Connor Turns 1 Month

Where in the world has the last month gone?  Since Connor was born, time has been a very complicated and tricky opponent.  On one hand, I am amazed that Connor is already a month old.  It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we brought him home and he christened our house with a 6 hour crying session that first night.  On the other hand, it seems like it has been ages since we planned a day without keeping in mind when Connor had to eat or sleep, or left the house without a large bag filled mostly with things that we wouldn't need unless there was a nuclear apocalypse (or a poop disaster, but those are pretty comparable, right??).  

Connor decided that for his 1-month birthday he wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and watch the USA vs Mexico soccer match.  Sara and I were happy to oblige as it had been a week or so since we'd gotten ourselves out of the house for any measurable period of time.  As we've found is typical with a baby in tow, we arrived 15 minutes late for the start of the game, but enjoyed the rest of the first half and the beginning of the second.  Now, I can't say if it was the American's poor play, or perhaps just a baby being a baby, but about halfway through the second half Connor decided that he had had enough soccer for one day, so we packed the diaper bag back up and headed home for some quiet time.  

The rest of the past week was actually pretty packed, as Sara managed to plan something or other for almost every day.  On Tuesday she went to her first mommy and me class, where Connor was a model student by sleeping through nearly the entire two and a half hours; Tuesday night saw Sara's boss and his wife stop by for about an hour; Wednesday Sara went in to her office for lunch and introduced her coworkers to the little guy, and as we recapped later Connor was passed around between all the women and all the men with children, but all the single guys or guys without kids managed a quick pat on the head and a "No, I don't want to hold him when so many other people are so eager" (and to think that was me about 6 weeks ago); Thursday Sara went down to Orange County for the day, their first big car ride just the two of them, and Connor got to meet Kara, Alaina, Iris and Patsy; and on Friday Connor had a big photoshoot as Sara and I try to figure out birth announcements, which I'm sure we'll have out before he turns 1 year old.

A few other random thoughts as we look back on our first month as parents:

-   Why is it that little boys love peeing when their diaper is taken off?  We can't get him to sleep for the same amount of time or eat for the same amount of time or play for the same amount of time, but like clockwork, you take that diaper off and can expect a rude awakening if you aren't on your toes.

-  Why can't evolution figure out a baby head that doesn't flop all over the place? You think you've got him cradled, he jostles himself, and just like that his head is nearly in a poltergeist position, lolling over at a 90 degree angle and you're worried it could fall off at any moment (although I'm sure if you left him like that he'd pass out soon enough, it seems that no position is too uncomfortable for sleeping when he's tired).

- How can a baby be so uncoordinated doing almost everything, but put them in a swaddle and within minutes they become Harry Houdini.  Arms start popping out corners, little legs are kicking, and all of a sudden you've got a baby with arms and legs going everywhere.

- Not sure if any other parents do this, but I've taken to asking for the bill almost immediately upon ordering at restaurants, because one never knows when the peaceful, serene baby will turn into the screeching, everyone looking at you, won't calm down no matter what child.

- How can a cross eyed, scrunched up partial smile showing off a mouth with no teeth be the most heart melting thing you've ever seen?  As Connor has started being more alert in the past week or two, Sara and I both just love looking at him, seeing the ridiculous facial expressions he makes, how he furrows his brow, or how he gets a startled look when something surprises him.  

Well, now we are on to the weeks and months ahead.  A few photos below to show our growing boy.

(See, I told you, Houdini)

Father's Day

As Sara and I move a little farther along into our lives as parents I'm sure that things like Father's Day and Mother's Day will be as normal a part of our year as Christmas, Thanksgiving and birthdays.  However, this first year it felt like I snuck in the back door, like I got put on a list by accident.  Everything that I associate with fatherhood comes from memories of time spent with my Dad, whether it be playing catch in the front yard, sitting on the couch yelling about the Padres, looking in to the dugout seeing him coaching little league, etc.  I haven't done any of these things yet, so how do I possibly qualify to be celebrated?  Intellectually I understand that there was a large portion of my life that I do not remember, that my dad was instrumental during those times as well, and that is the role that I am currently playing in Connor's life, but emotionally it still feels like I'm a pledge, rather than a full fledged brother, in the fraternity of fatherhood.

