs and Max would “dance” to the music. He would smile and laugh as I sang along to the lyrics. His favorite video of the morning was the song “Low” by the hip-hop artist Flo Rida (pronounced flow rider). He loves songs about big booty! Of course that is when his mother walked in the room.

“What on earth are you singing with my son?!” Shannon says. “Chill Mom,” I say, “that’s his jam. Max is just trying to get his groove on.”

Long story short. I decided we better stick to singing about the ABC’s.

8 weeks old!

In just the last couple of days, Max seems to have entered a whole new stage of development. He's starting to interact more, noticing everything. Last night, he actually paid attention when I read him his bedtime story. I'll have him writing book reports before long!