I feel like starting over.

Let's begin again shall we?

Writing and reading and 'rithmatic. It all gets to me.
Work and home. Art and music. Baby and wife.

All my loves 'a jumbled. Some float, others sink.
Writing's gone down the tubes this last month or so, and readin's won.
Wife and son are doing great. It seems like we've caught a rhythm in this life thing. Job's a bear. I've simply come to the enigmatic spot that is the end of a training program. Do I have a great job here around the corner? Do I not? Is this something I should be terribly concerned about? Probably.

I've been interviewing around, and very honest about this with my current employer. They seem concerned. They have made it clear that when this training is done, they plan on keeping me. It's just that they don't have a job ready for me now, and we both know it. They're accepting that as a reality of the situation, and I simply cannot remain comfortable in that reality. We both understand eachother's predicaments, but really can't do anything to make the other feel any better.

I need to have stability for my family. Do we sign another lease? Leave this apartment for a larger space that we need but don't know if we can afford, because we have no idea what I'll be making in a few months. We don't want to bite off more than we can chew. So I have to explore other options. And the Antlers has nowhere to put me at that moment, and is praying that something falls into their lap. Otherwise, they have to get real creative real fast. They're stalling me, we both know it, and hoping for the best.

I've had several interesting job opportunities in the past several months, but the most promising is currently in the works. Met via conference call with the upper management last week. They also have no positions available right now, but they are very interested. They've checked out my references, and we've exchanged a dozen emails or so. They might be willing to create something that would fit my talents, or work me in some other way. I'd love to work there, and the area is nice.

Sarah and Kiah have been enjoying life lately, but feel the constraints of the apartment in ways that I don't due to the fact that I'm gone to work part of the day. I know that Kiah would love to be outdoors more. But our neighborhood isn't condusive to that.

Sarah has been reading a ton! Alot more than me, even though I'm going through a spurt at the moment. We've been reading the Harry Potter series together. It's her first time through it, and the books move quick.

Kiah's teething molars. Nuff said.

Our small group is doing well. Taking a bit of a break for the summer. We really love the group of people that we've got. If we move away we'll sure miss them.

Well, I'm done for now. Love you all. Peace.

P.S. By the way, I've redone my MySpace page, and added photos.
Here's a preview.

Back by popular demand...

"Mommy and the baby, sittin in a tree...""Mami and baby, standin near a tree..."

Mami, Kiah and I at Garden of the Gods...

"Out of my face! Papparazzi!"

Gonna eat the camera!!!

Updaticus Maximus...

Well, I'd like to thank those of you who have put up with my music posts.
Lately, it's what I've been motivated to write about, but I'm feeling guilty telling people that if they want to know what's actually going on in our lives, they need to check Sarah's blog.

Blogs go through phases, because the writers do. And this blog is going on 3 years... so it's seen some very different incarnations. For a long time, it was the emaciated refugees of my little brain... then it was a place to buy salmon... and for a long time, it was almost a Tom Waits fan site.

We seen some horribly painful times... we've seen some amazing things happen, and along the way, I have been so blessed to have all of you comment on what was said. Often times, I've enjoyed the comments section much more than the actual post. Especially when Erina posts.

So here's a bit on our lives right now. Kiah's started army crawling. It's really fun to watch, and we've been enjoying watching him explore the apartment. He loves going under the computer desk, and is especially fond of the metal trash can that we have under there. We have to keep our eyes open, but thankfully, he's still really slow, and grunts alot while he crawls. So he can't really "sneak" into anything.

Our friends Daniel and Lara have volunteered to start babysitting on Wednesdays now. So we can have a "date night" to look forward to. Last Wednesday, we stayed home and watched an entire show on tv without having to jump up, or change a diaper, or bounce Kiah to keep him from crying... it was nice. And then we went out for dessert at Chilis. It was really enjoyable. This Wed. I have an idea of a nice date... It's so nice to look forward to a set time to be together. What a gift!

