Trying Hard

Again, sorry for the gap in updates.  This should go live on Friday.

Things have been going good. Harrison's doing well.  He's 4 months old now and has really started lighting up the past couple of weeks.  It's amazing to see him learning new things.  It's not uncommon for DeAnne or I to see something new happen and call for the other to come check it out.  Usually, Harrison will decide at that point to not repeat whatever it was, but DeAnne and I have come to an understanding that the one who saw it is not lying and in a day or two, Harrison will be repeating whatever it was consistently.

Thanksgiving is next week.  No major plans.  DeAnne will be making her annual Black Friday shopping trip with her mom.  Maybe with some time off I can actually get a blog post up two weeks in a row.

We're heading down to Mobile this coming Friday.  We're going to head down when DeAnne gets off work and spend the weekend with Courtney and Edwin.  We haven't been down in a long time and we're looking forward to seeing them.  It'll also be interesting to see how Harrison does in a different environment.  Hopefully we'll manage to remember everything we'll need.

For those of you that saw on Facebook, our cat Izzy is doing well.  It's not much fun trying to give him a dropper full of antibiotics, but such are the things we do for the fur-babies.

If there's any interest, I may do a single post updating the Christmas shopping posts from last year.  I never heard if anyone found them useful and no one ever used a link I posted to purchase anything, but I've already been asked by a few people at work about things such as Xboxs and Playstations.  Let me know if you would like to see an update and I'll see if I can't get one put together.

--Paul

Long Time Coming

I have to apologize for the lack of updates to the blog.  It's been a crazy couple of weeks and the mornings just don't afford me much of an opportunity to blog anymore.

Harrison's doing well.  He's growing like crazy.  We had to go to the doctor on Monday and he weighed 16 lbs and 13 oz.  He hadn't been feeling good all weekend so I took him in to get looked at.  Turns out he has a double ear infection.  This is the second ear infection he's had in 6 weeks time or so, so it looks like we're heading towards tubes.  Tubes are pretty common these days, so I'm not terribly worried about it, but I hate that he's going to have to go through anything like that.  We had really hoped and prayed that he wouldn't be sick like his mom and dad have been all their lives and while it looks like he been blessed to have avoided the major issues, he may still have to face the combined force of our allergies.

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So it's now Friday.  I didn't have a chance to really finish the post until now.  Harrison's doing better but DeAnne is still struggling.  She's probably going to end up going to the doctor on Monday.  This past Wednesday we went up to Birmingham and met with a neurosurgeon about her back.  He wants her to do physical therapy and come back in six weeks.  I was pretty happy with that order but DeAnne seems to think that surgery would be an instant fix and was disappointed that he wasn't going to cut on her.  Crazy, I know.  You can't tell her anything sometimes.

No major plans for the weekend.  We're having another yard sale in Opp on Saturday but other than that, we're taking it pretty easy.  It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me at work and I need some down time.  Between work and all three of us being sick at different times, DeAnne and I are both pretty run down.  Hopefully next week we can recuperate some.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Just Because

Not really much to report on for this post but I promised to try and come up with two posts this week, so here's the second one.

Harrison seems to be much better.  He's not all the way there but he's pretty close to being 100% again.  He woke up early Thursday morning.  It's the first time he's done that in a while and it definitely took a toll on DeAnne and I both.  Neither of us were doing very good Thursday morning.  In fact, when I left the house, I grabbed what I thought were my keys.  My keys were in fact in my bag already and I grabbed DeAnne's keys, took Harrison to daycare and then went to work only to have DeAnne call me about five minutes after I got into my office asking if I had her keys.  So I had to run back to the house and while not "late" to work, she was later than she likes to get there.  Good start to the day, that was.

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A week or two ago I started using a service to make posts to my facebook page when new blog posts go up.  I'm not sure that it's working very well though.  I'm not seeing them in my feed and I'm curious if any of you are seeing the facebook posts in your feeds. If you could like the link or comment here and let me know if you're seeing it, I'd appreciate it.


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We may actually not have much going on this weekend.  It's probably the calm before the storm.  November is looking like it's going to be crazy.  The big goal for the weekend is to get the grass cut.  I'm not really sure when the last time I cut it was and it's looking pretty shabby.  It's going to take a while to get it done and looking good and I'm probably going to have to sweep up the clippings after I'm done.  It'll be a long morning, but once I'm done, I'm hoping it won't need it again until the spring.  

--Paul

Infectious

I took last Friday off so that I could take Harrison to the doctor.  He woke up with a snotty nose and crusty stuff around his ear.  He had been acting kind of off all week and we figured it'd be better to go ahead and take him to the doctor instead of trying to ride through the weekend and him get worse.  Ear infection was the verdict.  He's pretty young to be having one already and that kind of concerns us.  DeAnne had to have tubes as a child although I was fine. Hopefully he doesn't have his mother's immune system and allergies.

Saturday, Harrison turned 3 months old.  We celebrated by taking his 3 month old pictures.  They went pretty well considering he wasn't feeling the greatest in the world.

As if being sick for pictures wasn't enough, we had baby dedication service at church Sunday morning, so he was sick for that too.  He did pretty good there too though other than getting hungry while we were all standing up front at the end.

The other major event on Sunday was that the antibiotics he's taking for the ear infection took hold.  On the way home from eating lunch, he blew out his diaper and got all kinds of good stuff all over his car seat.  I had to strip the car seat and briefly considered just taking him to the sink in the kitchen and using the little spray nozzle to clean him off, but in the end opted for the traditional methods.  DeAnne was privileged enough to get to miss this little episode as she was off shopping with her sister.

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Harrison seems to be improving a good bit.  He was pretty happy this morning when he got up.  Thankfully, despite being sick, he's still sleeping through the night.  It's hard to believe that either of us were ever able to function when he was getting up twice a night and that entire time now seems like some kind of weird, hazy dream.  Sleeping through the night is definitely nice and we are very thankful that he's sleeping so well.  In fact, now that he's three months old and doing so well, we're going to be moving him from the bassinet in our room to the crib in his room.  I just have to move the motion monitor to the crib and we'll be good to go.  It's going to be kind of strange not having him in the room with us, but we want to move him to his room before he gets too used to being in the room with us.


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Looks like I might actually be able to get two posts in this week.  This one is going to go up Wednesday morning and I hope to have another for Friday morning.

--Paul

Troubles (Can't Bring Me Down)

Friday afternoon was met by a new level of diaper explosion.  We got home from daycare and I picked Harrison up out of the car seat only to have it drip down my hand and onto the floor.  I had to strip and wash the car seat and DeAnne somehow got the boy clean without giving him a bath.  I don't really know how she did it, but the clothes he had on had to go straight into the wash.  Mind-blowing is probably a poor choice of term considering the situation, but I'm having difficulty coming up with a better description.

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The yard sale went really well.  The family did good overall and considering we basically went down to the storage building and packed up a bunch of junk at the last minute, we did good, coming out with about $140.  It was a pretty fun day hanging out with the family.  Harrison seemed to enjoy sitting outside and with the weather being so great, it was hard to not stay outside all day.  He got fussy towards the end of the day but it was mainly because he didn't take a good nap all day.  There was just too much going on and too many people passing him around.  He slept through the night though so it worked to our advantage there at least.

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Sleeping through the night is awesome.  Except when the diaper doesn't hold up through the night.  Then you kind of almost wish he would have woken up just long enough for you to change the diaper before it reached the point where you had to strip the bedding and the baby and wipe him down as best you can in the morning when you're already running late.


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There's been a good bit of new music to have come out the past couple of weeks.  Two of the albums I've picked up are "The Reckoning" by Needtobreathe and "Vice Verses" by Switchfoot.  Both are pretty incredible albums and I highly recommend getting both of them, especially the Needtobreathe album.  If you don't already own all of their stuff, do yourself a favor and go get it.  They're probably one of the best bands out there right now.

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DeAnne's back continues to hurt, possibly even getting worse the last couple of days.  We're trying to see if we can get her appointment with the specialist in Birmingham moved up.  Thankfully, Harrison has decided to start sleeping through the night on a more consistent basis.  He's made it through at least two or three nights out of the last five.  However, he's also gotten clogged up along the way.  The last dirty diaper we had was Monday night.  It's now Wednesday morning.  Hopefully he'll go today.  We've given him gas drops and sugar water.  Prune juice is next on the list if something doesn't move at daycare today.  He's also had some crusty mess in his ear off and on the past couple of days.  Hopefully it's not the start of an ear infection.

So, it's been kind of a crazy week.  On top of it all, Emma was having stomach problems earlier this week and then yesterday one of the cats had a hairball issue.  I guess the animals were feeling left out and decided they had to throw in on the chaos.

