A fast month!

2/28/16

Hunter's first month has flown by!!! He's eating and sleeping lots. He's finally gaining some weight, and he poops like it's his job!!!

The first week or so, we were preoccupied with his eating. He wasn't latching on very well and sometimes refused to eat. One day he barely got the amount of wet diapers he was supposed to have and was really fussy so we were worried he was getting dehydrated. Finally, at about 1am one morning after an hour of screaming and not eating, Laura called the nurse hotline number. They told us to just give him a bottle of milk and see what he did with that. Well, because he wasn't eating good, we had a good supply of milk already on hand since Laura began pumping within a couple days of being home. The little guy took the bottle likes champ and polished off a couple of ounces in no time. Of course, that led to a little bit of an upset stomach, but by the time he fell asleep we were more at ease and felt better about his eating. 

It took a couple of weeks, but he finally made it back to his birth weight. We know babies drop weight after they are born and they put it back on after mommy's milk comes in, but bigger babies lose more weight (weight loss is measured by %). He took a little longer than expected, but as of a few days ago at his last appointment, he weighed 10lbs 5oz! He's now almost a pound heavier than he was at birth. To top it all off, our baby boy has already outgrown a pair of PJs!!!

He sleeps a ton! Unlike Erica, Hunter snoozes often during the day! She never slept! Hunter seems to be like a lion who has no problem taking a couple of long naps during the day. Some days it seems like he's barely awake, and other days he's perfectly content snuggling on a lap or in Laura's arms for hours at a time. 

Erica is loving her little brother. She talked to him and quotes things we say. When he cries she talks to him and tries to comfort him. When I give him a bath, she's right there wanting to help. When we change a diaper, she wants to unsnap his clothes and she'll hand us a wet wipe! We are really lucky she loves him and wants to be with him! I think we were both nervous about how she would react but it's going great! It'll probably change at some point, but for now, we are definitely not complaining!

Everyone one is figuring out how they work best together. Hunter and mommy have their night time feelings down pretty good and Laura is back in bed within 30 minutes of getting up with him. He snuggles on her chest during the day and looks for her when he hears her voice. I've gotten down my "daddy sway" as Laura calls it. After swaddling him tightly, I sway at the hips and pat his butt while he's in my arms and within 5 minutes, he's out cold!!!

Lastly, he is making faces at us and smiling. Laura will sit with him and make faces for long periods of time and he mimics her with his tongue, raising eyebrows, opening the mouth and so on. It's getting more interactive with him and he's been smiling at us the last few days so we've had some fun!

It's been a fast month and we can't believe it's gone by already! Hunter's been a lot of fun getting to know and as Erica says every day, "baby Hunter is so cute!" Thanks for checking in on us, and thanks for reading my Daddy Diary!!!

PS...Lexi hates us far less at this point than she did when we brought Erica home! She's even given him a few licks as we hold him or if he's lying on the floor! I guess the boy already has his best friend!!!

Ninja sleep

His favorite activity...snuggling with mommy

Daddy with his favorite little people!

Watching a Wild game today on the couch

He's Here!

2/6/16

My new favorite picture of Laura! Breathtakingly beautiful!!!

Hunter David Lemke has arrived...a full week past his due date, but he's here and healthy!!!  He was born a week ago already, on January 30, 2016 at 5:51pm.  He weighed a whopping 9lbs 9oz and was 21.5 inches long.  We've had a busy week adjusting to a chaotic house with late night feedings and Erica trying to help us do everything with Hunter!  So, grab a cold or warm beverage and a few Kleenex if you're a sap... Without further ado, here's the story of Hunter's arrival:

Last Thursday night, we had our regular doctor's appointment.  Our doctor told us to call the birth center in the morning so we could go in and get monitored to make sure everything was ok with baby since he was 6 days over due at that point.  Not knowing how long it would take to get the appointment, I went to school on Friday morning waiting for Laura's call telling me when the appointment would take place.  At about 9:30am, Laura called saying the birth center wanted us to come in soon so we could get Laura and baby monitored.  We arrived around 10:30am and got Laura hooked up so we could monitor baby's heartbeat and gauge whether or not Laura was having contractions.  It was immediately clear that his heartbeat was great and that she was also having small contractions, even though she couldn't feel them.  Surprisingly enough, Laura was having contractions every 2-7 minutes!!  This was a shock to us because they tell people to go to the hospital for delivery when contractions occur every 3-5 minutes! An ultrasound was also done and revealed that he was looking good and that he was "still a boy!" as the ultrasound technician told us!  About 4 hours after we arrived at the hospital, they sent us home and told us to come back on Monday morning to be induced if nothing happened over the weekend.  So, Laura and I left, and headed to Cosetta's for a great mid afternoon meal since we both didn't have lunch.  After our short date, we returned home and packed up Erica and Laura's parents (who came into town Wednesday) and headed to the Mall of America to "walk it off" and see if we could get the baby to come out!!!  We walked around for a while, had dinner and made plans to go to Woodbury for some shopping the next morning...

