My Life Now

So my lack of blog entry since November is really indicative of my life now: I only have time for the essentials these days. As a matter of fact, very little of my life has stayed the same since Oscar was born. I've been rockin' the wet pony tail/braid on the daily, stepping on pointy wooden blocks almost hourly, multitasking like a fiend, running around like a maniac, and yet I wouldn't change a single thing. Every new discovery, every giggle, every loving glance, every adventure is worth it.

 Well, in reflecting on my life now, I also wanted to reflect on a question that has been asked of me a lot lately: "Do you even remember what it's like to not have a child?" I mention this qeustion not to scold those who've asked, but rather to give my candid thoughts which maybe aren't brief enough to share in passing. First off I think that's sort of a dumb question - of course I remember. Oscar has been around for about 2% of my lifespan - mind you, it's been the best 2% of my lifespan, but still... When it's asked of me, I feel obliged to say, "No, of course not!" because that's what good parents say, right? The truth is I don't forget how nice it is to run into Target for a few items without buckling and unbuckling, carrying a 25lb baby and having him grab at everything in sight, and then stopping in an oh-so-clean public restroom for a diaper change. I don't forget the luxury of using a hair dryer. I can't forget how nice it was when Alex and I could sit down and eat at the same time. I think what this question really aims to highlight is a change in perspective. It's not bad that I remember the luxuries of pre-baby life. As a matter of fact, I think having that perspective makes life much sweeter now. Running into the grocery store has now become an outing - an adventure. Who cares if it takes a little longer - it's free entertainment for Oscar (he loves people watching), and I'm accomplishing something while we're at it. Who cares if I go to work with my hair wet most days? I end up getting a little more sleep in exchange and on the rare occasion I do get to do my hair, it's a treat. Eating a meal doesn't need to be a big production every night - but when we do get a chance to have a meal together, the conversations are more meaningful and we're more appreciative of the time. So, all in all, I think that although being a mom is an incredibly humbling lifestyle, the reward is a shift of priorities and a heart that puts people first. I'm thankful everyday for my crazy life and for my wild and wonderful family.

Notice the side braid - my specialty these days :-)

So in the spirit of our growing boy (and the length of this blog entry), here are few snippets of how Oscar is changing and who he is becoming:

Hey, look! Another side braid!

• He has been cruising along the walls and furniture for well over a month. He'll crawl occasionally but is waaaayyy more interested in walking. I have no doubt that he'll be walking within the month - hopefully not while I'm in Nebraska for a week *fingers crossed*
• He has teeth - three of them (two bottom center) and one upper left. He didn't follow the so-called "normal" pattern as he got his lateral incisor before getting the central ones (the teeth next to the top middle). When he smiles really big he looks like a jack o' lantern. It's adorable. 
• He loves giving kisses. He thinks they're funny. It's adorable. 
• He thinks his dad is the funniest person alive. Sometimes he cracks up just looking at a picture of Alex. I tend to agree.
• He's super independent. He wants to feed himself, walk by himself, he even resists getting dressed because he wants to contribute. But the good news is that he still finds moments when he wants to snuggle with mama.
• He loves big kids. I think he has Beckett-syndrome where he actually thinks he is a big kid. 
•  He is very patient with my amateur photo sessions.
• He is more loved than he can ever imagine.

  

  Amateur photo sesh - work it!

  
  
  Who knows when my next blog entry will happen - I'll aim for a few more this summer while he's napping but no promises! :-)

The Time Has Come...

 I cannot believe that ten weeks have flown by and here I am going back to work on Monday! “Mixed” does not begin to describe what I am feeling. Although being Oscar’s beckon call girl 24/7 can be tiring, there really is nothing in the world I’d rather be doing. Alex asks, “Hey, do you want to go see a movie?” I reply, “No way,” I’d much rather stay home bopping him on the nose and watching that gummy smile for hours.

