On The 7th Day, We Rested...

Here I sit, back at work a mere 6 days after your arrival. I have been away from you for almost 2 hours, and I don't think I will be able to make it through the rest of my day!

Everything has been going well since we brought you home on Friday. You have been pretty well behaved, save for diaper changing, which you absolutely abhor! Most of your day is spent sleeping, eating, or pooping, all of which you really seem to have taken a liking to. In the few hours that you are awake, you seem to stare off into space. I know that you can't really see anything outside of 8-10 inches right now, but you do have a tendency to go a bit cross-eyed as you try to focus on mine or your mom's face (one of the many things we already find endearing about you).

I have been able to get a little sleep over the past week, but you seem to be draining the energy from mom. Although you are typically on a 3 hour cycle (1 hour eating and 2 hours sleeping), mom is finding it hard to close her eyes to rest in the downtime. She says it is because you are too cute to stop staring at...

You met your pediatrician yesterday, and your progress reports are all stellar. You are still a few ounces under your birth weight, but doc said that most newborns don't return to their birth weight for a couple weeks. You are on track to hit that mark in about 8 or 9 days.

It has been a whirlwind week for our family, all in thanks to your early arrival last Tuesday. It is a bit scary to know that you are already a week old. Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy these days with you, because I will never get them back. I am starting to realize that you are going to grow up in the blink of an eye, and I don't want to miss a single moment of it! I will see you tonight at 6:08pm, and I am already counting the minutes...

Till the next time...

Dad

Day 2...

I don't even know where to start. I had no idea how I would react once you were actually a tangible person lying in front of me. I mean, I didn't think I would harbour any ill will toward you, but I wasn't sure how I would handle this new responsibility thrust upon me. Turns out I have, what some people consider to be, a knack for taking care of you! Diapers, swaddling, soothing, cleaning fresh wounds (circumcision is not a petty sight), etc. About the only thing I am not responsible for is feeding you, since your mom has cornered the family market on milk producing mammories!!

Lots of friends and family have already stopped by to see you, including your Great Grandpa Kula. There are many people that will influence your life as you grow up, but I fear his health will not hold up long enough to be one of them. Why do I bring up such a sensitive topic right now? Because I wanted to point out, that although his time in your life is likely more limited than ANY other family member, the smile on his face when he got to hold you was BY FAR the largest of anyone that has had the pleasure!

Its little moments like the one above that let me know how special you are to us. You have been in this world for all of 47.5 hours as I type this, but you have already left an indelible mark on everyone you have been around. Relatively easy for almost any baby to do, yet, as your father, I am inclined to tell you that you do it better than anyone else has ever done it!! Your progress really has been above average since yesterday morning (this is according to a objective third-party nurse opinion). You have already taken to the boob, which has a tendency to settle you down if you do get a bit cranky because you're hungry.

I am learing more about you every day; a topic that I look forward to exploring more as you get older. You come home from the hospital tomorrow, and the real journey will begin. No more nurses and no more doctors; it will be just me, you, and your mom. This is when things get interesting...

Till the next time...

Dad

August 25th 12:28am...

What a crazy night! You finally came out of hiding at 12:28am this morning. Mom went into labor at about 5:30pm on the 24th. About 7 hours later, you came out with a full cone head of hair at 8 lbs 9 oz and 21.5 inches long. I have to admit, you really looked like an alien when you first came out, but knowing that you were our little alien made you the cutest alien I had ever seen!

I had just sat down on the train for my daily 35 minute commute to Shangri-Lisle when I got a call from mom (I always assumed I would get a frantic call from your mom, freaking out about being in labor, but when push came to shove, she was pretty calm and subdued.). So your mom proceeds to tell me that her water broke, and she was wondering if I could "hurry home!!!!" Now, I have taken public transportation to work for the better part of two years and the term "hurry home" is no where in my vocabulary!

