No need for explanation

May 1, 2007
(posted May 2, 2007)

First of all, while I have your undivided attention: thank you all dearly for your blog comments and emails. The first thing we do every morning, before Joshua wakes, is plug in the old dial-up connection and check our email and blog. Mail from home will always be one of the most heart-warming feelings we continue to receive from everyone. Every evening we try to post something new to the blog and return emails and even if we haven’t been able to complete a post someone still manages to move us with the most genuine and sincere thoughts from an email or a blog comment. We know you are all with us – thank you. Now on to day 2.

Amy is exhausted after waking 3 times last night to care for Joshua. He wakes up from sleeping and if we are not there, in his face, he does not recognize his new surroundings and becomes scared. Quickly, Amy picks him up to remind him he is safe and with his parents. It is an amazing thing to see his face go from incredible fear to shear delight once he understands he is safe and protected. It is equally amazing to see my wife take such good care of Joshua even when going on such little sleep.

Today is a grey, raw, nasty, rainy and cold day – a perfect day to stay inside and play with our son. And that is exactly what we did. We played. We played, we tickled, we blew “zeeberts” on his belly and celebrated the great event when Joshua gave us a big, fat poopy diaper. We changed his diaper (don’t misunderstand, there have been several diaper changes thus far but to know he’s doin’ number 2 without difficulty is indeed a blessing). The day was again great.

Amy filled Joshua’s belly again successfully with buckwheat, apple sauce, a baby biscuit and cherry juice. He loves to be well fed by Mama and always lets us know with a burp which rivals those heard from truck drivers. After breakfast we turned on the iPod and relaxed to the music of Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven and a well arranged version of “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” – we all sang along – at least those of us who are able to sing.

Our good neighbors, Janene and Rich of Lansdale, PA, soon to be of Carey, NC were a great help today. They picked up some groceries for us on their stop back from the BH and we introduced them officially to Joshua when they dropped off the groceries. Amy, Dave, Janene & Rich sat on the rug for almost an hour this afternoon as Joshua scooted around on his walker. He did so well with the boys (Rich that is). We all agreed – Joshua Roman is a handsome young man.

Naps were plentiful today and right on cue. I have to stop here and point out that Joshua may be the most adorable little guy I’ve ever known, not only when awake and pulling our noses but when sleeping sideways in the crib with his butt sticking up in the air. After the naps, and playtime, and late afternoon bottle were done, Amy, Dave and Joshua participated in the most gratifying of all bedtime preparations: the bath. Rich & Janene were kind enough to loan us an inflatable baby tub which fits inside the adult tub. We cleaned and washed Joshua while he splashed water and suds all over the bathroom – this was great fun. The evening is winding down know and we attempted to put Joshua down around 7:30pm – this was too early and Joshua let us know. We took an extra half hour of quiet time sitting on the couch while he calmed down and we were able to lay him in his crib by 8:00pm. Amy and I sat in the living room for about 20 minutes with the lights off, the TV off, and heard him toss and let out a few babbles while he drifted off to sleep.

We took this opportunity to eat our dinner and begin catching up on the blog and email. Day number 2 is going pretty good – keep your fingers crossed, and the prayers and comments coming. We feel everyone’s presence and know you are here with us. Good night. (11:30pm)

P.S. It is 6am on the 2nd and it was a rough night for Amy and Joshua (someone didn’t keep their fingers crossed). I needed to get to bed last night and had to wait to post this until this morning. More on all of this later.