A New Baby

My wife, Ellie, and I just had our first baby: a beautiful baby girl we named Lara. (See our pics). Lara is about 2 weeks old, and she changed my life.

Having a child changes you. For myself, I first noticed the change when my wife became pregnent. I have many character flaws and insensitivites for sure, but starting from when I knew my wife was pregnant and as she continue to grow, I felt a growing gentleness for this women caring my child. I no longer tolerated in myself the act of winning an arguement for the sake of winning or of having the last word. Her peace was paramount. And her requests and honey-do's were no longer interruptions. Yes, I am lazy at heart, and yes I do sometimes grudgingly perform some task especially when it takes away from some other self-indulging activity, but I reveal my irritation much less (I hope) and really do have a growing pleasure in pleasing and meeting her needs, knowing that what I am doing helps lighten the heavy load she daily carries. She underwent so much discomfort during the pregnancy, and even now she takes more than her share of the burden with the baby. I wish I could do more, but I'm just not equipped to breast feed Lara. Thank God! :-)

My wife is an amazing person. When Lara came home from the hospital, my wife voluntarily moved into the guest room to be with the new baby, leaving me to sleep in peace in our bedroom. Can you believe that! What selfless devotion to her husband. That act alone has save me countless sleepless hours. If that wasn't enough, she happily performs tasks that are low but necessary, like changing the diapers. I had to make a request one day so I wouldn't feel guilty about not having to change Lara's diaper yet.

These and many more things she does without complaint, and most wonderful of all, she gave life to our healthy baby girl. That in itself is an act of incredible beauty and sacrifice on her behalf: to go through those tough 9 months of constant nausea, to have her body grow and become more uncooperative, and to finally have a 24+ hour long delivery with was extremely painful for her. Amazing this women is! Grateful am I.

You know I started this post, wanting to talk about Lara. But I turned out to be a devotion to my wife. This is good. I was proud when Mother's day come. Lara was born on May 3, and so Mother's day had fresh significance to me. I was glad to celebrate my wife - the mother of my child. She is an amazing mother to Lara and wife to me. And I hope I will celebrate it along with all special occasions with them both for years to come.

But I would like finish the thought I started on at first and say that fatherhood (parenthood) not only changed me, but made me more complete complete. It has made my human experience more complete. Without it, my life would definitely be less. Ellie and I were tempted to place our careers first with the hopes of starting a family second. That was a mistake we fortunately avoided. If I was a noble man, I would have adopted, for there are so many children without a family. But I am thankful for what God gave us. Life's too short not to love another - especially a baby.