This is what we do... all the time.

Carter eats, sleeps, poops, and repeats. This routine cycles itself every 2-4 hours and has been doing so for almost 3 weeks. I'm tired and Cindy's more tired, but even with Carter being largely responsible for most of this exhaustion, our waking time is still spent staring at him.

That picture is right after bath-time with Carter. This was his first time without the "hospital recommended" sponge bath to protect his umbilical cord stump. we were told to expect 2-3 weeks for it to fall off. He waited 4 days. So- we bathed him and stared at him the whole time. Didn't even bother to look towards the camera either- all eyes were/are on him. I've tried figuring out what I'm looking at when I stare at him, but I really can't describe it. Carter's focusing more so now it feels like he's actually looking back at me but it wouldn't matter either way.

I thought it was just a Mom/Dad thing... but after going through pictures tonight, I've notice a bit of a trend:

So Carter is either irresistible, or newborn babies are just meant to be stared at. Either way, being a dad is great; sleep or no sleep.

More Carter!

Well... I wish there were more hours in the day- it might help me catch up on sleep. So far, Carter is doing really well, but he hasn't caught on to my pleading for him to sleep through the night. He does fall asleep quickly though and his quiet awake times are the highlight of my days

I have some more pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/burkmans/MorePicturesOfCarter

so feel free to enjoy more Carter-goodness.

Once things settle down a bit more, we'll have time to actually blog AND put multiple photos on here.

He's Here!

Well... the wait is over, and our baby boy has arrived!

Carter Louis Burkman
was born at 7:34pm on August 7th.
He weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces
and measured in at 20.5 inches.

His apgar tests were high (8 and 9 for those who know what that means... I only kind of do.) and he's as healthy as can be. Cindy is doing well and was absolutely amazing during labor. We got into the hospital at around 12pm because her water broke. She started with contractions around 12:30 and Carter was here 7 hours later!

I never understood what people meant when they talked about how special it is to see your baby for the first time - I don't think I'll ever be the same, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Here's a link to more pictures of little Carter.

http://picasaweb.google.com/burkmans/CarterLouisBurkman

I'll throw captions on em later and add to the collections when we're all back from the hospital.