In some ways, I’m really lucky. Many women cannot take ten weeks for either financial or work related reasons. Don’t get me wrong; I am BLESSED to have had this time. I am also blessed to know that family members will watch Oscar until January so I know he will be with people who love him dearly. I was also extremely lucky to have had a tremendous sub who will now be working in my building so I can seek her out if need be. Teaching is the best job to go back to because I find worth in what I do and I love working with young people. Alex and I are also lucky to have developed somewhat of a routine so I should be getting decent sleep during work weeks. Really, I am counting my blessings but…

It’s just hard to not dwell on the tough stuff. Oscar is now getting to be at such a fun age where he enjoys playtime, he knows who we are, and that giggle?! It makes me melt every time. I sort of wish that he could have been at daycare for the first few weeks when he didn’t know or care who I was; he just wanted to eat and sleep. Now, someone else will get to spend this precious time with him and it breaks my heart. I have to keep reminding myself “you ‘ll still see him everyday” and “teachers get a lot of breaks during the year” but I know that it will not be the same. I also feel like I know him and his needs so well now and we’re at the point where he doesn’t cry that much or for long periods of time. I worry that when other people watch him they won’t be able to sooth him as quickly and I just imagine him crying all day.  On top of everything, I worry that I’ll be so preoccupied with him that my teaching will suffer. My students deserve an attentive and devoted teacher but so does my son. Can I do both? Women have been doing it for ages but am I strong enough?

And school. Don’t even get me started. I feel like the new kid jumping into the school year. Walking through the hallways, I’ll have no idea which students are mine. How do I get to know their names so quickly? What get-to-know-you games will be enjoyable for a group of 11^th graders who ALREADY know each other? What if I’m rusty from not teaching for so many months? Will they want the sub back? Will I have enough time to pump and, God forbid, what if I start leaking during class?! What if I’m really emotional those first days back and cry in front of my students? “Who’s this new lady and why is she weeping?”

My mind races and so I thought by writing all of my worries down, I might feel a sense of relief. Nope. More worries have popped into my head while writing this. I need to trust that God will get us through this; worrying doesn’t help the situation and I want my last few days off of work to be a pleasant time with Oscar.

Wish me luck this week. I’m going to need it.

The One Month Marker

Whew! A little over a month has gone by since our dear little Oscar made his entrance into the world. No doubt our lives have changes dramatically in that short time but we are thankfully everyday to have him in our lives.

 Now that the pregnancy portion of our journey is through, I didn’t know which direction to go with this blog. Although my life is filled with the repetitive sleep, eat, poop/pee, play (sort of) schedule, I have so much to talk about! Well, in hopes of not inundating my blog (or readers) with too much information, I’ve decided to start this next chapter of my mommy blog by summarizing the first month.

As forewarned to us, the first two weeks were pretty much chaos, controlled chaos that is. Just like any infant, Oscar had no concept of day or night and seemed to be insatiably hungry all the time. Although we were able to get nursing down pretty quickly, his cluster feeding sometimes had him eating every hour – yikes! On top of this, Oscar left the hospital with borderline bilirubin levels (aka jaundice). His levels were such that he was safe to be home with us but the pediatrician order labs almost every day for a week to monitor. After a few days, his levels were not going down so he had to wear a Billi-blanket (see picture below). 

 The Billi-blanket is light therapy that is supposed to help flush the bilirubin out of his system. He wore it 24/7 for two days. This treatment was helpful and did help with his levels but having to keep our baby plugged-in was awkward and uncomfortable. As of last week his levels have gone down to a safe enough point (hooray!) that we don’t have to keep going in for lab work, which makes me happy not only for his health but because I hate lugging him to the doctor everyday and having him get poked by a needle. It’s enough to make any mama want to cry!

This week we are attempting to get him on a schedule. I know that this is a daunting task that may fail miserably, but it’s definitely worth a try. Yesterday and today have been successful so I’m optimistic. The schedule works on a three-hour cycle: nap for 1.5 hours, wake, change, feed, stay alert for 1.5 hours. The cycle continues up until three hours before bed. Then we keep him awake for those three hours so he’ll sleep longer at night. Last night he slept for 6.5 hours! What a difference. The beauty of the schedule is that it does allow for flexibility. If he doesn’t go to sleep at exactly the right time, I start the clock when he finally does. Or if I need him to sleep a little longer because I need to shower or something, I can. Wish us luck with this :-)

I’ll end this blog with a few pictures as well as a few documented developmental items.

 At one month: turning head from side to side, lifting head and chest for short periods, following faces and objects with eyes, small glimpses of a social smile, recognizing our voices and faces, and lastly (and sadly) the development of tears. 

 Current nicknames: Monsieur Fussy (when cranky), Munchy Boy (when hungry), Bumpkin (when cute - aka always), Fussykins (when fussy), Happykins (when happy), Gruntersons (when he's gassy), and Oskie Boy (at random). Whatever we call him, we  just can't get enough of him!

What's in a Name?

Now that Oscar is a week old and the long-awaited secret is out, I wanted to write something about our process in choosing a name.

