Day Tripping

Well, we've successfully completed 1 week of daycare. Maddox is getting settled in. Nicole and I are so lucky to have such an easy baby. I really, honestly think he enjoys it. His teachers both love him and work with him. I'm positive he's their favorite. He's got to be. He's so handsome, how couldn't he be? Truth be told, Nicole and I did check out the competition (i.e. the other kids and their cuteness levels). Here's the run-down: He's in a room with about 5 or 6 other kids less than a year old. So we did a quick check to see how Max ranked on the cuteness factor. Not to intentionally be mean, but let's see... 80% to 90% of the class consists of either the "flat-heads" or the "always cryers", or a combination of the two. This means Max is automatically in the top 10%. Really his only competition is this girl named Juliette. She's a sweetheart with big brown eyes and a beautiful smile and she's got a cute name. I'm not going to lie, she's tough competition... but, as is the case with all women, she's also getting older by the minute, which in her case means she won't be in the class much longer... so we'll wait her out. Max will be king in about 3 - 4 months.

His main teacher is Miss Jackie. She's an older African-American woman whom I believe came to Dallas shortly after Katrina. She's so nice to Nicole and me and she's so great with Maddox, plus she really knows her stuff. Very well educated on child development. And the best part is that Max really likes her a lot. Just hearing her voice makes him smile, and that makes us so much happier about the situation. Plus she gave Nicole a hug on her first day to drop Max off. How great is that? She's going to be great for Max.

Something I'm starting to notice about myself as I transition into a father... I now judge stories/movies based on what they are telling and how they tell it. Used to, I wouldn't care too much about what was said or what the story meant so long as it entertained me on the broader, less specific about what's going on scale. For instance, our bedtime routine consists of Nicole feeding Max while I read to him a story from a book. Usually the stories are ones that have been passed down from generation to generation. In our case, a lot of these stories are found in condensed form from a book we bought at Sam's. So maybe this is where my problems start. Because some of these stories aren't really teaching the best lessons to children. Let's call this my "What the hell?" segment, because that is the feeling I get after reading some of these stories.

The "What the hell" segment starts with Jack and the Bean stalk. To refresh everyone, here's a summary. Jack and his mother are poor. All they have is a cow that doesn't produce milk. Mom says sell it for food. Jack trades it for "magic" beans. Beans get slapped out of his hand by pissed mom. Beans grow. Jack climbs up, finds castle with giant and lots of goodies. Jack breaks in and steals everything but the kitchen sink. He runs away, chased by giant, chops bean stalk just in time for the giant to fall to earth and die. Jack and mom live happy and rich. Did I miss anything? In case you missed them, here's a closer look at my problems:

1. Jack stops to talk to a strange man about some "magic" beans. They might as well have been mushrooms. Bad move. Now, from my son's point of view, Max thinks that out of every weird random guy that wants to talk to him, at least one of them might have something "magic". Why not just have Jack go to this man's van to get the magic beans?
2. Jack climbs the beanstalk as high as he could go. Obviously not the best idea for any kid ever. Especially since we have really tall, mature trees in our front yard.
3. Last, but not least are all crimes Jack committed. Let's see, Breaking an Entering, Stealing, Fleeing from a crime scene, Homicide and probably the cover up or "tampering".

Yay for us! Sweet dreams son.

Anyway, this week we still have a candy corn outfit to make. I'll try and post pictures as soon as I can. But I don't promise anything. I honestly don't know where the time goes. I'm working at work less than usual, I'm spending less quality time with Nicole than normal and the grass in the front yard stays long longer than usual. We'll figure it out. We have to I guess.

