Two weeks!

Jack is two weeks old tonight! These days have just rushed by and are kind of a blur. Unfortunately I get the feeling that that's what the next 18 years are going to be like. We will desperately try to slow time down and capture some of these fleeting moments, try to preserve them in photographs and videos and journals and stories so that we might carry them around with us in our old age, but they will elude us. In response to this feeling, I have spent most of Jack's waking moments today just staring at him, trying to memorize his face and all the many faces he makes-- the crinkled brow, the skeptical one-arched brow, the scowl, the backward eye roll, the devious sideways glance, the wide-eyed wonderment, the "old man" (which is kind of a cross between the crinkled brow and the wide-eyes that make him look sage and astute), the hint of a smile with the dimples just beginning to show... Of course, he's pretty precious when he's asleep, too, and his features all just melt away into a quiet serenity like this. Danny's work got us this onesie. I thought it was pretty great, because he is, in fact, the best gift ever.

In honor of my son's (my son! does that sound as unbelievable to everyone else as it does to me?) two week birthday, I decided today would be my first day back running since November 12, when my sciatic nerve first started flaring up. My grandma told me how back in the day they used to make them stay in the hospital a week and on the third or the fifth day, I forget which, they were allowed to dangle their legs from the bed. Well, thankfully, I have been subject to no such restrictions and two weeks of inactivity seemed like plenty of recovery time to me, so off I went. At first I was surprised at how light I felt. I guess that shouldn't have surprised me, considering the last time I went running I was carrying around an extra 25 pounds or so. And then, after about two minutes, I was surprised at how winded I felt, which shouldn't have surprised me either, since I get out of breath just standing up and singing in Church, which is quite a bit less aerobic. But six weeks of not running is about the longest layoff I've ever had, and I'm probably still anemic from all that blood I lost two weeks ago. So I rationalized to myself as I poked along, verrrry sllloooowwwllly. When I was pregnant, it never bothered me to go slow, because I felt I had a very conspicuous excuse. Nobody would notice my pace because they would all be looking at my very large belly and be impressed that I was even out there. Today I felt a little self conscious because the belly was gone but I was going slower than ever. I vowed to never again judge a fellow runner no matter how slow she was going-- she could've just had a baby. See, look at how parenthood is making me a better person all over the place!

Two weeks ago at this time I was probably just beginning to push. And a half hour later, Jack was in my arms. Happy two-week birthday, Jack! I've enjoyed these past two weeks a whole lot more than the two before them. And happy new years, Minnesota! I'm not going to stay up for my own. But when we wake up for the next feeding it will be 2009, and we are excited for a new year with all its new possibilities.