Capitans Log (A log book of new parents)

[Fayde]

Capitans log; stardate: 121410.6,

Lucy is doing well. Last night she went to sleep around 1245am or so, and didn't wake up till around 230am, BUT she of course didn't really go back to sleep until around 7am (she slept on and off for half an hour or so, JUST enough for Meli and I to finally get back to sleep). She's been nursing really good, and getting lots to eat. The question that perplexes me however, is how can a being with a stomach the size of a ping-pong ball eat SO MUCH!? It's not frustrating, as we were prepared for this, and we're coping with it well, but man! Seriously. I couldn't eat as much as she does, and her whole body could likely fit inside MY stomach. Amazing, lol.
She is defiantly a night person thus far though. She nurses like crazy when we are ready for bed, and when the sun comes up, she starts getting sleepy. ^^; Nurses said that is pretty normal though.

She's peeing a lot, but not passing stool as much as everyone said she should, but the nurses are not worried, as it is still early enough for her to only have a bowel movement a day, and still be perfectly healthy. Now that Nursing has become more often, in the next day or two, she should be having a few stools a day then.

She is very wide eyed and alert when she isn't sleeping or eating. She can hold her head up pretty good for her age. She makes really cute little noises a lot, between grunts and coos.
Her skin is pretty dry still, as is normal for most over-due babies, but we have some creams that help.

As parents, I don't feel much different as far as "who I am". While the world has turn up-side-down, I still feel like myself. Not sure if I personally have "coped" with the idea that she is not some pet, or something we "got". Of course, I KNOW this, but as the person who didn't labor for 9 months, and as the person who didn't go through hell in order to push her out, it's a bit surreal. Here I have a child, a daughter. Who knew? I am still 16 years old, lol!
Anyway, so far, the world didn't stop for me, and suddenly go "wow, this is the meaning of life!". That may change, but it didn't happen the way most people said it would. In a non-literal way, my "meaning" of life did change, but rather than shift from what it used to be, it just added onto it's self. Before, I had the Lord and Melissa. Now, I have the Lord, Melissa, and Lucy. Maybe I mis-understood what everyone was saying, but it's not a bad thing.
Honestly, what has REALLY changed is the view I have of Melissa. I mean, I loved her before, unconditionally, totally. But my respect, admiration and love for her has increased 100 fold. She has gone through a huge amount of pain, suffering and joy, all at the same time. In labor, as a red-head, I was totally prepared to get my head ripped off, hair pulled out, and cussed out (not that she cusses). Not because that is who she is, but because of how others told me about their own experiences, as well as her being a red-head. ^^;; But no. In all the pain, frustration, and long suffering, she was tender, understanding and communicative to me. She never raised her voice to me, nor snapped at me. Even afterward, she was in so much pain she couldn't move, but still she laughed, smiled, and spoke calmly. This, of course, is one of the reasons for my above statement.
Another is that she made a really natural mother. She was instantly a better mother than I ever thought she could be (and trust me, I had very high expectations and understanding of who she is). Those assumptions were shattered, and she is more awesome than I could explain. ^_^
She insists on letting me sleep every other nursing she has to do through the night so I can have enough sleep, while only getting a few hours of sleep herself. And even through no sleep, she's still wonderful.

Melissa is healing quick to a point, but she is still really sore, and coping with everything. She can't really do much activity without being in pain a few minutes later. I'm helping her, making her food, and keeping her as rested as she can be. We are both doing well as far as the lack of sleep (mostly on Meli's part), and enjoying every moment that is thrown our way. I feel that we are both really calm, no matter how fussy (though I am sure that will pass after we have to deal with it for long periods of time).

That is all for now. I will post some more later. ^^

[itsallgood]

Oh Josh, I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of you. You are a natural born father, and she is a natural born mother and Lucy is the luckiest baby alive. There are no words to express how I feel right now after realding so much pure love. You are an amazing man. I love you so much. Thank you for being my son.