--Paul

Trippin'

So as I mentioned last week, I had to go up to Minneapolis for a business trip.  The trip went well; we got everything done we had hoped to do and we were even able to come home a day early.  The only real hiccup with the trip was that our luggage didn't make it onto our connecting flight in Atlanta on the way up.  We had a pretty short layover to begin with and while we were on time landing, there was some kind of gate snafu and we ended up taxing around the airport for around 20 minutes.  Once we de-boarded and checked for our connection, we barely had enough time to briskly walk two concourses down to where the connection was leaving from.  We got to the gate about the time they were beginning to board our zone.  We kind of assumed it would be a stretch for our luggage to make it on the plane and when we landed, I already had a couple of emails saying our bags didn't make the flight.  We checked with the counter and the lady was able to tell us that they were on the next flight up and then set it up to have them delivered to our hotel that evening.  When we got back to the hotel from eating dinner, the luggage was waiting on us.

While things in Minnesota went well, things on the home front quickly went downhill.  Namely, DeAnne's back went out on her again.  She had mentioned it hurting some the Saturday before I left, but during the week, it took her completely down.  She went to the doctor and he gave her some stuff to calm it down and then ordered an MRI.  We got that done Monday morning and got the results Tuesday afternoon.

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The MRI showed that DeAnne has spinal stenosis.  She's going to need surgery, it's just a matter of when.  Be praying that the pain she's in currently will subside and that we'll at least be able to put off surgery until around Christmas so that she doesn't have to miss much work.

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No sooner than I posted about Harrison's sleep patterns than he blows it all away by sleeping through the night Tuesday night.  He went down about 9:30 and didn't budge until about 4:45 the next morning.  DeAnne and I were both pretty excited.  In fact, I bragged on him so much that he had to show me who was boss and proceeded to get up twice on Wednesday night.  Oh, well.  Like I said though; maybe we're getting closer.

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The only plans for this weekend is the yard sale that DeAnne's family is having at her grandmother's house in Opp.  We've got some stuff we're going to take over there but we haven't really had time to dig through all the stuff we have in storage to see what really needs to go.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Wow

This post is actually being written over the course of several days during different chances I've had to get to it.  It's crazy and it's probably going to be long, but this is the new format I'm probably going to be faced with if I intend to keep blogging.  I'm probably going to start writing blogs ahead of time and then scheduling them to post automatically when I'm done with one.  If I can build up a few, then I'll be able to miss a day or two and it not be a big deal.  It's just going to take some work to get it rolling.

Harrison hasn't so much changed the morning routine as the combination of having Harrison and DeAnne working has changed the morning routine.  We usually get cracking around 5:15 instead of my old 5:45 and DeAnne's old 6:15 and whereas I used to start getting dressed and walking the dog at 6:30, I now have to be getting in the car at 6:30 if I'm going to get Harrison dropped off and still get to work by 7:00.  DeAnne and I have talked a little about me changing my work schedule.  PowerSouth lets us set what time we come in and leave so long as we're putting in 8 hours of work each day and the schedule doesn't change every day.  We may try me going in at 7:30.  The only downside is that I would have to work to 4:00.  I know 30 minutes isn't a huge change, but we're so used to both of us being home by 4:00 that it would pretty drastically alter our routine in the evenings.

Of course, I'm not so sure that any of this is an issue once Harrison starts sleeping through the night.  We've gotten close a couple of times, but he's still getting up about once each night.  His schedule does seem to have changed some the past couple of nights though.  He was going down around 9:00/9:30, getting up around 2:00/2:30 and then getting up around 5:30/6:00.  The past couple of nights he's gone to bed around 8:00/8:30, gotten up around 11:00/11:30 and then again around 4:00, although today he made it all the way to 5:00.  The new schedule wouldn't be awful as long as he can stretch that last stint out to 5:00 or 5:30.  I think we're on the cusp of making it through the night, we're just not quite there yet.

--Paul

The Great White North

It's not actually white up here yet, but I'm in Minneapolis for the week doing work for a hardware upgrade that we have coming up. It was always hard to leave DeAnne before, but it's been really hard to leave her and Harrison. Things went really well yesterday and if they continue on at the current rate we may get to leave early. The one really interesting thing that's happened on this trip was that our luggage didn't make the connection in Atlanta so when we got to Minneapolis we didn't have our bags. It worked out though. Delta knew the bags didn't make it and had them brought to our hotel. It took a while, but when we got back to the hotel from dinner, they were waiting on us. Maybe I'll be able to blog this Thursday and hopefully it'll be from home. --Paul

MeMaw

This past Sunday, my grandmother, "MeMaw", passed away.  She was 75.  She'll be laid to rest next to my grandfather, "PePaw", in Mobile this afternoon around 11:00.

MeMaw was many things: a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, wife and widow, friend, sister, aunt, an adopted mother to many and most of all, a Christian.  Both of my grandmothers have always been great pillars of faith in my life.  Without either of them, I'm not sure where I would be now.

MeMaw loved with a heart so big, she couldn't contain it.  There were countless times I've met someone who knew her only to hear them tell stories of how she did things for them when no one else would; how she took care of children who needed taking care of; how she gave of herself so others could have.

Giving may be her biggest legacy.  She wanted nothing more than for her children and grandchildren to have a better life than she had had.  She worked long hours in a sewing factory when my father and uncle were young just to provide them with opportunities that she had never had.  It was a trait she instilled in her sons.  It's a trait that my father has instilled in me.  To give all of one's self for your family to prosper, for you children to have better than you had.

She was proud.  I remember that for many years her van had a front license plate that read: "Let me tell you about my grandchildren."  She wouldn't just tell you about her grandchildren though.  She would tell you about her boys, her grandchildren and anyone else that she had considered a child to her through the years.  She was proud that her sons work as hard as they do and have done as well as they have to provide for their families.  She was proud of her grandchildren and the things that I and my cousins have accomplished in our lives.  She was proud of the things that the Lord had blessed her with and she was happy to share every blessing she could with anyone she came into contact with.

She could cook.  I know no one's ever had a grandmother that couldn't cook.  MeMaw came from such humble beginnings that she never wanted anyone to go without food.  I don't know of a time I didn't step foot in her house when she didn't ask me if there was something I wanted to eat.  She had two great specialties: sweet pickles and pound cake.  Personally, I've never been a fan of pickles, but I've been told hers are some of the greatest ever made.  And while I can't attest to the quality of her pickles, I can boldly declare that her pound cake is quite possibly the greatest thing ever made by human hands. I firmly believe that the Lord imparted MeMaw's pound cake recipe to her so that she could share a little taste of Heaven with anyone she came into contact with.

It's been a little over two years since MeMaw was first diagnosed with cancer.  After surgery and treatments, she was given a clean bill of health and she had a good life for the next 18 months or so.  After the beginning of the year this year, her health deteriorated quickly and she spent the past 6 months or so struggling just to eat, sleep and be comfortable.  After my grandfather passed away, she missed him terribly and has never quite been the same without him.  I have no doubt that they are now standing together worshipping the Lord in Heaven.  She's finally at rest; no pain, no suffering, no tears and while we who are left behind mourn our loss, I have no doubt that all of Heaven rejoices at their gain.  I rejoice with those Angels and Saints knowing that my grandmother is finally home.

This past Christmas DeAnne and I announced our pregnancy to each family as we had Christmas with them.  We gave each of our parents a set of baby booties.  When my dad opened his set, it took MeMaw about half a second to realize what they meant.  I don't think anyone across all of our family caught on as quick as she did.  I also think she had possibly the best reaction and the biggest smile.  I didn't know it at the time, but it was the last time I ever saw her that happy.  I really think she held on as long as she did in part to be able to see Harrison be born.  We took him to see her as often as we could and you could tell that it always brightened her spirits to see him.  DeAnne and I took video of our parents opening those booties and MeMaw happened to be sitting next to Dad as he opened his.  I wanted to share that video with you all so that you could have a memory of MeMaw that was made of pure joy.

--Paul

And So It Begins...

Up early this morning to make sure we have enough time to get ready and get out the door on schedule.  We went down to the school for about an hour yesterday to make sure DeAnne had everything ready to go and where she wanted it.

We had a good weekend for the most part.

Saturday, DeAnne met Sara in Baker and picked Liam up.  (Harrison and I were at home watching the Auburn game.)  One of Sara's friends from Utah came to see her and so we took Liam for a couple of days and then DeAnne's mom has him until Wednesday, I think. It was interesting trying to take care of an 18-month old and a 2-month old at the same time, but it wasn't terribly difficult either.  Liam's a lot of fun and as long as he gets his nap in, he's a really good kid.  He just really needs that nap.

Harrison wasn't feeling good on Sunday.  He was running a low-grade fever and had a stopped up nose.  A little Tylenol broke the fever but it came back Sunday night.  Thankfully, he didn't run one at all yesterday and his nose seemed to be better, but he got stopped up a little early this morning when he got up to eat.  We're thinking maybe the weather changing so drastically had something to do with it and hopefully he'll get past the nose thing after last night.

Pray for us, and especially DeAnne, today.

--Paul

One Post Kind of Week

It's been a week to say the least.

If you're friends with me on or DeAnne on Facebook, then you already know that I had a stomach virus on Monday.  It wasn't the worst one I've ever had, but it still wasn't pretty.  I spent the day quarantined in the bedroom trying to make sure that neither DeAnne nor Harrison picked it up.  So far, they seem to have avoided it and I've not really heard of anyone else that we were in contact with over the weekend being sick, so I've been wondering if it was something I ate.  Who knows?  Whatever it was, it was bad.

