Sunday, January 31, 2010

One Month Old


(Monte at Seabright Beach)

Yes, Enzo is now one month old. He is beautiful and I miss him already. Why do I miss him? Because tomorrow I go back to work and I won't be able to look at or pick up Enzo when ever I feel like it. I am SO glad that I took a month off from work to be with my son and I wish there were some way to take him and have him with me while I work.

(View from the bed & breakfast)

In preparation for this, Tami had the brilliant idea of Enzo, Tami, myself, and Monte going to Capitola and staying overnight. Tami knew that I had been anxiously awaiting the day when I could take Enzo to the beach and she thought this would be a great way to spend some family time together before I start work again. She is very smart. We had an excellent time surrounded by a beautiful world. We just hung out at a bed & breakfast on the Capitola cliff with an ocean view and ocean sounds. The next day we went to Seabright beach. It was pretty cold so Enzo stayed bundled up this time. We will certainly go back to play at the beach when it warms up.

(Enzo goes to Santa Cruz)

Enzo turned one month old on Saturday and had a little party with his grandparents and tia's. That turned out to be a great time, and as has happened before when family comes to visit Enzo, Tami and I fell asleep on the couch before the party was over. We needed the sleep and I'm sure the family was happy to have Enzo to themselves. While we were awake we had a great time with family and good food.

(Enzo and Grandpa Hun)

The main thoughts I have right now are 1) I know it's time to go back to work but I will very much miss my son being so close to me, 2) Spending so much time with Tami and Enzo has been fantastic, 3) Wow, I have plenty to do tomorrow as I get back in the swing of things at work, 4) I sure am lucky.

(Waking up in Capitola)

Really, I like my job and there are plenty of days off to be with family when working at a school. It's just going to be different.

Bottom line, I'm psychologically preparing for another change. I'm grieving for the past that will not come back and preparing for the new days ahead. I know they will be good. No matter how good tomorrow is, it takes a bit of acceptance to let go of an excellent today. Tami has mentioned that Enzo is looking less and less like a new born and more like a little boy. With one hand, time gives new experiences, and with the other takes away the now. I've got some pictures, some memories, and some good feelings as my souvenirs. And, I've got these new experiences time keeps handing me.

Monday, January 25, 2010

College


(Adorable!)

We spent Sunday with friends Melanie and Santiago. We walked to the farmers market then hung out and watched the football playoffs. Obviously the playoffs were not my idea. My biggest claim to sports fan-ship is that sometimes I can't find a clean hoodie and I take Tami's A's hoodie when I go out for a walk. She is a life long A's baseball fan and season ticket holder and is already planning the days when she will take Enzo to the games. Me, I've been to a few with her. I forget which movie it was from but there was a scene where the girl calls the guy on something he had said to her and he replies "Aw, baby! That was just pillow talk!" Sometimes you do things just to get the girl. I don't go to games any more, not often anyway. On the other hand, Tami has sworn off going to aircraft museums with me since our engagement (at least I waited until marriage to stop going to the A's games!). She still goes to art museums with me and that's something certain friends will never again do after a first experience. Apparently I take a while. Matt, at least we got the motorcycle ride to and from San Francisco.

The conversation with Melanie and Santiago hit on several interesting parenting points. We talked about supporting children when they wanted to do things that were "weird" and allowing or disallowing haircuts like mullets, pony tails and mohawks. For the record, I'm for everything the kid wants to do if he's experimenting in a healthy way. Especially with hair, it's a personal tapestry to be played with and grows back. We also talked about supporting children in college and this is something I have been thinking about for days. Santiago proposed that children should support themselves as adults. Tami suggested that children, supported by parents, should still finance their own way through college. Melanie and I agreed that it is the parents responsibility to cover college costs if needed and if possible.

We talked a bit about this and I am reminded of two friends, Pat and Sam, who are twins and went to an all boys private high school. Years ago I asked them separately what they thought of the experience. Pat thought it was a great experience, the greatest experiences possible for him at that point in his life. Sam, however, thought it was a horrible torture to separate boys form girls unnecessarily and would never do the same injustice to a child of his. And I think, we experience good or bad from the same circumstances. Then, we go on to make decisions for others based on our experiences not possibly knowing what is best for another who is not exactly like us in exactly the same situation. Tami financed her own college experience and supports the idea. Santiago became responsible for himself early by necessity and supports the idea. Melanie and I went back to our parents at a point and were given financial, and other, support without strings attached and we now support that idea. All four of us today are successful, college educated professionals and our various paths have worked out well for each of us. Were we all different and just lucky enough to have found exactly the support that we individually needed in life? Or, are we all the same and only feel that our story exemplifies a good path because it worked for us when any of the paths would have worked for each of us?

