Game Day

We are preparing for the showdown between the Hawkeyes and the Badgers at the house this afternoon. We invited the Iowa family over to watch the 2:30 kick off.  We will of course show off our newest addition as well.  The rules are pretty simple.  If you wear red you get to eat and drink for free.  If you wear Badger gear you won't have to pay a cover, will be relieved of incessant smack talking about how your quarterback spends as much time throwing to the opposite team as own and you can enjoy top shelf adult beverages to imbibe at no cost.  If, and I can't imagine anyone would have the audacity, one wears puke yellow to the house, well then you are on the BYO-X system.  As in Bring Your Own X (whatever) you want to eat and drink. 

The household is looking forward to it.  So much so that the entire house was up all night because they couldn't sleep in anticipation of the big event.  It was just like Christmas.  Gavin spent the entire night up and Carrie hit the wall around 3:30 and tapped out waking me up to take over.  Nothing better in life than the ol' 3:30 AM shift.  You can't imagine what is on TV at that hour.  So I am spending time watching the greatest television ever while rocking baby G back to sleep for about an hour when I hear another noise.  That can't be.  You have to be kidding me.  Seriously? Is that Q crying?  So, as I sit there watching Nitro on MTV2, whatever that is, I contemplate how I pick up a 40 pound crying nearly two year old while holding a finally quiet almost 9 day old at the same time.  I glance over at sleeping beauty and don't want to wake her up because I know she hasn't caught more than two hours of sleep in a row in weeks.  So I put baby Gavin into a chair and go track down Quentin.  That was it. He wanted to come into our bed, which is a war zone these days.  Lights on, lights off.  Baby crying, baby feeding, baby crying, baby diaper change, lights on, lights off, poopy diaper, comment of geez, Josh, It's your turn, baby crying, and now the introduction of Quentin.  I look over at Carrie and confirm we did indeed decide to host a get together tomorrow afternoon.  It's really shocking how much one can accomplish in a day when they start at 4:30 AM.

Hosting did cause us to dig out some pictures of the family and put some boxes away.  It's clear at this point some things are just not going to get unpacked, which is code for you don't need this stuff.  Moving into a bigger house is a misnomer.  You don't really need the space.  You convince yourself you do because really you just want to accumulate more stuff.  Our basement has a perfect little space that would exactly fit a 96 inch LCD TV placed neatly on the wall.  I'm sure that's just some random coincidence. The wife is not going it for it.  But, honey the builder wanted it this way.  Still unconvinced?  Maybe Santa will just put it under the tree. 

I think all of us are still carrying some leftover Florida baggage.  Q was getting in trouble for "wandering" at school this week.  They say he doesn't listen very well.  I'm not good at taking adult criticism.  I have always felt like if you are going to micromanage me than I'm going to make you earn your stripes and act like someone that needs to be micromanaged.  I'm very curious to understand exactly how well a 1 year old is supposed to listen.  They said he wanders around the class during "free play" but does well when they are doing any specific activity.  I'm not saying this out loud, but I'm thinking it's free play.  Doesn't the title imply your kid should be wandering around the room doing whatever they want?  They have a bunny in the middle of the room that he gravitates to.  We don't live on a farm. This is his first experience with a bunny.  He's one.  I'm sorry you're telling me you are shocked he can't stop checking it out?  We may have chosen the wrong daycare.  I don't think he's made friends yet and he still talks about his old friends from Tampa, which I'm surprised to hear.  What a memory?  He's going to be the guy that remembers being in the womb.

Quinny is a lot like me.  He's determined.  He's ultra observant and is constantly multi-tasking.  He'll start one thing, see another and move on.  He'll come back to the first thing but he's curious.  He's a boy. He loves the outdoors.  He needs exercise.  I want him to do well and now I'm sitting here thinking he's spending half his day in time out?  They say time out has no effect on him. He happily, smiling, goes to his chair without a care in the world.  At home he hates it, wailing through the entire two minutes eager to say sorry and move on. I will admit it.  It makes me smile that he's man enough, at one, to stick it to the man. But, you know it sucks and you know it has to have some effect on him.  Now my paranoia sets in and I wonder if they are singling him out or have less patience for him than the others.  I wonder if we made a colossal mistake sending him to this particular daycare.  I'm sure I'm over reacting.  There are probably just too many Hawkeye fans there and we keep dressing him in Wisco gear (you know to stick it to em'!).  We'll be keeping an eye on them and hopefully we work it out.  If not we will be on the daycare hunt.  It's a lot of change for all of us and people think he's too young to notice.  But this is boy genius we're talking about and it simply is not true.  He knows and he's having a tough time.

