Welp, it happened. Last weekend, my wife gave birth to our second child! I still don’t know how I have two kids, but tell you what, they are the best kids ever (sorry, other parents. Your kids lose that battle.). It’s been a wild week as we’ve been getting ready for him to join our ranks, then actually bringing him here, and then taking care of him. Basically, taking care of this new little guy is just like taking care of our first one.
Except completely different.
For starters, we have an 15-month-old little dude running around and getting into everything! When he was a wee baby, he didn’t get into mischief. So, instead of just letting our newborn rest happily in our arms, we’re constantly running after our firstborn, keeping him from throwing his toys in the trash, or eating who knows what from the floor.
We’re also trying to keep him from hurting our new boy. Just today, Mr. Big Kid chucked my wife’s phone at the newborn’s head. Smacked him right in the face, poor little guy. So that’s certainly been an adventure.
And then there’s the lights. You see, our newborn is a jaundice baby, and it’s pretty high levels of it, too. So, the day we took him home (Sunday), some company was supposed to contact us by 7:00 p.m. (we got home around 2:30 p.m.) and deliver some bilirubin lights to help break up his jaundice. After much frustration, the guy finally showed up at midnight. That’s a long time for the wee one to not be under the lights. But, he came, and now Sir Wee One rests on a bed of blue lights 24/7…at least when he’s not getting a bath or his diaper changed.
It’s so sad. We just want to hold him, but he’s stuck on that bed of lights instead. He’s gone to the hospital every day since he’s been home to get his jaundice checked, but finally they told us yesterday that the levels were dropping. So hopefully we can hold him always soon!
We love our family. I can’t imagine life without any of them (and one of them hasn’t even been with us an entire week!). Having Said Little Guy has made it virtually impossible to get any writing done (until this post right now), but while I do love writing with all my soul, there’s something else I love even more, and that’s my family. They come first, so if I am unable to write or edit or outline because I’m taking care of my wife or kid(s), then that’s okay. In fact, I would be very displeased with myself if I ever spent time at my writing desk when my family needed me.
My wife is already making a huge sacrifice to let me write as much as I do. We don’t get much time together as it is, so I am very grateful that she supports me in my endeavors. She’s a star, and I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today without her.
So there you go. Some exciting news from the Kocher household. Our family is steadily growing, and so is our time spent awake at night. It comes with the territory, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