So that kept me down Monday.  Tuesday morning I was feeling better, but I slept late and went in to work around 9:00, so that's why there wasn't a blog Tuesday.

Backtracking a little, we had a good weekend.  I don't think we did anything Friday, but Saturday we went to Opp for our friends Charlie and Erin Robinson's daughter's third birthday party.  We haven't seen Charlie and Erin in years and it was good to get to see them and catch up.  Their little girl is precious and it's hard to imagine that in no time, Harrison will be that big.

Harrison went to daycare for the first time yesterday.  He was only there from 8:00 to 11:30, but it was a lifetime for DeAnne.  He's going to go for a whole day today.  We're making a trial run.  We got up and got going like we'll have to next week when DeAnne goes back to school.  I'm going to take him and pick him up and DeAnne's going to try her best to stay occupied all day so she doesn't go get him early.  He did good yesterday and I'm happy with the place he's going.

As to the weekend: We're going to have Liam overnight on Saturday.  It'll be a fun little experiment to see if we can handle a toddler and a new born.  Trial run for the next one, if you will.  We haven't really seen much of Liam lately, so it'll be fun to have him over for a night.   Maybe he won't destroy the house.  We're going to have to spend Friday toddler-proofing as best we can.

I guess missing a day gets you a longer post.  Should I consider going to one post per week or stick with two?  Let me know.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Another Week Down

Time continues to fly by.  Harrison will be seven weeks old tomorrow.  He starts daycare on Monday.  Get ready for the tears.

The plan is to put him in for a half week next week to kind of ease all of us into it.  He's going to go Monday, Wednesday and Friday and probably for just half days.  Then on the next Tuesday, after Labor Day, DeAnne will start back to work.  I'm sure everything will be fine, but DeAnne and I are understandably nervous about it all.  Just pray that the Lord will give us peace about it and that everything will be fine.  I'll let you know how it goes on Tuesday.

There's not much else going on.  We're still getting up early.  He was up at about 1:30 last night and then again at about 4:45 this morning.  By the time I got him fed and changed this morning, it was almost 5:30, so I just went ahead and got a shower and got my day started.  I guess that's just going to be the way it is until he starts sleeping longer at one time.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Up Early

Harrison decided that 4:45 was a good time to eat this morning, so as I type this, I've been up an hour already.  He's doing really well overall though.  He's still sleeping from about 10:00 to 2:00 and then he'll sleep from around 2:00 to somewhere between 4:00 and 6:00.  You'll notice there's a bit of a spread on the latter.  You just never know when he's going to be up.  I think it mainly depends on how hard he sleeps the first time down.  We've started giving him rice at night, but that doesn't seem to make a difference with the sleep time.  I think we're just putting on more chunk.  Anyway.

We had a good weekend.  Sara, Mike and Liam came up so we spent the majority of our time in Kinston visiting with them.  Mike's about to deploy again and he'll be gone until sometime around Christmas.  He'll be flying this time, so he'll be in a bit more danger than before, so please pray for his safe return.

Outside of that, it was pretty laid back.  I got up early with Harrison on Saturday and eventually he and DeAnne slept until about 10:30.  She was glad for the sleep and I was happy to take care of things and let her get it.

Daycare is all set up and ready to go.  We're actually going to send him three days next week just to ease us and him into it.  It's hard to believe that we've got just a little under two weeks before DeAnne goes back to work and he starts daycare.  It's going to be hard to leave him, but I'm excited for him to get to interact with other people and other kids or at least that's what I'm telling myself to make it easier on me.

See you Thursday,

--Paul

Going on 6...

Six weeks, that is.

It's hard to believe our little man is already six weeks old tomorrow.  It's been amazing to watch him over the past weeks and see all the changes that have happened just in that short period of time.  He's an awesome little guy, for sure.

No real plans this weekend either.  It's kind of nice just being able to relax and enjoy being a family.  We've only got a little over two weeks before DeAnne goes back to work and he starts daycare, so we're trying to enjoy all we can while we can.

I had to feed the bugger when I got up this morning and it's later than I realized, so that's all I've got for today.  I think he may be taking after his daddy on his sleep pattern.  He seems to be a morning person so far, which is fine with me.  DeAnne says that he's usually really awake and alert in the morning.  Hopefully that bodes well for being able to get him up and ready for school down the road.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Same Ol', Same Ol'

Not much to report.  We had a pretty quiet weekend.  I was on call, so we couldn't really go anywhere.  I did get the grass cut Saturday.  Mom and Sid also came down Saturday and visited for a while.  It's always good to see them.

Harrison is doing well.  He's hit a new sleep pattern where he'll go down between 9 and 10 then he's up between 1 and 2 and then up again around 4 or 5.  The first two parts of the schedule aren't that bad, it's the up around 4 or 5 that's putting the hurt on us.  Just this morning, he started getting fussy at 4 and DeAnne tried to get him back to sleep but around 5 he woke me up and I got up and changed and fed him.  By the time I got him back down, it was already time for me to start getting ready, so I guess today I just get to be up from 5 on.  If we could just get him to tack another hour onto the end of that second sleep so that he was up around 5 or 6, it'd be really awesome.  One day.

--Paul

Wha?

I'm a little out of it this morning.  Harrison's still doing fine, but I've been having trouble at work with a server and I've spent two days fighting with it.  That on top of waking up once or twice a night is starting to take its toll on me evidently.  DeAnne's not much better off.  For the past week, even when Harrison sleeps, she's not getting much herself because of her back hurting.

DeAnne went up to Montgomery yesterday to see her back doctor.  He gave her a shot and ordered some physical therapy.  Hopefully that will get the nerve calmed down before she has to go back to work next month.

I'm on call, so no plans for the weekend.  If it's not raining, I'll be cutting grass Saturday morning, but that's just par for the course.  Have a good weekend.

--Paul

1 Month

Yesterday marked Harrison's one month birthday.  It's hard to imagine that a month has gone by already.  I'm guessing all you other parents out there are just nodding your heads and thinking how I have no idea how fast it will go.

What might almost make me feel older than my own son being a month old is my nephew, Liam.  Sarah and Liam came up for a few days and when I saw him yesterday, I was pretty floored by how big he's gotten.  The last time we saw him was when Harrison was born and things were so crazy then that I didn't really get to spend any time with him.  A year ago, he was barely bigger than Harrison is now.  Now, he's this massive little man running around and starting to talk.  It's insane.

I had a good time keeping Harrison last Thursday and Friday.  We hung out, watched some Shark Week that he had already watched once with his Mom, played in the floor, slept and just had a good time.

At some point during the three days DeAnne was sitting in meetings, her back flared up and she's been hurting pretty bad since about Friday.  Needless to say, we didn't do much this past weekend.  She called yesterday and has a doctor's appointment Wednesday.  Hopefully they'll be able to give her something to calm the nerve down and get her some relief.  It was about this time last year when her back flared up.  I guess we're just going to have an incident about once a year where she has trouble with it.

That's about all I've got for today.  See you Thursday.

--Paul

Daddy Day-care

The boys are hanging at the house for the next two days.  Even though DeAnne's taking leave for the first month of school, she's going to the inservice days today and tomorrow.  So, I'm taking off and putting in some quality man-time with Harrison.  DeAnne's been gone five minutes.  So far, so good.

I kid.

I don't really anticipate any problems.  Harrison's a good baby and I've got all the major protocols down.  Changing diapers, feeding and getting him to sleep.  I think we're good to go.

One more easy weekend coming up.  I got the yard work done Monday and Tuesday, so nothing to really do there.  We really need to do something about our closet.  Now that DeAnne's not pregnant, I'm sure there's a good bit of stuff that could be moved to storage.  I know I've got some shirts I haven't worn in who knows how long that could stand to go to Christian Service also.  Who knows if any of that will actually happen though.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Time Flies

Time is flying by it seems.

Harrison is now over three weeks old.  He's not sleeping as well as he was a week ago.  We're not really sure what's going on.  My guess is that he's just decided that he's going to eat more often.  Growth spurt, maybe?  Who knows?  Maybe he's just reached a point where he's more alert and awake more often.  At any rate, it's kind of put a damper on our enthusiasm for his sleeping habits the past couple of nights.  He did better last night, only getting up twice, but that's still a pretty big change from only getting up once like he was.  He's still an awesome baby and we have nothing to complain about, we just seem to be getting a little dose of reality.

School starts back next week.  DeAnne is going to be off for the first four weeks but she is going to go to the inservice days the last three days of this week.  I'm going to stay home with Harrison and keep him while she's gone, but we're expecting her to be able to come home at lunch and then take him back to the school with her.  It'll be a good test run to see how DeAnne does away from him and to see if she can get herself up and ready in the morning.

See you Thursday.

--Paul

The Chill

The freezer is supposed to be delivered today.  Hopefully it fits in the spot I cleared out the other night and hopefully we don't have any problems getting it in there.  I guess we'll know soon enough.

