A Great deal... of pain!

My little sister Kara is working at a Vanity store in the mall for the summer. I decided that I would go down yesterday while she was working and get myself a pair of non maternity jeans that actually fit. Its not that my maternity jeans aren't cute, its more a matter of my mind knowing I am wearing something that doesn't have an elastic around the waist!

So I hauled Michael and Little E down to the mall and Michael went off to look at manly things. I got into Vanity and began looking through the jeans. Within two minutes Little E had a blowout all over her cute new outfit and I had to walk halfway across the mall to change her. (using up the last of my wipes in my diaper bag!)

Finally I got back to the store and while Kara adored the baby I began trying on clearance items. I was able to get a shirt for $6 and another for $2. Then came time for the jeans. I found a pair for $10, but while I was trying them on I put my bare foot down on the floor of the changing room and felt searing pain. I thought I had stepped on a strait pin, but when I lifted my foot there was one of those ink units sticking out of it. You know, the kind they use to keep people from stealing clothes. I tried to pull it out and it was totally stuck in my foot. When I finally pulled it out I was shocked to see that it was as thick as a small nail and about an inch long! THAT THING WENT AN INCH INTO MY FOOT!!!

Well, I got the jeans and assured Kara that I was ok and not going to sue the store that she was working for. It really didn't hurt that much, but I do have to walk on the side of my foot now. The only thing I am upset about is that Michael doesn't think these jeans are cute, instead he thinks they are "comfortable." Sigh, oh well you can't have everything I guess. At least they were a great deal.

Here is a movie of Little E with the hiccups. :) She is so cute!

Off Into The Wild Blue Yonder

So about a week and a half ago my father-in-law gives me a call and asks if I would like to go fly in his airplane down to the Grand Canyon with him for next week end. We are going to go hiking and get to see some of the amazing Geology that most people either never get to see or don't realize what it is when they see it! How amazing is that! We leave tomorrow (June 7th) If we can avoid the thunder storm that is due to hit around 8:00am. I'm told that flying in a small airplane is a very interesting experience compared to an airline. For one thing you don't have people's knees pressing in your back, no free drinks, oh and occasionally when you hit a little turbulence instead of a small vibration you get a sudden 10 foot drop! I usually don't get motion sick but as a preventative measure I plan on being doped up on Dramamine (an anti-motion sick pill that is supposed to have a "less drowsing effect" I'm guessing the older brand was just a bunch of horse tranquilizers). So I'm hoping to see something of our 5 hour flight.

For those of you who were curious Jenn and Little E are doing great! Though I have been noticing some very interesting similarities in their behaviors. Jenn groggily wakes up and feeds her groggy baby and they go right back to sleep, leaving me with no one to play with but Trek.

Little E has invented a new game. It's called "Can mommy or daddy change me before I can poop on them" She is very good at it too! It usually goes down like an old western show down. Baby laying on the changing table exuding stinkyness, her dark eyes focused (on who knows what). There is Daddy, trigger finger nervously fingering the Velcro, trusting that his legendary speed can save him, a shrill whistle a ya ya ya, and tumble weed rolls aimlessly by. A sudden blur of motion starts this deadly game of speed vs. bowel control. Daddy has the straps off and is sliding the fresh diaper underneath, Little E the stinky is screwing up her eyes! Face turning red! There is trouble in Timbuktu! Daddy has finished with the wiping and is cranking the last strap on her whiny the pooh newborns into place when an explosion erupts!!! Is he safe? Did he make it in time? Yes!!! Daddy is the winner....this time. Let us not forget about what happened to mom. She's still washing her new shirt hoping that it will come off. Oh the drama and excitement of a new born! By the way Jenn wanted me to take some artistic photos of Lilly, let me know what you think.
-Michael

No more pencils no more books no more students dirty looks!!!

I'm done!!!!! I can't believe the year is over it went so fast. I think I'm getting better, at the end of this year there wasn't the uncontrollable face twitching, 0-angry in .05 seconds, or the desperate need to lock myself in my man cave until the shaking stopped. I think it is sad that with 90 plus students that I didn't get to know some of them better. Some kids are so quiet that they go under the radar. One boy was this way, we hardly had a one on one conversation the whole year, until he started coming in for some early morning tutoring. I found out that he was really funny and very smart, he caught on so fast. It made me stop to wonder how many other opportunities had I missed, students that I could have gotten to know. I am ending up this year wishing I had more time. But isn't that life though, so many chances and potential experiences and only so much time. Any way I'm loving getting to spend so much time with Jenn and Little E. I have to tell you she has the cutest hiccups, they sound like a little frog croaking. Here are some of our latest pics. Jenn wants to make a book of pictures of the hand of the special people in her life holding her hand. And by the way when mom was here she wanted to try slicing a milk jug with a sword. I have to tell you she was perfect!
-Michael

Lots of Great Pictures!

