BB Lessons

First off, mea culpa for our blog hiatus; time flies when you are having fun, and raising a child. But alas, we have returned and boy oh boy do we have pictures and stories galore.


Secondly, as everyone knows, my previous blog post was oh so wrong. My foolish attempts to predict BB's birthday and calculate percents were futile. BB was induced 10 (painstakingly slow) days after his due date.

Third, time for a new post......hooray! Bean turned 3 months old yesterday. In the past 3 months I have learned more than I have in my previous 29 years. Here is a short summary of some of my newfound knowledge:


1) Labor is stressful! Painful, yes. Long, yes. But the stress was by far the worst.

2) Your heart can grow. Not just swell, but actually grow (much like the Grinch, but without all the Grinchiness). The end of labor, which resulted in the face to face introduction to the new center of our universe, marks the happiest moment of my life.

3) Babies don't understand the difference between day and night. Luckily, ours learned the difference around the 1 month mark and we have been thanking our lucky stars ever since.

4) Newborns like to eat. For breastfeeding moms, like myself, this translates to roughly 10-12 hours of feeding every day for the first month (read: glued to a glider/couch). Don't get me wrong, I love breastfeeding, but I did not anticipate just how all-consuming it would be.

5) It was possible for me to fall more in love with Jeff. We had a fantastic relationship already, then arrives the Bean, our relationship adjusts for our new roommate, and Jeff settles in as a Super Dad. Witnessing him fathering Bean has been one of my greatest parenting joys thus far.

6) Hammy can actually be calm and gentle. In case any of you have not heard, he is the best big brother we dog-parents could have hoped for. Though he tends to get annoyed when the baby cries, his usual manner is one of curiosity, concern, and even warmth. He even sneaks kisses every now and again. Perhaps he understands that BB is the reason Mom and Dad have been giving him extra long walks.

7) Parenting takes a number of skills that are not necessarily innate. Thank goodness Grandma Annie was here for BB's 1st week of life; otherwise he might still be wearing his diaper backwards.

8) Motherhood is pure bliss. Yes, the 1st month was rough; BB was a newborn and I had a lot to learn, but since then, it has been pure bliss. Falling asleep every night with BB on my mind and waking up to his big gummy grin every morning (which he shares all day) has truly made this the best time of my life.

9) We made one happy baby. BB loves to smile. During a sonogram my midwife commented that he had a happy heartbeat, and she was right! BB is a cheerful, easy going, social baby. Along with a coooo, I first saw him smile at 6 days old (exceptionally early for those of you not up on your infant milestones). Since then, we have enjoyed smiles all day long.

10) We would still call him BB or some variation of Bean even after giving him an official name.

11) Babies don't just naturally eat from bottles. Some babies, ours included, believe that the bottle is the enemy. Teaching the Bean to eat from a bottle, which he must do when I return to work in a few short weeks, has been our 1st great (and messy) parenting challenge.

12) I can do most things with one hand. With the Bean, one of my arms is almost always occupied. In addition, I have learned to do common tasks much quicker than I previously thought possible. I can now eat, shower and pick up the house faster than it took you to read this blog post.

13) Having a baby is the greatest privilege I could ever hope for. I am in amazement watching Bean grow. Every day he is a new and more mature baby. He looks at the world with wonder in his eyes and we have the honor to share all that is wonderful with him.

14) Life changes when you have a baby. And I'm not talking about the obvious: hauling around a ton of extra stuff whenever you leave the house; being unable to stay out past dark; spontaneity at a minimum. Motherhood has changed my perspective on just about everything. I now live life more simply, more mindfully, and, above all, more playfully. I find myself sing-songing all that I do, making silly faces all day long, and letting those minor stressors and annoyances slide right off my back.

15) Babies should come with batteries. Every baby gadget, contraption and noise making thing-a-ma-jig cluttering our house requires batteries and requires them often!

16) Baby noises are the cat's meow (no pun intended). Like I mentioned above, BB first cooed at 6 days, and he hasn't stopped his crooning since. His soft cooooos soon became squeals, which then turned to joyful screams, which now have evolved into giggles. See below for evidence.


 
I don't know why they say "you have a baby." The baby has you. - Gallagher

What do you say we wipe the sleep from our eyes and blow the dust off this blog?

And to get us back in the swing of things, how about a picture of the Bean making a sneaky face?

Ides of March

For those of you who do not remember your Julius Caesar trivia, this title will not carry much meaning. But for me each day and DATE means a lot. Today is the 15th of March and, well, no sign of BB yet. I am in no rush....my pregnancy has been a breeze. In fact, I have enjoyed it so much that I will genuinely miss being pregnant. I am, however, anxious to get labor over with and have a healthy BB in my arms.