Laura and her baby bump (a week over due!) as we left the hospital for monitoring. 

A monitor measuring baby's heartbeat that we could see as well as hear!

I woke up Saturday morning a few minutes after 6:00 to Laura calling me from the bathroom.  "Dan!  I'm bleeding!" I sprung out of bed with a heartbeat far exceeding normal!  Laura was scared as to what was happening, and I was terrified.  When Erica was born, Laura's water broke at home and there was no blood.  This was a different story.  I know blood from mommy during pregnancies aren't a good thing.  I sped into high gear trying to tidy up the bedroom and bathroom while Laura took a quick shower.  A couple minutes after she hopped in, I was helping her get out and dressed so we could head to the hospital.  I ran down stairs to tell Laura's parents that we needed to go to the hospital right away and that they'd have Erica for the day.  By the time I was back up stairs, Laura was waiting at the door with her coat on and ready to go. 

The drive to the hospital was the longest and most stressful 10 minute drive of my life!  The roads were pretty empty at that time of day.  Along the way, Laura started to have some cramping and contractions that she could definitely feel this time.  When we got off the highway and into downtown St. Paul, we hit several red lights in a row.  I was making the mental decision in my mind that I might be turning the red lights into stop signs...and then the light turned green, and the lights for the next few blocks turned green at the same time, and I stepped on it!  We pulled into the parking ramp outside Children's Hospital and parked in the 15 minute spots saved for soon-to-be-parents like us.  We made it to the check in desk to find the world's slowest and lackadaisical receptionist ever!  This middle aged lady probably wouldn't have sped up nor reacted any differently had I lit a blow torch under her ass!  She calmly and slowly handed us a consent form to sign (just like we had yesterday) and then she had to put some stickers on the damn papers and blah blah blah...without a care in the world that we were visibly terrified and that Laura had a beach towel wedged between her knees.  Several times, she chuckled at herself and her seemingly inability to get anything done right and fast.  Finally, (I was polite about it) I said, "Hey, we need to hurry this stuff up because she's bleeding pretty badly and we need to get seen NOW!"  The lady said, "oh dear" and without speeding up, finished her tasks and within a minute, some 45 minutes after I woke up, a nurse brought us back into the triage area where we had spent all day the day before. 

Laura sat on the bed and they brought out the monitor again and within a minute of being in the room, we heard the best sound in the world...the heartbeat of a baby inside mommy's belly!!!  It was as if the weight of the world had been lifted off our shoulders, and it felt like I had taken a breath for the first time since I woke up to the fear in Laura's voice!  Within a few minutes of hearing the heartbeat, they did some quick checks and told us that her "water broke with blood"...which apparently, isn't too rare and not a huge scare to nurses and medical staff that deal with babies being born every day...but to a guy like me, it was the scariest moment of my life.  Additionally, they confirmed that Laura was indeed in labor (no shit, right?!?!) and by 7:45 they moved us into a delivery room just down the hall. 

They got Laura into bed and around 8am, they checked her out and found she was dilated to 6cm (she was only 2cm at the doctor's office on Thursday night!) and all indicators were she was almost ready to have the baby!  We couldn't believe it when they told us this.  By 8:15, Laura was hooked up to an IV to get fluids going into her and shortly thereafter, an antibiotic was plugged in as well.  At 8:45, our doctor arrived for her first look.  She asked that the IV fluids be sped up and that the room be readied for a baby to be born!  At this time they also ruptured the "bag of water" a little more to help the process move along.  For the next hour, we sat in the room as Laura endured more painful contractions, while the IV bag looked like a waterfalls going through the tubes!  I didn't know IVs could pump fluids that quickly!!!  In the background of the room, the most soothing sound in the world was playing through some speakers...baby's heartbeat! 

Our delivery room, with the baby machine on the far wall to the right of the curtain 

Laura resting, and still as beautiful as ever, despite being hooked up to all of the machines. Seeing her like this again was the toughest part of the hospital stay for me!!

