20 Years to Life

No, this isn't about Michael Vick. Apparently (pun intended as you will soon see), having a kid is a long-term job. Not that I'm complaining... What's funny, though, is that many existing parents will want to wrap up their whole experience, whether it be 6-months or 20+ years, into short pieces of advice for us newbies. They state the obvious: "Your life will change" or "It's the end of the world as you know it." Some are nebulous: "You have no idea what you're getting into... But it's great." In fact, many times existing parents will tell you some terrible story about raising kids, then end it with, "...but don't worry, it's totally worth it." My favorite is the whole 'watch out' stuff. I was told by my boss the other day, "Yeah, they seem easy now, but after 3-months you'll be screaming." Another person says just the opposite, "The first three months are awful. But don't worry, it's all worth it." But when people actually see the baby and hold him, we get good, useful advice and people are far more willing to hand out optimism. Babies just do that to some folks, I guess, unless they're screaming. :)


Rachel and I are doing pretty well with parenting so far. And I'm just taking it one day at a time. I'm still sleeping, I just don't expect to get 8-hours, much less consecutive hours of sleep. But it's not bad at all, just different. Rachel gets to nap off and on when Joshua allows her to. In my 3+ weeks of parenting, I can only say that never expecting the same thing helps.


The nice parts about parenting so far are things like the sounds he makes, which are many. I think he'll end up like his old man and do impressions and sound effects... He snorts a lot when he's eating, so that could pose a problem when he's on a date in the future. He's starting to interact a little better now and his eyes don't drift off in every direction like they used to. In fact, he looks at me a little strange when I cross my eyes at him. I had no idea how to hold a baby when he first came, but I had that down after a few days. I felt better when I saw my brothers-in-law doing the same thing... And they had Kevin around as a baby. Kevin looked scared to hold the baby, but then again, so did Peder. "Being an uncle is weird!" Yeah, try being a dad. :)


But overall, it's been fun. A learning experience, sure, but my prior priorities probably could have used some adjusting anyway. They are probably still adjusting. They will probably be adjusting for a long time... Anyway, here's another family photo: