Liam's first day home

Well, it has been a crazy week. Jen and I have gone back and forth from being entirely terrified, to blissfully happy, to being so sleep deprived that we can't walk straight. I really think that my brain has broken down. Yesterday I was changing Liam's diaper, and I was so sleep deprived I could not for the life of me figure out how to button his clothes back up. I seriously stared at it for a good minute, and gave up. Grandma had to do it for me.

Liam and Jen got discharged together yesterday. I videoed the event, but have yet to figure out how to post video to this thing. However, a feature film is is production, so I am sure you will all see it soon. There was a changing of the guard, as I droppped off Tom at the airport and picked up my Mom. Tom was a fantastic help. He was there for Jen and I in every way, and we couldn't be more grateful to him. He even cleaned and vacummed and dusted. We owe Liam's grandpa big time. I also managed to help him spend about 2,000 dollars while he was here, helping him buy a new computer and talking him into to buying an iPod. He got a grandbaby and an entrance pass into the 21st century all in a few days.

I picked up my Mom at the airport and drove her back to our place where Liam was waiting. She cried for joy no less than three times on the drive to the house, then a few times afterward. It is pretty clear that she is going spoil Liam rotten. She went on and on about how cute he was, and cried when she held him for the first time. She has been a great help already. Last night she took care of him for 4 hours while Jen and I got some sleep. I sleep until noon today, trying to recover from a week of panic attacks and sleeping on hospital couches. I am so glad we have such a caring support system to help us take care of our new little guy.

Below are some more pictures of the last couple days, some are at the hospital and some are at home, but all are equal in portraying how much cuter our baby is than any competition he might face. Contracts with Gerber are pending, but we are open to any company for negotiation. Have your people talk to my people.

Ben Moses is the lead singer in my band, and he and Jen are really good friends. So good in fact, that I joked with Ben that if my baby came out with brown eyes (his eye color) I would kill him immediately without investigation. He is off the hook apparently. Liam has blue eyes. 

I can believe that anything this cute came from my genetic material. It doesn't seem right. 

I sleep all day so I can stay up all night. 

At least someone is awake. 

Grandma may be Liam's biggest fan. She hovers around him looking for any opportunity to hold him. She even took him at 2 in the morning and rocked him to sleep. No one could be prouder of her Grandson. 

Liam really digs his bouncer. This is a shot of his first time in it. 

I am trying to sleep here!!! If it isn't a boob, get it out of my face!!! 

It's amazing isn't it? So small, but so perfect. 

It would be nice if they would stay little forever, but they would have to sleep more and change their own diapers. 

Jen was hurting really bad this morning, but nothing was going to keep her from her baby. She begged the nurses to bring her a wheel chair, and tugged her own I.V. pump to the NICU to see her baby. 

Here he is with Mom for the first time. 

I love this picture. My two most precious things, starting their time together in the same position. He is just like his Mom already. 

I first got to hold him last night around midnight. He was a wiggler. He has the cutest cry. 

This is the first time Jen got to hold him. It was this morning about 9:30. She called the NICU all morning, she wanted to see him so bad. Aren't they both just beautiful? 

He was in a box, but it was open. His skin was so soft and warm. David, the nurse looking after him in the NICU, said he ate like a champ his first meal. 

Here he is the first time I got to see him. He was sleepy after the hard day he had. 

Planned Parenthood

If the suspense has been killing you, I am here to give you rest.

Jen went to her doctor today and she says that we are going to have the baby any day now. Jen is so close, in fact, that we have an inducement scheduled for 8 on Sunday. Jen amd I are going in, and they are going to give her treatments of Misoprostol (a prostoglandin E analog that induces cervical softening and uterine contraction. That info was for all the fellow nerds out there). Then her water will be broken on Monday morning, with the expected delivery sometime Monday night. So mark your calendars for the 18th, cause it looks like that will be our baby's birthday from now on (this shall take president over all other events on this day. As of now, any other celebration that previously occured on the 18th is dead to you. Please make the necessary adjustments).

We will let you all know when our baby boy actually blesses us with his presence. However, stay on guard. Jen is convinced that we won't make it through the weekend. Pictures will be posted here as soon as is humanly possible.