By 9:45, another check revealed baby's head to be lower than before.  By this time, Laura was not having a good morning!  With Erica, she had small contractions and couldn't feel them much.  With Hunter, she was having more powerful contractions and was in lots of pain.  We talked for a bit and Laura decided she'd sign up for an epidural.  By 10:10, the anesthesiologist has arrived and stuck the IV in Laura's back and she was settled back into bed.  Modern medicine blows my mind!  My amazing wife, takes it 10 steps further because of what she endures as a mom!  I'm not sure of the whole process because I couldn't watch, but from what the doctor was saying, there's a few numbing shots given in the back and then the insertion of the main catheter (I thought that went somewhere else?!?!) into her spine...and she barely squirmed!  I would've been in tears, cursing up the guy with the needle and crying for my mom if it were me...but she's a trooper!  Once that was in and she was beginning to relax a bit more, Laura's day got slightly better without the pain and discomfort.  Moving forward, as long as the Epidural was in, we'd be rotating Laura from one side to the other in her bed.

By 12:25pm, our doctor was back to check Laura again.  This time she had progressed to 7cm and baby's head was even lower than before.  The doctor wanted the progress to move quicker, so she recommended starting Pitocin to get Laura's body into high gear.  The Pitocin started around 12:50 at a dose of "2" and would increase by 2 every hour until her body was having the contractions needed to get her body fully ready to give birth. By 2:15, the Pitocin was increased to "4" and our doctor needed to leave.  She told us she'd be leaving us in good hands of a colleague of hers.  I think we were a little sad that she wouldn't be there for Hunter's birth, especially after she delivered Erica. But we understand that doctors can't hang out in the hospital all day waiting for a baby to arrive, especially when they have a life of their own they need to tend to.

Monitoring baby. His heartbeat is the blue line on top, while Laura's contractions are the green line on the bottom. 

Laura thought it was entertaining to know  a monitor placed on her toe caused her sock to glow...even through all the blankets on her!!!

My gorgeous wife!

At 3:30pm, we met the doctor would deliver Hunter and she placed an internal monitor in Laura in order to better monitor baby's heartbeat.  Additionally, the Pitocin was increased to "6" to get the contractions we needed to get her body ready for baby!

At 5pm, our delivery nurse, Sheri, who had been with us since we arrived 11 hours earlier, came into the room.  She had been monitoring outside and quickly pointed out a slight drop in baby's heartbeat, but that it had recovered almost immediately on the monitor (it appeared as a slight valley in comparison to his steady heart rate).  Another check on Laura revealed her body was ready to deliver, and as Sheri guessed when she came in, the dip in the heart rate was Hunter's last movement inside Laura as he dropped and got himself into the final position to be delivered.  Sheri called our new doctor and told her we were ready.  Sheri also asked Laura if she was willing to do a "practice push" to see if she was ready.  Laura shook her head yes, and Sheri quickly responded that she was indeed ready!

Our nurse, Sheri, with the baby machine ready on the left as Laura is getting herself ready to push as soon as the doctor arrives. (The clock says 5:25, within 10 minutes of this picture, she was pushing!)

By 5:35, our new doctor arrived in the room (appearing not much older than Laura and I) and the 3 of us were getting ready to help Laura push.  The doctor asked if I wanted to cut the cord. "No no no!  No no!! Not unless you want to scoop me off the floor and use some of these monitors on me, because I'll pass out!" Sheri and the doctor laughed. We watched the monitor to see when the next contraction was coming.  As Laura's body began contracting, we told her to start pushing...

The first series of 3 pushes went great and Hunter began moving along...The second series of pushes at the next contraction moved him even further, and got the doctor and nurses moving even faster!!! At this point, the doctor was able to see that he had pooped a little bit inside Laura as she was pushing.  The doctor looked at me and calmly said, "there's going to be another nurse from NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, located directly next to the delivery ward in the hospital) coming in to help just incase it's needed." I few seconds later, I saw that nurse walk in and she prepped the big machine where Hunter would be taken to for his first checks after birth.  I looked down at Laura and gave her some words of encouragement. When I looked up, there were a couple more nurses in the room than before, and in the next 30 seconds, the room had at least 6 nurses from NICU, Sheri, and the doctor!  I must've been distracted and looked a bit stressed or worried because as the next contraction was coming on the doctor asked, "can I get nurse on the other side?" I was quickly relieved of my leg-holding duty and shifted closer to Laura's head.  She began to push for the last time. The doctor gave a few last words of encouragement for another push, and there he was! 

