Daddy

This is where I brag about Eric.

Eric is one of those fathers who truly deserves the #1 DAD mug. When we came home from the hospital, he stayed home extra days because he realized how hard it was and that I needed help. He and I slept in shifts the first three days because Aidan wouldn't sleep without one of us holding him.

When he went back to work, every night when he'd come home he'd immediately want to hold him. Every time he looks at Aidan he's got nothing but love and amazement in his eyes. Every time.

We work together to take care of him, changing diapers, doing laundry, washing bottles, getting up to feed him in the middle of the night, rocking him to sleep, etc. He's never complained about having to do any of these things, in fact he actively asks to do them.

They sit together and Eric talks to him and asks him how his day was. Sometimes Aidan lays on his chest and they take a little nap together. When Aidan is fussy or crying, Eric feels bad when he can't make it all better. It's fun to watch Eric's face though when they're looking right at each other or when Aidan makes a certain face and it makes Eric laugh.

I'm thankful every day for Eric, not only as my husband, but as Aidan's father. Not every relationship is perfect, but it sometimes feels like ours is.

Our little Hercules

He's been doing this since day one, but we finally got it on video. He's so dang strong.

He's three weeks old now, and each day gets better and better. He does have his fussy times in the evening now which aren't too terrible. We just call him names like Rumplefusskin, Senior Fussybutt, Fussbucket, Sir Crankerton Fussy the 2nd, etc.

It's still amazing that he's here and it's funny to think of Eric and I as "mom and dad". When we're home I find myself thinking about what he's going to sound like when he starts talking, what he's going to be when he grows up (i'm banking on rich and famous enough to buy his parents a vacation home), and what he'll look like.

Eric puts him to sleep every night and he usually only wakes up once. He does get up at 7:30-8AM no matter what. I've become more comfortable taking him places by myself, and we've ventured out a few times. We even drove over to the west side last friday and had lunch with Eric.

Aidan has also found his thumb.

Aidan Smiles!

Holy crap, quite possibly the best thing yet.

Serious baby means serious business,,,

Getting a little easier

Wow. I don't think we quite expected it to be quite this hard or stressful in the first few days. I had heard about the lack of sleep, but that's all anyone really ever mentions. There are so many things that come about that you would never think of.

He's finally started to sleep by himself, which I think is due in part to him actually getting more to eat. He's no longer jaundiced and has gained 2oz since yesterday which is fantastic. He's so amazingly strong. He moves his head up by himself and has the control not to slam it into your shoulder when he brings it back down. He also rolls on his side by himself. We still haven't cut his nails, but we're going to file them down tonight so he doesn't scratch his face off when he tries to eat his hands.

I have to say that we're also really lucky to have such fantastic friends and family for support. I've done my share of crying over the past few days and just talking made it so much better. It seems to be getting easier as the days go by. I'm updating now because he's actually taking a nap and neither one of us are holding him. :)

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but even I forget he has hair unless he's got his hat off, and none of the pictures this far have shown it off, so here's his awesome hair. It's all business in the front and party in the back. For those of you who aren't familiar with that term, he's almost rocking a mullet because it's shorter on top and longer in the back. He also has some little sideburns which are crazy adorable.

You are getting verrrrrrrry sleepy....

It's 5:37AM, and I'm obviously awake. It's the 2nd night home and the little stinker won't sleep unless you're holding him. He sleeps for upwards of 6 hours at night, but only in the arms of Eric or myself. Obviously that makes it hard for us to get any rest, but we're managing by sleeping in shifts of about 2-3 hours at a time. I get to wake Eric up at 7AM.

We took Aidan to his first doctor's appointment yesterday and all went well. He's lost 11 oz. since he was born, but the doc said that was within the normal range. She said he looked a little yellow in the face, and just to be sure we have to take him back this morning to get weighed again and to check to make sure he's not jaundiced.

He's really a little bundle of awesome, not getting fussy unless he's got a good reason. We haven't quite mastered the diaper changing...we've been peed on twice and let me tell you, he's got some serious aim.

I'll post some more pictures later, apparently I didn't realize that he's got a hat on in almost all the previous ones and you can't tell he's got a full head of hair! He's even got what looks like mini-sideburns.

Finally home

We got home about 11AM today and it's been wonderful. What's even better is that we came home to a clean house, so all we had to do today was be with Aidan.