Ten Months Later

Hello all. It's Jeramie. Joye was kind enough to let me "guest write" on her blog. So, here goes.


Ethan is ten months old today.


It would be trite and a little cliche for me to say that the last ten months have been a blur.

They have been... amazing. They have been awful and beautiful and tragic and heart-wrenching and humbling and heart-warming.

There have been tears of sorrow and of elation. There has been doubt and hope and fear and faith. There have been hugs and prayers and well-wishes.

There have been rooms full of silent friends and family as "the news" sank in. There have been rooms full of those same friends and family rejoicing with us when Ethan pulled through... yet again.

There has been so much joy amongst our friends and family as we watch him grow. He has exceeded expectations at every turn and he continues to amaze us.

He has taught me things I thought already knew. He's taught me that physical deficiency does not equal weakness. He's taught me to hurt and to hope. He's taught me to love in a way of which I never knew I was capable.

By way of Ethan's "stats" he's 28 1/4 inches long, 24 lbs. 6 oz. and his head is 45 cm. He has a total of eight teeth and we're pretty sure there are more on the way right now. He has grown beyond everyone's (even his cardiologist's) expectations.



It seems like he develops a new "trick" every day. Lately he's learned to wave. He waves hi/bye to just about everyone (and everything). He even says "bah" sometimes when he does it. We're pretty sure it's a coincidence but it's still really cute.

His official first word was "Mama" which makes Joye exceedingly happy. I think she thinks she won some sort of competition of will-Ethan-say-Mama-or-Daddy-first?, but I'm pretty sure that's not a real thing and it doesn't matter.

(Full disclosure: If he'd have said "Daddy" first, it would have been a real thing and it would have mattered. But it's not, and it doesn't.)

I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to thank everyone reading for all of your prayers and support over the last ten months. It is truly beautiful the kind of love by which we are surrounded. Thank you.

There are so many things I love about being a Dad and in honor of Ethan's tenth month, I'll leave you with ten things I love.

I love being called a dad.

I love saying "my son".

I love his goofy "stinky face".



I love the way he tilts his head to the side as if he just wanted to see what the world would look like that way.



I love squeezing his chunky little thighs into his pajamas and kissing him good-night.



I love drying him off and cuddling with him after his bath.



I love showing him off to everyone who will look his way.



I love to watch him as he learns something new.



I love to see how excited he gets when Joye and I walk into his room in the morning.



I especially love his laugh (even though he's kind of stingy with it)

Happy ten months, Ethan. I love you very much.



-The Daddy