we all sleep or no one sleeps

Emily likes those long nighttime feedings. It's not so much the feedings as the fact that she wants to stay up afterwards; thirty minutes of feeding can turn into two hours of fun at 3am. During the day it's thirty minutes of feeding and right to sleep. I'm suggesting that we advance the time on all of the clocks six hours so at 9pm Emily thinks it's 3am, stays up two hours and then sleeps the whole night through. Mom thinks I should just go back to bed.

Dad

feeling older everyday

I used to joke with my older daughters that once you have children you begin to age in dog years; I may not be too far off. I've figured out with Emily's sleeping patterns that I need to spend 12 hours in bed to get 6 hours of sleep.

Dad

I'm just Emily's dad

In the store, the gym, school, everyone is asking about Emily. Today I was introduced as Emily's dad. What was my name again? Doesn't matter as long as you remember the baby. It will be interesting to see how long this fascination with little Emily will last; mom and I are in for the long haul, but I know the next best thing is out there just waiting to be born.

Before too much times passes I would like to thank all of the friends and family who helped out when Emily was born; especially Emily's big sisters for being there and being willing to do all of the little things that make the delivery go so smoothly. Mom and I couldn't have done it without you.

Emily's Dad

don't be fooled by a pretty face

Emily is a cutie, two weeks old and she can already turn on the charm. (Charm being defined here as: crying at the top of her lungs because daddy won't breast feed her.)

Had our two week well baby check-up today. I don't know why I say "our" it's not like I have anything to do but stand there. No one's poking me with anything. Emily is packing on the ounces; two more since Friday, she'll be back to her original birth weight by August.

Dad

The first two weeks in a lifetime.....

It's the subtle changes that take hold of your life when someone new arrives. Trying for that elusive smile, that you hope isn't gas. Waking up Emily without startling her. Watching mom hold Emily, doing a gentle two-step two rock her to sleep. There are so many little moments that are different yet seem so natural. Haven't we been doing this forever? I can hardly wait to see what new things will become a part of life tomorrow.
Dad

the learning curve + new pictures

While a lot of things about having babies and taking care of them has changed in 17 years; one fundamental rule remains the same. The baby calls the shots. No matter how much you think you know, or how much you've learned; the baby does what she wants when she wants or you'll hear about it. Now that I've accepted that as part of my parenting style I'll sleep better at night. For three hours straight, max.

Dad

It's always feeding time at our house

Emily is a good eater. We can't decide whether it's every two hours or every three hours. I guess it depends on when you start the clock, at the beginning of the feeding or at the end. Never thought something like this would be occupying my time. Seems like a perfectly natural thing to worry about.

Dad

Don't ask Emily's opinion

We went for our well baby check-up today. It's what you do when you're a week old. It was a good check-up as long as you don't include the part where Emily had to get stuck twice in order to draw enough blood for the PKU test; she was a little trooper, mom and dad were wrecks. The Pediatrician wants Emily to gain a little more weight, I suggested a couple of raw eggs in a beer and got to spend the rest of the visit in the waiting room.

Dad

My turn

Finally, a break from being the "feeding machine". Actually, I love it! She looks so content, peaceful, and happy when I'm feeding her that I can't imagine doing it any other way. It is amazing how someone so young can instantly recognize the person who provides sustenance. Motherhood is exactly as I imagined it would be. I can't stop staring at her thinking about the wonders and miracles of life. How did this happen??? (well...I really do know) Is she really mine??? (of course!) Will I ever get 8 hours of sleep again??? (NO, and that's ok)

My favorite moments are watching her daddy hold her, talk to her, and change her diaper (yes, he does it without hesitation!). He's so excited...can't you tell from his blog entries? It's also fun to watch Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) coo over her...their first grandchild. When I thought I could not have a child, I was always a little sad that they might not get to experience being grandparents. I knew they would be the perfect doting grandparents...and I was right. I'm hoping that with my sister and brother they will get to experience this over and over again. The miracle of birth...

Mom

I'm looking at you looking at me

There can be no better look in the world than a baby giving you the "what kind of nut are you" look. Except maybe the "please God don't let me be related to him" look. Emily uses both of these looks a lot. The only thing odd about it is that she only uses them with me. Now that I think about it Emily's mom has the same two looks. Hmmm.......

Dad

Only seems like nothing.....

We used to complain that we never did anything on the weekends. Now that we have someone little to figure into our plans it turns out we were actually very busy. But not today. Four day old babies apparently don't care to go out for coffee and sit around reading the paper. Who knew?

After Emily slept all day yesterday and consequently stayed up all night last night, mom and I decided that we would just keep Emily awake more today. How do you do that? Don't know. Didn't work. Even a baby can only take so much of my patented monotone before keeling over. And there are only so many different faces that you can make before repeating yourself and the baby keels over. All that beauty sleep is paying off Emily looks great.

Dad

home sweet home

Emily's been home for just 24 hours and it seems like she's been with us forever. She just gets moved around the house with us as we take care of the day to day activities that make up life. She does sleep a lot throughout the day and I hope that she's not planning on making up for it tonight.

