What's Up Doc?

J-Bird went to the doc today for his monthly checkup, and everything was perfect. He tipped the scales at 11 pounds 8 ounces (up from his birth weight of 8-11) and measured in at a whopping 24.75 inches long (23 at birth). He is at the 75th percentile for weight, and the 97th for length. NBA here we come! All was fine and dandy on the visit to the doctor... and then they whipped out the needles. Ah yes, the joy of immunization. I guess when you are 6 weeks old you can't appreciate the benefits of not having polio and hepatitis b. I'm sure he'll thank us later...

Say My Name!

We are both fully aware that Joshua's first words won't be for awhile. But amid the gurgles and coos last night, he put two random sounds together that sounded amazingly like "Andrew". I know it was a random fluke, but it still put a smile on my face. Who knows, maybe he's a baby genius?!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Besides all the obvious changes that having a child brings (less sleep, a heightened appreciation of silence, and an alarmingly high comfort level with poop, to name a few), there are some changes that you don't really think about until your little one has arrived. I think that one of the biggest changes for me is that everything that I do is now an example for how my son should live his life. The way I communicate with Brenda, the things that I do in my spare time, the language that I use... I want my son to be raised in a caring, God-loving atmosphere, and to do that, I need to demonstrate those qualities myself. Now that Joshua is here, I have been forced to look at those areas in my life that I have, up until now, been okay with being "just alright" in. I don't really swear too much anymore, but I really don't want my son's first words to be "crap", so I am trying to cut words like that out as well. Most of the time I am a little too tired to pray in the morning, but the last few days I have been making time for it anyways; this should be a habit in my life, and I want it to be a habit in his as well (of course he probably needs to learn to speak first!). I know that Brenda and I will do a great job as parents, and it all starts with working on ourselves.

The First 5 Weeks

I was in the shower one morning, which is TMI, and I was thinking about all of the little things that we have learned about Joshua during his first 5 weeks. And I realized that 5 more weeks from now, I won't remember some of this stuff. And 5 years from now, I won't remember most of it. So I guess that this "blog" will not only keep all you out there who care up-to-date on our little J-Bird, but it will also serve as a diary of sorts for us. Because I certainly don't want to forget the way he sounded like a little bird the first few days when he cried. I want to remember our early concerns about his weight, his hearing, and a heart murmur, and I want to remember our joy when we learned that none of those things was an issue. Five years from now, when he is doing amazing things, I want to remember how proud I was of him that he was holding his head up strong at 3-4 weeks. I want to remember his favorite things, like mommy's praise team CD, "The Bubble Show", and 110 degree heat. And I want to remember how I thank God every day that Brenda and I could be blessed with such a perfect child, and how I can't remember what it was like when he wasn't around.