Jonny: "I think tonight, I'll have some Boob ala Boob."

So its been a while since my last post. I know what your thinking. "Hey! Yo! Get yer ass to the computer and tell me what's up!" Well, those with two ankle biters already know what I'm about to say, but for the most part, I kinda feel buried. But in a good way. Like, someone burying you at the beach. Its dirty, and messy and you can always breath, but it feels heavy and slightly claustrophobic.

Truth is, I am totally in love with the family right now. Head over heels. Despite not sleeping much and constantly find myself doing a shit ton of "dishes and laundry and laundry and dishes and dishes and laundry". (That's a song Andy and I made up when Oscar was born. We sing it more now - ask us and we'll break it out for ya.) And I'm cooking more than I ever have. Despite or because of it, I'm loving the moment of it. We are in it. Buried. But we are figuring it out and doing it, the best way we can right now.

I'm still working hard to get that real non-gas smile from JR. I've gotten a few that were induced by my finger twitching at his chin. One time, he smiled and he looked like his cousin Reggie. I was rough housing with Oscar the other night while the little little guy was having his mid-evening snack of Boob Ala Boob and Andy said to me, "Easy. You're gonna hurt him. Jeez." I then informed her that its only gonna get rowdier. When the newborn gets big and it's two on one, it's finally gonna be a fair fight.

I'm going to bed. The family is sleeping and I should be too. Keep ya posted...

Wanna hook us up?

Our meal train is whizzing by with lots of open spaces. We'd love to have y'all make a date to meet the little man. And if bringing food isn't your thing, that's cool - just take a page from Sacco's book and bring a bottle of wine and two cases of It's-Its instead!

Back to work

So I went to work for a few days right after Jonathan was born because we had so many hands helping out. And I took all of last week off so Andy and I could get settled and comfortable as a family of four. Monday (today) rolled around and it was back to the daily grind. I drove Oscar to school and then went to work right after - the only difference is Andy is home alone with a newborn.

Our house is kind of a disaster right now. Clothes pile up and dishes remain dirty. Our main goal is to keep Oscar and Jonathan fed and happy. The rest will be dealt with later and eventually we'll get our flow back. All this scrambling reminds me of the amazing angels we had helping out the first week. You've already heard about Erica and Mindy, but I would be foolish to not mention the amazing and incredible hard work put forth by my mom. I've never seen anyone work so continuously. Whether it was playing with Oscar, helping us find something in our crazy garage or just holding the baby, my mom knocked it out of the park. And I guess not having her here makes me appreciate all that she was doing to keep us moving forward.

I know we'll figure it out, but it helps to have a parent around continuing to be there as a support and your biggest fan. Oh and thanks, Dad, for playing with Oscar. It was a tough first week made easier by you giving him your undivided attention. I've told you before and I'll tell you again, I'm incredibly lucky that your both mine and I am grateful to have you as role models for Andy and me.

A smile

I swear I saw one today. I was holding him, head slumped on my hand mid burp. He stopped. Looked up and Andy giggled. Jon smiled. His cheeks looked different and I saw him - for the first time. It was pretty cool.

Helps to have a professional

Thanks to Andy's sister Melinda, Jonathan will not suffer from the "no one takes pictures of the second child" stigma. Melinda (a professional photographer and videographer and one badass sister) was here for almost a week, helping anywhere help was needed. When she wasn't cooking us dinner, folding our laundry, or vacuuming the entire house, she was snapping pics and shooting videos of our family. I am grateful to have these memories saved and backed up for eternity. I think I asked my parents why they didn't have any pictures of me as a baby and I got the usual response: "We had two kids under 3 years old., the last thing we thought about was where the damn polaroid was."

*Note: Click on the picture If you want to watch the slideshow in a bigger window.

One week old

7 days. Jonathan's been around for 7 days. It almost feels like I can't imagine life without him. Those with two kids told me this would happen, but I didn't expect it so quickly. I took my first co-nap with the little guy yesterday. He fell asleep in my arms and then I passed out. After about 5 minutes, I repositioned myself on the couch and he laid on my chest, arms and fists curled up underneath his little head. He slept there for almost 2 hours. What a feeling.

We had Jonathan's B'rit Milah today with our immediate family and friends in attendance. It was a super mellow, sweet affair. He made it through like a champ. I'm not the most religious person in the world, but for whatever reason, this ceremony, this tradition, resonates with me. It is the oldest rite of passage for the Jewish people and it meant a lot to me to follow in my ancestor's footprints. I felt it was my responsibility to "make him Jewish" through circumcision and then, from there, he can do with it what he wants. I want Jonathan to know he is Jewish but that he has the freedom to follow his own path. If he chooses Judaism, then I'm cool with that. If he chooses something else, then so be it. Anyway you slice it (too easy), this has been one of the best weeks of my life.