Well, in case we will need it, Tami and I have begun saving. It started with cousins Jenny and Anthony giving Enzo $100. Other gifts have him up to $190 now so we started his college fund. We calculated that we can currently contribute $20 each month to this savings and stock fund. At the moment, Enzo has two shares of Berkshire Hathaway class B stock and some cash. I quickly realized that at the rate of $20 per month, after 18 years and assuming that we manage his investments well enough to at least match inflation, Enzo will be able to go to 1 semester of college at a local state university. One semester! At this rate Enzo will get a little of all of our philosophies on funding a child's college education. There are 8 semesters in an efficient college experience like Tami enjoyed, quite a few more in the meandering 7 year experience that I enjoyed and that does not count the graduate school work we both have enjoyed. We're both the better for what we have seen but the point here is that we will need to put away $160 per month to be sure we've got four years at the state university covered. Of course, he may take the money to invest in a business or it may only equal a part of one semester's tuition at a certain private college. Who knows?

I do know that math, for all it's certainty, provides an awful lot of variables when applied to life. In the mean time, Tami and I will make sure there are at least $20 each month waiting to grow and waiting to support Enzo in his endeavors.

Monday, January 18, 2010

First Bath


Today Enzo had his first bath. Everything he does is adorable from hiccup to stare at me. So, you can be sure he accomplished his first bath with as much skill in possessing and infusing adorableness into the event. Sure, he's had a few sponge baths to warm up with, but he was still a rookie bath taker though you wouldn't have known it by watching him. He handled himself like a pro.

It's fun noticing how many "firsts" there are with a newborn. If I were to post them all there would be no time to post anything else. The cool thing about firsts is that they make it easier for a person to notice how neat life is. For me, staring at Enzo and playing with him is an awesome experience because it's inherently awesome. Some day, will I just take him for granted? He'll still be inherently awesome. But, no doubt, I will some days take my son for granted some of the time. Except, perhaps, when there is a first like a graduation, wedding, car, and so on. Life is always a fascinating treasure but we humans are just not wired to be excited every waking hour. We need our down time to recover, neural pathways and hormone levels need time to reset so our body will enjoy the next awareness of awesomeness in our lives. The thing is that it's easy, once you've been around the block a few times, to spend most of the time in a state of down time ready, but not actually excited. With firsts, the everyday common event, like a bath, is made special and I appreciate the moment.

The truth is, Enzo is so amazing because he is alive in a fantastic Universe and his every moment is something like a perfect poem of interaction. I know I will overlook so many moments of poetry over the years but during firsts, it's just a little easier to feel the poem run through our bodies. And, if we're lucky, every once in a while throughout our lives something brings the poetry to our attention.

This morning, I watched the rain come down while holding Enzo in my arms. I introduced him to the day and to the rain. Today, Enzo was my something lucky that brought the Universe to my attention. He reminded me to notice what I've seen before as something fantastic.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

2 Weeks Old


Today was a big day for the birthday boy. Enzo turned 2 weeks old, earned an unfettered belly button as his umbilical stump fell off in the morning, went in for his 2 week check up, and went on his first outing to celebrate it all.

As for the appointment, Enzo is good and healthy. Our next appointment is at 2 months.

As for the outing, Tami, Enzo, and I went for a walk along the lake at Vasona Park. It was beautiful today. The clouds were out but the temperature was moderate and the geese were everywhere. Enzo was in the sling as we walked our way to a bench where we sat for a while and took in the weather. It was really nice to get out as a family. The last time we did, Enzo was on the inside.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Confessions of a Diaper Changer


But First...

I can't love my son enough. I can't kiss his forehead enough, hold him enough, look at him enough, rub his back enough, let his fingers wrap around one of mine enough, smell him enough. I can't love him enough so I spin inside with the clutch pulled in so that I don't hug him too tight in over enthusiasm. It's a good thing we see each other every day so that I may at least gently hug him often.

Our doulas said that the smell of new babies is the best and they were right. I think about how crazy-fanatic our friend Mitra gets about the smell of puppy breath. She thinks it's the best in the world. When Monte was a puppy, she use to go crazy over his puppy breath every time she came over and saw him. I always thought she was funny about the puppy-breath-smell-thing but now I understand; it's not just amusing, it's an addiction. For me the addictive smell is of Enzo; this sweet comforting smell, like the most perfect laundry detergent smell EVER. A smell that wafts over to my side of the bed sometimes at night and makes me smile. This smell I get when I kiss Enzo's chest or forehead. It's the best and I can not get enough.


