.5 years - so far so good

You are still alive after six months, which is definitely an accomplishment. It has been an incredible six month with you, and so different than what I expected. You and your sister are COMPLETE opposite babies. You sister was calm, never cried, was late to do everything and could just be put in a swing and left there for hours. You are active, cry far more, are already doing things that your sister was not until she was close to a year and need constant attention and supervision. I always like to start these posts off with some firsts, and because you are so young you have had many.

• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• Snow
• New Year
• Roll over
• Trip to Hawaii
• Beach
• Plane ride

Bringing you home from the hospital was uneventful (as hoped) and you were greeted by your sister who could not have been more excited. You cried on the way home and we have learned that was not a fluke - you hate the car. We had been working on your room for months so it was all ready to go when you arrived. Of course because you were so little you stayed with us the first few months anyway so we purchased a bassinet that stayed next to our bed. This ended up being the best investment we have made as mom can just spin it around in the night to feed or when you get fussy. Acclimating to two children has been challenging, but honestly it is much easier than I had expected. The first night went ok - better than expected. You did some sleeping and so did we. We later found out that you were getting your rest to prepare for the second night. You were up almost the entire night, screaming and crying, wouldn't let us put you down and really no was to console you. We got one hour of sleep that night - and you officially broke us in. We had these dreams about having a sleeping child. Your sister was a terrible sleeper, so we figured we had got that out of the way. Oh wow were we wrong. You made her look like a hibernating bear. Quickly realizing that we again had a non-sleeper, we were at least able to prepare ourselves mentally for what was to come. We have had an abundance of family coming and going since you arrived, and the first month was jam packed. You were visited by Mia & Michel, Papa & Damian, Boppy, Nonny and Uncle Matt (still working on a nick-name for him). Having family visit during this stage is both a blessing and a curse because while it is helpful to have someone to hand you to when we are doing one of the millions of other things needed to make sure we do in fact keep you alive, it also means having people in our house all the time and our privacy is pretty much gone. Regardless, would much rather have the help than not. You were born during the worst winter Boise has seen in 50 years. Boise is a desert climate, and while it snows it is dry and normally the snow doesn't stick around for long. If there is snow on the ground for more than a couple days in a row it is an anomaly. Forget the exact number, but snowed stayed on the ground for something like 70+ days in a row this year. Now this might sound like fun: sledding, hiking, snowball fights, etc. For your sister it was, she loved every minute. But having an infant is a massive challenge in itself, and then adding 4+ feet of snow makes leaving the house or doing pretty much anything impossible. Boise is not equipped for this weather either, so snow plows are in short supply. Our street wasn't plowed for week, and the alley was blocked off for over a month meaning we couldn't get our trash picked up. Roads were ice, shoveling was a daily thing and since we had no garage our cars were almost always covered. It wasn't like it snowed a few times and dumped a bunch of snow and it stuck either - it was snowing almost daily. I had to wear full snow boots  to work just so I could walk from the parking garage to the office a block away. You can see the snow in some of the pictures below. The good part was that because you were so small, it is not like we were wanting to venture out all that much anyway. However it was pretty tough on your mom because she was pretty much snowed in and not able to get you guys outside too much. We scheduled trips for Palm Springs, San Diego and Tucson for the following winter just to be safe. Thanksgiving occurred soon after you arrived, so we kept it simple. Still did all the food but on a smaller scale. I'll be honest, as I sit here and write about this it is kind of a blur. One highlight of having a winter with so much snow was that it made for a beautiful Christmas. Not much you can do with a 1.5 month old on Christmas, other than dress them in cute clothes and take a bunch of pictures - so that's what we did. Christmas Eve we actually cooked a ham and had a great meal. Christmas day your mom made homemade cinnamon rolls. Uncle Matt was with us this year and you two had a lot of time together. We opened presents which you could care less about and your sister is still a but too young to understand. I insist on a real tree (you will learn about my obsession for Christmas as you get older) and we just all hung out around it for the first half of the day. That afternoon we went outside and took pictures. New years eve we got after it - and by got after it I mean we made it to nearly 10:30pm! You made it through your first holiday season. ----- Your sister was late to everything. She didn't walk