Emily looks great for 72 hours old. She doesn't look a minute over 48 hours. Mom looks great and is doing great. You wouldn't know that she had a baby three days ago. We'll be celebrating Emily's first weekend with bottle's for everyone.

Dad

Emily comes home

We finally got to bring our little girl home today. OK, tonight actually. Emily had to be in the hospital for 48 hours and as soon as that time was up, out we went....well.... Trying to get out of the hospital gave me the oddest sense of deja vu. Different time, different place, same experience; the first example that came to mind was circling the airport because the airline doesn't have any ground crew ready to handle the plane when it lands. Didn't they know we we're coming? The arrival time is printed on my ticket. How come the ground crew didn't get the word? Don't they work for the same company as the guys flying this thing?

Well that was the hospital today. We wanted to check out at 8pm. We told the nurses and doctor and everyone of them said, "no problem." They even brought all of the paperwork for us to go over and sign in the afternoon. At six o'clock we sign everything we needed to sign except for the final release paper, which you sign as you walk out of the door. Seven o'clock comes around and we pack up everything and then we wait, and wait, and wait. At 8:30 I call the desk and the nurse seems a little surprised by my request to leave. She sends someone down to investigate. They have to then go and get the paperwork so we can be released, after signing more papers than it takes to buy a house it was time to go. We can leave as soon as the hospital can find a wheelchair for mom. Did they not know we were leaving? Doesn't the person running the wheelchair concession at the hospital work for the same people that make us sign all of those papers? Why would you come down to release us and then go looking for the wheelchair?

With all of these businesses it seems like this is the first time that they've ever done this and they're still working the kinks out. Maybe I'd better go take a closer look at Emily, just to be sure.

Dad

new pictures

Here she is in all her glory.

24 hours is a lifetime for today

I can't get over how alert Emily is for only being 24 hours old. She's tracking movement and voices with her head and eyes, certain parts of mom hold the greatest attraction. I had to spend the day in class so mom was on her own. Thank god for good friends and family who are willing to hang out in a hospital room all day waiting for a baby to do something.

There have been multiple requests for pictures of the baby where she can actually be seen. Look for those tomorrow.

Who says you don't sleep when the baby gets here? I got several hours of sleep the first night.... all in five minute increments.

We're shooting for ten minutes tonight.

Dad

some details

Emily was born at 8:03 pm 7/10/07. She weighed 7lbs. 3 oz. and measured 19 1/2 inches. She has brown hair and blue eyes.

Dad

pictures

Here are the latest.

She's here.......and she's beautiful, just like mom

After 14 hours at the hospital and two hours of intense pushing, Emily Grace has arrived. Mom and Emily are doing fine, I may need a few days to recover. We had a big turn out for the blessed event. Which made it tough when you can only have three visitors at a time in the room. We finally managed to get everyone into the room; security figured it out when there was no one left in the waiting room.

Dad

We have a time, we have a date, where's the baby?

Well, Emily decided to wait until her uncle and cousin's birthday to make her arrival. At least we think she's arriving tomorrow. That makes it sound like she's coming in from out of town, rather than the next room where her mother is sitting.

Mom had to go in for another non-stress test; which would have been fine if the "center of the universe" hadn't arrived with her entourage, pillows in tow, for her stress test. The center of the universe plopped down next to mom and proceeded to require the attention of the entire staff. She needed to announce her blood pressure readings to the room every few minutes, before getting on the cell phone with bad reception and loudly discussing the results of her amniocentesis test. Does a room full of nervous pregnant women want to hear about your not fully developed fetus.

To make a bad situation worse the center of the universe turned her attention to mom. When the center found out the we were having a girl she offered her sympathy. "I pity you," because girls were terrible. Of course one of her daughters was sitting right there.

Did I say NON-STRESS test? Mom survived, although there was some concern about her elevated blood pressure.

See you tomorrow, Emily Grace.

Dad

Two days, 48 hours, a lifetime....

Well the weekend passed and no Emily Grace. Tuesday is still the official day and it looks like Emily isn't coming any sooner than she has too. We have been tracking the contractions, using a calender. Tuesday will be a fine day to be born, Emily will share a birthday with her uncle and a cousin. Mom still looks great. You can tell that the basketball she's been carrying in the front of her shirt is definitely moving south. Go Emily go.

Dad

Last weekend to enjoy(?) being pregnant....

Guess who's not writing tonight's blog? She does however maintain editorial control; not including, spelling, mis-spellings or bad jokes which are still my domain. Emily Grace has yet to make an appearance, although I think I saw a foot pushing against mom's belly; could have been a fist, it's so hard to tell with kids these days. Emily Grace did go swimming today. She's quiet while mom's in the water, the fun (for mom?) starts about thirty minutes later. That's when you see the hands and feet searching for the exit. She still hasn't found it yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Dad

Beyond time.....