Back to the dates. The sentimental part of me is still stuck on March 13th as the BIG day. Yes, I realize this was 2 days ago and impossible at this point, but funny how you can get attached to a date and what it means when you say it nearly every day for 9 months. But alas, we are now left with the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st of March as our options. BB has a 100% chance of having one of these dates as his birthday, and a 14% chance for any one in particular. Out of those 7, he has some pretty cool options, including: the fun distinction of a proud Irish St. Patty's Day begining (17th); being born on the1st day of spring (20th) - or, as Jeff likes to say it, being "sprung" on the first day of spring; and sharing his birthday with his dear aunt Bridgette (21st). If it were to happen today, the Ides of March, then BB would share the date with the ill-fated, accurate prediction of Julius Ceaser's assassination.

Like his name, there is much debate about when BB will arrive, an extensive poll at work and among family. And like his name, we will not know for certain until the moment arrives. Only time will tell. So as I sit here typing away enjoying my 1st day of maternity leave - bags packed, camera charged, Ham prepped and husband briefed (after multiple failed fire drills) - I sit in anticpation with family and friends on stand-by........

Experience is the teacher of all things- Julius Caesar

and for after the delivery.....

I came, I saw, I conquered- Julius Caesar

Any Day Now...

Baby Bean's due date is Saturday, March 13th.  For the mathematically impaired, that's just 5 DAYS AWAY!  Jenny has begun to feel as if she could go into labor at any moment (I'll spare you the details.  You're welcome).  The bags are packed, the car seat is installed, the nursery looks amazing, and we've checked off nearly everything else our baby books told us to square away.  We've even given the dog a bath so that he won't offend his new baby brother with his stink.  Now all we can do is wait for Mother Nature to pull the lever and get the gears of childbirth spinning.  We're living every moment on pins and needles, wondering what the next hour will bring, hoping all goes well.  Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go have a panic attack...

We experience moments absolutely free from worry. These brief respites are called panic.

-Cullen Hightower

At Ham's Request

So, the baby shower is tomorrow (which, quite frankly, makes this whole we're-going-to-have-a-baby thing seem frighteningly real).  Brother Hamilton would like to add a last minute item to our registry.  Apparently, he wants to impress upon Baby Bean from the get-go that he is the hero of our household.

Hey, it beats his usual method of marking his territory. 

P.S., We're serious about the name suggestions, folks.  We've got nothing. 

The Boy With No Name

Who would have thought that naming a child would be so difficult? I mean, it's just a name, right? Just slap a name on the kid and toss him out into the world. No big deal.

Here is where we are. The middle name, we have decided, will be Michael. Not only is this my middle name, but it also happens to be the first name of Jenny's beloved father and brother. Pretty much a no-brainer, and I hope that BB sees fit to pass the name on to his own son one day. And the last name, of course, will be Webb. So all that remains is that ever-important first name, the [blank] before the Michael Webb. Should be easy, right?

Wrong! Nearly every name brought up for consideration repulses one of us or reminds one of us of something we don't want to be reminded of. For example, Jenny really likes Colin, yet to me it too closely resembles the word "colon". And although I am still a good many years away from the dreaded prostate exam, I never want my son's name to conjure up the image of...well, you get the idea. Dexter is a name I like a lot, but it is also has the unfortunate distinction of being the name of television's favorite serial killer, and Jenny's just not sure if she can get past that. Also, we both like the name Jackson, but Jackson Michael brings to mind a certain pop sensation who rose in popularity recently because of his untimely moonwalk into the great hereafter. I mean, I enjoy Billie Jean as much as the next man (which is to say, not very much at all), but do I really want to burden my son with years of "Jacko" jokes? I don't think so.

Then there are all of the rules. We can't choose a name that is too common, yet we don't want a name that is too obscure (My sincere apologies to any Jacobs or Theobolds who might be reading). We have to like any conceivable nicknames that might come of it (Richard immediately gets the axe). What does it rhyme with?  How can it be twisted to fit into some cruel schoolyard limerick? It cannot be, or resemble too closely, the name of any of our friends' children. (Dave and Megan, we both absolutely love the name Ezekiel. Would you kindly rename your son so we can steal it? Thanks.)  Oh, and God forbid we name the kid something funny. (Come on, Jenny, Cornelius Cobb Webb screams Nobel Peace Prize winner. Really, it does.)

And let us not forget to consider a name's historical implications. I mean, would naming our child Albert cause him to have gravity-defying hair and invent game-changing mathematical formulas? Or would he instead blurt out "hey, hey, hey" when entering a room and associate himself with some highly questionable characters. (For the record, I think either outcome would be awesome).

Okay, that last paragraph was a joke.  Sort of. 

What do we do? Is it possible to give him two distinct first names; one from Mommy and one from Daddy? Should we keep calling him Baby Bean until he reaches school age and can choose his own name, or would that be setting us up for a son named Batman or Pikachu?

Obviously, we are in need of some help. Below are some of the names that haven't yet been eliminated by our over-analytical chopping block. Please weigh in, tell us which names you love and those you hate. Give us more suggestions. Goodness knows we need them.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

- Billy Shakespeare

Benjamin

Dexter

Oliver

Maxwell

Isaiah

Jefferson

Hudson

Emerson

Sebastian

Jonas (Jonah?)

Logan

Jasper

Wesley

And last but not least, Jeffrey Michael Jr.