rub-a-dub-dub

so isaac had a couple big firsts last night, first bath, and first successful thumb sucking. he loved the bath, being wiped with warm water and extra sensitive dove (which our pediatrician has told us is way better for him than any "baby" product) and of course at one point took the liberty of relieving himself all over the place. it really is a shame that i had turned off the video camera by that point.

he also was able to manage a thumb sucking episode, something his cleft has prevented him from doing up until this point, but he found a way to make it happen. annie and i were pretty excited, b/c the more self soothing he can do at this point the better. it also is an indication of what we have been coming to realize over these past couple weeks: our son is a genius. now he may not be albert einstein genius, but is for sure at least emeril genius, b/c it takes a genius to yell things while cooking well. any moron can yell things while the pheasant catches fire in the oven and the peas boil over.

it is fun to watch other parts of his personality develop as well. not only is he smart, but he is also strong, stubborn, serious, and alert. he has a mind of his own when it comes to nearly every issue, and if you try to cross him he is going to let you have it. do something he doesn't like and he will scream bloody murder and go stiff as a board. i can't wait until he is 2.

packing on the pounds

so we went back to the pediatrician today for isaac's 2 week check up. by 14 days old, babies are supposed to be back to their birth weight, which for him was 6lb. 13oz. today he tipped the scales at 7lb. 3oz. packing on 11 ounces since last monday, putting him about a week and a half ahead of where he needs to be. we are excited, not only b/c it relieves fears about the possibility of him not feeding enough, but also b/c he is well on his way to putting on the weight he needs before his surgery in october/november. in honor of his achievement we are considering a name change to one of the following options:

1. fatty mcghee

2. porky mcporksalot

3. shamu

we continue to be overwhelmed with gratitude for the little things, and our prayer is that we will not forget how amazing these miracles are if we are able to have another go round at this whole parenting thing.

mostly pictures

one of the craziest things about newborns: all the parts are there, they are just way smaller than normal.

annie has a very natural mother's touch.

he typically loves to cuddle, although sometimes he would rather scream

he always behaves for our many food bearing visitors though. nobody else believes he ever cries.

it says "automatic sprinkler". we have lost count as to how many times we have been sprayed, despite the pee pee tee pee and the washcloth

kickin' it in the warm san diego summer

he loves to have his hands free and they are always moving, even when he is asleep. this is him doing the ymca, although he also does a mean electric slide.

otherwise, things continue to change. he looks so much different than he did nearly two weeks ago. his poop has changed color more times than an everlasting gobstopper, but now is a pretty consistent bright yellow with sesame seeds in it. annie saw the OB this morning, her incision is healing great. we are finding a rhythm and enjoying his company...most of the time.

home sweet home

so as you can probably tell, i have been having a lot of fun lately with my macro lens, trying to photograph the cool little details that make up our son. he is very active though, so it is best to try while he is sleeping. several of the pictures above are from a sun bathing episode he had the last evening in the hospital, as we tried to keep him from getting jaundice (an effort we were thankfully successful in).


also the day before we left the hospital, right after i put up the last post, we found ann, the sonogram tech whose son ian was born with a cleft lip and palate, and who has been so supportive during this whole process, despite just having met us a few short months ago. she came to meet isaac, bringing him gifts, and us continued encouragement for the road ahead.

the pace since getting home has been considerably slower, and while it is a nice change from the people who come to check your vital signs at three in the morning just as you are about to nod off, i don't think i realized that everything would come to a grinding halt. we now move at a snail's pace around here, everything taking at least 3 or 4 times as long as it used to. our goal is to get one big thing done a day, which is very humbling for people who love efficiency.

the transformation of our house, on the other hand, has been instantaneous. the freezer is quickly filling up with surplus from ann's copious supply of breast milk, the washer and drier are both on pretty much all the time, and our ceramic top stove has been converted into a staging area, sterile things on the right and diaper changing supplies on the left, which might seem to be an oxymoron of sorts, but somehow it works.

he had his first appointment at the pediatrician yesterday, and he is still putting on weight, which is good and comes as no surprise. one of my unofficial nicknames for him at this point is "big gulp", due to the sound he makes while he is feeding. we are grateful for his appetite as he will need to nearly double his weight by three months old so he can have his lip surgery. we meet for a consult about this procedure in mid-october, so please pray he continues to chow.

in other news, you wouldn't believe the noises that come out of this kid, unless, of course, you have heard the noises that come out of me. the tonal quality and impressive volume of his farts and burps make a father proud. unfortunately, by this point noises aren't the only thing that come out of him. sunday i was the proud recipient of his first spit up, and about two minutes after changing my shirt, his second as well. i didn't even bother to change my shirt the second time, welcome to fatherhood i guess. he has also developed quite a habit of peeing all over the place when we change his diaper, it has happened at least half a dozen times now, and i would advise you to avoid the dark spots on the couch next time you are at our place.

