I’ve been enjoying summer so much that I forgot to blog! Now where to start…

The biggest thing we’re doing this summer is remodeling a bathroom. Originally I had dreams of remodeling it all by myself…but now we’re looking at maybe half the work. A friend’s dad will be tiling a new shower for us, and then I think I can do the rest. We went today to look at new vanities and countertops (oooh, quartz is pretty), and I might try my hand at tiling the floor. I had dreams of redoing both bathrooms this summer…but we might have to settle with one. We’re doing the bathroom in Luke’s room though, so once it’s all done we can start on our own. We’re doing that tile on the walls, a smaller 6×6 inch on the floor of the shower, and I’m going to try and put in an 18×18 on the floor. The glass/mosaic tile we’re going to use to make a stripe horizontally in the shower, and then also to make “diamonds” in the walls. Big thanks to Amanda and Kurtis for helping us pick it out!

Over the fourth of July we drove down to San Diego with Andrew and Sarah to see the Dodgers beat on the Padres. It was also the night Manny came back from his suspension, which was really interesting. Felt like we were witnessing a part of history. Every time he came up to bat the entire stadium was on its feet. It was half cheers, half boos. It was fun to spend a night away without the baby (thanks Grandparents!).

I’ve also been playing a game called Evony a lot. It’s an online, flash based game, but it’s far more advanced than you would think. You run a city (or multiple cities), collect resources, amass troops, and can attack other people. I’m in a great alliance with some other people, so it’s fun to protect each other and attack our enemies. If you want to sign-up, go here! I’m on world 5, in lower lorraine.

I have to put some Luke in here! We went a couple weeks ago for his 15.5 month check-up. He’s now 25.5 lbs, and 32 inches long. The kid eats like crazy…it’s like he’s never full. Our favorites are bananas, watermelon, strawberries, cheerios, goldfish, ritz crackers, cheese, and chicken. Come to think of it…he eats whatever we give him. He’s also letting us enjoy our summer mornings by sleeping in. The kid will go from 8pm when we put him to bed, and won’t wake up until 9am! Here’s some recent pictures.

Otherwise we’re taking it easy and enjoying summer. Stacie is headed to Las Vegas for two nights on Sunday, so it’ll be me and the boy! Should be fun, and tiring. Stacie’s going to put $20 on the Dodgers while she’s there, so Luke and I will watch the game and cheer them on.

In case you’re wondering, that caffeine counter is still accurate. Haven’t had any in two months now. Overall I wouldn’t say I have more energy…but I feel more balanced out. There are no highs and lows, just a nice normal all the time. I miss my friends Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper, but they’ve been replaced by Sprite. But somedays I have a couple sodas and then I feel gassy all day, so I might give that up too, haha.

That’s all for now. I’m promising a super cute video of Luke very soon!

In a couple weeks our little booger will be a year old! It’s gone by both fast and slow at the same time. When he’s officially a year old I’ll post some “official” father comments, but for now, just pictures. The good ones are by Andrew.

We love holding our own bottle. We’re slowly transitioning to more solid stuff, but I don’t think he’s in any hurry. We’ve got two teeth on the top and bottom in the front, and a molar in the back is popping through. I think he might get a whole mouth full at once!

Coasters are yummy! He likes to hold them in his mouth and crawl around like he’s the dog.

We played in the fridge the other day. He knew what to do with the Powerade bottle.

Today we went to the cemetery with my parents. These are some of my Great Grandparents, so they would be Luke’s Great Great Grandparents. They’ve been buried there my whole life, not even five miles away, and I’d never seen their gravestone. I’ve got some photos of them, and I think it would be really cool to put together some kind of family history book with pictures, birth certificates, gravestones, etc. I have six ancestors buried at another local cemetery, which I think is so cool. Even though I really only knew three of them, between looking at pictures and hearing about them, it’s just a lot of fun to know my “history.”

The last post didn’t really count as an update, just more of a rant, so here’s a better post.

Christmas was nice. We split time between both sets of grandparents, and then we went up north. Great-Grandma got to hold Luke, so we took pictures and videos of that. Who knows how long she’ll be around, so I wanted to make sure he’d have that to remember her. It makes me want to find some of the old photos of me with some Great-Grandparents that I never knew that well. On the way home we took a two-hour detour towards the San Jose area to visit Stacie’s Aunt and Uncle. It made the trip a little longer, but it was fun to see them.

So what am I doing with the rest of my vacation? My main goal is to finish my final edits on my book. I’ve got both manuscripts sitting on the table side by side, I’ve got my laptop, and I have a notebook where I’m listing any major changes to the plot and characters. Right now I’m 20% done, so I’m hoping it can be done before I go back to work. After that I need to format it for printing, order a proof copy, and then I’m letting Stacie read it first. Assuming she doesn’t find any major typos, then it will be all ready to go! The way it will work is it should be available to buy on Amazon, and I can also buy copies myself to sell for cheaper.