Customized M&Ms for the name reveal.

 Even before we were pregnant, Alex and I discussed what we'd want our future children to be named. We both hoped for something unique, especially given our common last name, and we also wanted something with meaning. I've always been a firm believer that the middle name is a great opportunity to honor a family member and so we decided that if we were to have a girl, her middle name would be Anne (just like my mom and me) and if we were to have a boy, his middle name would be Kenneth (after Alex's father). Alex has always had a special bond with his dad and we thought that this was a great way to honor him and the rest of his family.

Well, when we found out we were having a boy our next quest was to find a first name that sounded good with Kenneth. We didn't keep the middle name a secret but we definitely wanted one good surprise for delivery day. Right away Alex and I sought out names with literary significance, specifically theatrical names as that encompasses both of our interests. For goodness sakes, our dog's name is Beckett! We contemplated names such as Will (after William Shakespeare) and even Garrick (after David Garrick). Either the names were too out there or too common; after all, what child is going to want to answer to, "Come here, Bertolt!" at the playground? After wracking our brains a bit, we had an epiphany: what about Oscar after Oscar Wilde?

Oscar Wilde's tombstone

Alex at the grave site.

We had visited his grave site in Paris last summer on our belated honeymoon and both of us were inspired by his iconic embodiment of individualism. He was definitely a playwright and person who marched to the beat of his own drum, a characteristic we dearly hope for in our children. It didn't hurt that the name Oscar also resonates the Academy Awards - another interest for us both (more so an obsession with Alex). Lastly, and this realization didn't come until well after we had decided upon the name, Oscar was the name of my great-grandfather who had immigrated from Norway. He was a small business owner and made his way on meager means.

With all of these reasons in mind, we began calling him by his name and continued to do so from week 20 on. Both of us struggled to not name drop in front of anyone else and Alex even slipped up once in front of his Dad, but thankfully it was quiet enough that he didn't hear it. We know that because the name isn't very common, some people may not like it. We've even heard people ask if we got the name from Sesame Street's Oscar the Grouch but we don't really care. We love his name and what it means to us. I cannot wait to share this story with him when he's old enough and I hope that he appreciates a name that is as uniquely wonderful as he is!

Our Birth Story: a Novelette

Oscar Kenneth Carlson

               Before proceeding with this post, I’d like to give a word of caution. First of all, it’s lonnnnnggg. Labor and delivery was a long process and in order to capture all of it, I spared no detail. That being said, this entry was really my way of recording that day for our family so that in the future we can reminisce over every moment. I am more than happy to share this story with my blog readers as the miracle of birth is a God-given gift and I’d be a fool to keep it to myself. There are a few details that aren’t so pleasant but this is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – so, here goes:

Once we reached 37 weeks, or full term, we were both quite anxious to meet our little guy. With our baby to-do list almost complete, that anxiousness increased with idle time. Most of our family and friends had guessed that he would be born in September, as his due date suggested, and some even guessed that he’d be late. It might have just been my sheer anticipation, but I was bound and determined to have him early. Our labor class instructor informed us that it is very common for women who work up until their due dates to deliver late. In her experience, women who take time off before their due dates have a higher likelihood of early delivery as their relaxation allows their bodies to go into labor. Well, when I passed my mucus plug at exactly 38 weeks, I was even surer that this baby was coming soon! What to Expect suggested that the mucus plug is not a clear indicator of when labor will begin because many women wait one to two weeks past that point to deliver. Regardless of what the books said, Alex and I readied ourselves and paid close attention to any changes in my body.

            One day passed. 1:30am on Wednesday, August 22^nd I began feeling uncomfortable cramping that I first misread as gas pains. After several trips to the bathroom I realized that these pains weren’t going away and that they were fairly regular. I woke Alex up at about 2:30am and asked him to time what I believed were early labor contractions. Sure enough, they were about ten minutes apart and had been regular for over an hour. We were going to have our baby today! These contractions were quite manageable and I even remember saying to Alex, “If this is what labor’s like, it’s gonna be a piece of cake!” Oddly enough, we had a prescheduled appointment with our midwife that morning but hoped that labor would progress by then. By the time our appointment slot rolled around, my contractions had become very patchy and irregular. 10 minutes apart. 7 minutes apart. 15 minutes apart. 5 minutes apart. 25 minutes apart. Was this false labor? Was I just exaggerating the situation out of hopefulness? We described our evening of excitement to our midwife and she checked my cervix to see if there was any progress. 3 ½ cm dilated – I was at 0 cm the week prior. Feeling a bit more optimistic but still lacking any regularity of contractions, we went to our last elective ultrasound. Our midwife had suggested we monitor his growth as the last ultrasound suggested he might reach 9 or 10lbs. All appeared healthy and the technician predicted that his current weight was between 6.5 and 7lbs.