[Fayde]

Captain's log supplemental, stardate: 121510.2,

Guess what I am doing up at 353am? Absolutely nothing!
Probably one of the hardest things about this whole "wake up every two hours in the middle of the night" thing is that I can't do anything. Meli is the only one who can feed Lucy, and it sucks. The benefits are awesome for nursing, but I hate sitting around "relaxing" while Meli looses sleep and has to get up every couple hours. It's not the lack of sleep, it's the fact that I can't give her a day off or a break, or anything. Crying baby? Fine. Fussiness? Bring it. Eating for an hour, sleeping for 15 minutes, eating for another half-hour, sleeping for 15 minutes, eating for another hour, then staying up looking cute for another hour? Awesome. Can't help your wife get a few minutes of shut eye every so often? Crap.
Still, I am taking advantage of the time and we watch some Star Trek when she's nursing. Plus, when school starts up in January, I won't be able to get up with her at all. O.o So I guess it's not all bad.
On the bright side, I am the designated burper, and I do put her to bed and change her more times than not. So I am helping a fair amount I suppose. Anyway, time to hold teh baby!

[cloudclm]

I'm so happy for you guys and i'm glad everything seems to be going great for you. you guys were blessed with a beautiful child. As for you being lucky to live Josh, while Melissa was in labor we'll never know how that happened. Wait i know you both really calm as it is. Now I've never seen Melissa mad but I'm sure it's not that bad. Now if it were common for her to get mad all the time and yell frequently then she might have just ripped your head off in the delivery room. But like i said Melissa is always a nice person in which she was able to comply with all the pain in a calmly manor. My sister was in labor for like 30 or more hours and i think she was just in to much pain and worn out to even think about being mad.
I know it is still really early and you guys probably don't want to think about it but are you guys coming down or is anybody planning on going up to see you guys anytime soon? As for Melissa healing quick thats also awesome but its so important for her to stay hydrated and not lift anything even slightly heavy. People always say stay in bed but thats not the best way to heal because you muscles become we and heal slower that way.
Josh your so mature as it is thats why you don't feel any change in the difference of being a father. Even though many say you grow up it's because those statistics are take from younger people and party animals. you guys are already set and have you minds straight in life which is why you don't have to grow up. Now if i were to have a kid i would need to grow up because i still like to have fun and only think for myself.
You guys are going to be awesome parents and i wish you the best. i also hope to see your baby girl soon before she grows up because if i don't see her till she is 1 or 2 im going to feel old and im way too young to start feeling old.

[Fayde]

Yeah, Meli isn't a very hot-tempered person, but still. The horror stories people told me, I was scared! lol. She did great though.

I guess, it's a bit confusing, cause I am a little boy at heart, but I have the common sense of an adult.. ^^;; But it could make a difference I suppose.

You know, so far anyway, I've still been able to have lots of fun, but just a different kind I suppose. I still do a lot of the things I always have done (so far anyway), just less of it.

Anyway

Capitans log; stardate: 121610.9,

Lucy is doing well.
Until last night, she has been in a very odd sleeping pattern. She would go fine through out the day, but as soon as 230am came (almost like clockwork), she'd wake up, and stay wide awake until around 9am. She would be fine until we put her in bed. She'd fall fast asleep in our arms, and be totally happy after being fed.
The doctor suggested we get her a pacifier for bed time, and keep an eye on her eating habits through out the night. Last night was our first attempt at this, and it went BEAUTIFUL! She slept for about 2 hours, nursed for about 45 minutes, went back to sleep for 2 hours, and repeat! It was SO much better! Now the thing that people always complain about (baby waking up every 2 hours) seems like heaven to Meli and I (mostly Meli though)! We don't use the pacifier through out the day at all, so it's mostly a sleep habit?
Also, we started turning on the light and opening the curtain in the bedroom when she sleeps during the day, and keep it low-lit at night.
Additionally, she hasn't really changed much except for how cute she is. She's still eating, pooping, and sleeping, then repeat. Every so often, we're graced with her eyes being open for 15+ minutes at a time, which is awesome.
Lastly, all of the nurses at the doctors office were whispering about how cute Lucy's name was. It made me feel pretty proud and happy about her name. While I am still getting used to the fact that she exists at all, her name is really starting to catch on with me. Lucy feels so much more natural than it did when she hadn't been born yet.

