Kate's Haircut

Kate decided that it was high time she chopped her hair short again. She often does this every few years just to clean it up a bit. It also gives her a chance to donate her excess follicles to Locks of Love. So for your viewing pleasure, here are the before and after pictures...

BEFORE:





And AFTER:





Kate wasn't sure how much she actually got lopped off, but since Locks of Love requires a minimum of 10 inches, it's probably quite a bit. The Great Clips that Kate visited even did the haircut for free since the hair was being donated. Pretty cool.

I think it's a cute haircut myself, though I admit to loving my wife regardless of her style. I do think that with this haircut that Kate looks a lot more like her mother and her sister Aileen. The resemblance isn't as noticeable when she wear her hair long. Funny which features tend to draw the eye, isn't it?

Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a great day!

It's a Girl!

I'm a little late on the update here but it's been a week of adjustment and catching up on sleep. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

On Monday December 14th, 2009 at 6:49am, Kate and I welcomed our beautiful daughter into the world. Her full name is Teresa Claire...though we plan on calling her Tessa. Her birth was easily the most wonderful thing that I have ever had the privilege of witnessing. Her addition to our home truly makes us a real family...and I for one count myself as immensely blessed.



When I got home from hanging out with my hoodlum friends on Saturday night, Kate mentioned that she was feeling something that could be contractions. We noticed that her belly got very tight when she felt these contractions...but we didn't want to jump the gun just yet. Instead, we decided that we would go to bed as planned and just see how the contractions progressed through the night. This was especially because at the time the contractions were very irregular and spaced pretty far apart. We were hopeful that this was Early Labor and that we would soon be entering the downhill slope toward childbirth.

The night was rough - the pain of the contractions got to the point that Kate was having trouble sleeping (which is saying something!). We got ourselves out of bed (having had minimal sleep) around 6am to start timing the contractions. After about an hour, we were fairly certain that they were regular enough to warrant a call to our midwife.

As it turns out, the midwife on duty (Dian) was already at Poudre Valley Hospital, having finished delivering someone else's baby the previous night. There was a little trouble getting in touch with her but when we finally got her on the phone, she wasn't absolutely sure if Kate was needing to come into the hospital yet. She instead suggested that we meet her at the Womancare clinic so she could give Kate a physical examination and make a judgment call at that time.

At the clinic, Dian told us that the baby's head was very low (the +2 position), meaning that we were well on our way toward the baby's birth. However, Kate's cervix (think of it as the exit door to the womb) was positioned behind the baby's head. That meant that the baby was pushing against the wall of the womb but wasn't putting any pressure where she should be. Dian suggested that we head home and try a few techniques to get things adjusted inside Kate. She also said to call if things got really strong; otherwise, she would check in with us at noon.

At home, Kate tried several different positions, always breathing, trying to get her interior adjusted properly. We discovered that a hot bath did wonders for helping her withstand the pain of the contractions...and she was even able to doze off for a half hour or so. By the time Dian called us at noon, though, the pain of the contractions was to the point that Kate was having some trouble walking and talking. I was really ready to take her to the hospital...if only so that there would be some professionals to help us evaluate what was happening inside her. Dian agreed and called ahead to have a birthing room ready for us.

We drove down to the PVH with our pre-packed labor bags and headed up to the birthing center. The nurses were expecting us and ushered us into our room...which we were glad to see came with its own jacuzzi-bathtub. The nurse (Patty) hooked Kate up to some monitors which let us see the baby's heart rate and the strength and pattern of Kate's contractions. We were glad to see that the baby was perfectly calm inside of Kate, even during the worst of the contractions. However, little progress had been made in shifting Kate's cervix around to the proper position.

