Gratitude Jar

You know you're a parent when ...

A "fun" night out on Saturday is a room with 13 babies and thier parents.

Last night we had a class reunion for our parenting class. 13 of the 15 couples came out with their kids to a little show and tell. H was one of the oldest babies at 11 weeks and the youngest was only 4 weeks. The smallest baby was 5 lbs. 7 oz. and the biggest (also the youngest) was 9 lbs. 9 oz. All the babies were adorable and parents were in various states of sleep deprivation.

Wierd dream

I don't normally remember my dreams but this morning I had a very odd one.

I was driving around but couldn't remember where I lived. In the dream I was in college because I remember thinking to myself that it was Sunday so the housing office wouldn't be open to help me. And then I stumbled upon a friend and I remembered that I lived close to him. So I went up to him to ask him where I lived but he was a total stoner who was in no condition to help me. The funny thing is that in real life this guy was the farthest thing from a stoner. At the end of the dream I was walking around the neighborhood trying to find my house.

Any dream interpreters out there who knows what it means?

Our first night out

T and I had our first night out alone since the baby arrived. For those of you counting, that's 10.5 weeks. Not so bad considering we bumped into some acquaintances who were out for only their second time since the birth of their child 9 months ago.

We attended Teatro Zinzanni (http://www.zinzanni.org/). For those of you in the area, it's a great night of dinner theater. Of the 3 or 4 shows I've attended, I think this was one of their better productions.

Surprisingly I was not a nervous wreck and managed to enjoy myself. I did check my cell phone a half a dozen times during the night just to make sure I didn't miss a call, but Q is an able babysitter so I was able to sit back and enjoy dinner and the show.

Don't do it!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080116/wr_nm/britain_facebook_dc_2

" LONDON (Reuters) - The makers of word game Scrabble have asked Facebook to remove its popular online version "Scrabulous," which they say infringes their copyright."

That would be a sad day.

It was bound to happen

I finally had my first bogglific dream, or maybe it was scrabulous, whichever. It definitely means I've been playing too much. Both are addictive. luckily, unlike crack, they aren't illegal or expensive.

Things they don't tell you in parenting class

Disclaimer: This falls into the "Too Much Information" realm so stop reading here if you don't want to learn one of the dirty little secrets of parenting.

So T and I took a course on child birth preparation (which I highly recommend, by the way). It was a 6 week class and covered a lot about the whole child birth process. At the last class the instructor covered a lot of things about post partum that no one ever talks about. It was like learning the secret handshake that would admit us into the secret society of parents. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that there are a lot of aspects of childbirth that you never see in the movies or on TV.

That last paragraph was just fluff. This is your last chance to turn back.

The other night when I was changing H's diapers I came to this realization: I probably touch H's testicles more than I touch my own and more that I ever imagined I would touch any other male's. Just like changing diapers, I never even thought about it; it just came naturally.

My son likes Bob Marley

The baby was fussing this morning and nothing I tried seemed to work. In an act of desperation I turned on the iPod and played a little Bob Marley. Out like a light. At least I know he has a sense for good music.

The projectile poo

Before you have a child you hear stories. They border on the realm of urban legend; stories people like to tell to scare parents to be. The stuff that bad family comedy movies are made of. There is no way your 9 lb. little bundle of joy is going to violently eject something the length of his body. It just doesn't seem possible.

Until it happens.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. We have reached another milestone. And again, I was luckily not the one to learn the hard way so to speak. I won't get into details, but I'll just say it brightened up my morning.

Facebook is sucking my soul

I noticed that a friend had added a little boggle app to their page so I decided to give it a try. IT'S LIKE CRACK!!! At just three minutes a game you can just get a quick hit. But more often the case you play five or ten games. I can't stop. Help!!!

the littler things

It's funny. When I burp, I get scolded by T. When the baby burps, we both get excited and praise the baby. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get excited over someone's burping, but there I am saying "good job, buddy!"

I caught T singing Whitney Houston to H today. We might need to set some parameters on acceptable baby lullaby songs.

Facebook has gotten hold of me

Two non-baby posts in a day.

A "friend" invited me to join facebook a few weeks back. They obviously didn't know about my compulsive behavior when it comes to things like this. I have spent an inordinate amount of time the past couple of days adding friends, poking friends, looking at apps etc. It reminds me back when I got Animal Crossing for the Game Cube. I spent all my waking hours playing with my guy. It's almost like I have two children now. Aaaaarggghhh. What have I done?!?!

RIP: Chip Reese

A rare non-baby related post. Chip Reese dead at 56. I never met the man. I did glance at him in Bobby's Room at the Bellagio once.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071205/ap_on_re_us/obit_reese

My biggest fears

Often times I'll be sitting in the rocking chair trying to lull the baby to sleep. I can only remember the lyrics to a few lullabies so I start singing Queen, Led Zeplin, Steve Miller or whatever song I know the words to. I don't know that Bohemian Rhapsody has ever been included on a lullaby CD but it does seem to work. I don't do the head banging a la Wayne's World though.

As I sit there, did I mention that it usually is in the wee hours of the morning? looking at this beautiful child, I try to comprehend that this little guy is going to grow up to be a boy and then a man. And I try to think about what he'll be when he grows up.

Now, I know I can only do so much-- give him a strong foundation, try to teach him right from wrong, to respect others yada yada yada.. I know that ultimately I don't have a lot of control over what he'll become and what his aspirations will be.

HOWEVER, I have come up with a list of certain scenarios where I will not hesitate to disown him:
1. He becomes a conservative republican. Especially if he is anti-gay or anti-abortion.
2. He becomes a born again Christian. I think his mother and I did quite well giving birth to him the first time. If he feels he needs to be born again, well he can find new parents.
3. He becomes a corporate lawyer. Unless he donates lots of money/time to worthy charities.
4. He becomes the dictator of a country and oppresses the masses.

Besides that, I'll always love him unconditionally.

That's my boy

3 weeks old and already giving people the finger.

catch some Z's

Just after a 2:00 AM feeding. H is wide awake while mommy and daddy are tired.

Me and my baby

Terrible (week) Twos

My friend sent me an email telling me to watch out. That the second week is worse than the first. It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy. H is all fussy but when we go to feed him he falls asleep. When we try to put him down he starts crying. This better be a passing phase or he's going to be grounded. I'm serious.

Oh, and he peed on mommy again.