Today I got to enjoy a lot of this baby smell. It was a PERFECT morning. The kind of morning that makes any vacation perfectly justifiable, all by itself. First, Enzo, for who knows what reason, slept through the night with only two diaper changes and breast feedings between one a.m. and seven a.m. What? I don't know how, but it happened so that at seven a.m. Tami and I were awake and feeling pretty good. And with this unexpected wakefulness, we were perfectly prepared to truly enjoy going back to bed, which we did. We all laid back down, even Enzo. Then, after the next feeding and diaper change we... went back to bed again. Awwwwwwwesome. Tami scratched my beard under my chin for at least five minutes. I love that. Yes, it's a little like scratching a dog under the jaw. Yes, I understand why dogs like it so much. It's excellent. I tried scratching myself but it doesn't compare. Then, Enzo and I were pretty much lying face to face over Tami and just staring at each other for a long time. I loved that too. Enzo is getting more and more muscle power so it was fun to watch him look at me and repeatedly move his arms as if to touch me. A couple of times he grabbed into my beard and I wondered if he could have been mimicking what he watched when Tami was rubbing my beard. Speaking of mimicking, Enzo is starting to look as though he is mimicking facial expressions. He definitely has some interesting looks that vary from grumpy old man to happy smiling baby. But as of last night, and twice today, it looks like he is mimicking my smile when I have him close and smile at him. It is beautiful weather by coincidence or any other cause. It could be his happiness at seeing me, or learning through mimicry, or gas. Just the same, I love to see that baby smile.

As an extra bonus for the day, I took a motorcycle ride, the first one since Enzo's birth, on the Valkyrie. I just went for a short ride and then to a coffee shop to prepare for a homework assignment. The last semester of my master's degree program begins at the end of January and on the first day of class we are to turn in a ten page paper. Tami said she was okay with me leaving for a while to ride to the coffee shop to start my paper and then to stop by Whole Foods for some groceries. The ride felt so good and refreshing. Just to be on the bike again and take a couple of twisty turns in the Stevens Creek foot hills was beautiful. I actually ended up stopping at the winery where Tami and I had our first date years ago. Then I went to a coffee shop in Cupertino where the latte was excellent. The paper I intended to begin typing did not progress very far, however. I spent all of my time just getting my mind around what I will need to cover in the paper and then going over some of my reference material. I expect it will be two more days of reviewing before I start typing. Anyway, the afternoon was nice but I missed Tami and Enzo.

When I got home, Enzo and I danced to Birima. I love this song. YouTube does not have the version I have but you can click here if you want to get an idea. The song is so happy and there is a part 2/3 of the way in where it just sounds like a celebration. From what I gathered at another site, the song is about a ruler named Birima who was so great that he brought the people of different classes together, spread music, and made everyone happy. The song makes me happy and dancing with Enzo made it even better. This whole dancing in the kitchen episode was after changing a diaper which brings me to the original inspiration for this post.

The Confession...

I have to admit that there are times when I imagine it's time to change Enzo's diaper and I think... "Now? Maybe just a couple more minutes?" It's sad. I want to stall. I don't want my son to sit in his poop and pee but sometimes, so tired, it is difficult to get up. I do get up and change his diaper, but I feel bad about the little stall that some times takes place while I have the conversation in my head that goes something like:
"-Dude! You can not just leave your son in a dirty diaper!
-I know! But maybe just a minute more?
-You mean like the minute you have been stalling and having this discussion with yourself in your head? How about that minute? Was that enough of a minute already? Are you comfortable thinking this over in your nice dry boxers?
-Okay, okay, you are right, I am getting up.
-Damn right I'm right."