A few hours passed, with Kate walking about, trying out different positions, soaking for almost an hour in the jacuzzi, and doing wonderful with her breathing techniques. I tried to stay close to her at all times, offering encouraging words or touches. To my surprise and disorientation, at some points during her contractions, Kate did not want me to touch her! This was jarring as in the past my touch has always been enough to calm Kate down. She would explain to me later that her body felt so under pressure that even my lightest touch felt like a lead weight on her body. She never snapped at me or anything...and made it very clear that she still wanted me nearby...but I only rarely tried touching or holding her.

Early into the evening, Dian reported that the cervix had finally moved into a good position. Now we would need to hope that the contractions would start putting pressure on it and force it to dilate properly. Kate was at about 1-2cm around Sunday evening. The nurse (Brittany this time and later Dorothy) and Dian left us alone to try to get some sleep and to let Kate's body do its thing, stopping in every now and again to check the baby's heartbeat.

Kate and I didn't get much sleep. The contractions were enough that Kate only managed some real rest when she was in the hot water bath. I managed an hour late into the night...but the adrenaline really didn't let me relax. I did partake in the complimentary room service that the hospital provided, ordering up a burrito with green chili for dinner. That was the first real meal I'd had since about 9am that morning. Kate of course wasn't hungry at all, though we did manage to get some smoothie and a strawberry milkshake into her system. In the meanwhile, she was drinking about two or three cups of water every hour. That was one of my jobs...to make sure she had plenty of water to keep her hydrated.

Around midnight, we discovered that after four or five hours, Kate had only dilated about 1 or 2 centimeters. This was distressing as we had been hoping for more progress than that. Everything seemed to be taking forever! Dian was very calm and told us that we had a couple of options. First, we could keep doing things naturally and see if Kate would dilate normally...though the current rate of progress indicated that this could potentially take another twenty four hours to get to the serious part of Active Labor. Second, Dian could manually break Kate's water, which would very quickly kick her labor into high gear. Dian warned that while this would speed things up, it would also mean a lot of pain in a short time.

Kate and I chose to stall a bit. We continued to have Kate soak in hot water, try different positions, and so forth to see if we could get things happening on our own. Sadly, after about an hour or two, Kate had only progressed about half a centimeter. Knowing that another day of this kind of work could leave Kate too exhausted when it came time to push, we opted to have Dian manually break Kate's water. We did have the option of having Kate take some narcotics to let her sleep and regain some strength, but we couldn't be sure if that would really help...and it still meant a longer period of Active Labor.

The breaking of Kate's water was pretty straight forward; it didn't even cause her any discomfort. As Dian predicted, Kate's contractions started getting extremely strong and steady. The pattern was obvious and she did get a few minutes to catch her breath between them. (Before this, Kate might have a strong contraction but it wouldn't fully go away, leaving her with a dull and constant pain for hours that would occasionally spike with a contraction.)

Kate was amazing. She kept moving. She kept drinking water. She kept up her breathing. She tried standing and swaying during contractions. She lay on her side during some of them. She did at least one more hot water soak. After just a couple of hours, Dian reported that Kate had made great progress, dilating to around 7cm in that time.

It wasn't too long after that when Kate said she was starting to feel the urge to push. Within an hour of Dian's last check, we were getting Kate onto the bed and into a good pushing position. Kate ended up pushing for close to four hours! This was the hardest thing for me to watch because it was so obviously painful for Kate. But when I saw the very top of the baby's head, I doubled my encouragement to her. I know that she was getting frustrated with our constant declarations of "I can see the baby's head! You're almost there!" For her, it was as if we were lying or that she wasn't getting anywhere. She was being hampered by the cycle of contractions - she would have a good strong one then a long gap before a fairly weak one...and then it would repeat. It was hard for her to make real progress for a while.

After a couple of changes of position, Kate started to get the hang of pushing. The main issue was that she would push hard, then take several gulps of air...which somehow drew the baby back inside a bit. She soon learned how to just grab a big breath and push again. It seemed like Kate would be pushing forever (and had been pushing forever) when suddenly...and I do mean suddenly...there was the baby!

