Weekend Fun

This was a very fun weekend. Best friends (husband and wife) came to visit and meet Papito. They are the first people that are not related by blood that our son will know as "aunt and uncle." Papito actually went to two restaurants this weekend and he did great. No crying, just slept through the drone of the crowd. It's still hard to believe that he is mine when I look at him. "Uncle" commented that he actually looks like me, which makes me feel very good. I was thinking there for a while that the only thing I gave my son were my facial birthmarks and my last name. Hmm, something make sme think that I've written that here before. Did I already write this before? I don't remember. I didn't sleep a lot this weekend and when I did, let's just say that it was induced and sustained by toxic liquids of the ethanol nature. I'm feeling a little blue because the visit with our friends was so short, and I have to go back to the daily grind. Luckily, I get to go home to a wonderful wife and a squirmy lil' fart--my squirmy lil' smilin' fart blossom.

Our nightly ritual

No, get your mind out of the gutter! Just kidding. During work, I find myself excited about coming home and seeing my family. It's a pretty cool feeling. Once home, I cook or Wife cooks, depending on how she feels, and then I jump on the elliptical for an hour. If Papito is really fussy, then I put him in the car seat, strap on my tennis, and climb up and down four flights of stairs while switching carrying hands. I can only handle 30 minutes of that, and I feel a whole lot more tired and worked out than an hour on the elliptical. For curls, yep, I use the now 13 lb living, moving "weight" in the car seat. Wife is feeling better and went to rehabilitation today for her stomach muscles. She is able to get out of bed without assistance and they came and got the hospital bed on Friday. The exciting news right now is that Wife apparently made a good impression on a lengthy phone interview for a Texas Spine and Sports clinic last week. They called her today and asked if she could come for an interview on November 6th!! Trust in God is important here because the timing will be such that she might get an offer to join the practice before having seen what else is out there. She'll hopefully have a better feel of things after the personal interview. Oh, back to our nightly ritual. After showering, I hang out with Papito while Wife pumps, showers, and generally putzes around. She finally goes to bed and I feed and bathe the lil' dude. He seems to like baths and closes his eyes in apparent bliss when I wash his hair. Once clean, fed, and content, he usually drops a big one for good measure. After the last clean up, it's rocking time. If he goes down by 12:30 am, it's a good night. If not, Wife is nudged up...and nudged...and nudged. Ah... the joy of being with Papito and then the joy of passing him off... :)

Social Smile?

I was pretty excited this morning because I thought I saw Papito smiling at me. He was in the crib and restless. I went over and peered at him from above. He smiled really big and I thought, this is it! However, right after my elation hit the roof, he revealed through a small explosion that he's still too young for his smile to be disconnected from his bowels. Oh well :)

In Touch with Being

I was listening once again to a The Power of Now, by Eckart Tolle, and was reminded again that babies are total in touch with Being itself. My son's facial movements, cries of hunger or affection, kicking of the legs, and peaceful sleep are all expressions of his state of not be aware of self...of pure stimulus and response. In other words, he is totally connected with the Essence behind all of us and has no choice but to live completely in the present moment. I think that this is one of the reasons that people are so drawn to babies. We instinctively know that they are connected and we long to return to the innocence that was ours before the age of reason, before our minds created an identity for ourselves.

Late Night Walking

Thanks Nicole for your good advice. I agree that babies pick up the energy of the parents. It's hard to be positive when so tired, but trying to find the sacredness of the moment helps me some. Also, finding something funny each time I'm with him is something I'm trying to do....to see the humor in raising a baby. For example, I love it when he sneezes, both of his arms shoot up like he's going downhill on a rollercoaster. That makes me laugh a lot. The past few nights have brought me out of the house for an hour while Wife sleeps or showers. It's kinda our time and the weather here in Chi-town is not cold yet. I try to talk to him about the things that I see as we walk. Sometimes I'll pray the Rosary in Spanish outloud. It brings a nice rythym and is a nice meditation while trying to be present.

Raising a baby is not for sissies

Things are going pretty well overall. Wife is starting to feel a little better and the MRI that she had last week revealed that her swelling has gone down. The hospital bed that we have in our kitchen is really helpful!! She can get in and out of bed with out re-injuring herself each time. Papito is growing so fast that he appears to be changing daily. I heard somewhere that if people grew as fast as they grow the first few months, they would be the sizes of houses at adulthood! I believe that. In any case, I am really tired right now. At night, Wife takes care of Papito until about 7:00 am when I take over for an hour before leaving for work. While this may sound good because I can sleep at night, it hasn't worked out that way. First, I go to bed now pretty late, after his 11:00 pm feeding. Secondly, while trying to sleep, I often lay in bed worrying about Wife having to be up and not sleeping. Yesterday, I worked until 8:00 pm and rode my bike about 35 miles to see clients. I was very tired and when I got home, made dinner, and then took over for Wife while she showered, and napped. Papito did not want to go down and he was fussy so I took him outside and walked around for a hour. Sleeping on my shoulder, I returned to the apartment and he began to cry again. He cried and fussed and fussed and cried and I started to feel insecure about my parenthood. Wife, not able to nap, arose and said that I had nothing to worry about, that's how babies are. Reassured, I went to bed and didn't sleep very well until the morning when I relieved Wife. Friends at work say that a pattern is needed and this will help things get better. We haven't figured this out yet. Any suggestions?