Monday, April 19, 2010

Goo Goo Dolls

The Baby is fast approaching 4 weeks of age and it just amazes me how fast she is growing. She used to be able to curl up on my massive forearms and now I need to start holding her with two arms. Everyday she becomes more aware of her surroundings and supposedly this week she will actually genuinely smile. Hopefully none of her visitors decide to "baby talk" her just to get her to smile. The Wifey and I find that extremely annoying. High pitched voices and "goo goo" are looked down upon in this household. I guess it's the snob in me but that's how its going to be.

I got to finally bottle feed the baby the other day and it didn't affect me as much as it affected the Wifey. I guess she's worried that her bond with the baby might not be as strong anymore. There was a little hesitancy to begin bottle feeding but the Baby does not discriminate on how she is being fed.

Last night the Baby wanted to have a little cry fest and typically I sleep through it all but the Wifey was having difficulty actually quelling the baby so I woke up from my golden slumber and offered to work my magic. Fifteen minutes later the baby was fast asleep. And the Wifey was a little upset. But I can't help it that I have the magic touch with women. So from now on, I will occasionally "give up" when rocking the baby to sleep and seek assistance from the Wifey, just to appease her. But deep down inside, the Baby will know who her favorite really is.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Hamburgers and Turtles

Well, the Baby is officially three weeks (and one day) old. We are past the 21 day return policy, so looks like we're stuck with her. She has been awake the longest she has ever been and seems to be aware of our voices, which is nice. It still hasn't really sunk in that we are parents. It feels like it was only yesterday that the Wifey was gulping down jello shots and passing out in bar bathrooms. We've established a little routine already in the mornings. The Wifey will feed the Baby, then she wakes me up and hands the Baby go me and we hang out while the Wifey goes back to bed. I usually let the Baby get her 'tummy time' in the morning or I let her stare at the ceiling fan. I never really thought I would find something that I would love more than my Dallas Cowboys. Seriously, my list of loves is as followed: the Baby, Dallas Cowboys, food, and the Wifey. Now, if the Wifey could cook she would take over the 3 spot but I think she's comfortable at #4. Since the Baby hasn't really done anything new, I think it would be nice to reflect on the pregnancy itself.

The Wifey and I seem to either be old fashioned or straight up hippie when it came to this baby. We opted not to find out the gender, the Wifey opted not to use any drugs of any sort, and we really kept the pregnancy as down low as possible. We figured with the great advances in modern medicine, there weren't that many surprises in store for new parents. So with the few things that we could control, we wanted to take advantage of it.

The main one being the baby's gender. Obviously it is much easier for friends and family to know the gender because they actually have direction to shop. Our family believes that we knew the Baby was a girl all along. And to be honest, we had no idea. The sonogram guy (sonogrammer? sonographer?) did a really good job of avoiding the defining area. Sonograms are hard to decipher in the first place but the rule of thumb is simple: if you see a hamburger bun, it's a girl. If you see a turtle, it's a boy. We had two sonograms and we both saw two different things. Plus, the Wifey kept dreaming about a little boy. I guess it's safe to say that the lady went to war while the man stayed home. Kinda like Mulan. In the end, all the waiting finally paid off when I told the Wifey we had a beautiful daughter.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Feast like Royalty

I won't try and give out too much advice just because I am pretty new to this fatherhood thing and I just want to relay my experiences but here is something that I do feel that new dads need to recognize.

New moms have to adjust to a new, crazy schedule as soon as the baby is born. They are literally connected at the hip with the newborn. Especially for the mothers that choose to breastfeed. Newborns eat on average every two hours. And if they don't eat, catastrophe happens. It's as if the mom is stuck in the Hatch on Lost and they have to enter the numbers every 108 minutes or the island blows up. If the baby doesn't eat every 108 minutes, the baby blows up. So my advice is simple: keep mom happy and be patient and if she wants to get out of the house, then let her.

The Baby had a pretty busy weekend. She experienced her very first baseball game on Friday night and was the main reason the Rangers made their comeback. The Rangers even dedicated fireworks to her after the game. She then spent Saturday with her mother as they went shopping, to lunch, and got their nails done as I was spending my day in class for nine hours. On Sunday, we made a trip to Grapevine for some MiMi's Diner and some outlet shopping before my soccer game. We then ventured to Grand Prairie to check out her Uncle's new house and hang out with her cousin, who is only 3 months older. Here is a picture of them of just hanging out like typical girls:



Apparently Justin Bieber snubbed them.

Now, I know a lot of people freak out that we are taking the Baby out everywhere we go. Especially with the remnants of flu season still lingering but the Wifey and I aren't worried. The Baby is getting exposed to a lot of noise but is limiting her interaction with strangers. She gets the "look but don't touch" treatment. And besides, all the Baby ever does is sleep so she's not any fun. She seems to be staying awake just a little bit longer every day and she is becoming more and more aware of her surroundings. She has become an expert at staring at ceiling fans and into space. She just gazes at the ceiling fan as if she had the same one inside the womb.

The Wifey is still nursing the Baby and I am growing a little more impatient. I know it's bonding time between them but I feel helpless when the Baby is crying and I can't calm her down because all the Baby wants is food. I have to wait for the Wifey to pop out her milk bags so the Baby can feast like royalty. We are going to wait until the Baby is just a little bit older before we introduce any bottles so I get the luxury of playing XBox while the feeding sessions happen. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Whipped Cream

The Baby had her 2 week doctor's appointment. Our pediatrician is Dr. Hubbard and apparently she was voted as Dallas' best pediatrician. She has her own radio show on Sundays where she answers baby questions for her listeners. Kinda like Howard Stern, minus the vulgarities and actually informational.