Here you go Amber! Now stop bugging me!! j/k

Bath time! How sad!!!

A visit from Little E's cousin Alexis and her friend Josh

Jeepers! Creepers! Where'd you get them Peepers?

Glow little glow worm! Glimmer Glimmer!

Grandma Phyllis' first visit

Getting ready to leave the hospital

Billy Goat Gruff and the Glow Worm

Well, I am back and feeling like a new woman!!!! I can't believe how lucky our little family has been. Michael's mom came down and has been a total angel helping out around the house and with the baby, and my mom is right next door. I am so spoiled!

I have had a really great recovery. I honestly feel a million times better than I did while I was pregnant. I can eat whatever I want without thinking, "how will this taste when I deal with it again on the way back up?" Its wonderful.

Our darling baby has had a bit of jaundice that we have been battling. So on Saturday the doctor sent us up a Billy Blanket. It is a box connected to a light that we have to keep against her skin about 23 of the 24 hours in the day. The light is a fun color of blue that helps to break down the Billy Rubin in her bloodstream. When we hooked it up we came up with a new nickname for her. She is now our little glow worm.

We also had a grand time giving Little E her first bath. It was really fun, for us at least. She seemed to think that we just wanted to torture her. :( But her hair has a lot of natural curl in it! It looks strait most of the time, but when you get it wet it curls into a hundred little ringlets.

Little E is turning out to be the perfect little baby. She only wakes up twice during the night to feed, and then goes right back to sleep. We have been working hard to help her stay awake and happy as much as we can during the day, so that she will rest more at night. But when she does wake up its really sweet because she smiles a lot. Its always at something in midair, we think that maybe she is seeing some of her old friends or something. :)

May 21st 2008!

On may 21st at 3:37 am Jenn gave birth to our daughter! Isn't she adorable!! She started having regular contractions at 2:30 pm on may 20th but they were 7 minutes apart and not very intense, in fact she had a hard time even deciding if she had had one or not. Jen had been dilated to a 3 1/2 for a week or so, and earlier that day she had her membranes stripped. It seemed as if fate was converging that day since it was a full moon, a low pressure system had just come in, and to top it all off that's right a thunder and lightning storm was brewing! Jenn's family decided to help things along by taking her on a vigorous walk at around 10:00 pm. We got about 25 yards out of the house when Jenn suddenly stopped. Connie's first thought was " You disobedient child! Let's get a move on we've got some walking to do and I want to see my grand baby!" Then Jenn informed us that her water had just broke! We waddled back to the house in top waddling gear. After that the contractions kicked into high gear coming at a regular 4 minutes apart and with power too. Soon we were rushing off to hospital! It was so hard for me not to gun it and go 100 the whole way there! We got all checked in at around 12:00. When the nurses check her she was at a loose 6 and she could feel a head full of hair. They filled the jacuzzi tub for her and in about an hour she went from a 6 to a 9 1/2 ! She would have stayed longer but she let slip that she was getting the urge to push. So we zipped her back to the room. I have to tell you it was amazing. The mid wife just let her body do what it was made to do, no drugs or other interventions were needed. The feeling in the room was calm and focused at the same time. There were no doctors rushing around, just quiet intensity as Jenn did her amazing stuff. After the baby was born Jenn said "That was it? I thought it would be harder". I couldn't believe the feeling of holding that bundle of pink and squirming arms and legs and knowing she was ours! She was 20 inches long and 8lb and 1 oz. and a very healthy baby, she is very musical too. She was so full things to say grunting about this and that. She has a great blond Mohawk!! Mother and daughter are still in the hospital and might come home today or tomorrow. I'm sure Jenn will want to write about it from her point of view soon. But until then this will have to do.
 -Michael

Maternity Shots

Well we finally have Internet again! We are all moved into our new home and will be putting up pictures of out new digs shortly. In the meantime we hope this will help fill you in. We have a wonderful neighbor who wanted to practice her photography. So she asked if we could model for her. Well we were happy to oblige. Let us know what you think of her work so we can give her some good feedback.

-Michael