2 Months in the Books

Calendar says August 18, which is two months from June 18, but time is so weird right now. At times it seems hard remembering life with out the little guy in our life. Other times, Kathy and I look at each other and say - 'Can you believe he didn't even exist this time a year ago?'
His existence was to begin shortly after we got back from our anniversary trip to Vegas last year. But, it ended up taking a little more time. It's a good thing. This way we didn't feel compelled to give him the middle name of Caesar or something (stayed at Caesar's Palace last year).
Did the weigh-in thing while burping him during the early-AM feed - weigh the both of us, minus the weight of me without him. In the past Kathy has done it too, then we see how close we are to his weight difference. She's still asleep, so I went solo and came out with 13 pounds, 1 or 2 ounces. He easily stretches the tape 24 inches. Yesterday we finally got some sort of apples-to-apples comparison to how big he's got. Our next-door neighbors recently had a little boy (named him Cameron Cole, oddly enough) and we finally were both lolly-gagging around our garages yesterday to go fetch our kids and show each other. It was weird walking up and seeing how they're already identically sized. I asked how old he was, she said "he'll be four months in about a week". Okay, he's nearly 4 months, Kole's a day away from 2 months. "How big is he?" I ask ... she then explained where at his doctor's visit earlier in the week he was 12 pounds, 8 ounces. HOLY CRAP!!! So, Kole may have topped 13 pounds in 2 months before our neighbor's kid hits 13 pounds in 4 months. Kathy and I then spent 2 hours convincing oursleves that we are are not doing anything out of the ordinary - feeding him when he's screaming, 3-5 hours between feedings, stopping when he stops. At the pediatrician's visit last week, he went on and on how great Kole looks, everything is normal, normal, normal, he's healthy and great, etc. Yes, he's above average on size right now, but every kid will hit his own growth spurt at a different point in life, then when his voice starts yodeling and his boy parts become man parts, yet another growth spurt may emerge. Still, this kid Cameron was nearly a mirror image of Kole's size, but he could keep his head still, he was blowing spit bubbles, hands neatly propped on his mom's shoulder, all the things 4-month-old kids do; while Kole has nearly the exact body and head, but he's got the tongue stuck out, head bobbing around and hands flailing like an Irishman on St.Patty's Day.
The summer is winding down. It was a blast. Couldn't have picked a better time to have a kid. It's my down-time of the year with the show, and there were some weeks where I only went in for a day or two. I still never technically took a single day off this entire summer, as I continued to play catch-up with my off days from the year (at some points I'd work 25-35 straight days with travel all over the place, all without a single day off). Then the Olympics came along and provided some outstanding 2:00am-6:00am TV watching during feedings. Not to be all name-droppy, but I know probably about 50 athletes in the Olympics - covering their exploits in college, interviewing them, being chummy with them before and after events, meeting their parents, etc. Among my interviewees are gold-medal swimmers Garrett Weber-Gale, Aaron Peirsol, Ian Crocker and Brendan Hansen - all swimmers at the U. of Texas. I'm also buddies with Ben Askren, freestyle wrestler at 74 kilos (from U. of Missouri), Priscilla Lopes, hurdler from Canada (and U. of Nebraska), and distance runners Jorge Torres and Jenny Barringer (both from U. of Colorado). Still, I've caught myself watching badminton matches between a Spaniard and Mongolian at 4AM and been reasonably entertained. So, the timing of having a kid couldn't have been any better - and it all comes to a crashing halt next week. College football beckons.