to romance a world that is torn all apart
Tucker Perrin was born eight weeks ago, September 26th, at 12:04pm. I had an induction scheduled for that morning, but when we checked into the hospital at 7am I was already in active labor. Tuck was born five hours later, no induction required. I guess he decided he was coming into this world on his own terms. He'll turn two months old tomorrow.
From what I can gather, my labor was fairly easy and definitely quick. I'll spare you all the gory details unless people really want to hear them. Suffice it to say that overall, things went really well. And every day since, I have had the pleasure of staring at my beautiful baby boy. (I feel that I can say with complete objectivity that he is the cutest baby in the history of ever.)
I think I'm doing pretty good figuring out this motherhood thing. I could not have imagined how incredibly comfortable I was with him right off the bat--I have never felt this comfortable around (or holding!) small children before. But right from the start, I knew he was mine. And holding him in my arms couldn't feel more natural.
The day he was born, when we were in the hospital, there were a lot of people around (our parents and a couple others). I remember at one point someone else was holding him, and I said something . . . and he turned his head toward me. He knew my voice. That was really cool.
He's a pretty mellow kid, which makes our job as parents so much easier. He doesn't cry much, and even when he does he's generally easy to soothe. When I take away his bottle momentarily to burp him during a feeding, he often cries as if there will never be another bottle again ever and the world is ending. But when he gets his bottle back, he calms right down. It's actually pretty funny.
He also loves car rides. Goes right to sleep. It's really easy to take him places because of this.
Last week, I was separated from him for the first time (meaning, farther away than simply the next room over). I left him with Chris so I could go get takeout, since we were both exhausted and no one felt like cooking. It was really hard to leave him, but I was so glad to leave him with his dad, where I knew he would be safe. I was gone a grand total of 21 minutes, and was amazed at how empty the car felt. I was also surprised at how much more quickly I was able to get in and out of the restaurant. I know I'll have to be leaving him again . . . like when he goes to college . . . so I'll have to work myself up gradually. Who knew I would be a mommy that would never want my baby to be out of my sight? I keep telling myself that's only because he's an infant, and I won't turn into one of those moms.
The past couple of days, he's been a lot more interactive. He's learned to smile, and now we can make faces at each other. It amazes his dad how he imitates me, and we have a lot of fun just sticking our tongues out at each other.
"Hey, Mama, you know what would be fun? How about, instead of sleeping, you and I make funny faces at each other?"
"Wow, Tuck, that would be fun. But you know what would be even more fun at 4am? Sleep."
I know parents often say that their entertainment budget went way down when they had kids, because their kids are just so amusing. I had no idea how true that would be--just watching and playing with him is an incredible amount of fun.
People keep asking me if I'm getting cabin fever (especially since I was on bedrest for five weeks before he was born), but I'm really not. I love spending my days with him. It's amazing how much of my time he takes up--I don't have time to do much else most days--but I don't miss work. I also don't miss adult conversations and the like, but I have been making an effort to talk to other people. (I go to a parent/baby class on Wednesday afternoons, we host our small group on Thursday evenings, and we go out to dinner with friends after church on Sundays. I feel like I still see people a lot.)
On the work front, my company has been experiencing some tough times. They just laid off roughly half the company, including me. It was expecially weird when I was in there today packing up my things, since I haven't been there to work since, like, August. I'm not angry about this turn of events; I think it's unfortunate that the company is having so many problems. Honestly, I'm excited to see where I end up next. Unlike the last time I got laid off, this is feeling like much more of an adventure. We'd like to stay local, but we're keeping our options open and might move for the right opportunity. (Frankly, the last time we didn't move because we really like it here, and now we have even more reasons to stay.) I should probably be terrified--new house, new baby, etc. But I'm not. I've feeling very relaxed about this whole thing, and am looking forward to seeing what happens next.
I could write a book right now about the last eight weeks, but I'll end this here for now. Just letting you all know I'm still alive and things are going really well.
And now, for something completely different, a video for you.
From what I can gather, my labor was fairly easy and definitely quick. I'll spare you all the gory details unless people really want to hear them. Suffice it to say that overall, things went really well. And every day since, I have had the pleasure of staring at my beautiful baby boy. (I feel that I can say with complete objectivity that he is the cutest baby in the history of ever.)
I think I'm doing pretty good figuring out this motherhood thing. I could not have imagined how incredibly comfortable I was with him right off the bat--I have never felt this comfortable around (or holding!) small children before. But right from the start, I knew he was mine. And holding him in my arms couldn't feel more natural.
The day he was born, when we were in the hospital, there were a lot of people around (our parents and a couple others). I remember at one point someone else was holding him, and I said something . . . and he turned his head toward me. He knew my voice. That was really cool.
He's a pretty mellow kid, which makes our job as parents so much easier. He doesn't cry much, and even when he does he's generally easy to soothe. When I take away his bottle momentarily to burp him during a feeding, he often cries as if there will never be another bottle again ever and the world is ending. But when he gets his bottle back, he calms right down. It's actually pretty funny.
He also loves car rides. Goes right to sleep. It's really easy to take him places because of this.
Last week, I was separated from him for the first time (meaning, farther away than simply the next room over). I left him with Chris so I could go get takeout, since we were both exhausted and no one felt like cooking. It was really hard to leave him, but I was so glad to leave him with his dad, where I knew he would be safe. I was gone a grand total of 21 minutes, and was amazed at how empty the car felt. I was also surprised at how much more quickly I was able to get in and out of the restaurant. I know I'll have to be leaving him again . . . like when he goes to college . . . so I'll have to work myself up gradually. Who knew I would be a mommy that would never want my baby to be out of my sight? I keep telling myself that's only because he's an infant, and I won't turn into one of those moms.
The past couple of days, he's been a lot more interactive. He's learned to smile, and now we can make faces at each other. It amazes his dad how he imitates me, and we have a lot of fun just sticking our tongues out at each other.
"Hey, Mama, you know what would be fun? How about, instead of sleeping, you and I make funny faces at each other?"
"Wow, Tuck, that would be fun. But you know what would be even more fun at 4am? Sleep."
I know parents often say that their entertainment budget went way down when they had kids, because their kids are just so amusing. I had no idea how true that would be--just watching and playing with him is an incredible amount of fun.
People keep asking me if I'm getting cabin fever (especially since I was on bedrest for five weeks before he was born), but I'm really not. I love spending my days with him. It's amazing how much of my time he takes up--I don't have time to do much else most days--but I don't miss work. I also don't miss adult conversations and the like, but I have been making an effort to talk to other people. (I go to a parent/baby class on Wednesday afternoons, we host our small group on Thursday evenings, and we go out to dinner with friends after church on Sundays. I feel like I still see people a lot.)
On the work front, my company has been experiencing some tough times. They just laid off roughly half the company, including me. It was expecially weird when I was in there today packing up my things, since I haven't been there to work since, like, August. I'm not angry about this turn of events; I think it's unfortunate that the company is having so many problems. Honestly, I'm excited to see where I end up next. Unlike the last time I got laid off, this is feeling like much more of an adventure. We'd like to stay local, but we're keeping our options open and might move for the right opportunity. (Frankly, the last time we didn't move because we really like it here, and now we have even more reasons to stay.) I should probably be terrified--new house, new baby, etc. But I'm not. I've feeling very relaxed about this whole thing, and am looking forward to seeing what happens next.
I could write a book right now about the last eight weeks, but I'll end this here for now. Just letting you all know I'm still alive and things are going really well.
And now, for something completely different, a video for you.
Click to view