In the midst of having a baby, NASA completed the space shuttle mission.  One thing I'll always be able to remember about Harrison's birthday is that he was born the day of the final space shuttle launch.  The shuttle program was literally as old as I am.  The first launch was on April 12, 1981.  Twentynine days before I was born.  For as long as I've been alive, the space shuttle has been operating.  I never got to see a launch.  I've watched plenty of them on TV and the internet, but I always wanted to see one in person.  Hopefully, it won't be long and we'll have a new generation of flights lifting off.  Of course, private companies are already getting close to sending unmanned ships to the space station for supply drops.  They expect the first of those flights to happen before the end of the year even.  Maybe when NASA finally gets back into the game, we can take Harrison to the launch and he can have that memory that I never did.

Anyway.  No major plans this weekend.  I've got to get the grass cut at some point.  It's approaching nightmare levels.  All this rain has kicked it into high gear.  I'm glad we're getting rain though.  It's a lot better than being as dry as it was earlier.  It was kind of nice not having to cut the grass though.  Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Business As Usual

Harrison is slowly becoming integrated into our every day lives.  Now that he's two weeks old, we've been taking him out with us more and more.  He's made a couple of trips to Wal-Mart, went out to eat with us a couple of times this past weekend, and made his first Sunday church service this past weekend.

Saturday, Mom and Sid and Grandmother and Granddaddy came down so that Grandmother and Granddaddy could meet Harrison.  Since they had to come from Tallassee, they decided to not come to the hospital so that they would be able to spend more time with him when they did come.  It was a good visit and we got some good pictures.

Sunday went really well.  I thought it was pretty awesome that Harrison's first Sunday service was Homecoming.  It was an extended service and he slept for a good bit of it.  DeAnne did have to get up and take him out once, but for the most part, he was a little champ.  He also slept through the fellowship lunch after services.  I told him that one day he'll come to really enjoy the great southern tradition that is eating after church and that I thought it set a good precedent that his first Sunday in church was one that had a fellowship meal.

Finally, we've had to break down and buy a freezer.  We really could have stood to have one for about two years now, we've just been putting it off.  We went to Sears yesterday and got one that will fit in our storage room.  The only real problem with buying a freezer and putting it in the storage room is that it meant cleaning out the storage room so that we could get it in there.  I didn't think I would get it done yesterday, but after about four hours of sweating like crazy, I had the corner the freezer is going in completely cleaned out.  The rest of the storage room is kind of packed out now and there's a good bit more stuff in the storage building, but we should be able to get the freezer in place.  Maybe now we'll actually be able to see what's in the freezer in the kitchen.

See you on Thursday.

--Paul

All About Baby

I'm sure you've probably already expected this, but I would imagine the blog is going to mostly be about Harrison for the foreseeable future.  

The photo session Tuesday afternoon went well.  He did really good up until about the last half hour.  We stopped for a bit so he could eat but after that he was awake and not very cooperative.  He seems to usually get kind of fussy around 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon.  We're not really sure why, but he just always seems to get a little work up around that time.  We figure it's better then than in the middle of the night.

Sleeping is going well.  The past three or four nights, he's only gotten up once.  He usually goes down between 9:00 and 10:00 and then sleeps for four or five hours, wakes up, eats then goes back down for another four or five hours.  It's about as perfect as it could be.  I'm sure there will be nights to come cutting teeth or sick where we think we're going to loose our minds, but as long as he keeps this pattern up, we can't complain.

He had several "firsts" yesterday.  DeAnne's mom came over and was going to take him over to Opp.  First they stopped at David's for lunch then they ran by Wal-Mart to get DeAnne's grandmother an oil change.  After that it was raining so much that they just came back to the house and canceled the trip to Opp.  So first trip to David's (or anywhere out to eat) and first trip to Wal-Mart.  Then last night, DeAnne decided that she felt good enough to go to church, so we took him to church with us.  So that was his first church service.  I was excited that his first time in church was when I was helping lead worship playing guitar.  I can't imagine a better start than to set the precedent of Harrison's dad serving in a church service.  He also got to sit in on his mom's small group session and saw her leading that.  I hope DeAnne and I are always such an example for him to see.  

Today is his two-week check-up and tomorrow he'll actually be two weeks old.  DeAnne's excited just for the fact that tomorrow she'll be able to drive again.  I don't think there's going to be much stopping her once tomorrow comes.  The poor boy will probably not remember what it's like to not be in his car seat (I'm kidding, DeAnne).  We're planning on taking him to church Sunday.  I think it's pretty awesome that Sunday also happens to be Homecoming at church.  My mom is brining Grandmother and Granddaddy down Saturday to meet Harrison.  They've not had a chance to come down yet, so it'll be good to see them and let Harrison meet his Great-Grandmother and Great-Granddaddy.  Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Back In Action

As I'm pretty sure most everyone who reads this blog is aware by now, Harrison was born July 8, 2011.  It feels good to get back to the blog this morning.  So here's what's been happening.

The Wednesday after my last post, DeAnne had her weekly visit with the doctor.  When they checked her blood pressure, it was through the roof.  She was also slightly dilated, so Dr. Browing went ahead and sent her to the hospital.  He was afraid that she was developing preeclampsia.  So DeAnne was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday.  I left work and spent Wednesday and Thursday with her waiting for test results to come back to see if she had preeclampsia or not.  Thursday evening, Dr. Wells came by, said the tests were negative but her blood pressure was still high.  He felt like she was dilated enough and contracting enough already that he could induce her and that would cure the hypertension.

At 10:00 Thursday night, they gave her an induction pill.  That was all it took.  The plan was to give her another pill at 2:00 and then start a drip at 6:00.  She was contracting enough at 2:00 that the nurse didn't give her the second pill.  At 3:00 her water broke.  At 6:00 she had already had the epidural for over an hour and at 9:00 she was pushing.  She progressed like clockwork and everything looked great until the pushing started.

Unfortunately, Harrison takes after his dad in one very important way.  He got stuck trying to come out.  He was face up and sideways and just couldn't make it out.  After three hours, Dr. Wells told us that DeAnne and the baby were fine and she could keep pushing if she wanted to, but if she was ready, he would do a section and get him out.  DeAnne was exhausted, so she agreed to the section and at 12:37, Harrison entered the world screaming like a rock star.  After he got the baby out, Dr. Wells said that all the pushing in the world wouldn't have gotten him out and that it was good we went ahead with the section.  DeAnne and I were both a little disappointed to have to go that route, but like I told her that afternoon; 30 years ago they would have broken her tail bone.

Harrison's doing great and so is DeAnne.  She's recovered very well from the surgery.  It's been a great week and a half and I can't imagine having things any other way.  He's probably the greatest earthly gift that God has ever given me and DeAnne and I are both so very thankful for him.  Harrison really is a miracle and a revelation.

We're supposed to be taking pictures this afternoon.  Then Thursday is Harrison's two week checkup.  I've got plenty more to tell, but it's great to get started.

--Paul

Too Short Long Weekend

The long weekend was far too short for my tastes.  We had a good one though.

Saturday was actually pretty productive.  I got the grass taken care of but little did I know that while I was out in the yard, DeAnne had gone full nesting mode inside the house.  She was cleaning like a crazy person and had plenty for me to do after I got back inside.  She did give me a chance to take a shower, rest and eat lunch first, but after that, we were back at it, putting up laundry, sweeping and vacuuming, and hanging up a list of items that I've never managed to get on the walls.  Saturday night we spent some time with MeMaw and when we finally hit the sack, I slept about as hard as I ever have.

Church was good on Sunday.  I always love seeing baptisms.  They're one of those things that are guaranteed to make you smile.  The church picnic Sunday afternoon was good too.  We didn't make it to the fireworks show, but we enjoyed talking with everyone, watching kids (and some adults) on the slip-n-slide and of course, the dessert table.

And then the day off.  The 4th.  We lounged, we went to Wal-mart, we lounged some more and then we went to Opp and ate dinner with DeAnne's family.  Simple, easy, nice and relaxing.

Harrison watch is at 17 days and counting.  Still hoping for DeAnne's sake it's less than that.  Her feet have gotten worse the last couple of days.  Sunday night they looked awful when we left church.  I've been talking to him trying to coax him out, but he seems pretty determined to stay right where he is for as long as possible.  I think it means he's stubborn like his momma, but don't tell her I said that.

--Paul

Potential

We had an ultrasound yesterday to try and see about how big Harrison is just to make sure he's not so big that he needs to make an early entrance. There's potential that he's going to be a pretty good size baby, but nothing scary.

Overall they estimated him to be about 7 pounds.  Tomorrow will mark three weeks to go and babies usually gain about half a pound a week, so if the estimate is right, he may end up between 8 and 9 pounds but there's a +/- 2 pound window on the estimate.  They may be right on or he may be as little as 5 pounds. The measurements they took make me think he's closer to that 7 pound mark though.

His head measured right on with where he's at: 36 weeks and 5 days.  His abdomen measured way ahead of that though.  She measured it twice because the first time she came up with over 40 weeks.  The second time she got about 38 and a half, so still big, but not so far out as to be worried.  Finally his leg measure a few days over 37 weeks.  Who knows exactly what all that means, but just looking at the numbers, they all kind of average out to about a week ahead of where we're at.  I doubt that means he's going to come a week early but who knows?

