Well, we found something that Shane REALLY doesn't like: bathing. He got his first bath today, and he pooped on me and the baby bather. I ended up switching shirts too, because Shane figured that if he was getting a bath, I should have a golden shower. He hollered almost the whole time, so Carrie and I made it the quickest sponge bath we could. We'll try again later in the hopes that he'll be less surprised about the feel of water on his skin!
Today was the first day we left the house for errands as a family. Milk was in short supply, so we drove a mile to the neighborhood Giant. I stayed with Shane in the car, while Carrie went inside. Shane isn't old enough yet that the doctors would recommend he be around a large group of people/germs. I made a bunch of phone calls while I was in the car to try and catch up with family. Overall, that seems to have been my job so far as a dad: to fill in the gaps.
Whenever Carrie handles the feedings, I try to hang around the room. I can't help with the actual feed (obviously), but I play errand monkey. If she wants ice water, needs Shane to be held/burped/changed, or needs her meds then I "fill in the gap." At night, I'll read out selections from Baby 411 while Carrie nurses to answer questions and generally just be morale support. When the feeding is done, I swaddle Shane and stay with him to make sure he's goes to sleep. I send Carrie to bed, because she has a harder time resting than I do. Lately, the little stinker has had a tendency to pop his eyes open the moment I lay him down. Then, he wriggles like a worm until he starts to break free from the swaddle. I end up playing servant and constantly replacing his pacifier to keep him placated. My goal is for him to go to sleep, so I try to keep the lights low, avoid making too much noise, and do the minimum intervention for him to go to sleep. It doesn't always work. I was up for an hour and a half with Shane last night and ended up changing him, feeding him formula, and then changing him again amongst other antics. My son, the little pig, had just fed off of mom until he was on the verge of sleep, and then drained 45 ml of formula 45 minutes later. I suspect he's starting his growth spurt.
Speaking of growing, the kid is strong! He's holding his head up and pushing off my chest for tummy time, and he can arch his back and bridge with his legs when flat on his back. I've heard a couple of noises from him lately that weren't wails either. I think Shane is developing to the point where he's going to be more social. Carrie swears she's been seeing him smile some lately, and I've caught the tail end of some suspected smirks as well. It'll be neat to see what kind of person Shane is as he grows up! I know he's here right now, but it feels like I've still yet to really meet him. At the moment, he's a cute, poop machine that makes mom and dad run around at his beck and call.
I'm almost done reading Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli. It's a funny story how I found the book. I was helping with a feeding one evening and I prayed a quick prayer I pray from time to time: to be drawn closer to God. Later on that night, Carrie asked me if we had any 9v batteries. I knew the answer was probably "no," but I went around the house looking anyway (it never hurts to look and you can always be proven wrong). I checked all of the obvious places, and then checked a few places I was pretty sure weren't going to pan out as well. One of those places turned out to hold a book I didn't realize I had.
Will finish post tomorrow. Sleep beckons.
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