Not too sound too corny, but I fall more in love with my baby Beatrix every time I feed her a bottle. Now I see what it is with mothers and nursing. It's a very personal, primeval act. The best way to bond with a baby. Feeding is one of the only things a baby can do, it's probably what they most look forward to, and it's one of the very, very few things they have even a modicum of control over. I'd wager it makes them feel more alive; human, even.
The way she moves her arms, grabs tightly onto my fingers while she sucks, the facial expressions, the noises, the way her head moves back and forth as she's ravenously trying to latch her lips onto that bottle--it all adds to the love. I'm really starting to love my baby.
(which is good, cause if you don't, the impatience comes into play, and you make your baby less nice)
It's always weird at first when you have a new baby. There's suddenly a very small, new, loud stranger in your house. You know it has your DNA, but it's too small to look anything like you. You have to take it for granted that it's yours and keep taking care of it. But goddam, at about three months of age, they start looking way, way more cute. They lose that newborn look and start taking on facial characteristics of yours. They start smiling and cooing and baby talking. It's the cutest goddam thing.
She smiles at me all the time, and I'm starting to get good at making facial expressions and certain talking sounds that bring the smiles out of her. I'm making her jolly, just like her sister. Full of smiles. It's so easy to calm her when she cries--I just pick her up and rock her and cuddle and talk to her! Easy! When she doesn't stop crying, and she's well fed, and her eyes are starting to get red and tired, guess what you do then!
And for naps, all I've gotta do is rock her a little bit in my arms, lay her down in the crib, put some blankets on her, make sure her arms are out cause she'll probably pull the blankets onto her face if they're not, turn on the loud fan AND the noise maker, and leave the room.
Some may say I'm cruel for leaving a baby to fall asleep alone. I used to feel that way with Lucy. I would sit next to her in the baby rocking strap-in chair, or stand next to her by the crib, and let her hold my hands and look at me until her eyes VERY SLOWLY closed. But when you've got two kids, man, there's some serious work to do around the house. I've got no time to waste, babying my baby. Laundry is an every-other-day type of thing now, and there are always dishes to do. And diapers to change! Yeesh! Today I changed a wet BB diaper, then changed Lucy's wet diaper, put a load of laundry in, then changed BB's poopy diaper, then changed Lucy's poopy diaper. That's four diaper changes in the space of fifteen minutes.
It all happens so fast at home with the kids. Soon they'll be big and strong, but not yet. They've got a looooong ways to go. In the meantime, there's no time to think about all the work that needs to be done. A dad's just gotta do it, get it done, and look the other way toward the new task. It's nice when I can get both kids sleeping, and take some time out for whatever the hell my overworked mind wants to tell my slightly fatigued body to do. But that's not often, and if it doesn't happen, there's no time to cry over spilled milk.
One thing that was cool today--Lucy put her pants on by herself, twice. We're getting there.
Oh, another thing--Lucy is really starting to look like a young woman! She breaks my heart. I am definitely going to have to fend off lots of boys. "Time to get a shotgun," my friend told me last night.
The way she moves her arms, grabs tightly onto my fingers while she sucks, the facial expressions, the noises, the way her head moves back and forth as she's ravenously trying to latch her lips onto that bottle--it all adds to the love. I'm really starting to love my baby.
(which is good, cause if you don't, the impatience comes into play, and you make your baby less nice)
It's always weird at first when you have a new baby. There's suddenly a very small, new, loud stranger in your house. You know it has your DNA, but it's too small to look anything like you. You have to take it for granted that it's yours and keep taking care of it. But goddam, at about three months of age, they start looking way, way more cute. They lose that newborn look and start taking on facial characteristics of yours. They start smiling and cooing and baby talking. It's the cutest goddam thing.
She smiles at me all the time, and I'm starting to get good at making facial expressions and certain talking sounds that bring the smiles out of her. I'm making her jolly, just like her sister. Full of smiles. It's so easy to calm her when she cries--I just pick her up and rock her and cuddle and talk to her! Easy! When she doesn't stop crying, and she's well fed, and her eyes are starting to get red and tired, guess what you do then!
And for naps, all I've gotta do is rock her a little bit in my arms, lay her down in the crib, put some blankets on her, make sure her arms are out cause she'll probably pull the blankets onto her face if they're not, turn on the loud fan AND the noise maker, and leave the room.
Some may say I'm cruel for leaving a baby to fall asleep alone. I used to feel that way with Lucy. I would sit next to her in the baby rocking strap-in chair, or stand next to her by the crib, and let her hold my hands and look at me until her eyes VERY SLOWLY closed. But when you've got two kids, man, there's some serious work to do around the house. I've got no time to waste, babying my baby. Laundry is an every-other-day type of thing now, and there are always dishes to do. And diapers to change! Yeesh! Today I changed a wet BB diaper, then changed Lucy's wet diaper, put a load of laundry in, then changed BB's poopy diaper, then changed Lucy's poopy diaper. That's four diaper changes in the space of fifteen minutes.
It all happens so fast at home with the kids. Soon they'll be big and strong, but not yet. They've got a looooong ways to go. In the meantime, there's no time to think about all the work that needs to be done. A dad's just gotta do it, get it done, and look the other way toward the new task. It's nice when I can get both kids sleeping, and take some time out for whatever the hell my overworked mind wants to tell my slightly fatigued body to do. But that's not often, and if it doesn't happen, there's no time to cry over spilled milk.
One thing that was cool today--Lucy put her pants on by herself, twice. We're getting there.
Oh, another thing--Lucy is really starting to look like a young woman! She breaks my heart. I am definitely going to have to fend off lots of boys. "Time to get a shotgun," my friend told me last night.
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