Old Faithful

Hi friends!  I guess you thought I died.  Close to it, we had a baby.

Sorry for not posting but little Katie has been having a hard time with reflux.  Just like our Taylor did when she was little.  We have her on a second round of stomach medicine, a specially formulate (hand compounded by a pharmacist) and hoping she will get some sleep.  She cries most of the time.

Poor Marie has had hardly any sleep and I feel very sorry for her.  Luckily her friends have been bringing meals and will stop and visit her every day so she does get some company.

In the mean time Katie drinks as much milk as she can so that her stomach doesn't hurt.  Usually too much.  Then it comes right back up.  Just like Old Faithful, the geyser.  I'm tired of changing shirts.

So much has gone on.  Tons of doctor visits.

I'll try to catch up more this weekend, but in the mean time, pray for little Katie to get better.

The Birth: Part 2

After waiting for almost an hour while they gave my wife and epidural they finally came and got me.  I went through an area that looked like a janitor's closet and into the operating room.  Dr. Harris was cracking jokes while I marveled at the technology.  The room was full of computerized gadgets.  When I made mention of them the doctor laughed and said they just keep them here to impress customers.

I sat down by my wife and stroked her dark brown hair.  She looked very scared and her arms were stretched out both ways.  Marie said she felt no pain, which was good.  There was a large blue drape that separated us from the actual surgery.  It happened very quickly.

Once they removed the baby they held it up over the drape for Marie to see.  The new child burst into a scream when she laid eyes on mommy which caused the whole room to break out into laughter.  This time I didn't get to cut the cord or hold the baby.  Little Katie was whisked off to the side of the room where the baby station was located.

Two young female nurses went to work on the baby right away.   They cleaned her, weighed her and asked for the time of birth which was 1:45 am.  I got up from my seat after kissing my wife and went to count fingers and toes.  She was beautiful!

Katie was smaller than Taylor, coming in at 6 lbs 9 oz as compared to Taylor at 6 lbs 14 oz.  But Katie was different.  She was very quiet.  Her cries were so dainty and soft!  Not like Taylor who even woke up people in the waiting room.  She was very pretty with little of the mess that is normally associated with birth.  Her head was perfectly shaped.

The nurses took the baby and told me that I needed to go with them.  I again went and touched Marie (there was no way to hug or hold her) and left with the two ladies.  In the baby area they told me that I could remove the hot and sweaty scrubs.  This room was very warm (for the new baby) and had three nurses.

The nurses set about cataloging my daughter like a science experiment.  Really, they treated her like a lab specimen.  The cold and uncaring way that they handled her kind of worried me, but they made it seem so normal that I didn't crack any of their heads open.  They pricked her foot and made her bleed.  This doesn't seem like much, but they poke her with the same size pin that they would poke me with, so if I scaled it down it would be like a 10 penny nail going into my foot.

Then they gave her an injection.  Well, not right away because the nurse dropped the first B-12 shot and broke the needle so we had to go get another one.  Then we measured her at 19 inches long.  After that they started running a countdown of dimensions and checks, all of which showed that Katie was a good fish that could be mounted on the wall instead of being thrown back.  One check didn't fair so well and that was blood sugar.  It seemed to be a little low so the nurse gave Katie a small meal of Infamil baby food.

The tiniest nurse and I went into another room and gave Katie her first bath.  She protested much.  Now she is all clean and ready for her mommy.  Where is mommy?

It took another 45 minutes for mommy to come out of the operating room.  I'm glad it did because Dr. Harris did a great job with the stitches.  She was woozy but ready to see her pretty little child.  We rolled her into the recovery room and I waited until they had her hooked up and under a heat lamp.  She looked like french fries at Mcdonald's.

We reunited the baby with her mother.  Mommy was tired and drugged but wanted to feed her baby as soon as possible.  I was tired but happy and did what I could to make Marie comfortable.  She was so tired she could barely hold the baby.  We put her in a small rolling crib.

About 3:00 am a nurse brought me a Coca Cola which was the best beverage I've ever had.  It perked me back up and gave me the energy to help Marie to her room.  Another nurse pushed the baby and I carried the bags.  How Marie was still awake was beyond understanding.

...continued.