As a side note, I should say that my first inclination was not to watch the actual birth of the baby. But when it started to happen, something came over me...and I had to watch. I'm glad I did because, as I said above, it was the most amazing thing. It was a miracle actually happening before my eyes. I'm never going to forget it.

Dian immediately placed the baby on Kate's belly...and the look on my wife face at the moment - all gasping and laughing and almost crying - was almost as amazing as the actual birth. The nurse Dorothy told me that I could check the gender of the baby and we found out that we had a beautiful, healthy little girl! Kate asked me which of our name ideas I wanted to use and that's when we chose Teresa Claire...or Tessa for short.

Tessa was immediately hungry and so Kate (with some help from Dorothy) started to nurse. Meanwhile, Dian had me cut the cord - another thing that I wasn't sure I wanted to do until that very moment. There was also a good deal of blood and Dian was soon calling in a couple of extra nurses. As it turned out, there was still some pieces of membrane that were still stuck inside of Kate so Dian had a doctor (wish I could remember her name) come in to 'clean out' the stuck pieces. There was also a small bit of tearing so Dian added a few stitches to finish Kate up.

While Dian and the others were working on Kate, I remember thanking God that Tessa had arrived safely and praying that I wouldn't lose Kate at this point either. Turns out I shouldn't have worried as Kate was in excellent hands. In truth, it all looked worse than it probably was.

Tessa was measured and checked and got her first bath (more of a sponge-bath) from the nursery nurses. She weighed in at 7 pounds and 6 ounces, which was a great weight. Kate was expecting a bigger baby given our family histories. Tessa also measured 19 3/4 inches long...so all in all, a really good size!

Once Kate was cleaned up and resting comfortably and all the initial checks were done on Tessa, Dian and the nurses left me and Kate alone for a little while to give us time to bond with our new daughter. I don't mind admitting that at this point the enormity of what we had been given finally hit me. Combined with the physical and mental exhaustion, I simply broke down and wept. I told Kate that I was so proud of her and amazed by what God had given us. I told her that I was terrified of the responsibility that we now bore. I almost couldn't believe how beautiful our daughter was. Bless her, Kate just held us both and told me that she had absolute faith in our ability as parents...and that God would never give us a burden that He didn't think we could shoulder.

After a couple more hours and a few more checkups, Kate and I were transferred to the recovery ward. I remember that the first thing I noticed was that our new room had a window; I hadn't realized how long I had gone without sunlight until just then. We settled in and a series of very friendly nurses came by to take care of us. It was at this point that I started trying to make phone calls and emails to friends and family to announce the good news.

Kate's appetite was back in force within a few hours of the delivery. Fortunately, the PVH cafeteria has some excellent options for the room service...and there was even a special menu for new mothers and fathers. We could both have a 'gourmet' meal on the house. Kate ended up devouring a generous lobster and steak plate while I had a stuffed chicken and rice meal. I ducked out that afternoon to tend to the cats at home (it's nice to live only five minutes from the hospital!) but came back to stay the night with Kate and Tessa.

That first night was a little rough. Tessa cried for a while and refused to be consoled. Kate and I were so tired that we were at our wit's end and actually called the nurse for help. The nurse swaddled Tessa up tight and held her a short while...and Tessa calmed right down. Or at least enough that Kate and I managed a reasonably decent night's sleep.

We checked out of the hospital the next day. Our intention was to check out in the early afternoon...but a mis-communication with our family practitioner's office delaying our doctor from visiting. Dr Kauffman came rushing in around 6pm, apologizing for the delay, and gave Tessa her final checkup. After getting the thumbs-up, we took our baby home.

At this point, we're still getting used to Tessa's habits and patterns...and I think she's getting used to ours. We were fortunate to have Kate's Dad Brendan visiting for that first week to fix us dinner and generally take care of anything we needed. By the end of the week, we felt fit enough to start making the rounds of local friends and show off the wondrous creation we made. (Although we've since been instructed by Dian to have Kate take it easy a bit more!)

