What a ride...

I've had an insight come to me today thanks to my wonderful wife. I was in charge of watching/holding Andrew. He started to fuss after a little bit and it seemed that nothing I did could curtail his crying fury. I tried to swaddle him with my hands and normally he doesn't like people to touch his hands and legs. This really wasn't my most brilliant of idea's at all. His tirade became a full on nuclear crying bomb. His whole body was red and I felt so frustrated and bad.

I felt like I was a poor father who could only make his child upset. I thought of how Georgette can pick him up and hold him and he calms right down. I was wondering what I was doing wrong and just felt so inept. I put him down in his bassinet because I felt so frustrated and unable to console him. Georgette came in and took him off into his room for a minute. He stopped crying and calmed right down. I felt like I had the touch of discomfort and that he would always fuss when I held him. Dinner was ready and Georgette and I sat down for dinner. I didn't say much because I had no idea what to say being so frustrated. After dinner I took out the garbage and let Nilson go do his nature thing. I then sat down on the couch and stewed over the frustration I was experiencing.

Georgette came in and started talking to me and after a little bit of talking, she pointed out that he had gas, and also had soaked his diaper. That all his crying was from discomfort and not that I was doing anything wrong except missing his cue signs. It was a relief to me to know that it is only temporary. I don't know that I could survive parenthood if his tantrums were frequent and also with that same intensity.

I really felt silly and wondered how I seem to make things so different than reality sometimes. I took Andrew's crying for dislike and discomfort in my hands vs a dirty diaper and some gas. I felt like I took everything I did personally and made my way of thinking too complicated. I wondered if he could still see through the veil. I worried that he could see right through me.

Needless to say it was just discomfort and he settled right down.

Finally caught on camera!

At long last! We have captured the infamous and quite aloof smile that Andrew has. He's been smiling like this for about a week now and we were finally able to capture it to share on camera. As you can see, this is "THE" most adorable kid on the planet that ever was and ever will be... I am so not biased though...

He has some other funny looks along with these smiles. We were able to catch a couple others here.

Georgette was able to get some sleep last night. She got about 6 hours of blissful sleep. After she fed Andrew, she gave him to me and I watched him for a little while. She put her head on the bed and that was about all she wrote. Sheer exhaustion finally overtook her and she doesn't remember when I came to bed with her. She had fallen asleep opposite of the pillows. While it looked adorable, it wasn't all that functional...

We also went to the Mantai Pageant on Saturday with a couple neighbors. The drive was fraught with dangers of getting pulled over. We saw about 5 or 6 policemen on the drive in.

There was also a group of protester's that had a huge prayer circle. They finished and began trying to convince people around of our errors and beliefs. I always find it fascinating that by concern for other people, we try and convince each other of the truth as we see it.

I wonder if we get so caught up in saving other people, that we forget that we are all God's children. That we can all get along and accept the practice of other's beliefs, barring abuse and the like.

I eavesdropped on two guys discussing doctrines. They were so caught up in each other's beliefs, they forgot to stop and look at what they have in common. They were also so adamant in convincing and proving their points that any feeling of brotherhood and kindness seemed to be lost.

I remember talking with a cousin about our differences and having a bible bash. It did nothing for each of us, except cause frustration and contention. It wasn't until I bore my testimony about the gospel, did it end the conversation.

The pageant was great, although I was so tired, I slept through about half of it. They changed a couple parts to it and I enjoyed the new insight it gave.

I was also nearly carried away by a certain insect...

I have about 8 bites or so and was so excited when the sun set and the temperature dropped, causing them to disappear.

Anyway, enough of the skin crawling stuff... On with the cute kid pictures!




How about a spot of tea Gov?







This has to be my favorite picture thus far. I think you can figure out why.

Contagiousness

It seems that everything a baby does is very contagious. When you see a baby smile for the first time, it's all you can do to keep from smiling. When a baby cries, it's all you can do to plug up the tears before you start to cry. When a baby is sleepy and you are holding it in your arms, it's either the fact that you are getting about 2 to 4 hours of sleep at a time... or contagiousness.