The Birth: Part 1

It was Thursday night, April 8th, 2010.  Friday will be a day off for me.  While I had not planned to take Friday off, something kept gnawing at me to so.  Finally I just said I needed to be with Marie and left work.  My to-do list is still long and we have two doctor visits one of which is my wife's pre-op at the hospital.  The grass needs mowing and I needed to get groceries and cook a few things.

We go to bed at 11:00 pm.  I slept upstairs in the master bedroom so that I could get up early and get Taylor ready for school.  Marie slept in the guest room downstairs so that she could sleep in tomorrow.  She thinks I snore.

At 11:30 pm Marie came upstairs and woke me up.  She told me that she thought we might be having a baby.  I picked up my Blackberry and showed her that she was wrong because it is scheduled for Monday and I laid back on the pillow.  She quickly picked up my 3" thick book on steam locomotives and smacked me in the head with it.

"I don't think you understand.  We may be having a baby."
"What do you mean maybe?  Don't you know?"
"Well, I'm having some pain down below..."
"Guess we should not have had pizza like you wanted..."

"Scott, this pain is different."
"Ok, sweetie...let's go to the hospital!"

I called some friends of ours to see if we could drop Taylor off, but couldn't get them on the phone.  They had drop in visitors and were probably still out and about.  So I called our neighbors.  They saw that it was me and picked up.  Quickly they agreed to take Taylor for us.

I got dressed as quickly as I could and went to get Taylor ready.  She had been asleep since about 7:30 pm.  Marie was trying to get ready but was having water problems.  I went back to the room to check her and she was on her third pair of panties and had a towel wedged between her legs.

"How do you feel sweetie?"
"I think we are having a baby."
"Darling, your water broke.  We are definitely having a baby tonight."

I took Taylor across the street and made sure she was ok, then ran back to the house and loaded the car with our bags.  It seemed like hours but we were out of the house before midnight.  Marie threw towels all over the car seat and I put on my driving gloves and helmet.  We would be at the hospital in record time.

The cool spring air felt good on me as I cracked the window and started the engine.  I had a full tank and we were buckled in.  Trying to be gentle and drive fast is tough.  I did NOT want to have a baby in the SUV, that is for sure.

We hit the highway and I cranked it up to 85 miles per hour.  While I wanted to get there fast, I did want to arrive alive.  We passed one guy who did not have any rear lights.  This is rural Georgia and many of the natives don't maintain their cars and drink a little to much in the evening.

We arrived safely at the hospital without being stopped by the police.  That was God's handiwork because I would have been stopped twice any other time.  I parked in the unloading zone only to find that they close the doors to the Women's Center at 9:00 pm.  This would have been nice to know before hand.  We entered through the emergency exit.

The Women's Center was quite busy.  Apparently whenever there is a storm (which we had earlier in the day) the babies like to come out and see what is going on.  We were the first C-section and Marie was dilated to 5 centimeters when we got to the prep room.  Lucky for us Dr. Harris was already there and ready to go!  Sometimes we get lucky and tonight seemed to be the night.

Marie was in severe pain now but was still not yelling.  There were people everywhere and finally I found a small corner of the room to stand.  They still kept shoving me here and there.  All I wanted to do was to hold on to Marie and give her comfort but I couldn't get near her.  They covered me in blue paper clothes and sat me in a chair in the hall.

I sat in the empty hall for almost an hour by myself.  Occasionally a member of the cleaning staff would come by and say "first baby?"  The fact that they all asked the same question meant that I must have been looking very nervous.  I was nervous.  Having a baby is one thing.  Having Marie cut wide open to take it out is another.  With my fingernails being gone I went looking for a drink of water, finally having to stick my head under a hand washing faucet.  I was drenched in sweat.

Part 2 tomorrow!

Don't Wake It Up

Deep inside the Black Forest is a dark castle.  For years it has stood there, its caretakers constantly living in fright.  For just beyond the castle is a deep cavern and in the cavern sleeps the beast...

"Good day your majesty!"
"Shhhhhh...you fool!  Do you want to wake it?"
"No sire..."
"Don't you remember what it is capable of doing?"
"I'm...I'm...I'm sorry..."
"Then go and prepare the sacrifice!"
"The sacrificed?  But....but...but we just sacrificed about two hours ago, sire."
"Nimrod!  Go and prepare the milk!  We must feed it to keep it from getting angry!"
"Sire, but we are running out of milk."
"Not again!  Oh, whoa is me.  We must have more milk!"
"Shall I turn on the milk pumps, sire?"
"Yes, and bring me the Royal Lactation Steward!"
"Right away sire!"