One train ride and one cab ride later, I made it home to find you mom calmly doing her hair before she went into labor (mom must have wanted to look her best for you). Her contractions didn't really start until about 6:10, but once they started HOLY COW!!! We left the house at 6:30 for the hospital, and contractions were only 2 minutes apart and almost a minute in duration. I seriously thought I was going to have to deliver you myself on the side of Butterfield Road! We made it to the hospital around 6:50 and went right into the delivery room. Contractions were still coming pretty hard and fast, but mom's epidural started to kick in around 8:30, so things settled down for a bit.

After a couple hours of "relaxing" (if you can call intense contractions masked by a nerve inhibitor relaxing), mom was ready to start pushing. Not so much becuase you were ready to come out, but because it actually made her feel better to push during her contractions. At this point, it was just your mom, me, Grandma Mueller, and one nurse. For the next hour and a half or so, the four of us coached mom through every contraction. By midnight, more people started to come into the room, which let me know that you must have been getting close! 28 minutes, 1 doctor, 4 more nurses, and a few contractions later, you graced us with your presence.

So that is our story to this point! Since you have come out, you have only had a few bursts of crying, but for the most part, you have been really well behaved. As I sit here typing this post, you are peacefully sleeping next to me (see below). I can't believe how perfect you turned out to be. Sure, that is easy to say now. I am sure in about 10 or 15 years I will be rethinking that last comment, but for now I just want to revel in your perfectness!

Noah James Thompson

August 25th, 2010

Till the next time...

Dad

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are...

No changes or updates to announce. However, the debate over your name is starting to get interesting. For the last 6 months, we have had just a few names that we both liked, and the conversation never really varied from that group. Well, recently, we have started to throw more names out that we like, so the act of naming you has become a bit murky. The good news is that we both agree on everything we like, so there won't be an animosity towards picking one name over the other. I wish we could just ask you what you prefer. That way, in your awkward teenage years, you wouldn't be pissed at us for choosing for you!

On a lighter note, according to various websites, you are "fully cooked" and ready to come any day (Gee, thanks for the heads up...). This is what you may look like right now. I should point out, this is the "3D" version of what you are supposed to look like right now. Want to see the 2D version?

40 weeks in "2D"...


Seriously? Although I am sure that some babies may come out looking like this, this picture is absolutely ridiculous. I have always stood by my opinion that new born babies, in general, look like aliens, and this only supports my point. It looks like some website just hired a bunch of 3rd graders to draw their rendition of their younger siblings!! I hope you look more like the former, as opposed to the latter...

Other than that, we are still just waiting anxiously. Mom is still walking every day, with the hope that all of her moving around will coax you out of your hiding place. Obviously, that isn't working.

Till the next time...

Dad

Christmas Eve Syndrome...

Once you get a bit older, you will most likely realize what happens on your birthday and on Christmas. All of your family members will be showering you with gifts; toys, clothes, books, more toys, games, and more toys. Once you start to catch on, you will know that at the end of EVERY August and at the end of EVERY December, you will be handed almost everything in your wildest dreams.

For a kid, the anticipation leading up to those days is almost unbearable. When I was young, I used to scour the house looking for all of my presents. I knew every hiding spot in our house. So much so, that your grandparents had to hide my presents at other people's houses or in the trunks of their car! I simply couldn't deal with the anticipation of the pending barrage of gifts. I just HAD to see what I was getting.

Fast forward about 20 years to today, and I have the same feeling in my stomach! The only problem now is that I have no idea when my grownup version of Christmas is going to happen. It could be today, it could be tomorrow, or it could be any time in the next 25 days. For someone that has historically not been good at dealing with anticipation, this is pure torture for me!












So here is what I propose (because I am sure you are reading this from inside your mother's womb)...

If you make your appearance by the 22nd, I will let you have your birthday and Christmas celebrations on their respective dates. HOWEVER, if you make me wait much longer, I will make sure that you NEVER know when we will celebrate your birthday or Christmas. All you will know is that it could be 4 weeks BEFORE these dates or 2 weeks after. That's right, 6 weeks of torture!