[Fayde]

Captains log; stardate 122010.9,

So far so good. Lucy is very healthy, alert and sleeping pretty soundly (mostly). Last night, she kept Meli up pretty much all night due to being pretty hungry. Apparently, every week or two for a while, she will be more spend an entire day eating a lot more than normal. This is apparently to keep food production on high alert.
Lucy's skin has gotten less dry, not only due to her age, but Meli and plaster her in creams to help keep her skin healthy. Also, her "stump" (umbilical cord) is almost off. It's hanging on by a thread. Every time I change her, I worry that I am going to tear it off when I put her diaper on. Gross.
Additionally, Lucy enjoys car rides (as many babies do). Every time, no matter what the situation, she falls to sleep as soon as the car starts. I know this is vibrations, but it's still cute. ^_^

I got to show Lucy off at the store today, as I met 2 people I work with there. Everyone loves her name, and thinks it's the cutest thing ever (Lucy Love).

Meli and I are doing very good. Christmas seems very far away however, as even though we decorated and got our shopping done, AND going to bake tomorrow or the next day, AND sew our own stockings, it still feels a bit off. These past couple months have really screwed us up as far as schedules and routines. Getting the house, moving, unpacking, family coming over for Lucy, HAVING Lucy, and adjusting to this new creature that shares our home has been pretty interesting, and loopy. Fun, but loopy.
Meli is an awesome mother already though. Every day that goes by, I am reminded about how lucky I am to have been brought to her. It makes me think back to how things got this way.
I mean, 10 years ago, if you would have told me I would be married, own my own home, have a job I actually enjoy, AND HAVE A CHILD, I would have told you that you are a few fries short of a happy meal. NO WAY! Not only did I hate the institution of marriage, but a KID? Who want's to be tied down like that??
I met Melissa on complete chance. She was the only "outsider" to the site the group of us went to. No one knew her, she Googled it! Suddenly, I am in this crazy (logically illogical) long distance relationship, and I end up MOVING up here on a complete leap of faith, GOT SAVED, and marry the girl of my dreams!! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!? AWESOME!!! But NOT the Josh I knew.
Lots of interesting emotions going on right now. Lots of sudden spouts of deeply missing my friends and family (mainly the good ol days when TASS used to be good), but at the same time, utter content-ness. Never been happier! Not that I haven't had these feelings before, but they are rearing their heads now when so much else is going on. Drives me mad, lol.

Anyway, Meli is healing well, her stomach has pretty much gone back to it's normal size (she can sleep on her stomach!), and she's still pretty sore, but doing better every day. She is getting a lot better at nursing, and she's amazing with Lucy. Very attentive and loving, with a womanly spirit and motherly tenderness.

Oh, also, there is a good chance our plumbing problem was covered by insurance, and even if it wasn't, it's under 600 dollars, (which is a LOT less than we expected), so it shouldn't be too hard to pay off in a short amount of time. In tax season, we're going to completely rip out the old pipes and put new ones in.

Wow, this was a ramble fest! Anyway, things are going well... I think that's about it.

[Fayde]

Captains Log; stardate: 122701.1

Lucy has lost her "stump", yay! It actually was lost a couple days ago...

Anyway, Christmas was awesome, Lucy got LOTS of activity during this time, as we went to Michelle's house every day for 3 days, all day. She has been pretty cranky because of this, but I think it's done her good, as she got to socialize a bit more. However, Michelle and Micheal are very VERY loud people, as where Meli and I are pretty peaceful, mild-mannered people, so it was a bit of a culture shock.

Lucy had a good first Christmas though, we got her her first Christmas ornament to celebrate. However, because of Lucy (not her personally, but just the fact that we have this huge responsibility suddenly), Christmas seemed like it was kind of put on the back burner for a while, and while the days around Christmas were awesome, the season (the month of December) didn't really feel anything like Christmas at all. Not a bad thing, just a fact.