The giant pumps slowly begin to come alive as the giant men begin to push the cogs and wheels.  The timbers groan under their great strain.  The slavemaster cracks the evil black whip and the men shove the cranks and put their backs into it.  Slowly the milk begins to pour  into two enormous kegs.

The ground rumbles...

"Quick!  Feed the monster before it awakens!"
"We're trying sire!  We're trying!"
"TOOOO   LATE!"

The monster's eye slowly open.  Her head lifts up into the air....

WWWWAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

"Honey, did you wake the baby again?"
"No dear...I promise....I didn't....I, I, I....."

The Things You Forget

It is funny all the things you forget from the time that you have the first baby to the time the second baby comes.  My wife thinks that our first baby was so traumatic that it erased my memory banks.  Our lactation nurse says that if my memory banks weren't wiped clean that I'd never have another child.  She always right.

Some of the things I had forgotten...

Milk Fed Diapers.  I had forgotten that diapers from a child on mother's milk don't stink.  They are still gross mind you, but I haven't lost my cookies yet.  This will come in time.


How To Swaddle.  This is key for daddies as we tend to do it better than the mommies do.  Yet, after watching one time I was right back in the thing.  Kinda like wrapping up a bum knee.  You have to learn to do this if you want the kiddo to sleep.

Ice Water.  I plain forgot how much water a nursing mom consumes.  Today I bought two more bags of ice just to supplement the ice maker (a jumbo one at that) so I can keep Marie in water.  She is drinking gallons a day.

Doing Things In My Sleep.  I'm just remembering that I was able to change a diaper and sterilize bottles in my sleep.  Walking around like a zombie was easy for the first one.  This time it is a little more dangerous now that Barbie parts are scattered all over the floor.  I keep several pairs of tweezers around to pull plastic toys out of my feet.

Cold Food.  Because I usually want the ever-hungry mommy to eat her meal, I often hold the baby.  This means that I am always eating my dinner cold.  Even after we can go to a restaurant I'll need to take the crying or misbehaving child outside and will have ice cold steak, usually out of a doggie bag when we get home.

Arm Cramps.  Holding little ones for hours on end can give you serious arm cramps.  Now I'm sleeping with my hands in my face because the arms won't go down.  The baby carrier weighs in at about 20 pounds.  This stretches the muscles and makes it worse.

Gas.  Mommies with C-sections have a LOT of gas.  I had to extinguish the pilot lite on both the furnace and the stove.  The good thing is that my oldest daughter has started a sideline selling hot air balloons to neighboring children.

Laundry.  Wash, wash, wash.  It is piling up faster than I can take it downstairs.  There has been a load in the washer every minute since we got home.

Dishwashing.  This is my single biggest pet peeve.  While I don't mine washing dishes and bottles, I'm doing three or four loads a day!  My poor hands are so wrinkled that I don't even have fingerprints.  The sink is always full everytime I go downstairs.

Last night I dreamed that I was at my private label rum factory in Barbados.  The first bottles were coming off the line and we were down at the beach testing them while steel drums were playing.  The warm ocean breeze was blowing and my wife was in a swimsuit and the water from the ocean was splashing on my chin.

I woke up and found myself drooling on the pillow again...

The Titty Bar

MOM'S TITTY BAR

OPEN 24 x 7

NO BIKERS

"Belly up to the bar, Mac, and what'll ya have?"
"I'll be having a milk, straight up."
"You came to the right place.  What's your brand?"
"Whatcha got?"
"Well, in the bottle we got Mayfield, Two Percent, Parmalot, Skim, Whole and Chocolate."
"What is available in a can?"
"That would be Enfamil.  We only got one brand.  Its strong, so we cut off our customers after two ounces."
"I know, makes me want to barf.  What do you have on tap?"
"On the left and right tap we've got mother's milk."
"Warm?"
"Yup!"
"Give me a double, one from each tap.  Mind if I take a snooze while I'm drinkin'?"
"Naw...help yourself.  Just don't drool on my bar."


My new daughter has been camped out at the Titty Bar all day.  Mostly sleeping, but drinking her fair share.  She stops to take a short nap or to mess up a diaper, but mostly just drinking.  If you disturb her during the feast she will get very angry and turn dark red.