I continue to be surprised at how natural it's become to care for Tessa. It's hard for me to imagine a time that I was cautious and frightened of a little infant. She's easy to carry and hold. Changing diapers and cleaning spit-up doesn't faze me. I figure there must be something pre-programmed in our brains that kicks in when a child arrives, but Kate says that it's because I was meant to be a Daddy. :-)

Looking back - even after just a week or so since her birth - it's already hard to remember the worst aspects of the labor and birth. The joy and love that has filled our home now just pushes all memory of painful ordeal right out the window. We really do consider ourselves blessed to have such a beautiful miracle as part of our lives. I for one intend to spend the rest of my life making sure we deserve her.




Thanks for joining me in welcoming Tessa to the world and to our family!

And as always thank you for reading and I hope you're having a very good day.

Pregnancy Update 4

As of this post, Kate and I have roughly a week or so before Baby's arrival. That's assuming that Baby agrees to pay heed to the scheduled due date...which I'm fairly certain he/she will not. In fact, if Baby has his/her parents' knack for timeliness, Baby won't make an appearance until Christmas! :-)

Kate's doing very well. She hasn't had any discomfort that the pregnancy books say can be normal. She does get tired very quickly...and seems to need a sit-down rest after even 10-15 minutes of activity. The only ailment she's suffered from recently is a PUPPP rash, but a little cortisone and some benadryl and she was fine in a couple of days.

Here's a pic of her from this week:



Getting big, isn't she? :-)

It's been extremely cool to be able to feel Baby moving around in Kate's belly. I've been able to feel feet, legs, and even Baby's rump pressing up against Kate's skin. Baby still tends to keep quiet when Kate's moving...but gets active when she's sitting still. Baby also reacts to noise, particularly music...but a couple of times he/she gave a twitch at Daddy's voice. :-D I'm also able to 'play' with Baby by poking or tapping Kate's belly and getting a kick or twitch in response. Oddly enough, Kate doesn't always like this game. ;-)

Another amusing twist is that Kate hasn't hit any sort of 'nesting' phases. In fact, it's been yours truly that's been anxious about making sure everything is ready for Baby's arrival. I was starting to scheme up complex plans to re-arrange the entire living room and office...and I was panicking because I didn't know how I was going to get everything done! Fortunately, Kate was able to talk me down and remind me that we don't need a huge re-structuring of the house just for one tiny tot. With that in mind, I reined by in plans to something simpler and much more manageable, which we finished up last weekend.

We're pretty much ready with furniture and supplies, having stopped at Sam's Club to pick up diapers and Babies-R-Us for other tools of the parental trade. In addition, our friend Deb and Rick gave us a changing table (which the cats think is a new fort to play on) and a car seat for the kiddo. And (best of all) my folks made us a new rocking cradle for Baby! They also brought up a glider chair for Kate, although Chiral appears to have adopted it as her own chair.

Here's some pictures:







We've finished our childbirth and breastfeeding classes (although we'll have a few weeks of postpartum classes sometime in January). We've also got Baby's baptism all scheduled out - I believe Kate's folks will be out for that event.

At our last visit to the midwives at Womancare, we were told that Baby was doing well. His/her head is pointed downward, but his/her face is looking forward. But there are some easy exercises that Kate's been doing to help encourage Baby to turn around and face the proper way. Other than that, the midwives have pronounced Baby as perfectly healthy...and looking pretty comfortable despite the squashed living space inside of Mommy. :-)

So all is well right now! We're both very excited about Baby's upcoming arrival...but Kate admits that Baby is probably easier to manage where he/she is right now. :-)

Hopefully, the next post will be a birth announcement!

As always, thanks for reading...and I hope you're having a great day!

Four Years With Kate

Kate and I have been married exactly four years today! :-)



We were just talking last night about how it both doesn't seem like we've been together that long...AND how it feels like we've been with each other forever. We've had a wonderful marriage. I won't say we didn't have a stumble in the path now and again, but love each other very much and always make things work. That's what it's all about.





