We have had many milestones with HG in these last 11-plus weeks. First casts, last casts. First splints, first AFOs, and first arms movements. With all those milestones, unique to HG, it’s nice to have a milestone that a bit more generic and common: shots.

Yes, HG has had his first round of shots! A normal, common milestone, that gives me a sigh of relief that we’ve reached.

When they were smaller, anytime that Canaan or Abby were sick, their moms would always offer to keep them during my weekend. I never took them up on it. In fact, there have been at least two occasions in the last 14 years that I have had to clean up puke in the car once we made it home from pickup.

The kids, their moms, and everyone else would always apologize, always thinking that being sick was taking away from my time with them. And sure, a sick kid may have changed weekend plans, but a sick kid always meant normal. It was normal “Dad stuff” that I had a sick kid and had to take care of them. Had to be up half the night with them. I hated my kids were sick, but I embraced those moments like all the others because that was my chance to be Dad. That was my moment of normality in an often abnormal life.

I apply the same mentality to today. Yes, HG had shots, and he’s cranky, maybe a little warm, and we’ll likely be up with him way into the early morning. (Update: We were) Guess what though? We KNOW why he’s cranky. We KNOW why he’s running a fever. We know what’s going on. Something that we’ve not been able to say a ton of these last few months.

The life I’ve had with Canaan and Abby had already taught me to appreciate the smaller things, the smaller moments that most people write off, look past, and forget the next day. Everything with HG has only doubled down on that mentality. Every milestone, especially for HG, is important and monumental, but these more typical and mundane milestones that help remind us he’s still just a regular ole newborn baby boy, are all that much sweeter.