New Challenges

This week was a tough challenge. I facilitated a team of 15 for a week long event. This required lots of prep work and the week itself tends to be rather exhausting. It's kind of like going through finals in college, you are focused on meeting the goal and getting through the challenge and everything else is secondary. I still had time to play with Daniel, but I slept upstairs so I wouldn't be up all night dealing with the diapers, feeding, crying, etc, (Which is what Lindsay does). On Wednesday morning my grandmother (and last surviving grandparent) passed away. It was a tough decision, but I decided to stay at the work event as long as I could then fly directly to the funeral in Miami. Fortunately, I was able to get a great deal done by the time I left Thursday evening.

The responsibility on a working father is to provide support (think Maslow's hierarchy)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs. First in the form of the basics, food, water and shelter, then emotional support and leadership. In this case, I was only able to provide the former. The challenge of Lindsay's sleep deprivation, combined with my lack of involvement (due to my work obligations and the fact that I technically can't feed him), would be enough to send most new mom's into a frenzy. Add in the fact that I had to leave town for three days unexpectedly and I now have a great deal of making up to do. I have spent no less than two hours a day talking to Linds on the phone (this does not count as making up) and during that time I have made a series of promises.

1: I will put up the Christmas tree the day I get back (It's 12ft tall and 200 pds).
2: I wrote a song for Lindsay on the flight to Miami. I promised to play this song for her in it's entirety within a day of my return.
3: Dinner. I am cooking dinner the night I return.
4: Chores....enough said.
5: Christmas songs, I will learn and play a few standards (I have a loose timeline on this one).

I do feel like I'm having to make up for things beyond my control, but maybe that's the part of the hierarchy that's missing. I have obligations and responsibilities to many people and trying to live up to those responsibilities is part of a father's responsibility. By the way, one of the things I miss the most is the smell of my boy. He can be so cute when he hold his head up and looks around. He also has a lot of willpower and a powerful set of lungs. No less than half of the time spent on the phone calls has consisted of both of us listening to him relate his discomfort for what feels like hours. After a few minutes of silence I end the call only to receive text messages and phone calls to let me know it was a false alarm.

This is exhausting....

Smarter, Faster and Better Looking

When I first saw Daniel II, I had flashbacks of my baby photos. He looks similar, but he is much cuter than I was. When I see my pictures I speculate that my breath would have wreaked of curdled cheese while my son's breath smells like happiness and Joy. To give you an idea of just how ugly my baby photos were, picture a newborn bird being fed a regergitated worm and your pretty close. These are just a few pics I had scanned in for our wedding montage (5 years ago). I will try to get better pictures this weekend.

Wrapping up our First Week

Well, it's back to work tomorrow. Linds will be off for quite some time. Little Dan is sleeping well and thanks to Scott for the cool timer gift (http://www.itzbeen.com/). Lindsay gets up every couple of hours to feed him and the timer helps us keep track of such events. He is showing more emotions and becoming cuter in general. I'm really looking forward to when the circumcision and umbilical cord have healed. Less Vaseline = less leaky diapers and quicker changes. We are truly looking forward to Christmas, and I'm sure this blog will reflect that over the coming month.

First Full day at Home

Technically that's not true as we had to go to the pediatrician today. Daniel couldn't breathe through his nose last night which made it difficult for him to eat which made him cranky and restless and in turn made us cranky and restless. The good news is that he has been breathing great all day and we are looking forward to a good nights rest. By that I mean sleeping in 2 hour increments.

What a blessing, what a joy, what a wonderful toy. I will mention quickly that it was not really love at first sight. My concern during the delivery was with Lindsay. I was releived to have a healthy baby, but I never knew how quickly the little guy would get a hold on me. Today as I was wiping his butt, his circmcised tool shot a laser into the comforter on my bed. I laughed and proceeded with dousing his trig and berries with vasoline. As I looked into his eyes afterwards I'm pretty sure he's was thinking....."This is as easy as getting candy from an adult".

Sweet Dreams Stud

Baby Lucas Has Arrived!!

Daniel Paul Lucas II was born on Monday, November 3rd at 7:50 pm. He is 7pds, 6ozs and 21 inches. What a great experience, so much to say. For now I will tell you that over 95% of the labor time was just Lindsay and myself alone. It was a great bonding experience and I cannot relate just how proud I am to have a wife like Lindsay and a Son like Daniel.