The new guy.

He's just so little! He's just a potato of a boy!

But he's a champ. We haven't been able to spend too much time with him, since he's been under a broiler in the NICU (pronounced "nick-you"). He just needs fat. He's not as well insulated (like his dad), so they've got to keep his temperature up and if he doesn't eat, stick a tube down there and make it happen.

Everything is good, though! He hasn't needed the tube for a couple days, and the hardest part of feeding (for all of us) is that if he's held too close, he'll nod off. So snuggling has to wait until he's done with his milk!

We were able to get a few more days at the hospital, even after being discharged, and so our stay was lengthened!
But I won't lie, cabin fever has got me good. We organized our little room as much as possible, but we're still stuck here. And my back still hurts from the first two nights on a super crappy couch-bed meant for someone half my height and half my weight.
We should be heading back home for a short while today, but it'll be mostly to grab more clean clothes and tidy up the place so we'll be ready for the new guy.

He's all skin and bones and wires right now, but having been through this before, we can see him as part of our little family already. DanPar was new and scary. Crash is new, but we've seen what a kid can be. And DanPar is the sweetest boy ever.
I hope he's gonna be a good brother.

Deputy DanPar has met little Crash twice now, and he's excited. Excited to point out his nose and old man fingers and nee-moots (nipples) and kiss his head. We'll see if he's still excited when we bring the tyke home!

But this is MY blog, so I'm gonna write diverging about ME.

The hospital where we stayed last time had soft pretzels, and that was awesome. This place has good breakfast burritos. I can't stop thinking about the ending of Y: The Last Man, and of course I can't, it's incredible. Eggs should be part of every meal, because protein. If I really think about it, yeah, toilet paper softness matters to me. How much is it to ask that they have a darn Pokéstop here at the hospital? I'm all out of pokéballs!

And just like that.

He's here.
:)

A very healthy freak out

So, I'm not as worried anymore. Nothing's objectively too much better, but Jessi isn't in as much pain anymore.

(Yay drugs!)

Just talking it through with friends made it better. The night was weird, which is the most explanatory thing I could say.
I woke up a couple times to pain, which was not fun, because it wasn't mine, and I could barely do anything. I did get to rub her back, so yay.
But I was so tired. I slept longer than usual, nodding off at 9:30, waking up at 7, with a strange waking hour in the middle.

I ate breakfast! The only available bacon is turkey, but I've got a voucher, so what am I going to complain about? Besides, I had my choice of two sides, so I chose two of my favorite things!

Bagel and bagel.

Until this while ordeal is over, it's more of what I've come to know of labor and delivery. Pain, worry, anxious glances between nurses, vague mentions of vague options, and trying to be comfortable on any level, when every level is not comfortable.

All right, so apparently I'm still a little concerned. But it's out there, so there!

The original troublesome baby, waiting for Grandmom and Papa to take him home for the night. 

Send thoughts and prayers our way. And if you're reading this after Crash is born, frozen meals are also acceptable.

My second rodeo

This isn't my first rodeo.
But it sure feels like it.

Just before going into the labor/delivery room!

Jessi just knew yesterday that she wasn't feeling well. So we packed our bags, installed the car seat, and got ready. Just in case.
But we're not ready.
It's early. And now that we're sitting here, we're feeling all the things not done, not ready, not yet.

Sitting here, can't do anything but be supportive of things I don't understand and coordinate with the family.

My bed for the night!

I even cancelled the DnD session on Monday. Crash is crashing the party unfashionably soon. And I haven't yet trained DanPar as my deputy enough. Still no sign for quiet time, still no understanding of what's happening, and still no idea how to fetch nachos for his old man.

And as much as I'd like to keep things light-hearted, I know he's early. 36 months. A nurse came in to let us know that he should be fine. Maybe trouble eating, but he should be fine. Maybe imperfect temperature control, but he should be fine. Maybe just a quick stay in the NICU, but he should be fine.
Should be.

Should be.


Should be.

Sweet, sweet, baby.

Cracking the code!

Jessi and I are awesome.

We've been married for three years, and with such a strong and friendly bond, any two people living in the same house will eventually create their own language. I just wanted to share a few of our favorite expressions.


"Blankets!"
This term refers to accidental spousal abuse, especially in the negotiation of sheets and comforters. We've had this term ever since we shared an apartment, and it's still used to this day.

