Milestones

Max hit a milestone this past week – he turned a half-year old! The past 6 months have been the happiest of our lives, and have also completely messed up my sense of time. On the one hand, the 6 months have seemed to fly by. It seems like just yesterday that Max could sleep comfortably cupped in my forearms, that a four-ounce bottle of formula was a meal and a half, and that we could lay him down and leave the room for a moment or two and he’d still be exactly where we left him when we came back. Now he’s a 6 month old in size 18 month old clothing, drinks from an 8 ounce bottle and still has room in his belly for a jar of peas, and can schooch and roll across the living room in a matter of minutes when given a little incentive. But while those moments have flown by, at the same time it seems like an entirely different lifetime ago that Stewart and I were a childless couple, whose main concerns were which art-house movie to see on a Saturday night and which new restaurant to try out afterwards. We saw approximately 60 movies at the movie theater in 2009. Since Max’s birth we’ve seen exactly one (Winter’s Bone). We haven’t done much better with restaurants, though during the summer we prided ourselves on finding places with outdoor gardens where we could eat at 6pm with Max before his bedtime. The funny thing is we don’t miss going to all the movies or the restaurants. Parenting Max is certainly more challenging, but a thousand times more rewarding too.

This week marks a milestone for this blog too.  Gaddy Daddy is barely 3 months old and this is my 20th post! I can’t believe how this little idea in my head to jot down my thoughts on life as a new dad for family and a few friends has blossomed into a full-fledged blog that has had hits from readers across 5 continents (where are you Australia and Antarctica?!) I feel so lucky that so many people have responded so positively to my blog and have followed along on my journey through fatherhood. Your comments, on this site and my Facebook page, as well as through Twitter, have added a lot to the experience. While I hope you’ve learned a little something from reading me, I know I’ve certainly learned a lot from your feedback – so keep it up! I said in my very first post that I wanted the blog to be a dialogue, not a monologue, and I can’t wait to keep the conversation we’ve all started going strong.

Just as Max is growing in exciting new ways, this blog is as well. For example, I am thrilled to announce that the next post will be from our amazing surrogate, and very dear friend, Christie. She is such an important part of our lives that I asked her if she would be so kind as to introduce herself to you all and to fill you in on our crazy family dynamic from her perspective. Trust me, you will enjoy that post! Also, I recently met an amazing man the other night while out at one of those early dinners with Max I just mentioned, who was raised by two lesbian moms in the 1950s. I asked him if I could interview him for Gaddy Daddy about that experience, and he said that he’d be delighted to share his story. You can expect that post next month. Max’s Aunt Paula, my sister-in-law and a rabbi -- who we like to call Max’s “spiritual advisor”, and who describes herself as vice-president of the Max fan club (with Stewart and I as co-presidents, naturally) – has also agreed to write a post for the blog, which is equally exciting news! And, of course, you will be hearing more from my husband as well.

So, in short, thank you to my son Max for being so incredibly blog-worthy and cute (I know his face drives as much traffic here as my words do!) and thank you to all of you for giving me this great outlet to share such a special time in my life!