Son, if you are reading this years after the fact, I am sorry. I admit, you spent a few more minutes in your wet diaper then was absolutely necessary. But only long enough for me to shame myself into getting up and to be awake enough to walk straight and get a new diaper. Sorry. I console myself with the assumption that most parents must have tangled with this issue at some point. It does seem kind of forgivable in light of the fact that I often become aware of your wet diaper before you are actually done using it. That's right son, it's not as uncommon as I would have imagined that just after your diaper comes off you decide to let out a little more. Sometimes we can hear you toot/poop and I tell Tami, "I'll change Enzo, just give him a few more seconds to get it all out." She sometimes let's me get away with this for a total of 3 more toots maximum. Then I get the "Babe! That's four already, he's done! Get up!" So, your mom keeps me in check when it's my turn to change you. The funniest ones, and they just make me laugh so much that I can never get even a little bit frustrated at these, are when I just get your new diaper on and hold you up only to hear the sound that means "let's change another diaper, dad." The record was set yesterday at a wet diaper to change, two separate pees between diapers (meaning I changed the mat under you twice before a new diaper even got back on to your cute butt) and then a poop as I just finished clasping your new diaper around you. Oh, you are a funny one. And a considerate one as you played this trick on me in the day time when I was in the best mood to enjoy the laugh, thank you for that. Also son, if you are in fact reading this, go tell your mom you love her right now. She is working her butt off to keep you fed and happy as I type this in your youthful past and she loves you a whole lot. Then go give me a kiss on the cheek because I love you and because I said so.

By the way, your mom just told me to check your diaper, mother's intuition I guess, as I finished the above. It was wet. Guess what you did in your fresh clean diaper while I was buttoning up the last button on your sleeper? Yep. You think you're so funny don't you? Good comedic timing with this blog post. Well, played my son. Well played.

Friday, January 8, 2010

A Little Perspective


I like to think of everyone's "truth", everyone's understanding of how the Universe works, as just one of many valid perspectives. Including my own. I also like to play with perspectives, look for alternate perspectives, and actively choose my perspectives for given situations.

There are a whole lot of ways to look at the world. Life will continue and time will pass whether one views life as: a game, unfair, hard then you die, a glorious opportunity, a gift from god, a fortunate coincidence, etc. Some perspectives, however, are more helpful than others. Some make life more interesting and more fulfilling. Without any preparation at all, I could assume any of those examples of large scale perspectives about life (a game, unfair, hard then you die, a glorious opportunity, a gift from god, a fortunate coincidence, etc.) and list numerous pieces of supporting evidence from my life in just the last week. That's right, even in all my happiness with my son I could for example, if I choose to, make a strong case for how life is hard and then you die based on real and personal experiences just from the last week. And you know, I could convince myself of the truth of many of these and other valid perspectives. The quality of my life, however, would be so different depending on which perspective I utilized.

One situational perspective that I like to use when driving on the freeway in rush hour traffic is this. My goal is not to get to my destination quickly on the freeway (causing others to become frustrating obstacles). The goal of all of us on the freeway is to see that all of us get to our destination safely, efficiently, and with little stress. Then, I let people merge into my lane, I smile, I thank people for letting me in, and the world is a better place. When these people get to work and I go in to buy a coffee or call to make an appointment, these people are nice and feeling good because someone let them merge on the freeway and no one flipped them off on the way to work. It's a useful perspective and the drive is far less stressful.

Like the above example, I try to choose good perspectives for situations and also to respect the perspectives used by others to navigate through life. This use to be very difficult for me. I would go crazy when my core beliefs were challenged, when a contradictory idea showed merit, when the reality of the world seemed to shift and to make me sea sick. I took my perspectives to be truth and I held on tight. So many impassioned arguments and discussions, frustrations, and quests for understanding were the result. How many books I read looking for the answers. How many song lyrics I attempted to squeeze wisdom from. How many contemplative hours I spent attempting to reconcile seemingly opposing concepts that seemed justifiable. Now, I take my truth to be but one perspective.

A couple of days ago I was looking at this beautiful son of mine lying on my chest awake. This little guy, nine days old today, less than two feet tall, will grow to be a toddler, a young man, a man. Will I have enough time to love every evolving incarnation of him? Will I be able to show it and will he know it?

Looking at my son I thought, this little guy will grow to re-"discover" for the first time, all over again, everything about being alive as a human. He will experience the newness of all that has already been done billions of times over on Earth. He will kiss, have a good grade, a bad grade, be embarrassed, be proud, feel the joy in a memory that comes back with a smell, find fear, find confidence, have sex, smile at the sky... Simply put, he will live life new... though it is older than memory.

Is it futile? Is it a waste of time and energy doing all this that has all been done already? With my son so very real in front of me I say NO. It is not futile, it is excellent that he should discover everything that has already been discovered, that he will live, with newness, the oldest human experiences of life. I know he won't get all of the experiences. Every human experience has a probability of occurring for each individual, some experiences are more likely than others. My son will very likely experience simple joy, a first kiss, doubt, success, almost falling back on a chair but catching himself before he falls. I want him to know these and others. He may also, but is not very likely to, experience: a betrayal so shocking he would murder, the life of the richest 5% of his contemporaries, homelessness, having quintuplets, rescuing a stranger's life.

