Check Attendance

Jacob with my dad and mom taken using my Samsung Tocco

It's been interesting ever since Jacob was born.  The usual 3-people house now has Jacob and the additional nursemaid (at the risk of sounding stuck-up, I think this is the English equivalent of yaya).  On a daily basis the grandparents are also there to check on Jacob.  He is our first child and he is also the first grandchild of my parents and my in-laws, hence their excitement and interest.  The doting grandmas (Dolly and Carmen) are always carrying Jacob.  They get really frustrated if when arrive and the baby is asleep.  That is the reason why my parents come in the morning in time for Jacob's bath and my in-laws in the evening in time for Jacob's feeding.  A sure thing that he is awake.

Jacob, bless the kid, also knows the importance of his grandmas in the future (source of toys!) and he never acts up.  He just comfortably lies in their arms and just makes himself cute.  I usually quip that we check the grandparents' attendance and chide my mom when they're absent.

Good times.

The Scent of a Baby

One of the amazing things about babies is their scent. It's unlike the scent of colognes but it's equally, if not more, irressiistible. It is therefore one of my hobby to smell my son everytime I have the chance.

When I was a little kid, I used to get annoyed when my aunts and lolas kiss me at the same time sniffing me like they are vacuum cleaners. Now I know why they do it. There is something about the smell of the baby that you'd wish you have limitless breath so that you can just inhale their scent 'til kingdome come. It's a wonderful smell. I wish they could bottle this scent as a new perfume scent. Now that would be a big hit. We should call it the Scent of Innocence.

* Photo of Jacob Reyes was taken from the blog Anticipation by Carmela Reyes

New Skills

Jacob is now 2 weeks old. In that span of time I learned some few basics regarding how to take care of a baby. The easiest is carrying him. It's almost instinctive. Just support the head. Plus I have long arms so I don't worry about that. Next I learned how to feed the baby using the milk bottle. The pediatrician showed me how. He was probably thinking I suck at it and the best way is to show how it's done. It's really just a modified "carrying-the-baby-in-my-arm" kinda thing. The only difference is that the other hand should be free to hold the milk bottle. One major tip I got was to rotate or turn the bottle while the baby is feeding. I think it's because of the air inside the bottle but I really don't know why it should be done. I do it anyway. In connection, I know how to make the milk, it's just a one is to one ratio. Easy!

One of the things I dreaded was how to make the baby burp. They said it's important so that the baby will not have a bum stomach. But I was able to do it and when I heard the baby burped, it was like a big accomplishment. I was ecstatic.

However, there are more things that i should learn and do. I've been bugged by my friends to change the diaper. Specially now that "it" doesn't stink yet. For the information of people, I know how to change the diaper. I've seen it done and the diaper that we use is really easy to handle. It's just that I don't wanna do it. For now. We have people to do it for us. Giggle. I know, there is no excuse. I am planning to do it soon. I promise. I also want to learn how to bathe the baby. If I hack this last two, I can be left alone with Jacob already.

I am just lucky that I have a hands-on wife. She is great at taking care of my son. She even hardly sleeps because she is so devoted. She makes fatherhood easy for me.

Baby's Day Out

Today marks the day when Jacob forayed outside the house for the first time. We visited his pediatrician, Dr. Jetty Jet Lu. So it goes, everything is normal and nothing to worry about. This is one of the times that I really wish that nothing remarkable would happen. Providential.

We learned a very important information from Dr. Jet today. He advised us to remove the "corrales" beads that a lot of Filipino adorned their infant which we also have (now had) on Jacob. One of Dr. Jet's patient swallowed one of 'em beads and is now in the ICU for observation. The unfortunate baby is being observed for any brain damage because the beads blocked the air passage when he choked on it which caused the baby's brain to not get oxygen for some time. Scary.

Dear Jacob

Cha-cha (charter change, change in our Constitution) movement has resurrected yet again for the nth time, the "Alabang Boys" are all over the papers (they are the rich and prominent drug pusher kids who just got arrested), the current Speaker of the House of Representative is from our city (he's the 4th highest official of our country but I don't know why we are not so proud), a rich and powerful mayor from Lanao mauled a 14 year old kid and his dad over golf etiquette, Israel and the Hamas militants of Gaza are at war and are killing each other with missiles, and in sports, Olypic sprinter Usain Bolt was voted athlete of the year over Olympic multi-medalist swimmer Michael Phelps.

On the day that you were born these were the headlines on the news. I wish there were more bright and sunny news but that's how the world is. It is a sad fact that there is so much suffering around us. But I promise you, kid, that I will make sure that you will be prepared for the realities of life. It's not all rainbows and butterflies, it's not all rosy, but it's a world worth living, a world worth saving. I will heed the call of the Baron of Gilwell to try to make this world a little better than we have found it. For you.

But more than anything, Jacob, should we fail to make the world better for you, there is one thing that you can count on that will not fail. That is our love. My love. Your mom's love. We will do our best for you and most of all we will love you.

Welcome to the world, my son.

Lovingly,
Dad

Practice Makes Perfect

I was the epitome of coolness when my wife said that she is having some contraction. Interval was about 15 minutes, after all. In contrast my mom was very frantic and was telling us through text message to rush to the hospital soon. I ignored her and even had a light conversation with my wife about it. Somewhere along the way, coolness gave way to excitement. Still taking things in stride, I told my wife that I will take a bath first. I really took my time as I believe in my head that it's not yet going to happen. After taking a bath, I got dressed and we even watched Jeopardy.

I am not bothered that much but I am concerned about the inconvenience that my wife was being subjected into so I asked her if she wanted to got to the hospital already. She said yes. So I drove calmly (which is so unlike me) to San Pedro Hospital. I am not fond of being in hospitals but I gathered all my strength to be there for my wife. And when they wheeled her to the delivery room, I again faced another difficulty, that of bringing along my wife's lady bag. This is going to be tougher than I expected.

With my wife's cousin, I stayed at the waiting area of the delivery room. This was after I paid the deposit and brought all bags that was pre-prepared for this momentous moment. My wife's Obstetrician/Gynecologist came in to check on my wife. The doc said that my wife's definitely 4 centimeters now. I don't know though what is that thick or long. Doesn't matter as long as I am not the one measuring it. I was prepared to hear the doctor tell me to wait for a little while because my wife will be in labour for quite some time. To my surprise, the doctor said an entirely different thing. She said that we should go home. We're not having a baby anytime soon within the night.

So here I am, panting while climbing the stairs to make sure that everything is ok for our impending departure very soon because my wife still looks too pretty to be giving birth. I wonder how would that look like (while knocking on wood!) when she really is in labor. It took a little while and one thousand six hundred pesos before we can finally leave. Costly. But as they say, practice makes perfect. So this is super worth it. Now we just need to learn to be very precise in distinguising the labor pain and give in more to coolness and level headedness.

Oh well.

We'll nail this the next time.