So happy anniversary, my love! Thank you for giving me four wonderful years of love and companionship! You honestly make my life complete...and I hope to make you happy for decades to come - just as you have made me happy since the day you told me "Yes, I'll marry you."

(Okay, in actuality, Kate said, "Well, if you really want me to" when I proposed but that's beside the point!) :-)

For those of you curious, Kate and I are taking a half-day at work today. If the afternoon is pleasant, we'll be out for a nice long walk. Then tonight, we're going to see "The King and I" at the Union Colony Dinner Theater down in Greeley. It should be a blast!

Thanks for reading...and I hope you're having as good a day as we are. :-)

Pregnancy Update 3

Okay, I have to admit that at this point in Kate's pregnancy, there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of 'wow-bang' activity. The visits to the midwives at Womancare are getting, well quite frankly, a bit dull. We walk in, they take a few measurements, check the heartbeat, ask if she's having any troubles, and off we go!

Don't get me wrong! I'm glad that the pregnancy is thus far rather 'boring.' The idea of impending parenthood is exciting enough without an extra-special 'thrills.'

I will however share this picture of Kate and her growing belly. This picture was taken on Oct 1st and Kate is about 30 1/2 weeks along.



This puts her into her third trimester, which means we're on the downhill slope to baby's arrival in December. As such, since Kate's a big fan of being prepared (I am as well; she's just better at it than me), we're starting to get some of our ducks in a row before baby makes his/her appearance.

For one thing, we've signed up for birthing classes through the Foothills Childbirth Education Association. We had originally hoped to get into a specialized class that taught the Bradley method of husband-coached childbirth, but the scheduling and timing didn't work out. So instead, we're reading a book entitled "Husband-Coached Childbirth" and taking this class through the FCEA for a general introduction about what to expect from the birth.

The class actually had its first session on Wednesday this week...and it was very informative! Okay, so sue me...but I honestly had no idea how the internals of a woman's body worked during childbirth. In this first class, our instructor Krista gave us a crash course in the bodily functions that occur during childbirth. I won't go into it all here, but I have to admit, I am seriously impressed with how God has put women together to allow babies to be born! Everything just operates like a smooth machine. Sure, there's always the chance of a glitch, but it's almost beautiful how it all functions.

Sorry, I'll skip over the waxing poetic here. :-)

So we went over the physiological aspect of childbirth and some general talk about relaxing during childbirth. Krista didn't lie to us - she told us that childbirth would be messy and painful, but there are things we can do to help ease the pain. The key seems to be to trust that your body knows what it's doing...so just let it. Don't focus on the part that's automatic; concern yourself with anything else that adds to your comfort. Krista and the FCEA seem to be big fans of husbands and partners helping with the birth and with minimal use of drugs - basically as natural as you can if what they'd prefer.

Krista finished with an anecdote about how one never forgets all those details related to the birth of one's child. Even when the child is grown up and getting ready to graduate from high school like her daughter is. She got rather sniffly and teary-eyed during this story...and none of us could blame her! It really hit home the kind of love that we're going to be bringing into our lives.

Oops - waxing again. Moving on. :-)

We've also started talking with our church about getting the baby baptized. We met last night with Deacon Bill and his wife from SEAS Parish. We'll need to go to a class at the church next month, and after that we'll probably plan on having the baptism in January. We're still debating whether we want to have the baptism during a regular Mass or a private ceremony. We're leaning a little bit toward the public one. We would have liked to set it up so the baptism occurred on a holiday weekend - to make it easier for Kate's mother to visit - but sadly, I'm scheduled to work both holiday weekends in January and February. In any case, we'll figure something out.

As part of the process, we chose our friends Debbie and Rick to be godparents of our baby. They are wonderful, good-hearted people that go to the same church as we do. Debbie worked with both me and Kate at the library for some years before Jason - their charming boy - was born. We've made an effort to stay in touch, get together for dinner, that sort of thing.

