You a so stinking cute

You're gonna read this in a few years and I gotta say... I might be biased, but jeez you are cute. But everyone who sees you says it, too, so maybe it's not just me.

You have now survived three meals out almost flawlessly. At the first, Aloha, we had to feed you at the end, but that was no big deal. At Mo's, Scott came in to town and had lunch with us and you were quiet through the entire meal even though the place was incredibly loud, and then tonight at Mimi's, you were quiet again for the entire meal. You've also allowed us to spend several uninterrupted hours with our friends Heather and Jon. We really appreciate it.

You are, however, having more trouble sleeping through the night and you are preventing us from getting any sleep. We are thankful to be off work because you keep us up a lot. You were laying peacefully next to me just now but then your mom took you for a diaper change and now you're crying so loudly that Carol the cat has left the room.

Lying to the little ones...

I thought it was great when Kevin's brother would applaud and cheer on his little ones when they fail, thus assuring that there would be no crying-for-sympathy -- and that his children would all grow up to jump motorcycles over canyons and buses.

But that's nothing compared to Lori's brother who has his kids convinced that when the truck goes slowly through the neighborhood playing music that this is "The Music Truck" and whenever you hear it, you're to dance.

Classic.

Da Blues

Lori's mom went home today. She and Lori both cried as we prayed before she got in the car to leave. It was a really nice visit and I probably have no idea how helpful she was to Lori to have around all week while I went off to work each day. I'll probably take a sick day or two to help out this week.

Lori's felt some of the 'baby blues' and cried a couple of times. As her body returns to normal, the hormones are all out of whack. On top of that, her sleep is all weird and the feel sympathy tears when Rachel cries. I feel bad because I can't do anything about it.

On another note, I received Futurama Volume One today for Father's Day. Score! I watched some episodes while Lori and Rachel slept this afternoon, but I ended up falling asleep myself.

Let me tell you...

Having a baby is such a huge thing that it's only natural to want to give advice... because it feels like such a major accomplishment, and with the first one, because there are things you wish you had done differently, so you desire to help the new parents-to-be to avoid those pitfalls. Who can blame you?

But the new parent to be hears it from so many people... many are well-meaning, but some are just bitter about their own situation (like the lady at Toys 'R Us) and some are just plain mean, like Lori's brothers, who each have two kids and have done their best to make raising kids sound as scary as possible. Eventually the parents-to-be eventually become scared, or worn down, or jaded and it becomes hard to discern between the three.

Fortunately, we took it all with a grain of salt, ready to be knocked flat, but also determined to jump right back up and enjoy the experience as best we could.

Lori will take with her forever the woman she encountered at Souplantation about a month ago. We were there with friends of ours who have a 9 month old. Lori was in the bathroom and there was a short line. The woman in front of her, looked at her, smiled and said that Lori should go in front of her because she probably needed the bathroom more. And then later as we were sitting and eating, the woman walked by with her family and smiled at Lori and offered her good luck, promising that she was going to enjoy being a mom. It was just so wonderful that Lori pledged right then and there to try to do the same thing whenever she encountered other new parents to be. You need the cautionary advice, but you need the encouragement, too.