Adjusting to a new life

It is hard for me to believe that tomorrow Aaron will be 3 weeks old.  The time has gone so quickly, it seems like there are many days that escape me and before I know it they are over.  I couldn't tell you what I do at home all day with a newborn, other than feed and change diapers but it goes very quickly.  I am sure the time passing so quickly has nothing to do with having a newborn and a puppy to wrangle...but needless to say we are on our toes over here.
 A few things I have learned about Aaron:

• He does not like to be cold
• He screams when you bathe him because it is cold
• He gets upset when you change his clothes/diaper because it is cold and plug your ears if you need to use a wipe because that is wet AND cold
• He grunts when he is hungry
• He can sleep through any noise UNLESS mommy is trying to sleep too then an ant walking by will wake him
• He will one day make a great boxer because he has always got his guard up (hands by his face)
• If he is running short on dirty diapers all you have to do is change his diaper and he is sure to poop in the clean one within 5 min.
• When cleaning a poopy diaper protect yourself because he has been known to pee on his clothes
• He makes great faces just like his dad so it should be interesting when he can put those to use

The first week, Jon was off work and it was great to have his help around the clock.  Unfortunately that had to come to an end and he had to go back.  We are lucky in that we have so much family that is willing to help.  Barbie came for a week to help with cooking and loving on both Aaron and Luna.  My dad and Spencer joined her later on in the week and we had a really nice visit.  They all headed home last Sunday and we headed back to the regular crowd around the house.  This past week has been much quieter, with visitors slowing down and I was able to spend some time really focusing on Aaron and learning more about him.  I will say it is rather surprising how quickly you learn what all of their sounds and movements mean.  Although I haven't been getting many naps, we have been doing pretty good at night.  Thus far we have had minimal trips out of the house but a few here and there.  Aaron has been to Bible Study the last two weeks, church and lunch last weekend, doctors for both him and me, and then an errand trip on Friday.  He loves the car and as most babies do, spends his cruising time snoozing.

This weekend was a low key weekend with no plans and it has been great to just relax and lay around in our jammies all day.  It is so nice to be able to feed the baby and sleep when it works for you and not feel the need to race the alarm clock. I love to snuggle our sweet little boy and I already dread the day he won't want to snuggle anymore.  Jon on the other hand asks Aaron every morning when he wakes up if he can swing a golf club yet.  I keep telling him the time will be here before he even knows it.

I am equally surprised at how good our little Luna is doing.  She has doubled her weights since we brought her home a month ago and it really a good dog.  We are pretty much, dare I say it, at the point where she is house trained.  That has been a tremendous help to have that done.  She also loves to be outside and will go lay in the yard forever.  She thankfully isn't really bothered by Aaron's crying and has adjusted well to him.  My wish list for Luna is that she will learn these few things and then she will be a totally independent dog:

• Get on the couch herself, she is close
• Get off the couch herself, she is a chicken
• Go down the stairs by herself

I plan to spend some time this week working on a slide show of the first month of Aaron's life so stay tuned.  In the mean time here are a few of our more recent pictures.

 This is daddy's current favorite picture

Here is what Jon does on a Saturday, he makes music videos with our son...

Our attempt at some newborn pictures

Well we have survived a week at home and are settling into a fun little life.  Our sweet little boy is doing so well and sleeping 6 hours consistently at night, which is great for mommy and daddy.  The last day that Jon was home we decided to test his artistic ability and take some newborn pictures for fun.  Here are some of the good ones we got, and a few funny ones.

 He came just in time to root for Daddy's favorite baseball team.  The nurse in the hospital said oh I get it...A for Aaron, Jon and I just nodded and moved on.

 About this time he realized that his paci was gone!!!!!

 And mommy couldn't handle it anymore so we gave it back.

 Here is the help

 More of the help

 A visual of what was going on behind the scenes...

 Sporting Daddy's favorite team

 Cuddled up in a blanket made by Great Grandma Mary

This was quite a chore because my kid does not like to be changed, he gets so cold and will scream.  So the many wardrobe changes were a chore and thus the paci was needed or we would have gotten the bitter beer face.

Better late than never...Maternity Pictures

A few weeks ago we got together with a friend on a Sunday evening and took some maternity pictures.  I had seen some poses on Pinterest that I wanted to try and then we just played for the others.  

 I have no words for this one...

 Typical Jon...acting goofy

 Not really sure what happened but it seemed to be fitting of us...

It is kind of crazy to look back at these pictures and think a little over a week ago that is what my belly looked like and now we have a sweet baby to hold in our arms.