Love you all (unless you are a complete stranger who has accidentally run across this site. Should that be the case, it is a little early in our relationship to say the L word. Lets just say then that we are in deep like with you. We like everyone right now. I mean, we are having a baby!!! It tends to make you giddy)

Strawberry Festival

Jen and I are trying everything to shake this baby out. Among the recomendations that we have heard is spicy food, so this weekend we went with some of our friends to the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival. Like everything in the South, the festival is all about food. The Strawberry Festival did not disappoint in this arena. Jen went last year and told me legends of the Deep Fry. They fry everything is this state. I have yet to see the White Whale of deep frying, the deep fried Twinkie. It is a quest I will never stop until my desire is fulfilled. We did see the deep fried Snickers, as evidenced by the pictures that follow.
On Saturday we went to my friend Dudley's House, where he cooked up a good 150 pounds of crawfish. We (better read as I) peeled and ate crawfish for four hours. Next time we have one of these we will be sure to post pictures of it so you can share in the experience that is the Crawfish Boil. Anyway, so far our efforts to induce labor have been in vain. No baby yet, all though there has been increase cramping, backaches, and accompaning frustration. Jen, in a fit of hormonal rage called me a Jacka** this week. Imagine that. Me. A Jacka**. Actually, after my Intermural fighting fiasco, the title fits pretty well. (Note: after reviewing this post Jen requested that here expletives be edited for the sake of the children reading this blog. Censorship man, censorship. Nevertheless, I relented.)

Yes, you read the sign right. It says deep fried Snickers. I had heard legends of these things, but I had to experience them for myself. 

So in case you were wondering, how does one make a deep fried Snickers? Well, I will tell you. You take a fun size Snickers, dip it in batter, flash fry it, and then (since that is clearly not fattening enough) you have to roll it in powdered sugar. 

In the name of science, I had to try to see if it would kill me on the spot or in ten years. 

We both had to try it. We are still waiting for the post Deep Fried Snickers Myocardial Infarction. 

These little girls were feeling the Strawberry festival. They shook their money makers on stage for a good ten minutes. 

A shot of Lousiana lifestyle. I bet they don't fish for beer bottles in your neighborhood. You can feel the envy swelling can't you? It's ok to admit it. 

Thought I'd share a pic of the wicked shiner I got playing B-ball in my intermural league. The retaliation got me a double T and kicked out of the game. It was kind of worth it though. 

Progress?

Jen went to the doctor again yesterday, and no, she is not in labor. In fact, she got the news that things have not gone forward at all really. So we are still waiting for some definitive sign that the baby is going to show up soon. Our OB got back into town yestreday, so our theory there is out the window. Next best guess is the test I have in a few weeks. Jen is suffering through it as best she can. She has awful cramps in her legs due to the lack of blood flow, and she hasn't sleep for more than two hours straight for about a month. So according to her the baby has worn out his welcome in the womb. Hopefully, he pays attention to his served eviction notice. Seriously, how do you girls put up with this stuff? I don't know how Jen does it. Anyways, updates to come...

Alert status Upgrade

Hold on to you seat ladies and gentlemen. Our squirming, squiggling little baby boy has officially dropped into the pelvis, meaning that his arrival into this world is all but eminent. Jen and I feel like his birth will be coming in the next couple of days due to the fact that our OB is out of town. Obviously, this would be the time for a young hyperactive to burst forth from the womb, the time of greatest annoyance/inconvience. So keep you cell phones charged so that you may be among the first to hear of the arrival. Of course, picture will be forthcoming.

Here is a picture of our new niece. Tessa Allison Liddell. Hopefully she can survive the attention of here two older sisters. 

Hanging

Jen loves to buy stuff that has to be hung from walls. Actually she has a taste for difficult stuff in general. Due to many a disaster in hanging stuff on our walls over the years, it may be the thing I hate most in this world. I would almost rather do a rectal exam. But these innocent looking drapes were the worst in recent memory. Our apartment has studs that are like 2 inches wide, so they are almost impossible to find. Plus there are all these hidden suprises like metal plates in the sheet rock. Why you ask? The answer is clear. To make me swear. So I started hanging these drapes and ran into one of our secret metal plates, then managed to strip the screw trying to take it out. Then, in a mixture of anger and desperation I tried hammering the screw into the wall. Yeah, no good.
The support was stuck there for three days. I'll let that sink in...
Jen somehow miraculously got it out of the wall while I was at school. However, in her attempt to hang the other side she too stripped a screw, which is still currently stuck in the wall.So we filled the numerous holes we already made, went to Lowe's to get shorter screws (a whole 1/6 of an inch shorter) and I had them up in 15 minutes. Screwed by 1/6 of an inch. Good thing I hate orthpedics.

and last but not least, the drapes. Curse them. The story of these is above.