One Year Today!!!!

Today is our one year wedding anniversary! I am so excited. It seems like only one year ago that we got married!

What a great day that was. Steph has been an inspiration to me this year. She makes me feel 'inspirated' every day (right, honey?) :)

So, what did we do for our anniversary? Well, actually, we did something very romantic indeed. We changed poop, and had feedings! Good times. The really good news is that poop and feedings are free, so that is about all we could afford anyway!

Even though times are a little tough, honey, I still would not change a single thing. I figured it took 30 years to meet someone like you, so what is another year or two after that, while we get on our feet. Now we have Jack and Naomi, it seems like our life is complete.

As I have always said...I wouldn't like to be broke with anyone else but you, sweetie!

Netflix Rocks!

When people have babies, they tend to slow down. They always say that the baby won't change things that they'll adapt the baby into their everyday lifestyle of going out to dinner, long walks, blah blah.

Well, I am here to tell you that is not entirely true. I mean, let me also state that this is not a bad thing. You see, Steph and I recently signed up for Netflix and we have loved staying home and watching movies with each other and baby Jack. It has been so cool just staying in and doing nothing. Really.

It is great to think we have a family now, and even though Naomi isn't with us full time, when she is here the feeling is magical and we all just sit down and chill together. Next week we should be receiving E.T.- The Extraterrestrial on DVD. I must have watched that when I was around Naomi's age and loved it. I think she is at the age now where she could watch it and enjoy it immensely.

Good times.

More Jack...

Okay, so after taking as many pictures of my son as I have, I think there are going to be a lot more pictures on this blog...

I guess when you have really little kids, you take more. SO here are some of 6 day old Jack.



His head is so cute. Look how round it is!



This is one of my favorites.



So now you can see just how darn cute he is....again. More to come I am sure.

Doing Fine...

Jack is absolutely adorable! He has been sleeping very well indeed and is enjoying life as a 5 day old baby!
We have been getting fairly decent sleep, although I could sleep through an earthquake, so I should say that I have been getting good sleep. Steph has been averaging 4 hours at a time before he wakes up. Don't worry, I have been there too sometimes awake, but I have been trying to pull my weight in other ways instead.
The house is immaculate.
It was great having everyone around for the week, and now that they are gone we have still had a steady stream of visitors. It is so weird seeing Steph as a mom, in a really really good way. I think she is suited to the role!

Pictures of Jack

Pictures of Our Son!

Here are the pictures of baby Jack and the various family members that were with us for the past few days. As you can see, he is damn cute!!

This was Autumn's way of letting the neighborhood know that we had an extra little man in the house. Very cute!



The "new" Date Family!



A great shot of "The Big Sister" and her dad!



This was the Big Sister all on her own. She was sooo excited to meet her and when she did she was really quiet, almost like she was so happy she was going to cry! It was absolutely adorable.



During his bath time...



...and afterwards...



The grandkids! Austin, Madison, Naomi, and Jack.



Nana enjoying her newest grandson!

BABY JACK IS HERE!!!!

Baby Jack is finally here.

I cannot say how proud I am of Steph for doing what she did with NO DRUGS. Here is the general timeline of July 14th, 2005.

8pm- the night before
Hospital call and tell us they might not have a bed for our scheduled induction in the morning. We should call before we come.

6am
Wake Up and call the hospital to see if they have a spare bed for us. They do. Major nerves kick in!!

8am
Arrive at hospital. Do paperwork, and get started with the IV bag to induce Steph. You need a IV because they have to increase fluids so you don't get sick when the pitocin kicks in. We had always wanted a 'natural' birth with no drugs, but as it was an induction they obviously had to start it artificially. I convinced Steph that this was okay, because this wouldn't count as drugs because they were not designed to ease pain, but to actually increase it by speeding things up. (Note for next child: this form of rationale to a mother about to embark on labor, even if technically correct, does NOT help the situation!!)

8:30am
The nurses add pitocin to the IV drip and everything is just peachy. Steph is in a great mood, laughing, joking, and chatty as all get up. This is called the First Stage of Labor.

10:30am
Doctor Polo (our doctor who we have been seeing for the past six months) arrives and says hi. We figured out this "hi" costs about $1300. He breaks her water. In the water there is a little bit of merconium, which is Jack's poop, so that means we have to have everything suctioned when he is born as a precaution, in case it has gotten into his lungs. The pitocin is definitely kicking in right now. Steph is feeling more contractions than she has in the past and it is all getting a little more tense. I am trying to keep it light hearted and we can still have some good times, but Steph 'has her game face on' at this point. This is called the transition. Pat and Tom arrive and say hi, and so does Joann, Austin, and Autumn. The nurses checked her and she is at 3cm.

