Hello all,
I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to my new son, Max. He was born on Saturday, September 6th at 1:43 p.m. after arriving at the hospital around 11:00 p.m. the night before. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 5 ounces, was 22 inches long, and had some fine reddish/strawberry blond hair. Since nobody on either side of my wife's family has any red, it's pretty clear that the Irish in me has beaten my Italian and her Dutch and German into submission, at least in the hair department. Let's just hope he gets the rest of his looks from her!
***NEWS FLASH: It appears that, for no explicable reason, I am quite proficient at bundling a baby in a blanket.***
Delivery went pretty well and finally put to rest any notion that might have been hanging around in the dim recesses of my mind regarding who is tougher – men or women. Fellas, there's no contest. We are flat out wimps compared to the fairer sex and I'll leave it at that. My wife says I helped and she couldn't have done it without me but I remain skeptical. After witnessing how she handled the physical and emotional marathon that is the birthing process, I am sure she is just trying to placate me
We've had some ups and downs – Max's blood sugar was a bit low, bilirubin was a bit high, and a few other minor, par-for-the-course challenges – but things have evened out now; he is fine and we seem to be falling into a decent pattern of feeding, changing diapers, and sleeping.
***NEWS FLASH: Operating on 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night is…actually not far off of my normal sleep pattern, heheheh.***
I am amazed at my feelings toward this new addition to our family. There wasn't any thunderbolt from above that electrified me when I held him for the first time and made me declare in solemn tones, "How Much I Loved Him". It was much different, subtle to the point of maybe being boring although that made it no less powerful. Basically I became aware as I looked into his eyes that there was, quite simply, nothing in my life more important than this person and that I really would do anything for him. Rather than being earth shattering it was…maybe fundamental is the right word. It was like becoming aware of the warmth of the sun as it rises – it simply is. Not as dramatic as the thunderbolt but every bit as staggering. A couple of times each day I have a flash of reality – that this little being that my wife and I created is now part of our lives and family – and it just awes and excites me.
***NEWS FLASH: I find myself pausing movies and football games to watch Max instead.***
It's been over a week now and we're getting the hang of it. Sleep is still scarce but we aren't as insanely overtired as we were the first few days and, while Max is awake, we're having a ton of fun with him. Here are a couple of shots of him.
Max and I in his first hour:
Max asleep on day 2:
I have a Padron Family Blend that I intend to smoke in celebration of his arrival this Thursday evening with my regular Minneapolis herfers. If you happen to be smoking a cigar of your own on Thursday night, turn to the North and have a puff for me!
- Tim
I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to my new son, Max. He was born on Saturday, September 6th at 1:43 p.m. after arriving at the hospital around 11:00 p.m. the night before. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 5 ounces, was 22 inches long, and had some fine reddish/strawberry blond hair. Since nobody on either side of my wife's family has any red, it's pretty clear that the Irish in me has beaten my Italian and her Dutch and German into submission, at least in the hair department. Let's just hope he gets the rest of his looks from her!
***NEWS FLASH: It appears that, for no explicable reason, I am quite proficient at bundling a baby in a blanket.***
Delivery went pretty well and finally put to rest any notion that might have been hanging around in the dim recesses of my mind regarding who is tougher – men or women. Fellas, there's no contest. We are flat out wimps compared to the fairer sex and I'll leave it at that. My wife says I helped and she couldn't have done it without me but I remain skeptical. After witnessing how she handled the physical and emotional marathon that is the birthing process, I am sure she is just trying to placate me
We've had some ups and downs – Max's blood sugar was a bit low, bilirubin was a bit high, and a few other minor, par-for-the-course challenges – but things have evened out now; he is fine and we seem to be falling into a decent pattern of feeding, changing diapers, and sleeping.
***NEWS FLASH: Operating on 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night is…actually not far off of my normal sleep pattern, heheheh.***
I am amazed at my feelings toward this new addition to our family. There wasn't any thunderbolt from above that electrified me when I held him for the first time and made me declare in solemn tones, "How Much I Loved Him". It was much different, subtle to the point of maybe being boring although that made it no less powerful. Basically I became aware as I looked into his eyes that there was, quite simply, nothing in my life more important than this person and that I really would do anything for him. Rather than being earth shattering it was…maybe fundamental is the right word. It was like becoming aware of the warmth of the sun as it rises – it simply is. Not as dramatic as the thunderbolt but every bit as staggering. A couple of times each day I have a flash of reality – that this little being that my wife and I created is now part of our lives and family – and it just awes and excites me.
***NEWS FLASH: I find myself pausing movies and football games to watch Max instead.***
It's been over a week now and we're getting the hang of it. Sleep is still scarce but we aren't as insanely overtired as we were the first few days and, while Max is awake, we're having a ton of fun with him. Here are a couple of shots of him.
Max and I in his first hour:
Max asleep on day 2:
I have a Padron Family Blend that I intend to smoke in celebration of his arrival this Thursday evening with my regular Minneapolis herfers. If you happen to be smoking a cigar of your own on Thursday night, turn to the North and have a puff for me!
- Tim
