A Tail of Two Steve's

Gideon has 2 grandfathers. Both named Steve. Thankfully, to avoid confusion, he has a Grandpa and a Papaw. Whew. One Steve has tractors and semi's. One Steve has concrete trucks and front end loaders. One Steve offers corn, the other a cheese-chip-onion-tomato combo that's out of this world. Lucky kid. What strikes me even more is both Steve's love my so so much. And both turn into silly faced goofballs when trying to entertain him. He loves that. Always has a smile for Grandpa or Papaw Steve. To Papaw, Gideon is number 8 in a long line of fantastic kiddos, yet I think he holds a pretty special spot in Papaw's heart, and on his cell phone where a picture of him resides. Gideon is also their screen saver I noticed tonight. To Grandpa, Gideon is numero uno, the big cheese, the one and only. He also rests on Grandpa's phone, and on his screen saver. Grandpa is quick to pull out his brag book to anyone and everyone he can capture long enough to look. I think most cashiers on the east side of Indy know my dad is a grandpa! What amazes me is that whether he's number one or number eight, these Steve's love my boy. I mean, I know he's pretty darn cool, and totally cute, but wow, these grandpa's really love their boy! Both are willing to do whatever it takes to get a smile, and both have been thrown up on. Multiple times. All in the name of love. How cool is that? And how lucky is Gideon to have Steve's in spades. Especially Steve's who love him so much and can offer him so much as he grows and learns. What a rich life our boy will lead. And it will be all the more richer because of his Steve's!

Baby Daddy

Noah is the world's greatest dad, it's true. The man is wonderful. I'm not surprised. He's also the world's best husband, and has the blue ribbon to prove it (bought as a silly anniversary gift years ago) The depth of love he has for his son astounds me. And makes me quite proud I was able to give him a son. They're so cute together, these men of mine. One big and one small. I love to watch them interact. To Gideon, Dad is just one big play toy. Someone who will throw him up in the air, dangle him upside down and sing silly songs to him. To Noah, Gideon is a culmination of his life's achievements and everything he's done good in his life. Will that little boy ever know how much his dad loves him? How much is sacrificed for him? I don't know. It's not really important if he does. I just hope one day he'll have a child so he can know exactly how much his dad loved him. And by the way, the man changes a mean 2 am diaper! ;)

Rocking and Rolling!

My kid has been a holy terror for 24 hours now. I am exhausted, totally done with motherhood, and ready to list him on ebay. And then, a few minutes ago, he rolled over. The big time, real live rolled over. Wow!! I am so proud! Ok, retracting the listing. Maybe we'll keep him a while longer.

A' ways to go!

I remember the night we brought Gideon home. It was a Monday. The entire time we were in the hospital, to get through Noah and I would talk about what we'd do once we were home. One of our favorite "meals" is the carpet picnic. Started with my dad and has now morphed into this cherished tradition Noah and I have. The core food group for the carpet picnic is the cheese-chip-tomato-onion combo (thanks dad!) and through the years we've added various meats, cheeses, crackers, shrimp, whatever basically sounds good to us at the time. Anyway, Noah and I woulds sit in the NICU plan out our first meal as a family of 3 once Gideon was sprung. Thinking and planning that silly little meal got us through some dark nights. I think just thinking that eventually our baby wouldn't be hooked to monitors was just what we needed to deal with it all. True to form, the day we were released we high-tailed it to Kroger for picnic fixin's. I remember when we came home, we put Gideon into his bouncy seat. He swam in it! His legs couldn't get through the holes without the straps swallowing his entire body. We settled for sitting him in a nest of pillows that night and just laughed. At 5 pounds, we thought he was huge. Well, we've recently introduced solids into the young master's diet. Noah says it's one step towards steak. So now that he's getting REALLY big, a whopping 14.5 pounds, we decided to assemble his high chair since his bouncy seat is now getting too small to support our strapping young lad. My parents got us this convertible high chair for Christmas, one that is supposed to grow with your baby. Well, I think we might have a way to go here. Check out the pic and see for yourself. Just when I think he's getting sooo big and growing too fast, reality sets in and I realize I have quite a good long while before my baby is a big boy! Whew!