Blankets-ing since 2011!

"kick his ass"
As in, "We're going to the pool today. Man, I hope it kicks his ass."
 When we want something to kick DanPar's ass, we mean that it shuts him down for several hours. We have important things to do when he's asleep! (Most likely, reading or eating something unaccompanied or napping.)

Watching rocket launches is tiring.

"The vortex"
I'm not sure how it works, but right at the top of our stairs, there is one magical spot where you can smell the entire house. Seriously, you couldn't smell the cookies baking any better if your nose were in the oven door. Whether pleasant or unpleasant, this spot of our house is the olfactory gathering place of all smells.

"What kind of house are you running?"
My wife is very sweet. But in my hectic life of taking care of a house and a child (and soon another child), some things just get plain forgotten. So, whenever we run out of cheese, or I forgot to make tea, or our favorite pan (we named it Paco) is dirty, she'll ask me this question. It's usually answered with an exhausted gaze, and then we smile.
She's incredible, y'all.

Out of booze, Dad...

"Nice."
DanPar is a rowdy boy. He loves to run into thing, smack things, and throw hard objects at things. In case you haven't heard, next month we are getting a very special thing (baby!) that we would rather he not do any of these things to. So, we started telling him to be "nice" to people, and demonstrate with soft petting.
Unfortunately, he's, you know, ONE. So to him, the entire action of rubbing something is the meaning of "nice". And so, fist full of yogurt, he'll turn to the back of his chair, and smear it all over, saying, "niiiiiiiiice."
But hey, if that's what it takes for him to not hit his baby brother, then so be it. We'll cross that bridge of him spreading peanut butter on Crash to be "nice" when we come to it.

Careful, he's trying to be nice!!!

"Baby crack"
No kidding, just the other day we saw a couple with that yellow irresistible plastic canister, and when DanPar waddled up, chanting "Please! Please! Please!", they called it the same thing. It's baby crack, and if you're familiar with the practice of keeping dog treats to befriend any pooch, you know the concept.
But like I've said, the kid started catching onto words (who the heck taught you "table"???) naturally, so we took the intelligent course and started calling it "baby snack", at least when he's in the room.

So many flavors of crack!

"Puzzles?"
It all started two Christmases ago, when Mom gave us four books of puzzles. Well, this is when DanPar was less than a month old, so we needed something to keep our brains afloat when we were unwillingly awake. Thus: Puzzles. It's become a nightly routine to finish one or two crosswords before bed. And when we're getting tired, one of us will look at the other, and say, "Puzzles?"
Currently, and I'm not sure why, but the Denver Post has been dropping off newspapers twice a week. We feel pretty bad that all of it goes straight into the recycling bin except for half of one page. (Once I'm done with the funnies, of course.)

Always a good gift for us!

I'm sure there's more and more, and some of it is just quoting our favorite stuff, but here's to couple and family culture!

Media

I've always had an unwritten rule that when the boy is awake, all computers and TVs are not. I continue to have mixed success with this, because during his nap yesterday, I was mowing, raking, weeding, spraying, and planning, so when he woke up, I gave a nice big "meh" and we had a delightful lunch with the Justice League.

Happy little guy!

It's a tough battle of willpower, and it always is, especially when I just got a fancy new phone, and I'd love nothing more than to play around with it. But when the boy's up, I try to only use it for responding to people and taking pictures.

Baby selfie!
(And big ol' hairy dad arm selfie!)

But I knew things were going to be difficult when I heard him repeat words he recognized in the car listening to Crime and Punishment. And while Fyodor Dostoevsky didn't exactly use nasty language, the book revolves around a pretty terrible double murder by the protagonist with his Axe of Hubris +3.

I know I won't be able to keep him inside a bubble forever. (Although after a small case of Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease, we're treating him like a leper.) And part of me is eager to start watching superhero cartoons with him, to discuss what it means to be a hero, the value of teamwork, and how cool it would be to have laser vision. And I'm a teacher, so I've got the book-learnin' to understand how I can structure this and make it happen.

Credentials

It's one of the most valuable lessons in life. You know that someday you're going to be lazy, so if you plan ahead, you can still eat healthy, you can still do your job, and you can still be productive.

As for me, I have successfully taught my son his first sentence! EDUCATION.