At 5:51pm, a short 15 minutes after Laura started pushing, Hunter cried within a second of being placed on Laura.  We knew right away he had a good set of lungs on him as he screamed and cried!  They toweled him off and placed him high on Laura's chest.  He was equally as adorable as Erica. And our first glimpse of Hunter and few moments with him were precious.  The feeling and emotion of seeing your child for the first time is the best in the world and words simply can't explain it.  A few minutes later, a nurse took hunter to the baby machine on the side of the room and did the initial checks and screens.  I left Laura's side and followed Hunter to the side and watched.  The nurse spoke loudly so all staff in the room could hear the results.  She then did the measurements..."weight is 9 pounds, 9 ounces." I responded equally as loud, "Holy shit!" We knew Hunter would be big. I guessed for weeks that he'd be over 9lbs, and as the due date came and went a week earlier, I knew he'd be a bit over 9lbs, but I never realized he'd be over 9.5lbs!  He was almost 3/4 of a pound heavier than Erica (she was 8lbs, 14oz!!!)!!!  The nurse finished her measurements, indicating he was 21.5 inches tall (the same as Erica) and his head was 14.5cm around.  I asked if he was looking good and if he was healthy and she said we indeed had a very healthy baby!  For the second time that day, I exhaled as more weight was lifted off my shoulders!

The first picture of Hunter!

First picture of mommy and Hunter as they snuggle a few minutes after he was born 

Holding Huntwr for the first time

Our little man, after his first feeding

After his first checks and measurements were done, Hunter was placed back on Laura for some snuggling as the doctor finished up on the business end.  A short time later, we coached Hunter to latch onto Laura for the first time as he began to feed.  It wasn't until after this first feeding when I held my son for the first time!  Holding your kid for the first time is such a great feeling!  My eyes teared up again and we took a short walk around the room.  I told him how happy we were to meet him, and I informed him that he'd be grounded for the foreseeable future because of all the heartburn and discomfort he caused his mom over the past 2 trimesters!!!  I returned Hunter to Laura for some more snuggles and resumed my duty as "Communications Specialist" as I did with Erica, and began sending the first texts to family and friends telling them of Hunter's arrival.

Some 2 hours after he was born, Hunter was in mommy's arms in a wheel chair as we made our way to our recovery room where we'd stay for the next 2 days until we were sent home Monday morning.  Around 8:45pm, our parents arrived at the hospital. I met them in the lobby and walked them all to the baby ward and brought Erica in the room first so we could spend some time as a new family of 4.  She was a little shy when she came in, but was super excited to see mommy!  She sat next to Laura on the bed for a couple of quick pictures.  At some point, she saw Hunter's toes sticking out of the blanket and she began playing with them with her fingers.  She giggled as he squirmed in response.  She asked some questions, but generally seemed indifferent meeting her little brother for the first time.  She seemed mostly excited just to see us for the first time that day.  She was up way past her usual 7:30ish bedtime and getting a little grumpy!  Our room was pretty small compared to our massive delivery room, so I went to the lobby and brought may parents in to meet Hunter.  As Grandma Barb held Hunter for the first time, I figured we could squeeze a couple more people into the room so I went to the lobby and brought Laura's parents into the room to meet the little guy as well.  For the first time in his busy little life, Hunter was passed around the room and everyone had a chance to hold him.  Many pictures were taken.  At some point, Erica saw his nose, and with one finger, she poked it softly and said, "BEEP!" as we often do with her nose at home.

In the wheel chair and headed for the recovery room

Erica meeting her little brother for the first time

First Lemke Family (of 4) Photo!!

After a short visit, Hunter's grandparents and big sister left and headed home, while Laura and I settled in for what would be the first of 2 fairly sleepless nights in the hospital.  For the next 2 days, nurses would be checking on Laura or Hunter nearly every hour.  Unlike Erica, Hunter slept a lot in the hospital (except, of course, overnight!).  Laura was able to take a couple of baths to soak. I was able to finally get a shower.  During our stay, our parents came for another visit on sunday, but had to keep Erica away because she woke up sunday morning with a cold! My parents brought Granny with them so she could meet Hunter. DD and Uncle Jorj came to visit, along with Tim and Kari. Additionally, our delivery nurse, Sheri, came to visit and check on us!  It's funny that after 12 hours with someone and being a part of a huge life-changing moment, Sheri felt almost like family too! 