Here a few recent pics of Gavin.  Q has been absolutely great.  He talks about him on the way home from school, always wants to see him and showers him with hugs and kisses.  Gavin has made the night time routine with Q kissing everyone good night (including Lucky) and giving everyone a hug.  Here is Q administrating one of those and Gavin's big feet!

Hunting - Iowa Style

I've lived in Iowa for about 7 weeks. I grew up in Lake Geneva, a way too small town way too many people think is a great destination. I am sure the town or city that everyone grows up in shapes them in some way or another as they grow older. For me I knew immediately that anonymity was the way to go. Small towns, well you can keep em'. I applied to two schools for college, Marquette and the UDub. Marquette wanted more information, automatically disqualifying them from the application process. Sweet, sweet Madison accepted a fairly good student with an acceptable ACT score. People said you'd be a number. Say no more. Upon graduation I took a job in Atlanta and was a bit frightened at moving to a place I knew no one, but was a double major in English and history and didn't have a lot of places to turn. (The original plan was law school, but I grew tired of the bills and never ending requirements. My strength is not responding to authority). Shortly after accepting the position I was asked to apply for a position at the UW Foundation and a career in fundraising was born. Since then I've lived in New York, Miami, Boston and Tampa. I've turned into a bit of a city snob. I like nice restaurants and I enjoy a decent shopping experience. I don't believe in Wal-Mart (mostly due to their politics and basically it's a Chinese economy. Is it really worth the savings of 34 cents)? Target is better. One can actually navigate an aisle and the parking lot. You know what I'm talking about.

I am home this week to help Carrie out as we make the transition from a family of three to a family of four. One thinks an addition of one wouldn't upset the apple cart all that much, but statistically speaking we are adding a solid 33% to our family. If only our GDP could grow at such a rate in 36 weeks and five days! I've had precious little time to reflect on the move and the differences of Iowa and Florida right up until the moment a mouse ran across my living room floor. It's that sort of moment that puts life's moments in perspective. Sure, they might be sort of cute and cuddly and possibly even sold in local pet stores, but, it was appalling.

I, armed with ineptitude, grabbed a gallon size Tupperware container hoping to contain the beast. My mother in-law laughing at me immediately calling for a camera shot to preserve the city boy moment. "That's not how you kill a mouse!" Outstanding! By all means I am open to suggestions. That was it. I stood there flabbergasted at how people could possibly cohabited with mammals outside of dogs and cats. It wasn't but 3 hours earlier I was at a pet store buying Quinny his first aquarium full of fish; his first hand picked pets. And now, I had a living zoo presumably eating off my hard earned work and living rent free. I am sure all readers know that 1 in 5 Londoners died of the rat infested population of the city to a tune of an estimated 25 million right? I just had a baby! A mouse? In Florida we don't have rodents. At least not in our homes. Sure, we have cockroaches the size of miniature poodles but you can stomp on those suckers. This is furry! Furry, people, furry!

I wasn't quite sure what to do. I googled exterminator. I saw the pictures of the guy spraying chemicals and killing the bad bugs and furry rodents on the spot. It reminded me of Arachnophobia where John Goodman is trying to kill the spider and it won't die. He eventually walks over and squashes it. As I'm perusing the local rodent killers I google "organic." This is of course a service that this city snob used before and left our house insect free for 3 years for $50 and was harmless to us, our baby and our pets. But we are in Iowa (it doesn't exist anywhere in the state - million dollar idea}??? - and therefore I wished for a .22 caliber rifle to solve the problem. At least I would get props from the fellas for shooting my rifle at the local wildlife in the house. If that doesn't earn you free beers at your around the corner bar what does? But to no avail, so I did what any city boy would do. I headed out to the local Menard's and bought one of every rodent killing device they stocked. That's right, I was a officially a hunter.

I walked back into the house feeling like a plaid shirt wrangler wearing chest puffed man. I laid my contraptions on the counter for all to see. I had $.78 old school snap your neck traps with cheese. I had run over this and you are stuck for life traps (glue). I had "child-friendly" snap your neck traps. I had concoctions to "lure" rodents of all sizes to their neck breaking death. (This is really some sort of racket, sort of like child care but significantly cheaper). The ladies might not have been impressed, but Quinny was. Ah, sons. More sons please. Two might not be enough.

So, like a true Iowan I got up on my tree stand (living room) and started peanut buttering up my traps. I laid them behind the aquarium. Seriously, I set that thing up yesterday and a mouse made it its home already? I put one in the closet. Behind the washer, in another closet, behind the aquarium, again, and stealthily laid one out in the store room. Not 60 seconds later my hunter instinct took over. A loud snap! reverberated throughout the house. Gotcha you furry little disease killer that some kids consider pets! But, no it was a false positive. Glad, we don't have daughters. The whole $.37 trap broke. Guess what folks? Yup, made in China. I would take it back, but it was full of peanut butter. So, like a true Iowa hunter, as I understand it, I made myself a cocktail, threw in a movie about British hooligans (aren't they all)? and sat in my tree stand (couch) for the long haul. About 90 minutes and two cocktails later I heard an unmistakable squeaking. I am thinking what is that Lucky dog of mine up to when I realized I was using him as an ottoman. I looked at Carrie, who looked at Gavin, who looked at me, who looked back at Carrie who then looked back at me when we all realized the pooch was looking at us wondering what the squeaking was.

