Two weeks old

So, Holden is two weeks old today. My son, my beautiful little boy, is fourteen days old, and I'm sitting in an airport four thousand miles away. Sucks. I watched the film 'August Rush' on the plane about an orphan looking for his parents. The movie was pretty lame, but the message struck a chord. I miss him.

I stayed home from work for about ten days after he was born - getting to know him and helping Victoria. I went back to work this past Thursday for two days then hopped on a plane on Saturday to Orlando. Thursday and Friday were practice days for Victoria - having Holden on her own. She did great, of course. She's awesome; Holden and I are lucky to have her.

We've gone through a lot of the fears and concerns that I imagine all new parents experience: are we feeding him enough/too much, is he pooping enough/too much, sleep patterns, weight, etc. He's mostly breast-fed, supplemented by formula. He was 6 lbs, 3 oz when he was born. He left the hospital at 5lbs, 12 oz. Four days later we had him back up to 6 lbs, 2 oz. Now he's around 6 lbs, 7 oz.

His doctor is very helpful. We interviewed five different pediatricians. We ended up choosing the only female one that we interviewed. I was pretty happy with most of the ones we interviewed, but we felt that Victoria would be most comfortable talking with her and discussing ideas and options related to Holden's health and development, and that she would be most sensitive to a small child. So far, we've been very pleased. I try to go to every appointment, especially the initial ones because we learn new things each time, and it's better to have two sets of ears in case either of us misses anything.

Holden is healthy and apparently normal. He sleeps, eats, and poops, and that's really about it at this point. The ever changing colors of his poop make for an interesting show. Initially you have the black tar stuff, when he drinks mostly formula it's green, when he consumes more breast milk it's yellow and seedy. It's all pretty stinky. But I have a feeling that it will get a lot worse down the line when he starts eating solid foods. That's when the real fun begins.

So, one of the things I'm doing on this business trip is interviewing for a promotion. I would love to be able to tell Victoria that she doesn't need to go back to work and we can still maintain our lifestyle. This promotion could probably make that happen. Then she and Holden could travel with me. If she does have to go back to work in two or three months, we're fortunate that her mom just retired and lives nearby. She can't wait to spend as much time as possible with her only grandchild.

Well, it's time for me to board my next flight taking me even farther away. Wish me luck.