DeAnne is starting to get fairly uncomfortable.  We've been so thankful just to be pregnant and to have this blessing that she's really tried this whole time to not complain about anything.  The past few days have been testing her resolve on that though.  She's not getting much sleep, she's having a hard time moving around and getting up off anything she sits or lays on and she's retaining enough fluid that her hands are swelling and hurting.  Harrison also moved yesterday afternoon and ended up pushing on her back in a way that made her back start hurting.  While she tells me all this stuff, she's been good not to really complain about it.  She has started talking to him trying to coax him to come on out though.

So we're getting closer.  3 weeks and a day left.  No plans for the weekend.  With the recent rain we've gotten, the yard has actually grown a little, so I'll be cutting grass Saturday morning.  Other than that, it should be a pretty low-key weekend.  Probably going to be that way from here on out.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

24 Days

We had a pretty nice weekend.  Friday, DeAnne had to take the car over to Enterprise to get a leaking seal replaced so she spent most of the evening in Kinston with her mom.  This gave me the chance to do something that I haven't really done much of lately: play video games.  I don't know how much time I'll have after the baby comes, so it was nice to get to play some.

Mom and Sid came down on Saturday and took us out to lunch.  It was good to see them both and spend some time with them before Harrison arrived.  We had to go back to Enterprise to pick the car up that afternoon so on the way back we stopped and ate dinner with DeAnne's mom and Wayne.

Then finally, Sunday was the usual with church and just being lazy around the house.  We did watch a movie called "The Legend of the Guardians" that was pretty awesome.  It's an animated movie about owl warriors.  It really seemed like something that would be from my childhood and the way it was scripted and the way the story moved felt like the old animated movies that I loved as a kid.  I thought it was great and DeAnne liked it, so it must not have been too terrible.  Worth a watch.

24 days to go.

--Paul

On and On

DeAnne continues to progress along.  The doctor said everything looks good even though she's beginning to swell some and is retaining more water than she had been.  I can't really speak for her, but I know that I'm starting to fight with impatience.  I know he'll come when he's ready and it's time, but I can't help but be ready to see the little guy.  29 days and counting.  We're scheduled to tour the hospital and preregister today so that should be fun.

Everyone say goodbye to my little white car.  I put a sign up at work with both the Sentras saying one of them had to go and the white one went first.  I'm kind of sad to see it go.  It's the car that took me to Troy and back when I moved up there.  It's the car I drove up there and back nearly every weekend for a year to see DeAnne.  It's the car we were supposed to drive away in at our wedding until I scratched the side up on Memaw's van that morning.  There's a lot of memories in that car.  I've had it for nearly 10 years but it's time to say goodbye.  Plus it'll be really nice to get the refund from the insurance company.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Not Much To Say

We had a pretty laid back weekend.  We just stayed in and watched T.V. and really just did a whole lot of nothing.  It was pretty nice and it may be one of the last times we get to say that for a long while.  I did finally get the grass cut Saturday.  I got started as early as I could but it was after 11:00 before I finished and by then it was incredibly hot.  With everything as dead as it is and as dry, I was pretty much covered head to toe in dust, dirt and grim.  It was not pleasant.

Other than that, on Sunday we ate lunch in Kinston and then spent some time with my dad.  Like I said, it was pretty laid back.

DeAnne's doing good.  She's going to the doctor pretty much every week now.  At the moment, she's going on Wednesdays.  She'll be 35 and a half weeks this Wednesday.  There's a little concern about the potential size of the baby.  Last week at 34 and a half weeks, the doctor measured her stomach at 36 weeks.  Right now it's a wait and see type thing but they've scheduled an ultrasound for Wednesday week to try and measure him and see if we can get an idea of what we're looking at.

See you Thursday.

--Paul

Looking Good

DeAnne will be 35 weeks tomorrow.  After yesterday's appointment, it looks like we're to the point of going every week.  Throughout the entire pregnancy, her stomach's always measured a week ahead.  Yesterday it was measuring 36 weeks.  So as a precaution, they scheduled us for a visit next week and an ultrasound the week after that, just to see if they could measure the baby and see how big he is.  Everything's looking good, it's just all the signs are pointing to him being a hoss.

We're also getting closer on the nursery.  I've got one more letter to hang up and then I've got a hook to hang behind the door for a height chart and after that, I think we're done.  The only other thing we've got to do is get the car seat base into the car and pack the hospital bag and then we'll just be patiently waiting for him to decide it's time.

Yard work is finally on the horizon.  It's so dry that even the bahiagrass is starting to look bad but at the same time, the yard just looks kind of ragged.  At least if I cut it, it will be trimmed and dead instead of ragged and dead.  

Other than that, it should be a fairly relaxed weekend.  Have a good one.

--Paul

Getting Closer All The Time

We had a great anniversary weekend.

Friday was filled with the excitement of Bryan and Adrienne having their baby, Jay.  He was born around 8:00 that night after about 12 hours of his parents being at the hospital, so it was a stream of updates throughout the day.

We got to see Jay on Saturday.  We stopped by the hospital on our way to Dothan and baby, mom and dad were all doing well.  Saturday was a pretty productive day.  We had just a few things to return that we had gotten duplicates of, so we took care of that, we picked up the nightstand from Our New Baby, hit Babies R Us to get the few things on the registry that we didn't get and then picked up a fan from Lowes for the nursery.  There were a few other stops here and there but that was the major stuff.  We celebrated our anniversary with dinner at Olive Garden and then hit Krispy Kreme on the way home since the sign was on.

Between services on Sunday I managed to get the curtain rods and the fan put up.  We also bought some letters to hang over the crib and DeAnne got those painted like she wanted them.  We grocery shopped, picked up some screws to hang some hooks on the wall and swung by to see Memaw and that was about it.  There's still a lot of little things to do in the nursery, but we're getting close to being done with it.  There's just a few more things to hang up and that's about it.  It's getting closer and closer.

--Paul

6 Years

Saturday marks mine and DeAnne's sixth wedding anniversary.  I seems like we barely just started dating.  I'm so blessed to have been able to meet such an incredible woman and now to be able to spend the rest of my life with her.  I love you, DeAnne.

Some interesting things about our anniversary this year.  With it being the sixth and counting leap year, this is the first year since we were married that our anniversary falls on Saturday.  It's also been six years since the busiest hurricane season ever brought us the likes of Katrina and Wilma.  The list of storm names cycles around every six years and they reuse names for anything other than major, memorable storms.  So once again this year, there will be an "Arlene", the same name as the tropical storm that came through on our wedding day.

With Harrison just around the corner, we didn't really make any big plans.  We're going to head over to Dothan on Saturday shop for the last few things we need for the nursery and then we're going to go to dinner at Mikata's.

Speaking of the nursery, a big thanks goes out to Sara and Sally who spent the last two days painting the nursery for us.  They did a great job and kept me from having to worry about it, so I will be forever grateful of that.

And that's about it.  Have a good weekend.

--Paul

One Wild Day

Yesterday was pretty crazy.  VBS started and things seemed to be going pretty well until DeAnne called me around 10:00.  Each day they take pictures of the kids doing different things and then drop them into a slideshow that tells a story.  The problem is that the software that runs the show only displays the show on the primary monitor.  Our projection system is set up as a multi-monitor system with no way to really display the primary monitor to the projectors.  In the end, we had to go up to the church yesterday afternoon and I set up a laptop to be a second computer on the projection system.  It's not perfect and it messed up some of the settings on the main computer, but it works.  I'll just have to deal with getting everything back to the way it's supposed to be after VBS is over with.

In the midst of all that, DeAnne's mom and sister decided that they were going to paint the nursery for us but that they had to run back to Navarre and get some of Sara's stuff so she could stay longer.  To keep Liam on his routine, he spent the night with us.  He's been pretty good.  He didn't have a nap yesterday so he was a little ill last night, but he went down with no effort and is still asleep right now.

Finally, yesterday marked the start of both the annual E3 video game convention and Apple's annual developer conference.  Apple showed off some really cool stuff for the next version of both the Mac OS and iOS.  I was pretty impressed with what they've managed to accomplish.  iOS 5 is going to be a pretty big stab at both Android and may be the nail in the coffin for Blackberry.  They didn't announce any new hardware (iPhone 5), but the new iOS 5 is going to work on everything 3GS up, so hardware probably isn't a huge concern.  They'll refresh it when they have something ready.

The only real news I read from E3 was the Xbox presentation.  They're really pushing Kinect and it looks like it's going to be integrated into more and more games.  If anything, Mass Effect 3 showed that even if it doesn't allow for motion control, there are small things like giving your AI controlled squad mates commands and selecting dialog options by actually saying them that will make games more immersive.  They didn't talk about, or announce a new Xbox system though.  This isn't a huge issue, but looking at the games they showed, it seems that the Xbox 360 has probably reached the extent of what it can do graphically.  None of the sequels they showed looked any better than the previous games in those series.  They're pushing Kinect as an upgrade to give the system more life, but you have to wonder if a new system with Kinect directly integrated and better hardware isn't a real need at this point.