Tonight the wife and I are going to change to swing shifts.  I'm going to bed now and she is going to take care of the infant until about 1:00 am.  I'll take over from there and just bottle feed the little munchkin.  This way we both get four hours of uninterrupted sleep.  I hope.

When Sisters Meet

Because of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) new rules at Hospitals, my daughter Taylor was not allowed to be with us when Katie came into the world.  This was very hard on Taylor because she was so excited to see her new little sister.

Here she is in her I'm a Big Sister t-shirt holding little Katie for the first time.  They bonded instantly.  Taylor talked to her sister (in her mommy's tummy) every day and it was not surprise that she reacted to Taylor's voice.

Big sister is very happy and spends much of her time watching the baby and helping us with chores.  One day she'll be a very good mommy, just like Marie.

Mommy's Boobies

My five year old is quite fascinated with breast feeding.  She watches my wife with the same intent that she watches a new Disney movie.  She just doesn't understand why we aren't using bottles.

I firmly believe that the reason my oldest daughter is so healthy is that she was breast fed.  She's only been sick for a few times in her life and is the picture of health.  What surprises me even more is that my AA cup wife that I married six years ago can feed a baby twelve times a day now.

Still, the most amazing thing of all is how difficult it is to breast feed.  I remember the first time I saw Marie when she was about to start.  This is natural.  Humans have been doing this for thousands of years and raised countless billions of human children.  So just WHY does the lactation nurse need to be here?

Then I found out.  This is an incredibly difficult thing to do.  You have to be TAUGHT how to breast feed.  Amazing.  For instance, there are several different ways to hold a baby for feeding...

The Football Hold:  Guys, you've all seen pictures of the Heisman trophy.  You take the little squirt, put her tiny head in your hand and tuck her in like a running back would.  It is VERY important that you not spike the ball!


The Cross Hold: Basically this is just laying the baby on your lap.  The problem is the baby is NOT at the right angle for feeding with this hold so you have to grab her head, swat the little hands out of the way, and snap her mouth on the nipple like putting a number 10 socket on a Craftsman socket wrench (with a quarter inch drive.)  Be carefully not to cross thread the nipple or you will never get the little sucker off.

The Dock Hold:  When the mommy is just too tired to sit up, she can lay on her side like a supertanker.  Then the little boat can sail up next to her and get fuel.  It is important that the supertanker is well anchored or the little boat can get capsized.

Fathers out there, you have to be aware of the suction power of a 6 lb 9 oz infant.  Measured scientifically a baby can pull 9 bars of vacuum.  That is enough to pull a glass windshield out of the car, seal and all.  If this little sucker decides that you are a food source you have to take your smallest finger and slide it in the corner of their mouth to break the vacuum.  You'll hear a load popping sound when it happens!  I've found the best thing for the bruise it leaves is an ice pack.  From now on I'm wearing a shirt.

When you have a C-section baby the milk doesn't always come in quickly.  In fact it can take four or five days.  This is where the daddy comes in.  It's your job to get the smelly formula, warm it up (not in the microwave - I use a blow torch) and feed the little munchkin.  The problem is that whatever goes down, comes back up.  How much comes up depends on the value and the cleanliness of your shirt.  If it is your lucky golf shirt that you were wearing when you hit the only hole-in-one you've ever hit, then you will get 100% of the formula back up on you.  Notice the warm sensation?  Thought you did.

Tomorrow we'll go to the Pediatric Doctor and see Nurse Mayfield, the lactation nurse.  She has helped us out before so we'll look forward to the visit.  Meanwhile, the daddy is going to grab a five minute nap.

The Diaper Genie

Please ignore typos, stupid remarks and anything that doesn't make sense.  The daddy was up all night and finally got a chance to sneak into the computer room without someone shouting "Scott go get this" and "Scott go get that!"  Actually, I don't mind at all, its just every time I sit down I have to get back up.

Marie bought a Diaper Genie.  If you don't know what it is, I'll explain.  It is a large tubular plastic trash can that makes diapers into sausage.  I'll never eat sausage again.  It has a thin plastic wrap inside and every time you drop a diaper into it it spins it around and when full you pull out a string of wrapped diapers that look like sausage links.  It's claim to fame is that you don't have stinky diaper smell.

It appears that I put it together wrong, so I had to go find the instructions and reassemble it.  When I press the foot petal it throws a stinky diaper at me.  Must have something backwards.  I spent an hour trying to repair it in the middle of the night.  So far it is working very well because in the last 12 hours I've used it 13 times.  You see, Miss Katie is repootable.

