Happy Father's Day!

It's easy to extoll the virtues of motherhood. We carry around the baby for 9 months as it grows from a little speck into a little baby. We can imagine being mothers and start planning for the future of the child, long before it arrives into our lives. Yes, there is a special bond between a mother her child. Fathers don't naturally get that early connection. They squint at the fuzzy blotches on the ultrasound as the doctors and mothers tell them, "Look! A baby!" They read the books, go to the classes and watch the movies. It still is an abstract concept. When the baby actually arrives, the full effect of fatherhood begins. All of the sudden, fathers really see that there is this little tiny person that will forever change their lives.

Dan has always been the type to step up to the various life challenges throughout the fifteen years that we have known each other. In fatherhood, he has been no different. I have been terribly lucky to be able to say that my husband has been thoroughly involved with the entire process of starting a family. He came to as many doctors appointments as his work schedule would allow him to. He came to the childbirth classes with me and watched the movies. He read various books on childbirth, some with rather graphic pictures and descriptions. He even found some childbirth movies on his own and set aside time for us watch to them together. But it is Dan's actions since the baby was born that amaze me the most.

When Baby Dylan arrived, Dan did everything he could be involved with the care of the new baby, from the cutting of the cord to watching the first baby bath. He asked the nurses questions about swaddling and the heat table. He was never more than a few feet from the new baby.

As you can see from the pictures, the baby looked nothing like Dan. I would have guessed that this would disappoint most dads. Instead, Dan marvelled at how much he looked like me, and he thought that was so adorable. It made me feel beautiful and special as his wife and the mother of his child.

When it came to the first diaper change, I have heard of many fathers stepping back in fear of the grossness of the tar-like baby poop. Not Dan. He took on the charge with enthusiasm and excitement of the new challenge. Dan has been a regular diaper changer since then.

Now we are just over 10 weeks into Baby Dylan's new life with us. We are still learning the ropes of parenthood, but Dan is always willing to feed and diaper change the baby or try new ways to hold or burp him. He has been ever vigilant about emptying the diaper pail so I won't have to. He makes up songs to sing to Dylan as he plays with him. He notices all of the changes in Dylan as he becomes stronger and more alert. He muses with me about what Dylan's future will hold. Which sports will he play? Which video games?

Dylan is so lucky to have a father who is so excited to have him in his life. I am so lucky to have a husband who takes such great care of us and is so involved as a partner in parenting. I would not be able to endure the occasional long crying spells or the sleepless nights without Dan's dedicated support and encouragement. I look forward to our growth as a family, because I know I will always have Dan at my side.

I love you, Dan! Happy First Father's Day!

Forever Mom

There are a lot of things you kinda anticipate as you transition into parenthood. The yelling and crying, crazy eating, and constant changing, not mention what the baby does. One characteristic of becoming a parent caught me by surprise. There is a special bond between mother and child that is something I haven't been a part of in the past. I have family who have kids but you really can't understand that tender love between mom and baby until you're a part of it (being the guy that changes the diaper pail for example). The burping for hours every day when he's got colic. The gentle holding of his head when he's learning to sit. The giggle at his strange noises. The scream of 'dimples!' when he smiles. The patient feeding when mom's so tired she doesn't know that she's awake. I think everyone's built for something great and it's obvious when you see it.

I know what your thinking. Dan's in trouble and he's trying to get on Marci's good side. Although it's a good idea and you'd have sound basis to make the assumption, I'm still in good standing. With the idea that one day my wee one might be reading this I wanted him to know how much is mom loves him like no other one can...and about how he let her know in as loud of a voice he could. And trust me, this kid is loud.

Simple Pleasures

Back in December 2008, we had an ultrasound to check on the baby while he was still small enough to take a good picture. It was that doctor's visit when we found out the gender of the baby. The person doing the ultrasound said that this was the visit when she sometimes could get a good picture of the baby sucking its thumb. Our baby was not exactly sucking his thumb. She took this picture, saying that his hand was close enough to his mouth to look cute.

Now that Dylan is here, we have found that he doesn't suck his thumb. He sucks the back of his right hand. If he happens to catch the thumb part of his hand, he sucks on the knuckle of his fist, not the actual thumb. It completely explains the ultrasound picture, where the fingers and thumb are in front of his mouth, but pointed away from him. Just like the ultrasound picture, Dylan looks like he is almost sucking his thumb. But he's not.
The first injury we found on Dylan after he came home was a strange open-circle shaped bruise on his right forearm. Dan noticed it, and asked me what it was. I had no idea, but felt a little guilty that he had gotten his first bruise on my watch and I didn't know what had caused it. I spent all day worrying about it and wondering what it was. Then Dylan clumsily reached his head out to grab for his fist, and he missed. He started sucking on the first thing that touched his mouth, which was his forearm. I took his arm away and had to laugh, because I noticed that the bruise matched the shape of his teeth marks exactly.

Now that Dylan's mouth muscles are stronger, he created injuries far greater than a cute little open circle that goes away in a day. A few weeks ago, he latched on to my bicep as I was carrying him, and I thought it was cute, plus it kept him from fussing at the time. Within moments, I blurted out an exclamation of pain and quickly removed him from my arm. What was left on my arm was a large purple blotch that remained there for over a week! I've kept his mouth away from my arm and shoulder since then, but that doesn't keep him from finding his own forearm. Last week I noticed about an inch long bruise on Dylan's right forearm.

Shortly after that, I observed him doing this:

While I feel badly for his little arm, there really is nothing I can do to completely prevent his self-inflicted injury. Therefore the best I can do is take pictures and post them to this blog as evidence.

Recently, Dylan has become more and more coordinated and prefers his right fist over a pacifier. However, we still use the pacifier periodically to help keep him happy and calm. We just received a gift called a Pacimal, which is essentially a pacifier stuck to the head of a stuffed animal. Dylan is just starting to learn to control things with his hands, and he is having a good time hugging the stuffed Rhino and chomping on the pacifier on its head. It makes for some cute pictures.