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Bright Future

Today, we had the most visitors to this blog since we started.

It's been exciting to watch the number of page views increase each day,

And we really enjoy reading everyone's comments on Facebook.
We actually learned that we've had visitors from Germany and Russia.
Olivia has apparently gone international.

Thanks for reading!

Since we started this blog last week,

We have grossed a whopping $8.35 from people clicking on the ads.

That doesn't seem like much,

But at that rate, we'll have $7815.60 by the time Olivia is ready for college.

(Provided we live in a perfect world with no inflation)

That's enough to put Olivia through Grand Rapids Community College!

(Provided tuition remains unchanged for 18 years)

Olivia's going to have a bright future,

Thanks to loyal readers like you!

Erin's brother stopped by today.
That's who's holding Olivia in the picture above in case you were wondering.
I don't know if you can tell in the pictures we've been posting,
But Olivia is growing fast.
You can tell she's more alert,
And it feels like she understands what you're saying to her.

She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow,
And we can't wait to find out how much she weighs now.

My Day Off

Olivia's umbilical cord came off yesterday,
So we decided to give her an actual bath today.
She loved the sponge bath so much that we've been anxious about giving her a real bath.
We were told to wait until her umbilical cord came off to prevent infection,
So today was kind of an exciting day for Erin and I.

Today was also my day off.
Erin's aunts came over for a couple hours to watch Olivia,
So Erin and I went out to lunch.
We went to the Gas Light Village in East Grand Rapids and ate at the Derby Station.
It was our first time there,
But we frequent Graydon's Crossing, which is a sister restaurant across town,
So we knew what to expect,
And the food really lived up to our expectations.

It was nice getting out for a change,
But I do miss the days of being able to do nothing all day.
Parenthood is demanding,
But also rewarding when you see your child content.
In the end, we missed Olivia today.

Dinner at the Grandparents'

We had dinner at the grandparents' tonight.

They're Erin's grandparent's, but since I don't have any grandparents,

And I've known them for awhile now,

I refer to them as the grandparents.

I'm half Japanese.

I was born in Japan and lived there until I was about 10.

Erin's grandparents also spent a considerable amount of time in Japan because of her grandfather's work and are consequently quite familiar with the culture.

As part of dinner tonight,

They made a Japanese soup that instantly cured a headache I was battling since 10 o' clock this morning.

Honestly, this headache got so bad,

I had to leave work an hour early today.

I took some Tylenol, but that didn't help.

I slept a couple hours after I got home,

But that didn't work either.

I don't know what it was,

But the soup did the trick.

I feel fine now.

It was Olivia's first dinner event outside the house.

She did great!

Erin had to feed her once,

But other than that,

She pretty much slept through the whole thing.

We're so lucky she's such a relaxed baby.

Bustin' out the Moves!

When it comes to things you can do to entertain a newborn,
Your options are quite limited.
Olivia has numerous toys from her baby shower,
But she hasn't been able to play with them all,
Mostly due to her limited mobility.
After all, how's a newborn supposed to play when she can't even roll over?

Well today, we decided to test out one of her toys anyway.
This one we got from Erin's brother and sister-in-law.
It's one of those toys you set your baby under to play with the hanging objects.
(Erin just informed me it's called a lay-and-play.)
This one even comes with different color lights!

We honestly didn't expect Olivia to play with it,
But we thought, "Hey, let's just see how it works."

So we set Olivia in a boppy,
And what do you know?
She started dancing!



Well, at least it looked like it to us.
Or maybe we're just seeing what we want to see.

I can tell you one thing though,
She stopped dancing when we turned the lights on in the room,
Where it was hard to see the color lights coming from the toy.
For whatever reason, she had to have the color lights.
It almost looked like a night club scene.

Too funny!

Parenthood

Today was my first day back to work.
Everyone was excited to see pictures and hear about Olivia,
And I was excited to show pictures and talk about her.
I believe that's a sign "Daddy Mode" has been switched on.
I'm so proud of her!

This feeling is truly indescribable.
If you're not a father, you'll understand when you become one.
I never thought I could feel like this.
This must be the sixth sense...

I feel like someone important now.
This child will one day come to me for answers,
And it's my responsibility now to have those answers when she comes.
Can I live up to that expectation?
There's a lot of pressure.

I googled vitamin D supplements for babies today.

I found out they're given to infants in colder climates (like Michigan).

Babies apparently get their vitamin D from the sun,

But in colder places, they don't get enough exposure to sunlight,

So it needs to be supplemented to avoid vitamin D deficiency,

Which can cause rickets, the weakening of the bones.

We certainly don't want that for Olivia!

Erin seems to be catching up on her sleep.

She's supposed to be sleeping when Olivia is,

But that's easier said than done.

I'm sure she couldn't get her mind off of laundry and whatnot.

It was Erin's first day alone with Olivia today,

And it sounded like everything went well.

Well, almost everything, I guess...

When Erin was changing Olivia's diaper today,

She realized she was out of wipes.

This is when she usually asks me to grab some more,

But since I wasn't home today, she had to get them herself.

She didn't want to leave Olivia alone,

So she picked up Olivia to bring her with her,

But just as she left the room,

Olivia made a mess (mildly put) all over Erin's shirt

And finished it off with a fountain (if you know what I mean).

I thought that was kind of funny.

That's parenthood, I guess...

Standing on the Sideline

It's only been 6 days since she arrived. 

Honestly, she's only 6 days old!

That really blows my mind.

We had her first doctor's appointment yesterday.

The doctor thought Olivia was a little yellow,

So we had to get her a blood test,

But everything came back fine.

Since Erin (her mother) is breastfeeding,

The doctor recommended vitamin D drops.

I don't remember the exact reason (I really need to start paying closer attention...),

But I believe that helps with absorbing the calcium in the breast milk.

Why that doesn't come naturally in the breast milk is beyond me.

What did people do before vitamin D supplements?

I will have to google that later.

My paternity leave is up today,
And tomorrow I return to work.

I wanted to get pictures developed so I could put them up at my desk at work,
But when I went to Meijer today to pick up her vitamin D drops,
I forgot to grab the USB drive...
I was going to go back at some point today,
But I ended up setting up this blog so I'll just have to do it another time.

Olivia is doing great.
She's starting to get into a routine.
Last night, for the first time since she was born,
I got a whole night's sleep,
But Erin is still battling sleep deprivation with breastfeeding every other hour.
She finally got into the habit of sleeping when Olivia does,
So that's been helping at least.

I don't feel like I've been of much help since I've taken time off of work.
I guess running all the errands outside the house is something,
And I try to do the changing of diapers and hold her when she cries,
But when she's hungry,
Mommy is the only one who can supply that.
Not to mention, that's required every 2 to 3 hours,
And when I see Erin get up every time to provide for Olivia,
A part of me feels useless.

It's time to go back to work!
My work here, or the lack thereof, is done.
This is when I join the other fathers on the sideline...

It sucks!