I have been playing with all of these thoughts and admiring my son over the last couple of days. Then, for the sake of musing, I asked myself, "What if Life is the main entity and not the person alive?" And from this question I dreamed up this interesting perspective:

Humans exist to support life. Life is not there for humans. Life itself is the evolving entity. By maintaining a variety of living creatures in diverse circumstances experiencing the Universe, the essence of Life itself continues to "live well." With this perspective, we are servants to life and not the other way around. Life owes us nothing but asks us to live and to experience as richly as possible so that the essence of Life may thrive through every conceivable manifestation and repetition. It "knows" it is not possible for every individual to live every human experience so it allows great variety amongst us to live the full range of experiences from rich to poor, tall to short, hairy to bald, brilliant to dull, etc. so that as a species, human life is totally experienced. It "knows" that life is in the newness, the discovery, the mastery, and in the moving on so it allows us to die so that new generations may do it all over and make the mundane belabored story of life into something new again. Life does this for every living species, humans, giraffes, flowers...

Using this perspective my son will revitalize Life through it's newness to him. My job as his father will be to teach and prepare him to appreciate and to enjoy life's experiences and the opportunities available to him. That is my job because it enriches the essence of Life, because it is a pleasure to both my son and to myself, and because I am a servant to Life. Every day, how shall I fully experience life? Every day, how shall I prepare my son to enjoy all of his experience?

That's one alternate perspective I have enjoyed contemplating these recent days while admiring my son, an experience that is still very new to me. If I had to classify it, I would say it's one of the beneficial perspectives, of the type that would lead to a life well lived.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Musicals and The Legend of Enzo's Name


On Musicals:
I'm not a big fan of musicals. To get into a movie or a play one really has to either be impressed with the art or one has to be able to suspend disbelief. And, I just find it difficult to suspend disbelief when people are singing about everything all of the time. Sure, I have fond memories of The Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof because of my grandma, so those ones are okay. And, I have to admit, the movie Chicago was pretty entertaining and Grease is okay, especially the last song. So, I'm not supporting my original statement very well here, am I? Still, I'll say it again, I just don't care for musicals. But I do like to sing once in a while. Who hasn't done a "pee-pee dance" when the bathroom was occupied? And, who hasn't once in a while made up lyrics and a song to go along with the "pee-pee dance?" When I rode my first motorcycle home, April 25th, 1998, I was so happy that I sang at full volume inside my helmet the whole way home making up the words and tune as I went along with a smile so big it surely must have been busting out of my helmet. So, life can be a little like a musical sometimes. And that's my point here. Having Enzo just makes it easier to break into song. Everything kind of has a rhythm to it so, for just one of many examples, today when I wanted to check his diaper I spontaneously ended up singing a new Randy original that began with:
"Pee-pee son?, pee-pee son?,
Who has pee-pee on his bum?
Pee-pee diaper, pee-pee diaper,
Who would like a clean one?"
You know, it's about as silly as half the numbers in a musical but at least I can now explain to myself that the writers of musicals probably have children and my world makes a little more sense to me. I'm still not sure why people were impressed with the Miss Saigon musical but then I saw it long before I had a child.


On The Legend of Enzo's name:
We all, I believe, like to attach meaning to aspects of life. Tami and I certainly did want meaning attached to Enzo's name. We started months ago with a web site link that let friends, family, and whomever submit names for the "Name The Kid Contest." The prize for the winners of the "Contest" is the honor and coolness of knowing that they named another human. When the list reached about 120 names we narrowed it down to 20. Over the next few weeks names were added and deleted and I would estimate approximately 150 names were proposed. Tami and I would consider the comments people entered with the names they proposed and we would do internet searches to look for meaning in the names and we would consider how we liked the names in general for our son. As we got closer to the big day, we were definitely talking more and more about certain names than others so I would say there were about seven names in the strong running by Christmas.

One of the names we liked was Lorenzo. As I mentioned, we were looking for meaning and of course, words mean different things for different people. Lorenzo, to us, meant a great accomplishment. Our son was sure to be our great accomplishment and the name fit. We also liked the 'z' in there. Lorenzo is Spanish for Laurence which traces back to the laurel plant which is a symbol of accomplishment. It was what the ancient Olympic winners wore on their head, wreaths of laurel. I mentioned to Tami that if we chose that name, he could go by Enzo which sounds super cool. And Tami said, "Or, we could just name him Enzo." Well, that makes sense. Honestly, I'm kind of tired of clarifying that I go by Randy though my name is Randolph. Why not skip all that with our son and go straight to the name he will go by? Ever since then, Enzo was in the running though we never got around to adding it to our web list of potential names that friends and family were checking in on.