Giggle It

Slowly but surely we are getting back into the grind. Nicole's first day of work was last Monday, and, as you can imagine, it wasn't greeted with a whole lot of enthusiasm. Even from me, and I hadn't spent every hour of every day with Max for the last 12 weeks. So, needless to say, last week was one we had been dreading for awhile. It makes it a little sweeter that his Nana (my mom) is babysitting him this week, and for a few more weeks. Mostly because our day-care parlor decided that a 10 month waiting list was as disposable as the diapers Max poops in. But it's okay. We are all still alive. After a week, Max is still alive. He's still happy, and I think the time with Nana is really helping him. She's been working with him and entertaining him during the day. Teaching him to play the drums and that sleeping in the big bed is much much better than his crib, all this against my knowledge, obviously. But it's good. Everybody should taste what it's like to be spoiled once in their life. Unfortunate for Max that his glory days occurred in week 13, but what can you do. Those were the cards he was dealt.


Something for the record books... Max recorded his first successful spit up attempt at his father. He's 1 for 1. It was a big day for him. Big day for me too. I now have first hand experience on the matter and can only compare being spit up on to being in a safe, but still destructive car wreck. The comparisons are many. First, while said tragedy is happening, time slows way down. Then, after it's over and you reflect on the happenings, you realize a few more things. 1. You realize just how fast it actually did happened. 2. You realize just how out of control one or both of you were. And 3. You realize the many paths that could have been taken to avoid said tragedy. In my case... the first path to avoidance would mean that tossing a baby in the air (gently or not) immediately after he eats is the equivalent to speeding in a snow storm. Seems painfully obvious, but yet, we've all been there. Funny how that works out. Plus, it doesn't help that babies play it so cool. One minute they are fine, the next minute you've been hit. Oh, and let's not forget the biggest comparison, after it all goes down, chances are pretty good that somebody has pee in their pants.


Okay, so let's talk about Halloween costumes a little. I think Nicole is asking for suggested costume ideas. At this point, she's getting desperate for suggestions because I seem to be drawn to the idea of dressing him up as a piece of candy corn. I don't know why, but I've had this idea for a long time. I think even before we had a name for him, I was on to the candy corn thing. Nicole and I have discussed it at great length and both agree that it has a lot of upside. The first being that we've never seen it before. The second being that Nicole and I both like candy corn as a candy, and we both like Max as a son. Seems too obvious right? Sure seems like all upside with no downside. Well, there are a few downsides. The first is that I've never seen a candy corn costume and, as a result, I will have to make the costume myself. And I'm not very good at costume making. We'll just say that my experience is limited. Which leads us to the bigger downside: If this somehow works out in my favor, no costume will ever be out of reach for us, or for Maddox, but really for us. I know this doesn't sound like a downside, and it isn't, for us anyway. For Max?, yeah probably. "Who wants to dress up like a corn-dog??"


Okay, so the biggest happening to me so far is that Max is starting to giggle. It's not a complete 100% giggle yet, probably more closer to 80%, but he's still giggling and it's probably in my top 5 things that I like about having a baby. I'm going to attempt to post video of little Maddox almost giggling so that you can enjoy also. If it doesn't work, I apologize. If it does, then somebody owes me a coke! (Crossing fingers)...

Max-A-Million

What a great son Nicole and I have. But before I get into that, let me be the first to apologize. Over the past few weeks, my work world has been mixing a little too much with my family world. I'm not exactly sure how the chemistry works, but I do know that it will always produce the most perfect crapstorm you've ever seen. I would definitely say I've been tested the past few weeks. Nicole also. Working late in to the night and stressing about work doesn't usually sit well with anybody, especially when you combine that with a bulldog for a son experiencing his 8th, 9th and 10th weeks in the world. But he has been handling it well. Nicole too. I am sorry people aren't up to date... hopefully this will resolve all of that.

Let me first start with Max's 2 month doctor visit. Here's the measurements from September 9th... 12 lb - 12 ounces, 24.5 inches long. Length puts him squarely in the 95th percentile for height. Weight was right in the 75th percentile (he's all muscle), and if there was a measurement for tenacity, well... he'd set the bar on that one.