Granny holding Hunter, her second great-grand child

By 9am Monday morning, our nurses were going over the last few items on a checklist to make sure we knew how to care for our baby (sadly, we only had to say "yes" or "we know" to satisfy their questions...no wonder so many kids don't stand a chance with their lousy parents once they leave the hospital and show up as little turds in school 5 years later!!!).  I went for the car seat still in the parking lot and brought out an armload of gifts and belongings.  I came back, put Hunter in his car seat and headed back to bring the car around to the front door, as Laura and Hunter were wheeled outside to be picked up.  We clipped him into the car, and we were on our way, bringing home our second child!!!

Dressed in camo and ready to go home!!!

Thanks for checking in on us and reading this entry in my Daddy Diary!  We appreciate all of the kind words, texts, phone calls, cards, meals and hugs sent our way over the past week when Hunter arrived, but also for all of the support given to us during Laura's pregnancy.  It certainly wasn't an easy one for her, and we're all glad it's over...but I've reminded her a few times while Hunter snuggles in her arms, that her misery at times seems like it was worth it...

My distraction as I blog this morning...

Awaiting our little man!

1/30/16

As Laura rests in her hospital bed just out of reach from me, I'm in a quiet room trying to gather my thoughts in nervous and excited anticipation of the arrival of our son! The best part about this room is the echo of his heartbeat coming from the speakers on the monitor. 

I'll give the full story later once he arrives, but we've been in the hospital since just before 7am this morning after Laura's water broke just after 6am. Since we've been here, Laura's been hooked up for monitoring to make sure the little guy is still doing well. He's an active guy...we're guessing he is doing some stretches as he gets ready for his big work out we hope will happen in the next few hours. 

This is an exciting time yet very stressful one as well! The only thing holding back my excitement of his arrival, is my heart-breaking view of my wife, hooked up to a handful of machines with tubes and cords running around her bed giving her the fluids and the meds she needs. Just like with Erica's birth, I feel completely useless because I can only sit here and offer my hands to hold and squeeze when her discomfort and pain gets to be too much. 

We can't wait to meet you, little man...just a few more hours (hopefully) and we will have you in our arms and will shower you with the same love your sister has enjoyed for almost 3 years. We love you very much! See ya soon!!

Love, 

Daddy and Mommy

Laura and the monitors

Laura trying to nap with her legs propped up to help her find comfort

The monitor telling us all is well. The baby's heartbeat is the blue line on top and the green line shows mommy's contractions as her body gets ready to bring the next joy to the world. 

Come on, dude!!!

1/24/16

Hey!...Little Dude!!!...We all want to meet you, so get out of mommy!!!

Today you are officially 1 day overdue!!! Your sister arrived right on time, and now I feel like an idiot because I've been telling everyone I had a feeling you'd be here early! 

Since Christmas, we've been sitting around, having lame weekends figuring we'd be taking a quick trip to the hospital to meet you at a moments notice. 

Mommy is ready to be done! Her belly is big. Her body aches and she has heartburn because she wants to meet you so badly!!!  She was pretty upset at the doctor's last week when she told her you might wait until this week to get here!

To help cheer mommy up, I brought home a dozen red roses on Friday after school and took her to dinner for some Mac and cheese (her favorite)!!

Your big sister Erica is talkin about you. She's even been carrying around your car seat with bunny in it, practicing so she can help care for you once you get here!

Today is your puppy, Lexi's, 4th birthday. She's opened some presents and destroyed her new toys already...she is even excited to meet you!

We even went to the Mall of America today to walk around, in hopes that some exercise would get you excited to come and meet us!

Our bags are packed. Your room is painted, decorated and ready for you to come home! There's little dinosaurs everywhere and your drawers are full of clothes waiting for you to fill them!

So...come on, dude!!! We all are getting anxious and I can't wait to hold you!!! I can't wait to see you...hopefully sooner than later! 

Erica riding rides at the Mall today while we tried "walking you out"

Erica playing with your car seat. 

Erica and mommy sitting by the fireplace last weekend, waiting for you!

Erica carrying her suitcase and your car seat, practicing getting ready to go to the hospital last weekend. 

A note to my son

12/30/15

So I've been slacking, little buddy!  But that doesn't mean I love you any less!!!

When we were awaiting the arrival of your big sister, Erica, I had lots of time on my hands to blog often...but since she's come along, spare/down time is hard to come by!  This week is Christmas Break for me so I've had some time to catch up while Erica's been napping...and so with the help of your mom nagging at me to update this blog...here I am, curled up in the basement by the fire, writing a little note to you!  I've been busy in grad school working on my Master's Degree so I can make us more money and hopefully provide a better future for you.  It's taken a lot of my time with all of the reading I have to do and the papers I have to write...I usually don't get started on them until your big sister has gone to bed for the night.  Fortunately for you, I'll be done in June!!!

