Dear Jack...

Never accept advice from piano-playing drunks. But if you do, this one's not so bad:



Love,

Daddy

Jack gets weighed

Dear Jack...

This is my favorite Christmas song:



This one's pretty good, too:



Love,

Daddy

He's just so serious

"I hear what you're saying…"



"But I just don't believe it."



"Perhaps I'll consider your proposal."



"Denied!"

Dear Jack...

About a year from now, Mommy and I will bundle you up, head to the nearest mall and deposit you squarely in the lap of an old, chubby bearded guy who isn't me. It'll go down something like this:



Also, your Mom and I will take your picture, and then we'll mail copies of it to your grandparents.

I just wanted to apologize in advance for that.

Love,

Daddy

(photo courtesy of The Chicago Tribune)

Dear Jack...

Make sure you do stuff like this, if not in practice then in spirit:



Love,

Daddy

A not-a-smile smile

All the books tell us that babies lack the emotional capacity to smile until about eight weeks. We got this picture today:



It's not the first one we've seen and we've started calling them not-a-smile smiles. Whatever they're called, we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Good day today.

I've got a binky

I'm only sleeping

That's our boy!

Everyone is doing well after a crazy night. We got to the hospital yesterday at about 4:30 p.m. and labs showed Amy had severe preeclampsia. By 7:30 or so, her doctor said it was "baby time." She went to the O.R. 20 minutes later… and 30 minutes after that Jack said, "Hello world!"

Amy's blood pressure is under control and we're waiting on labs to come back to see how her liver function is. So far so good. The NICU thinks Jack can come off the ventilator sometime today, but he's gonna be here a while… likely until his scheduled due date (Jan. 20). In some cases NICU kids can go home up to a week early, but that depends on how they do. They tell me he's a strong kid… likes to fight the tubes and nurses. That's my boy!

There's a chance that Amy can get down to the NICU this afternoon and see Jack for longer than the few minutes they got last night.