Repootable?  Maybe you aren't educated in baby speak so I'll help you out here.  When you change a poopy diaper and get the baby all clean and dressed, then you sit down and snuggle her and all is well with the world...then you hear PPPLLLLSSSSPPPPBBBBB coming from her bottom.  That is repootable.  It basically is the chronic need for a newborn to mess up a brand new diaper just so her poor old dad has to change it immediately after changing the last one.

Katie was repootable several times last night.  However, this morning, she provide me with her crowning achievement.  I got a poopy, a repootable and then a pee pee while changing her!  If this was the Olympics I'm sure she would have gotten a 9.87 and a standing ovation.  All I got was more laundry to do.

What I need is a REAL diaper genie!


...rubbing the side of the baby wipes box....blue smoke...then POOF!
"Greetings, master!"
"Hello Genie..."
"How may I serve you?"
"Um...see that newborn over there?"
"I smell her...yes...."
"How about a diaper change."
"Uh...master...I'm not sure..."
"Yes, its covered in the contract.  I rub the baby wipes box, free you from a thousand years of imprisonment, and you grant me three wishes!"
"Well, changing diapers is NOT on the..."
"Oh yes it is Blue Boy...now get too it!"
"You don't mean..."
"Yes, you are in charge of the stinky diaper"
"This must count for at least two wishes."
"No, just one...now get cracking"
"Can't I just go back to the box.  Hey, how about an extra normal wish and YOU change her!"
"Nope...I'm 11 ahead of you already...get to wiping!"
"Got a clothespin on you?"

Yup...I need a diaper Genie!

You Find Out Who Your Friends Are

When you have a newborn you quickly find out who your friends are.  To preserver their identity, I won't name names, but here are some of the people that have come to our aid.

For them we are eternally grateful!

Mom - who stayed with us for four days.  She shuttled our daughter back and forth to school, washed laundry, cooked, served dinner, cleaned dishes and helped out in a million ways.  She is priceless.

Neighbors #1 - were there when the unexpected happened and I woke them in the middle of the night.  They accepted my daughter as their own and found a bed for her while we ran to the hospital.  They have given us clothing for the new little girl, mowed and edged our lawn, and have been a invaluable source of love and support.  God teaches us how to be Christian in his bible, but you can learn from the example these people have set.  I'll treasure them forever.  Oh, and they brought me a bottle of bourbon when I needed it the most.

Neighbors #2 - also edging and cutting the grass.  Another fine Christian family.

Friends - who live around the corner.  They have cleaned our house from top to bottom and brought food for us when we needed it the most.  God bless them for being their.

Mom's Groups and Mothers of Preschoolers - two groups to which my wife belongs to.  They have arranged for meals for us for about three whole weeks!  What an amazing gift!  It really is helping out and saving the dad's energy.

Relatives and friends - who have brought gifts and diapers.  Thank you so much!  We've gone through two cases of infant diapers already!

Such kind people in our lives.  We certainly do appreciate the help!  Let us know when we can repay the favor.

Anyone who says there aren't good people left in the world is sadly mistaken.

Baby Katie Comes Home

Sorry I haven't written more or posted photos.  I'm so tired...

The baby and the mommy are fine.  Both came home early today.  I'll blog about the past three days some time this week.

Thanks for the gifts, the prayers and the friendships.  I owe my neighbors and my mom more than I can pay back.  You are wonderful!

Gotta go to bed...it will be a long night.

It's a Girl!!!

Welcome to the world Katherine Elizabeth Perry, born April 9th, 2010 at 1:45 am.

So much for planning!

We went to bed at 11:00 pm on Thursday night, and Marie's water broke at 11:30 pm. 

More on this later...daddy needs some sleep.

Evel Knievel

Countdown to Delivery: 4 days
Due date: 4/12/10

The police will be coming to take me away tomorrow.  Its been real!  My next post will be from cell block eight where I'll be Big Bubba's love muffin.  Its a shame I spent all that money on education.

Why you ask?  For beating my child.

See, Taylor is going to the dentist tomorrow.  He is going to take one look at her and go "she has a child beating daddy!" and call the police.  The problem is that I didn't do it.  My lovely daughter has a rare disease called tripoverit.

