Spa Treatment

As with most babies, Skylar does not appreciate getting stripped down and scrubbed clean. She usually cries the entire time during her bath. However, the second you start getting her hair wet and shampooing her hair, all tears cease and she loves it. She stops all kicking and screaming and just lays there enjoying the warm aroma washing over her. Then once the hair is washed, reality sets in (or the cold) and the crying begins again as the dressing process begins. This is the standard bath time routine. Sometimes Dan and I aren't sure if she is really ours as we love to be clean and enjoy a nice hot shower. Hopefully she will learn by example and not become the "dirty child."

New Toys From DHS Basketball Team

As Dan mentioned, Skylar made her first debut at the DHS Varsity Boys' Sports Banquet and to our surprise, she came away with some new toys. Of course, her life would not be complete without not her first, but second basketball. So now, she has collected two basketballs, one football, one soccerball and one volleyball. Do I see a tomboy in the making? I personally loved the big soft teddy bear that is twice her size. Thanks to the basketball team. As you can see, Skylar loves her new toys!

Daddy's Outfit

Skylar made her first public appearance on Wednesday when she came to my year-end basketball banquet. I made Kristin dress her in this outfit that I bought for Skylar. I think it looked fantastic and all of my players and their families agreed. I realize that this is yet another incident of forcing sporting gear on my child, but that's too bad because she looked awesome in the Jordan gear.
Did you notice that she is even wearing Jordan socks? Just making sure you're catching the details!The hat to keep her warm completed the ensemble. I probably would have had her in a pair of Nikes if my wife wasn't so sensible.Striking the traditional Jordan pose. Remember when I wondered what a baby was dreaming about? After witnessing her excitement in wearing the Jordan brand, I now believe that she is dreaming of being the next female dunker and breaking down the oppressive male-only rule for NBA players. Wait, was that me dreaming?

First Mommy-Daughter Walk

Hello everyone. Dan is forcing me to make my blog debut. For those who are wondering, three weeks after Skylar's never-ending entrance into this world, I am doing much better. I'm feeling more engergized as she is sleeping much better and feeling more like myself, keeping busy and getting the house back in order (for those who know my anal cleanliness habits). Here's a few pics from the weekend. Skylar is becoming more alert during the day and becoming more animated as well. Here's a picture of her beautiful big eyes during one of her more lucid moments.


Here's mommy and daughter's first walk together. We finally got to pull out the stroller and put it to use. Skylar was sporting her pink Jordan hat. Unfortunately, she slept through the entire walk, but mommy enjoyed the fresh air.

A close-up of the hat for dad's sake.

Quick Pics

Thank you to Aunt Amy for this wonderful St. Patrick's Day gift. Skylar wore it with pride on Tuesday.
Look at this festive family! Check the rattle my homeroom gave to me the day I returned to school. Just a wonderful tool for Dad to start pressuring Skylar athletically!

Dad already has Skylar on a strict upper-body program. Check out her push-up form! She might be tougher than some of the kids I coach already.

A Ray of Hope

Kristin and I experienced a glimmer of hope this weekend. On both Friday and Saturday night, Skylar went to bed around 10:30pm and then woke only once during the night and once early in the morning. Kristin was able to get 2 solid blocks of sleep during the night, which was greatly appreciated! We both have seen Skylar smile, but only right as she starts going to sleep and is dreaming. What does a baby dream about? This question has really caused a lot of reflection by me over the last few days. I'll keep you posted.

Asleep in her swing. She really likes to sleep here during the day.Outfit we put on when my mom was over for the day last Thursday. Here she's laying on the floor staring at something. We're not quite sure what she stares at, but she does it a lot.Here she is sitting in her Boppy pillow. She's starting to stay awake more often the last few days which is nice for mom and dad.

Back to Work

I'm back at work today. It's definitely hard because I want to get my fix of little Skylar, but I also know getting back into a routine is going to be good. Kristin and I are having a difficult time so far with the nights as Skylar seems to be ready to party nightly from 3am - 6am, and then wants to sleep all day. That would have been great when I was in college, but now that we're old and crusty, we want to sleep! I know that this is not atypical for newborns, but pray that she starts to get her schedule figured out here sooner rather than later. Here are a few more recent pics from her days at home thus far. Enjoy!

Skylar on the way home from the hospital (I think I was at least 10mph under the limit). People in Buick LeSabres (sorry mom and dad) were passing me on the right for heaven's sake!

Notice again that Dad feels an incessant need to force his sports teams on Skylar, but the trick here is that Kristin bought this top for her.
Finally here's my beautiful little girl in one of her few completely lucid moments. She was awake a lot more today and for longer periods of time. Hopefully that means more sleep for us tonight. Talk to you all soon.

We're HOME!

Here is a video of Skylar about 15 mins after birth, and another video of our homecoming. If you want to enjoy the videos, I suggest muting the volume as my commentary detracts from the overall quality of the videos. Don't be mad at me for not carrying in the baby as we both wanted Kristin as the star of this video, she earned top billing. They're both short so don't expect any Oscar Nominations. I'll post more in a day or two.

Catching You Up

Yes we're tired. The hospital policy is that they check in on patient and baby every hour, so sleep has been a non-existent entity the last few nights. In case you were wondering what type of father I will be, let me tell you about the roaring start I'm off to. Last night the nurse came into the room, checked Kristin's vitals, and then took the baby for some testing and to allow us some sleep. Super DAD slept through the whole thing! What a protector I'm going to be. We're home now and both so excited to be away from the hospital. Included a few photos of the wonderful guests we had at the hospital. It was nice to see other people than the staff for a while. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we try to figure out the whole sleep, eat, change thing. Enjoy the pictures.

FINALLY!

Skylar finally decided to 'Grace' us with her presence (admit it, that's a nice play on words) at 5:57am this morning . As a math guy, I was kind of hoping for the square root birthdate of 3/3/09, but 3/4 works just fine with me. Kristin and I are both exhausted (Kristin more than I of course) as our labor experience began at 9:00pm on Monday and finished Wednesday morning at 6am. Mother and baby are doing very well and father is an emotional roller coaster for the time being. Enjoy the pictures, more to come in the near future. Notice the immediate need by dad to sway his daughters baseball allegiance, and look how beautiful mom looks even after the long labor process.