Hello all!

I would like to explain a little about my family and myself. I am a father of two, Xavier and Avery. Xavier is my oldest, 5 turning 6 next month. For years he has been asking his mother and myself for a sibling. Well a month ago he got his wish, he got a little sister. He was excited, but said that he still wants a little brother. What can you do?! Now we don't have Xavier every day, he lives with his mom and comes to our house every other weekend. At first I was nervous about how he will act with his sister Avery, but the first night proved to be great. In the morning when she was crying he was one of the first ones to want to know what was wrong with her and what she needed. He loves to kiss her on the head, but has not got the holding of the baby down 100 percent, but we are working on it.

When Xavier was born I was not home for most of the pregnancy or for the birth. I was serving in the Army in Iraq during the beginning part of the war. It was hard to know that he was going to be born and I was not going to be home to watch, or be a part of the experience. The first time I saw him was in a picture that I had gotten in the mail a month after he was born. Everyone was so supportive of what I was going through, but it didn't help that I felt horrible for not being home with him. By the time we first met, he was already standing on his own, and had no idea who I was. So in a part, I am a first time father when it comes to newborns. So Xavier and I are learning about it together, and I think that helps with some of the parts that I am missing from him. He is proving to be a great big brother, and his instincts are great with her.


When I ask Xavier to watch his sister for a minute when I need to get a bottle or binky and she starts to fuss, he immediately starts to sing the Alphabet song to her to try and get her to calm down. Sometimes she quiets down, but for the most part when he is done, he starts all over and tries to get her to settle down again. I'll tell you, when I was growing up with my little sister, whenever she started to cry, I immediately started to bug my mom to make her stop, so I like that he is trying to be so helpful on his own. Don't know who is going to be more protective of her, mom, dad, or brother!


In the last month Avery has proven to be growing up fast. She is sleeping longer at night, eating more food, filling up diapers more, and starting to smile and hold her head up. Well mommy and daddy think she is smiling, so that is what I am going to stick with. When I get home from work, mom usually has her fed and sleeping, so I am not sure how grumpy she can get, must be that she just loves her daddy! So that is a little about our little family. I thought it would be fun to talk with other people and get perspective of things that work, things that don't, and have some laughs.



Jeremy