What kind of liberal am I?

I found this quiz on another blog, and in the interest of full disclosure I'll put it out there for all of you to see. I have it posted elsewhere, so I apologize to those of you who have seen it already.

Okay, here goes:

My Liberal Identity:

You are a New Left Hipster, also known as a MoveOn.org liberal, a Netroots activist, or a Daily Show fanatic. You believe that if we really want to defend American values, conservatives must be exposed, mocked, and assailed for every fanatical, puritanical, warmongering, Constitution-shredding ideal for which they stand.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

Now, I'm not a "Daily Show Fanatic" in that I don't watch it religiously. With that said, when I do watch it I think it's the funniest damn thing on television.

Do with this what you will, and let's see your results.

I'm still a dad. No, really.

Erin reminded me last night that it's been forever since I've updated this blog. Well, it's been a while since I updated the "other" blog, too, so you can see I can't officially wear the mantle of "hipster blogger dad" just yet.

Some observations, though:

After a few days that seemed like weeks of Amelia Jane screaming every time I took her, she has finally decided that she likes her dad now. She's been in a fantastic mood lately, and getting a smile or two from her is no problem.

Secondly, I'm about tired of changing diapers. I don't think many parents relish the thought of their child growing up, but it will be a wonderful day when this little monkey is potty-trained.

I've also noticed that as parents we have this undying need to comfort our child when she's fussy, whimpering, or outright screaming. I've also noticed that sometimes this is the last thing in the world she wants sometimes. There are moments when she won't settle down, so we put her in the swing. Instantly she's fine, and she's mesmerized by the animals and music coming from her swing. I guess sometimes even babies just want to be left alone entirely.

Last week Amelia Jane had her two month check-up. She's still tiny compared to the average, checking in at about 21" and 10.5 lbs. However, she still looks so big to us! At the two-month she also received four shots, and that little champ hung in there like a pro. Mom and I were wincing and trying to comfort her, and she didn't really need us. She screamed in the, "Dammit that hurt!" sense, but there were no tears and the screaming ceased as soon as the needle was out. I'm sure I'd still be crying because I hate needles.

I'm pretty sure that's all for now, but if you want consistent updates check out Erin's blog.

I feel compelled...

to just add something here because it's been so long since I've had anything of substance to say. Also, being competitive, I think my beautiful wife is going to drive me to make sure I keep this as updated as possible to give a guy's view on the same things she experiences over at her own
blog.

With that in mind, some of you might remember the post about poop from a few days ago. Lest you wonder how Lia's doing in that department, she is making up for lost time very well thankyouverymuch. But that's nothing I feel like discussing right now.

Erin and Lia went to Columbus this past weekend, and that left me at home with the Dog. Lily and I usually get along alright, and this past weekend was okay. The trouble I have when I am alone is that I feel a lot like the Evening News Team from Anchorman after Ron falls for Veronica Corningstone. I kind of walk around in a daze, and I become a complete sloth. No laundry got done, no shopping got done, and I ate salads and baked potatoes (yum) for three days straight. On the upside, I finally finished S1 of Heroes, so that awesome. What this all means is that even though I should have gotten lots of uninterrupted sleep, I did not. I just kind of wander around doing !NOTHING! until I can't hold my eyes open (usually about 2 AM), and then I stumble into the shower, and then I stumble into the bed, and then...

"No 'And then'".

Anyway, that's my latest update. Lia Jane is asleep on one of her blankets here next to me, and I've got to say I love this kid.

*Grammatical update will come soon (hopefully).*

Some thoughts on babies and fatherhood after about three and a half weeks.

When I started this place to gather my thoughts, my idea was to catalog my thoughts and experiences as they pertained to being a father for the first time. After a few weeks of this I have to say (and thankfully so) that being a father is great and a wonderful experience. In that same vein, I'm not finding many things lately that are compelling enough to write about because a three-week old baby doesn't do much at all other than sleep, eat, and poop every 2 or so days (yeah, we're on that cycle now).

Some recent events to think about, though:

• Last night after nursing, Amelia Jane let out this wail/scream/squeal that seemed completely involuntary but full of joy and fun. We couldn't help but laugh, and I can't wait for her to start recreating those sounds.
• After a weekend of being held by her grandparents she couldn't stand to be put down last night, and she let us know that by crying inconsolably within about 8 minutes of being placed in her crib or pack-n-play.
• I've begun feeding her from a bottle occasionally, and looking into her eyes when I can give her the bottle is just amazing.

EDIT: Fixed some glaring typos due to sleep deprivation.

Oh. My. Word.

###Disclaimer: This post is not for the faint of heart.###

There's a general stereotype out there of new parents that says we get freaked out by every little noise or sniffle that we encounter, and this might be true later on. After the absolute scare that was the few minutes after her birth (which I still haven't recounted), I think we've been pretty laid-back about Amelia Jane and her first 2 1/2 weeks. Some things we chalk up natural, some we chalk up as odd, and most things we rush to our books to see about and then see that it's just normal. One thing, though, that didn't seem normal has been preoccupying my time for these last few days.