Sarah's feeling under the weather today. Something with her throat that's been bothering her lately. She is at the doctor's office right now getting it checked out, and Kiah is taking his nap. Lately, Sarah's created a schedule for him, and it's starting to work. Last night, he gave me some trouble. Woke up around 11:00 and wanted to play. Finally got him back to sleep, and went to bed myself. But usually, he's been conforming. So that's really nice.

Oh, it was my mom's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday mom! She's finally 39.

In work news, I got a raise. But we added Sarah to our health insurance, so my check was $2 less than normal... lol. That's the way it goes, huh? But you could look at it as we added Sarah to our insurance for only $2 a paycheck right? Otherwise, things are going splendidly. I've been enjoying accounting quite a bit. Unfortunately for me, they hired an assistant controller who is going to take my beautiful office. :( I love my office. And my non-sucky computer... but all good things must come to an end. I just wish that they would've hired her after I left the department at the end of the month...

I'm up for employee of the year. Statistically, I have a 1 in 11 shot. (January's team champion isn't at the hotel anymore...) But in reality, I think my odds are better. We'll see. If I do win, it's $500 buckaroos, and a nice little addition to the resumé. I'm on the committee that makes these decisions, but I couldn't vote for myself. It just didn't feel right. In other competitions, I can see doing it, but employee of the year seems like something I should leave to the other folks. If I'm good enough, it won't matter how I voted.

Sarah and I booked our flight to Chicago yesterday. So we should be out there in February, go to a wedding, and spend a few days with the family. Then head out to Ohia, and spend a couple days with the family out there. I am looking forward to it, but I'm still sad that our Ohia family hasn't seen Colorado yet. We gotta find a way...

Well, Kiah's waking up, so I'm gonna go get 'im. Later 'yall.

Jim

Hang on sloopy, sloopy hang on...

Well folks, it's been awhile. If you're still checking in, I admire your pluck.

Kiah's been growing like a weed. This last week he's been really cranky, but that probably means that he's teething. Sarah and I thought we saw one this morning... we're not sure yet. He's started in on solid food, rice cereal, so he's pretty proud of himself. We started him later than most people, but we've heard that if you wait till 6 months, it's better for their digestive system.

He'll be 6 months old on the 25th... it's gone by really fast, but it's hard to remember a time when he wasn't a part of our lives. We can count the dates we've had in the last 6 months on one hand, and at times, we feel alone. We've made some good friends out here, but everyone's so busy, and asking folks to babysit makes you feel guilty. Especially if they already have kids. One of those things that will be alot easier when we're near family again.

In other news, veteran member of my blog Jim V. has recently lost his wife. She was a beautiful woman, a wonderful person, and the fastest wit on the block. We will miss her... She only occasionally wrote here, and then only to mock my fake deejaying skills. Please keep Jim and her family in your prayers.

Sarah's week in Chicago went fairly uneventfully for me. I worked a great deal, and watched some old Japanese movies. I also watched the Magnificent Seven, which was a bit of a disappointment, but remakes generally are. King Kong was dreadful. So was Solaris. Ugh... but then again, some remakes are better than the original. The Italian Job leaps to mind. I haven't seen the first Gone in 60 seconds, but I'm betting that the new one was better. Anyway, Sarah came back last Monday, and I can't even express how happy I was to see her. In the 5 years we've been married, we haven't been apart a week. It was really quiet, and lonely, and by Sunday, I was cranky with everyone... Everybody at work is happy she's back too.