Anyway, yesterday was crazy and now it's Tuesday.  Hopefully it will be a little less crazy.

--Paul

Hot

The heat has been incredible this week and it looks like it's going to be that way for a while to come.  At this point, my yard is so fried I think I may just take the weed-eater and knock down the bahia and be done with it.  Nothing else is really even close to growing.

There's not really much going on.  We've kind of entered the calm before the storm.  DeAnne has one last shower in Opp this weekend and after that, we'll just be trying to get everything organized and ready to go for Harrison's arrival.  We're excited.  DeAnne's doing good though.  She developed a sinus infection this week, but that's nothing that some antibiotics can't take care of.  Other than that, it's been a really good pregnancy and she really hasn't had anything to complain about.  We're just so excited that God's blessed us with a child, I don't think she would complain even if something was bothering her.  This is just too great a miracle and too great a blessing to make it about us.  We want Harrison's birth to point to the Lord and we pray that it shows others what He has done for us.

So that's about it.  DeAnne's been working on getting her lesson plans ready to go for next year but other than that, she's been enjoying her summer.  It's business as usual at PowerSouth, and here at home, we're just patiently waiting.  Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Fun In the Sun

We had a great weekend in Navarre with Sara, Mike and Liam.  We left Friday afternoon and came back yesterday.  We hit the beach Saturday and Monday but Liam's still too small to really get in the water and enjoy it, so Sunday evening as it was cooling down, we took him to the Sound side of the island where it's more like a lake and he seemed to enjoy himself better there.  Mike took him out in a little jet ski float and he had a pretty good time getting pulled around in that.

The beach was really great.  The surf was a little rough yesterday, but it wasn't terrible.  We managed to keep from getting sunburnt mainly thanks to Sara's SPF 85 baby sun block she had.  I think I might actually be whiter now than when we left.

One thing Liam did eventually start enjoying on the beach was playing in the sand.  He has a little bucket that looks like a castle tower when you flip it upside down, so we started stacking those up for him.  He seemed to enjoy playing Godzilla and smashing the little castles.  We also built "Ft. Liam" right against the water.  Basically just piling up sand into a semicircle wall around him.  Every now and then a wave would make it around the wall and fill the hole with water.  He got a pretty good kick out of that.

On Sunday, we decided that even though we were at the beach, we would go to church and after it was over we were glad we did.  We went to First Baptist Church Navarre and they had a wonderful and powerful Memorial Day service.  A large part of their attendance is Air Force personnel and you could almost feel the reverence they held for the fallen.

So all in all, a really great weekend.  With so much left to do before Harrison arrives, it may be the last chance we have to really do anything, so we were both glad to have the opportunity.  The only thing that really stinks is that I have to go to work this morning and now that school is out, DeAnne just gets to get up whenever she wants to.  Of course, I wouldn't be a teacher for all the money in the world either, so I guess she's earned it.

--Paul

Church Kitty

Garrett and I practice for Wednesday night band on Tuesday nights.  This past Tuesday night we were out on the porch of the church talking and we heard this sound.  At first we thought it might be a fox pup since there have been several dens near the church over the years.  We started walking towards the road and instead of a fox pup, a little orange kitten popped his head over the curb of the road and started coming towards us.  Of course, being the tender heart I am, I called DeAnne.  I knew it didn't matter what was going on, as soon as I said "we found a kitten", she would be on her way to come get him.  She got to the church and helped us catch him and after a phone call, DeAnne's sister, Sara, decided she had a new cat.

So we're currently cat sitting until Friday when we're going down to Navarre to spend the weekend with Sara, Liam and Mike.  With the holiday Monday and school getting out this week, we figured this would probably be the only real chance that we had to get down to the beach and enjoy it before Harrison arrived.

The school board met yesterday and hired DeAnne back for next year.  We're both pretty excited.  She had a great year this past year and she's really happy at Pleasant Home.  It means she's got a lot of work to do this summer though.  She's actually already started making sub plans for her maternity leave.  She wanted to get a jump on them in case she was hired back.  So she's got that to finish up and there's still some things she wants to get cleaned out in her room.  Hopefully she can get it all prepared before the end of June and be able to relax a bit in July as we get down to the due date.

Have a good weekend and I'll see you Tuesday.

--Paul

The Home Stretch

We've made it to the last week of school.  DeAnne's had a good year and she's mentioned to me several times that she's going to miss this group of kids.

I didn't get anything accomplished this past weekend.  We were so lazy Saturday it was sad.  But it's okay. Every now and then you just need a lazy Saturday.  It may be one of the last we get to enjoy for a while to come.

The baby countdown hit t-minus 60 days yesterday, so we've made it to 2 months to go.  After school lets out, I think DeAnne is probably going to seriously enter nesting mode.  We're getting close and without school to occupy her time or tire her out, she's going to have time and energy to think about what she wants done to the room and all before the baby gets here.  I'm probably in for a load of work the next couple of weeks.  I'm looking forward to it though.  I'm ready for Harrison to be here.  We've waited so long for this it's almost hard to believe that it's really so close to becoming reality.

One final bit of good news: Memaw should be discharged from the hospital today.  It'll be the first time she's been out of the hospital since Andalusia sent her to the Opp nursing home over a month ago.  UAB was able to put a stint in the narrowing of her intestine and that seems to have done the trick.  She's started eating again and she seems to be doing good.  She's going to be coming to the Andalusia nursing home for 20 days for rehab but hopefully after that, she'll be able to return to life as normal.  Thank you all who have prayed for her and please continue to pray that she regains her strength and is able to get back to normal.

--Paul

Struggling

I"ve set here for a few minutes this morning trying to find a topic to talk about and I'm just not coming up with anything.

We don't have any plans for the weekend.  Like I said on Tuesday, I'm on call this week, so that pretty much keeps us close to home.  I do need to cut the grass.  The little bit of rain we got last weekend kicked up some of the yard and it's looking kind of shabby now.  I think I also mentioned that last group of bushes that needs trimming.  Maybe I can get those done along with the grass.

We also have a massive amount of stuff that we need to clean out of the office.  There are piles upon piles of things that we need to find a home for.  I'm really not sure where it's all going to go.  We've been trying to sell our old bedroom set but so far haven't had any takers.  If we could move all of that stuff, that would free up a good bit of space in the storage building.  So, if you know anyone looking for a queen size bedroom set, send them our way.

Harrison's room is pretty much together.  We need to find a rug and we want to replace the light in room with a ceiling fan, but other than that, we're in pretty good shape with it.  The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is that we still need to find a lamp base to match the lamp shade we got to match his bedding.

So that's all I've got today.  Short and kind of random.  Maybe I'll have something better to talk about on Tuesday.  Have a good weekend.

--Paul

Back To Somewhat Normal

After all the craziness of the past few months with the class and all, we're slowly getting back to a more normal routine.  I'm taking this as the calm before the storm because I'm sure once Harrison gets here, normal will have to go through a complete re-difining.

We had another great weekend.  Saturday we rode up to Tallassee to see my Mom's side of the family.  It was kind of a belated Mother's Day gathering.  It was unique this year in that my Uncle Keith and Aunt She-She came over from Arizona and my grandmother's twin brother, Uncle Ken, came out from California.  It was good to get to see them along with the usual crowd that we don't get to see often enough.  So we had a good time visiting, eating and taking family pictures.

Sunday after church, DeAnne threw me a birthday party.  She had told me that I was going to have a surprise on the table when we got home Saturday night and that I wasn't allowed to look under the tablecloth.  I assumed that part of what was under there was a cake.  I was slightly wrong because it turned out that the entirety of what was hidden was a cake.  It was a four foot long replica of my Les Paul.  It was pretty amazing and incredibly thoughtful, so after all the grief I gave DeAnne last week about not ever telling me "Happy Birthday", she more than made up for it with the party and the cake.

So that was the weekend.  We actually don't have any real plans for the one coming up.  I'll probably end up working outside.  I still have a set of bushes to trim and after finally getting some rain the yard is starting to look like it needs cutting.

--Paul

30

I don't think I mentioned it Tuesday, but yesterday was my birthday.  I turned 30 this year.  It's kind of crazy when you think about how much life changes in 30 years but it's been a great, blessed time and I really think life has just begun.  I had a lot of people ask me yesterday how it felt to be 30 and honestly, it doesn't feel all that different from being 20-something.  I'm sure that if I could step back into my 20 year old self, I would be able to tell at least a physical difference, but looking back from where I'm at now, I can't feel it.

It was a pretty routine day.  Work, home and then church.  I do have to give DeAnne a little ribbing though.  When I left for work yesterday morning, she made no mention of it being my birthday.  She's usually still half asleep when I leave though, so I didn't really think anything of it.  Later that day though, she needed something and called me real quick from the school.  Still no mention of my birthday.  Then later that afternoon she called me again and still didn't say "happy birthday".  Finally, we had a doctor's appointment (her now every two weeks routine visit) and we were sitting in the waiting room and she was just going on about how her day had been and finally I just had to ask her if she knew what day it was.  She said yes, it's Wednesday so I asked her if she remembered that it was my birthday.  This is where it gets rich.  She told me that she did know it was my birthday and that she just hadn't had the chance to wish me a happy birthday yet!

