Asher,

People have always told me that life really starts to fly by when you have kids, and now I know why… I can’t believe that you’re already 1 month old. It literally feels like we just brought you home from the hospital yesterday. Your first days at our house were an adventure. You got to meet your big sister-pup Zoe and her massive Lickity McLickerson of a tongue, and you had a constant stream of visitors stopping by to give you lots of hugs and kisses. Best of all, we got to spend a lot of time together, just the 3 of us, as a family. That was my favorite time, spending hours and hours just sitting on the couch staring at you and cuddling. You are well on your way to becoming a professional cuddler – just like your mom and dad.

The last month has been a HUGE learning experience for your mother and I (my learning curve being a tad-bit steeper than hers – i.e. Mt. Everest). Despite being thrown into diaper changing duty with very little training and no previous experience, I think I’ve finally mastered the skill. In about 14 years when you’re complaining about having to mow the lawn, I’ll be happy to remind you that you once peed AND pooped all over me and you can either mow the lawn, or let me return the favor. Your choice.

You eat like your dad – loudly, and in mass quantities. Your momma is still getting use to having utters, but we are both thankful that you haven’t had any problems feeding. You now weigh 9 lbs 5 oz which means you are 2 lbs heavier than the day you were born. Every afternoon when I get home from work I swear you’ve grown another inch. It sucks being away from you for 10 hours a day, but we are truly blessed that your mom can stay home with you!

You’ve learned a lot in your first month. Yesterday, mom brought you up to meet me for lunch and you spent the whole time staring at your hands. I think you’re finally starting to figure out that those weird fleshy thingies that continually punch you in the face are actually connected to your body. You’ve also started to smile (much to the delight of your mother and me)! I’ve spent countless hours making silly faces at you in an effort to make you laugh, but so far all you do is look at me as if to say “Dad, you’re a moron”. I can’t wait till you can laugh. We are going to laugh a LOT!

You watched your first Steelers game this past weekend. It was just a pre-season game against Philadelphia, but I made sure you had your Steelers football blanky to cuddle and cheer with. We lost the game, but Big Ben looked good. I told you all about his motorcycle accident and pointed out that if you ever ride one without a helmet you will die because I will kill you! For the next 18 years of your life, we will spend countless hours rotting our brains watching sports – Penguins, Stars, Steelers, Cowboys, Mavericks, and golf. It’s mostly heart-ache and frustration, but those moments of ultimate victory more than make up for it. You also went to your first hockey games with your momma to watch me play, and I’ve been scouring the hockey shops around town looking for the smallest hockey skates I can find.

You’ve developed a slightly disturbing addiction to your pacifier (which we call your binky). When you get really tired, you like to suck on your binky until you fall asleep. Sometimes it falls out before you nod off and you let out screams of agony while shaking like a heroin addict going through withdrawal. It breaks my heart to hear you cry.

You absolutely love to be swaddled. We call you “the amazing baby burrito.” In the last week you’ve figured out how to wiggle out of a regular blanky swaddle, so now we only use a special blanket made specifically for swaddling that closely resembles a straight-jacket. All it lacks is the buckles, but you love it. It gives your face a much needed break from the torture of your uncontrollably flailing arms. You like to suck on your thumb, and you always get such a surprised look on your face when it happens to land in your mouth, as if you had nothing to do with it. I am VERY thankful that you are not a drooly baby, and so far you haven’t had any major spit-up incidents. You seem to have a good handle on which end stuff is supposed to go into and which end that same stuff goes out…

One of the best things about having you around is getting to see your mom so happy. She loves you so much she glows. Being a mom is what she was built to do. You are the luckiest kid in the world to have her as a mom. Always remember that!

It makes me a little sad that you’re getting so big so fast. A part of me wishes that you would stay this size forever, but the rest of me knows that the best is yet to come. Your mother and I are so happy and blessed to have you!

Love,
Papa

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