Marriage Counseling

Our nephew had his 6th birthday party over the weekend at a place called Bounce U. While Gideon couldn't go (crowds, germs, noise) his mom and dad did. What a place! Its a far cry from the skating parties we had as children. It is a gigantic warehouse filled with inflatable structures you can play on, slide down, wrestle in, etc. For a 6 year old, it has got to be the most amazing place on earth. For a 30 year old, it was equally as cool. Even good ol' Papaw Steve got into it and bounced until he was red in the face. Boy, kids have a lot of energy! Anyway, since our little responsibility was at home with grandma, we decided to join in on the fun. This is a picture of Noah beating the snot out of me with gigantic boxing gloves. Please note they are extremely heavy! Ok, they're not. I'm just a weenie!

5:30 am Ramblings

It is 5:30 am. The house is quiet. I sneak from my bed to yours to nurse you. Have to keep on schedule, you know, even if you aren't awake. I hear your tiny squeaks, you are starting to rouse and get hungry. I pick you up and you completely conform to my body, you are so snuggly. We sit down. I can't help but gaze as your profile as you nurse. You are perfect! Your hands start to relax and your face is bathed in the light of your tiny bear nightlight. There is no sound. Only that of your rhythmic breathing and occasional sighs. In this moment, I have so much love for you, it hurts. I think about all your possibilities, what you will do with your life. I pray to God that I am making right decisions about your life so far. I know some of them are wrong, but I pray that the mistakes I make aren't about the important things. I pray a thankful prayer that God has given Noah and I this wonderful boy who makes our hearts so light and happy. I want to keep you like this for a while longer. Your body still able to fit wholly on my lap, although you're starting to take up more room, your feet are slipping off. I want to keep your babyness there just a little longer. I reach down to stroke your hair. The duck fuzz that is so soft. You smell wonderful! Like sleep. I take a mental picture of you in hopes to file it away for when you're 16 and hating the world and your mother. You finish with a contented sigh and I pick you up to burp you. Your body falls like dead weight and you put your head on my shoulder. This is my favorite moment of the day. You are getting bigger and want to explore your world more and don't have much time for laying your head on Momma's shoulder anymore. I cherish it. I contemplate holding you like this all day, but realize I can't. I slowly walk you to your crib and whisper "I love you, good night" and lay you down. You wiggle to find the sweet spot in the bed and I stifle a giggle. You wiggle just like me! I lean down for one more kiss and hear you squeak one last time. I cover you up and slowly head out of the room. You are asleep before the door shuts. I head in to make the coffee. Just another day in paradise...

Human nature?

Well, I just got back from getting Gideon's picture taken with his future wife. Carly (my best friend from childhood) and I met up at our usual spot (Target- we lead exciting lives) and got the kids pictures taken together. How ridiculously cute, right? Yes, I know they probably won't ever really get married, but then again... Carly and I always planned on having babies together and how silly is that? Yet, it happened. Emma and Gideon are 2 weeks apart. Perhaps...

That is not the reason I'm writing though. I'm writing because we encountered the rudest of rude people at the picture joint and I'm still reeling from the fact that someone could be so thoughtless to fellow mothers. We had an appointment for 1:30. At 1:15 we arrive to get the kids ready. The picture gal says that she's running behind and just started a session with a 4 day old kiddo. We think, 4 days old, not gonna take long. I mean, just how many poses does one need with a tiny, sleeping child? Boy were we wrong! This mother proceeds to go through several wardrobe changes, Multiple poses and even stops in the middle to feed the young miss! We were shocked. Our kids are behaving beautifully, although bordering on a nap and feeding. We continue to wait. New mom takes about an hour? Maybe longer? We are shocked. She comes out and we tell the picture gal we have roughly 10 minutes before one or both of our kids melts down. She has 1 shot to do it and she'd better make it count! We get babies situated, they give us about 10 good minutes and then they're done. Can't blame them. Gideon is way past due on his nap and Emma was due to eat 30 minutes prior. While I work to cajole Gideon into a nap, Carly proceeds to feed Emma. Both are done standing up because rude mom has taken up both chairs (one for her and one for her purse) Her child is finally sleeping after all the excitement. She then proceeds to remark that she just doesn't understand how mothers decide to plan picture taking and don't consider a nap or feeding schedule. It was about that time Carly and I looked at each other and seriously considered stoning new mom. But, we refrain. Barely. Picture gal came out with both our pictures and rude mom's pictures and Carly and I were pictured, paid and out the door while new mom was still considering which pictures of her screaming child to order. Whatever. What gets me is this lady is a mom! She has other children at home. She realized fully that she was taking up our slot (picture gal made this clear) and she just plain didn't care. I'd like to think that mothers would be nice to each other- share tips on what works when kids cry, pick up dropped toys, hold doors open for strollers. I guess I'm wrong and it's every Momma for herself! Sad. Carly and I wouldn't do that. We just know it's plain wrong. Luckily there were no kids after us, but if there had been, we still would have hurried through. Just seemed like the right thing to do. Shame on rude mom. I can only hope karma will give her what she's due. A baby with colic!

