Ready for his crib? No, not so much!

In this photo that I took a week ago, Tiernan looks like he is enjoying life in his crib. Don't be deceived! This visit to his crib lasted about 20 minutes before he started crying to Dad to take him out. Good news: he did seem to enjoy himself for those 20 minutes. The mobile that we had bought at the Swap Meet was definitely a hit. He also had fun with his stuffed puppy dog and the pillow that was sent all the way from New Zealand.

The crib is located in his nursery, which doubles as my office. For now, he sleeps in the bassinet in the playpen that we keep in our bedroom. Or, when he's fussy, he sleeps in the bed with us. A friend recently loaned us a mini-bed that sits in our bed between us so he sleep with us without us needing to worry about crushing him! It doesn't leave us with much room, but it's great for peace-of-mind.

Tiernan is starting to spend more time alert during the day. When he's happy this is producing some quality play time. He's smiling a lot more now, which makes playtime much more fun. Today, he did some jumping. I held his head up and supported his bum and he bounced up and down on the floor. When his neck becomes stronger, he's going to love the jolly jumper.

Unfortunately, part of the alertness seems to be a bit more trouble falling asleep. Once he's asleep, he has been having longer and deeper sleeps, but he has trouble getting to sleep in the first place. Lots of rocking is starting to build up my forearms!

Last Friday he had his final visit to the midwives. He passed "final inspection" with flying colours! He now weighs 11 lbs and is very healthy. That's great news, but comes with the sad addendum that we don't need to see the midwives anymore. We are very thankful to Carolyn, Lindsey, and Heather for all of the care that they provided for Deb and Tiernan. Great job, ladies. Thanks so much!

The New Normal

My cousin Julie, who became a new mom just a few months ago, asked in a recent email whether Deb and I had adjusted to the new normal. I thought the question was a good one and the phrase quite apt. Nothing is the same as it was before, nothing is really back to what we would have once called normal. So, what exactly is the new normal like? And have we adjusted to it?

1. The new normal involves the adaptation of almost every single activity. For example, Dad's time reading the sports on the internet is now also often time spent holding Tiernan to keep him occupied. He's been reading along with me and is convinced the Blue Jays are going to do really well this year!

2. Bed times are earlier and sleep is never for long periods of time. I miss sleeping in on Saturday mornings, as I usually get up and look after Tiernan for a few hours since I don't have to go to work. Deb misses just getting more than three or four hours of sleep at a time!

3. Conversations with other people begin and end with discussion of Tiernan. Usually the middle is pretty focused on him, too. We have crossed over into parenthood and now we find ourselves further differentiated from our friends without babies, both single and married. Having now gone through the life-changing process of having a baby, it's hard for me not to think that everyone should notice how much the world has changed now that my son is in it. However, I'm well aware that I probably didn't pay much attention to the births of children of our friends and family. I've resolved to do better in the future, though that resolve might be forgotten because of fatigue!

4. Garbage now outpaces recycling. We can no longer claim to recycle more than we throw out and I'm afraid that the dirty diapers are to blame. We've considered cloth diapers, honestly we have, but there seems so much to do in a day right now that we can't really imagine adding more. So, sorry to all you environmentalists and to the environment itself.

5. Normal now actually involves a lot of good quality couple time. Mostly because Deb's not at work anymore and balancing a shift-work schedule. We actually sit down for supper at the kitchen table at around 6 p.m. every night. And we talk. I don't miss eating supper alone on the couch in front of the t.v. while my wife is at work. We also spend a lot of time doing things as a family, like bathing Tiernan, or playing with him, or trying to get him through a fussy evening (which this week was every evening).

6. Normal also now involves many brand new activities. We are being initiated into the activities of parenthood's secret society. Like today, when we went to a Kid's Swap Meet. Previously, I avoided such things like the plague. Today, Deb and I plunged in. Well, okay, maybe we waded in more than plunged in. Admittedly, there was some trepidation, but we knew we'd survived bazaars in Africa, so we'd probably be okay. It was a somewhat chaotic experience, but we were able to get a few things that we needed at very reasonable prices. We'll go again to the next one in the fall, I imagine, and soon it will be old hat. Just part of the routine of parenthood.

There's a lot more to say and a lot more to discover about the new normal, but I think I need to go get some sleep. So, are we adjusting to the new normal? Yes, I believe we are. In some ways this is hard, but overall we really do prefer things the way they are now. Which I guess is a good thing, because there's nothing we can do about it now, is there?