Fatherhood - Week 3

Once again, a week is past and so much has changed here. Every day, it seems Colin does something new, or something different, and it's still a part of him. He smiled a big grin at me last night as I said his name. I'm beginning to think that the best pictures are ones that I'll never have a chance to take.
The whole family had a great weekend together, and yesterday, Steph and I did something that we had never done: left him with someone else for an extended period of time. Yes, we left him with my parents, but still, neither of us has been apart from him that long since we got him home. We had some shopping to do, and felt it was best to not take him along, so we didn't chance him getting sick. We were doing Christmas shopping, but it wasn't presents. Steph and I have a tradition of putting up our tree on Thanksgiving night, so we needed a few things this year to make sure we were ready.
As far as the rest of my world, not much is new, exciting or different. Work is going along well, even though a few people have been let go recently. I am, of course, very excited for Thanksgiving to be getting here soon. We're doing it at my Grandmother's house in Monticello this year, and it will be a much smaller occasion than normal. Grandma insists we bring "nothing but that baby".

A Soggy Day in Florida

While it's not a direct hit, we are getting a lot of rain from Tropical Storm Ida. It seems like such an odd thing to worry about in November, but it's here. It's oddly coincidental that my first Tropical Storm/Hurricane was in November (Kate in 1985), and Colin's first is in November as well.
We have a doctor's appointment for him that we'll have to slosh our way to, but luckily the baby carrier has a nice all-weather cover.
I just laid him back down after feeding him, changing him, and giving him our morning "father/son" time. Mostly that consists of him sleeping on me while I drink coffee and read the news online. He deviated from his normal behavior pattern last night, and was a little bugger, screaming at all hours for no good reason. Well, I'm sure it was a good reason to him, but we couldn't figure it out. I theorized it was pressure changes related to the storm, but I was really tired when I came up with that one.
Steph is very kind in letting me sleep through most of it, because I have work today.
I hate going, but it's kind of necessary, with the money it provides. I, of course, miss him and Steph dearly the whole time, but I think I'll just have to get used to it.

Adventures in Fatherhood

Amazingly enough, two weeks into this whole "fatherhood" and things are going very well. It's hard to look at him and realize that it's been two weeks since he's been here, and see how much he's grown even since then. His personality is growing, he's getting some baby fat around his legs, and he's an absolute joy to be around. He still hates bath time though. Is there an original sentiment in any of that? No. But its original to me, and to this situation. He's a wonderful little boy, who actually sleeps at night, and only cries when he's soiled himself, hungry or tired.
He will actually amuse himself at night when he's awake in his crib.
I did have to return to work last night, even though I didn't really want to. I was gone two weeks, which is as long as I said I would be, and it was good to be back. A lot changed though, as there's some co-workers that are no longer there, including one on my team. But it was good to be back, tell stories, and show everyone pictures. And the iPod came in handy for that. Luckily, since our pay periods start on Friday, which is why I timed my return for yesterday, I work today, and then have two days off. Works out well.
And that's it for this morning, as I do have some chores to take care of. But I'll leave you all with this...

Just Checking In

First off, thanks for all of the kind words from everyone. It really means a lot to see so many of your friends so excited for you.
Colin is doing well. He's home now, and has been since Tuesday night. Steph is giving him a sponge bath now, and he hate it. This kid does not like his clothes or diaper off. But he's actually a very easy going kid, and really only cries when something is wrong.
We're learning to sleep when he sleeps, and that's leading to some very odd hours, but it's made us feel a lot better. He, of course, does wake up a lot during the night, but last night was nowhere near as bad as that first night.
So far, so good on all of this. And it's a lot of fun being a dad.
From last night's bath...