Quite a day today was! Not only was it my first day back to work since Will was born, it was also Will’s first bath!! And while Will seemed to thoroughly enjoy his bath, his dad (that would be me) didn’t particularly enjoy leaving him and his mother this morning. And also while Will didn’t shed a single tear during his bath, his dad (again, me ) did shed a tear or two this morning when leaving for work… and on the way to work… and maybe even got a little misty-eyed while at work?! Man, Will’s dad is quite a mushball!

I need to cut this post short because I am trying to adapt to our new schedule (which is basically me not laying around when I come home from work, as in the days of yore) and still have a few things to do tonight. So I have to go because my teeth need a smooch and my wife needs brushing… no wait… my wife needs teeth and someone smooched a brush… uhhh… errr… nevermind. I’m just gonna go lay around… he he he (you parents really know how funny that last line is!)

It is almost impossible to believe that Will is 2 weeks old already! It feels as though I blinked and the 2 weeks were gone. Which I suppose that’s how things are going to go from now on… blink once and he’s 16, blink twice and he’s graduating from college, blink three times and I better check the mirror in case something’s in my eye. he he

Not too much has been happening since my last post, though our good friends Chaz and Libby stopped by for a quick hello a couple of days ago. Lauren, their 6 month old daughter, also came along to meet Will and say a little hello!

Aside from that, we have just been hanging out a lot together and enjoying this time we have. I return to work on Monday (will be a very sad morning for me), so we don’t have much on our plates for this weekend.

Will is still doing quite well and slept last night from about 9pm until 1am, fed, then slept until 5am! He doesn’t do that very often, but it is quite nice when he does! We are also still doing the evening spongebaths and Will is still not liking them, but his umbilical is almost ready to fall off, so we could be in bath-heaven within the next few days! Until then… keep your diapers handy and the spongebath water warm!

Not an overly exciting day today, though Will and his mom got some good “Tummy Time” in this morning and he had another sponge bath tonight. As soon as the remainder of his umbilical falls off, we are gonna take the plunge (almost literally) into the full-on bath. Which could happen in the next few days! Ohhhhh… if Will only knew what awaited him!

The sponge bath went fine, though he is apparently beginning his own bathing routine as he once again bore down and filled his diaper within a few minutes of getting all cleaned up. AND… we had one VERY CLOSE call during the sponging festivities as Will sort of did this slightly elegant sideways move (Lithuanian judges gave it a 8.5, but the others scored it a 10) and fired off a warning shot in my general direction. It was quite loud and actually scared me. Well, first the noise scared me and then I got that “you-know-what-could-have-happened” scare shortly thereafter. Then Jess and I about fell over with the giggles (much to the dismay of the still-naked Will). Either way, a fun time was had by all….

It is very hard to believe that we have been home from the hospital for a full week already?! It’s really quite amazing when you think about it:

1. He is still alive (which hasta mean something, right?)
2. Jess and I are still alive (which is saying something in and of itself)
3. I made pot roast tonight (only the 2nd time in my life, ever)
4. Desperate Housewives was new. Again.

Aside from the before-mentioned, hard-to-believe, points, looking back on the past week also brings to mind all of the wonderful times we have had as a new family. I have taken two weeks off of work, so we have all bonded on an entirely new level and I have already done things I would never have dreamed. Let’s call them the “other side of fatherhood” and here is a shortlist:

1. Talked (at length) to a woman at the pharmacy about the painful side effects of breastfeeding and how to soothe those symptoms.
2. I wondered around the bra section at Target for much longer than anyone should looking for nursing bras (finally gave up and went elsewhere)
3. Said things like “oh, that’s just poo on my hand” in a dead-pan voice
4. Made pot roast (did I mention that yet?)
5. Teared up while reading “The Little Engine That Could” (gets me every time, because doggoneit, he thought he could)

This week has also been a wonderful time for Jess and myself and I consider it as special a time as that spent on our honeymoon (freely insert cause/effect argument here) and I know I will miss her terribly when I return to work next week. We have become quite the team and are enjoying every minute together (well, maybe not every single minute, but darned close). Someone once told me that there is no beauty like that of a mother and I couldn’t agree more. She is graceful in an entirely new way and my face lights up when I hear her say “my son.”

And speaking of son, Will is doing fantastic. He has developed a “mad” cry in the last couple of days which leaves absolutely no doubt whether he is upset with something you have done (or not done). It is extremely cute right now, but ask me again in 10 months and you may get a different answer. We have also begun “tummy time” in the mornings, which is a time filler for his awake time (we found that he is pretty much awake -and gassy- during the mid-morning hours and mid-evening hours). We may just cuddle on the couch together (and fall asleep) or read together, but “tummy time” is more great bonding for all of us.

Now that the first week is behind us, I am looking forward to what this next week may bring. Will has already indicated a desire to scout the Au Sable and Manistee rivers for early rising trout and even expressed interest in learning to the play the guitar, but I may have to get all “fatherly” on him and make him wait until the spring thaw for the rivers and for his hands to develop coordination for the guitar. In the meantime, we’ll just settle for “tummy time.”

It’s hard to believe that exactly one week ago right now I was sitting in the hospital room (in one of the most uncomfortable chairs you could imagine) swimming in thoughts, worries, and excitement. I was tired; I was worried about Jessica and how she was doing; I was anxious about meeting our new little guy; and I was seriously not liking the chair. There were moments of downtime, as when I snapped the picture above of myself, and moments of action. But there were also lots of moments for thought and reflection, most of which were spent dwelling on the aforementioned items. Especially the chair.

Now here I am, exactly one week later, typing this brief update after having just soothed Will down from a very upset stomach. And as I cuddled him close to me (pressure on his tummy helps relieve the pain) in the darkened nursery, slowly rocking back and forth, I was so overwhelmed by calm and one clear thought: this is what it’s all about. I can get caught up in material things (there is always new fly fishing gear to be had, or a new guitar that is better than what I have, or a new family car), work things, and even things that don’t matter very much (like why is my Time magazine late this week or is this week’s episode of Desperate Housewives new?). But when you throw everything into a big pot and mix it together, it all just melts away into oblivion when you are rocking your child and being a parent. And the rocker really isn’t that comfortable, either. But I don’t care at all.