Spain Dad, a baby blog

cracked ice Photo by viciousg42. He said he was in town, and he asked if he could stop by. “When?” I asked. “How about right now?” he said. I hesitated. “Hold on.” I pressed my hand over the phone receiver. “Who is it?” April asked, nursing Alleke in our green arm chair on the other [...]

Circus sign Photo by anonymousjack. Alleke is our little circus performer. She’s pure entertainment. She covers all the good circus acts, all except for the flea circus, and we’re thankful for that. Alleke, The MagicianApril tells me that every day when she lays Ali down next to her in bed to take a nap, she’ll [...]

Here you can listen to Alleke’s little baby hiccups. She sounds like a squeak toy.

ContaCRW_9191 Photo by ceus4007. Having a newborn in the house is a little like being in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean during a hurricane. All you can do is grab those oars, close your eyes, and start paddling. I started paddling this morning around 5:30. Alleke had gone to bed very easily [...]

Alleke Photo by kellyandapril. Saturday Alleke’s umbilical cord fell off. I opened her diaper, and there it was lying on her belly like a piece of beef jerky. My first thought was “What do I do now?” (which, by the way, has become standard operating procedure), and my second thought was “This kid’s growing as [...]

Lemons Photo by kellyandapril. I stopped in our fruit shop this evening to buy a bag of rice. One of the two “fruit ladies,” as I call them, was at the back of the shop sitting by the cash register. She was the younger one, the one with her hair dyed red. She smiled at [...]

I hesitated to answer for a moment, then said, “Sí. Ella está muy contenta.” Yes, she’s a very content baby. I smiled and looked down at Ali’s head, my little fuzz ball. The sliding door opened between the doctor’s office and the examining room where we were waiting. Our doctor walked into the room. She [...]

Breastfeeding Photo by timtak. Click the “Listen” button to hear Kelly read this blog post. April’s had this book called The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding lying on the coffee table for the last week or so. I haven’t touched it. Not because I think the topic of breastfeeding is off limits for dads or that [...]

I need your help. April and I decided months ago that if we named our little girl Alleke, we would call her Ali for short. What we didn’t decide for sure is how we would spell Ali. I’ve been using A-L-I as the spelling for the last week. I like it because it seems like [...]

5:24am Photo by julian~. “What do think will happen if I just put her in the crib right now?” I said to April, who was squatting on the floor in her pjs sorting laundry. April shrugged. “She doesn’t look like she’s ready for bed,” I observed. She wriggled in my hands like a puppy. Her [...]