Some pics of Jonathan

Andy's sister, Melinda, is in town helping out and has snapped some awesome photos of our first week as a foursome. If you like one, you can download it or purchase it straight from the Nikon application.

(Note: They are very big files so it may take some time to download on an older computer - but it makes for great printing)

View the short slideshow!

Do it for Jonny!

It's funny, whenever I say Jonny's name, I think of Matt Dillon's character Dallas in the movie, The Outsiders and his iconic line, "Let's do it for Jonny, man! Let's do it for Jonny!"

So when I am up in the middle of the night, with little sleep, bleery eyed, I think to that amazing movie and I say in my head, "Let's do it for Jonny, man." It makes me smile and helps me forget the fact that I've slept a total of 12 hours in the last five days. And Andy has probably slept about 8 hours in that same time span - Woof! I think we forgot about this part.

Life has been great otherwise. Jonny is eating like a madman. Andy's boobs are nice and plump and yet they are off limits to me. Oh, the irony. I was watching Andy with Jonny the other day while she was breastfeeding and she looked up and saw me. Her eyes were teary, she had a sweet smile that I've seen so many times before with Oscar, and she whispered to me, "I'm in love." I whispered back, "Me too."

Enjoy some pictures below of Mommy and Jonny.

And then there were four....

We made it. Phew! There is so much to tell and I don't have a lot of energy right now to write up the whole affair, but I'll try my best to give you a snapshot.

Andy's labor started with three deep breaths at 10pm. As the third one ended, Andy had a deep back pain that was our firs indication something was different than the previous week of contractions. We called our doula Michelle and she heard Andy moaning and said with a smile I could see over the phone, "Your about to have a baby, Eric! I'll be right over."

When Michelle arrived she realized instantly that it was time to go to the hospital. There wasn't really any laboring that needed to be done at home, evident by the rapid contractions. When we arrived at the hospital, Andy moaned her way up to the Labor & Delivery floor. One of my favorite moments of the night was when we were waiting for the elevator, there was a young guy sipping on a slurping also waiting. As a contraction came on, Andy let out a wail. Just then, the elevator arrived and we got on. The guy looked at us with a scared smirk and said, "Y'all go ahead. I'll take the next one."

Once we were in the hospital, everything began to happen quickly. They checked Andy quickly and she was already at 8cm dilated. We moved in to our birthing room and after an hour of severe contractions (no drugs at all), Andy was ready to push the little guy out. The doctor strolled in around 1:30am and when she entered the room, Andy was on all fours in thick of a contraction. The doctor looked at Andy and then turned to the nurse and said, "I'm gonna go get some coffee." Needless to say, the mood int he room was calm. The nurses were relaxed. Michelle was relaxed and smiling. There was no panic anywhere. It was truly amazing to see that this is what Andy's body was made to do. Despite the compounding pressure and pain she was feeling, this was all how it was supposed to go.

Around 2:30am, the doctor took her jacket off, put on the scrubs and got up in there and made space for Jonathan to come out. Right before he was born, she said with pure excitement, "Dad, come here and look at this. You have to!" I had been reluctant because, well, I didn't want to pass out. But I gave it a shot and peeked around the corner of Andy's leg. I saw the curly black hair on his head and then just as we were counting to 10, I saw an eye. Then a cheek. Then an ear. And before we all knew it, at 2:38am, the rest of Jonathan's body slid out.

I saw his balls and penis and I announced to Andy and the room that it was a boy and we all laughed and cried and smiled and kissed. It was bliss. I kind of lost it (in a good way) and we just looked at him and kissed him. He gave out a little cry and then latched on to Andy's boob instantly.

Some funny moments:

• On the car ride to the hospital, Andy was in the back seat going through contractions while I was navigating the bumps on Ashby Ave. Andy, in between contractions, coherently said, "I fuckin hate Ashby Ave."
  
  
• About 10 minutes after Jonathan was born, Andy turned to the nurse and said, "Um, could I have some vicodin now please?"
  
  
• Jonathan was a big boy when he came out and everyone in the room was trying to guess his weight. We didn't weigh him right away because he was resting on Andy's chest for a good half hour. Not sure who was closest, but it was fun to play the guessing game.
  
  
• The doctor held up the placenta for us to look at and she described it all, turning it inside out and every which way so we could see where Jonathan grew. It was both disgusting and magical. The tree of life.

There are so many more things, I could write and I hope to in the future. But for now, Andy and I are working on very little sleep over the last three days, and we need to rest when the baby is sleeping.

As always, stay tuned to the blog and we will keep you posted on new developments. For now, here's a video of Oscar meeting his little bro.




P.S. Oscar pool results will be posted soon. I haven't tallied the scores yet, but I imagine I won either way. :)