As the parent appointed to change diapers, I've become pretty well-versed to our little princess's bodily functions. By this, I know about how many wet diapers I change and about how many dirty diapers I change. I know to change them after naps and before feedings (which is generally the same time, and who wants to eat with a dirty diaper on?). Just the other day, she had a dirty diaper at the doctor's office, and I said, "Is that what it's supposed to look like?" She said, "Yeah, for today. It'll change soon enough. But that's fine." "Good," I thought...our daughter is moving right along.

About two days ago, though, Amelia Jane hit the breaks. I mean she went cold turkey. I changed A LOT of wet diapers, and I began wondering where all of the dirty diapers were going. I asked Erin, and she hadn't changed any. I kept an eye on Amelia Jane, and sure enough, they were all still wet. Now, it's not completely uncommon to go a few days without a twosie, right? But this is a child who didn't go a few HOURS without a twosie, so I thought something was up.

I called the pediatrician today, and they asked me their general battery of questions. "We'll be back in touch soon." I got a call back from Betsy, and she said wanted to know when were last in, etc. When she realized we were just in for a two-week check up, she said, "Oh, her next one will be huge. Breast-fed babies are very irregular because they utilize everything they get, but if she is passing gas then she's fine." "Great, thanks for the warning."

Erin and I laughed it off, and we braced ourselves for the impending bomb that would be the next diaper change. We ran a few errands: Hobby Lobby, Cingular, and Publix. On our way home, we were a few grunts. We laughed because a 2 1/2 week old making noises like that is hilarious. We got home, and I unstrapped Amelia Jane from her carseat, and I held her out. I placed her on the changing, unstrapped the diaper, and I saw her own little personal Nagasaki + Hiroshima festering inside of a Sesame Street newborn diaper.

Wow.

I placed my hand behind her head, grabbed her ankles, and we made our way to the sink. Erin grabbed the sprayer, and she hosed her little tush down to clean her off. I set her on a towel, patted her dry, and diapered her up for her next little mission. It wasn't long before she began making up for lost time, and Erin got to change that one.

If you've made it this far, you've either had a similar experience. If so, I salute you. If you haven't had a similar experience, you either think poop is hilarious, or you are just bracing yourself for your own future. Either way, I love that little booger so much, even hosing her down with the kitchen sprayer isn't too much to ask.

Has it been a week already?

Fatherhood has not driven me so crazy that I've forgotten to write down my thoughts, but the sheer lack of sleep that is coming at night and my uncanny ability to not sleep while Amelia Jane is sleeping is about to make me like the Desert Fathers. You remember the stories from CH where we talked about their visions and how they were all insane from not sleeping and not eating, right?

This first week as a dad has gone by incredibly quickly. Lia's little cheeks are puffing out from all of her "nourishment", and I'm pretty sure she's a bottomless pit when it comes to nursing. I have never seen a child eat so much, and when she is through nursing she looks like a fat kid with ice cream running down his chin. However, I digress.

We (Erin and I) have already begun to fall into roles of who does what when it comes to taking care of Lia. I usually change the diapers, and she usually nurses. There have been a few times, though, when Lia attaches herself to me and just goes to town. I have to break the "suction" and hand her to Erin before she gets too angry. The lactation consultant that crying is a late indication of hunger. If I can get her off of me and onto Erin quickly, we normally avoid the crying altogether.

I'm having a difficult time telling if we have any kind of schedule yet, but after Erin's mom leaves we are really going to have to figure something out. If I don't start getting some sleep soon, I don't know what's going to happen.

I'll try to be back soon with more thoughts and some pictures to share of our first week as parents. Thanks to all of you out there who are actually interested in these ramblings! I noticed that I haven't gone back to tell about about the actual labor yet from the first post; I might have blocked all of that out!

First day out.

In these first days of life for Amelia Jane, we're all experiencing some things for the first time. Amelia Jane had her first night at home; Lily had her first night as a big sister; and we had our first night as parents who couldn't send our baby to the nursery so that we could get some shut-eye. These first few days of parenthood have been really great, and I expect them to only get better.

Today, though, was our first real day out. We had an appointment at the hospital, her first appointment with the pediatrician, and her first meal out! Our appointment at the hospital was to make sure she was getting enough with her nursing, and we found out that she has gained 3 ounces! It doesn't sound like much, but the consultants there assured us that was excellent weight gain. I'll defer to the experts on that one. She is now a svelte 7 lbs even. That sounds light, but if you carry that kind of weight around, as I am wont to do, you'll notice a slight burning sensation in the forearms. Go on. Pick up a bag of flour and give it a try.

At the pediatrician, we had a great time. We got to express all of our parental worries. One thing that worries me is how much she's sleeping. I know...too much sleep, right? The doctor told me to just enjoy it. She'll cut that out soon enough. One interesting thing, though: I had to strip her down to be weighed and measured, and she wet all over me. That was a pretty clear indication that I need to start having an extra shirt with me at all times. Getting peed on, though, is a hazard of the job. I've just learned to not hold her too close when she's stark naked.