12pm
Cell phones off, please! Steph is being very considerate about the whole thing and the various tests that are going on and such, but people in the room answering cell phones are starting to annoy her. A quick word from me, and that is fixed...no more cell phones. Labor is definitely getting more intense now. Back rubbing and feet rubbing is a must. Note for next child: remember to bring another tennis ball for massaging. It seemed to work wonders with her and that is the most important thing.
The nurses check her and she is at 6cm. Nice! Huge jump and a big morale booster for Steph.

2pm
Steph is doing really well but is definitely very uncomfortable and in a lot of pain. The first signs of self-doubt start to kick in. It isn't that she thinks she can't do it, but rather that the drugs are there to ease pain so why does she have to go through this? She 'only' dilated another centimeter, which was not the best news in he world. We had got so excited over a 3-4cm jump last time in two hours, that only jumping 1cm this time seemed so disappointing.
Drugs in a hospital are like alcohol in a hotel room mini-bar. They are there to be help, and are made to be VERY convenient. It isn't until afterwards that you realize you probably should have done them. I wanted to Steph to stop hurting, but I weighed that against how disppointed she would be afterwards if she gave up too easily.
I think this was where I figured out, I mean REALLY figured out, how important the coach was. I don't want to toot my own horn, but everything in that room at that point of labor became a psychological battle with Steph. She was in a lot of pain, and discomfort, and so any sort of 'bad' news would only hasten the demand for drugs if things got desperate. As the coach I was finding myself doing a lot more talking to Steph at this point. She was doing brilliant, but the temptation to ask for drugs had started to kick in.

3pm
We're pushing!! So the nurses came to check her and she was at 9+cm. Not quite the required 10cm for pushing but there was a little bit of cervix 'lip' that was still in the way. They decided that she was going to be ready soon, so they got her started. She was soooo relieved, too. After the birth she described this as the point that she could finally start 'fighting back' against the pain of the contractions. Before that point she just had to take it and fight through it. Now she was allowed to start pushing back against them which helped with the pain. She got a small second wind which was great to see.

4pm
WHERE IS THE DOCTOR?? Okay, so something else that threw us off was the fact that the doctor was not going to be there for the initial pushing stage. Steph had been pushing for over and hour and Doctor Polo was still not in the room. Well, that was partially our mistake about not realizing how long the pushing really takes. He is only there for the actual final 20 minutes. Everything else is for the nurses to take care of. Nurses by the way are awesome!! Make friends with them and they will treat you extra nice!

4:10pm
They can see Jack's head. This again, is a huge morale booster for ME and gives me more coaching strength, but Steph doesn't seem to care. Obviously, she was excited in hindsight, but she was absolutely exhausted. This was where our 'agreement' kicked in. We had made a deal that if she really wanted drugs then she would have to ask three separate times and could only ask during the 'non-contracting' stages. Then, as one final thing I decided to add last-minute, I said that she could only have drugs if she could promise me that she couldn't possibly make it through one more contraction. She couldn't promise that, so we continued. I asked her each time a contraction finished, and to her credit each time she said she couldn't promise. The nurses decided that he is close enough to call Doctor Polo. Good times.

4:35pm
Doctor Polo arrives, and says hi (another $1300!). He gets his gown on ($500) and gloves ($275) etc. Inside of about 2 minutes our room was turned from a comfortable birthing room, to a full scale, operating room. All the cabinets flipped round to expose various machines and things so that in the case of an emergency we could have everything there. There were big lights, operating tools and all. This was pretty damn cool I have to say. The 'hard' pushing started at this point. We were getting him out.

4:55pm
His head is out. Doctor Polo goes to town with the suctioning tools to get rid of any merconium that Jack might have inhaled during the birth. Slight tearing has occured. This was a second degree tear, which is not bad. The scale is 1 to 4 with 4 being the worst.

4:57pm
Jack is finally born!! He is beautiful. I didn't get to cut the cord as they had to whisk him over to the table to do another check for merconium. I was a little bit disappointed, but it was something I could get over when you weigh it against him being hurt or something. Safety first.

4:59pm
We get to hold him. Unbelievable experience. This was absolute love at it's best. He was gorgeous!

Pictures to come tomorrow....

The Day Before The Birth

We had this picture taken by Neal, the day before we were scheduled to go in to have Jack. This was our favorite of about 150 pics.



Very cute I thought.

Idiots On the Web

Why the hell would someone post some shit like this on a perfectly good blog.

I am referring to the comments on my good friend's blog. You can read the entire post here.

