Family,
And a good morning to you (at least I think, as days are running together in 3 hour segments at this point, and the bull is quickly wearing down) from the Queen City, where we have GOOD NEWS to report - KAITLYN IS GAINING WEIGHT!!! That's right, sports fans, in a herculean display of intestinal fortitude, our little munchkin has added 3 ounces this week, raising her to 6.25 ounces (higher than he discharge weight). Getting that confirmation yesterday was SUCH good news, as Jenny and I have been going balls to the wall on the hyper-aggressive feeding schedule to get her where she needs to be. Kaitlyn, when you read this, I want it noted that your mother has been SIMPLY AMAZING when it comes to tending to you. Your father has faded and passed out on several occasions during the feeding sessions, but your mother has fed, pumped, swaddled, you name it - you are one lucky little girl.
Yesterday was a truly unique experience - going into work for the first time as a father. You see, since K's due date was 10 April, my entire team had assumed that mid-March would be totally fine for a handover workshop. We'd invited folks from the UK (Y Parchedig), Costa Rica (the Puma), my boss from Dallas, and a host of other folks to work through my current role and hand out the responsibilities appropriately over a 3 day stretch. But then someone decided to arrive early, meaning this guy was out on Pat leave. Consequently, the 3 day session became a 4 hour brain dump, which took place yesterday afternoon.
It was so great to see everyone, but it was definitely weird to switch from saying things like "Did you just poopy for daddy? Yay!!!!!" to saying things like, "Well tell him that is completely unacceptable and threaten to kick his teeth in if he tries that bull@#$# again." I remember Hitman telling me once the importance of compartmentalization, and I completely understand it now. That being said, the session was very productive, and I know the team is in great hands with the folks they have in place. I am sure that observing me was pretty funny, however, as there were plenty of times when I just COULD NOT come up with the appropriate word to describe something (i.e. "contingency" coming out as "commission" and things like that - usually by the 4th attempt I either managed to spew out the correct word or just gave up entirely).
The highlight was afterwards, when my team threw me a surprise baby shower! The funny part was that Jenny had been invited to this little Happy Hour a month ago, and what I hadn't realized at the time was that these cats had been planning this for 3 months - SO SWEET of them! We received some GREAT stuff, with the highlights for me being "teething bling" and a handcrafted hammock from Costa Rica! It was absolutely fantastic, and since JT couldn't make it, I picked up a growler for her so that we could celebrate as she opened the gifts again at home - simply a perfect evening and day.
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| Gratuitous baby photo - never too early to start 'em! |
Less than 2 weeks in, Jenny and I both think that Kaitlyn looks a lot like KJ's baby photos, and so it will be really interesting to watch her grow in the coming weeks and months (hair color, eye color, etc). I can already tell that she's not going to look like me, so she's a lucky girl in that regard at least. :-)
Today starts one of the biggest perks of March Paternity leave - MARCH MADNESS BABY!!!!! Tip-off is in 1 hour and 22 minutes - GO SHOCKERS!!!!!!
Work family - thank you again SO MUCH for all of the gifts and for planning the celebration last night. You are a wonderful group of colleagues, but more importantly - you are a wonderful group of friends. Thanks so much for thinking of us during this extra special time.
Love,
Sam and Jenny
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