Although I had to miss a few doctor's appointments because of school and work, I've loved going to all but a couple of them...it's been so awesome hearing your heartbeat and seeing a few pictures of you on the ultrasound slides a few months ago.  Some day you'll realize why a baby's heartbeat is the best sound in the world!!!

I can't wait to meet you!  I've found some camo clothes for you and Erica has bought a car for you already!  Your room is painted blue and the letters spelling your name are painted and ready to hang once you arrive home (we can't hang them yet because we don't want anyone to see them too early and ruin the surprise!).  By the way...I love your name!  It took some sweet talking and many conversations, but I finally got your mom convinced that we have the right name picked out for you.  (I think she's just a sore loser because I also named your sister!)  I even have a camo outfit picked out for you to wear home from the hospital once you arrive in a few weeks!

I'm really anxious to take you hunting for the first time!  I'm going to bring you to the Big Gun Lodge wayyyyy up in the woods and far away from the hustle-bustle of people.  It's a very special place to me...and your grandpa, Tim for that matter.  I've been going up there since I was 8 years old with my dad.  I wasn't old enough to hunt then, but I loved driving around on the 4 wheeler with him through the woods and helping him see grouse.  I really hope I can take you and your sister along for some hunts when you two get old enough...I've been waiting a really long time to make that memory with you guys!  I'm hoping you'll want to hunt with me, but more importantly, I hope you want to go up to the cabin with me.  It's always been a special place and a special time and I look forward to it every year.  It's a chance to escape life and recharge the batteries by being in the quiet woods, in a cozy cabin and out by the fire watching the river flow by.  I like to think that my worries and stresses are carried away by the river as it runs past the cabin!  Again...I'm so hopeful that you'll want to go to the cabin with me throughout your lifetime and share some memories together as I've done with my dad and other good buddies up there.  I know you'll have a pal, Owen, who will be hoping to see you up there in a few years...I'm sure you two will have lots of fun together running through the woods playing with toy guns, walking with your dads and practicing shooting a BB gun when you get a little older!  I'm thinking I may even get buried up there someday...well, of having some of my ashes throw into the river and sprinkled around the woods...that way I'll always be up at the cabin I love, and even after I'm gone, you'll still be able to come and hang out at the cabin and spend some time with your dad!

On a more serious note...you and I will have to sit down and have a chat once you arrive...you've been torturing your mother for the past 9 months!  She's been pretty miserable carrying you around in her belly...but she loves you very much and can't wait to meet you too!  She's had heartburn from the day we learned you were hiding in her belly.  Her back has been hurting more, and she's had a lot of trouble sleeping and has been sick at times.  You've definitely been testing her will, but I know she'll love you just as much as she loves your big sister!  So basically, what I'm trying to say is that you'll be grounded indefinitely once you arrive...until mom says you're done, you're on lock down, little buddy!!!

We have a bigger house for you!  Earlier this fall, at the end of October, we bought a bigger house for you and your sister.  Each of you have your own bedroom, and a huge toy room downstairs for you to play with all of your toys.  Erica loves the room so far.  I think the best part of the house, the part you'll like most when you get older, is the huge backyard...we have a big hill for you to go sledding down in the winter, a fire pit at the top of the hill...but the best part, is the "bonus yard" we have behind us...it's a huge nature park area...over a mile long and close to a half mile wide of woods, grasslands and rolling hills!  It's pretty awesome!  It feels like we're up in the woods when Lexi and I have walked around it a couple times...and I haven't even come close to seeing it all yet!  If you're anything like me when I was a kid, you'll love running around in the woods and playing "army guys" with toy guns when you get older!  I'm pretty jealous of you...I would've loved to have had this yard when I was a little boy!!!

Well, I'll wrap this up...your sister will probably be waking up from a nap soon and will spoil a perfectly quiet afternoon of solitude!!!  I love you very much, little buddy!  Erica and I talk to you every day and rub mommy's tummy as we talk to you.  We can't wait to meet you.  I'm nervous again to get ready to go to the hospital just because it was tough for me to see mommy hooked up to all of the machines, but I know that you'll be ready to meet us soon and I can't wait to see you and hold you for the first time!  Love ya lots!

-Daddy

Your beautiful mommy! Taken today, 12/30/15 (36 weeks)

Our new house with your big sister, Erica in the front yard

Your bedroom. Mommy has put up some decorations since this picture was taken...she's loved decorating your room with dinosaurs for you!!!

