Better Late Than Never!

Yesterday, Julie and her parents, Wayne and Debbie, hopped on the subway and went to Manhattan to check out some sights and hopefully get things going with our baby who seemed a bit reluctant to leave the comfort of Julie's womb. No major contractions followed their sojourn, however. Later that night at about 10:00 pm, Phil, David Badger, and I were playing a rather intense game of Call of Duty 5 (thanks Julie!) when Julie suddenly bolted to the bathroom, calling my name as she broke land speed records for the fastest pregnant dash. After discovering that her water broke, we dutifully called the doctor's office and were connected with Dr. Rosser, the OB/Gyn on call for the weekend. She told Julie to go ahead and come to the hospital; however, according to Dr. Rosser, there was no reason to hurry as first time labors usually took quite awhile. Julie commenced to leisurely take a shower and get ready. We finally began our five minute walk to the hospital at about 11:15 pm. Contractions had begun, but were still fairly mild. When we reported to the triage unit, however, the fun had begun; Julie was dilated to 5 cm with contractions right on top of each other. Needless to say she was admitted right away. The labor was mercifully short and, at 3:17 am on November 29, Andrew Wayne was brought kicking and screaming into this world, weighing 7 lbs. 10 oz and measuring 20 inches in length. Julie was absolutely amazing throughout the entire process. She delivered the baby naturally, without any pain medications. I am in awe of her strength and composure and count myself lucky to be married to her.

And now, without further ado, I give you the amazingly cute Andrew:

P.S. - The winner of the game "Guess Andrew's Birthday" is Vania, who guessed November 28 at 6:42 a.m. The closest guess for weight was a tie with Kim and Cassie both within five ounces at 7 lbs 5 oz and 7 lbs 15 oz respectively. Congratulations to the winners and we will get you your prizes as soon as I figure out what they are!

P.P.S. - After a careful review of the closest guesses for weight, it has been brought to my attention that the winner is David Badger with a guess of 7 lbs 12 oz and a length of 20 inches. Congratulations David! I contribute my mistake to the fact that when I wrote the blog I had only had an hour of sleep!

My Wife Makes Me Laugh!

On the left is Julie at 2 years old. On the right, she is 30. Some things never change! I love you, dear!

Baby Andy Predictions

Okay, so I look really tired in this picture but I am 37 weeks pregnant, I can't help but look the way I feel. Besides feeling tired and stretched I feel great. I really can't complain.

Several friends have already started to make guesses as to when Andy will be born and how much he will weigh. We thought we would start keeping track of those guesses. Feel free to join in the fun by adding your guesses to the comment section of this blog. We are taking guess on the day the time and Andy's weight.

No, David, if you guess right you can't name our next child, but we may send the winner a gold star or something.

By the way I am due November 23rd, if that helps.

Halloween Hijinks!

Julie and I went to our ward's Halloween party last night. Our costumes speak for themselves. I fully realize that I will lose all dignity and respect by posting these pictures, but I already lost a considerable portion of it by appearing in public dressed like this. Why should I worry now? Enjoy!

Pooh Bear and his pot of Hunny. Go ahead. Laugh. Everyone else already has ;)

Chet and Meagan were a senorita and her pinata. If you hit him he threw candy. The kids loved it.

Nate and Nikki as Senator McCain and Governor Palin. Their break dancing moves put us all to shame!

The missionaries organized a pie eating contest. I lost. Spencer won. This doesn't bode well for the BYU / Utah game.

The baby continues to grow. Julie thinks she's huge. I think she's beautiful. The baby agrees with me!

The City of Washington

Recently, Julie and I decided that Phil, Erin, Olivia, and Sam needed a continuation of the steady stream of visitors they have experienced over the past month. We packed our car, fired up the new GPS, and headed south for DC. It took us just over 4 and-a-half hours to arrive and we spent the next two days leisurely enjoying the sights of our nation's capital. The trip was much too short to fit everything in that we wanted to do (and Julie is much too pregnant to race around seeing everything), so we are going to have to visit frequently and often! Here are some pictures from our trip. Enjoy!

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. We were able to see the changing of the guard. Very impressive.

Julie's cousin's name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We took a pencil rubbing of the name. I'm really glad we were able to see it.

The man, the myth, the legend, Abraham Lincoln. 'Nuff said.

Mount Vernon. Someday my house will look just like it!

Apples to Apples!

This last Wednesday, Julie and I accompanied our friends David, Jana, and Breyton Badger north into the wilds of Westchester County on an apple picking expedition. Our destination was Outhouse Orchards (with a name like that it had to be fun). After grabbing our bag and apple picking poles, we began furiously acquiring apples galore. We had a fantastic time and now have more apples than we know what to do with. It was good to get out into the fresh (er) air north of the Bronx and to reconnect with my outdoor roots. If you're ever in New York in October, I highly recommend picking some apples at Outhouse Orchards; at the very least you'll get to make fun of the name! Enjoy the pics.

Julie told me not to post this picture, but I couldn't resist. Those apples can be dangerous!

The perfect apple for the perfect lady!

And here we are with our bag of hard-earned apples. We only picked half of these; the Badgers picked the other half.

Laura's Christmas Present...For Last Year!

I have been crocheting for many years now. My first crocheting adventure was a scarf for a friend who was serving a mission in Iowa. I then started on an afghan that was long enough to fit a queen size bed. It became the afghan of many colors as I would add to it with left over yarn from different projects. It ended up to be maybe arms width wide and really long but my family still uses it on occasion. I recently picked up the crochet hook again and finished a scarf for Laura by putting flowers on it. I then decided to make my first hat with the left over yarn. It is a little big but I am proud of it anyway. I hope Laura likes it. And you get a new belly picture...I am HUGE!