The best tidbit from the doctor's visit, for me anyway, was that we discovered from the doctor, that my gene's are dominant. He looks a little more like I did when I was a baby, and he's got sensitive skin just like his daddy. So, naturally, after finding out that my gene's dominated Nicole's, I did what any humble husband would do... I rubbed it in. Only it back-fired a little. Here's the conversation as it played out in our car ride home:

• Me: "So, interesting what the doctor said in there, huh?"
• Nicole (unsuspecting of what is to come): "What part?"
• Me (beaming with joy): "MY DENES ARE GOMINANT!!!"
• Me (puzzled and a little stunned. sort of like a deer caught in headlights right after accidentally farting in front of a date): ......
• Nicole (unbelieving of what just happened): "What?"
• Me (now realizing what just happened, but trying to play it off): "Yeah!! Scoreboard!"
• Nicole: "Wow."

It was a good time. Hopefully he didn't get the gene that caused that meltdown. But, as happy as I am that he's my son and I can see myself in him, I'm more happy to see Nicole in him too. It's not like he's completely me. I look at it more like he's me but with upgrades from Nicole's family. Like his thunder thighs are definitely from the Bishop side. The fact that he's practically all muscle is from Nicole's side. He's got her eyes. And, I think he's got some Navy Seal blood running in him. He tried to kill me last week. No lie. He bit me on the neck. Side note: he might need to be muzzled once those teeth come in. We'll play it by ear.

Other than that, his first day of daycare is rapidly approaching. October 1st was the scheduled dooms day, but they are filled to the brim with babies at the moment, so chances of him getting in are running low. But he will definitely find his way to daycare sometime in October. Nicole and I are really dreading it, but are also quite convinced it's for the best. It will be hard for us and probably him, but I really think it will do more good than anything.

Okay, so other Max breakthroughs since last time:

• He has discovered his voice and has learned that it is actually him creating the noise. He coos a lot and smile screams and shrills like a baby whale. It's really funny. I'll try to catch it on video and upload it.
• He has also discovered his hand for the first time. (just this week). He looked at it really puzzled-like, moved his fingers while his hand was in front of his face, then a few seconds later, when he took his eyes off of it, he lost it on the other side of Nicole. He was really searching for it, then saw it and brought it really close to his face again. Then, after a few intense seconds of making sure him and his hand were cool, he let it go back to where it was. Easily one of the best moments to date.

Oh, and one other thing I thought everybody would enjoy. And in list form, since I seem to be in the mood. Here's a few of the creative ways Max rids himself of gas:

• Hiccup-burps
• Cough-farts
• Sneezing poops
• Kicking-crying-farts
• Kicking-crying-burps
• Puzzled farts (when he puts his index finger on his chin, like he's thinking about something, then farts)
• And Hiccup-farts. (Probably the best of all).

Okay, so I think this should get everybody up to speed. I'll upload some more photos so that everyone can bask in my son's magnificence.

7 week stretch

Wow has time flown since the last time I posted. Can't believe 20 days could go any faster. Nicole and I have been hanging on for dear life. Maybe not Nicole so much, but it really feels like I have. Wanting to spend time with Maddox is so hard when I also want to spend quality time with Nicole and when I need to spend some quality time with my job. Why can't there be 3 of me. Well... 4 if you count that one of me needs to do some yard work. Probably 5 if you add in that somebody needs to discipline our cat on the "new" house rules. 6 of me is out of the question... even though I could use the extra body to help cook and do the dishes. But lets be honest... 6 of me would be too much, especially when we all know it only takes 1 of me to get on Nicole's nerves... and only 1 of me to make Max cry. Such is my life though.


On the Max front, he is turning out to be the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. He is starting to gain control of his head, which, believe it or not, is one of the first steps toward world domination. Granted, his head isn't always steady, but he is moving it where he wants to. He follows me around the room, and the other day, decided he was tired of moving his head to follow me, and instead opted to just move his eyes. So smart! Now, if you balance that brilliance with me jumping around on either side of Nicole making weird shrill like noises to get Max's attention, you can easily see that he doesn't get this intelligence from his daddy alone. At least not with the display I was putting on. Sure, the shifty eye thing could also have been more about him being embarrassed than anything, but for now, I'm opting for smart.