Meeting Aaron: A New Daddy’s Perspective

June 26th, Courtney went in for her scheduled doctor check up and we discovered she had progressed from being dilated 1cm the week before, to 2cm dilated. Which prompted this prediction from the doctor; “I think he is coming early, and when he comes, I think he will just ‘fall out of there’”. Well, 1 out of 2 ain’t bad…I guess. With a due date of July 15th, predictions for Aaron’s arrival were adjusted from dates around his due date to “this weekend”. As the week progressed, we started sensing that our son was ready to see his new world, but Mommy and Daddy weren’t ready yet! We had gone from a slam dunk July baby (there are none in the Prebish family…) to making Courtney lay on the couch to counter gravity doing that “fall out of there” thing. PLUS, Mommy really wanted to eat Melting Pot on Saturday, June 30th. So Saturday, the last day of June and the day of Melting Pot, mommy spent it like so:

We made it through Melting Pot, and came home that night, no drama, just lots of fondue! Around 10pm, momma prophetically stated, “I don’t think this kid is coming tonight”, and so as such things go…2 hours later…at 12:10am in JULY, Courtney’s water broke. Doctor’s first prediction, spot on! Aaron was going to be born July 1st, 2 weeks early! Now as for that second prediction…”he will just fall out of there”…not so much. Courtney was in labor for a total of 18 hours, the “pushing” didn’t start until about 1pm.

 FUTURE DAD SIDE NOTE – for you dad’s to be…let me give you a heads up. That plan of I’m just going to hang out by my wife’s head letting her scream at me and just let all the other stuff happen out of eye sight, NOPE! NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! If there are any “secrets” between you and your wife, there won’t be after she gives birth…I have been forbidden to adequately describe this on this Blog…but…well…no secrets!

 Courtney was pushing on and off with breaks hoping labor would slide Aaron into the right position until about 5pm. It was determined then, that pushing was not going to solve the issue and Aaron was going to be coming out through a c-section.

 FUTURE DAD SIDE NOTE – A c-section is no joke! I know that you realize it is surgery, and that like EVERYONE you know has had one, but it doesn’t dawn on you how “serious” it is until your wife is literally strapped down to a table with those restraints they use for insane asylums, and you go from your delivery room of you, a nurse and your wife, to like 15 people doing very medical stuff like giving a play by play: “Cut time 17:35” Its way more intense than you think it will be…just a heads up. Your wife will barely remember it…she is drugged up with the best drugs medicine can offer. You? Nope! Sober as can be!

Then as I was holding Courtney’s hand as she was fading in out of sleep (yes…sleep) I hear this play by play announcement. “Time of birth, 17:41” followed by the cries of a newborn…and there he was as purple as can be, my son.

 ANOTHER FUTURE DAD SIDE NOTE – You probably consider yourself tough. You don’t cry at much. You can handle the fact that your wife is strapped down with essentially her innards hanging out. You feel pretty confident that you wont cry, but just be excited about your new child. Wont happen. You might be able to hang out without full blown tears…but it will be a battle. It was like someone ran me over with a train. One second perfectly fine, supportive husband, to “holy crap that is my kid! I have a son! Woah…what is this feeling…tears? What the crap?! Where did that come from! Pull it together Prebish!” good luck!

5 minutes later…He wasn’t so purple…he wasn’t crying and was just looking around with this look like “what the crap just happened?!”

I got to show him off to Mommy for about 10 seconds and then was hauled out of there for a drive by of the grandparents and then on to the nursery… I have no idea what I looked like to the grandparents, but the getting choked up thing happened again, which I was able to control, but I’m pretty sure I looked like this as they were literally racing towards me for a glimpse of their new grandson…

The next three days were full of what felt like thousands of people coming in to check on this and that, which perhaps those thousand stories will be told at some point, but I know most people are just looking for the photos of Aaron, so here are a few of the ones we managed to snap off while there…

Now…there was this one story…see Courtney would order breakfast every morning from the hospital cafeteria. This one morning I wasn’t there when she ordered, so when it came, I saw this:

I was thinking…score! She has like a stack of pancakes, an omelet maybe some bacon, or something…look at that thing! It’s going to be so awesome it comes with a little cover for the grand reveal of some scruptiousness! So I get her set up and go to pull the cover off with as much anticipation as I had had all week! Ta da!

What.

 1 biscuit?!

And that garnish is more mocking than it is decorative…

And so July 4th came and it was time to go home, there was no panic moment of “wait? What do I do without you guys?!” my feeling was more along the lines of…”could you hurry the crap up? I need to get out of here…and now!”

 The way I figure it, is at this point, if Aaron cries, there are about 4 options:

1) He’s hungry – solution: “MOMMY!”
2) He crapped himself or peed himself – Solution: change the diaper…what the crap is the black tar?
3) He has gas- solution: burp him til he rips a doosy or burps on you…both awesome experiences…
4) He is tired – solution: rock him til he crashes.

Being a Dad is a piece of cake! And so we got Aaron in his July 4th outfit and got him in what appears to be a car seat for giants…and set off for home!

So here is my summary, when you become a dad, song lyrics like this have a new meaning:

Switchfoot – “Always” 

This is the Start, This is your heart 

This is the day you were born 

This is the Sun, These are your lungs 

This is the day you were born 

 And I am always, always, always yours. 

Hallelujah, I’m caving in 

Hallelujah, I’m in love again 

 And I am always, always, always yours. 

 And songs like this, get you all choked up, and make you feel very un-manly.

 Steven Curtis Chapman – “When Love Takes You In”



 We Love You Aaron Jonathan! Born July 1st, 2012 6 lbs 7.3 oz 20.5”