I haven’t blogged in a while but tonight I had my mind blown.

I got home at my regular time from work and a very happy little girl and my wife met me at the front door. I love walking in the door hearing “Daddy!! Daddy!!” It makes my day.

Soon after getting home Eve and I decided that we needed to take a trip to Canadian Tire. She walked almost the entire way there, the entire time we were in the store and made it half way home. Now, I know what you’re thinking, and no, it’s not that far, but for a 17 month old, it was pretty impressive.

It really lights up your experience when you are walking around with a tiny human who is squealing with glee or singing Ba Ba black sheep the entire time. People smile, you smile and the world seems like such a great place.

Now, this is when the fun started. We got home and started the bbq. Eve was hanging out with Sue and I was sitting on the back steps waiting for the bbq to heat up, playing on my ipad. Next thing I hear is… dada, dada, dada and Eve is trying to find me. I open the door and she gives me the biggest smile. When I tried to close the door she got very upset.

I looked her in the eyes and said, “You can’t come outside unless you have you coat and hat on”. Eve turned around and ran over the deacon bench and proceeded to put on her hat and grab her coat.

MIND BLOWN!!! My tiny human understood!

I don’t really know what I was expecting but I was just in awe that she did that. I was in awe that she understood, and I guess that she wanted to hang out with me. I’m actually a little speechless about the whole experience.

Eve is growing up so fast and is learning so much. Watching her develop is one of the coolest experiences I think I’ve ever had. Everything is new, everything is fresh and everything is exciting.

I can’t wait to see what she does next…

Can it possibly be?? Can my baby girl be 16 months old?? I have no idea where the time is going. Some days I feel like the time is standing still but when I look at the development of my child I know it isn’t true.

It’s such an exciting time for the McColemanClan as we watch Eve develop and learn how to walk, talk and navigate the world. She is a late bloomer in a lot of areas but wow she is blooming now.

As she prepares to cut 6 new teeth all at once, decide that it’s time to walk and continually keeps mommy and daddy laughing life moves on. This kid has the greatest sense of humour. There isn’t a day go by that she isn’t giving you this sideways glance as she does something silly and looks for a reaction.

I used to have so much fun blogging and documenting our adventures. I’m not sure why I stopped other then the fact that I got lazy. There are so many memories and thoughts going through my mind. Thoughts like, how I love that every morning we try and FaceTime together from my office, or when I come home and I see her banging on the window yelling “Dadda!! Dadda!! Dadda!!”.

The Adventure  and smiles continue…

I’ve enjoyed the first month of my daughter’s life. I’ve enjoyed watching her grow, smile, eat, sleep and even scream.

I’m fascinated with how God has created us. We are all so unique and babies are so innocent and special.

I don’t really have much to say today other then to share my experience of changing diapers. Haha! Funny enough, I don’t have an issue with diaper duty. Today marks a first for me though. We have been waking Eve up every 2 hours in order to try and correct her sleep patterns. When we wake her we’ve also been changing her because of a small diaper rash. Can you tell where the hilarity is going…?

I’ve got her on the change table and I’m ready to go. As I start taking things off I saw something I’d never seem, poop up the front of a diaper. Usually you get it straight up the back and I’m not sure how she did it but… it was there. So I got her all cleaned up and she was cooing away, the powder had been applied along with the Penaten and just then, quiet. She looked at me very serious and it happened. BOOM she pooped everywhere. HAHAHA! I started to laugh, I couldn’t believe it. So I cleaned her all up took off the sleeper which now was soiled. As I get everything reapplied, I get the new diaper ready and again, quiet. Just then the legs go straight and BOOM she pees all over me. I was full on belly laughing at this point. “You little brat” was all I could say while laughing.

We spent the next couple hours cuddled up on the couch. I think that’s what I am going to miss most about going back to work. Being with someone all day every day for 6 weeks and then not is kind of scary, for me at least.

She is my little angel

There are so many things you need to know when you become a parent. A lot of things you learn on the fly because no one can teach you everything.

Having a newborn in our house has really changed my focus on life. I am realizing more and more everyday that my life is no longer my own. I’ve lived for almost 40 years doing what I wanted to do, eating when I wanted to eat, and sleeping when I wanted to sleep. Well, that’s all changed now. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change it for anything. The fact that I wake up and see this little face looking back at me every day melts every fiber of my being.

On Sunday morning I had another one of those “oops” moments. Eve was very restless and I was trying hard to calm her down. I had changed her, I was rocking her, and then I decided to feed her. I knew she wasn’t hungry but I fed her anyways because I didn’t know what else to do.