He's also started to smile. And let me say, if there is something more moving than seeing your child smile for the first times in his life, I'd like to see it. I've never been more happy. It's so infectious and handsome. It's almost indescribable. It really lights up the whole room. He's going to be a lady killer.

This past week brought Max's "Granny, You" (aka Nicole's mom) out to see/visit her grandson. The "Granny, You" title was given to her as an idle threat by me... I think that she was getting out of line something awful, so I calmly introduced the idea of her grandmotherly name being just "you", if she didn't straighten up. Much to my surprise, it didn't really scare her off so much as spurred her to embrace it. All my power is lost. I really have my fingers crossed that stubbornness is not inherited. But no, having Nicole's mom out was great, especially because she brought gifts. I'm happy for Max. Nicole and I were both really excited for her to meet him. Equally as excited as when we got my parents and family to see him the first time. You want your parents and family to be impressed, but you also don't want them to fake it, you truly want them to be proud. It's funny. The excitement is more of a "Look at what we did"... almost like when you are a kid and you dress yourself for the first time. Looking back, sure, you might have just been wearing your underwear with a pair of mismatched shoes and knee high tube socks... but you know what, you did it yourself, and that is all that matters!

Max's next doctor appointment is right around the corner (September 4th). We couldn't wait... according to our measurements he's up to 24 inches long. Not sure about the weight yet, but he's definitely heavier. He has moved out of the 0-3 months clothes and is now somewhere between 3-6 months and 6-9 months. Mostly because of his length. He's still got some growing "out" to do. Also, in the tradition of all things parents, I have diagnosed his genius when it comes to eating and I think I caught him doing calculus between translating this blog to Latin and male modeling. He'll probably be the President...

Hair Raising

Yes, this is a picture of my son's "bed head". He probably has the worst case of cow-licks I've ever seen. Well... next to his dad's. Unfortunately for Max, that unruly hair is an heirloom. My hair grows in all directions in the back and is unnecessarily frizzy... just like Nicole's. He really had no chance. Poor little guy. Here's to some girl thinking it is endearing.

So a lot of time has passed since the last update. Last Thursday was his 1 month doctor appointment and he gained a whole pound in 2 weeks. He's now up to 8 pounds 13 ounces. Length wise, well some how the doctor's office still measures him at 21.5 inches, but I've seen how they measure angry kicking babies... they kind of "eyeball" it. They may say 21.5, but we all know he's a little longer. Nicole can't even feed him without putting a pillow beside her to catch his feet. So 21.5 shmenty-one-point-five.

Even if you don't consider the changes in size, he's still changing so much and so fast. He's starting to smile now... at Nicole mostly. I get a smile every now and then, but most of the time I get the angry face. He's starting to flail his arms and legs around a lot and his gaining control of his hands. He's starting to grasp things. In fact, I was trying to console him the other day by carrying him around... long story short, if his grip were any stronger, he would have given me a purple-nurple. There really isn't many feelings in the world better than the relief you get when you realize you are about to get hurt and then you escape. In this case, about the time I felt his hands go from flailing around my chest to zeroing in on the nurple, shock hit me, then the relief came when we found out that he isn't strong enough to deliver the full purple-nurple. Not many feelings better in the world. And he still continues to be the noisiest baby ever, even when not crying. All the grunting and smacking for no reason. All the farting and burping. It is the funniest thing ever. Sometimes the noises he makes, and the magnitude with which he makes them, sometimes I laugh so hard that I get all teary eyed. It's kind of rare for me, but there are a few things in life that really get to me, and this happens to be one of them. Who knew? Just talking about it now makes me laugh. We are really lucky he's a boy.