Don't get upset. This hurts me more than it hurts you (gotta get used to saying that). You are just to young to understand (another gem). Why, you ask? Because I said so (jackpot!). The trifecta of parenting, and I just nailed it!

Till the next time...

Dad

P.S. Trust me, this is for your own good (BOO YAH!!!)

12 days...

One thing is for sure, you definitely know how to make an entrance. Anticipation is really starting to peak, not just for me and mom, but for our friends and family as well. I really don't have any updates for you at this point. We think we are ready to go once you come home from the hospital. We have likely forgotten a few things, but we won't really know until you come home. You are now the size of a watermelon (bigger than a jicama and a honeydew now!!). You should be over 20" long and weigh more than 7 pounds at this point, but we actually think you are a bit bigger than that.




THAT--------------->



<-------IS IN THERE

If you wouldn't mind coming out soon, mom and I would greatly appreciate it. Our anniversary is on September 6th, and we would really prefer to celebrate our anniversary without having blow up jumpy castles and petting zoos every year! So if you are coming late, you best be REALLY late so your birthday is around Sept. 12th. Just a suggestion...

Till the next time...

Dad

On Baby Watch...

According to doctors, your due date is 19 days from today. However, everyone is on baited breath assuming that you can make your grand arrival any minute. I have officially told your mother that she is not allowed to call me unless she is in labor. If she just has a question, or wants to talk, she has to text me to call her back. You can't imagine what goes through my mind when I see her name pop up on my caller ID, so I don't want any more false alarms.

Other than that, we are still ready for your pending arrival. Grandpa T still insist on calling you "Bubba," and it seems like the more I tell him I don't care for that nickname, the more he wants to tell EVERYONE that is what you are going to be called. So I apologize ahead of time for whatever psychological problems you may have because of that.

We are on pins and needles waiting for you to show your face, so the sooner you can come out the better. It is getting more difficult to concentrate at work thinking that I could get the call at any minute, but I am trying to make due. We have another doctors appointment tomorrow, but I won't be able to make it, so be on your best behavior for your mother. She is now stressing more than ever. On top of the fact that you are making her life pretty uncomfortable lately, she is terrified of the entire birthing process, so try to go easy on her.

Hopefully the next time I post we will have actual pictures of you instead of tropical fruits and cartoon caricatures, but no one knows what this week will bring. Just in case this is my last chance, here is another artist's rendition of what you currently look like.


Till the next time...

Dad

Home Stretch...

We are officially on the homestretch now. Today is August 2nd, and your due date it August 28th. Not much new news here, as it seems this period is the calm before the storm. You are not as active in mom's belly, but I think that is more because you have run out of room than anything else. Our home is now ready for your arrival. We have toys and books and cribs and bassinets and changing pads and bottles and a whole host of things that you MAY or MAY NOT like. What is comes down to is that your mother is already starting to spoil you rotten, and she has not even met you face to face yet!

We met with doctor's late last week, and we now have appointments on a weekly basis until your arrival. As of last Tuesday, mom was starting to show early signs of delivery, but we still don't have a definitive date of your arrival. Based on how your mom feels right now, we think you might look something like the following picture below. Now maybe you have a better idea of why you can't really move around like you used to!!

I went up to Coloma this weekend and spent some time with your buddy Lucas. I don't want to alarm you, but he is getting bigger every day, so you will have some catching up to do when you come out. Although he will technically be 6 months old when you are born, he will really only have a 4 month head start on you. We will have to get you started on ping pong, bags, golf, and poker early so we can have father/son tournaments at the cabin with the Solines and Grandes.

We have another Doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I may have another post this week to give you more progress updates, but I won't know until tomorrow. Don't worry, I will keep you in the loop!

Till the next time...

Dad