Things I Have Learned

1. I have a lot to learn
2. A sense of humor is vital – even amidst a serious crying spell babies can still be funny and they’ll stop crying eventually
3. Clean house fast – you never know how long you’ll have to get it all done
4. Don’t tiptoe – the more noise you make now, the more baby will get used to hearing it, so you can have raging house parties so you can clean house frantically without worrying about waking her up
5. Dishwasher baskets for baby stuff don’t work – you’ll have to hand wash them afterward anyway
6. Grandmothers are amazing – they truly know what they’re talking about and make everything look easy
7. Baby talk can be embarrassing – It’s one thing to do it in public when you’re actually talking to baby – it’s something else entirely when you’re on a conference call at work
8. Poop isn’t that gross anymore – You could potentially have it on your hands or clothes all day and not even know it
9. Everyday revelations never cease – There is always something new to witness and embrace
10. Babies really are blessings – And they really do smell that good

Scotch, Football, and 3D Glasses

Sunday was a fun day for us. Nick had to work at the Dell so Alice and I dropped him off and stopped in to say hello to a few folks who hadn’t met Alice yet. I conveniently go there right when a Scotch tasting was starting. I hadn’t been to one since, well, April so I was stoked to be there at the right time. I snuck in with Alice in her car seat and told the group I hoped everyone was OK with a little underage drinking. It got a decent laugh. I tasted a couple that were nice, but realized I’d definitely forgotten a few things about tasting Scotch, and remembered how much there is to know about it. Monique, the Scotch expert from the Dell was very complimentary when she introduced me to the group. She said I had started to develop a strong palette and was missed for those long 9 months. I hope to get back to a couple more tastings and really start figuring it all out.

After the tasting, Alice and I went over to Laird and Elise’s for a little Super Bowl party. It was a riot – there were a lot of kids there. Poor Johnny K didn’t know what he’d signed up for! A 3 week old, a 5 month old, a 2 year old, a 6 year old, and a 12 year old. Not too long ago this same group would be up late drinking together and not getting up in the middle of the night to feed a baby. Things sure do change quickly.

The night was funny though. We had a few pairs of the 3D glasses to watch the commercials, but kept asking, “Is it 3D?” You’d think that with all the hype things would be a little more obvious. In some aspects, the same goes for having a baby. When I have free time I clean and reorganize and do laundry. I do the same now, I just do it faster because I have less free time. I enjoy having a beer or glass of wine in the evening, I just wait until Alice has been fed or watch the clock. Before we leave the house with Alice I have to run around the house grabbing everything we might need, so Nick does a lot of waiting for me, but he did that before Alice because I was never ready when he was anyway. Sleep is the main issue right now, but I can’t remember what nights were like before Alice and Nick had to deal with my sleep apnea so his sleep is probably much the same. So I guess having Alice is a lot like 3D commercials. The only ones that were supposed to look different did. You can wear the glasses and watch any old commercial but it won’t look any different. You can also watch the 3D stuff without the glasses and they’ll look just fine. When you have a baby, if you want things to be really different they will be. You can also live your life as close to the way you did before the baby and be just fine, too.

11 Days Later

Thank you all for the kind words, well wishes, gifts, and overwhelming love. I’m sorry I didn’t “approve” the comments to the last post sooner – I’ve been a little, um, preoccupied! Things are going really well for all of us. We are starting to figure out what works and what doesn’t, and we still manage to laugh the whole time (OK, almost the whole time). We took Alice for her first outing to the Dundee Dell on her 1 week birthday and then to Aunt Suzanne’s house for a pizza party. She seems to like the car seat, but I still need to get used to carrying it and a diaper bag. I feel like a baby deer trying to take my first steps – awkward and unbalanced. Let me clarify that I use unbalanced in the physical sense, not emotional.

Alice makes the funniest noises when falling asleep and waking up. It sounds an awful lot like my sleep apnea supposedly does, so Nick is a little worried that he might not sleep ever again. She makes us laugh with her facial expressions and noises and she’s more animated every day. It’s been amazing 11 days already – truly amazing.

I am writing from Mom and Dad’s house, so I don’t have access to pictures of Alice right now, but I will add some soon. Happy Inauguration Day!

ALICE IS HERE!!!

We are so excited it may take some time to put it in to words. For now these pictures should do the trick.
We went to the hospital at 5:00am and Alice was born at 1:11pm. Not bad for first timers! Things were pretty tense until Mom recieved her Epideral. After that things turned into, well, a party. We stayed in the hospital for two nights and now we are home.
Thank you to everyone that came to visit, and for those that couldn’t make it, our door is open, feel free to come and visit.