Ch-ch-ch-changes, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Desitin

So it has been suggested (ordered) that I, Ray Barnett, New Father Extraordinare, write a blog entry about how things have changed in my own day-to-day. Well, I'm usually not very well equipped to express myself verbally, but I'll do my best to ham-fist something here. You know, enough monkeys bangin' on typewriters, Shakespeare and all that.

So I've been taken hostage. Or maybe abducted. That's probably closer to accurate. This small, wrinkly, pink, squeaky, squishy little alien has zapped me with some sort of mind- and life-altering raygun that I'm sure she has stashed away somewhere. Thought I saw a hint of a shiny barrel under her little white crib one night. She sucked me up in a white beam of light into her sweet little Hello Kitty flying saucer hovering over our home late one night, and thence whisked me away to this strange, terrifying and odd-smelling new world. I think it is named "Dottir"...not sure of the spelling, but that word is bandied about often nowadays.

This new world is, as I mentioned, terrifying. Not "Saw IV meets Frankenstein" terrifying, but more like the "Wow this roller coaster sure is fun HOLY CRAP THE TRACK IS MISSING UP AHEAD DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE THAT OH NO WHAT'RE WE GONNA DO WE'RE GONNA DIE GREAT NOW I NEED TO CHANGE MY SHORTS!!!!" sort of scary. It is a world of pink and hair bows and sunflower-butted onesies and diapers. Oh dear, sweet Lord the diapers. And I think she has a small black hole as an internal power source, because she eats like there must be one inside her. Her ability to consume formula might be though of as inexorable, persistent and awe-inspiring, all the words that accurately describe a black hole. So I think my theory is at the very least plausible. And oh, what she can do to all that formula. Did I mention the diapers?

And then there's the hair. This is just further proof of her alien lineage since it most definitely has a mind of its own. No infant should have this much hair, nor should it have the ability to reach out and try to strangle you when you're not looking. And that's why the hair bows are such a critical part of this strange new world, as they help tame the wildness that can become disheveled so quickly you'd swear it was her super power. Truly, it's out of this world...see? Alien.

Remember I mentioned the mind- and life-altering raygun earlier? Well I KNOW it's a reality because I still feel its effects every time I look at her. I get this overwhelming feeling of love, protectiveness and absolute completion whenever she looks at me with those perfect, blue eyes. And her smiles? Forget about it. Such reactions can only be further proof of the after-effects of her using that raygun on me. Her tears move me to make everything right for her, to see to it she has whatever she needs to feel happy and smile for me once more. Only a truly advanced, hyper-powerful alien technology could create such a profound change in a man so quickly. I'm thinking of contacting the Air Force to see if they have any unidentified radar tracks for the area surrounding Northern Virginia during the afternoon of July 9 of this year. I'll get back to you all with my findings.

I think perhaps I should stop for now, since I don't want to give her and her strange other-worldly people that come from this planet "Dottir" any clue that I'm on to them and their alien-ness. Seems she wishes to be held, fed and changed again. And Lord help me, I can't think of one single thing I'd rather do, now or ever again. True, her power is ubiquitous and manifest, but I wouldn't change a thing about this new life, this new world she's made for me. I'm truly honored just to have been chosen to be a part of her world, despite the strange and mysterious way she brought me, a mere mortal human man, into it. Perhaps one day I'll be able to express to her my gratitude and unending love for her choosing me to zap with her powerful, alien raygun. But for now, I have a small pink hand squeezing my finger, two crystal blue eyes looking into mine, asking for a bottle without saying a word. Seems she's psychic as well. The evidence is really starting to add up...

Hi ho, hi ho...

Yes, Mama lets me nap on my stomach occasionally

Watching the game with my friend Max

I'm a good egg

Birth Dedication at church

Like my hair?

Hanging with Granny

Our little doll

Getting ready for first Sunday at church

Snoozing

GranDale and ReRe

Waiting to go home

Snuggling with Dad

It's back to work I go! Not too thrilled about it actually. But living up here in the DC area requires that both of us work if we wanna survive! I made the decision today to forego the Assistant Manager position at my old branch and transfer closer to home as a Personal Banker, at least until I am there for a couple of months and can maybe move up. It's just better for us if I can stay close to the area and Sophie's daycare instead of being an hour away. (Plus, I won't have to fight traffic! Always a plus up here!)

It has been a wonderful 3 months with my girl. We have spent alot of our days just hanging out at home--swinging, bouncing in the bouncy chair, playing on the activity mat and of course, sleeping! We also spent a lot of time with friends from church-Aarolyn and Autumn, Alecia and Cole, Ashley and Evie, Sammie and Max, and Margie (now she and Eli will be joining in the playdates!). Ideally, I would love to continue to stay at home with her, but that is not our reality. She is going to be attending a home daycare in Centerville along with 6 other kids. Her two teachers speak Spanish all day to the kids, which is great so I can continue that at home! All of the other kids that are old enough to comprehend words can understand practically anything they say in Spanish, and some can even respond! I think it will be really good for Sophie (even if it's hard for Mama).

We are expecting a visit from GranDale, ReRe and Aunt Aynsley next weekend! We are all so excited to see them! Aunt Paige won't get to come since she came up for a few days back in August. We are gonna have a great time! We'll may go to Fredericksburg or maybe Baltimore. Or we may just stick around here and watch the Auburn game. Who knows?

Here are some pictures from the past 3 months that I love. (PS-they are kinda backward in age order. I have no idea how to post these pictures in the correct order. )

And now we are 3...

I am really going to try to keep up this blog (unlike others I have had in the past) so that family and friends can see what all we 3 are up to. So just to get us started, here are some pictures of our precious girl, Sophia. She arrived on July 9, 2010 and is the sweetest thing! We are loving being her parents and are learning new things each day!

Sophie was in the NICU for several days after having gone through 17 hours of labor and then a C-Section. The doctors were afraid that she was going to be infected with Coreo. Both she and I were on antibiotics for several days.

Here she is with her little hand wrapped up so they could put an IV in it.