Well, that squeaking was one sorry mouse because it didn't have its SAG card from working on the Green Mile and was stuck in some serious glue behind the washer. Hmm. Okay, so I'm a hunter now with my first kill. I have not one but two Swiss army knives (red and black) to gut this ferocious mammal but this sucker is still alive. Sure, it's a humane way not to kill your child but I have an approximately 6 ounce mouse glued to a six inch piece of paper that is decidedly not a science or an art project for high school. Oh yes, I remember now, I live in Iowa and I have an entire corn field in my back yard. I donned some gloves, picked up squealing mouse and took him for the dead mouse walking! off the plank. Lucky joined me for the funeral procession. At the edge of the corn field, being new to Iowa, I decided a Frisbee throw would be best. And wah-la humans 1, rodents 0. Winner! I know, I know. And yes, when I walked away it was still squealing. But aren't we in pig farming territory? No one will even notice.

So to celebrate my first ever mammal slaughter a picture of baby Gavin. He gained 2 ounces since leaving the hospital. Hooray! Hopefully he survives the black plague!

I'm not sure how people live with the possibility of mice in their homes. I am refortifying the dryer vent, which had to be the way in. I fear finding another a mouse as a clan or family or herd or whatever they call them. I did notice a gun shop on the way to Quentin's daycare the other day. Too soon? Okay, well rest in peace sweet fury mouse. If you some how make it to the big cornfield in the sky tell your friends to stay away from Sandhurst Drive.

Enjoy the unrelated to this story picture of my new son. He sleeps all day and screams all night. That makes him our new son. If he slept through the night we would be worried.

Coming Home to Meet the Family

We received a clean bill of health on Saturday and were able to be discharged in time to watch the Badgers dismantle number one Ohio State on national TV. It was the first time Wisco had beat a number one team since 1981 likely dashing OSU's hopes for a national title. Gavin, Q, Dad and grandpa all were able to enjoy some couch time and watch the first half together before Q had to go to bed. It was a nice generational moment. Maybe Gavin will follow in Quinny's footsteps and be a future player. We'll see. He's smaller than Q was when he was born so maybe a skill player. It would be possible for Q to block for Gavin some day being they are only two years apart. One can dream.

Quentin has been great through this whole ordeal with both sets of grandparents coming down and staying at the house. Through all that transition Quentin has slept well and behaved even better. He's not quite sure how to treat Gavin yet, but does know he's part of the family and has welcomed him in open arms. Quentin pokes him and every time he cries he says, "ungy, ungy" and tries to offer up good food suggestions including sharing is own. We are of course reusing Q's old things like a little vibrating rocking chair and there is some confusion with that. We had Gavin in the chair sleeping and Q comes over and tries to sit in it too. So we have gentle moments of explanation and how he needs to be a good older brother and share. So far so good. I have been giving Quinny the majority of attention while Carrie tends to the baby since Carrie can't pick up Q for the next couple of weeks. It's been working out pretty well so far and we know it will take a while to hammer out a routine.

I think Quentin has really enjoyed the grandparents but he is confused what to call them. He is currently calling everyone Gramma. It's hilarious. My dad came upstairs from the guest room this morning and Quinny was at the top of the stairs and screams, "GRAMMA!" He thinks all the grandparents are called Gramma, except Carrie's dad, who he does call Poppa. I didn't realize he was calling everyone the same name until this morning. My dad was all too aware so for the rest of the weekend I got to call him gramma too. Ahhhh, it's life's little moments that bring true pleasure. Pretty funny.

The Luckster met the newest addition to the family on Saturday with a lot of sniffing and some nuzzling. Who knows what he's thinking. I had a long talk with him before we left to go the hospital explaining that he was about to be number five on the depth chart. He took it pretty well. He's still acting neurotic since moving here. I think he's waiting to head back to Florida still. One can dream. Every time we leave the house he runs out to the car and tries to get in. This is a new behavior for him. He hasn't spent a ton of time in the car so I do think he thinks living in Iowa is temporary. Wait until we move to yet a new house this spring. That should really help!

