Six Months Already?

Yes, it's hard to believe, but it's true. The calendar doesn't lie--six months ago today we welcomed little Theo into the world. And what a crazy trip it's been.

Let's take a little walk down memory lane, shall we? Theo was born four weeks early on February 5, weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces. When he first popped, he couldn't breathe and had to be "bagged" (which, coincidentally, is what I felt like doing to the pediatrician a couple days later). Right after he was born, he was taken to the nursery and placed in an incubator. Okay, they're really called "isolettes", but I like "incubator" better. Anyway, you may recall that we didn't even get to go see him until a couple of hours after he was born. And our first chance to hold him actually came days later. All the while, he had the stupid feeding tube down his nose and was being fed through it regularly for the first little bit. Far and away, this was the hardest thing we had to go through in our entire lives.

Finally, 10 days later we were allowed to bring him home. And shortly after that, Theo developed the worst case of colic anyone had ever seen, including our doctor. When added to the difficulties straight out of the womb, we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into for a while there!

But alas, even the colic subsided in time, as everyone said it would. Although the first three months were hard, the three since then have more than made up for it. Yes, it's tough living with the cutest baby in the world, but we're getting by. Theo has brought such immense joy into our lives that we can't even remember what life was like before him, and we can't imagine life now without him. His name means "divine gift", and that couldn't describe our little boy better. What a treat.

A friend of mine asked me the other day, "So what's it like being a dad?" To be honest, I couldn't come up with a good answer. How do you possibly encapsulate all the feelings and emotions that go into being responsible for a precious life? How can you possibly tell someone how immensely proud you are of your little boy, even before he's really done anything, just because he's your little boy? How can you capture the wonder and magic of each day simply with words? You can't. There's no event in the whole realm of human experience that compares to this. The sight of my little boy smiling at me in recognition, the sound of him laughing when we play together, the idea that the whole world is brand new to him--all these things continue to amaze me. And I hope they never stop.

So happy half-year birthday, little Theo. Hopefully one day you'll read this and realize how much your mommy and daddy love you, and how proud we are to be your parents. Go get 'em, tiny tiger.