Baby Hits Double Digits

Our son has officially reached double digits! I have no idea where the last ten months have gone but it is fascinating to think about all the changes that have happened over that time. Our baby is quickly turning into a little boy and all I can think about each day is trying to figure out how to stop time for just a day or two so that I might have an outside chance of catching up and having a moment to breath. But, at the same time, there is little I would change about how the last few months have gone… only one thing really. There have been great moments and difficult nights but, overall, it has been an experience which I wouldn’t change for the world.

These monthly milestones always have me thinking about those first few weeks when I was more concerned about breaking him rather than simply enjoying the quite moments holding my sleeping son. It was a time of light pats trying to get the burps out compared to the firm jostles that actually get the job done. Our son was pretty quiet from the very beginning. It may not have seemed like it at times but we have seen the way that other babies scream in restaurants and other public places. And, yes, our son still gives those kids the stink eye for interrupting his day.

It is amazing to think that only ten months ago he was holding my index finger as the nurse was cleaning him off for the first time. Now, it is hard to get him to stay still and when he does grab my hand it is more out of fascination rather than for comfort. Although it is nice to hear him babble rather than crying being his only means of communication.

So much has changed in our baby boy over the last ten months and so much has changed around him as well. However, the most important things are not the changes that have happened but the simple facts that he continues to be the same happy baby today that he was in the beginning, he still smiles at us in the same innocent, and sometimes not so innocent way, and he still finds comfort in our arms. Our son, and the love that we have for him, is growing so fast. No matter how much we love him at any given moment I know that it will increase exponentially over time (at least until he is a teenager). It may not always be easy but life doesn’t get much better than in those simple moments shared between a father and a son.

Searching For The Home Amongst The Houses

Sometimes I wonder when we will finally have a quiet weekend when we can simply enjoy the time at home or we can drive somewhere without having a particular schedule in mind. I guess we have to have the weekends like this one in order to finally achieve that kind of relaxation. Today was another one of those days when the miles seem a little longer and the properties don’t look quite as good as the pictures. My wife and I agree that this might be the worst part of moving… trying to find that right place. This is about as far from a relaxing weekend as we could get at this point.

It is both a stressful and an exciting time for us as we look for a place where we can finally let our roots grow rather than restrained in a rental pot. We have seen a long list of places, some better than others, all with something that we really like and all with faults of varying degrees. While in the past we have settled for a place to live, some better than others but all that met our needs at the time, now we are in a completely different situation, now we are looking for a home not just a place to live.

Obviously, just the noise in our own minds processing all we are seeing with each property is contrary to the concept of a quiet weekend. Actually, the uncertainty of finding a permanent place has increasingly impeded this simple request to have peace between the work weeks. But I am looking forward to settling down and enjoying the fact that we have a place where we can watch our son grow up… we will have a home not just a roof and walls… something that we have been searching for over the past several years.

Now is obviously not the time for the quiet weekends. Now is the time to do what we can to ensure that we have those quiet weekends in the future. Those free spaces in life when we can enjoy time together without the stresses and distractions of the work week. Now is the time to ensure that those moments highlight our lives tied together with the consistency of place. No, we don’t have the time for quiet weekends right now but weekends like this ensure that we soon will.