Everyone did fine yesterday and it was nice to find the comforts of our home. Gavin was circumcised Saturday and I was allowed to watch the procedure. I figure if he has to endure it I should see what he's going through. Solidarity! That was an experience that forced me to go to my happy place. He wailed and wailed through it. They gave him a localized anesthetic but I don't think it took because he never really stopped crying through any of it. And as you can imagine it's pretty brutal. That happened in the morning and then they monitor the bleeding every 15 minutes for the first two hours. Little Gavin only has about as much blood as a coke can so even what we would consider a small amount is a lot for him so it needs to be watched closely.

Gavin has been eating better and a nurse will come out to the house on Monday to weigh him and check him for jaundice. He appears to be eating well so we think he will pass. A lot of younger babies do end up back in the hospital because they start dropping weight once they get home. Q was a good eater so hopefully Gavin is too. When we checked out of the hospital he was down a half pound since being born, which is common. They don't want him to fall below 10% of his birth weight. I'm sure he'll be a 10 pounder in no time.

He hasn't slept at all during the night and Carrie has been taking the brunt of that. You forget how brutal the lack of sleep is. To go through the day on 1-2 hours sleep day after day is nothing short of miraculous. I took Q to daycare this morning and the daycare is 2-3 miles down the street but it's on the same street we live on. Upon exiting the parking lot, I for whatever reason took a left and started driving to who knows where. About a block down the road I asked myself where I was going? I am chalking that up to no sleep. Carrie hit the wall around 2:45 am last night so I was up until about 4:30 with baby G and then got up with Quentin at 6 am. Not sure if it will be a household of napping this afternoon or what but something needs to give. We'll see. I can tell you our goal of 5 children is shrinking daily. I definitely can't keep this up 3, 4, 5 or 6 years from now. I think if you want a big family you need to get started in your early to mid-20's. After that you are either a sadomasochist or an incurable insomniac. We are neither, which means outside of triplets we aren't going to get to 5. We'll see how it pans out. Ask me in 4 years where we're at.

Here are a few pics of Gavin coming home in his car seat, meeting Lucky with Quinny excited to have him home finally and Quinny "petting" his new baby brother.

Our First Night

We are happy to report that Gavin slept through the whole night. Ha! No kid of ours is ever going to sleep through a night. We hit the sack around 12:30 am and the second I climbed into my single camp like bed Gavin blew an O-ring having his first poo. Carrie is immobile so I climb back out of bed and had a chance to tackle my first blowout 12 hours into baby number two. It was nasty and about the only thing I hadn't forgotten about having a newborn. While I was cleaning his bum up I had forgotten that proper technique is three quarters of the battle. I turned to toss a dirty wipe and he wazzered all over the place; his hat, the sheet, the towel, the clean diaper - everywhere. Par for the course. So after changing his diaper, the sheets, his hat, and his blanket we attempted to settle in for a much needed good night's sleep. That's when the crying started, so we didn't get much sleep, which is really to be expected.

His lungs have healed so we no longer have that as an issue. His breathing has normalized and the doctors decided not to follow up with any further X-rays. They have taken another blood sample to make sure everything looks normal. For one test he hit the highest level of "normal" so they wanted to make sure he didn't push any further, but we haven't heard back so things must have tested fine. He should get a clean bill of health tomorrow and we can then be discharged Saturday afternoon.

I picked up Quentin from daycare yesterday and brought him to the hospital so the boys could meet for the first time. Quinny had on his "I don't know what to think expression," which is where he is trying not to smile. It was probably hard for him to see his mom in the hospital holding a baby but he seemed to understand. It took him a while to warm up to the new surroundings and all the hustle and bustle. Quinny loves cords (vacuum's, the Swiffer, the baby monitor - anything with a cord) and of course the room has cords going every which way so he was entertained for a while just being in the room. After he settled down he asked if he could pet Gavin, meaning stroke his hair and we said okay. Kids are so great in that regard. He was nice and gentle and eventually held on to him before leaving for the night. Gavin was pretty upset and crying most of the time Q was here. Carrie kept telling him that he was hungry so Quentin, playing big brother well offered him up some of his apple juice. We had to explain to him that he only drinks milk. The rest of the time Gavin was crying Q kept saying, "Ungry, apple juice?, ungry, apple juice? Snack? Snack?" Good times.

While Q was here we learned a few things about having two kids. Since the hospital will serve the family dinner we decided we would do that last night. Well, dinner is a little bit different with two kids, a hospital room and little space. Trays got dumped, food got spilled but patience were kept. It was crystal clear that we will need to significantly increase our daily planning. Today it's what do we want for dinner and we will occasionally cook him up something different. Well, with this addition there is no way that's going to fly. We are definitely going to have to plan well in advance and have our meals for the week ready to go. No more trips on the fly to the grocery store. It's funny, but within 10 minutes of Quinny being in the room and the four of us together, it was clear that we are going to need to make major changes. Your head is just spinning.

