Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Things I said I'd never do

Before Perrin was born, I used to say I wasn't going to let him watch TV until he was at least 2--and then, only on rare occasions. I didn't want the passive stimulation of television to inhibit his development in any way. (All the other parents reading this are already laughing, huh?) Yeah, so guess how long that lasted? About two weeks. I was having a really rough day with Perrin and I finally plopped him down on a blanket on the floor and turned on a baby DVD that someone had given us. I just needed a few minutes away from him to breathe deeply. But after a few minutes, I realized he wasn't crying. I peeked around the corner at him and saw him deeply engrossed in the colors and shapes bouncing across the TV screen.

Needless to say, I have reformed my wayward opinions about the television. It's a God-send!

So now I'm wondering how many of my other good intentions are going to go the way of the dinosaurs. I had all kinds of ideas about things I would or wouldn't do:

"I'm going to teach Perrin baby sign language!"
"I'm not going to rock Perrin to sleep because I want him to learn to fall asleep on his own."
"I'm going to read Perrin a book every night so he'll develop an early love for reading."
"I'm not going to give Perrin a pacifier because I don't want it to affect his teeth."

And on, and on, and on. But my visions of "good parenting" are rapidly becoming "good enough parenting." And you know what? I don't even feel guilty about it. I was probably placing too high of expectations not only on myself, but on him as well. So what if we have to rock him to sleep every night? He's so warm and snuggly and cute, and he loves being rocked to sleep. So what if he never learns baby sign language? I can usually figure out what he needs anyway. He's happy, well fed, and well loved. That qualifies for good enough in my (slightly reformed) opinion.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Romance? Yes, I vaguely remember the concept...

Everyone says that romance takes a nosedive when you have a baby in the house. And it's no wonder--when you're sleep deprived, covered in spit-up, and wearing sweat pants 24/7 because those darn pre-pregnancy pants are still too tight, you're not going to want to do much of anything with those few precious moments of time away from the baby except take a hot shower and go to sleep.

But I definitely realize the importance of making our marriage a priority, especially now that we have a baby. So last weekend, I surprised Trey with a date. He thought we were going over to my parents' house to help them tile their porch (just what he wants to do on his Saturday), but really we were just going over there to drop off Perrin. Once I let Trey in on the secret, we went out for dinner and saw the movie "How to Train Your Dragon." (Totally romantic, I know. But I picked this one because Trey kept saying he wanted to see it. And it was pretty good, if not exactly the epitome of romance.) Then we went to the driving range and attempted to hit golf balls. (I say "attempted" because it's way harder than it looks to make contact with the ball. And actually hitting it out into the field rather than straight up in the air or bouncing it off the grass three feet in front of you? Well, that's grounds for celebration).

But alas, date night had to end. All of our focus once again returned to our baby. But it felt so good just to get away for a little while--just the two of us to spend time together and laugh our heads off at how bad we are at golfing. I think if we can manage to do something like this every once in a while, we just might keep our sanity. And maybe someday, romance won't be quite so elusive. And right about then, when life has settled into a comfortably normal routine and we've finally gotten the hang of balancing family time and romantic time, I'm guessing God will decide it's time for us to have another baby.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Perrin and the popsicle

Disclaimer: If you're the type of person who thinks it's bad parenting to give a baby a few tiny tastes of a low-calorie, real fruit popsicle, please do not scroll down any further.

Okay, so I couldn't resist. He's just so darn cute! Enjoy...


Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Praise God for good days

Yesterday was probably about as good as a day with a newborn can get. Perrin woke up in a good mood, and while I took a shower, he sat in the bathroom in his car seat and grinned at Trey's towel. (On a side note, we'd tried all morning to get him to smile at us before Trey left for work, but he just stared at us, wide-eyed. It's kind of sad that a towel was the clear winner, but oh well.) After I fed him, we went for a stroll around the block. It was a gorgeous day, and Perrin enjoyed looking around at the trees and at various parts of the stroller. (Again, I'm not sure what the appeal is there, but hey, as long as it keeps him occupied...)

He took a nice, long nap around noon so I was able to eat lunch and get a few things done around the house. When he woke up, I took him on the deck and read a book while he sat in his seat in the shade and watched Molly. Then I took him inside and laid down with him on a blanket on the floor and made funny faces at him. He made funny faces back and even smiled at me a few times.

Around dinner time, I put him in his swing, and he didn't put up a fight about it at all. Once again, I got to eat a meal without him screaming! Then it was time for a bath. Perrin LOVES bath time. He wasn't so fond of sponge baths, but stick him down in a tub full of warm water and he's as happy as can be! I climbed in with him and scrubbed him up really good.

I fed him one last time around 8:30, and Trey rocked him to sleep and put him down in his crib. He fell asleep fairly quickly and slept for six and a half glorious hours before waking up hungry. Not too shabby for a six-week-old. Now if only he'd have days like this more often...