Yesterday I was a little offended but looking back, it's pretty funny so I have to rib her for it a little.  In her defense, I will say that she was really busy yesterday.  They had awards day at the school and she was pretty much in charge of running a reception for all the "graduating" 6th graders and their parents, so she had a crazy day.  Still, it's pretty funny that she had four chances and never told me until I asked.  She also never gave me my card.  She said she had one for me but when we got home from church, she laid down on the couch for a minute and fell asleep.  Maybe I'll get it today.

So anyway, thank you to everyone who told me happy birthday yesterday, it was a great day and I'm looking forward to the next 30+ years.

--Paul

Harrison's Heart

DeAnne and have spent the better part of the nearly six years that we've been married praying for not only God to bless with a child/children but for various aspects of our children's lives.  One of those aspects is health.  The various health problems that DeAnne and I have faced throughout our lives have been pretty well documented here on this blog.  We've always prayed that our children would be spared those same trials and that they would be healthy.  Yesterday, we got to see the first confirmation that the Lord is answering those prayers.

While we were in Mobile for my annual cardiologist visit in April, we mentioned to my doctor that we were expecting and asked about the potential for Harrison to have some heart defect similar to what I had.  He referred us to another cardiologist in his group that does fetal diagnostics.  So yesterday we shot down to Mobile, got to take a peak at Harrison one more time and found out that for as far as they can tell at this stage, he has a perfectly healthy heart.  On the way home DeAnne and I were talking and we came around to the peace that God has given us about Harrison's health.  Neither of us really feel like he's going to have anything wrong with him and we both agreed that while our faith comforts us and pacifies our fears, it was incredible and uplifting to physically see God working and answering prayers that we've prayed for so long.

So that was just Monday.  We had a good weekend too.  Yesterday was actually the second time we had been to Mobile since the weekend started.  On Saturday, "little" Edwin had his first birthday, so we headed down to celebrate with Courtney and Edwin and a host of other friends and family.  It was a good time and it was good to get to see a lot of people that we haven't been able to see in a while.

Mother's Day was spent in Kinston with DeAnne's family.  We ate ourselves silly and had as good a time as we always do.  DeAnne's grandmother who we've been asking prayers for is home now although she's not able to stand or walk, but she looked really good and it was good to see her feeling so much better and sitting up in a chair and eating.

My grandmother was moved to UAB late last week and they're still working to find out what exactly is going on with her.  Hopefully today they'll be able to do the CT they've been wanting to do for a couple of weeks now and we'll know something more.

See you all on Thursday,

Paul

Not So Easy "A"

DeAnne's class is finished and she finished up with a 94.  I'm incredibly proud of her and the hard work she put in.  There were several times where things got a little intense while we were talking about the class, but that's all over and done with and now we can just enjoy the fact that it's over and she made an "A".

With the class over, we'll be turning our full attention over to baby stuff.  Specifically, the nursery.  We have a lot of stuff to take care of in a short amount of time.  They're brining the furniture on Tuesday and by then we have to get DeAnne's old hutch and my old toy chest cleaned out and moved out of the room.  That may not sound like a huge deal, but trust me, there's a lot of stuff in those two things and I'm not really sure where it's all going to go.

Memaw was moved to Birmingham last night.  This makes the fourth hospital and the fifth facility over all that she's been in in the past month.  Hopefully, there will be someone in Birmingham willing to make a decision and do something about finding out exactly what's wrong with her.  Please continue praying for her.

Have a good weekend.  We'll be heading down to Mobile on Saturday for baby Edwin's first birthday followed up on Sunday by Mother's Day.  See you Tuesday.

--Paul

Finishing Strong

We're down to the last few days of DeAnne's class and it looks like she's going to finish it out on a high note.  She took the third test Saturday and made an A on it and last night the instructor posted the grade for her paper and she aced it too.  She finished up the discussion board work last night and so now all that's left is the last test which is open book.

DeAnne called the store we ordered Harrison's furniture from and they're going to be bringing it next Tuesday.  So that gives us just enough time to try and get the rest of the nursery cleaned out after DeAnne finishes up this last test.  We also had our first shower this past Sunday and Harrison got a lot of nice gifts.  We hate to put any of it in his room though because we're not sure how we're going to lay out the furniture so for now it's all just piled up in the living room.  I get the feeling that this is just the beginning of a never-ending mess in the main part of the house.

DeAnne's grandmother is going to be released from Healthsouth on Friday.  She's not really much better but her days are up and they can't keep her.  She still needs prayer that she'll regain her strength and be able to get up and get around some on her own.  Memaw still isn't much better either.  They're planning on doing a CT but they have to wait for the dye they used for the contrast x-ray to leave her system.  They thought they might be able to do the scan yesterday but there was still too much dye in her.  Hopefully they can get it done today and we can find out what the problem is.

See you Thursday.

--Paul

Getting There

It's going to be short today.

DeAnne's research paper is done.  Huge relief.  With that out of the way, we were able to work a schedule out for her to get her through the next week or so and put the rest of this class to bed.  Hopefully by this time next week this thing will be behind us and we can focus on Harrison and getting ready for his arrival.

I went to Dothan yesterday and spent the day with Memaw at Flowers.  She was doing a little better.  Towards the end of the afternoon, they decided to try and see if the procedure they did on Tuesday had helped her digestion and gave her a popsicle.  It was the first thing other than ice chips that she had ate in probably 2 weeks.  Hopefully, prayerfully, this is the start of the end of all this mess and she'll be getting back to normal soon.

And that's about it.  I'll talk about the weekend on Tuesday.  See you then.

--Paul

Crunch Week

We've made it down to the last two weeks of DeAnne's college class.  This is crunch week.  She has a quiz to do this week and her paper is due at the end of the week.  If she can make it through this week, she'll just have one more quiz to take and a couple of discussion board questions to answer and she'll be done.  It's going to be a long week and it's going to be tough, but I know she can get it done.

As I've said before, once we get through the class, we'll be down to finishing up preparations for the baby. DeAnne's about to start having showers, so we've got to get the rest of the baby's room cleaned out so we'll have somewhere to put all that mess.  On top of that, the furniture should be coming some time in the next week or so.  DeAnne's getting antsy about the furniture so I'm probably going to call and check on it this week.  I think she starting really get that nesting feeling so the biggest thing I've got to do is to keep her focused on her class this week and get through that.  Then she can turn the nesting loose and worry about the nursery.

We had a good Easter.  We rode over to Dothan and saw DeAnne's grandmother for a little while.  She looked a lot better.  She's at HealthSouth rehab now and once they get her back on her feet, I think she's going to be pretty much back to normal.

My grandmother was moved to Flowers in Dothan yesterday.  They're going to run another scope today and see if they can pinpoint the blockage in her GI track and once they do, we'll know more about what it's going to take to fix it.  We're praying that it's fairly minor and that it won't require majorly invasive surgery to fix.

See you on Thursday.

--Paul

The Song Remains the Same

I'm having a hard time this coming up with something this morning.  Nothing's really changed since Tuesday.  DeAnne's grandmother is still in the hospital in Opp and they've moved MeMaw to the Opp nursing home.  DeAnne's still doing class work.  There's just not really been anything that's happened since Tuesday.  We're in a holding pattern waiting for the air traffic controller to wake up from his nap.

The weekend is probably just going to be more of the same.  DeAnne doing school work while I do yard work on Saturday.  Sunday is Easter, so that should be awesome.  I'm really looking forward to next Easter.  Harrison will be about 9 months and should be stinking cute in a little Easter outfit.

That's about all I've got though.  Sorry that it's so short.  Hopefully next week will be better and I can find something a little more interesting to talk about.  Have a good weekend.

--Paul

More of the Same

Not much happened over the weekend.  The biggest news was that DeAnne made a "B" on her latest test and she made a 100 on each of the three projects that were due to be turned in by Saturday.  She was pretty excited about both grades and I was pretty excited for her.  She practically killed herself trying to study for that test so it was good to see all her hard work pay off.  The only bad part about it was that there wasn't much time to celebrate her victory.  The next test is now just a week away and her research paper is due in less than two weeks.  There's about three weeks left in the class and they're going to be intense.

One other really cool thing was that we had our 4-D ultrasound on Friday.  The girl that did it was really nice and really took her time to try and get some good pictures.  It was a good experience and the pictures turned out pretty good.  Harrison didn't really want to cooperate at first, he kept getting his hand in the way of his face, but eventually we got a couple of good pictures.  I've alway had a hard time looking at these things and telling anything about them, but I guess I just needed it to be my child it was a picture of to understand.  From all I can tell, he's a cute little booger.  DeAnne posted several of them to her blog, so if you haven't seen them, be sure to go there and check them out.

There's no real change with the grandmothers.  We ask that you continue to pray for them.  They moved my Grandmother to a regular room on Saturday and she seemed to start going back down hill when they did.  DeAnne's grandmother just continues to be in the Opp hospital and doesn't seem to be improving at all.  We know that the Lord will do what's best and what is in His plans, but at the same time, we're asking that he allow them both to see their great-grandson in July.

