13 weeks 4 days old

How not to be an ass?  Sing to your baby daughter.  Sing loudly.  Sing unabashedly.  I won’t torture you or embarrass myself with a video.  But here is my wife singing to our daughter.  This is what years of vocal work sounds like.  (even 4 years out of practice)

   Awesome.

Being smart, my wife sings appropriate tunes.  When I do it, I find something I like or something very random.  Particle Man by They Might Be Giants usually makes her happy, but not nearly as much as the Proclaimers.  Then I look up the rest of the lyrics and find just how inappropriate these songs are.  While I would walk 1000 miles for Von Bebe, I don’t think I’ll be getting drunk with my daughter… ever.

   I’m a little concerned with the fact that I am shy about how I sing to my daughter publicly because I don’t want her to develop the same sense of self consciousness.  Any ideas how to break out of that shell and keep from being an ass? 

3 months old!

Yep, 3 months!  And she’s always changing it up on us.  I used to be able to walk her around the house in a cradle hold until she fell asleep.  Well now that’s not good enough.

   I have to change the way I’m holding her in order to placate the generally dissatisfied demeanor that is Von Bebe.  Here is a hold that got her talking.

How not to be an ass?  Don’t give up.  When she likes something one day, but doesn’t like it the next, try something different.

12 Weeks 2 days old

We always joke around about what our mutant powers would be.  Useful things like being able to talk to Salmonella so I know how long to cook my food. (get it?  When my food stops talking to me, it’s done because the Salmonella is dead!)

   But now I have discovered that as a new father I really do have powers!  And they are awesome.  Here they are:

-Can go long periods without bathing.

-High pain threshold on the ends of my arm hair follicles

-Become adept at using one hand for almost everything while holding a baby

-Decreased testosterone levels. (For real!  This actually happens!)  I guess it makes us    less aggressive or something and therefore more nurturing. 

-Able to wake up instantly at all hours of the night.

With this great power comes great responsibility.  Unfortunately, it also has a weakness.  That would be my daughter who can melt my heart in an instant with a smile.  As seen about 2/3 of the way through this video of Von Bebe waking up in the morning.  Literally, I took this first thing yesterday morning.  This is how she wakes almost every single day.  Enjoy.

12 Weeks Old

And learning new things every single day.  Like teething, for example!  Now, I’m not a complete ass.  I KNOW all babies go through teething.  But (and this may show my ineptitude or lack of foresight), I had little idea when it started or how long it would last.  Much to my dismay, I just yesterday discovered that signs of pre-teething start around 3 or 4 months.  (Right now for Von Bebe!)  These signs include excess saliva production and chewing on fingers and hands.  However the first tooth may not erupt until month 9!  So we have 5 to 6 months of saliva to expect. 

   Can’t. Wait.

Here’s an example of a fraction of what I expect to be in store for the coming months.

Fortunately, an aunt made a couple of these awesome Starwars bibs which make me want to drool so I can wear them myself. 

   Unfortunately, I’m afraid she’s going to outgrow them before she’s done teething.

Such is the life of a father trying not to be an ass.

11 Weeks 4 days old

I have heard the term “Attachment Parenting” before and have heard it used in both the positive and negative sense.  Other terms like codependence, imprisonment, bonded, emotionally engaged also come to mind.  Dr. Sears coined the phrase. (or so Wikipedia tells me)  And there are a lot of opinions for and against.  (See here)

   After reading the Wikipedia entry I’ve decided this is pretty much already what we are doing.  Wearing the baby.  Being attentive to her needs.  Cosleeping.  Etc.  But I’m not sure how much of this I learned from books or how much I’ve just agreed to as I go along for the ride.  But it seems like a lot of this is common sense.  The baby is crying because she is uncomfortable.  She is uncomfortable because she needs something.  Let’s figure out what it is. 

   At this point, that seems ok because we are all in survival mode.  But eventually, (when she learns to walk, talk and crush dreams) she’ll be manipulating us at some level to get not only what she needs, but also what she wants.  And as we all know,You Don’t Always Get What You Want.

   A lot of arguments against this type of childrearing says that it is too restrictive.  It puts women back in the kitchen barefoot.  It sets back women’s rights.  I guess my responses to this would be “Where are the husbands/partners?”  or “If you CHOSE to have a child, I guess you should accept the responsibility… even if it is more demanding than you thought.”  That’s life, right?  Time to nut up and not be an ass. (I can’t believe I just used that phrase)

Here’s 10 Mb of cuteness.

11 Weeks Old

Based on my hair in this photo, one can ascertain at least 2 things:  I need a haircut and my personal hygiene has flown out the window.

We went to a wedding a week ago which was Von Bebe’s first weekend outing.  First night in a hotel.  First 4 hour long car drive.  First Taco Del Mar.  No, we did not feed her a mondo burrito.

   Not being an ass means caring less about how I am perceived in public.  If I were more concerned about getting drool on my jacket or poop on my sleeves, I might be an ass.  But having a new child sure puts things in perspective and something that I might have cringed at in the past is now a day to day regularity.  I do things without hesitation that I thought would have given me pause.  If my daughter needs to be changed or burped, I do it.  No matter where I am or who is around, her needs come first. 

   Bodily fluids don’t faze me… as long as they’re hers.

   Enjoy her wedding shorts.  

10 weeks and 5 days old

THIS is why we had a home birth...