sleep is for suckas

we know everybody just wants to see pictures of the little man, so i figured i would start with those. annie typically thinks babies are ugly, but she can't keep her eyes off this one. he is, after all, one of the most beautiful babies to ever be born, so it's only fair.

although we are not sleeping nearly as well as we did before he got here, we feel like we would be hard pressed to find a better reason to get up in the middle of the night. annie is great, well past the worst of the pain, and such a natural mother it has brought tears to my eyes more than once. her patience and sacrifice are very humbling, a shining example for me to follow.

on top of that, we feel like we have gotten nothing but good news since he got here. he was born with one ear smaller than the other (another merely cosmetic footnote) but he passed his hearing test, and a sonogram of his kidneys (which develop around the same time as his ears) revealed that they are working splendidly. as if i needed further confirmation, he nearly peed all over me last night from about two feet away. i literally had to dodge the stream, and it took annie and i quite a while to catch our breath. (picture below)


we will probably check out of the hospital tomorrow, heading home to full responsibility and i am sure even less sleep. at the same time, we can't wait to see what he does next. thanks once again for all the love, support, encouragement, calls, emails, texts, and continued prayers.

ISAAC ALFRED MONTGOMERY

Yesterday, the 14^th of August, at 1:55pm, Isaac Alfred Montgomery made his way into the world with much ado. Weighing 6lbs. 13oz. and measuring 19 inches long, his wavy blonde hair and big blue eyes were quite a surprise to both of us, but especially to Annie who has said that he will look nothing like her. This remains to be seen as both these features may change drastically over the next several months, and it will be a sad day if he ends up looking like his father.

He is truly a thug, born in the way of another great thug, Julius Caesar. His middle name comes from his grandfather Alfred Douglas Menconi, who has no sons, and kinda got screwed with his first son-in-law (me), who doesn’t quite share his same passion for the Padres. Al is determined to turn his first grandchild into a fan, however, giving him much paraphernalia, such as clothing and sports cards, and I think his first game is scheduled for some time next week.

Both families have doted on him since the instant he got here, shedding many joyful tears, and maintaining a pretty firm death grip once they get to hold him. Both Annie and I are doing very well, tired but so content that he is finally here. He spent most of the night in the nursery, coming back for feedings every couple hours, but allowing us both to sleep pretty soundly.

His cleft was a little daunting at first, but becomes less significant every second. The great news is that his soft palate, the roof of his mouth, is totally intact, allowing him to breastfeed with the best of them. About 45 minutes after the surgery, a nurse walked in holding him announcing, “He’s got a great suck.” If anybody else calls my son a sucker, I will not hesitate to regulate, but in that context it was the sweet sound of amazing grace.

We will be in the hospital till Friday at least, laying pretty low and watching lots of Gilmore Girls, as the parade of nurses and doctors continues to circulate through our room. They will be doing lots of check ups in the next couple days, making sure the baby and baby momma are doing well, while mostly ignoring the daddy, which is the way it should be.

Thank you for all your prayers, support, and love that have led up to this point. We are truly surrounded, and we can’t wait to share him with you.

drop it like it's hot

so as some of you have already heard, our son is going to be here a little sooner than expected. a combination of factors (all in the range of precautions) have prompted our doctor to schedule the induction for this coming tuesday. we will check into the hospital monday night, and then sometime tuesday annie will be induced, then the kid could come anytime within the next 24 hours. we are hurriedly making preparations, which is a little nerve wracking, but we feel good overall.

please pray for the next couple days that the kid drops hard like a k-fed album. he is sitting really high right now, which would increase the chances of a c-section, which we would like to avoid if at all possible. i mean, it is cool that it is named after julius ceasar and all, but we would rather have him naturally. either way, pray for strength and grace.

thanks for your love and support. we should be putting pictures of the actual kid up soon. rock!!

obscene grace

so the blog hasn't been updated in a while, and no news has been good news, as things have slowed considerably for us lately. annie's belly continues to get bigger, and she still looks amazing, but the boy is starting to seriously interfere with her breathing, making it shallow and labored. it is a little creepy for me to wake up in the middle of the night to what sounds like darth vader sleeping next to me, but i am sure it is way worse for her.

july was baby shower month for us, family and friends raining gifts and blessings down on us like a monsoon. i walked into the house one night after one such storm, and was almost paralyzed by the cornucopia of brightly colored items that i found in the living room. it is truly obscene, a violation of modesty and decency, the amount of grace that has been poured upon us these past months. with the birth of our son hopefully two weeks away (we are shooting for the 16th), we can hardly comprehend how much we hold, materially and relationally.

we are both very excited for his arrival, very much looking forward to being with him. it is one thing to shake annie's belly and know he is in there, or for her to see his little foot pushing out trying to make room, but it will be something else entirely to see him, hold him, smell him, and touch him. everybody tells us life will never be the same, i am sure this is true. here's to the rest of the road.

(the picture above was made by combining a typically dashing picture of me with a poor child from a baby gap add. it was sent to me several weeks ago by my friend chris colburn, but i just came across it again this week and thought you might enjoy it.)