I'll see you back here on Thursday.

--Paul

Music Time

It's been a pretty good while since I talked about music, so I figured it'd be a good topic for today.  The other day, I got an email coupon for a discount on CDs from Amazon and I took the chance to pick up a couple of albums I had been wanting for a while.

First is Chris August: No Far Away (MP3 $5.00, CD $8.99).  I've been hearing "Starry Night" on the radio for what seems like forever now and I've always wanted to pick up this album just based off that one song.  When the new single, "7x70", started playing a couple of weeks ago, it kicked me into overdrive wanting this CD.  I haven't had the time to really listen to it like I want to, but from what I've heard, the rest of the CD is just as good as the first two singles.  August is nominated for several Dove awards this year and it's pretty obvious why.

Next up is Matthew West: Story of Your Life (MP3 $7.99, CD $8.99).  After having listened to this CD two or three times and reading the liner notes, I'm convinced that every single person should own a copy of this album.  When West got ready to record what would become this album, he asked fans to send him the stories of their lives.  He took those thousands of stories and read them and then wrote this album based off them.  The liner notes contain the lyrics for each song followed by a summary of the story (or stories) that inspired that song.  It's an amazing project that simply and beautifully testifies of God's love and grace and providence.  West covers a broad range of topics and in the end there's inspiration to be found in pretty much whatever situation you're facing.  You owe it to yourself to get this CD, and I would encourage you to get the actual, physical CD so that you can really read the liner notes.  On top of the stories, the songs on their own are really good.  Anyone that listens to Christian radio has heard "My Own Little World".  The rest of the album stands up to the quality of that single and even surpasses it at times.  Best $9 I've spent in a long time.

So that's the two newest CDs I've been listening to.  Have a good weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday.

--Paul

Tough Going

We seem to be entering one of those times in life when you feel like you're going to get buried by it all.

My grandmother, Memaw, is back in the hospital.  She's not been able to eat or drink the last couple of days.  Hopefully they'll be able to do some tests today and find out what's going on.

DeAnne's grandmother, Nanny, still isn't doing well either.  She's in the Opp nursing home right now but they want to move her to Andalusia for rehab.  They can't move her though because she's not even got the strength to stand up right now.

On top of all the sickness, DeAnne's class is still going strong and she's getting close to the point of getting behind on things.  On my end, the yard work that needs doing is starting to pile up.  Bushes need trimming, grass needs cutting and pine straw needs spreading.  Then of course, there's the baby preparations.  We still don't have the nursery cleaned out.  The furniture is supposed to be in at the end of the month and we've got to get the hutch and my old toy chest cleaned out and moved along with a pile of other things that need to be put away.

As much as I feel threatened by all of this, I know that we're going to be fine.  We're going to be fine because the Lord is in control and I'm trusting in Him to guide us through all of this.  Really, this is probably one of the greatest times of our lives.  Harrison is a blessing that neither of us can give enough thanks for and he's not even here yet.  Things are crazy and things are busy and our families are hurting from sickness, but how blessed are we that we have these problems and yet know that the Lord is in control and He will guide us through them.

--Paul

I Got Nothing

I don't really have anything to talk about today.  Sorry, but we're just kind of in a holding pattern until DeAnne gets done with this class and there just hasn't been anything going on the past couple of days and we don't have anything planned for the weekend.  I know, it's a huge change from a month or two ago.  It seemed like we had something every single weekend there for a while.  Maybe we're just naturally slowing down in preparation for the baby's arrival.  Who knows?

I'll probably be doing some yard work Saturday morning.  Pretty much every bush in our yard needs to be cut back.  It's going to take forever to do it, so I might as well get started.  The grass actually doesn't need cutting that bad.  I guess the couple of cold snaps we've had since I first cut it has kept it from getting wild. I also spread about four bags of weed and feed on the areas with the most weeds and that stuff has done an amazing job so far.  The only problem with it is that you can see where I missed because the grass is so green where I put it out.  It's better than having weeds though.

If I'm in the yard, you can bet that DeAnne will be inside studying.  That's probably going to be the mode of operation for the next four or five weeks.  Her next test opens up next week and she's already starting to worry about it.  Be praying that the next few weeks move quickly and that she's able to get through this class.

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

School Is Hard

If this class that DeAnne's taking doesn't kill us both, it'll truly be a miracle.  I don't know if it's that having been out of school for more than five years or that it's the totally online thing or just that it's a master's level course and it's harder than undergrad classes were, but this thing is kicking both our rear ends.  I've taken to reading the chapters along with her so that she'll have a person that she can have a fluid conversation with about the material.  Of course, I'm not a teacher and I've never studied any of this stuff before, but it's a lot of philosophy stuff about teaching and education and to me, a lot of it just turns in to a bunch of wordy psycho-babble that you end up boiling down to about one sentence.  A lot of it also seems fairly liberal and that part of it just crawls all over me and my conservative, Christian influenced views.  Things like corporal punishment and the sin nature of man are blatantly looked down on by the author of the book.  Thankfully, if we can just get DeAnne through this one class, she'll be able to get her certificate renewed and we can decide later if she really wants to finish her master's or not.  At this point, I'm not sure if either of us believe it to be worth the cost.

So that's my soapbox for the day.  We had a pretty good weekend.  DeAnne studied, I cleaned up some of the house, we spent some time with family and friends and we had our usual Sunday of church, grocery shopping and church.  Pretty standard stuff.  Hope you had a good one too.  See you Thursday.

--Paul

Baby Naming

We've been tossing around different baby names since we started trying to have a baby over three years ago.  We came up with several girl names over those years but we had always struggled with boy names.  Of course, the Lord has a keen sense of humor, so when His time was fulfilled and he blessed us with this pregnancy, He decided to give us a boy.  After a lot of thinking and running through possibilities, we finally landed on something.

I was actually going to make the announcement part of my "special" blog post this past Tuesday, but I never talked to DeAnne about it and I didn't want to do something without her approval.  Up until yesterday, I wasn't even sure if it was final.  I think really, we both liked it and started using it some between the two of us and after a couple of weeks now, it's kind of stuck.

So in July we'll be welcoming Harrison Paul DuBose into the world.  We're going to try our best and not saddle our children with the curse of using their middle names (both DeAnne and I go by our middle names), so we're going to call him Harrison.  We're also pretty adamant about not using shortened versions, so no Harry or Harris or anything like that.  Harrison.

A couple of funny stories.  DeAnne first suggested the name and I liked it.  After a couple of days of trying it out, I came to a realization.  I told her that if we stuck with Harrison, that'd be fine with me because I wouldn't mind my kid sharing a name with the guy that played Han Solo and Indiana Jones.  I asked her to consider changing the middle name to something from an actor in the Back to the Future series that way we could cover the big three from my childhood.  That got shot down on the spot.

Two, the young lady that plays bass in the youth band at church is a pretty big Beatles fan.  She made the connection even before I did that with his full name, he'll share names with two of the Beatles.  I don't know if the next child has to cover the other two or what, but I guess we'll see when we get there.

So there you go.  DeAnne told a pile of people yesterday and a few of our friends and family had already grilled it out of us but now it's official.  Have a good weekend.  See you Tuesday.

--Paul

Mania

Things have been crazy around here the past couple of days.

DeAnne's Nanny is still in the hospital.  She's been very weak ever since she went in to the hospital and she's just not able to get up and get around to get to go home.  They're talking about moving her to rehab today to see if they can help get her up and going.

Also on DeAnne's side, her sister threw her back out late last week and hasn't been able to move much since.  She's got an appointment today to see a doctor and hopefully he'll do an MRI so they can get a better look at what's going on.

Finally, as far as sickness goes, my MeMaw was put in the hospital here yesterday.  She's been having some stomach problems and bad acid reflux for a couple of weeks now and they admitted her last night for observation because they can't seem to figure out what's going on.

On top of all that, DeAnne's first test for her online class opened up last night and when she tried to take it, the program she has to use to take it with kept hanging up and bombing out.  She tried three times with no luck.  The only good thing about it is that before she tried taking the test, she had no idea what to expect as far as what was on it.  She has a bit of an idea now though, so hopefully she can study for a day and be better prepared.

On the brighter side, we managed to get a good bit done on Saturday when we went to Dothan after having the Rogue serviced.  We found a baby book and a coming home outfit and I found some much needed new shirts.  So we had a pretty successful trip and even made it home pretty early that afternoon.

I know that I promised today was going to be a special post.  It is in fact post #650 to this blog.  That's pretty mind-blowing if you ask me.  So I wonder where my book deal is.

Anyway, finally, ending on a high-note after all the doom and gloom: I got my iPad in yesterday.  Things were so crazy yesterday that I barely had time to do anything with it, but from what I've seen so far, I'm completely in love already.  I would have wrote this post on it, but I figured it would be easier today to just go ahead and do it from the laptop like I always do.  Keep us and our family in your prayers and I'll see you for post #651 on Thursday.

--Paul