Oh, and yes... now let's bring the mood down a little. Let's talk about his "tummy times". Our pediatrician has prescribed 15 minutes per day of tummy time. For those unaware of what this is I will briefly describe. Since Maddox stays on his back most of the time to help prevent SIDS, he allegedly needs some help developing his back muscles and his neck muscles. So, tummy time basically means you put him on the ground on his stomach with his arms in front of him, to kind of force him to use his back muscles. So we've tried it and let me just say that there is nobody in this house that likes it. Nobody. We have yet to make it the full 15 minutes. We actually only make it about 10... with breaks. It's not that we don't believe in tummy time so much as not believing in baby abuse, which is basically what it is. He doesn't understand, he screams and yells and cries and whimpers and looks at you like, "Why are you betraying me? Why are you doing this to me? Et tu papa?" Oh man is it hard. To date, it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Not sure where we stand on keeping this torture going... hopefully it doesn't last much longer.

Other parenting news... we (Nicole) have started pumping the "good stuff" (i.e. breast milk) to bottle up and give Max later. What an interesting stage of life this is. It's one of those ideas that sounds great on paper, then when you actually get down to doing it... maybe not. Nah, Nicole and I both agree it is a good idea, it's just so odd and uncomfortable for everybody involved. There's really not a lot you can do except for joke about it. For instance, here's our latest running joke: Nicole's pump is one that has to be plugged into the wall. She wants to sit on the couch, so we need an extension chord. Naturally, the only one I could find was the big orange one that is typically used for lawn equipment. So whatever... we hook it up to the pump and as I go to plug this orange chord into the wall in our living room, I think (honestly), does she need a surge protector for this? Then it's like, really? Did I just think that? It's an honest question. (Surge protectors are the things that keep your tv's and computer's from frying when lightning hits the house and shoots too much electricity through the lines.) What would happen if she didn't have one and a storm blew through and lightning hit the house. Would it blow Nicole's boob off? Funny or not, we've been laughing at this for the past week or so.

I DON'T SLEEP!!!

"I DON'T SLEEP!!" would be an appropriate caption to this picture of our boy. Let's just say that he was none to happy at his current situation. He was tired and very upset.

It wasn't always this way though. Young Maddox had such a good start to life. Sure, he woke up every 2 or 3 hours to eat, mostly because his stomach was too small to eat enough to sustain him through the night. But even then, he would go right back to sleep. Now? Well, now he has adopted a lifestyle that allows him the freedom to eat and hang out for awhile. In this lifestyle "hang out for awhile" is usually demonstrated by either quietly scoping out the room, or more frequently, violently screaming baby insults at his father for being a complete idiot. Note to self... figure out how to determine if a diaper is wet without taking him to his mother and asking, "Is this a wet one?". This method of checking if a diaper is wet always results in 2 people being pissed. This is my next step in life. Finger's crossed I get this figured out before I am an old man and need the skill on my own diapers. But seriously though, Nicole can pretty much tell across the room if it is wet. I have to feel of it on the outside (lesson learned here... checking it on the inside is a bad idea... see picture of Max above. Plus, if it is wet, not only do you get that face in the picture, you've also just given yourself a pee finger). So yeah, here's my progression: I have to feel of it on the outside, think about it, feel it some more, think about it, make a decision, realize who am I kidding, I'm actually just guessing, then devise a way to get Nicole to offer an opinion without letting on that I have no clue. It's a delicate dance. Usually Max calls me out early. He hits hysteria at about the "thinking about it" stage. I'm pretty sure he can smell the indecision on me. He's what you would call "relentless". I will figure it out soon son. Hang in there.

So, including the above problems, the first 2 weeks of Max's life have been incredible. I really like having a kid. More specifically, I really like having a boy. All the grunts and gas are unbelievably entertaining. One of the first nights we had the baby monitor going, we had our ears perked for any noise he would make. Cries or whimpers or whatever case would arise, we were listening and we were going to help him out. Only it's a little hard to help him out when loud noises come through the monitor, erupting not from his mouth so much as his butt. And for the record, it is equally as hard to go back to sleep after this noise as any other. These noises usually keep me laughing for awhile.