Another name we liked is Raines. It was added to our "Name The Kid Contest" list by Laurie who you see holding our beautiful boy in the picture. She liked the name from Memphis Raines, a character in the movie Gone in 60 Seconds. The name does sound cool.

One day I was walking downtown when I came across friends on the patio of the local pub and we started talking about the name search. I told them there were still about 20 names on the list plus one I hadn't gotten around to typing but that I liked: Enzo. They asked what the other names were so I started reading them off from my phone. One of them, I'm not sure which, heard them and said "Enzo Raines!" That started it. All four of them, Matt, Mitra, Nathan C. and Ona, started talking about how cool Enzo Raines was for what I recall as a non-stop 20 minute discussion. Much praise was heaped on the name. At one point Matt said something to the effect of "Enzo Raines is so cool, that needs to be his name" when, with the timing of a Hollywood movie, we heard a very nice motor sound, turned to the street, and there was a Ferrari to punctuate his statement. If you didn't know, Enzo Ferrari is THE Ferrari of exotic car fame, the man that created the cars and the Ferrari company. Well, that was as definitive of a sign as Matt and Nathan needed. I promised to mention the name combo to Tami when I got home.

Days later, several great names were still in the running, Tami decided we were close enough and we would wait to meet The Kid in person to learn what his actual name is. Labor began Saturday night (actually at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning) with multiple contractions per hour. There went sleep. That night and for the next three days and three nights we stayed awake on very little rest while Tami had these contractions, waiting for them to build to the point where we could go in and deliver our son. So, we went for a walk each day. The sky started out dry each time but during the walk we would be pleasantly rained on and it was a good experience. Tami commented once on how the rain was cleansing and preparing us for our new experience as parents. After four nights and three days of labor contractions, and three days of walks in the rain, Raines become the front runner for our son's middle name. We liked it. I love water, I love the idea that one of our son's names is something real and tangible in nature, we liked the sound, and we liked the fact that our sons name said something about his way of coming out into the world. On the fourth night since contractions began, walking home in the rain for the third time, it was time to go deliver our baby. By this point, we knew our son's middle name. And that narrowed down the list of first names to create name combinations that we liked.

When our son was born, 15 hours of laboring in the hospital later (we showed up at 9 pm on Tuesday and Enzo emerged at 12:03 pm on Wednesday) I asked him his name. I said several of the names to him over and over from the list that Tami and I were still considering and I watched his expressions. He liked Enzo. Tami and I and friends and family provided the name options, as parents we guided the selection, nature and our son's emerging experience chose his middle name, and our son, through facial expressions at the sounds, chose his first name. And that's how we, Tami and I, give meaning to our son's name. That's our legend of the name Enzo Raines. In my own words his name translates as: Our great accomplishment, born of water.

Like any cool tattoo, and a name is a bit like a tattoo, we can define and refine the meaning for it over time while in everyday life, it's just cool for what it is.

So, the winners for the "Name The Kid Contest" are:
Tami and Randy for the Enzo suggestion
Laurie for the Raines suggestion
Matt, Mitra, Ona, and Nathan C. for the name combo suggestion
Nature and Enzo for the final selection and giving meaning to the names.

And now, Tami and I have Our Great Accomplishment, Born of Water.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Village


We are so lucky to have our friends and family. We have only been home two days and Tami's parents have brought food, cousin Joanna brought food, and my parents brought food. My parents and sister also held Enzo for a bit today so that both Tami and I could take a much needed nap and then helped take down our Christmas decorations and clean up around the house. Our dishes were done when we first got home with Enzo and I assume Matt and Mitra had something to do with that. Also, friends are bringing food tomorrow. These are just a few examples, not to mention all of the countless kindnesses I have been too distracted to notice and all of the good wishes and congratulations coming from all over from friends and family.

And I think, how in the world do you do this on your own? How does the married woman pull this off when her husband simply must be at work? How does the single parent pull this off and pay bills, and keep up the house, and maintain sanity or even take a shower? How does a couple or a single parent do it when they are in a place with no support?

I sit and admire my son and I haven't enough fingers or toes on our arms and legs combined to count all of our blessings. We are lucky, we are fortunate. And we are grateful.