            By this time, it was 9:30am but after our long night, we were both starving. We ate “lunch” and then went home to catch a quick nap. If labor was going to come that day, we’d both need at least a little rest to make it through. Eventually, the contractions started up again but remained irregular. One minute I would be very uncomfortable and the next it felt simply like a menstrual cramp. We were in touch with the Baby Line but they instructed that active labor does not begin until the contractions were consistently 5 minutes apart for about an hour. To kill time, I indulged in my last odd pregnancy craving: watching Ferngully: the Last Rainforest.  

            At about 1:00pm, I was getting frustrated. Was he on his way or wasn’t he? At this point, I didn’t care how painful the contractions may be; I wanted them to come! In my disgruntled state, I asked Alex to call the Baby Line again to see if there was something we could do to help things along. As he chatted with the nurse, I felt a sudden thud inside of me, almost like a blunt kick from Baby, and then there was a great gush of fluid. My water had broken; there was no doubt about it. I hollered to Alex to let the nurse know and he said that the hospital would have a bed waiting for me.

            The drive to the hospital was pretty calm. Our car was already packed from the morning’s excitement so there was very little to do besides get in the car. We took our time and the contractions were still relatively mellow. I was a little embarrassed that I was still leaking through my freshly changed clothes but if that meant my boy was on his way, I didn’t care. When we got there, a nurse at Labor and Delivery asked us, “What brings you in today?” I looked at her dumbly…why else would someone come to Labor and Delivery?! We want to have our baby! We skipped triage as they could see I was pretty soggy and uncomfortable.

            When we reached our room, we reviewed our birth preferences with the staff, checked my vitals, and hooked me up to the monitor. Everything looked great so I was definitely still an ideal candidate for a water birth. The only downside was that I was only 4 ½ cm dilated. Our midwife, Ann, suggested that I start labor in the bathtub to see if I liked the water before they went to the trouble of brining in and filling the birthing tub. Alex and I made our way to the bathroom and began active labor. With the musical stylings of Stephen Sondheim in the background and the soothing warmth of the water, I was feeling pretty good. Alex and I had a routine down – when a contraction began, I would nod my head and he would pour warm bath water over my belly. It was amazing to see how much his touch and the water soothed my pain.

            My contractions definitely picked up quickly once we went to the tub. I was worried about the baby’s positioning as my back ached terribly. Alex massaged me through each and every contraction even as I squirmed and writhed in pain. Standing. Sitting. Hanging off the birthing bar. Squatting. I worked every inch of that bathtub.  The contractions were now one on top of another and I was getting extremely tired. I felt my body quake with pain and I even vomited twice; my body knew no other way to handle the intensity of the contractions. No matter what Alex or I did, the pain was becoming unbearable, even for a person with high pain tolerance like me. At this point, I asked the nurse, “How much longer before I can deliver?” I was desperate to hear a note of optimism from her. She avoided a straight answer by saying that, “every delivery is different.” I wanted something concrete. I asked her to give an average to which she responded, “Most women dilate a centimeter every 1-2 hours.” I could not believe this! I had only been in the tub for about two and half hours, which put me a little over half way to 10cm at best with that estimation. I looked Alex square in the eyes and said something I never thought that I would, “I don’t think I can do this.” The natural way that is. I was exhausted and in excruciating pain. Drugs were not even on my radar but neither was this extent of pain. I knew that if I went through with medical intervention I would be disappointed in myself, but in that low of lows nothing else seemed possible. Thankfully, Alex coolly asked me to really think about this. Was this what I wanted, for me and for the baby? He suggested that we ask our midwife to check my cervix the next time she stopped by our room. I agreed that this was a good idea; the progress, or lack thereof, would help me make this decision.

            Oddly enough, before the midwife returned, we were asked if another medical personnel, from the emergency department, could assist in the labor and delivery process.  We agreed, and just as she entered our room I heard, “Oh. I know this couple. I’m not sure this is appropriate.” Alex confirmed that she had indeed attended Morris with us and we had known her from Improv Club. This experience was definitely a shameless one at this point so we invited her back in the room. The last time I saw her, we were goofing off in the Morris rehearsal hall and here she was about to help deliver our baby. Weird. Leave it to Morris alums to show up anywhere and everywhere.