Erica wanted to try a pair of your PJs on one night while we were decorating your room!

...and we're having a little...

9/8/15

We had our 20 week ultra sound tonight, and we're having a ...

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BOY!!!!

We're having a little, baby boy!!!  A BOY!!!

We sat through almost the entire ultrasound before the lady said, "well, let's see if we can tell what this little baby is..."  A few seconds went by.  My eyes were still straining to make out features on the screen and she said, "well, there is the scrotal sac."  It took me a second before I asked,  "Soooo, it's a boy?!?!"  I'm sorry...I guess I refer to certain features with less nerdy terms than those in the medical field!!!

Laura and I both didn't have a worry/care about whatever gender our little one was hiding from us until tonight.  Erica stole my heart from the first second I set my eyes on her, I knew I would enjoy another little girl as much as I'd enjoy a little boy.  Selfishly though, every guy secretly hopes for a boy.  Maybe it's a macho thing, I don't know, but we hope for the boy.  For me, my hopes were to have a boy who I can take hunting and can carry on the family name.  Fortunately for me, I know I'll take Erica hunting a time or two, and hopefully much more.  Who knows, maybe my little dude won't be into hunting...but I'm still excited to have a little baby boy!

I'm excited to have a boy!

As I think about it now...as I write...I'm excited about a boy for a couple of big reasons:

1 - I want a boy who I can teach to be honorable who lives his life with integrity.  It seems that we live in a world today where people become passionate about silly things, and almost overnight.  At the end of the day, so many of these things just don't seem to matter at all in the long run.  I want to help guide my son on a path that will show him that he should follow his heart, know the difference between right and wrong, treat people fairly and with respect, and to always do the right thing.  I guess you could say, I want to help raise someone who will be someone that contributes positively to society.

2 - To have a sense of pride in his work.  My dad always taught me (and, damn did it piss me off at the time!!!) to work hard and do my best work at everything I did.  I see students who don't care too much about anything and don't take the time to put much effort into simple assignments.  I want to show my son that hard work pays off, even if you don't get that pay off immediately (something my dad left out of his mini-lessons!).

3 - To treat women the right way.  Pop culture today makes women appear to be objects and things that don't deserve respect.  I fundamentally disagree with how a lot of society treats women.  I want to teach my son that women are awesome and that they deserve respect and to be treated fairly.  I'm certainly not a feminist by any means, but I'm a little old fashioned when it comes to chivalry and being kind to ladies!  I'll teach him:
-to never hit a woman
-to love her unconditionally
-to open doors for her
-to buy her flowers without reason as well as to buy her flowers when he messes up
-to cook for her
-to call her beautiful each and every day
-to tell her sweatpants and hoodies are sexy
-to say "thank you" for all of the little things she does around the house because she keeps the house running and it'd fall apart if it wasn't for her
-to say "yes, dear" in most arguments, because he'll lose them even if he's right
-to appreciate her and pamper her to the best of his ability while she is pregnant with your child
-to change a diaper because you're responsible for half of that shit!
-to be at her side when she is sick
-to buy her jewelry and other sparkly things
-to always tell her she looks good in those pants
-to never say she looks fat
-to always compliment her cooking (until many years have passed, you cannot say anything bad about something she makes!)
-to tell her each day that you love her
-to hug her each day before you go to work
-to work harder on the marriage when some days seem tougher than others
...and lots of other things I'm undoubtedly leaving out, but am forever thankful that my wife does for me...and for other things that my mom used to do for me.  Basically...not to take an amazing woman for granted! And, not to be shallow and petty if he's with a girl that he finds himself no longer having feelings for.  I remember when I was in high school (and I see it still happens to students today) that guys would break up with girls for stupid reasons they'd say just so they wouldn't have to tell the truth...that they weren't committed or mature enough to be with the girl they were with.

As I think of it now...I plan to teach Erica all of those things too...and would've taught those same things to our next baby had I found out tonight that we were expecting a girl!  These are just simple things descent people should live by!  And good men should live by these things as well, so now...I'm excited and humbled by the responsibility have to always serve as a role model for my little boy when he arrives in January...because he'll always be watching me, just like all little boys should grow up watching their dads!

Thanks so much for reading this entry!  I'm so pumped!  I hope you're excited too!  Do me a favor...I'm not big on "re-posting" or sharing things on social media...but if you liked my list from above, pass it along to some people in your life and see if they'd agree with the things I think all dads have an obligation to teach their little boys.  Let me know what people think?!  Thanks again for reading my Daddy Diary.  As always, we appreciate your well-wishes and best thoughts.  I'll keep you posted on Laura, Erica and my future little guy!  Take care!