Now, don't think that I let any of this get in the way of a day where I had a hall pass to sit on the couch and watch the US Open, to enjoy a frosty beverage and to try to convince Connor that the bar was getting set by Rory McIlroy, who dedicated his victory to his dad on Father's Day.

On Sunday morning Sara and I packed up the car with Connor, Huck and all sorts of paraphenalia and headed down the 405 to Bart and Joni's house in Orange County.  My parent's came up as well, and the 8 of us (Great Grandma Izu was there too) enjoyed the day together.  We played a little bridge, watched a lot of golf, enjoyed a delicious dinner of ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, salad and broccoli, and even got a special Father's day dessert, brownie sundaes with hot fudge.  It was great to spend time with my dad and Bart, and Connor certainly got lots of love, rarely having to lie in his crib when there were so many willing sets of arms around.

It was the first of many Father's Days for me, and as Connor grows I can only hope that we get to spend many of these days like we did the first.  And now, the part you've all been waiting for, a few photos below from the past week.

Colin Back to Work

After having a great week and a half settling in as a family of 3 it was time for me to head back to work.  I know that I would have been a little nervous if the roles had been reversed and Sara had been the one going back to work, leaving me at home alone with the baby for 8 hours, so it definitely was a reluctant heading out the door on Monday morning.  I have no doubts that Sara is already a great mother, and I have no fears that everything at the house is going to run smoothly, but I also know that during the first week it was great to have someone around who could run in to change sheets, or grab more diapers, or answer the front door while the other was busy with Connor.  All in all, I think the first week of this new routine went remarkably well.  Connor, Sara and Huck developed a good schedule for the mornings, and I was able to get home from work by 3ish most days so we could spend the afternoon and evenings together.  Sara's day typically included a little minor house cleaning, a walk with Huck and Connor, and a nap, all sandwiched around the seemingly never ending process of keeping our little guy fed.  Connor seems to enjoy having his fussy time of day in the evenings, right when dad gets home from work, but from everything we've read that makes him nothing if not normal.  Each day ended with reading one of our many books to the little guy, putting him down to sleep, and Sara and I enjoying an hour or two of time with just the two of us.  Connor continues to sleep pretty well at night, and for that we are very grateful.  A few hours of fussing during the day is much better than a few hours in the middle of the night.

On Tuesday Colin's cousin Branden and his wife Genevieve came up to see Connor.  They are expecting twins in the fall.  Connor was not on his best behavior Tuesday night, so we hope we didn't terrify them too much with Connor's crying.

To reward ourselves for the mostly successful week we headed out to a resort in Palos Verdes on Saturday called Terranea.  They have hiking trails, some paved paths that are a little more stroller accessible, and a great little restaurant out on the bluff that has picnic tables outside right on the cliff.  We enjoyed some lunch and the view while Connor was sacked out in the stroller and Huck said hello to everyone who walked by.

This morning Nana and Papa Means brought Gammer, Scott's mom, up to meet Connor for the first time.  She loved holding him and we got a good "4 Generations" photo for all scrapbooks.  He was a little angel the entire time they were here and didn't mind getting passed from one set of arms to the next.  I'm sure they all are convinced that Connor never cries and we exaggerate any story of him not being perfect.  We'll have to get a video the next time that Connor decides to really test out his lung power.

This upcoming week we have another doctor's appointment, and Sunday is Father's Day.  It still seems a little foreign to me that I will now be part of this celebration, but I am looking forward to introducing Connor to a great tradition of sitting on our butts and watching the US Open.

We continue to enjoy Connor so much and know that he won't remain this small forever.  We try to take and appreciate each moment and catch as many as we can on film.  Below are a few photos from the past week.