On the way out I could hear Quinny asking about us as he walked down the hall. Q misses his mom and dad so I will go home and spend the night with him tonight. I guess on the on way to daycare this morning he was saying, "Momma, Dada, baby, home." I miss him too. When he was in here and put his hand on Gavin's head it covered three quarters of Gavin's head. It was unbelievable how much bigger Quentin is just being 23 months older. Carrie's parents have been a huge help and have stayed with him this week, picked up and taken him to daycare so we are thankful they are close by. My folks are going to drive over from the Badger state this evening to help out this weekend. We are excited to get home but are worried that Q will have a tough time this weekend so we are hoping the additional grandparents will get him some much needed attention.

It's been a crazy week but we are thankful everyone is healthy and we will leave the hospital on time. Here are a couple of pictures we took last night of the introductions.

Our Newest Spiegelhoff

We arrived at the hospital by 10:30 this morning and were escorted to our room. We dropped our bags and Carrie got prepped to have her surgery. By 12 noon we were in the OR. I, decked out in a sweet surgery jumpsuit (totally kept it for a souvenir) complete with mask and scrub cap (hair net), and then unceremoniously left in the hallway for a solid 15 minutes totally alone while Carrie was getting her anesthesia. By that time I was totally panicked. I mean these jumpsuits don't have pockets (no cell phone) so you only have the kind of solitude one needs to think all sorts of crazy thoughts while your spouse and unborn child sit in an OR not 20 yards away. Finally, I was summoned to enter the OR, slipped my mask on and began the long walk into life changing fatherhood part two.

Upon entering the OR I was careful to not sneak a peak at what the doctors were working on. I did however, practice by watching some YouTube videos on C-sections hoping to condition myself to what was about to occur. I realized I don't have an issue with seeing someone else go through a surgery but I think the personal nature of my wife being the patient is what gets me upset. Carrie thought I looked awful upon entering and seeing her. She can only see my eyes as the rest of my face is covered in surgery gear so one can only imagine what I really looked like. I had a nurse standing next to me holding me in place so even if I wanted to look I wouldn't have been able to. It was an insanely surreal moment that I imagine most people don't have in their lives. The surgical team, and it seemed like there were 10 of them (7 in reality), are working on Carrie and we are carrying on the oddest conversation like we were sitting in the park discussing the weather. What does one talk about when three quarters of you is under a 3 foot tall sheet having surgery while the rest of you is hanging out with your husband attempting what is appropriate conversation? In retrospect if we have another one of these I'll prepare suitable topics to discuss in advance.

On YouTube the procedure lasted less than a minute. In real life it felt like 45 minutes. Some of that could've possibly been due to the lack of predetermined topics of conversation. In the end we kicked around some last minute name choices, asked what sex we thought the baby would be and mostly babbled small talk hoping the three of us would survive. The whole thing was crazy. First, we realized we were walking the dog three hours earlier in the day discussing what challenges lie ahead after having the baby. Now, three hours later, we are parents for the second time. How does that happen? On top of that while in the hallway contemplating the various probabilities of outcomes I came to the sudden realization that I am truly an adult now. One can possibly have a wife and still be chalked full of immaturity. Sure, buying and taking care of a dog takes a bit of the juvenile edge off but you can still act like a moron daily if one so chose. Once baby number one shows up you absolutely need to grow up. A real life human is now totally dependent on your daily, no hourly actions. But still your spouse can throw you a bone now and then and take care of your child so you can hang out with the boys on an all night poker binge. Now, well now, we are a family of four. With a dog! I'm officially old, mature and responsible. Wow. Three hours ago we were a family of three walking the dog and now we have boys, plural.

Being newly responsible I am happy to report that the procedure lasted a total of two hours and mom and baby came through fine. We have named our newest son Gavin Robert. Robert is Carrie's father's middle name, her uncle's given name and her late grandfather's name. Gavin weighed in at 6 pounds and 15 ounces. He was born at 12:25 pm and measured 19 3/4 inches in length. They had a little trouble getting him out due to his breached position. He's having a tougher time breathing, which we were warned about. Since he didn't improve over time they called a doctor in who ordered some blood work and some chest X-rays. The blood work came back fine but there are more tests they are going to do. The X-rays show a shadow on his right lung and diagnosed him with pneumothorax, a collapsed lung. There are various degrees and they tell us this is a light case. Air is trapped between the lung and the outer wall due to a bulla rupture. It causes him to labor when breathing, specifically exhaling. He has to use his abdominal muscles to push the air out. They will continue to monitor the situation. They may just keep him as is and it should resolve itself.

