Believing is Seeing

Its official – Reily’s cousin has arrived!  Liz & Caleb welcomed Jonah William Bush into this world early this morning.  He weighed in at 5lbs 11 oz and 18 inches long!  Liz and son are doing great.  So we would like to extend our congradulations to the Bush family and we can’t wait to meet the little guy on our trip to New Mexico for Christmas!

Well we survived week one of Christine being at work! It was much more challenging than I had originally anticipated. On the otherside, it was also far more rewarding than I thought it would have been. Not that there were any major moments or milestones but the rewarding was in my own personal growth in learning how to not be in total control. See, I had a schedule every day. And I had tasks planned every day. I had calls to make and emails to send and training to complete. So all of those are scheduled now for this week!

We really did miss having Christine around though. We walked her to the bus and then immediately began the clock waiting for her return. I think that she’ll tell you its pretty tough for us all but we’ll continue to make this work. Much of that will come in cherishing every moment that we have with each other and individually with Reily – its not about quantity but quality!

Looking forward to Christmas though – we one large extended family in New Mexico. We anticipate this to be an exciting week so we’ll continue to keep you all posted. Till then, please enjoy some of the videos that I took from this week!

This first video was on a day when he just wouldn’t go to sleep for me. In a very un-Reily way, all he did was cry and fuss all day…that was until I suggested that he need to take a nap. This was how he responded: And this video is from when I forgot that I just fed him and quickly followed it up with some ‘Tummy Time.’ A total mind-lapse from Dad on this one given that I forgot that he gets a little to excited when he is in this position – all though, his ability to rally after throwing up is a Stummer trait!

The day is finally here. Christine is heading off to work tomorrow morning and Reily and I are left to fend for ourself. These past 3 months have been amazing – Reily aside (which is incredibly difficult given that he loves being the center of our world!) – Christine and I have bonded more over this short time then ever before in our relationship.

I have always classified our relationship as being the strongest out of all the couples that we know – great communication, an understanding of our needs as a couple and as individuals, and the right balance of when to push and when to pull. And I certainly wouldn’t say that we were perfect or didn’t have areas in which we could grow. But these three months have been amazing ~ we have fallen in love all over again! (It may be that we have only slept 6 hours in those 3 months but we’ll just rule that out for the time being.)

I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have been with both of them every day for the past 3 months and for allowing myself the chance to experience it every day. Granted, it may have been easier financially had a few things gone a little differently – like the condo in Chicago selling or the investment house in Akron selling or not having my Lehman stock go from $60/share to $0.06/share – but none of that matters when I look back at what I’ve received in return. What I have received can’t be measured. And I want to thank everyone for your tremendous support as well because we couldn’t have done any of this without you either.

So as we head of to sleep, I think back on the past 3 months where every moment I got to spend it with my wife. And despite what she might tell you, I still believe that you can never have too much of a good thing. Its like I always say “If two Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are good, then 12 will be amazing!” I’m reminded that tomorrow is going to be tough on us all and I’m sure that there will be some meltdowns along the way. For Reily, his will come in the comfort of our apartment. For Christine, her outburst will just scare the crap out of the hispanic women sitting next to her on the bus! We’ll all survive because that is what we do…but she’ll definitely be missed. And not just during the time when he need a full outfit change because the diaper didn’t hold!

Tomorrow sunrise brings a new day and exciting possibilities for us. After the initial shock, we’ll begin looking forward again. And this will all work out ~ its just a matter us determining what our next chapter is going to look like!

Reily and I will miss Christine tomorrow during the day. We recognize the sacrifices made as parents and the courage that she has as a mother…And we are forever grateful. All our love to her ~ as its tougher on her than anyone. Till then we will count down the hours till she gets home!

With Christine’s maternity leave coming to an end, we took the opportunity to reflect on the past 3 months.  3 Months!  Can anyone honestly believe that Reily was born 3 months ago?  And in that time, our lives have been changed forever.

His development is faster than ever (as is his eating and then pooping! – He recently set a new record of going through 38 diapers in 2.5 days ~ and all with a smile on his face!!!).  He has started to enjoy more time on his stomach (tummy time), talking non-stop, doing his mountain climbers which appear to be a precursor to crawling, grabbing at objects and throwing them, and his latest ~ sitting up on his own.  So to show his latest trick, here he is:

He is absolutely amazing. Most people can’t believe that he is only 3 months old. And when they spend time and see some of his fearless attempts at activities reserved for toddlers, their amazement quickly turns into a sense of concern for us as parents…and then the words are uttered “Oh man, you guys are in trouble!” We politely smile and give a laugh as well but deep down, we are conflicted on the speed at which is maturing. He’s gone onto holding his own bottle but at times it doesn’t always work out so he still needs us there. And we hold onto those little moments for as long as we can ~ always trying to stay in the moment and stopping the mind for wondering if this is the last time he’ll need our help as he’s mastered another skill. But for the time being – we still call the shots! He may decide the schedule but we are calling the shots. And that gives us the opportunity to dress him in any outfit we want:

Reily in his 'Snow Shirt'

Reily in his snow coat

This year’s Thanksgiving marked a number of firsts for us -

• The first one with Reily (obviously!)
• The first one in west of the Mississippi
• The first one without any family members
• The first one without a hang over on the following day (since its been legal for us to drink ~ obviously!)

We had a very nice Thanksgiving; we spent it with some friends that Christine met through work. We ended up driving into ‘the valley’ around mid-afternoon; and as it seems like every time we travel theses days – we were late! But it was certainly worth the trip – our host is a fabulous cook! We indulged in the traditional Thanksgiving turkey but were then met with a slew of other non-traditional dishes. These included a wild rice stuffing, sugar sweet potato casserole, a myriad of breads, a unknown dish that contained noodles, cream cheese, and corn flakes, and followed by apple (made by Christine) and pecan pies for dessert.

As dinner was fantastic, so was the company. Our hosts were originally from the east coast and were fairly recent (2+ years) transplants to the LA area as well. They adored Reily ~ who we gave a 3 hour nap to before leaving and that seemed to make him just the most pleasant guest in the world! (This could be construed as ‘false advertising’ to a couple who is due to get married in the spring and are anxious to start a family ~ we did our part to lay the trap that all babies are this easy!). And the two of them, who will make excellent parents when its their time, are welcome to babysit anytime they feel the urge.

All of this was fantastic, but something was missing. We found we missed our families and all that comes with them. We actually missed the too much wine, the hang over on Friday morning, the telling of past holidays, the drunk phone calls from cousins, and, ironically enough, the holiday weather. Its tough to know its the holidays out here – the trees don’t tell you so; the weather certainly doesn’t change; and without your family, it seems like just another weekend.

All that said, we missed you all this past holiday and hope that you had a fantastic and safe one. We have a few photos that we’ll post here over the next couple of days. And we’ll turn our attention to Christmas where we’ll be heading to Albuquerque to spend with my family ~ where hopefully, my sister will have given birth by then and we’ll have the joy of just watching this birth!

All our best~ Dan, Christine, & Reily!