Our doctor told me during one of our initial visits that you can never over feed a baby who is breastfeeding. The baby is self regulate. So, as I fed Eve the 1^st of two bottles she didn’t calm down. I burped her and rocked her and she was just crying and crying. As she calmed and took the 2^nd bottle I thought I was doing well. After the bottle she wouldn’t burp so I laid her beside me on the couch and played with her. I don’t think 5 minutes went by before she threw up. She didn’t throw up just a little bit, she threw what I’m sure was almost the whole 2 bottles worth.

I grabbed her quickly, tossed her on her side then put her against me and patted her back. It shook me right up. As I shifted her down into the cradle position she looked up at me and smiled so big. I burst into tears. For the next 15 minutes all I could do is talk to her and tell her I was sorry.

I don’t pretend to know what all men think about having children. My father left when I was 11 and I didn’t really have that example in my life to look back on, but I know I want to be the best father I can be. I know I’m not perfect and I know I’m going to make mistakes, but I want to be the best I can be and this little girl challenges me to be that.

As she grows and develops starts to recognize me and the things around her I sit back in awe of this little person. I thank God every day for this privilege of being her dad, and I pray every day that I can be the best example of the man she needs me to be.

So my attempt at being Doogie Howser and journaling every night hasn’t been easy. Let me say that again, it hasn’t happened at all.
Eve is 20 days old today and every day seems to be an adventure all onto it’s own. She is healthy and growing well. It’s been really neat watching a little person grow. She is still very tiny and petit and you almost feel like she is a porcelain doll.
I always thought of myself as really prepared and everyday I feel more and more like I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m used to flying in, being as “out there” as I can be, attempting to win the kids over and then leaving and going home. It’s a whole new ball game when you can’t leave 🙂

As I mentioned Eve is doing well. We had our last appointment until she is 2 months old with the pediatrician on Monday and he is very happy with where she is at in her development. I on the other hand was looking for some reassuring words.

On Sunday we took Eve to the Santa Clause parade. Yes, yes, yes, I realize she wouldn’t see or remember any of it but it was a beautiful, mild evening and we wanted to go for a walk. Little did I know it had been a while since I changed her bum. As a rule of thumb cloth diapers (which we had started to transition towards) need to be changed about every 2 hours and disposables 3 to 4 hours. Well I made a booboo; as we walked to the parade route she was crying and we figured she would calm down as we walked. After watching about 30 minutes of the parade we started to head back home. Something was wrong and we didn’t know what. By the time we got home she had been crying (off and on) for almost 90 minutes. As we went to change her I found the cause of the crying. Her little bum was very raw and I had left the diaper on too long. I felt terrible. All of a sudden I felt very ill equipped to deal with a baby. This leads me back to Dr. Bialik’s words “Don’t worry, you’re doing great, everyone goes through this”. He is very good with the kids and the frantic new parents.

It’s been a pretty low-key week.
On Tuesday friends of ours brought us dinner from SupperWorks. We are so blessed with the friends and family we have. After a short visit we went over to Nana’s house. Nana just needed some cuddles so again we went for a short visit.
On Wednesday we took our first out of town trip. Sue needed to go to Queens and so while we were there got to visit with friends. We were given some beautiful gifts, which we will treasure forever.
All these adventures lead us to today, Black Friday. All day Thursday Leon’s had advertisements for a Sofa for $177. We struggled with it because we are in need of a new one but didn’t really have the money. The couch we have right now is easily 15 years old and has been through many houses, roommates, spills, etc.…
I took the plunge, I got up at 4am, arrived at Leon’s at 4:20am and there wasn’t a soul there. It wasn’t until 6am that someone other than myself showed up. We got in line and by 6:30am the line was half way down the building. By 7am when the doors open there must have been 100 people in line. All that to say, I was #1 and I got my new sofa. I can’t wait until next Wednesday when they deliver it.

Now I am exhausted and running on coffee, blogging when I should be napping and loving every minute of it.

During this whole experience we have kept one constant… One visit a day. As Sue and I deal with, and adapt to being new parents we found that having one visit a day is pretty much all we can handle. As we become more comfortable with our new responsibilities that will change, but during the first few weeks this has helped keep us sane.

Today was a fun day. I found my tripod and camera and Eve and I had a photo shoot. I love my IPhone and IPad but nothing can compare to a true camera and the resolution you get from them. I had fun trying to make her laugh and draw out her expressions.

After I got finished with the photos I thought about all the adventures I was having and the feelings and experiences and I thought to myself, I think it’s time to fire back up the blog. I have so much to share and so much to learn and well… Maybe something I learn could help someone else down the road. Now I feel like a Doogie Howser and every day am writing down how the day went. Most will be pretty bland and uneventful but for me they are a constant adventure.

We were blessed yet again to have my brother and his wife come over and meet the baby and cook us dinner. They are vegetarians and to be honest am always really shocked how much I love the food they cook, even if there is no meat involved. The made us fajitas, brought sparkling wine and the most divine chocolate cheesecake I think I’ve ever had.