Also, it should be noted that young Max is completely turning into a "momma's" boy. Up until about a few days ago, Max would tolerate, and sometimes enjoy, me holding him for all of the time between feedings. We'd play together. I'd make him act out funny skits. He'd act like he liked it. The times were good. Fast forward this a week and now, his tolerance of my antics is limited to a much more part time role. He usually grants me a few minutes to hold him until he hits the wall. I'm guessing I'm afforded a few minutes because I'm his father and he's going to conduct the "wait and see" approach before severing ties. And to be honest, I can't say I blame him. I was a momma's boy at one time. What do dad's really offer at this point anyway? I'm slow at changing diapers. I don't produce anything he can eat. And him and I aren't exactly on the same page when it comes to soothing. Now, when he needs to learn how to throw a curve ball or how to tie a tie, well... we'll see who's on the part time list then. Nicole's days just might be numbered. Enjoy them while you can babe!

One final note... Sunday marked his 2nd church service ever. It also marked his first time to be removed from a church service. It's not that he was screaming, he was just making little man-baby noises. Church was really quiet during the sermon. Max wasn't. He was grunting just enough to be a distraction to everybody within a 10 foot radius. Plus he wanted a tour of the church. So I granted it to him. Incase you can't tell, my favorite things about having a son, up to this point, are that he makes funny faces and he is kind of noisy. We're having such a good time with him. I'm sure it won't always be this way, but here's hoping.

Maddox, My Boy!!

7 pounds 11 ounces of rugged manliness! 21.5 inches of handsome devilness! He has finally arrived. I do apologize for the delay in posting, but apparently babies don't just come out and expect you to blog. They actually require attention... what the? Lucky for him I was planning for this all along, otherwise I might be trying to figure out a way to shove him back in there. The days since he arrived have absolutely flown by. We've had visitors and late nights and crying and some soiled sheets/undergarments, and that was just me. Good times. But seriously, time has been crazy, but it's starting to slow down as we each feel each other out. Where feeling each other out means we adjust to Max, he doesn't really adjust to us. So it has been trying but more than that, it has already been rewarding. But to back track a little... here's how it happened.


So it all broke loose on Saturday, July 7, 2007. A day and possibly a child that will live in infamy. We stroll into the hospital around 8:30 in the morning, nervous and thinking we knew what to expect. Around 10am I realized I was nervous for good reason and was way wrong about what to expect. From that time on, we'll just say that some stuff happened, and then around 4:45pm, Max arrived. I will leave it at "some stuff" for now because I think Nicole would prefer it that way. 2 life lessons from the "some stuff"... 1. epidurals are freaking awesome and 2. man am I glad I'm not a woman. I have a new found respect for Nicole after that day. She's such a beautifully tough woman. Basically, what we thought was going to be an induction turned out to be just a straight up child birth. They didn't give Nicole any of the putosin or whatever it is that starts labor. It was all on her and Max. A couple of cool notables from the actual birth and moments after: Before the epidural, seconds before Nicole's obviously painful contractions, Max's heart rate would race, as if he were worried about Nicole and her contractions. Then after she got the epidural, he could have pretty much cared less when her contractions were. His heart rate was steady from then on out. It really was like he got stressed out for Nicole, but once things were good on her end, they were good to him too. Another notable, Max only cried after he came out for one reason... he didn't like a certain nurse touching him. He didn't cry when he received a vitamin K shot in his leg or a heel prick to test his blood. It was pretty amazing. I cried during his shot and heel prick, but not him. The moral of the two stories; however, is that Max is equal parts lover and fighter.


