Expressive

Our 2 year anniversary was last week but we did not celebrate it as we would have liked.
Compared to many marriages 2 years is not that long a time but compared to the amount of time either of us has been in a marriage it is a wonderful accomplishment and one worth celebrating. However, as I said we could not celebrate it and while I would love to tell you why, Nathaniel insisted he be the one to explain it to you.

The week leading up to our anniversary Annie had injured her back carrying Nathaniel, nothing serious but annoying. Then throughout the week she kept getting odd chills followed by a fever. It would come and go for short periods. Very perplexing.


Eventually they went away and we were free to party.


However, Friday night the pains returned so Annie went to the doctor Saturday morning. As many general practitioners are she was useless. Annie now had severe back pain, right where her kidney is, and chills and fever. But the doctor told her to come back Sunday morning to take a blood test. Why could she not take the blood test now? Well, because she would have to fast for 12 hours first. A woman breastfeeding a new baby would have to fast for 12 hours. How some people get a degree is beyond me.

So Annie came back home with a clear bill of health and shaking so badly she couldn't function. Her lips were blue, her abdomen was in intense pain and she had a fever of 103. The pain was terrible.

We knew it was a kidney infection but the only thing standing between us and a cure from modern science was the doctor. We threw our arms up in exasperation.

Our worry began in earnest.

Finally we went to urgent care and within 30 minutes Annie's fluids were tested and she was diagnosed with a kidney infection and given the proper antibiotics. All was well.

So Annie was on bed rest the day of our anniversary and we missed it. The first doctor we saw still calls us to tell us we still need to take the blood test. She's a real winner.

Now the only problem we have is Nathaniel's 5 day constipation.

Alien or Baby

This is what happens when you let kids dress themselves. Looks like we gave him a little too much freedom too early.

Nate's Greatest Hits

Video montage!

Videos Videos! Videos!

Nate is kind of like a one of those sponge dinosaurs that start real small but then you pour water on them and they grow real big real fast. Except instead of a dinosaur he is a human and instead of water it's milk. He's like that. He is by no means big but as his parent I often notice how much bigger he is now. He is expanding much like our universe, my two greatest fears in collusion. Could there be a larger universal conspiracy at play within the walls of my own home? Most likely. However, no one who reads the blog with the exception of Dave cares one whit about me so I seal my thoughts away and present you with videos to delight your fancy and melt your heart.

The first video is Nathaniel making his first human....ish sounds. Until now his vocabulary has been a startlingly accurate imitation of the West African Wild Boar mating growl. In this video you will hear just a glimpse of humanity coming through.


He's a boy, a real boy!

Nate likes to chase things, mostly his cousins. He chases Samantha, Callie and he used to chase Charlie until he caught up with him once. Charlie's a tough kid but it was a pretty brutal beating. However, such great chasing doesn't happen overnight. It comes with hard work, lots of practice and great coaching. We encourage this.

Self destruct

The most important thing I have learned about being a parent is that it is often more like being on suicide watch. Infants try to kill themselves, constantly. I'm not sure what it is about human programming that makes an early life desire so badly to end itself but it gets tiring being so vigilantly protective. If Annie and I were not constantly, better said, actively stopping Nathaniel from trying to kill himself I'm sure he would have accomplished this task weeks ago.

Sometimes it's as simple as suicide by omission. Nathaniel has trouble sleeping. He doesn't want to sleep during the day. He either wants to die from exhaustion or I should stop putting Mountain Dew in his milk. That doesn't sound so troublesome but then when we try to feed him he goes out like a light, a light being turned off of course. We have yet to determine whether or not he is fake sleeping or just patiently waiting for us to give up on feeding him. Why would he do this? Why would he try to deprive himself of sleep and then fall dead asleep when he needs to eat, depriving himself of food?

One the more aggressive ways babies to try to terminate their existence here is with their bare hands. Frequently Nate tries to claw his face off. If we are not ever vigilant, constantly pulling his hands away from his face then he begins to dig in.



Why? Why do babies want to die so bad? Is the womb that great? That is the only rational reason I can think of for this self destructive behavior. Maybe the whole world would be a happier place if every one had a little more womb in their life.

In an attempt to make him find this life worth living I have begun a process of bonding with him. Piggy back rides, matching outfits, the whole thing.