So some idiot has posted the 'N' word and left it anonymous. Why are there so many cowards in this world who use racism to get a rise out of people. Such dumb asses.

Racism is something I cannot stand in the world. I hope my daughter and soon-to-be new son do not grow up with these views. I fear my daughter might be infulenced by her mother, who has fairly racism views. Not strong outwardly spoken views, but the ones inside where she feels she, as a white person, is better than others. I come to ask myself if this is even worse than screaming it out. I think so, because it is deep seated.

I know my kids will get a whoopin' if they start that kind of attitude. Maybe I am more sensitive because I have a child arriving int he next 48 hours.

Call me crazy...

Great News About Baby Jack!

As you know, this Wednesday is our official due date. Steph went to the doctor last Thursday and he said that if she hasn't had Jack by then, he is going to induce as she is just going to get too huge!! That means that in 4 days I am going to meet my son! How cool is that!
There is a chance, obviously, with all things that are maternity-driven, that things may necessitate a C-section and that is something that we are dealing with. The doc wasn't so much 'concerned' with the size of the baby, but he was more concerned that Steph has done such a great job with her own health that the lump you see is ALL baby...whereas most of the preggo women have some fat and other bulk stored up there too...that she may have some minor issues if we let the baby go until she is ready.
Not good.
With that said, if anyone can pull this thing off, it is Steph. She has been so strong throughout the pregnancy that I just see her being a rock in the delivery room, too.
I'll keep you posted.

Contractions....

So we thought we were having contractions last night which was exciting. We even began timing them!! Not long now...

Tom & Pat Arrive

So, Tom and Pat arrive in town today for a week. It will be great to see them again. I was trying to think when the last time we saw them was and I think it was when we drove down in April. Long time.
I hope they get to see Steph a bunch and spend some time with her as she is looking forward to spending her last days of pregnancy with her mom. Jo is adamant that they stay with her, but I think it would be nice if she conceded on this one, and acted the same as Steph did when she was getting ready to have Austin. Steph thought that it was important to have her mom stay with her so she didn't make a big deal of it. I hope Jo does the same as it would seem her parents are getting pulled from both sides and the old guilt tripping is in full effect! I know they have grand kids in St Helens, but I think it would be nice if they stayed with us due to Steph's unique situation.
Ah....good times....

4th July, 2005

For the second year in a row we spent the 4th July with the soon-to-be Winners. Last year's event had a lot to live up to, and I am happy to say that all firework expectations we exceeded substantially!

It was great. Everyone was there, and Tim and Misty really throw a great party. The kids were letting off fireworks and having a blast.

Austin had to go home early though because he was getting freaked out by all the noise and wouldn't sleep. Unfortunately nothing changed as it was the same back in St Helens, but that is the chance you take. He was soooo cute though and is really becoming a 'little boy' now...mischief and all.



Tim and Misty's wedding is this coming weekend (10th) so everyone was in town for the wedding and decided to make a week of it, so all the family was in town.



Madison was there too, and we hardly saw her as she was off with Katie and Annie running around the house and playing. When Austin went home with Eric and Jo, we decided to take her with us so that she could see the fireworks and have a good time also. I think she had a blast.



Steph did well with little Jack still growing. She had to sit down quite a few times, but looked really cute in er outfit and had a good time while the fireworks were blowing up.



Autumn also came which was great too. It was good for her to come along and mingle with everyone, and so that she could spend some time with close friends during the holiday.



All in all it was a good time. It could only have been better if Naomi was there also, but we get her every other week, starting on July 18th! I can't wait. It is going to be so much fun!

Camping Pictures

I just realized that I forgot to post pictures from our camping trip on Father's Day.

We had a great time and really braved the elements as it spent about half the time pouring down with rain and generally being miserable. We had some great times however, and Naomi was an absolute angel the whole time as you can see...



What was reall great was that we let her do everything. She helped make the fire, cook some food (okay, smores count as food!), and cleaned up. She went out on the boat and always made sure she had her little life jacket on.



Like I mentioned, most of the time it was miserable weather-wise, but on the whole I think we had a good time and made the most of the conditions. Bottom-line, it was about spending tme outdoors, with Naomi and having some memories that will last a long time.



Good times!

Good Weekend

We had a great day today, as we ended up spending time at the coast with each other.

We had a nice date at the Shilo Inn, in Seaside, and did some other things as well. Seaside was gearing up for the summer holiday, and with the 4th July this coming week, I think it is going to get crazy.



Walking along the shops was pretty cool, and we bought Eric's birthday present, as well as a gift for Nana and Papa when they arrive this week.