            Anywho, our midwife returned and her quick inspection concluded that I had moved from 4 ½ cm to 9 ½ cm in a little under two hours – a feat that she deemed “quite impressive!” I told her that I had a moment of weakness in which I considered medical intervention but with this rapid progress, my decision was made for me. This baby was coming faster than I knew and we were past the point where drugs would make a difference. My contractions were overwhelming. I couldn’t speak, think, or move. They asked me if I’d like to get into the birthing tub now but every movement was just excruciating and so we opted for a land birth. The next part of this experience really surprised me; my body began involuntarily pushing. I asked if this was okay because I had little control. The midwife said that my body knew what it was doing and that I should follow its cues. With that, I began the pushing stage. I could feel myself make progress so much so that the midwife had to tell me to slow down. “You are really strong!” she said in response to my fast pushing. I followed her instruction and after a short 20 minute pushing session, our baby boy was brought into this world! Although the rest of the room was in awe of how quickly delivery went, I couldn’t keep my eyes and hands off of our sweet little boy who was now quietly snuggled up on my chest. 

            Everything after that is pretty much a blur as both of us were completely intoxicated by his presence. I do remember that Alex was thrilled to cut the umbilical cord and that I delivered the placenta with ease. I was surprised at how large it was; it looked like I had lost an organ or something. We held our 8lb 2oz boy for the next hour and a half as I received the only drugs from this whole ordeal: a local anesthetic for the two stitches I would receive for minimal tearing. 

            We will remember this day forever for so many reasons. Becoming a mother was more than I could have hoped for and we were truly blessed not only with an amazing birthing experience but also the most precious reward of life. Thank you, God for entrusting us with your sweet little Oscar and we will do our best to raise him to be man of integrity and love.

Crafting for Cash Money Carlson

Update: my due date is thirty days from today - crazy! I'm not sure if it's that countdown or the early due dates shared with me from seasoned mamas, but our little one's arrival seems more and more real each and every day. As much as I cannot wait to meet him, he still has another week before he's considered full term so I'd like to at least wait that long.

With this excitement and anticipation has come a craftier side of Katie. This new-found motivation could be a product of my nesting phase, or it could be a preview of what motherhood will look like for me. Either way, I'm enjoying the adventure and learning a lot along the way.

The first project I decided to take on was upholstery. After searching far and wide, Alex and I finally found a glider that suited our nursery needs. We wanted something that was super comfy and we hoped to avoid the traditional wooden glider look. Of all places, we ordered our chair from Walmart.com but there was one problem; there was no matching ottoman. Thankfully, we had an ottoman at home that was rarely used, so we just decided to re-purpose it with a little paint and some upholstery fabric. The paint we already had and I picked up some great navy fabric for under ten dollars. The product?

Close-up of Re-Purposed Ottoman

Chair w/ Ottoman

The next project was nursery art. The bright colors and striped wall of the nursery provide a busy background, so we wanted something simple and cheap to don Baby Carlson's walls. Being that Alex and I are both fans of literature, we decided to take a creative spin on some of our favorite quotations. After we selected the quotations, we prettied them up in Photoshop and printed all three for under $3. Add in cheap white Ikea frames and the project total was $12. The product?

Finish Framed Product

The last craft is an on-going sewing project. In our infant care class, our instructor spoke in great detail about safe sleeping habits for baby. She discouraged blankets and swaddling for sleeping as they inhibit active sleep patterns and pose a suffocation risk. Instead, she encouraged something called a sleep sack. A sleep sack is basically a wearable sleeping bag that will keep baby warm without the above mentioned risks. They retail anywhere from $20-$35 a piece at Babies R US. Although I am not the most avid of seamstresses, the pattern seemed easy enough so I decided, with the help of my awesome mother-in-law, to make my own. I purchased a pre-made sleep sack at a local consignment store for $6 to use as a pattern and then I purchased enough fleece from JoAnn Fabrics to make five more. After purchasing zippers, the total cost of the project was $35 - that's a little under $6 a piece! Hooray for saving money!