I am truly blessed to have amazing family and friends!

Today was great! My sister came to visit for the day and helped out with the baby and kept Sue company. This meant that I could hit some of the boxes and continue to unpack.

Laura was a godsend. I was able to get our refrigerator build (which has been in pieces since the move), organize my DJ equipment and do a lot of unpacking. It’s amazing what you can do when you have an extra pair of hands around the house from time to time.

We were also very blessed to have Nana show up and have Laura make us dinner. We were feeling very spoiled. To be honest, I didn’t know that my sister could cook yet she brought over everything she needed, made a wonderful spaghetti sauce from scratch and used spaghetti squash in place of pasta. Wow! It was an awesome dinner. Afterward we sat and chatted before calling it a night.

We have a great family!

Today is an exciting day. Today we are going to the doctors to get our check up, well, not my check up but Eve’s. We have been blessed to have found a pediatrician who was willing to take us on. I realize that you don’t “need” one but when given the opportunity to use our family doctor and be referred whenever needed or to just have one, well… I’ll take the pediatrician and skip the referral step.

Eve checked out great! She is happy and healthy and that is all a father could ask for.

It’s time to head over to Grand-mère’s place and introduce Eve to her Great uncle and aunt from Calgary.

Once again we had a great visit and it was time to go home and rest. This was our first time out and about since being home from the hospital and it was surprising how much it took out of us.

The rest of our day was spent together as a family, at home. As I sat and looked at my daughter, I said to Sue “Life will never be the same”. It was at that moment that I realized what we had made together. We brought a life into this world, and she was my responsibility. I need to feed her, cloth her, help mold her and most importantly, protect her. The realization was SO strong I can’t even really quantify it.

As I stand over her crib and watch her sleep I am filled with so many emotions and I am so excited to get to know her as she grows and as I learn to be the father I’m called to be.

The day started off like every other day. I got up around 6am and relieved Sue from her nightly duties. When I went into the babies room I found her out cold on the couch and when I tried to wake her up she didn’t even move. So I grabbed Eve and headed downstairs.

As we started our morning rituals of making coffee, having a bagel and settling her down I was filled in anxiety. I wanted to take her to mass this morning but hadn’t left the house alone with her to this point. The questions raced through my mind… What if she fussed too much and I couldn’t calm her? What if she ate but didn’t get enough and mom wasn’t there with us? What if, what if, what if… To this point in her 8 days of living Sue and I have been a team and we have been there for each other.

As the time clicked closer Eve decided to have a small freak out and I ended up giving her ½ the bottle I was going to give her for lunch. NOT GOOD. Sue had only pumped so much, but it would have to do.

We headed off to St. Mary’s, my home away from home. I walked in nervous (unsure why), excited (to show off my daughter) and so very proud. I was greeted by smiles and love from so many friends and parish family members. My only worry now was that she was supposed to feed at noon and well, if you know St. Mary’s, our masses are never that fast.

Noon came and went and she was an angel, even as we went up to receive communion and a blessing she was perfect. Afterward I was able to introduce her around to friends and she still slept. Praise God!

After mass we headed over to my sister’s place and had an opportunity to introduce her to her Uncles and cousins. We had a great afternoon visiting. I got to experience the first of, I’m sure many, explosive poops (right up the back) and my sister taught me how to use the bottle I was feeding Eve with. Geessh!

After we got home and settled we had another great surprise as Sue’s cousin came by and we had a fun night with pizza, football and good company.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Friday November 7th started like every other day. The alarm clock went off at 5:45am and got up and went into work. It was the last day of work until Monday December 22nd. We had just moved into a new house the week before and the place needed a lot of work to get everything organized.

That evening we were invited to a friend’s home for dinner and after cancelling or not being able to take them up on their last invitations we made a point to be there. Little did I know but Eve (my daughter) had started the process of being born.

As we sat and enjoyed dinner and the company of friends I didn’t realize that she would get quiet for a second or two and then our hosts asked, “Are you having contractions?” Susanne quickly said, “Yes they started at 6pm”.

We left dinner and got home around 10pm that evening. I decided to go to bed and Susanne stayed up to watch some TV. At 11pm she came into the bedroom, waking me up said, “My contractions are 4 minutes a part”. In my hazy state I asked if we needed to go to the hospital, and I was quickly told no. I rolled over and told her I was going back to sleep.

I tell that bit of information knowing how it looks and yes, I was a complete ASS. I don’t think… No, I didn’t know what all that meant and 30 minutes later when Susanne busted into the bedroom, said “WAKE UP!” my water just broke we are going to the hospital it really clicked.
We arrived at the hospital just before midnight…