Based upon by own medical education I would say he's improving over time and I don't think they will do anything. It should take care of itself over the next 24-48 hours. Other than that he's healthy. We are very happy to have another boy and a healthy one. We are glad that Carrie pulled through and handled her first major medical issue with poise, courage and success. I am happy that I stayed on my feet and didn't cause a scene so the attention was focused on the right people; mom and baby. We will be in the hospital until Saturday recovering and the next 24 hours will be a little tough for mom and baby as she transitions out of recovery and gets back on her feet. We will keep everyone posted with the latest developments over the next couple of days. We will introduce Q and Gavin tomorrow afternoon so we are excited about that. Here is a pic after his first bath.

Go Time

We are getting ready to head out to the hospital. Q, for the third night in a row didn't sleep and was up from 2:30-5 and at that point moved into our bed and was up for about another hour adjusting to being in there. It was a rough night. The night before he was up from 12:30 - 2:45 so I fear for Carrie's parents and what they are in store for the next couple of nights. For us, well, I guess we are just getting prepared for the sleepless nights ahead.

Today is a little like Christmas and a little like one of Wes Craven's nightmares. We are excited to see what we have been cooking for the last several months and last night we think we narrowed down the names to two each for a boy and a girl. We tried them out on Quinny this morning and he can say all four so that was fun. We are anxious, excited, frightened, stressed, worried and optimistic all at that same time. The waiting is almost over. Carrie is pretty scared as she hasn't caught so much as a stitch in her life. They should schedule these things at 6 am so you don't have time to think about them.

I had to tell the dog this morning he was getting demoted to Spiegelhoff #5. He took it pretty well. I did give him a walk after I broke the news. I need to buy him a bone or something. He's been a good sport throughout the move and additions to the family which continually lead to demotions for him.

Think happy thoughts for us! We will get pictures out on the blog as soon as possible with our newest addition. Here is a pic we took this morning of our happy family of 3.

Stressing

Carrie had her visit to the doctor. I stayed at work to try and get my work life in order before an extended leave. I asked her to text me when she had some news and was in a meeting when the results came in. She was down a full point since Friday in fluid so I got pretty nervous. I thought for sure they would say it's go time. It's a little early to have the baby still so they want to wait as long as possible, which looks like it will be Wednesday. There are some risks delivering that early especially with the baby's lungs. We were told there is a chance the baby could end up in the NICU only because they may not be able to breathe on their own. When a baby is delivered naturally they get squeezed coming out and apparently that squeezes the fluid out of their lungs so they come out crying and breathing. When you have a C-section there isn't the same level of pressure so the baby doesn't get that spitting out of the fluid quite so fast. The lungs are also the last thing to develop and you can't tell on a ultrasound if they are ready to go or not so we may encounter breathing problems. Sheesh. All this and I have to pay for college?

Since Carrie had a high blood pressure reading today there was some concern for preeclampsia so she had some blood work a few blocks away at the hospital. New nurse, same joke, "I'm sorry you said you moved from Tampa to Cedar Rapids!? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" I'm gonna have to start wearing T-shirts that say don't mess with the Hoff or this is never going to end. Since we were already at the hospital she got her blood work done for pre-op as well. She's already wearing her hospital bracelet and will have to keep that on until Saturday when we get discharged. We spent about 5 hours total between the two offices.

After the blood work and paper work they began explaining how the day would go on Wednesday. No eating or drinking past midnight. If she doesn't adhere to that they can refuse to go forward and ask us to reschedule. That's a bummer because we need to be at the hospital by 10:30, procedure begins at noon and should last about 2 hours. After recovery if she's feeling better she may be able to eat dinner. She could end up going more than 24 hours with nothin' but ice chips. And that just doesn't seem fair.

The whole thing was rather nerve racking. You are more or less getting the run down of the worst case scenario at every step. Pretty close to the end I lost it. I am acutely aware this isn't about me but I just couldn't take the graphic nature of the conversation. I got white as a sheet, light headed, soaked my shirt through with sweat and was totally on my way to taking a header. Um, ya, that doesn't bode well for being in the room for surgery. The nurse had to get me a glass of water and wouldn't let me leave until my color returned. I don't know what it is. I think it's more like a panic attack. I think I'm just really worried about everything and Carrie was getting upset and it was all too much at once. It's a fairly common occurrence for people to pass out during these things and by people I mean dads. They told me the honest wusses up front, ahem me, usually are the ones that make it through and the macho dads are concussion bound. I think I am going to see if there is a YouTube video of a C-section so I can get used to seeing one hoping to rise to the occasion for the real event. I am determined to man up because this is much scarier for Carrie. Speaking of scary our kid is going to be born on the 13th! Of the month of Halloween!

We need to get our minds thinking about something else so we are going to work from home in the morning tomorrow and then head out to a movie or something relaxing that will allow us to veg out for a few hours. We'll probably spend some extra time with Quinny as they said it's not a great idea to have him in the hospital room the first night. We probably won't bring him to the hospital until Thursday afternoon. Carrie won't be able to pick him up and she'll have IVs and such so it may be a bit overwhelming for him.

