Babies

To my friend Spero and his wife Kristen: Congrats on the birth of your little daughter last night: Sydney Anne Gramas who was 7lbs 10oz at 19" and born at 2:00am! I am very happy for them as they get to enjoy a whole world as parents.
My daughter Grace (or Gracie as we call her) is now 15 months old. Everything people have said is so true about being a parent, especially in the first year. The phrases "That first year will go-bye so fast" and "Cherish your time with your kids" are right on the head.
I have no regrets about my first year as being a parent. I only went to my martial arts class twice in the first six weeks after she was born. My instructor gave me a little grief about that, but my wife stayed home from work for eight weeks (actually nine, she took a week off before our daughter was born) and I felt I needed to support Lisa and help her by giving her a break when I got home from work. Lisa had had a c-section which made it hard for her to move around the first week or two and after that I could only imagine what it felt like to be inside most of the day re-cooperating as well as watching Gracie.
One other important point on me missing classes was that Gracie was cholic! She WOULD NOT SLEEP and cried a lot the first two months she was alive!!! Most babies sleep alot, not Gracie. She had a hard time sleeping for more than 6 hours and cried a lot when she was awake. Most nights Lisa got up and stayed awake with Gracie when she would not sleep, leaving a lot of sleep deprivation. I would try to alternate some nights with her and help out in the middle of the night when I could. It was a real hell on Lisa and made the situation more sad because Lisa acually looked forward to going back to work the last week or so just to get away from this hell in her life.
We were very anxious about putting her in day-care for three days a week and had an emotional moment the night before. The main reason we were anxious is that Lisa was afraid that with her lack of sleeping and constant crying that they would not keep her in the school. To calm Lisa's nerves, I called the school ten days before she started and they said that she would be fine.
Lo and behold, we brought Gracie to day care and she did fine. She got into a sleeping pattern and by three months old she was a completely different baby!
Today. if you saw Gracie, you would not believe the stuff we, especially Lisa, went through. She is a very happy kid with a loveable personality and great sense of humor. I always thought it was my "father's bias" that made me feel that way, then we started taking Gracie with us to church and there as well as at grocery stores and other places we would compliments from people on what a cute, sweet baby she was. Just yesterday we were in line at Lowes and a woman with a young child commented on how much fun she was and was playing with her.
Yes, kids are A LOT of work, but in the end it all seems worth it!!!