I’ll have to make some more posts about writing once it’s all done, because it really is an interesting process. It’s much like a painting that can be constantly updated. Maybe you start painting a scene, and then later on decide you’d like to change part of it. All you have to do is get some new paint and paint over it. A book is the same thing. The words you put down in the beginning don’t say set in stone, because the story is constantly evolving. What was written in the first few pages may not match the way the story has evolved after 300 pages, so you have to go back and make the story consistent throughout. It’s not really fun to edit, but if you don’t you’re doing your story a major disservice.

Tonight Stacie and I went out on a date for the first time since Luke was born. We called up a set of grandparents, requested their services, and off we went! Woodranch BBQ in Cerritos is one of our favorite places for good meat, so we headed out there. It was fun being able to go out just the two of us. We both remarked about how life didn’t feel that different, like it still didn’t feel real that we have a child. Life is certainly different than it was before Luke, but it’s not 100% different, it’s only partly different. I’d say a baby is more like an upgrade to your current life.

I started putting baby videos on the computer today, so hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have some posted.

Luke Nathan

Born just after midnight on March 15th…about 4 hours ago from right now. He weighed 8 lbs 8 ounces, and was 21 inches long. But how he decided to enter the world was a wild ride.

Still a week from our due date, we went out to eat with Andrew and Sarah on Friday night. After we get home we decided to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie, but 30 minutes into it we have a problem. Just after 11 pm Stacie starts to have some bleeding….a lot. After about 1 minute of that I know we’re headed to the hospital. We do the best we can to get her ready to go, but the whole time she’s still bleeding.

We make it to the emergency room and they admit her. The nurses get her setup and check her out. She isn’t dialated a whole lot, but the blood is disturbing. Water breaking should be clear, so this isn’t normal. The doctor comes in to check on things, and he says it’s hard to know what exactly is causing the bleeding, but it’s probably the placenta. He doesn’t think it’s ruptured, but more likely it’s coming detached, and delivering vaginally could be very problematic. So after a few tears we’re off to have a c-section. One out of four women have one, and while it’s not typically the way you imagine this moment, you have to do what’s best for the baby.

They prep her, and maybe one hour after we arrived at the hospital, we have a brand new baby boy. Right now he’s in the special care unit. The bleeding got into his lungs, so they’re working on clearing them up. It doesn’t sound too serious, but it’s something they’re keeping a close eye on. When I left they had done a CPAP which increases the pressure in the lungs to help clear them up. They’ll try this for a couple hours, and if it doesn’t provide the results they want, then they’ll have to intubate him and put a tube down his throat. Mom is also recovering from her cesarian. She’s tired and was going to try and get some sleep when I left. The worst part is she’s hardly seen the baby since they’re both recovering. For now some looks on the digital camera will have to suffice.

He’s a beautiful baby. His hair is blonde, he’s got big hands and feet, and I feel absolutely blessed. Both sets of grandparents and Andrew and Sarah came down until about 2 am and got to see Stacie and baby Luke. I’m going to try and get some sleep now and will head back tomorrow to see how my two are doing. Prayers for a speedy recovery would be most welcome. As soon as I have more information I will let you know.

My picture scanning continues. I’m nearing the end of the black and white photos (over 500 of them). They’re really poorly organized, so I’ll find a negative from the same "event" in several different places. Organizing and identifying people in the photos is another task completely.

I have another month of freedom left before I have to go back to work. So what am I doing to occupy my time? I’ve actually been bit by the nostalgia bug. I have a box of a couple thousand negatives that used to belong to my grandfather, some of which are over 50 years old. I’ve started scanning these old negatives in an effort to digitize the entire family history of photos. Equipped with compressed air, my lens cleaning brush, and a steady hand, I’ve started archiving.

In a related endeavor I’ve started researching my family tree. There is a wealth of information already on the web that I’m utilizing. Much of it is research that other people have done on common ancestors. While I wouldn’t be able to prove much of what I’ve found in a court of law (ie. no birth and death certificates, census data, etc.) I’m still fairly confident in the reliability of the data. It is a goal of mine to be as certain as possible of that information, but for now I’m willing to accept that which others have already decided on.

There a few highlights from my surface research. I’ve traced a few lines back to England and Germany, but no other foreign countries yet. One specific line dates my oldest American ancestors to the early 1600′s, making me somewhere around 14th generation. My Dad’s line isn’t as old, of which I’m the 5th generation. I have an ancestor that was in the Confederate Navy. One of my great-grandfather’s brothers shot a man, and my great-grandfather married the dead man’s wife (who became my great-grandmother).

Overall I am enjoying the greater appreciation I have for those that have come before me. Just a month ago I only knew who some of my great-grandparents were, let alone where they came from. This post wouldn’t be complete without a good example of the work I’ve been doing! This photo includes my grandmother, her brother, and two great-grandparents. Sadly I have no idea who the rest of the people are, and I probably never will. This would be in Iowa circa 1949 (I think).

I would like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully you’ll be spending it with the people you love. Stacie and I will be spending it with her parents and then with mine. All the good food is a nice excuse to get together, but being with the people you care about is the most important thing. As I get older I realize more and more what a beautiful family I’ve been blessed with. From parents, to brother and sister, to grandparents, to aunts and uncles, to cousins, and to in-laws, I have so many great people to spend my Thanksgiving with. I hope everyone can find a little happniess this Thanksgiving.