Anyway, Lucy isn't doing much else different. Still eatting, pooping, sleeping and repeat. he's opening her eyes a bit more everyday, and she is able to lift her head up WAY better than most her age (or at least I've seen). We're going to see the doctor for a 2 week check up on Tuesday, so I will be posting more information about the visit when we get home.

Anyway, Meli got me Civilization 5 for Christmas (among other things, like a huge expansion for the Star Trek CCG). Seriously one of the best games EVER. I've never played any of the Civ games, so I am pretty new to the series, but it's awesome how much history you can really re-write. I am America right now, around the year 0 AD, and already only about 100 years from discovering the actual continent of America, and I ended up building the Pyramids and Stone Henge, while going to war with Greece and allying myself with Indians and Prussia. SWEET GAME. So much fun.

Anyway, I'll post Tuesday about the doctors visit!

[Fayde]

Doctor said she's doing good. Lucy weighs about 8 pounds, 13 ounces, which is a very good amount of weight gain (that means she's healthy). Other from a upset stomach from Meli eating Domino's Pizza, Lucy has been doing great. Meli is really pushing toward her schedule, and Lucy is responding fairly well, but she's still a bit annoying. She'll randomly stay up for 6+ hours straight, demanding that she is hungry every moment she is awake (yet does not actually eat once she's given the chance, outside of her normal 2 hour feeding). She has a pacifier, she gets cuddles, we change her diaper, and she falls asleep on my chest almost instantly... But as soon as she is put to bed, she freaks out at pretends to be hungry again...
At least, due to Meli putting her on a more strict schedule, Lucy is doing it much earlier (around 7 or8 pm through 1am, rather than 1 or 2am through 7 or 8am).

Meli and I are a bit stressed, but she and I are really making efforts to continue to be close. We got a really neat parenting book by one of our favorite writer/pastors John McCarther. It's called "What the Bible says about Parenting". It's actually really neat, and has a lot of insights into what the Bible says, specific and non-specific. And it also has theories on your married life while raising children too. So far, we're only into the first chapter, but it really sets the stage. Very good book thus far.

In other reports, Meli started taking the Christmas stuff down already (partly by my request). We never got a chance to really move in and set things up the way we want, or at least in my opinion. The Christmas tree is literally like, 6 feet wide and takes up about a quarter of the living room. Also, I spent a few hours last night finally working on the garage and cleaning it out. I found a dead mouse!!! YAY!! Looks like the poison worked. Anyway, I have my little work station somewhat set up now, and things are organized into... well, things we need to organize... lol. BUT THERE IS A PATH NOW!! A large path at that!

Anyway, I am off to check on my girls. I'll have Meli post some pictures tomorrow hopefully. ^_^

[Waspman]

Glad to hear everything's going well.
Wish I could see you guys sometime and I hope you guys can get some rest. Can't even imagine how exhausting it must be, especially for Melissa.

[Fayde]

Indeed, I hope you can come up sometime this year and visit. We would own the town. ^^ But yeah, it would be cool if you could see her before she started walking and such, only to get to see that part of her life.
Since school has started, Meli has been getting up and staying up a lot more often during the night, but she is getting "enough" sleep I suppose, it just takes a lot longer. It will take her about 12 hours to get 8 hours of sleep. She's been awesome about it though.

Captains log, stardate: 010411.4

Lucy has been a lot more wide eyed and is awake a bit longer than she used to be. Apparently, Melissa says she has my "weird expressions", as has been captured by the camera. She is also spitting up a lot more than she used to, which is also apparently normal. She is having healthy poops, and growing perfectly, so it isn't a problem. Of course, this means that when I am trying to play SCII, and she throws up on my arm/shirt/lap/herself, it is a bit inconvenient. And since we all know where my priorities lay (SCII), I have to get up, change, change her, clean her, and get ready to get splashed again. ^^;;;

