Chillin' out on Sunday Morning

Wearing shirt that Nana Julie got him.

Fortunate

On his birthday, Dennis Prager wrote a great article about being lucky.

The Role of Luck -- Thoughts on a Birthday - Townhall.com

He concluded that a lot of life (your health, your family, living in America) is mostly dumb luck and not entirely the product of anything you've personally done. Normally, I'd say this isn't true. "You make your own breaks," as my old basketball coach used to say.

But two events in the last month have changed my thinking. First off, I became the father for the first time to a wonderful baby boy, and I couldn't be more proud. However, that little guy came with one thing I didn't anticipate: nighttime colic. For the first month of his life, little Cash has yet to sleep longer than about three hours between 10 PM and 6 AM. He wakes up (loudly) and can be very difficult to get back to sleep.

Nighttime colic is something that affects somewhere between 15-30% of all newborns (and is usually the worst for the first child in a family, for some weird reason). Along with this comes the bad side effects for Holly and me (OK, especially Holly): We feel sleepy, we don't get to go out much, we can't travel anywhere for longer than a few hours, etc.

But one of the most disturbing parts that I've had to experience is this: Parents who's children aren't/weren't colicky don't understand what Holly and I are going through. They have an attitude of, "Well, that never happened with our baby. Therefore, it's really not a problem. We must've done something better than you have."

OK, so they don't that outright, but it sort of comes out in their attitude or other things they say. "We had our baby and were able to go to church/go shopping/go on a long trip, etc. within a week" or "Our baby sleeps 7 hours every night."

Well, good for you, but it's not really anything you're doing to make your baby that way. You're just very lucky not to have a fussy baby. That's it.

Whenever someone asks me how the baby is doing, I'll say, "Pretty well, but he doesn't like to sleep that much." Every now and again, someone will say, "Yeah, my kids were the same way!!" Then we'll have this whole conversation about how nobody else who has colicky kids could possibly understand how hard it is.

And then it occured to me - this has been my attitude towards people less fortunate than myself for a long time. I think, "Wow, stinks to be you. I'm healthy, have a good job, live in America...I must've done something better."

Which brings me to my next attitude-altering event: This past week, a young couple from my old hometown (for the second time in three years!!) lost a child six months into a pregnancy.

Zion Thomas Lorntson -- Jennings family blog

This happened by absolutely no fault of their own. Sonya and Seth are two of the most Godly people I know. They come from Godly families. They're truly great people. This was just purely bad luck. Plain and simple.

These two events have caused me to reach a new level of gratitude and mindfulness of other's needs. And it's made me (humbly) re-evaluate everything that I know about my own life and how fortunate I am. I've also realized the following:

Holly was lucky not to have any significant health problems (especially morning sickness) during the pregnancy. We were lucky to be born into great families with the world's greatest parents. We're lucky that our ancestors moved to America and, by doing so, put us in the nation with the greatest health care system in the history of the world.

This was all luck. All of it. I'm very grateful for it, and I realize that I have nothing to do with most of it. I have only God and my family to thank. Not me.

Trip Back to Days of Yore

When my parents came last week, they brought some old photo albums, and I took the time to upload a few pictures to my facebook profile.



This picture of my brothers and I is the crown jewel of the collection. Love these pictures!!

Saying good-bye to the grandparents

Today, Cash has to bid farewell to his Nana Julie and Grandpa Harold. We really enjoyed their visit, and we also feel bad for working them to death. They lanscaped, did handywork and babysat for us all week, and we are very grateful.

We hope to see them again in November when we take a trip out to the Midwest.

Nana Julie and Grandpa Harold

The Grandparents arrived on Sunday night, and fawned over their newborn grandbaby.



Yesterday, we went to a photographer and got some awesome baby picks!! Can't wait to see them!!

Cash is a hit at the Cash Reunion

Yesterday, we went to the annual Cash family reunion. And the man of the hour was none other than Cash, himself.



