A day of returns

Today marked our return to church following Calvin's birth, which means it also marked Calvin's first day at church.  We were very excited about introducing our son to our church family - all throughout Cortney's pregnancy the different arms of the church were arguing about who held more claim to the Ophoff baby - the office staff?  The deacons?  The choir?  To us they are all one big family, and today Calvin got to meet many of them.  It was a successful return, too.  While Jon played for the 8:00 service, Cortney and Calvin parked themselves in the lobby area and got to greet a lot of choir members and ministers as they came in the door.  During the 9:30 service we sat in the very back, which made it easy to step outside to feed the little guy when he got hungry and then back in again when we were done.  And Calvin was a big hit during coffee hour, too.  In fact, it just so happened that today was Calvin's introduction day, so he was announced in the bulletin and greeted by a red rosebud on the organ as well.

Today was also a return on two family fronts.  On Calvin's maternal side because we stopped at Cortney's parents for what used to be a regular post-church brunch of scrambled eggs with hash browns and salami, toast with jam, and good coffee.  This was something we haven't done in a while, and something Calvin, of course, had never done, so it was also a wonderful return.  It was also a day of returns on Calvin's paternal side because Jon's parents had just returned from a trip to The Netherlands and got the chance to see Calvin for the first time since they visited him in the hospital.  So Calvin got to hear all about this other country and even got to see his aunt again while we were there for dinner.  Yes, it was definitely a day of returns for us and firsts again for Calvin.

Firsts for Calvin, regression for his parents

Calvin is definitely growing.  He just feels heavier.  Most people who see him still think he looks like a preemie, but we are pretty sure we can see a growth difference.  Not that he fits into anything any better, he just seems bigger to us.  And he is definitely growing in other ways, too.  He has gradually become more vocal - not crying, just more talkative - and today he started talking while eating.  His amount of alert time has gradually increased every day, and he has really started to look at things now.  Actual firsts for today included napping with Cortney in his sling and going for a walk in his stroller.  It was also his first day of regulated living - Cortney started introducing a feeding/sleeping/activity schedule today.  Right.  We'll see how that goes.

But while Calvin is progressing by leaps and bounds, his parents seem to be regressing, at least where the menu is concerned.  Though Jon did grill a couple of hamburgers last week, our meals lately have consisted mainly of little kid type dinners - frozen fish sticks and tater tots, frozen pizza, and, the ultimate, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with hot dogs.  Call it what you like, we call nostalgia. 

Storms? What storms?

Well, perhaps it's a little trite, but we have another couple of firsts under our belt.  On Tuesday Calvin ran his first errands!  With the help of his mother and grandmother, of course, he endured lunch out (lots of oohs and ahhs), followed by a trip through the grocery store (snuggled comfortably in his sling, so he missed the whole thing), and a quick stop at the vet's to pick up a refill for Ollie's ear medicine.  Unfortunately all the hubbub meant that he slept the majority of the day...and not a majority of the night.  Oh well.

Then last night we had a wonderful evening of dangerous weather (wonderful because we really like thunderstorms).  The roaring thunder, pounding rain, and threat of hail and tornadoes were Calvin's first brush with tempestuous weather and all went well.  Though his mother was a little nervous, watching the news/weather channel for tornado warning updates, Calvin took it all in stride.  Plus, in the process of keeping abreast of the weather situation, this was our, and thus Calvin's, first night of TV.  Of course we were a bit overprotective, muting it a majority of the time and just reading the closed captioning (wholly unnecessary since Calvin slept through it anyway), but it was a bit of a treat for us.  Unfortunately(?) we chose to watch "America's Got Talent."  Probably no one else was suckered into it, but for those who were... did anyone else really like the finger snapping guy?  I mean, seriously, what a talent!!!

A little parent care

Lots of adult time and change of scenery is what the doctor prescribes for staving off the baby blues, and that is exactly what Jon and friends pushed Cortney to get.  So, armed with antibacterial wipes and gel, and a blanket to hide the baby, a nervous Cortney, and a less than nervous Calvin, had a lunch date.  The date included Cortney's friends Amy, Becky, and Liesl (you may remember Liesl as the baby tester for our dogs and our baby equipment a few months ago).  A good time was had by all, including Calvin who slept through the majority of the visit and lunch out.  It was fun to see him in comparison to Liesl, who is nearly 6 months old.  The difference is immense, on all developmental scales at this point, and yet the two will be in the same class in school.  Who knows... some day they might even date, though both mothers say it will be at least 30 years, right?

And parent care continued into the evening with a little couple time for the two of us.  Though our attempt to indoctrinate Calvin in Trivial Pursuit went largely unnoticed by the pupil, we certainly enjoyed ourselves.  Cortney would like to point out that Jon won by a landslide mostly because her brain hasn't returned from the pregnancy abyss.  We'll go ahead and let her hold onto that belief a little while longer...

To Calvin, who was not due until today...

Well, Calvin, you weren't supposed to be here until today.  Of course they say that the early bird gets the worm, and just think of all the things you have already accomplished in those extra ten days on the outside:  You've already been held for hours on end, already listened to your mother sing to you, to your father read your first book;  You've already had your first photo shoot, your first trip to your grandparents, your first walk through the neighborhood;  you've already lifted your head, rolled over, slept through four hours straight;  And you've already met so many loving people and seen the love and beauty the world has to offer - you wouldn't want to give that up now!

We cannot believe that you have been here for 10 days already.  As each day passes we wish we could hold onto it for just one precious moment longer, or have one more chance to do each of those firsts again.  Did we get enough pictures?  Did we take the right video?  Will we remember this moment, so much more important than the last, like it was yesterday, even when we are twenty years older?  But even though it is hard to watch the firsts pass us by before we are barely able to grasp that they have happened, we are so glad to have already had those 10 precious days, glad that there are so many more to come, and we hope that you understand, someday, that  in those 1o days our love for you has already multiplied at least tenfold.  Aren't you glad that you came when you did?