One Week Today

A week ago today my life changed forever. My son Wesley was born. I gained the life long responsibility of providing for, teaching and advising another person. It is still hard for me to fully take in the fact that Wesley is MY kid. Having Wesley at my house almost seems like an intense baby sitting session. I feel a little like I’ve got the responsibilities of a having a kid, but have to give him back to his parents at some point.

He’s cute. Or the fact is I think he’s cute. Is he really though? Let’s face it, there are some ugly babies out there. I just don’t think mine is one of them. No parent does. It must be some sort of defense mechanism. If there weren’t so cute (and loud at times) they would be easy to ignore. Nature seems to have known what it was doing when it created the human baby.

We’ve had a lot of visitors and a lot of food brought over this week. It has been great to see so many family members from both my side and Abigail’s in one week. I don’t remember that ever happening outside of maybe Christmas or Thanksgiving a couple years ago. Wesley’s met aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and even great grandparents. I makes me feel so happy for him. He’s got a super great support structure outside of us (his parents) for anything he might need in the future.

Phoebe has been ecstatic that so many people have been over and doesn’t seem to mind the baby much. She is super interested in Wesley every time he cries or gets a diaper change. When I’m up at 3 a.m. walking around with him crying in my arms or changing him at 3 p.m. she’s right there watching. I love that she seems so interested in him. I was so worried that she’d act out and pee on everything in protest. The abundance of treats and attention from visitors has to be a big reason she’s fine with all the changes at home.

Wesley’s face is changing already. I am really happy we got photos of him taken in the hospital when he was less than 24 hours old. His cheeks are getting chubbier now and his color is becoming less yellow. His jaundice seems to be going away based on what this non-medically educated dad can figure. He’s got a check up this week. The official word on that will come then.

I’m much more conformable with holding Wesley than I was a week ago. I’ve honestly held less than half a dozen babies in my life. Never have I held any besides Wesley for longer than a few minutes. Diaper changing is the same way. Not until Wesley have I ever changed a diaper unassisted. Now I’ve changed dozens without help with MANY more to go.

My version of the birth story is written. I’m waiting until Abigail has her’s finished before posting it online. We’d like to share them on the same day. Stay tuned!

Moving from the world of not having kids to having one is an experience I never thought I’d enjoy so much. It’s also a journey into the world less sleep, loud crying, filled diapers and pre-planing for everything. This is going to be an adventure and I plan on enjoying every (well almost every) minute of it!