Sean Patrick is here!

I became an aunt again yesterday, as Sean Patrick made his way into the world around 6pm east coast time. Eric and Sandra seem to be doing well and everyone is healthy. Yeah!

And I am now officially full term so if the baby were to make signs of wanting to be born the doctors would not stop it. I think I could use about one more week, but then I suppose I'm as ready as any other time for the little man to show his face.

I am so excited for the 3-day weekend and am just now about to leave and take Lucy to the Dog Dayz swimming fiesta in one of the Boulder outdoor pools. I will post pics when I have them...

Update on our world

Let's see... where do I start?

I am huge and pregnant and uncomfortable.

Delaney has been adorable or as feisty as a hyena.

Cousin Luke is doing better although still struggling with some breastfeeding/eating issues. Thank goodness he pulled through that scare last week well.

Delaney's room is almost. done. Just a rug and some shades away from done.

We *might* have picked a name for the boy. I even bought letters and Michael's and put them up in his room to try it out. Not revealing yet what the name is, but I think the middle name will be Larsen.

My sister-in-law is getting induced today and hope to hear the news about baby boy Sean very soon.

I love summer and I am mourning the upcoming cold and snow.

My work has been trying my patience lately to the nth degree.

I could not get through A Passage to India and I have moved on to Grace (Eventually) by Anne LaMott. So far so good although I hope she ties all of her random thoughts together at the end.

I have been watching the big speeches from the DNC with great interest. I thought Hillary killed it the other night and I found myself disappointed that she is not going to be our president any time soon. Maybe she would have fought for a longer maternity leave for new mothers.

We sold the TV in our bedroom since that nook of the room is now housing our office. It feels quiet in there but my guess is that it will end up being a huge improvement in our lives because we will read and do other things more.

I am swelling in my arms and legs and I still have 4 weeks to go. Sigh.

A friend from my mom's group offered to watch Delaney for a whole night (an overnight, no less) last Saturday and we got to jet off to Denver for a nice dinner out as a couple. The offer was more than generous especially considering that her husband fell ill and she had to watch both kiddos herself. Thanks Anne!

We went to Dot's Diner in Boulder for breakfast on Sunday. Just the two of us and it felt somehow empty without Delaney. But more importantly I think we *may* just have found the move "divey" breakfast joint in Boulder. Actual real live Boulder hippies (I thought they were extinct) patronize and work this establishment.

Football starts this weekend and if it weren't for the fact that UCLA is using a 4th string QB I would be a lot more excited.

Delaney is starting to ride her Skuut bike and seems to be very fond of it.

I am considering buying a video monitor for the little babe based on multiple friends suggestion and insistence. Apparently they're the bomb diggety.

Due to Facebook I feel a lot more caught up on my friends lives. Kevin has reconnected with some good friends he hasn't seen in years. I guess some good can come of all this technology.

That's all for now.

The Olympics are killing us!

Don't get me wrong I love the Olympics and everything about it. I find myself intrigued and compelled to watch sports that I truly don't have much interest in for the other 3 years, 250 days of the year.

Kevin, the consummate sports fan, is even more engrossed in them than I am. He loves a good sporting contest especially if it's between athletes at the top of their respective world. I think I might have heard him say the other day that if he had more time he might consider watching the handball match. I'm not going to go THAT far, fer crying out loud.

Thank goodness for the invention of DVR's and our precious little Tivo. We spend at least 4 hours every night speeding through coverage of sports we have little desire to watch in entirety and gleefully slow down to savor up all the moments of the swimming, track & field, water polo and some gymnastics. Our Tivo catches about 16 hours of athletic coverage a day and I guess it's saying something that we can even attempt to get through it in 4 hours. What did we do before DVR's?

But it's killing our sleeping patterns and social life. Completely. Before we know it the clock has struck 10:30 and we aren't even close to bed and there are athletic events remaining that we want to watch. Every morning we wake up with an Olympics hangover. I will be somewhat relieved when they are over.

Highlights of the Olympics so far:
1. Men's swimming 4x100 free relay. Hands down the best relay I've ever watched given all the subtext with Phelps, Lezak and the confident French team.
2. Michael Phelps 100M Fly. That guy is just plumb amazing. I have a hard time believing there is ANYONE who will ever equal his swimming feats.
3. Usain Bolt's 100m dominance. Seriously... that guy was doing a jiggy coming across the finish line and no one was anywhere near him. It's a 9 second race!
4. Shalane Flanagan's 10,000m. I love that our distance women are actually competing at a world level.
5. Women's gymnastics all around. I don't get too much into the gymnastics because the subjectiveness always takes me out of the competition, but it was great to see our gals knock it out of the park.
6. Natalie Coughlin. No one is talking about her but what she did was amazing. She got 6 medals, and some in events where people were counting her out. She's awesome and if it wasn't for Michael Phelps we'd be paying a lot more attention. They didn't even show her individual medal ceremonies.

I also loved watching the footage of the lone swimmer from Eritrea, who, like Eric Moussambani in 2004, braved the Olympics and struggled through the 100M freestyle. That embodies the Olympics for me. Of course you had to pick up the 2am coverage in order to see it, but it was totally worth it.