Here's a picture of Deb, Rick, and Jason at one of their friend's wedding:



Other than that, it's business as usual. Kate regularly feels the baby moving, usually when she's not. It's too the point that occasionally I'm lucky enough to feel a kick or push when my hand rests on Kate's belly. It's the coolest feeling! :-)

That's all to report for now.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you're having a great day!

Happy Birthday to Kate

Today is Kate's birthday! (I won't say which one - that's her prerogative!) Everyone please join me in wishing my beloved wife a very happy birthday today!



We unfortunately both have to work today so we can't do anything fun until tonight. However, Kate is thrilled 'cause she gets to go back to the new Council Tree library branch and continue to unload new books onto shelves. Yes, that's right - my wife thinks that shelving books is fun. :-)

We're planning on going out to dinner tonight at a semi-fancy restaurant called Fish. Yep, that's it - just "Fish." Kate's been wanting to try this seafood spot in Old Town for a while so here's her opportunity.

That's all I've got for now - I'm posting this just before the Longmont library opens so I'd better go and do my friendly lab monitor thing now. :-)

Thanks for reading - hope you're having a great day!

Kate's Artistic Side

Just a fast post because I wanted to share how my lovely wife does indeed have an artistic side. As anyone who knows Kate would know, she loves to bake. Around the holidays, she simply MUST bake a large batch of gingerbread. And she can't just serve the gingerbread as is - oh, no! She must decorate them with homemade icing as well.

Here are some samples of her work:





Oh, and here's a pic of the artiste communing with her muse:



And just for the fun of it, here's some pix of other treats we made over the holidays...

Buried cherry cookies:



Mint chocolate brownies:



And Betsy Brownies:



I think I'm going to try to get recipes for these treats up on my recipe blog, so keep an eye out for them there!

As always, thanks so much for reading and have yourself a great day!

Zoo Trip

Today (Friday) Kate and I met my sister and her family down in Denver for a few hours at the Denver Zoo.



Kate and I arrived a little early so we took the opportunity to check out the wolf exhibit...




...and some of the reptiles...





Aw, don't those skinks look so cute cuddled up like that? :-)

When Dianna, Heath, and the kids arrived, we got ourselves organized and headed out, stopping first by the lion exhibit.



Julie volunteered to be in charge of the map. Here she shows us where we are (the lion exhibit obviously)...



And here she compares one of the big "You Are Here" maps to her own carried one...



Everest seemed to have fun too. Here's a few pix of him with his Aunt Kate...

Having some lunch...



Posing by the water buffalo statues...



And looking at the duck pond...



Later, the kids and even the adults (sans me who shot pictures instead) took a ride on the carousel!




After the carousel, Everest was pointing out the safari train that rolled by - didn't get a picture of it though...



Though he did keep calling the train a "bus." :-)

At one point, Julie spotted a tiny little mouse snooping around...



...and Everest tried to feed it some of his snacks. :-)



Another fun time was when Dianna and I took Everest in to visit the lorikeets...



Dianna bought some nectar to feed the lorikeets, who lapped the stuff up!



Other cool animals that we saw included a coatl...



A grizzly bear...



A kangaroo (napping)...



And an elephant...



Now for some rapid fire pictures of us at the zoo...









After the zoo, we stopped in at a pizzeria that Emily recommended to Kate, called Pasquini's.



I'd say the show-stealer there was the massive calzones that Kate and Dianna ordered. They were huge - way bigger than either of them realized! :-)



Everest had his first taste of bruschetta with tomatoes and cheese.



And I guess we'll finish up with a picture of me and Julie at the restaurant...



Keep an eyeball out on my YouTube channel too! I made a number of videos of various animals while we were there and I'm hoping to get 'em posted on YouTube sometime soon.

As always, thanks for reading and hope you're having a great day!