First Pediatrician Appointment

So, as the rest of the parenting world had already discovered, having a newborn baby provides infinitely more reasons to worry.  Is he eating enough, not enough? Is he hot, cold? Is he sick, healthy...We had looked forward to the first pediatrician's appointment to hopefully answer a few of those questions, and we were lucky enough to get positive answers to most.  After a week, Connor was already back up to his birth weight, he hadn't gotten any more jaundiced than he was at the hospital, and he seemed to be generally happy and healthy (and he almost managed to keep his streak alive of peeing on every doctor he met, but the pediatrician was a little too quick for him).  It was very reassuring to know that he was not lacking for sustenance, and it made us feel a lot better about how feeding time was going especially.  As we've entered into this parenting thing I think we find out everyday just how much we don't know what we're doing.  It's not that any of these are insurmountable problems, and many of the solutions are incredibly natural, but it can still be a bit overwhelming at times.  Overall, this first week of Connor's life has been amazing and we feel so lucky that we have been able to welcome him into the world.

Connor Comes Home

After a couple of days in the hospital of poking, prodding, measuring, etc., and learning everything we need to know about taking care of a newborn (hah) we were discharged and able to come home on Friday, May 27th.  It was great to be back at home.  Colin's parents had stayed at our house while we were in the hospital, taking care of the dog and coming to the hospital to get to know their Grandson, so everything was ready for us, and Huck was very excited to meet his baby brother.  We were able to settle in without much trouble, Sara got to try out her new glider chair with Connor, and we began to figure out how life as a family of 3 + dog was going to go.  It is now Tuesday, May 31 (Sara's actual due date), and I think we have been remarkably lucky.  Connor is 2 for 4 on allowing us to sleep a little bit at night, which I'd say is a pretty good ratio right off the bat, and we begin to figure out what all these gadgets we got as shower gifts are, which ones Connor likes the best, etc.  We are also very grateful for all the newborn clothes, it seems we can't keep him in anything for more than a few hours without it needing to be thrown in the laundry basket.  Connor seems to be eating pretty well at this point, has spent some time in the sun to help bring down his mild case of jaundice, and has enjoyed a few walks around the neighborhood.  He met Mike and Jessica on Saturday afternoon, T and Brittney on Monday afternoon, and Grandma and Grandpa Patton came over for dinner on Memorial Day, or should I say brought a feast in a cooler.  They hadn't seen Connor since Wednesday, so they needed a little grandson fix.  We had a great time relaxing together and Connor was mostly on his best behavior.  He even managed to stay awake for a few minutes so Grandma could get some pictures with his eyes open.  Our first pediatrician's appointment is tomorrow, so at that point we'll have a little better idea on exactly what we should focus our worrying :) .  Again, we feel incredibly lucky and are having some much fun.

Connor is Born!!!

Well, where to start...Sara started having contractions on Sunday night / Monday morning (5/22~23) around midnight.  Her contractions were about 10 minutes apart and not super painful, but different than the Brackston Hicks contractions she had been having for the past 6-8 weeks.  Sara woke me up around 4:30 and we started timing contractions, assuming at some point that they would begin to get closer together and we'd be heading to the hospital.  Finally, around 9:30 Monday night the contractions had gotten to about 7 minutes apart, and we decided to head to the hospital to just see what was going on.  They checked us in, did an exam, checked the baby, and kept an eye on us for a few hours.  At that point they said that Sara was probably in early labor, but that it could be quite a while before the baby was born and we might be more comfortable at home.  We headed home...and stayed there until around Wednesday at 5:30am, when the contractions finally started getting to about 4 minutes apart and were causing Sara some extreme discomfort.  When we arrived at the hospital they did another exam and let us know that we wouldn't be leaving without a baby.  The next few hours were a bit of a blur: Sara got an epidural to help with the pain, doctor broke Sara's water, beanster's (he was still beanster until he joined us out in the world) heart rate dropped and tried to scare everyone, but at 10:03am Connor Scott Means was born.  They cleaned him up real quick, weighed him (7lb 4oz), measured him (19.5in) and then handed him back over to mom.  Sara and baby were great together, and we got to spend the next hour and a half or so just the three of us before Connor got his first bath, met Nana and Papa Means, Grandma and Grandpa Patton and showed us all his amazing set of lungs.  We are so happy and cannot believe how lucky we are to have this new little guy in our lives.  His birth was an incredible experience and nothing could have prepared either of us for it until the moment was on us.  It was great to feel the love and support of so many friends and family, and at this point, our new adventure had begun.