until 14 months, she rolled over late, crawled late, spoke late, etc. However, once she did it she was good at it - when she finally did walk she didn't fall. You my boy, were wayyyyy early to everything. You rolled over at 3 months, which is pretty insane. You were supporting your head after a couple months. At almost 6 months, you are beginning to crawl. Your mom, who wishes you would stay a baby forever, is in awe and crying at the same time that you are growing up too fast. I am all for it. :) ----- Among many other items that you experienced during the first half year of life, you also went on a two week vacation to Wailea on Maui. Yep, we figured we might as well just begin the spoiling the moment you left the womb. We went with Papa & Damian and all stayed in a condo on the beach together for a week, and then we left them and stayed in our own condo for a week afterwards. This obviously offered you many firsts, but the biggest likely being the ocean and the beach. We hiked, biked, went on runs, went for walks in the rain, sat on the sand for hours and even celebrated your mom's 29th birthday. We had a great time - it is hard to beat Maui. However, what you will learn when you have small children is that going on vacation is actually more work than just staying home. Since you weren't a sleeper, putting you in an unknown and new environment does nothing but make you a worse sleeper. Going to the beach with a wife and two small children makes me into the equivalent of a mule, hauling, just to name a few, things like: chairs, umbrella, towels, sunscreen, hats, suits, diapers, wipes, sunglasses, books, beach toys, shoes, stroller, snacks, waters and a list just as long of things I am forgetting. I mention this not because it wasn't worth it (it most definitely was) but because when your mom wants to keep you a baby forever...this is one of reason I disagree :). Oh yeah, one other reason: plane rides. I haven't talked too much about myself but one thing to mention is that I travel a lot for work. I am VP of Product for a company called Balihoo, we build marketing automation software. Running product I have to travel a lot to San Francisco, Chicago and LA among other places. This, of course, is not favorable with your mom - but it does provide some perks. For example, you will see that 6 foot first class seat you are riding in below in the pictures. I was able to get us upgraded using points for the 5.5 hour leg to Maui from SF. Sounds awesome, right? It was. You were actually not as bad, but we never flew with Harper that early so we didn't know what to expect. You did some crying but not much, for the most part it went pretty well. On the way back - not so much. We flew on a different airline and with Papa & Damian. The plane was packed and you were not a happy boy. As parents we can deal with crying just fine, but it is like a 5.5 hour workout passing you back and forth. Finally, with about an hour before we landed in Portland, you fell asleep. Overall it was a success - but we agreed we will be skipping the Maui trip next year. ----- I always wanted a boy. I was 100% convinced that Harper was going to be a boy, and when I found out in the ultrasound she wasn't I did not have a feeling of disappointment, but rather un-preparedness as I had only planned for a boy. Every parent says this and it always sounded like bullshit to me, but not being a parent I know it is true, that I would not have changed anything regarding Harper being a girl and am grateful everyday for her. I am grateful every day for you as well - so much I can't explain. I have these incredible memories of my dad and I and all the experiences we had together as I was growing up. My dad was my role model. Actually, my dad still is my role model. I love having a girl for millions of reasons I never knew existed, but there is also something special about a father and son relationship that is just hard to explain. Whether you play sports or video games, like girls or boys, are a runner or a dancer, an accountant or a poet, cheer for the Cowboys or the Eagles - whoever you turn out to be I cannot wait to see and be there experiencing everything with you. I will raise you with the same morals with which my dad raised me: work hard, treat everyone fairly, look for the best in people, help people when possible, always open a door for a woman, be caring and always be there for the ones you rely on you or you love. I hope that I can instill those values in you like he did me. I hope that I can keep those values in order to share them with you every day. Having a child is an unbelievable thing. It changes your life in every aspect and makes you think with at completely different mindset. You see the world differently and it you. I can't say that I will be a good dad to you, but I promise that being a good dad will the one goal that I will work hardest towards and will never relent. I will mess up along the way, many times, but just know that when I do it was not due to lack of trying or carelessness because those are two things I will never cease to improve upon. My life is so much richer with you in it, my day's so much happier, my ambition amplified and my love more focused. Just want to say thank you now for being here and being mine - and I can't wait to live the rest of my life with you in it. I love you more than you will ever know, Love, Dad