son, hero, legend

New Species, originally uploaded by bburbank.

And I’m not sorry. More photos over at our flickr.

You had some extremely strange things to say. Your first words?

Cookie Day!

Which I guess is a holiday that you wish existed. Me too, man, me too.

Whoopsiedoodle!

When you knock something over, I guess that works. That’s really all you could say, actually. “Cookie Day” and “Whoopsiedoodle.” I guess I need to read to you more.

I was recently asked to write down all the things I learn while going through this Mom process. I know I’ll forget everything if I don’t write it somewhere, so I figured here is the safest place. I am sure that other people will have had different experiences than mine, but I thought I’d keep track of some of the things I’ve figured out about this Mom business.

The main impetus for me beginning this post was an experience I just had at the house. All my life I have wondered why my Mom would think of a chore she’d need to do and go off to do that chore and then immediately find herself sidetracked doing another chore and then get sidetracked again until she had totally lost track of the chore she had originally set out to complete.  In the meantime, she would lose all track of time and often not actually finish any of the chores. Today, I grimly realized, that I was doing the same thing. Jhonen had miraculously gone down for a nap that seemed like it might actually last a while (you can sort of sense sometimes how deep a sleep he’s experiencing so you can gage your current activity abilities). I saw him settle into sleep and, wham, I was off and running. I ran down to the garage to refill his diaper supply. On the way to the garage, though, I remembered that I needed paper towels upstairs. On the way to the paper towels, I found my phone which I had misplaced several hours earlier. Finding my phone, I figured I’d check my email on it while I had the chance. Then I looked up and found that the laundry needed to be changed over. Then I couldn’t remember why I’d come downstairs so I grabbed the paper towels and went back upstairs. The minute I got upstairs I realized I had never gotten the diapers from the garage!

As a Mom, there are so many things I could do with any given two-free-handed moment, either for Jhonen of for me or for the house or for work, that it’s hard to figure out where to start or how to prioritize. Hence, the scatterbrained free-for-all chore rampage through the house that, inevitably, leaves me completely exhausted only to hear him starting to cry in his bed. I should have been napping.
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Dear Jhonen,

I am writing this post with one hand while holding your pacifier in your mouth with the other, but I feel compelled to let you know what happened to this country yesterday. Jhonen, for the past eight years our country has been led by President George Bush, a man who misled this country into a war I don’t believe should have ever been waged. Thousands of people, American and Iraqi alike have died because of it. Our country is trillions of dollars in debt and faces the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. I just found out that 22,000 Americans die every year because they can’t afford or have no access to health insurance. Global warming is threatening Earth’s very existence. Our education system is not even close to the top in the world despite the power we hold and the wealth we enjoy.

Worse than that, our nation has failed to live by the ideals of liberty and possibility for all that has always defined  us and set us apart as a beacon of hope to nations across this globe.  In 2004 when President Bush was reelected, beating John Kerry, suddenly being intelligent, well-spoken, honest, or elite somehow became distasteful. Americans voted for a person who, in my mind, represented ugly things: judgement of others to the point of bigotry,  an arrogant, power-crazed view of America’s place in the world as a sort of bullying watchdog for Democracy, and the notion that our leader should be someone we’d like to go have a beer with after work. I’d rather have a leader who can inspire us as a people to better ourselves and to join together to better this nation. To know that change is possible and to dare to believe that politics can be free from corruption, greed, and self-importance. To remember that our power comes from our common  ideals and not from our guns or a stubborn refusal to admit our mistakes. To believe that our country is great but certainly not infallible and not without fault. That being a patriot is about more than flag pins and empty words like freedom, but about the diversity of ideas and the ability to express them. And that, through the free exchange of ideas and beliefs we can all individually and collectively change for the better.
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2990166746_cd8d016652_b, originally uploaded by bburbank.

A few pictures have been added to the set over on flickr. Mel and Jess submerged the baby in our fall decorations, and despite my expectations, they’re gut-blisteringly cute.

Two months have nearly passed and I’m finally able to journal about what an amazing, tiring, educational, moving time it has been for me to watch you grow. I thought I’d give you some highlights from the past two months since I have a tendency to document more information than anyone would ever care to read.
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Jess, Jhonen, and I took a trip to Leu Gardens today (free on Mondays if you get there before noon).  It’s a pretty impressive garden.  Lots of things I’ve never seen elsewhere, and some of the plants smell like licorice. This begins my last full week before I go back to work. It’s been great being home with everybody, and I’m more than a little expecting some whiplash on my return to The Fold.

nice hat, originally uploaded by bburbank.

Just updated our flickr with photos from weeks 4-6! He’s starting to fit into his 3-month-old clothes, shedding his newborn exoskeleton like so much dead waste. The good news is we can start putting him in REALLY awesome clothes now! He’s also starting to sleep a little better and allow us to take him all kinds of places; over the last week, we went to Leu Gardens, the Lake Eola Farmers’ Market, and our local voting place! Click the picture to see the rest of the set to date.

2885267801_f249272145_o, originally uploaded by bburbank.

So you’re two weeks old now, hurray! Unfortunately for your bragging rights, you are still this many [holds up zero fingers]. You are currently 8 pounds, 14 ounces (well, probably more by now), which is 1 pound 10 ounces more than your birth weight. I celebrated my birthday last night and you were super calm. Man oh man is it going to be weird having all of our family’s birthdays just three weeks apart, though. Way better than Christmas, to be sure.

By the way, this photo was taken by Melissa, Juls’ shutterbug better-half. I duplicated a few of her photos into my flickr account so the Families have an easier time seeing all this documentation that’s going on. You can always see all the photos of baby Jhojho here.