Updated 9.15.99

As of tonight, Jackson is officially 2 full weeks old! It's hard to believe that just two weeks ago, we were gathering up all our stuff and getting ready to go to the hospital. But that's another story altogether . . .

So what's been going on the past two weeks? Tons!!

After we got home from the hospital, we started getting everything settled in. The usual visitors did their stopping by -- with food (Thanks!) -- and the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and neighbors all gave Jackson the official 'thumbs-up' and "Welcome to the world."

 

Katie has been an absolute champ in all the new routines! Sure, she gets little sleep -- and she's a bit weepy at times -- but motherhood really is good on her.

It was difficult at first for she and Jackson to get the hang of breastfeeding, but given time, things have gotten better -- and they'll continue to do so.

Over the past couple of days, things have finally settled into a basic routine, though. Normally, Jackson eats every hour to two hours, needs to be changed at about the same intervals and then sleeps for between an hour and three.

Katie tries to sleep and eat when Jackson's not awake, but sometimes she doesn't get to -- visitors, and all of life's other demands, you know! But she loves seeing friends and family, so it's worth it.

As for the recovery: doing good. No major complaints or pain after the first couple of days.

Well, what can you say about a 2 week old? All he really does is eat, sleep, dump and pee. And he cries. And every once in a while, he looks me straight in the eye with a face that says, "Well, hello there, Mr. Dad."

He's got his first pediatric appointment tomorrow, Thursday. We'll let you know how it goes . . .

How about that face!! That's his 'full suck mode' position.

 

Things are going fantastic as far as I'm concerned. I'm really happy being a dad, but I wish I could take a bit more of the responsibility off of Katie. I try to do as much as I can -- diapers, laundry, hugging and rocking -- but there's some things I just can't do for Jackson yet.

One night when Katie was really tired and frustrated, I tried giving Jackson a bottle that Katie had expressed -- emphasis on tried. Well, the bottle is alot easier to get milk from, as you could imagine, and he simply ate faster than he could handle. I'll leave the rest up to your imagination, but I learned that a burp rag is a useful tool . . .

On a personal note: thanks for all of you who sent me your own stories about your births and the joy of becoming a parent -- it's nice finally to be in the club.