And to end this on a happier note, here is a snapshot of Gideon and Emma. The photo shoot pictures will follow once we get them. Tell me they aren't the cutest couple ever!

Amazing love

I should be cooking dinner. Instead, I just downloaded the latest round of Gideon pics to email my mom. I finally took another picture with Gideon and grandma. We only have two others, one when he was in the hospital and his face was covered with the CPAP, and the other from Christmas when I caught her in the act of loving him. Needless to say, it was time for another. What struck me about the picture is the look of absolute adoration my mom has for my son. Wow. My mom has always been this amazing parent to me and I have always known she loves us unconditionally. She's super mom. She's who I aspire to be like in all ways. I knew she'd be an awesome grandma. I knew she'd love my child a lot just for the simple fact that he was mine. What I did not expect was the strength of her love for him. She loves him like I do. I didn't think anyone could do that save for his father, but that's a different kind of love. I am totally blown away that this tiny human could cause all this love. Neat! Anyway, here are the pictures. Notethe look of total adoration in each. Yup, she's super grandma!

Cool it with the camera, Lady!

Ok, so my camera isn't the greatest. I have a heck of a time capturing a smile, although I get loads of them daily. So, when I get one, even if it's not the best picture, I still consider it a small victory! Enjoy today's fun, and notice the great face he made in between takes!

Party. My crib. 3 am...

Ok, what gives? My kid has been sleeping through the night for weeks now, months even. For the past few days he's been waking up at 3 am ready to party. Doesn't want to eat, just wants to chit chat and roll around. Unfortunately he likes to chit chat at the top of his lungs and wake mommy up. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful that he is "self soothing" and keeping himself occupied and entertained in the wee hours of the morning, but I just wish he'd do it a bit more quietly! Momma needs her sleep! And it sure doesn't help that when you go in to check on him, he gives you this great toothless grin that would melt even the sleepiest of hearts. After partying all night long last night, I actually had to wake him up to eat!! And I believe he was ticked off at me for doing so. Not sure who he's taking after here. His dad and I both love our sleep and usually get there way too early for being as young as we are. Seriously, we have the nocturnal habits of the elderly! So where did this behavior come from? I'm blaming Grandma and Grandpa. He stayed the night there on Saturday. Perhaps they're the late night partiers? Humm...

From humble beginnings

For everyone who knows us, know that we had a rocky start with our little guy. He decided he wanted to come out and meet us early at 32 weeks. Since September 11 (eish, I know, it's not like I planned it, people!) we've had a definite change in our lives. The biggest being meeting our son Gideon, and learning who he is, what he's about and what he likes. He's such an amazing creature! He astounds me daily. I think God must have known we'd just have the one and so He gave us Gideon early, so we'd have an entire 2 months with him that most people don't get. I also think Noah's got an inside track to the Big Guy and maybe told him he couldn't wait much longer to play with his boy? Not sure. Either way, he came early and we're still adjusting to life as parents of the world's most precious boy. Life is good. Gideon is healthy and happy and growing much too quickly for mom's taste. Just last week he celebrated his 5th month birthday. Since then, he's decided that grabbing toys is cool and eating spit up clothes is the thing to do. He has also mastered the art of holding your arm when you carry him. This one melted mom's heart! I mean, it's like he woke up one day and decided to be a baby! What happened to the little blue eyed lump that hung out watching the ceiling fan and doing not much else? It's truly amazing and humbling to watch him grow and learn in his own time and at his own pace. It makes you really realize that we are so not in control. Maybe one of these days I'll write a little about his birth, but not today. Today I'm focusing on the biggness of my boy. Here's a shot of Mr. Wonderful in action!

Blogging?

Ok, so here we go. I'm a blogger now. Sandy said she'd read it if I blogged, so I'm putting her to the test. I guess as we creep into Gideon's 5th month of existence, we ought to have something that reminds us of his ups and downs. Here goes!