After these adventures we stopped by St. Bs. I took such pride in showing my little girl around our church. We went into the office, and then I took her into the sanctuary. I pretty much walked her through the entire service, and she was in "quiet alert" phase at that point. It was incredible carrying her around and doing thing because in this phase she appears to be hanging on every word. When she's looking at me like she's never seen me before and trying to make sense of who this crazy man is who is toting her around.

After stopping by St. Bs, we went out for her first meal on the town. I lobbied for the Wooden Nickel, but my mother-in-law stuck with the devil she knew in Applebee's. Now, I'm not a huge fan of Applebee's, and today more than ever I felt like I was at Chatzkies (sp?) from Office Space. My beef, though, is more with the service. I don't expect every single person to stop and tell me how great my daughter is because I'm still finding out myself. However, our waiter seemed none too interested in the tiny little girl hanging out in our booth, and he made no real effort to keep it quiet while she was sleeping. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive now and have had too much time to think about it, but ole Mitchell is not on my good list right now.

Another first that I'm going to mention is a more difficult one. Since living in Virginia, our precious Lily has slept in her crate in our room. The past two nights she has become really distressed whenever Lia wakes up crying, and she almost seems to not want to even go to her crate any longer. We're going to try something different tonight by putting her outside of her room where she will have few distractions. Let's hope it works!

First Day Home.

Amelia Jane came home today, and Mom was right there with her. I'm still processing all of this stuff from the past few days, and I'm realizing a need to put these feelings and emotions and experiences into words in the coming days. Watching Amelia Jane come to life and being there for her first minutes shook me to a core that I didn't know existed. The only thing that kept me from bawling was that I could simply soak it all in instead of having to talk to people about it. Watching Lia there lying on the cart being cleaned up and cared for was something that I just had to see and observe, and I'm really happy at this point that it was something I could just watch and observe and take it all in. Unfortunately the process itself is a bit of a blur, but the thought of it causes me to well up with tears and happiness and fear and all of those pieces that make up being a father.

Here at home on the first day we of course had to introduce our new little girl to our now big girl. Lily was of course happy to see her mom, and she really took to Lia pretty quickly. She was suspicious of the carseat at first, but after a few sniffs and kisses she realized that Lia wasn't anyone to be scared of. I walked around with Lia for a few minutes, and right out of the blocks I had to change a wet diaper. Lily was really concerned about the strange noise (crying) coming from this little being, and she watched me intently as I started to change her diaper.

Lily is some kind of hound dog who has a strong set of hind legs. This allows her to kick up on her hind legs and look around tall objects or peer at whatever might be on the kitchen counter. Today it helped her to see what I was doing to this little person who was screaming. She realized it was nothing major, but when I put Lia in her crib Lily really wanted to see what was going on. She tried to see into the crib, but she couldn't see inside. Because of Lily's concern (curiosity?) I'm thinking she might actually be an alright dog for us to have with a little baby. She's still showing some interest, but overall she's still doing her same thing.

Each minute that passes and every time I look at Lia I'm realizing what a little miracle she is. Everything about her looks so perfect and so tiny. She's a great little girl.

The day my life changed.

As I sit here at the end of an exhausting day in the hospital looking at my wife, I can't help but be incredibly proud of her and what she has done.

This morning at about 2 AM, Erin woke me from my sleep and said, "I think we need to go." I was a little bit startled and a little bit pissed off, to be honest. I had been up watching some of my stories on my iPod, and time had gotten away from me. I went to bed too late, and then I stayed up too late watching some more of the fantastic show Heroes. I had been dozing for about 20 minutes when she woke from a sleep that seemed like hours without the added benefit.

I've always thought it was a cliché for the husband or partner to be running around like an idiot when his wife goes in to labor, but I have to confess that I was that idiot. I couldn't find my shoes, I couldn't find my keys, and the dog even pulled me down into the wet grass chasing after who knows what in the 2 AM darkness.

I don't know when we pulled out of the house, but I know we did it twice because on the first try I left her tennis balls (a cheap massage tool) at the house. After returning to get them, though, we were on our way to something that would transform our lives forever.

We got to the hospital around 3:30 AM or so, and after checking in through the ER with a very helpful nurse, we were hurried up to the L&D floor to be triaged for the night. Our nurse, a really great person who was incredible throughout the labor and delivery, did a few routine checks. She closed her exam with, "You're staying." Erin and I both knew what this meant, but there's no way we could know what the next few hours would be like. Any notions or ideas we may have had were about to be thrown out, and I was going to experience something that would likely eclipse any event I experience for the rest of my life.

Amelia Jane was born this morning at 10:25 AM weighing in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 20" in length.

Please keep her and her mommy in your thoughts and prayers. In a fit of exhaustion at this moment, the story of the day cannot be told. Thanks for your understanding.

God's peace.