Enjoy a couple pics of our little guy...just like his mom and big sister...he's so damn cute!!!

Re-hydrating in the ER and another new chapter?

8/17/15

What better place to catch up on fluids and re-hydration than at the ER?!?!

After a long and borderline-miserable weekend, we headed to the ER to make sure Laura and baby were doing ok.  It started last Thursday when Laura wasn't feeling too good.  We had cleared the first trimester a few weeks ago and all was going well until she had long bouts of nausea and wasn't feeling so hot.  We had a doctor's appointment that afternoon so we planned to talk with the doctor then.  Around lunchtime, the doctor's office called and said they had to postpone it until the following Monday because the doctor was called into the hospital for a delivery of a baby.  Hoping it was just a short term feeling, we went on with our day.  Friday came and didn't go too well either and we braced for the weekend.  The weekend wasn't good!  Laura started to have a tough time holding onto fluids and just didn't feel great at all.  We decided on Sunday that we'd try to move the appointment up from the afternoon to Monday morning so we could get checked out.  Well, Laura called and asked to reschedule and they patched her through to a nurse who listened to the symptoms and they told us to head to the ER to get checked out to make sure the baby was ok and to ensure mom was ok as well.  So, after some tears and a worried few hours waiting to get looked at, we had an ultrasound which told us everything was going great with the baby still and that Laura was healthy.  They hooked Laura up to an IV and gave her some fluids.  Long story short: it was probably a combo of dehydration and a small stomach virus Laura dealt with over the weekend.  I tell you what...the worst feelings on Earth are watching your kids endure pain, and watching your wife go through something like that...because you feel helpless!  Dads seem to naturally shift to the "health and safety department" of family life, so if something throws those two things out of whack, watch out!

After a 4 hour ordeal, they sent us home and told Laura to rest for the remainder of the day and drink lots of water.  Within a couple of days, she was back to her usual self.

Sorry this one was belated, but life has been crazy since that week!  Actually, life all summer long was crazy!  This was the fastest summer yet!  There wasn't a single week where I spent 5 days with Erica!  Whether it was meetings, trainings, traveling or whatever, this summer was chopped up and gone before we realized.

To catch you up a little bit on the stressful past 2 weeks, we have our home on the market and have had our offer on a new home accepted (contingent upon the sale of our house).  We have been looking for a new home since late this past spring.  With another baby on the way and with Laura working out of the house, we need another bedroom and some more storage!  We searched for a couple months and walked through close to two dozen homes and hadn't found anything in our price range that we liked or that didn't need some major remodeling.  So, after being disappointed time and again, we made an appointment with our loan guy to start some paperwork on refinancing our current home and getting a 15 year mortgage and paying off the house quicker.  Then, on a Monday afternoon in late August, I was casually searching Zillow and looked at a property that had been on the market throughout our entire search but didn't jump out at us, as well as an auction home that looked promising.  The first property had numerous pictures on the web but they didn't look good.  The second property also had some pictures that didn't look good but offered a lot of promise.  So we asked our realtor to set up a tour.  The next day we walked through the first house mentioned and fell in love!  The second house (the auction) was a nightmare...one of the worst/most trashed houses we've seen in our searches for homes!

The house has over half an acre at the end of a cul de sac  with the back property line butting up to a large nature preserve.  There's 5 bedrooms with 3 baths, so we'll have a bedroom for the 2 kids as well as Laura's office with another bedroom for guests as well as a dedicated storage room...with lots of extra closet space!  We lined up another walk through the next day with my dad who agreed to tag along and take a good look at everything to see if the house was in good condition, with the idea that if all passed muster, we'd make an offer.  Well, by dinner time that night, we signed all the paperwork and submitted our offer.  By friday that week, our offer was accepted, and our house is now on the market!  We had our first showing tonight with another tomorrow, so we have our fingers crossed that someone will like it and we can keep the process rolling, with a tentative closing date just before Halloween! So...both of us have had some sleepless nights, lots of stressful days and tons of "what ifs" going through our heads over the past 2 weeks!

Anyways...that's been our life for the last 3 weeks!  Thanks again for reading my Daddy Diary.  We appreciate your well-wishes and for checking in on us once in a while.  School started today for me, so it's officially a school  night.  Be on the lookout for upcoming news on our newest bundle of joy!  Just a hint...we had our ultrasound tonight and we're having a...