Handprints

Advice.

We get all kinds of advice. In fact I had a freind tell me the other day,

"listen, you are going to get all kinds of advice from every which way. Dont let it get to you, the best thing to do...."

But I also notice those that don't give advice until asked. I can ramble on about something and they just nod their head. and they might relate by saying, something like, "oh, I hear ya..that happened to us too."

But i realize why you get so much advice on the subject. More than anything else in your life.

I think it because, people have been there. they've been there and they wish someone had told them, they have lived and learned and they dont want you to go through it if they can help it, cuzz they care. Another thing is that a lot of people have had kids and can relate to the subject, versus other life situations that might be a little more specific, i.e job challenges/relationships.

Theresa and I always welcome advice, we learn a ton each day,

Theresa is feeling a bit better today, no more chills and no more fever.

I thought that i would be able to come home after work and be so excited to see akello that i would have all kinds of energy, but such is not the case. I come home and im tired. And while im excited to see both my babies..the energy is not there like I thought it would be.

but, the energy that i do need is there. my legs and hips arent so soar and i can dance with him a lot easier than i did when i was home all the time. during those days, i danced so much that i thought i was going to litterally collapse on the living room floor sometimes.

Akello likes a certain kind of dance. kinda a mix of merengue and a waltz or a two step. whats funny is that he can tell when your hearts not in it, and your just swaying him from side to side or if your swinging him in front of you.

Since i havent worked out in a while i thought i would start curling him. he weighs around nine pounds and so thats only 5lbs an arm, but i had only done 5 reps when i realized, i didnt have the strength for it. my arms are tired from holding him for so long, and now i was going to do them worse! you idiot!!
so yeah, no more of that.


another aspect of coming home after work is that my patience is re-fueled. I can come home and his crying doesnt bother me so much and i like to hang with him as much as i can even if he is crying.

This morning we took some handprints of him and ruined his morning.
a freind had bought us an ink stamp pad to be used for taking his handprints. They do the feet in hospitals, but not the hands. And i think i know why. The feet are easy!
We have a "babys first book" that has a place for lock of hair, and all that stuff.
well I wanted to take his handprints as soon as possible before he got too big, This morning we were going to give him a bath and thought it would be a good time to do the hands.

Well, the natural reflex of the hand is to close when the palm is touched. so this made it difficult to get his hand saturated with ink from the pad.

Oh, and i should say that we went into this with a calm baby. I had put him in the football hold and was holding him right above the kitchen table. i grabbed his hand and inked it, then it took a while but i finally seized a moment when his palm opened and i pushed his palm against the paper and made a print. not the best print, but i had learned and was going to make an awesome right hand print.

well, by this time he was getting fussy and tired of the football hold. Theresa said, "hes getting agitated we should stop"

and im like, "stop! i just got one more hand, we have all the materials! were about to give him a bath!" and i pressed on,

the right hand took double the time to do, by this time he was just short of full blown crying, huff'n and puff'n away. my arm was getting tired and theresa kept telling me to quit, but i was so close! He finally opened his palm and i slammed it into the paper.



I got a better print, but it was still far from what i had imagined it would be. i finished and he was now crying, and then we took his clothes off and gave him a lukewarm bath! this did not help. Now he was at full blown "how much more do i have to cry for you to quit it" cry. it wasn't until he had been dryed, dressed and on mamas nipple that he was finally quiet.



Theresa says, we should have waited until he was asleep,

duh. what were we thinking! we were trying to convenience ourselves and because of it had a stressfull bath and a sloppy printing, so my advice is.... well, you get the picture..