Second, Meli and I are getting back into the swing of things and spending time together talking and planning. The book we've been reading is really awesome, and gives us a lot to talk about (thus far). However, we have not been ignoring each other. See, I feel like many parents (especially new) really treat each other like the baby is more important than their relationship. Now, before I get a beating, let me explain. The childs life is completely in your hands, you need to take care of her, nurture her, feed her, teach her, and so on. The child is extremely important. But, when the child grows up and moves out (which Lucy will be doing on her 18th birthday lol), you are left to spend time with a person whom you neither know, nor spend any time with. What/who will be left when the child moves on? Put all your time/energy/love/devotion into your child, you're going to have no time/energy/love/devotion to allocate anywhere else. Again, that child is going to leave and you're going to be left with nothing.
Meli and I both believe that to take care of Lucy is to take care of each other and keep OUR love for each other on par with Lucy.
The book really points a lot of things out (specifically statistics and divorce rates), which are disturbing. Most Americans who have children get divorced shortly after their children move out or grow old enough to take care of themselves for the most part (13+). So, if the newly-wed couple does not get divorced within the first 2 years of marriage (which is also extremely common), it will most likely happen when their children are grown up. I personally will not let this happen, and neither will Melissa. While in a perfect world everyone thinks that we are "the perfect couple", I am forced to wonder how many others have taken that arrogance, and it later spelled their demise? The "perfect couple" situation leads to laziness and the false assumption that nothing could go wrong. This thinking will ALLOW things to go wrong without dealing with them.
Another thing that I have personally always known somewhere, but never had it pointed out to me, is that love, TRUE love, is NOT an emotion. It is a dedication. Because the emotion is inconsistent, irrational, and whimsical. How many parents love their children, regardless of what they say, do, act and so on? Why do we apply this love to our children and never to our spouses? Now, I am no fool, and DO believe there is a "point of no return", where it is extremely hard for the relationship to be repaired, but to understand this truth before it gets that bad is an awesome feeling. I do not love Melissa only because I am 'in love' with her. I love her because I WANT to love her, and I HAVE to love her, just as a parent WANTS and MUST love their children.
In other news, I am happy to report that I can now hug my wife! No longer is a giant mass of baby getting in the way! ^_____________^ SO AWESOME!

Anyway, I must get going. School started and is going well, I have Biology and English-online, so things are pretty busy. ^^ Talk to you later!

[Fayde]

Captains log, stardate; 011811.1

All is well. Meli is turning into such as awesome mother. She is SO much more patient than I thought she would be. Not that she doesn't already have the patience of a saint (dealing with me all the time lol), but wow. She's very caring, loving and supportive to Lucy. She really helps me out when she can too, and she's very understanding when I have school/work to do, as I can't always be around when I want to.
Lucy has a appointment on Wednesday, and she'll get weighed! She's a fatty mc-fat cakes!!!! She's about ready to grow out of her current diapers (up to 12 pounds), and she is fitting nicely into most 1-3 moth old clothing as well. At just over a month old, she's growing pretty quick, and she's LONG.
Anyway, she's been smiling and talking quite a bit, as you've seen through the pictures. Meli took a video, and we're taking more pictures and will be posting a giant dump of pictures shortly.
Also, school is going pretty good. I get my test back tomorrow and I am a bit nervous. I really don't think I did very good, as a lot of the content sort of surprised me. But I enjoy the class. Biology is absolutely amazing! We're learning about the atomic structure of life, and how atoms come together and create elements. Very neat stuff. Goes to show how "perfect" everything is. My English class is more of a Language class, which is awesome because I really like that kind of stuff. Work play and how people communicate is a very interesting subject. Lucky for me, I really enjoy these subjects, and think about them a lot. Hopefully that will be a good key to study and success in these classes. I am getting a bit annoyed with doing several hours of school a day, plus having a full time job, and a new born baby, and a new house which still needs work.... BAH!!! Interestingly enough, I am currently writing an essay on a personal experience. My experience is going to be how I've yet to "grow up", and how I am a teenage 26 year old. The paper is mostly about how men never grow up and the social aspects of why, but I use myself as an example. ^_^

I must be off to bed!!! Been working on my game for the past hour... WHO NEEDS SLEEP!?