Saturday, we watched what will probably be the best Michigan/Ohio State matchup of my lifetime. The teams have never met before as Number one and two. Bo Shembeckler died the day before the game, so emotions were running high. The Bucks tore through Michigan's number one running defense and ran two touchdowns in that were over 50 yards each. It was incredible. The one player who I thought would really break the game open, Gonzales, went almost unused and only had one touchdown. The only thing that kept me from being completely satisfied with the game was that the guy snapping the ball for OSU had broken his hand earlier in the year, and had it in a cast. It healed several weeks ago, but for superstitious reasons, was told to keep it on. Well, it cost us two horrible snaps that resulted in fumbles, and two scores for Michigan. Other than that, I was pretty much happy with the game which was a true battle of excellent offensive crews. Despite the fact that Ohio State won, nearly every sportscaster I saw said that the two best teams in College ball are still OSU and Michigan. It's just a matter of whether the voters will make the National championship game a rematch, or have Michigan go to the Rose Bowl and pick another team to play Ohio State for the title. Needless to say, it felt really good to get the Big Ten title, and to be simply undisputed as the best team in college football. There aren't any thugs on the team, they have a great deal of class, and they won the game by just beating the living daylights out of the Michigan defense. The Bucks scored more points in the first half against Michigan than the Wolverines have allowed in any game this season. Not to mention the 500+ yards that the Buckeyes were able to put up against one of the toughest defenses in the nation. I'm not proud or anything. It was a great game, and I don't expect to see it's match anytime soon.


Well. I'm done for now.

Peacywease.

Time to throw some tea in the harbor.

Well, my mom, giving me the benefit of the doubt, assumed that there browser was broken in some way because it had no updates in the last month. I love her.

In reality, I have been meaning to write for the past few weeks. Like anything else in my life, writing is more a result of a phase than anything. I read like crazy, or play video games, or write, or draw. All of these things phase in or out. Lately, I just haven't felt like writing. Hopefully you haven't felt like reading.

Work has been good. I am still at the front desk. I started getting concerned about being forgotten in one area of the hotel, and having too much time pass, thus limiting the time spent in other areas, so I spoke to my GM who is getting promoted in January to Senior VP. He is the last of the folks who hired me for the position, and is leaving for Boston at the turn of the year. The rest of the people who approached me about the position have left for other opportunities, and I've been feeling a bit that their successors have felt like they were stuck with me. Because I've stuck in the one department, my ability to impress people as a hotel manager is hampered by the fact that they just see me as a good assistant front office manager.

The good news is that the GM got me back on track, and I will be moving to another department soon. I would prefer housekeeping, but restaurants is another good option. The other day something exciting happened, I was approached by the hotel manager to see if I'd fly to Chicago to cover our Doubletree in OakBrook. They're a union hotel, and the workers were threatening to strike. Our director of housekeeping and I were going to fly out to help the hotel in case of a strike, but the union and the hotel ended up working things out. Either way, I was told it was a positive mark for me just to be available, and that they'll think of me in the future if anything like that comes up again. I would've liked to go, as it would've been a great learning experience, and I would have gotten free meals and hotel stay, with some spending money. Not to mention seeing some of my friends and family in Chicago.

Things at home have been great. Kiah is growing so fast, and is holding things on his own. He can sit with his back to the couch and can even sit a little on his own. Not much, but it's a start. We're having so much fun teaching him things every day. He's laughing so much more. He's such a happy baby... I got this really fun video of him sitting on the couch laughing, being a parent is even more rewarding than I thought it would be.

Sarah is a bit bored, but has been handling parenthood wonderfully. She's such a great mom. She just turned 27, and some of our friends took her out for dinner. I had to work, which sucked, but we had a nice little dinner here the next night with the same friends and had a cake and everything. I blew it literally though. After we finished singing, I BLEW OUT HER CANDLE. I don't know what posessed me, I just saw something on fire, and blew it out. I'm retarded.

I saw the Departed a few weeks ago. Really good movie. Alot of people got shot in the head, but it was a good movie. Sarah and I watched Lucky Number Slevin last night. Similar. Good, but alot of people get shot. Netflix is really cool for parents who work and take care of a baby 24/7. It is so nice to just have a stream of movies coming in.

We're looking to get cell phones at the turn of the year. So I'll get the numbers to you when we do.

That's it for now. I'll write more later.