The Baby's lowest weight was 6lbs 1 oz when she left the hospital. Babies typically will lose a few ounces as they adjust to being fed by the nipple. The goal for two weeks is to get the baby back to birth weight and maybe a little more. I am proud to say that the Baby weighed in at 7lbs 8 oz. The doctor was thoroughly impressed and even commented that Wifey had whipped cream as breast milk. Now that I think about it, that's a pretty disgusting comment. The middle of the night feasting sessions have proven to show progress, despite the fact that Wifey cries every time she breast feeds in anticipation of the pain. We could go with formula but that's too expensive for my wallet. Good job on taking one for the team, Wifey!

Shrek has been a lot better with the Baby. At first I was worried that Shrek was devising a plan to snatch the baby from the crib and bury her in the backyard. Or Shrek would pull a "Lady and the Tramp" and run away after I kick him for messing with the Baby. Shrek still likes to sniff the Baby but for the most part he just looks at the Baby. It's a little creepy but we can tell he is being protective. Or he has a very long, elaborate plan to win our trust and strike when we let our guard down, like in The Count of Monte Cristo.

I would have to say that these past two weeks have gone by fairly quickly. And it has been pretty easy. The Baby cries and its usually because she is hungry. And if she isn't hungry, she just needs to be swayed or rocked. I know it's going to get harder but right now I am enjoying the quiet poop factory.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Rockabye Baby

Easter was a fairly nice success. Nothing exciting happened with the Baby. She is becoming more alert and staying awake longer during the day. She loves looking at the ceiling fan but because she is barely 2 weeks old, I highly doubt she can actually see the fan. So I really don't know what she is looking at, but if it's in the general vicinity of a ceiling fan, it has her full attention.

We got a great gift of personalized burp clothes from our friend Kelly from Moonbeam Baby (http://www.moonbeambaby.com) which I assume is a local company. The Wifey and I also found a cool little CD at the baby store the other day... COLDPLAY for BABIES!



It's from http://www.rockabyebabymusic.com, they also have Journey for babies. Steve Perry would be most delighted. But the Coldplay CD is instrumental and all the instruments are replaced with xylophones and stuff so it's easy listening. We put the CD on in the car and the Baby calmed down and fell asleep. I can't guarantee that the CD did the trick or it was just the motion of the car, but the combination together was very successful.


The Wifey and the Grandmother took her to NorthPark to see the Easter bunny on Friday. Since NorthPark is above hiring someone to wear an Easter bunny outfit, the next best thing is to have real Easter bunnies!



As you can see the bunnies were more than likely Zombie Bunnies, as they feasted on the Baby's brain. Here is a picture of the Baby brainless:



The Baby, for the most part, has been sleeping through the night, with the occasional late night snack and that has been pretty nice. But on Saturday night she wanted to stay awake all night long. She had been sleeping all day and The Wifey said she was probably going through a growth spurt, hence the extended naps, but little did we know that the Baby was going to test our patience. I don't know if she cried but I know the Wifey cried because of sleep deprivation. I probably didn't hear the baby over my snoring. But at 4AM the Wifey finally gave up and enlisted professional help getting the Baby to sleep: my help. I walked the house, I swayed from side to side, I sat in both rocking chairs, I turned the lights off and on, I put on some Celine Dion, and finally I just let her stare. She stared at my face, past my face, above my face, below my face. She just laid her ear to my chest and was just content. And I just thought about this little thing with her thoughts and senses and how everything is probably so crazy to her yet her world is still so small. She just took in the world at 4AM, in a dim nursery with some crazy French lady singing sleepy songs. And then I thought about how much I love this bag of bones and I barely know her. I would like to think she is cognizant of my Barry White-esque voice and my smooth soft skin but she is still absorbing the world around her. The Baby finally closed her eyes during the Law & Order marathon on TNT; case closed on her all-nighter.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Boys Rule, Girls Drool

The Wifey and I took the Baby to a portrait studio to take some newborn pictures. I really don't see the benefit of actually going to the studio; the camera on my phone has pretty high resolution and I probably have a better photographic eye than some of the workers. Who knows, maybe there are some hidden gem photographers earning their keep at a mid-level department store; even Michelangelo started off as an apprentice. But as the Wifey and I thumbed through the "portfolio" we came across some lame ass pictures, no offense if you love lame assness, but there were some really stupid pictures. They had a dad flexing his bicep and the baby resting on the bicep muscle. And one picture of all the boys in the family and in old English lettering, "Boys Rule, Girls Drool". So rather than actually pay for our prints (we were given a great coupon from an awesome friend) we decided to use the Snipping Tool in Windows Vista and grab my favorite photo:



She's actually jamming out to some music in her headphones, hence the weird pose. It wasn't a bad experience at the studio. We just didn't like that the photographer was forcing poses on a newborn. I guess we've been spoiled by the talent of Carissa Byers but beggars can't be choosers and we'll probably be back for some super cheesy portrait studio Christmas pictures.



But back to the baby. I get a lot of "your baby is so beautiful" and "the most beautiful baby ever" but not to be a Debbie Downer, it's just that newborns are like Asians: they all look alike. Of course there are the really ugly babies that do stand out (just like ugly Asians i.e, Yao Ming) but for the most part, all the cute ones look exactly the same for the first week. Now I know my child is absolutely adorable because she gets her looks from her mother and I do love the compliments but to me I just can't differentiate between new babies.

The baby is doing well and she is staying awake longer and being more alert every day. I can't wait to get home and just hold her and I may or may not bump into the crib to wake the baby up a little early. The pooping is getting out of control as Mount Dirty Pampers is piling up in the trashcan but if that's my only issue with the kid, then I am pretty happy.