He's been a good baby up to this point. Well... let me revise that... he's been a good baby up until about 2 days ago. Now, I think he has his days and nights confused, and has become too stubborn to admit he might be wrong. He sleeps all day (like 2 or 3 hours between feedings) but when night rolls around, he is either eating, crying or playing, but never sleeping. So like I said earlier... Nicole and I are adjusting. And by adjusting, I mean hanging on by a thread until he figures it out. I've never been more tired in my life. Lack of sleep + stress that I'm going to break him = basket case. But it really helps that we have family out helping us. Nicole's sister Jessica is out from Florida. She's been with us from the get go. She's been doing incredibly well at keeping Nicole entertained and keeping us both well fed. I'll be eternally grateful to her for her sacrifice. She's busier than anybody else I know, and for her to put a week or more on hold for Nicole and me is unbelievable. (Thanks Jess!). And also with us is my mom. This was a no brainer, I knew she would be her if we needed her. She's supposed to be playing the roll of the "been there and done that" lady. When Nicole and I have no clue what to do, she's there to do something that usually works. But she's also giving us crazy amounts of confidence, and that is irreplaceable. (Thanks Mom!). And basically, with all this help, Nicole and I are still both at a moments notice from either falling asleep or crying. But I know this is the hard time, we knew it going in. But, from what I hear/force myself to believe, things will be all puffy clouds and lollipops once these next 6 weeks are up. I know I'm right on this one.


So Nicole and I have been trying to figure out exactly which one of us he looks like most. At first, he didn't look like either one of us. He actually looked more like my dad than anybody. Kind of odd, but kind of funny to see your father figure for 30 years in baby form before your eyes. But something about Max will change everyday now. He looks a little different every time I see him. His nose is different than it was when he came out. His forehead is a little different now. I think his legs are bigger than mine are now (so luckily for him, he got Nicole's legs and not my skinny chicken ones).


There's no doubt things in my life have changed, some for the better, some I could have probably done without. For instance:


Could have done without:

1. Being peed on already. It was day 4 into his life and my hand and jeans became the first of many casualties.


2. Now that I've been baptized into the number 1, I live in fear of the day the "dirt" part of dirty diaper comes flying my way. It's going to happen I'm sure, but when?


3. The constant fear that one of my dumber decisions in life might tragically alter Maddox's life forever. For instance, when is it too early to teach him how to play catch with a real baseball? I'm ready today if he is. Just give me the nod Max.


4. Having to eventually have the "sex talk" with him. I'm sure this is on his list as well. But I'm already dreading it.


5. Seeing Nicole in pain during the delivery was NOT fun. Granted, it did ease my comfort level knowing that it was her and not me in pain, but still, it's no fun seeing that.

Couldn't do without:

1. Watching him make different faces. Honestly one of the funniest things I've ever seen. He goes from what I will call "The Elvis", to a near bright white smile, to a frown, to surprised, to pouty bottom lipped with a surprised forehead Max, to the shifty eyed suspect in a thriller movie, to playing dead... all within like a few minutes. Easily one of the best moments of my life.


2. Having the instantaneous ability to ground people. Before I couldn't because I wasn't a parent, but now that I am, I now have the ability to ground people. If it's not a supernatural trait, it has to be very close. I've already grounded Jessica a few times, just to try and harness the power. I've got it down now though, so Nicole will probably be next on my list. I'll let you know if and when it happens.


3. I now have somebody new to share A&M football with. Especially with it right around the corner. Max and I will enjoy several games together this season. Obviously, should he show an affinity for UT football or even, dare I say, Texas Tech football... I guess I will be forced to disown him. But that is a long way away. He'll choose correctly, I know it. I believe in him.


4. Games I get to play with him that he doesn't realize he's playing. I can pretty much make him dance or do anything I want. I'm sure it will be a wedge between us in his teenage years, mostly because I will video tape us playing and I will show it to his girlfriends. The latest game is a little something I call "Max Cat". I'll leave it at that. He really doesn't like it now, but it's very entertaining to me, and will be very entertaining to his future girlfriends.


5. Couldn't live without Max. Don't know what I did before he came. He's my boy now and I am unbelievably proud of him already. He hasn't really done anything yet, but he's mine. I see parts of me and Nicole in him already, and I also see things that are already distinctively him, and it is the best feeling in the world.

To everybody that has prayed and stressed over Nicole and Maddox the last few months, I am truly grateful. For me, it's humbling moments in life like this one where God's hand becomes all too visible. He has blessed me immeasurably this week with a healthy wife and a healthy son. I hope I never take this blessing for granted.