MyFaceflickrster

After some cajoling from a few high school friends, I decided to go ahead and set up a Facebook account. I had purposely resisted doing this in the past, despite the advertising of it from friends that it was the "MySpace for adults", because I knew it would just be one more thing to update. I have this blog, my online mom's group, emails to friends and of course those pesky little in-person relationships to keep up.

It seems like there are just so many of these types of thing to SUCK AWAY YOUR TIME. There's MySpace, friendster, Flickr, LinkedIn, blogs, etc. My goodness it's hard to keep them all straight.

I will admit it's been pretty cool looking at some long lost friends from high school and connecting if only to see where they live and whether or not they have families. It will make going to our high school reunion in a few years a lot more familiar.

So, count me in on the social networking world, for good or bad. :)

Poor little Luke Enzo

Yesterday I got a panicked call from my mom that my nephew had been rushed to the Children's Hospital in San Diego to investigate what *might* be spinal meningitis. She was distraught, but I tried not to panic and rush to judgement because the test results had not come back yet, and really all they knew to date was that he had a rash and a fever.

Yesterday morning Janet and Joe had noticed a little rash on Luke's bottom, but didn't think too much of it and Janet figured she'd ask about it during his regularly scheduled appointment later that day. The rash had moved to his belly by the time she got to his appointment and the doc took a few looks and counseled her to take him immediately to the emergency room. After he took a rectal temp, he decided it would actually be best if she rush to the Children's Hospital emergency room. As you can imagine from that moment on major panic set in with everyone involved.

I guess little Luke wasn't doing well for a few hours while his fever was close to 104. Eventually it stabilized a bit but he is not down to a normal temp just yet. Janet spent the night in the hospital with the fella and my bro went home late to catch a few hours sleep. I guess there are no good sleeping areas for parents of kids in the NICU.

The docs still don't know what's wrong with the little man, but think it's either a viral infection or spinal meningitis. Apparently there's a chance they'll never know and they just have to wait it out. The good news is that he's being monitored like a hawk and is in the best possible hands to make sure he stays healthy.

My heart goes out to Janet, because I remember what an emotional mess I was one week after Delaney was born, and I was just dealing with a crying baby who refused to nurse or sleep. If I felt like my baby's life was on the line I can only imagine the emotions and exhaustion she must be feeling. And my bro too.

Think good thoughts for little Luke and hope that he fights through this illness with all his strength.

Trip to DC and Maine

We had a lovely trip to Maine and DC at the end of July. In fact it's the reason I have been so remiss about posting on this blog. Once we got back I've been desperately trying to catch up at work, finish Delaney's room, and have managed another solo stint at home without Kevin. I am happy to say that Kevin is now IN TOWN until the babe will be born. Yeah! We made great progress on Delaney's room last weekend even though we were both a little down-and-out with a cold. We found it astonishing that both of us got sick but our toddler seemed none the worse for wear. How could it be that she has a better immune system than us?

Our first 3 days back east were spent with Kevin's brother and family. We managed to get out and have a few adult dinners, a trip to the pool with the kids, and a trip to the best toddler park I have ever set foot on. This place puts all parks I've ever visited to shame. They even had a free carousel you can ride during the weekdays. It was great to catch up with Kevin's side of the family and see everyone at the big birthday fiesta and family reunion. Some people in attendance were relatives I hadn't seen since our wedding!

Then we (somewhat) insanely decided to DRIVE up to Maine since the flights were so expensive. Delaney did amazingly well, but I suppose that has something to do with the 5 hours of Sesame Street we let her watch in the backseat. We have officially hit the DVD era with her, which I must admit is heavenly during long travel trips. She handled the drive better than I did as it was hugely uncomfortable to be sitting for that long period of time.

Our schedule in Maine was jam packed and we had a great time despite the near constant rain that blessed our entire visit. Some of the highlights of the trip were clamming/musseling, the morning on the lobster boat pulling 3 lobster, kayaking with my parents regular Thursday kayak group, visiting Acadia National Park and the sand beach, dinner out to Clionese in Ellsworth sans child, watching my dad hammer his way through a competitive croquet tournament, two dinners out to lobster pounds and much more. I will post a couple of pics from the vacation.

All in all it was wonderful to have a little getaway before we become a family of four. Traveling with our family will now become much harder for the next year plus. But it will eventually get easier again, and I know this now because by and large Delaney did awesome this entire trip even though we pushed mealtimes and naps on a few days.

I hope to have the new big girl room complete within the next 2 weeks and will post pics of that when I have it as well.

Luke Enzo is born!

My new nephew was born yesterday, August 13, at 12:50pm. The baby was 9lbs and Janet was even a week or two before her due date! She was scheduled to get induced the next day but went into labor naturally and had Luke Enzo on the same exact day as her first child Lucy. So unfortunately her two children will have the exact same birthday, but I guess you can't really stop mother nature when it comes to childbirth!

We are so happy for Joe and Janet, and are thrilled to have another nephew in the family. I will try to post a picture whenever I get one.

Also, I know I'm way behind on posting, I've just been way behind since we got back from our trip to the east coast. Our trip was wonderful and I will post a summary and lots of pics when I get a chance.

I have 6 weeks left in this pregnancy. Woo-hoo!