Before and After

It’s amazing to me that we are already into the second week of November. That’s just weird, isn’t it? Those of us out here in Northern California got our first taste of the rain season last week, and boy did it come down for a few days. It’s funny how just about every year we’ll be cruising along with summertime-like weather and then BAM!!! Halloween hits us and winter comes with it. It was scary how fast the weather changed this year…not only is it raining, but it is cold these days…and it gets dark way too early since we’ve had the time change this past Sunday.

So I got sidetracked for a second there, but the reason I started talking about November is because it just occurred to me that Michaela and I have been parents for coming up on 8 months! That’s ¾ of a year for those of you keeping track….wow.

It really is funny to stop for a second and think about how our lives have changed over these past 8 months…I’d like to run through some of the things that stand out to me…

Before Landon was born: Our tivo was always current with maybe one or two shows on it (which we’d watch the next night), we went out to the movies at least once or twice per month (it was definitely one of my favorite things to do), we’d have a few more cocktails than we probably should on the weekends, we’d spend our free time doing things that revolved primarily around us, and we usually felt pretty well-rested on most days.

After Landon arrived: On any given day, we probably have 30 shows on our tivo that we’ve yet to catch (although I valiantly try to keep up as best I can), we never go to the movies anymore (the last two I saw in the theaters were Indiana Jones and the new Batman), we have drastically cut back on the cocktails (you can’t watch a baby if you have a headache!), our nights are now a strict routine of activities that include: feeding the baby, playing with the baby, bathing the baby, changing the baby, reading to the baby, etc., and I can’t remember the last time we had an uninterrupted night of sleep.

I took a second to re-read those two paragraphs and said to myself “wow, that really makes having a baby sound bad!”…and that is definitely not the point I want to make, but I guess it’s a pretty good example of why young people shouldn’t have kids…most young people aren’t ready to give up the lazy lifestyle and put another person ahead of their own needs…and I don’t think that they should…you really do need to enjoy life while you’re young, and then when you’re ready to give that up…THEN have the kid.

Don’t get me wrong, Michaela and I had a fair idea of what we were getting ourselves into (although no one can really understand it until you’ve lived it), so we definitely have no regrets. It is just crazy to think about how much we’ve changed in the past 8 months (well, I guess you could go back 17 months to include the pregnancy). I really feel like becoming a father has helped me become more of a man, and I guess I’ve finally put the rest of my childhood behind me.

And I really have to say that there is nothing like being a Dad. It has been a life-altering experience for me in so many ways. Who would have known that the little things in life (such as a new tooth, grabbing a remote control, or learning to sit up on your own) could bring such joy to your life? I’ll tell you who would’ve known….a parent, that’s for sure!

Speaking of remote controls, Landon is absolutely fascinated by those in our house. I think it goes back to his love of the “bloop-bloop” sound that our tivo makes…anyhow, his new thing is to crawl up to the ottoman in the living room, pull himself up so that he can reach the remotes, and then collect them….but the problem is, after he has two in his hands, he has no idea how to get himself down….not to mention the whole time that he’s doing this he thinks that he’s being sneaky about it and he’s keeping a lookout for us…it’s just too funny and makes me laugh out loud when I see him.

Another thing that he’s learned how to do is grind his teeth (much to our dismay)….he has the two on the bottom and one on the top, and he sits there with his lips pursed together grinding away…and it literally sounds like nails on a chalkboard…which is not a fun sound at all!

He’s also continuing to try new foods all the time…we really haven’t tried him on very many table scraps yet, but he absolutely loves graham crackers and he’s expanded his baby food diet to chicken/apples, turkey & rice dinner, chicken & rice dinner, and a few others…we’ve been trying to feed him more and more food in the evenings in an attempt to help his stomach stay more full longer…unfortunately it hasn’t really worked yet and he’s still waking up several times a night for food.

I know that this post was all over the place, but that will sometimes happen with me.

I guess the last piece of news for this week involves the baby-proofing of the house. While the house is not a "padded cell" by any means of the imagination, I did go through and put the child locks on some of the cabinets. We also have tried to our best to pick up small or breakable items, block electrical outlets, and eliminate any other forseeable hazards...unfortunately, there are any number of things that he could still find to put in his mouth or pull down and break...I guess that's why parents are supposed to watch their kids, rather than leaving them home alone... :)

I think that's about it for the updates...

While I’ve spent some time here talking about how things are different for Michaela and I these days, I’d like to argue that in this case, different is actually better. Sure, I’d love to have a night of sound sleep, and an occasional chance to go out to an adult dinner and a movie with just Michaela…but you know what? We’ll get plenty of opportunities for all that in the years to come….but Landon will only be this age once and we plan to get in as many life experiences as we can fit in!

I’ll end on this note…Michaela, Landon, Guinness, Jack, and I are all healthy and happy. Landon continues to grow faster than his clothes can keep up, and he’s knocking down the developmental milestones as if they were bowling pins.

If you guys keep reading, then we’ll keep posting. As you can see "Hump Day Photo Fun" was a little long this week. We'll be back on track next Wednesday though! Stay tuned...

And just remember….Friday is only a few days away….