My Memories

While I am visiting my sister and her new baby I thought that I would continue to blog.  I thought it might be a little more difficult without my muse by my side, but I thought that being around a newborn baby I would be inspired to write about Haley's birth and first weeks on earth.

That has not been the case.

I am thoroughly enjoying the time that I have with my sister's baby. 

She is so tiny. She is so soft. She is so entertaining.

I enjoy watching her sleep. She is very animated while she sleeps, she makes a lot of faces and a lot of noises.  When she is awake she is just as entertaining.  I find myself just staring at her whenever I have the chance.

My sister has been asking me questions about babies, but it has been a long time since I have been around babies.  I don't think I have been much help.

What surprises me is that whenever I do remember what it was like to have a baby, to be around a baby, it is my first daughter that I remember.  I start to tell a story and I realize that it was Haley's Big Sis that was the subject of my memory.  I tell my story and then I sit and try to remember what it was like with Haley at the same age. 

I can't.

I do remember some things about when Haley was a baby though.

I remember Haley's birth.  I remember that she was tiny.  I remember that it was hard to find clothes for her that she didn't just swim in. 

I remember the fact that she had a hard time learning how to nurse.  I remember going to the doctor and finding out that she had lost weight.  I remember that we had to feed her with a syringe.  We had to wake her up every two hours to do that, if we hadn't she would have slept through the night and at that age that is not a good thing. 

I remember crying a lot. 

I remember worrying. 

I remember I loved to hold her.  She was so tiny.  She was so soft.

I remember that I wanted her to be my baby forever. 

I kind of got my wish.

Cats, Cows, and Dogs

The last two weeks while Haley's Mom is off enjoying time with our new niece I've taken Haley to yoga. The first week I carefully sat on the chair and watched. Haley's instructor finally encouraged me into getting on the mat and sharing yoga with Haley.

I've never done yoga before. Would I be able to control my body the way the instructor and Haley do? I was apprehensive at first.

On the floor I went about moving my body into positions and shapes I'd never tried before. I was of course a bit awkward at it but I had fun and by the end of the first session I had become a pro. I could do Cat, Cow, and Dog as good as Haley!

This week I walked in and asked if I could join in from the start. The instructor said sure and we got started. She'd coach Haley and I into the various poses through warm up, and into stretching.

Then it started.

The instructor decided I could do more advanced stuff. She'd coach Haley then she'd say "Dad, do what Haley is doing and add X" Usually X was lifting a leg, or not supporting my weight with my arms. What had started out as innocent fun with Haley was turning into work.

Yoga felt good. Even with the extras.

At the end of the session the instructor let Haley take the papers we were using as our list of poses home. Haley was pretty excited. She ran into the house with the papers not stopping to remove her shoes. She HAD to show her Big Sis what she does at yoga. She went into her undecipherable jabber pointing at each page with great excitement. Big Sis understood just what Haley was saying.

Yoga is fun. I can't wait for next week.

Kleenex

Haley's Dad here. As Haley's Mom mentioned she is off visiting our newly arrived niece so I have the pleasure of holding down the fort at home. You'll hear from me a few times over the next few weeks as I keep things humming along.

Before Haley's Mom left we went over things that I don't deal with as much as she does. I'm familiar with the afternoon routine as I often will take care of that side of things if Haley's Mom is busy. The morning routine I'm not as familiar with as I'm generally in my office hard at work while most of it takes place. I had to get the run down on timing, numbers of bowls of cereal, bus arrival, hair, and many other things.

Our first morning went well. We were right on time and I was busy with assembling Haley's lunch. The next thing I know Haley hops up from breakfast and walks over to the side board behind the kitchen table. What could she be doing? Did she leave a horse over there? I'm not used to her visiting that part of the house by herself.

Haley proceeded to open one of the drawers and pull out a Kleenex. She wadded it a bit and put it up to her nose and blew. I stood there with my jaw on the floor. I've never seen her blow her nose unless she is prompted (i.e. during colds when we hand it to her). She continued to blow until all of the overnight crud was out.

I thought, wow, how cool! Great, she knows how to blow her nose! I'm impressed!

Then she promptly tossed the used Kleenex on the floor.

Sigh.

The second day went much better with the Kleenex. She again retrieved her Kleenex but this time headed for the living room where she sat on the couch. She blew her nose and carefully set the Kleenex on the table. Improvement!

Maybe tomorrow we'll work on getting the Kleenex all the way to the garbage can.