It's a crazy whirlwind over here and everyday seems to get more stressful than the last. We just need to get through the next couple of days and see where we land. There are so many what if's my head is spinning and the stress is spiraling out of control. We both got about 3 hours of sleep last night freaking out. What about this? What about that? What if the kid comes out like this? It's just too much to take. So tonight we will try to relax a little bit. I'm teaching him how to spit sunflower seeds. It's extremely entertaining.

The caption for the picture. "Hello God? Soon to be big brother here. Yup, got the cheese I prayed for. Thanks! Can you make sure my lil' sis or bro comes out spectacularly healthy along with my mommy? Thanks! Love, Quentin."

We spent yesterday morning walking our neighborhood to check out some houses for sale as we need to get moving on finding a new place to live. We think having a baby and a two year old will not make that process any easier so we thought scouting locations now would be a good idea. Our neighborhood is jammed full of children of ages so it looks like a really nice place for the kids to grow up. The day was beautiful and we hadn't enjoyed the fall foliage in years so it was a nice morning to go for a long walk. We found several houses within the area that are in our price range so we feel good about that. We need to take a good look at the schools to make sure Quinny will be set for elementary school. Just thinking about him getting on the bus seems a little too far in the future but we figure no time like the present.

Late afternoon the whole family, including our feeling neglected pooch because we aren't home during the day anymore, headed out to our friend's house for some play time and a bar-b-que. They had a nice playground set up with swings, a sandbox and a slide so Quinny was in heaven. They have a 4 year old boy and a 7 year old girl so they were a little older but did a nice job taking care of him so he felt comfortable. It's funny to watch him because he's shy when meeting new people. He gets this smirk on his face when he's too shy to smile, but he really wants to. You can tell he's just playing coy. He learned to climb up the steps which were straight vertical instead of an incline so he is learning new skills and coordination everyday. He's still very determined to win and keeps trying and trying until he can do it. I love that perseverance in him and I hope it sticks with him. It will certainly serve him well as he continues to grow up. I think with him being so big physically older kids and adults expect more out of him. Sometimes I feel bad because he can't keep up but that may also force him to learn at an accelerated rate. It's sort of a double edged sword.

We didn't have the baby so it looks like we are going to make it to Monday. Carrie didn't sleep well again and I woke we up last night with the TV on and to someone rummaging through the bathroom. She was up to something in there. I am like what is going on in here? Usually, I'm the night owl in the family so it was a role reversal for a night. I know sleep is going to be few and far between shortly so I have been crashing out on the weekends. I was fast asleep on the couch by 9 pm last night. Q still has his sleepless moments. He got up at 4:50 this morning after not hitting the sack until 8:30 last night, which is about an hour later for him than usual. We are just nervous and on high alert looking for the baby to be moving around. We've had plenty of stress this time around with all the goings on. Did I mention our stove at the Florida house blew up?

Yup, we got a call that there was a gas leak in the attic, which I am skeptical of. The meter is right outside the kitchen and we have three things that run on gas; the dryer, the stove and the water heater. The water heater is in the garage attached to the kitchen. Being that it's Florida and we don't have basements/mud rooms the dryer is in the kitchen. So the gas line only needs to go through the outside wall to hit those appliances. Why they would run the gas line through the attic is beyond me, but it was apparently an emergency and they called the gas guy to come out and shut off the gas in the middle of the night. We are now the proud owners of a new gas stove. Being a landlord is sweet! At the Florida house we bought a washer, a dryer, an air conditioner, a water heater and now a stove. We only have a dishwasher, which we know is on the last leg and a refrigerator that isn't new. Hopefully we won't need to replace those things anytime soon.

And as our never ending buying spree continues we decided to forgo the crib for this baby. We are rolling the dice a bit thinking we can move Q into a toddler bed and use his crib for baby number two. If we ultimately decide this isn't going to fly we are buying some time by putting the baby in the pack and play and keeping them in our room for the first 2-3 months. The baby's room will be a Jack and Jill away from Q's bedroom and we are worried the baby will wake Q up and then we will have two kids partying the night away. We have learned that once Quinny is up he's not going back down. You should see us sneaking into his room commando style complete with camouflage to cover him up on these cold nights. We are so fearful he'll wake up it takes 10 minutes to sneak in and out of there. We know the consequences all to well. We are going to purchase a dresser, a chair to sleep in and a kitchen table so we have a place to eat. That chair was the single greatest investment we've ever made. I've bet I've put more than 150 nights in that chair. In the old house the dining room was next to the kitchen. In this house it's a bit of a haul so we need place where we can all get together and throw food on the floor closer to the sink. People wonder why Fatty (Lucky) is so fat. He's our very own vacuum cleaner. He's getting his two squares plus the left overs from 3 other meals being tossed on the floor.