Had class today, Friday from 9am to 4:30pm; called home on break at 10:30am and my cutie didn't sound too good. Emily, it's time. I thought I might have to come home early. Thankfully Auntie Sue was here to distract mom and keep her occupied until I got home. I think mom is torn between delivering asap and holding out until she can get the OB that she likes. I'm starting to wonder whether we deliver because nature is taking its course or the mental suggestion planted by the "due date" is at work. Either way, Emily is hanging in there.

Dad

All's quiet.......

A lot of walking today to no avail. Emily is hanging in there, although you can easily see a difference in where she's sitting/riding/floating/gliding. Mom is definitely ready to get this over with. I'll re-address that comment with her in about two weeks. Mom is still hoping to hold out until July 13th. That would be six years to the day that we got engaged. Don't think Emily would be all that impressed. I'm still amazed that women can remember dates like that I can't remember what I had for breakfast most days.

Dad

Shine a little light

Enjoying a rainy, quiet Fourth of July. We, mom myself and of course Emily, who I think wanted to stay home, but what can you do? Went to buy an old fashion nightlight, the kind you turn on and off with a switch. Simple enough. Our first two stops, both big chain stores, were un-successful. They only sell "automatic" nightlights. I guess we're too stupid to know enough to turn on the nightlight when we walk into a dark room. Thankfully Target still carries nightlights with an on/off switch. I don't know whether the problem is that we've become too lazy to bend over or that the automatic nightlights carry a price tag starting at double the price of the old fashioned one's.

Now Emily will sleep securely with a small pool of light to keep her company.

Dad

final check-up.....?

Today was the last scheduled OB visit before our due date. We know Emily won't be late. Because of my wife's "advanced" maternal age, she'll be 42 on August 1st. they won't let the pregnancy go past July 10th. I tried to explain to the doctor that my wife has the body of a twenty year old. While the doctor didn't disagree she did point out that my wife had a 41 year old placenta. I told the doctor "No, it was a brand new placenta, we just made it!" It's not like you make a bunch of them when when you're born and put 'em on ice till you need them.

The visit today included a "non-stress test." That's where mom gets hooked up to a monitor and they wait for the baby to move and then measure the baby's heart rate before, during and after the movement. They need two movements for an accurate measurement. Emily wasn't cooperating with movement number two so the nurse pulled out her "baby taser" and gave mom's belly a buzz. That got a reaction! Emily was jumping off the chart. Why, oh why does the medical establishment think scaring the hell out of a fetus is a good idea is beyond me. If the baby taser ever shows up again it won't be used on Emily. Everyone was fine and Emily calmed down after about an hour.

Dad

One small step for Emily Grace

Went to go get the car seats inspected. Actually, there is only one car seat; it just happens to come with three bases one for mom, one for dad, and the last one for grandma. Since when did we have to get the car seat installation checked? It's a seatbelt threaded through a plastic tab. How bad can you screw that up? The nice ladies from AAA who did the inspection decided to add a special clip to the seatbelt to keep it from slipping. In order to get the base out the poor woman had to physically climb into the seat to create enough pressure/slack to release the seatbelt. If I had climbed in there it would have taken the jaws of life to get me out.

Because having a baby is not enough to keep anyone busy these days I'm also enrolled in the Master's program at the local university. Today was the start of a new class, everyone in my cohort knows about Emily, the professor does not. So when I referenced the baby in class the professor thought I was talking about a grandchild. (much to the delight of my cohort). I tried that joke, "I'm the father and grandfather" but in Florida it's usually not a joke.

Dad

A little background information

July 1st. that makes it 10 days and counting until Emily Grace's scheduled arrival. I think mom is ready now. We've crossed that point where fear of delivery is now outweighed by the inconvenience of being kicked every thirty minutes, not to mention the rolling around in there. I swear if the baby had a can opener she'd be out by now.

Here's the background: I'll be 50 in January and little Emily has now replaced my mid-life crisis; it's been rescheduled when I'm 90. Instead of a little red sports car I'm shopping for strollers. At this rate, just as the baby's coming out of diapers I'll be going back in. I mentioned to a friend that I'd be teaching Emily how to drive when I'm 65. They said that they hoped I'd lost my license long before then. Emily will be my third daughter her sisters are 17 and 19 respectively. I can hardly wait for her arrival.

Mom is ten years younger and just as surprised by Emily's imminent arrival. This will be her first child. Part of the joy with the arrival of Emily will be seeing my wife holding our baby. She never thought it would happen. My wife has spent the last 13 years working with pre-school children with disabilities. One of the major components of her program is to teach the children to be self sufficient and a lot of that involves helping the parents with parenting skills, i.e. saying no. Let the children do it themselves. My wife could never understand why the parents were incapable of following this advice. Now, when the baby comes home with us the shoe will be on the other foot, so to speak. I know what I'm capable of doing, I've already raised two daughters; although the general opinion is that I can't say "no." So watching Emily's mom cope with, deal with and love little Emily will be my greatest joy. I also work with pre-school age children with disabilities. I've been at it for five years. I'm hoping that this blog will be my and mom's running diary/journal of Emily. It's being written for family but if you've made it this far please feel free to come along for the ride. I'm going to do my best to update daily and I'll include pictures as soon as she gets here.

Dad