Dear Parker - Month 1

Dear Parker,

Today marks exactly one month since you were born. On one hand it feels like time has creeped by and you've been around forever. On the other hand time has flown and I feel like I can hardly catch my breath.

Our time in the hospital was like a fairy tale. All our needs were quickly taken care of and our wishes were granted. Once we arrived home, the fairy tale continued as your Grandma stayed with us for 4 weeks - as I couldn't drive due to my surgery. She helped me clean and cook and take care of you. Mostly she loved you and hugged you and fed you and couldn't get enough of you.

I will tell you that we had a very interesting first night home. You didn't feel good at all and cried most all of the night. We had no idea that there existed a magical cure and me, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa all took turns staying up with you and rocking you and trying to comfort you. The next day the doctor told us of the magical cure and we've relied on it often during your first month. Since that first night you've been a complete angel. You hardly cry and you sleep so well.

Parker, there have been so many times when I have just watched you sleep in my arms and cried until the tears wouldn't flow any longer. I find it terribly hard to put into words just how much you mean to me. My mind has a hard time fathoming just how I can love you so much in such a short period of time. From the moment I held you I would have done anything for you. You are an answered prayer and an angel sent from above - a true blessing to your father and I. You have helped me open my heart to a size I never knew possible.

You are making me a better person, Parker. I never could quite grasp the concept of "don't sweat the small stuff". Now I understand. I hope that as long as we are on this Earth together that we make each other better people.

I promise to you now, I will do everything I can to help you be a man of good character, high integrity and much compassion.

Oh....and I don't think I'll ever be able to get the songs from your swing or Pack N Play out of my head....it's a blessing and a curse....

Parker, my boy, Happy (1 month) Birthday!

Hypo What?!?!?

Well, Parker is growing like a weed folks! I know this because my arm falls asleep when I feed him, he's grown out of his newborn onesies and he's almost grown out of his newborn diapers.

I also know this because we had a doctor's appointment last week and he was weighed for the first time since we got home from the hospital...he weighed 10 pounds 2 ounces!!!! He's just remarkable! He's trying to be as big as his Daddy as quickly as he can!

We had to go to a specialist last week...a pediatric urologist...in regards to a small birth defect that Parker has which is call hypospadias. It basically means that his urethra doesn't exit his guy part at the very end like it should. His urethra exits just a little bit south of where it should and it's incredibly minor as far as that kind of defect goes. Apparently it's caused by the mother taking progesterone early in the pregnancy which I did. Our urologist basically gave us two options: 1 - Don't circumsize Parker and leave the minor hypospadias as it is or; 2 - Wait until he's 6 months old and have the surgery to correct the hypospadias and circumsize him. We feel strongly about circumscision so we'll be electing to have the surgery done to correct his defect and circumsize him once he's six months old.

Anyway...at least I have a while to prepare myself for his procedure....

We also go in on Monday for our one month checkup with the pediatrician! I can't believe he'll be four weeks old on Friday! I am already compiling my list of questions for the pediatrician. One of them is if I can start giving Parker some Pedialyte. A good friend of mine said that her pediatrician said she could give her son Pedialyte during the day to keep him full without extra calories. I am worried because Parker is already taking 4 ounce bottles every three hours and sometimes wakes up at 2 or 2.5 hours between feedings so hungry. If I could give him an ounce or two of Pedialyte then that could satiate him until feeding time. We'll see what our pediatrician says. Also, I'm going to ask him about the possibility of giving Parker some cereal before bedtime. My same friend said her pediatrician allowed her to give her son a bit of cereal at the 9/10pm feeding when he was one month old. We'll see...I'd love to get the boy sleeping a little longer than 3 hours at a time.

We're hoping to get our pictures made soon for our announcements...I promise to post them soon!