Sample Sleep Sack

Fleece Assortment

There was one more craft that I wanted to complete but I sort of gave up on it. On Pinterest, I saw this cute idea to make your own hospital gown. The woman who did it wanted something that would be a little more glamorous, better fitting, more comfortable, and something that she could take home with her. She also remarked that the contrasting colors in the pattern were more interesting for her baby to look at and focus on than the typical solid scrubs. Although her final product was super adorable, the pattern looked too complex for me so I caved and bought one at a cute maternity shoppe my sister brought me to. Not only did I find one that matches our nursery motif, but it has great snaps on either side for ease of nursing, AND I even found a matching infant cap. Momma always taught me that coordinating is important!

Pinterest Example

Gown and Matching Cap

I can't wait to meet you, little one and I'm even more excited for all the crafts, projects, and activities that we can do TOGETHER!

Parenting Homework

34 weeks...only six weeks left! Ahhhh! As much as that might seem like a good chunk of time, my recurring nightmares keep hinting that Baby Carlson is planning to make his premiere early. Beside the fact that we don't have a crib yet (in the above mentioned nightmares, he sleeps in a cardboard box), so much is really coming together. We have stocked up on many of the essentials, we have started planning/packing our hospital bags, and we have completed/are currently completing a bit of parenting instruction.

After doing some poking around, Alex and I decided to work our way through a parenting book to help give us confidence and know-how once Baby arrives. We landed upon The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp and I'm currently over half way through it. 

The text itself is a pretty quick read and Karp attempts to spice up the material with personal anecdotes and various excerpts from other well-known works (both literary and medical). However, at its core, the book is really a how-to manual for parents of young children. Karp has uncovered something that he coined the "calming reflex" and debunks myths about colic and various soothing techniques. It's hard to tell if his suggestions are legitimate as we don't have a crying infant to try his tactics out on, but his logic appears sound and the book is well-supported by parents and pediatricians alike. One of the more interesting bits of his studies surrounds the presence of colic in the Western World, whereas many other cultures don't experience colic or extended periods of crying at all. Long story short, Karp claims that the long-believed theory of gastrointestinal problems cannot be the sole culprit and he claims that his soothing technique will calm any crying child. Without having finished the book, I would still reccommend it to expecting first-time parents but also to seasoned parents, as it pokes a few holes in some well-known parenting practices.

Another parenting venture we have embarked on are our parenting and labor classes. We've only had one session of our parenting class (the second session is tomorrow) but so far we've learned a good deal and I look forward to the next session. One of the major bits of knowledge we took home was about crib bumpers. We picked ours out at Babies R US based on the display and didn't think much about it after that. Much to our surprise, our infant instructor informed us that crib bumpers are major culprits when it comes to SIDS and that they should no longer be used by anyone. The same logic applies to all blankets, stuffed animals and any other plush items within a crib. Even the mesh models pose a risk. As a matter of fact, the sale of crib bumpers has been banned in many major cities. This was news to us, and seeing that every crib display in the store had one, we were pretty shocked. After further questioning, our instructor explained that as much as crib bumpers may prevent potential bumping and bruising caused by kicking the wooden rails, the risk of infant suffocation is much higher and possibly fatal. Needless to say, we returned ours ASAP. As much as it was pretty darling, we care more about our little darling than the aesthetics of our nursery. So, for you current/future parents out there: bumpers beware! 

On a lighter note, we also learned about the six states of infant consciousness, what they look like, what purpose they serve, and what parents should do while their child is in each state.  Here are our notes on each state:

Our instructor ended our last session with a bit of parenting homework. We were tasked with compiling a list of six traits that make a "good enough" parent. She didn't elaborate much on what "good enough" really means but we read into it as sufficient, okay, not bad. Here, in no particular order, is our list:


Six Essentials to Being a "Good Enough" Parent
1) safety
2) food
3) clothing
4) shelter
5) attention
6) love? (the question mark was my doing as I see love as a "great" characteristic, but Alex phrased it well when he said, "If a parent doesn't love their kid, then they're a bad parent." - good enough, I guess)

Call us over-achievers, but we weren't satisfied with simply being "good enough," so we decided to take our homework one step further. What are six essentials to being a GREAT parent? This is what we came up with (again, in no particular order):


Six Essentials to Being a GREAT Parent
1) patience
2) playfulness
3) enthusiasm/energy
4) willingness to teach/learn
5) open-mindedness
6) teamwork

Regardless of the books we read, the classes we take, and even the advice of others, nothing can truly prepare us for what this wonderful world of parenting will entail. I guess this quote really says it best:

The trouble with learning to parent on the job is that your child is the teacher.  
~Robert Brault

Teach on, Baby C, teach on.