First Road Trip

   Jett Christian Janowski

Well, what a weekend!  Carter and I tagged along with some of our friends, Ailee and Omesh, up to see my grandmother and brother, along with his wife and newborn boy!  How wonderful!  Seriously, it is so much fun having babies at the same time as my little brother.  His boy, born 9 days before Carter on March 20, is precious.  He has a head full of hair and I think looks like my sister's baby pictures.  He is a good baby and such a great disposition.  Austin is such a great daddy and Brittany is a wonderful mama.  It is amazing to watch them with Jett and even with Carter.  I'm going to miss not being very close to them over the years, but if we make a point it could be great only seeing each other a couple times a year; it'll give the boys something to look forward to! 

I must confess, it might have been a little early in Carter's life to make such a trip, but I think now it's worth it.  He did absolutely phenomenal on the ride up to Georgia!  He only fussed when he wanted to eat or needed a diaper change.  He slept or just chilled, staring out the back window the whole way up and back down.  While we were there he was a bit fussy.  We didn't arrive until 1:45 am Friday morning, so even though he slept a lot in the van, it still messed up Carter's system and he didn't recover until Sunday morning.  I was beginning to wonder if our chill baby wasn't going to be so chill after all.  Thankfully, it was just the funky schedule and new environment that overstimulated him and now he has returned to "normal."  I'm going to call the difference in him as Georgia Carter and Florida Carter.  I prefer the Florida Carter!

On the way home, his umbilical cord finally fell off!  What a relief because I was getting tired of the screaming that came with the cleaning it and putting on the alcohol.  They say it doesn't hurt them, it's just the cold of the alcohol; I'm just glad it's off.  I think he's going to have an inny belly button-we'll see though.

At his last visit to the pediatrician, Dr. Lisa Ramey (whom I absolutely love and would recommend if you need a good wholistic pediatrician in Orlando), he weighed 9lbs 12 oz and was 22 inches long.  So in 2 1/2 weeks he's gained over a pound and grown an inch.  That's pretty good for a little guy.  Scotty and I and our families are trying to guess how big he's going to be.  Scotty says at least 6' 2."  I think he will be big as well.  You should see his hands and feet!  They have been "huge" from day 1.  Our midwife, the nurses and the doctors, along with many others can't get over how big they are.  I say, if babies are like puppies, then we have a big boy on our hands!  We'll see.  Whatever size he is will be fine with me, as long as he remains healthy!  He's going to learn how to be big and healthy if he turns out to be a big boy.  No matter his size, he's going to know how to be healthy!  

So, I will save it for another post, but over the weekend I really began to think about how do we as parents raise kids that have similar experiences and ones that are gracious towards us as we are gracious towards them.  I mean we are not going to do a lot of things right, neither is Carter, but overall our heart is bent towards his and the good of our other kids.  How do we raise him so that he is not bitter towards our failings, but rather filled with gratitude for our good-will towards him.  This makes me think of something in our marriage counseling.  It's the idea that your spouse has your good in mind.  It's not like he wakes up in the morning and thinks, "Hmm, how can I make Shellie mad today?"  The same way that I do not try to hurt Scotty.  If in the midst of strife or hurt, I tell myself that Scotty is not out to get me, in fact, that he has good-will towards me, it helps me deal with the situation at hand more rationally and realistically.  I want our kids to know that we are not out to get them or limit their enjoyment of life, but rather that we have good intentions towards them and want them to succeed and they need to know that we are going to fail them in our efforts.  I just pray that somehow each of our kids will recognize our love and good will towards them and be able to forgive us for our mess ups and failures.  I will continue to pray that because I know Scotty and I can't do that for them!

He's definitely crying not laughing!

We are at the beginning of a great adventure!  And it's going to be a wild one and I love it!