Update

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Well I have to say this whole “being a Dad” thing is one of the best things that has ever happened to me (salvation in Christ and being a husband to the most wonderful woman in the world are obviously good too) Despite the lack of sleep, I have to say the last two nights have been the best ones. Hunter is starting to sleep in 2-3 hour increments, which compared to 2-3 minutes increments is really refreshing for us. I never knew how much one could feel refreshed on just 3 hours of sleep in a row, now I do. Hunter is eating and growing. His birth weight was 7lbs 3oz but when we left the hospital he was down to 6lbs 14oz. it is normal for babies to lose up to 10% of there body weight in the first 3 or 4 days (which he never came close to). But when we went back to the doctor on Monday to get the ok to get off his “glow baby” light his weight was back up to 6lbs 15oz…and he has been eating like a chunky monkey ever since. So far everyone thinks he is going to be a big boy…
We gave him his first bath yesterday, which was not his favorite, but we did learn a lesson in water displacement while we where executing “operation baby bath”. We have a “baby tub” that you just fill with water and put the baby in. So Becky fills it and I put it on the counter. Well, when you put the baby in the tub and the tub is full…you get the picture. We also gave our counters a bath as well! I don’t know if it is the lack of sleep, or if this is just a normal consequence of my lack of brain cells, either way we accomplished our objective, which was getting Hunter clean.
Another thing that we have learned in our whole week of parent hood is…
1. All babies do not like swings
2. Pacifiers suck…I’ll explain than one…
Ok, so the baby swings that all babies love…Hunter hates his so far. A few nights ago we were desperate to try to get him to sleep, so me and my bright ideas, I said “hey lets put him in the swing”, all babies love those things right? (at least this is what we have heard from friends and family) so I put Hunter in the swing…He hated it, he screamed, cried and kicked his little legs. I picked him up and he was fine, I put him back in it and instantly he was acting like nothing possibly in the whole world could be worse than this…so needless to say, what we inadvertently discovered that night was an excellent tool to get him to wake up during the day! J
And the whole pacifier thing – Becky and I prefer not to use a pacifier with Hunter, but the other night, (the same night we tried the swing) Hunter was crying and not sleeping…we had just fed and burped him, he had a clean diaper, so what more could he want right? Well he seemed to be sucking on his blanket, fingers or anything else that came remotely close to his mouth, so I said in all my wisdom “lets give him the pacifier until he goes to sleep, then we will just “sneek” it away from him. Well good plan, but one minor detail…he could only keep it in his mouth for about 2-3 minutes, which was not enough time for him to go to sleep. So consequently instead of getting up every 15 minutes to rock him or hold him, we were getting up every 2-3 minute to “reinstall” the crutch that I thought would work…Strike two for Dad! So the pacifier is out, for good! The little guy likes being held by mom and dad, but in order for him to not be attached to me 24/7 he needs to learn to be on his own while sleeping. Thank God the last two nights Hunter has done a way better job.
We also decided yesterday to go on our first walk. It was so nice outside and we were sick of being cooped up, so we went for a short walk around the neighborhood, and Hunter got to meet Henry (the neighbor baby born in February) the walk went well, and I’ll post a picture of it.
We have had a lot of friends and family be so generous with so many things. In the hospital Emily Searls brought me a hamburger and a fresh strawberry milkshake from burgerville, and boy I tell you , after two days living off of hospital food that was absolutely amazing…thanks Em, I’ll never forget that! My mom brought me the laptop, which then started this whole blog thing, so thank her for the speedy updates from the hospital. Thanks to the Dodrills, Searls, Wisemans, Hambeltons, Yamamotos, Great Aunt Diane and Gramma Rotrock for the dinners and other food. Auntie Lisa also cleaned up our kitchen a few times too..thanks! It was very helpful! A lot of people have been so generous to us, Thanks to everyone.
Well that’s all for now, I’ll post a bath picture and a picture from this morning in his new “Car outfit” thanks to Auntie Lisa! Hope you enjoy the updates.
Sorry for the typos, I am sure they are plentiful…