My little family.

It's so wonderful being a parent and having my little family with me. Ever since the birth of my child I have felt so blessed and fortunate to have beautiful wife and precious son to share my life with. I can't imagine at this time in life being without them. One of my favorite things is to come home from work and to see the look on my little boys face as he realizes it's me that just came through the door and how excited he gets to see me after a long absence, and Sonia has been so great in taking care of him and me and really keeping our household from falling apart. I know I don't do as much as I could and I am very grateful that Sonia picks up on some of the things that I fall short on. I didn't think that having a child would be so rewarding and stressful all at the same time, and I'm sure all you parents out there are going..."DUH!" but really it is impossible to fathom the love that you will feel for a child before you have it, but the moment they are born and you look at that tiny face you are sucked in for life and just love everything about that child, well at least until their teenagers, so I'm told. :)  But seriously I do feel lucky to have my little family and enjoy everyday that we get to spend some time together just the three of us.

It's the little things.

I think that as we go through life we tend to ignore the little things, and many of you would agree with that. Why is it then that the little things seem to be the most important. I believe it is because the little things mean something to someone else more than they do to you. Even though to you it seems little and may take very little effort, it can still mean to the world to those you love and care about. On the flip side, if we forget the little things and focus on the big things, we can still miss the boat as to what is really important, sure we are doing the big stuff, but that is expected, it's the little things that aren't as expected that make the difference and let our family know that we really are there and we're paying attention. Remember the little things, even if they seem unimportant, they still are very important to somebody.

Do as I'm doing.

My boy is getting so good at copying what his mommy and daddy does. Everything from noises to arm actions he really has a good time copying us and trying to do what we do. It's fun to see him initiate some of these things because he knows we'll like it and laugh, so he just starts waving his arms and smiling and I can't help but smile back and laugh at my boy as we share a moment together. Soo Fun!

Curious Baby Boy

Curiosity, I believe, is an innate human trait. We struggle to understand the world that surrounds us. For Roman it's "what is this?", "what does it taste  like?", "can I pick it up?" "can I chew on it?" These are the most basic curiosities that most children posses. At some point along the way we stop putting things in our mouths to figure out what they are and we start to analyse things by categories. But I suppose if your just young and innocent your still working on what all those categories might be and how things relate to each other.

When Roman was first born he was fascinated with ceiling fans, and rightly so, since he stared at the ceiling most of the day, the fans were a nice change of pace, something interesting to look at. Now that he is a lot more mobile things on the floor hold much more interest, every little thing and even shadows of things on the floor must be touched and handled and tasted. Such innocents in life is humbling to behold and you can see his little mind churning and trying to figure out what things are and what they do and if they are edible. So sweet is the curiosity of a child, I wonder sometimes if as adults we miss out on the pleasures of a simple curiosity and why don't we take the time to look at and ponder the world around us. When is the last time that you just sat and stared at, touched, and tasted something just to see what it is? I know I can't think of anything, maybe I'll try to get down on his level and see the world through his eyes and try to find out what would be most interesting to be curious about. Roman, you do amaze me everyday.

A new Dad.

You know, even though it has been about 10 months since my son was born I haven't really taken time to reflect on how it feels to be a new dad. Sure I thought about it before he was born and since he has come into our lives it's just been a blur of an amazing ride to this point. As I reflect on the last 10 months I can see how far my son has come in just a short time. Already he has claimed some of his own independence and really started to move around and test his surroundings. In just a few short months he went from constantly needing to be held by us and fed by us to feeding himself his bottles and really wanting to get down and move around. Shocking really is the rate at which a child grows, even all the cool clothes we bought for him when planning for his first months after he was born don't even fit him any more.

I think more than all that I've noticed that his existence in my life has changed how I see my own. Now I can think to myself...Wow, I'm a dad?! I am the father of a being that has come into this world and will depended on me for shelter, food, love, and learning. Sonia has been so good for him and really showed him what it means to love, I see the smiles he gives her and it melts my heart. Such a strong bond is the one between mother and son and I hope that I can keep a strong bond as well with my son.

As a new dad I think the best part of being a parent and having child is when they look at your face and your eyes and really try to understand you and then they smile back at you when you smile at them. Nothing makes the world seems so small and finite as holding your child close to you and exchanging that precious thing that is a smile.

Time away.

Even though it's only a few days away from our son, my wife and I switch off days of work to be home and take care of him, we both find it really hard to be away from him for even that amount of time during the day. I can't speak for her, but for me it's so hard to know that your missing out on moments of his day that could be so wonderful and memorable. You just don't get to be there. I remember when he was first born finding myself just staring at his face in awe and amazement. Even now that he is older I still really enjoy watching him interact with and explore his world. I find my thoughts often drift to wondering how he is and if he's happy, I can only imagine how it will feel later on and we have to let him go to school and other activities that we just don't get to be there for. Man it's hard to be a parent sometimes, and my kid is only 9 months old. ;)

Baby social networking.

Recently we got to spend time with some friends who also have a child just a little bit old than Roman. It is so fun to watch Roman interact with other children and try to copy what they do. When we're at church or out with friends he loves to look at the other children and just stare them down and try to figure out what they are doing. These baby social interactions really help his progression I think physically and mentally. When he laughs with other children it is such a wonder to see the social side of him growing. Keep up the fun tongue and scrunchy faces Roman we love them.