Yup, its a sad state of affairs.  Yesterday when I came home her left cheek was swollen and was more colorful than a box of crayons.  Specifically violet, black and blue.  Taylor was having fun on the playground when she got in an argument with the concrete and the concrete won.  The kind teachers put ice on it and called my wife to let her know that THEY weren't beating my child.  Tripoverit can't be cured, not even with ballet and gym classes.  We've tried.

So today she was running on the playground and flew right into the head of her little friend Sherrie Grace (not her real name).  Sherrie Grace (not her real name) apparently has a skull made out of titanium.  Did I mention that this is their SECOND head to head crash this week?  Sherrie Grace (not her real name) lost that one and gained a fat lip.  Taylor impacted her friend with the same side of her face that the first boo boo was on.  Now she looks like Rocky just before the final fight.

So what is up with twinkletoes, here?  I mean...I am not a ballerina...but I can walk across the room without getting a close up of the genuine imitation wood flooring.  But little Crash here is literally black and blue from top to bottom except where she is scratched, which is multiple shades of red. 

Maybe I should name her after my childhood idol Evel Knievel!  He was great!  Broke every bone in his body and nobody made fun of him being a klutz.  He was SO COOL in his Elvis like red-white-and-blue jump suit.  I fell of my motorcycle many times trying some of his stunts.  Its hard for a 14 year old to line up 12 cars and build a jump ramp, you know.

Marie is carrying the incident reports from school to the Dentist's office just in case.  I'll be hiding in the basement if you need me.  I made sure to kiss Taylor goodnight VERY carefully.

Alien

Countdown to Delivery: 5 days
Due date: 4/12/10

Ask any man about "what would it be like if you were pregnant" and they will answer in unison..

SIGOURNEY WEAVER

Yes, the movie Alien is how we relate to a pregnancy.  All of us have the scene where the alien leaps out of the guy's stomach.  To feel the baby moving inside her tummy is so foreign to us males that we can't even put it into words.  I know it is a baby...but it seems like a thing.  A moving thing.  I'd barf for months.

The funny thing is really when you first see the baby.  It looks like a thing.  It is VERY scary.  Our first daughter came out purple, covered in gross stuff and screaming.  I said put it back.  They made us keep it. 

After a few hours when they cleaned her up and she turned pink and cute, then I decided that we'd give her a name and keep her.  But it was touch and go for a while.  Figured I could drop it by the Goodwill on the way home.

Glad we kept it though...she turned out beautiful.

But somewhere...on a ship in the coldness of space...three astronauts are looking at a forth, and wondering why he is writhing in pain...

Fun With Taylor

Countdown to Delivery: 6 days
Due date: 4/12/10

I like to play with Taylor when I come home She is such a trip. Tonight we did a quiet evening and watched The Princess and the Frog by Disney. What a fun movie! She snuggled up tight to her daddy and gave me lots of little kisses.

Then I said the magic words....

"Time for bed, sweetheart!"

Like magic my beautiful, adorable little princess mysteriously turns into a pit viper, writhing and hissing and spitting poison at me. We do NOT like to go to bed, especially when we are having fun with daddy.

Finally I had to pick her up like a sack of potatoes and throw her over my shoulder. Size matters when dealing with children.  Kicking and screaming, I carried her up the stairs. Makes me feel like a pirate.

"Arrgh!"
"I'll never walk the plank you bad old pirate!"
"Why yes, you will matey...and your stuffed horsie, too!"
"No no no!"
"And I'll makes it worse for yee, too! You'll have to brush your teeth!"
"I'll never brush my teeth! You can't make me!"
"Aye, lassy, that's where you are mistaken!"

The burly captain grabs the young princess and hoists her into his giant arms. His tremendous footsteps rock the ship and the boards of the deck groan in pain.

"Here....now....brush your teeth!"
"Never! I hope you die!"
"A little much for just brushing your teeth, don't ya think, lassy?"
"I want my mommy!"
"You're mommy has perfect teeth. Not even a single cavity...so what makes yee think that she'll pardon your scruffy hyde?"
"You are MEAN TO ME!"
"Ya don't know the half of it, me hardee..."

She brushed her teeth.
She hugged and kissed her mommy goodnight.
Her horsie is tucked under her arm.

But no kiss for the mean old pirate that tucked her into bed.  He'll wander amidships and hopes he next daughter is only a dragon...

