Papa's first day at home

I left home this morning a little after 7am...and all was quiet in the house. Grandma Lucille, little Wyatt and Papa Dap were all sound asleep. I tiptoed into Wyatt's room before I left to take one last look...very difficult not grabbing him up to hold close before leaving for work. He slept so peacefully, holding that one little hand that he managed to squirm out of his swaddle up close to his soft cheek.

Being at work is going well. Spending time catching up on projects and getting back in the swing of things is good, but by 10am I really wanted to know how things were going at home. I broke down and called David, hoping not to wake anybody up. David answered and was obviously wide awake. His first comment was that they had a little accident. He had been trying to clip Wyatt's fingernails, and as you can guess, ran into trouble when he caught the skin. Luckily Grandma Lucille was still there to help stop the bleeding and calm a frantic father. I can only imagine how horrible he must have felt causing little boy tears today. It was hard just hearing about it and not being able to offer comfort to either of them. When he told me about putting New Skin on his finger, a jolt went over me. Letting go of it, I realized we are smack in the middle of learning how to take care of things we've never before considered....and sometimes we've got to do it fast.

Today I am hearing "this too shall pass" in my head, and knowing that when I get home today I'm going to smile when I see my husband holding our little boy, wearing a little wet slobbery mitten close to his soft cheek.

Mama Dap goes back to work

Twelve weeks ago today right about this time, some nurse finally finished what I remember as a four hour demonstration on how to give our new precious baby a bath. We were deliriously tired, and I know she was giving us some very helpful information, but I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Today I go back to work after being home with the little guy everyday for 3 months. I remember holding him in the hospital thinking "you will never be two days old again," and knowing the time is fleeting. Papa Dap has been very encouraging, and I do rest better knowing at least for two months he will in the care of family members. I am so grateful for all the love our family surrounds him, and us, with. It has been so incredible to see everyone come together to be one big family, which couldn't make us happier. Most surprising of all? The GRANDPAS. To see the pure joy and love this little one brings out in them, you just have to see to believe. Yesterday I cried at the thought of leaving him today, but so far I feel peaceful knowing he will be with Grandma Lucille. I'm sure the full night of sleep she allowed me last night helped!

First Entry, about 12 weeks behind

Right at 24 hours from now, our little boy will be 12 weeks old. Wyatt Allen Parrish was born on April 2, 2007 at 11:07pm. He weighed in at 7 lbs 15 ozs and was 20-1/4 inches long. As everyone told us he would, the little guy has completely changed our lives.

For the last 12 weeks we've been meaning to start this blog, but the days have quickly slipped away and we are finally getting it going. We'll try to keep the updates regular so our friends and relatives can check in whenever they want to see Wyatt growing and his parents marveling at his progress.

Lucky little Wyatt is fortunate enough to have 6 first time grandparents and 2 first time great grandparents who share in our joy of his arrival. My parents, along with DeeDra's mom, stepdad, dad, stepmom, granddad and grandmom were all incredibly excited to hear that DeeDra and I were expecting a child... and all a bit relieved as well. DeeDra and I both waited long enough to convince our parents and grandparents that they'd never have any grandchildren. Wyatt was worth the wait and he's charmed us all. It's hard to describe the joy he brings to the family. I've never seen smiles bigger than those of our family when they see little Wyatt smiling back at them or sleeping peacefully. They even smile when he's crying out for food or when they're changing a messy diaper... now that's true love!

This is the beginning and we'll update with photos and entries as regularly as Wyatt lets us.

For now we'll leave you two images. The top one is Wyatt sleeping during his first night outside of mama's belly. The image to the right is of DeeDra and Wyatt on April 4th, just before we left the hospital to head home.