We will continue to keep everyone updated. Monday is a big day going into the doctor. We will see what they say and I will continue to update the blog to keep folks informed. They do have wifi in the hospital so we can keep the updates coming. Our bags are packed, the route is planned and we have added Carrie's parents to be able to pick up Q up from day care. He has no idea what he's in store for. We hope people remember him when they are showering the new baby with attention. It will be a lot harder for him so he's in our thoughts. We have him decked out in his Packer jersey today and he's got, "Go Pack Go!" down. Here are a couple of photos of him flying around on the couch. He's really into jumping right now and he's turning into a bit of a daredevil.

This baby is coming early

We had an interesting day yesterday. We left work around 2pm yesterday and headed off to another ultrasound to see if Baby Doe turned yet. It turns out that not only has the baby not turned it isn't going to turn. We are a little short on amniotic fluid and it's been decreasing for the last several weeks so the baby doesn't have a very big pool to be swimming laps in. This means there isn't enough fluid to turn in. The baby is the in the same position its mom. So it's a mirror image. The baby is looking forward and standing straight up. It sort of creates a funny picture if you think about it. But the baby is out of space being in that position and since there isn't room to turn this bun is coming out of the oven early.

We are at 37 weeks yesterday. We have a scheduled C-section on October 22nd, which we aren't going to make. I am happy to know we will be unable to choose the birth date after all. I had a late night working Thursday so was looking forward to the doctor's visit and then was going to run home and sneak in a quick 60 minute nap before having to pick up Quentin at day care. When we went in they have you do the ultrasounds first and then meet with the doctor. We met the doctor, who made fun of us for moving from Florida to Iowa (we're starting to get used to that joke), and then told us we may be having this baby as early as Monday. Screeeeeeeech! I'm sorry. I was sort of daydreaming there. I had a late night. Did I hear that right? You said we may be having this baby on Monday? Monday like next week Monday? Monday like 3 days from today? Monday, like I need to buy a crib on Saturday Monday? Holy cow. Holy cow. Holy cow. I think I've been a lot calmer through the process with baby number two and it hadn't really hit home yet that this birth is imminent. Well, let me tell you. We don't have any issues in that department. That was a wake up call. I felt like I got cold slapped right across the face. Wake up! And I am offically awake. Holy cow. Holy cow.

And due to the low fluid Carrie needs to be especially aware of the baby's movement. The amount of fluid is slowly declining so we need to be hyper aware of the baby's well being. Everything is fine and the baby is in good health. We just want to keep it that way. After the doctor's visit they sent us straight to the hospital to do a 20 minute check where the baby has to be monitored for a good heart rate and at least two times where the heart rate jumps to a higher beat. We passed the test in the first five minutes, but they keep you there for the full 20. While there, we filled out the admittance paper work so we are ready to go in case of an emergency over the weekend. In the mean time Carrie has to do kick counts throughout the day, which kept her from a good night's sleep. Not the counts per say but the stress of thinking about it. I think we will be fine, but it's extremely likely that we are a foursome before next Saturday.

On the Quinny front he's running around here like Rocky IV. The one where he fights the Russian. It's my favorite Rocky. You know where he's training without all the thrills; running in the snow, lifting sacks of cement or whatever. I am sitting at the breakfast bar and it's pretty high off the ground. Quinny comes over and starts doing pull ups. Alright! He's got some nice pipes and if he wants to tone em' up a bit I'm okay with that. He's also fascinated with stairs so he's running up and down, up and down. He likes to count to 10 while going up and down so we are working on that. He's pretty good at it. This also gives him some nice calf muscles. The ladies have noticed. Almost 2 and already getting the lady attention. When we go for walks now he doesn't like to go in the wagon or the stroller but we bring it anyway in case he gets too tired. I don't need a 40 pound sack to carry on my walk. The other day he pulled the wagon up hill for a good 1/2 mile. Quinny is going to be a beast as he continues to grow.

We are very much looking forward to the 80 degree weather this weekend. I fear it's the last time we'll see the 80s until 6 months from now so we will be outside enjoying it. We have a play date with another couple in town for Quinny. We are planning to head to their place and grill out, enjoy the sun and let the kiddos play. Everyone is looking forward to it. We hope you have a good weekend and be looking for our newest arrival. We still haven't narrowed the list of names. We have zip for a boy. We do have some girl names picked out. Carrie thinks she spotted a boy on the ultrasound but who can really read those things?

Here are a few pics of Quentin eating his first M&M. It's one of my favorite vices. Like a true family man he fell in love with the first peanut M&M he had. We are teaching him trick or treat for the impending holiday. I hope the neighborhood has a good selection of M&M's.