"Welcome to Baby-Land!"

...first off, ten points to anyone who can tell me the source of the above quote...No google-cheating!!!

Well, it's been about two weeks, and already its become clear that it's hard to imagine our lives any other way. Its truly hard to imagine John-Paul not being here, or even to think about the fact that Ali was pregnant just two short weeks ago. It seems like so long ago already!

And it's starting to show! Already the pictures are being compared, and our dear son does not look quite the same as he did when he was born! He is...gulp...growing up! Literally! After we spent the first two weeks worrying about whether our not he was eating enough and feeling guilty when our little guy slept for five hours during the night, we found out at our appointment on Thursday that our little Padraig had gained 13 ounces in just 9 days! He now weighs in at 8 pounds and 8 ounces, and surpassed his birth weight by about half a pound! What a big boy:-)

Speaking of doctor's appointments, we are truly BLESSED when it comes to our pediatrician, Dr. William Hogan. He is a devout Catholic, great proponent of NFP, and single member of Opus Dei. It was such an awesome blessing when we found him listed on www.onemoresoul.com under the Pro-Life Physician directory. He is a great, patient physician and it is wonderful to know that he is always open to questions/concerns and will be a partner with us in raising our little guy to serve Christ and the Church. Plus, his office is only a mile away from our apartment! We literally walked out our apartment door ten minutes before our appointment and made it on time to the office!

Indeed our little guy is growing up. His umbilical cord is LONG gone, and that meant the beginning of every baby's favorite hobby: bathtime! John-Paul's first bath was quite the event, and not one to be forgotten anytime soon. Ali and I placed him in his tub chair/apparatus/thing, and soon after I asked for a washcloth to cover him up and protect us from any projectile baby urine. No sooner had the washcloth been put on him did John-Paul express his displeasure with the bath by practicing his micturition. We found the tinkling sound and his look of relief quite amusing. However, he was far from done as just seconds later he tooted (as he always does), soiling his bath chair....silly boy!


In the end, we got him washed, cleaned, and comforted after being wrapped in is cute little baby hoodie-towl and dried off. This of course meant it was time for the obligatory end-of-first-bath picture! Ali held John-Paul, I framed the shot and said "Ready, smile! 1, 2, 3!" What we expected was the following picture (which was our second take, by the way).


What we got instead was the following...


That shock you see on Ali's face is totally legitimate and not at all staged. As I said "Ready 1...2..." Just before the 3 and click of the camera John-Paul tooted/pooped in his little towel right under where Ali's hand was supporting his little bottom. Fortunately the towel was in between, but the result was something we'll never forget! Amazing....

And I think that about sums it all up in one experience...John-Paul gave us something that surprised us, shocked us, surely wasn't planned, made us do a little extra work, but made us smile and surely gave us an experience we wouldn't ever change for a million dollars. "Welcome to Baby-Land!"