Monday Monday

Countdown to Delivery: 6 days
Due date: 4/12/10

Tonight Duke will go on to win the Final Four and the Collegiate Championship. I’m so happy for Marie as I know she will enjoy the game. Heck, I’m happy if she just smiles once or twice. She is really uncomfortable.

Sorry I’ve not posted over the weekend. Marie has had me doing double-time on furniture. We move my library to the bedroom annex which is a great idea. I often read upstairs, so might as well have the books up there, too. My father’s leather chair and a good light will join the group. I still need a small table and then I’m set.

The library downstairs is now Taylor’s new playroom. We put in a bunch of furniture such as a massive cubicle wall unit and a new drawing desk. I’ll be able to sit with Taylor and teach her how to draw. What fun!

I keep going over the list of things we need and will need to do. Our good friend Elaine has volunteered to come clean the house this week. That is probably the best gift we’ll get next to my Mom coming to stay. Elaine does an amazing job, too. The house needs it, and I’m running out of time to do it.

I’ve been over our hospital bags a few times. There were only a few things that I added.

• Scotch – fifth, just in case.
• Inflatable mattress – in case I pass out in the operating room
• Smelling salts – see above
• Ear plugs – in case Marie decides to discuss my heredity with the nursing staff
• Laptop – so that I can broadcast Baby Katie’s pictures
• Cigars – Partagas, small ring, wooden matches, cutter. Not sure where I can smoke it though.
• Cheetohs – the crunchy kind.
• Model Train Magazines – these go with me everywhere
• A Llama – never know when you might need a llama.

I’ll carry the debit card just in case we need anything else. Gainesville is a foreign country so I’m not really sure what we might be able to get. One thing I’ll have to do is import food for Marie. I can’t have her eating hospital swill. It will kill her. She’ll need good wholesome food like Chick-Fil-A. There might be one in the hospital, too!

Marie is at home trying to sleep. I hope she does nod off some as she is really tired and can’t sleep well at night. Taylor is sleeping fine, though I’m still not sure that she really understands what is going on. She pats and kisses Mommy’s tummy all the time, but I don’t think she really gets that there is a baby in there.

Not sure I get it either!

The Dream

Countdown to Delivery: 7 days
Due date: 4/12/10

I have had dreams about this daughter several times. She's very different from Taylor. She looks like Marie with the dark dark brown hair. She has Marie's nose and her doe eyes. My dream was with her at about four years old. She had on a green dress.

I think we were going to get ice cream or something else fun. The whole time I was thinking about how much she reminded me of Marie and how thick and full her hair was. She is a quiet child and the dress is very awkward for her. Both of her knees are wearing bandaids.

How excited I am to meet my new little girl! I so hope that she is not a screaming monster like Taylor was. T almost got left at the hospital as unclaimed freight. At least Katie will have a perfectly round head.

We're still not sure how long mom needs to hang around. Marie's mom is coming down, too and we're not sure when. I'm glad they are around because we'll need the help. These ladies are incredibly different and quite loved by little Taylor.

Waiting Waiting Waiting....

I'm tired of waiting. I know Marie is VERY tired of waiting.

We Have a Birthday!

Countdown to Delivery: 11 days (revised)
Due date: 4/12/10 (revised)

It's official. Baby Katie will arrive on April 12th, 2010 about noon. At least, unless she decides to come early. Marie went to the doctor this morning and we arranged it all. At least it is sooner, which is better for the mommy.

Ok, I can work with this. Its a plan. Grandma comes over, daughter goes to school, we organize and load the car, drive to the hospital like old church ladies and squirt out a puppy. Guy kinda efficiency. I like it!

Spoke with Grandma and she will be here to help us out. She's offered to stay as long as we need, which is good. I'm taking that week off in order to help Marie. Should be fine.

Ok, so why am I still worried. Look at my fingers! I don't have a nail left on any hands and if I weren't fat my toenails would be gone, too. Since I'm still on medicine from the plague I dare not have a drink but could sure use one.

Taylor is enjoying spring. She's been outside all afternoon chasing her little friends around the yard. She even picked flowers for me. Such a sweetheart. Little does she know that we're bringing home a crying, tiny infant that will need constant attention. How will my cutie take it? Good question.

Lots of worrying left to do. Which the final round of bronchitis would go away. I need to breath. Need more energy. Very tired... goodnight.