Andrew is now three weeks old, and I don't know where the time went after we took him home from the hospital. It seems like a blur of about a week. It astounds me to look at him now. I am reminded when we had kittens growing up and how fast they grew and matured. His chin is getting a little double chin when he yawns or leans his head forward. His legs are getting pretty wrinkly along with his arms.

Sleeping through the night has been a bit of a nightmare. At first, the tyrant was calling all the shots and depriving us of some valuable sleep. Now that we have a few things under our belt, we are able to get him to sleep through the first part of the night until he is in total nuclear meltdown about eating.

He sure is adorable, at least to Georgette and I.

Pictures

No! Not the flash! I am going to be a burnt baby if you keep that up!


If you stick that pacifier in my mouth one more time! POW! Right in the kissah!


I am not really asleep but I will pretend to so they don't catch onto my plan to take over their lives! Mwahahahahahahaahhaahahahaha ah hahahahahaahahahahahaha!




Best not step, cuz I will bus a cap or, I will unleash the fury of my fire hydrant! Thiz comin from the west siiiiieeeede!

Two Weeks!

It sure does seem to make things interesting when your perspective of time flies by without much effort. I am not quite sure where all the time goes, but it seems to slip away ever so swiftly. I remember it seeming to take forever for Andrew to join us. Georgette was so sore and tired. I wasn't sure how to relieve her current situation and discomfort.

I also remember starting the semester at SLCC and that semester is over now. I remember when I was growing up and summers seemed to take forever. I remember having to fill out a small two page paper for 4H and the county fair. That was so torturous!!!! I wondered if it would ever end. Sure enough it has and about a billion years later (yes, I have a child now so I imagine I lived with the dinosaurs) I look at that and think that I had no patience.

It is now Andrews two week old period in his life. He seems to be awake and alert more and quite a bit more fussy than before. He seems to cry at the drop of a hat and Georgette and I think he's going out for choir later. There are quite the pair of lungs that this kid has. It is kind of fun to distract him while he's crying by bouncing him up and down enough to disrupt his cry. It reminds me of when I was a kid going down a bumpy road and making a noise, listening to your voice.

And now for some pictures of the newest member of the Mo-Tab!











P.S. I think I have a liking for the sepia setting for pictures, anyone else notice this?

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I am definetly in the wrong business!

I have come to the conclusion that I am in the wrong business. What a great amount of profit I could make in the infant diaper industry! I have been giving Georgette a hand with Andrew and his profound ability to mess up a diaper. I was cleaning him up and ended up consuming 3 diapers just for one change. Needless to say, I was a little shocked...

I had finished cleaning him up and had a new, clean diaper underneath him, when low and behold, more cleaning up to do! Then when I get him cleaned up again, he decides that there is a fire somewhere that needs to be extinguished NOW! Luckily, I brought my trusty, handy dandy, hand shield! Duh Duh duh DAAAAAAH!

I have been a participant in his random testing of his fire extinguisher system. The latest count of the safety testing was around 4 times. Man can that boy lay down a spread like nobody's business! Perhaps if I stuck his hand in something cold before changing... it would give me better timing than a random testing.

There sure are a bunch of adorable things he does. Right after he finishes eating, he will smile a little sly smile with his eyes closed. It's as if he is smiling because he has a full tummy. Anytime he sleeps is really peaceful and wonderful. I also like it when he stretches with one or both arms. There is a look of serious concentration when he does that.

Here is Andrew over at Georgette's brother's house. His wife had her baby 5 days after Andrew was born.

Here is Andrew and Gabriel. Evidently Gabriel is jealous of Andrew's cool pacifier and upset... Just kidding, he was just fussy because he likes to be held.

Another picture of Gabriel and Andrew. It was kinda funny... Every time Amber went to take a picture of the two, Andrew would throw his hand in front of Gabriel like he wanted all the spotlight to himself.

Here is the most famous pose of his. It's the I am getting hungry and you better feed me soon or I will start to fuss and cry.


Here he is asleep in his car seat. I was trying to get a picture of him with his pacifier hanging just outside his mouth with it still in his lips. He moved. He looks so tired and I still can't get over his red hair.