And nobody was more happy to see him than his great aunt, NanNan. Afterwards, he went to his great grandma Ninny's house and met her for the first time.



It was a great day for everyone.

Talkin' to the Camera

Just hanging out:

Photo Shoot Prep

I think Holly missed her calling as a baby photographer. She shot these the other day, and I love 'em.


We hired a high school classmate of Holly's to do our newborn photos, but she's too busy to do pictures for the next week and a half. The bummer part about that is, in a week and a half, I think he won't be much of a "newborn." He'll be more of an "infant" -- or whatever the department stores call babies who are a month old.

I think we'll end up getting his picture taken by a lady in Monroe County (about 30 minutes south of us).

On another note, Baby Cash slept a little better last night. He actually had 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep from 2AM to 5AM. Woohoo!!

You Find Out Who You're Friends Are

If we've learned anything in the last two weeks, it's who we can count on in a time of need.

All in all, here's a partial list of really terrific people who we are forever indebted to (note: there are more than just the people on this list, for sure. These are just the people I can think of off the top of my head. If you helped us out and I haven't mentioned you here, I completely apologize. We are very grateful for you!!) --

* Nana Joan - Long story short, she's a saint and deserves her own Presidential Suite in Heaven.
* Holly's niece, Dawn - She was a great "labor assistant" who kept me from passing out during the delivery. She also helped us organize our nursery and ran countless errands for us. She was invaluable during Week 1.
* Holly's sister, Sissy - She's always willing to take time out of her extraordinarily busy schedule.
* Various people in the community - Especially a family from church that cooked us dinner one night (it was a very delicious, I might add!!)
* Holly's friend from high school, Erin - She has a three-month old at home and definitely knows what we're going through. She brought us dinner (and the greatest apple pie ever made) a few days ago.
* Honorable Mention - My immediate Ridpath family. Upside: All five of them (mom, dad, Reid, Grant, Liz) wanted to pitch in right away and were ready to book the next flight to West Virginia, if needed. Downside: They all live 1000 miles away (curse!!). In a perfect world, I'd live right down the block from these guys. Nana Julie and Grandpa Harold are going to be here next week. We can't wait!!

And with that in mind, I want to personally extend the following: If anyone in my immediate family (or church family) has a baby, I offer my full, unmitigated, no-strings-attached services to you. Need dinner? You got it. Need a babysitter? I'm always here. Need someone to rock a fussy baby so you can get some sleep? God knows, I will be right there with a blanket, bottle and pacifier.

Cash meets a friend for Supper

This afternoon, Holly's good friend from high school, Erin, dropped by with her three-month old daughter, Cora. They travelled all the way down from Cape Cod, Mass for a wedding and to spend time with family.

It's amazing to think little Cash will be that big in three months. I'm so used to dealing with a newborn that 3-month-olds seem like giants.

Cash meets his Great Grandpa

This afternoon, we drove 20 miles (by far the longest distance we've travelled since having a baby) on our way to Holly's grandparent's house. Once there, history was made when Cash met his great-grandfather, Wesley "Papa" Wickline.

This was a truly awesome moment and something Holly and I relished. Neither of us were alive to meet our great grandparents. (My great grandma Bartels - my mom's mom's mom - died about a year before I was born. That's the closest either of us came to meeting one.) So it was awesome for us to witness this rare opportunity.

Cash is fortunate to have four (out of eight) great grandparents still alive. Holly's mom's parents - Wesley "Papa" and Maguerite "Ninny" Wickline - are both living, as are both of my grandmothers - Grandma Ridpath and Grandma Francis.

The moment was underscored by the fact that both Holly and I have a grandma in the hospital right now. Ninny and Grandma Francis are both recouperating from complications due to vaious illnsses they have. Please pray for them.

We're parents now!!

Cash William Ridpath is a great little boy. We love him so much.




I'm constantly getting interupted whenever I try to pots something, but I'll try to get more updates via the blog.