Just click on the Photos link to the left to view the whole set. Or click here to go straight there. Or click here to view a slideshow! As I take more and more pictures, I’ll likely be adding them to that set, so hopefully it’ll just grow and grow.
The first days have certainly been wonderful – half the time I hold Grace I just want to stare at her beautiful face. Of course the other half of the time has been spent in the other parts of the newborn baby cycle. It’s simple to describe:
Eat
Change diaper
Play
Sleep
The eating phase is mostly up to Mommy, so I just help out where I can. The change diaper phase is where Daddy gets to get hands-on with baby. I must say I’m getting much better at changing the poopy diapers at 4am! And, to answer my brother’s question, “how is it changing the baby’s diapers?”: I don’t even care that they’re dirty diapers; when I put that baby on the changing pad, my sole objective is to get it off, wipe her down, and put a clean one on in as little time as possible. I think I may even start timing myself .
The play phase is really where baby just looks around while Mommy, Daddy, or whoever else is lucky enough to get Grace when she’s awake and not hungry gets to coo over the beautiful baby girl.
Of course the sleep phase is also nice – that’s where I get to either catch up on my sleep, help prepare for the next feeding, or do other stuff like post pictures online. I probably need to do more of the first, but so far haven’t been so exhausted that I have run into any inanimate objects. I’m sure that slamming my own finger in the car door on Friday had nothing to do with a lack of sleep.
While I’m at it, I also have another video to share with those of you who just cannot get enough of my little princess. Enjoy!
So if you’ve followed the question of whether or not I should have a beard when our firstborn shows up, I was not given quite as much time as I thought I may have had to make a decision, so I still have the beard. The beautiful little baby girl named Grace showed up on Monday morning – after a night of heroics by my wife – and is supposed to not be able to see too well for a couple more weeks, though, so I may still shave it off … we’ll see!
For those of you who like staring at newborns, here’s your chance! (I didn’t know I did until this one showed up.) She’s tiny – 5lbs, 10oz – as you can tell when I put my hand against her head. And yes that pacifier is a “normal” one, it’s not bigger than normal, though it looks like it. I may need to see if there are any live-action Simpsons movies in the make, since she’d be a great fit for the role of Maggie.
I’ll be uploading pictures and more videos soon, so stay tuned. I’m sure there are lots of adventures in fatherhood coming my way!
If you read beyond the explanation of why Starbucks coffee does not taste burnt, you’ll find that some of the info explains why an iced coffee costs more than a similiar-sized hot coffee (stronger coffee to compensate for the ice, which would otherwise water down your coffee).
There are a few money-saving, helpful hints as well. One such tidbit is that Frappucinos are overpriced (no surprise there). My favorite, though, since my wife likes these is:
If you like the taste of espresso with a chai latte, ask them to ring it up as a latte with chai syrup added instead of a chai latte with espresso added. Espresso costs about fifty cents to add a shot while syrup is only thirty cents.
I’m all about saving twenty cents. With how much we go to Starbucks, that’ll add up!
Several years back I knew a man who had a beard. This man decided to shave the beard off one day at a time. Every day he would trim the beard to make it a little bit shorter until, eventually, there was no beard left, at which point he would, thankfully, stop the trimming and move to normal shaving in order to remain clean-shaven.
This man shaved off his beard in such a manner so as to help his children continue to recognize him during and after the transition period. He was concerned that the kids wouldn’t recognize him as Daddy if he just went from lumberjack face to babybutt face in a span of a few minutes/hours.
My beautiful wife and I are expecting a baby girl in the next few weeks. I currently have a beard. So, my dilemma is: to shave or not to shave? The beard has been longer; it has been shorter. I’m not concerned with it looking unkempt, but I do have a couple other concerns:
Do I want the pictures of my firstborn child to include a father who has a beard?
I certainly don’t have a beard that looks anything like the one my father sported around the time he got married (it was the seventies, if that says anything), but I don’t want my little girl to one day look back and not recognize her daddy. I also don’t want to look back at pictures of my little girls one day and wonder who was that man with my daughter. Of course, I might have a beard twenty years from now — you never know.
Do I want to give a little baby something she can yank on whenever I hold her?
Perhaps parents that actually have some experience can help me out with this one. I really don’t like the idea of someone, even my own kid, pulling my hair. That brings back bad memories.
If I’m having a baby, don’t I want to have a baby face?
So should I keep the beard or shave the beard? Baby’s due any day now, so I’m going to have to decide soon!
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