10 hours of bliss.

Well, this has been an interesting week. I worked Monday thru Saturday last week. 60 hour weeks stink, and even more confusing, I had to work Monday of this week, so I had Sunday and Tuesday off. This has completely thrown me for a loop, as it has felt like Monday three days this week.

On the good side, my boss Peter has been in, so it's not all on my head all the time. Another bonus is that several of my favourite guests are in house, thus enabling me to use their names without working at it and making me seem more like the concierge/hotel manager guy from "Pretty Woman". (Who is my current hero. The dude is so smooth, it's not even funny.)

I've been working on my class lately. Trying more and more to be elegant. Refined. Upscale. I know that I work for a hotel that wants to be the same things and I want to be a good representation of that. Sarah an determining now whether it is possible, and whether we are willing to move into a rented house, as opposed to our apartment. We currently have a very nice deal where we are, but it is feeling awful small, especially when someone comes to visit, so we are looking.

Kiah has been really developing alot lately, and has started laughing.

Well, I need to get back to work. My break is over. Peace.

Well then...

Ok, so the family was out here for the larger part of last week and into this week. Sarah's grandma Marge, her parents Jeff & Linda, and her sisters Kaitlin and Jessica. Here are some pictures from Glen Eyrie, the castle outside of town.







It's just been a very busy past few weeks. Thanks to everyone for your patience, and for even coming back to check the site. We'll get things going again, now that they've quieted down.

Kiah is smiling alot now, and mimicking our voices. He's 14 lbs. now... The nurse giving him his vacines the other day couldn't hold his little legs down without help. I'm so proud.

We had Kiah dedicated to the Lord at church last Sunday. Dedications are a vow to raise him in a way that's pleasing to God. I was dedicated in Sarasota, Florida at a little church called Grace Fellowship, and Sarah was dedicated at Moraine Valley Church in Palos Heights, IL. We've been waiting till Sarah's family was out before we had it done.

This next week, I am not at the front desk, but back in the Reservations department. It will be alot of fun, and hopefully a great learning experience. Yesterday, I was in there for 8 hours, and it was well spent.

Sarah's back to tutoring and Halie has been playing alot of catch up on work that's been missed due to the olympics.

My good friend Jim V. (the guy that always keeps me in check here on the blog) and his wife Paula have been going through some terrible medical struggles over the last few months. Please join Sarah and I in praying for a swift and complete recovery for Paula, and peace for Jim as he holds her hand through this season.

My brain is hanging upside down...

Last week, Cheney and Rumsfeld go into the oval office to brief the president on the day's affairs. Upon entering, and after the normal niceties, Bush turns to Rumsfeld and asks "So what happened yesterday in Iraq?"

"Well Mr. President" Rumsfeld says while looking down at his feet "Three Brazilian officers were killed in heavy combat yesterday."

The president clutches his heart. Reels for a second and then plops into his chair, obviously shaken with the news and says "Oh my God Donald... Just how many is a Brazillion?"

So it's been awhile.

Even as I write this, I do so with one hand. I'm currently feeding the son his "brazillionth" bottle today. He's a pooping, eating, pooping machine. With a side of sleep.

I have been wanting to write more, and I keep trying, I just have so much on my plate right now. But I promise to find the time in this next week. It's amazing how fast time flies. Kiah is a month old today! How crazy is that? In his four short weeks of life, he has been to my hotel twice, church three times, a shower, the mall, a bunch of stores, and the highest suspension bridge in the world! He's gonna be so cool, we won't know what to do with him. He fell asleep during the Cubs beating today. Too bad they can only lose once today, otherwise, we'd appreciate the other nap.

Sarah's been sleeping for awhile. She's needed the rest so badly, and when I can be home, I want to make sure I relieve her of her baby duties. It's nice that he's partially bottle-fed, which means that I can wake up with him at night, and babysit for extended periods. I did two nights ago, and Sarah went for a haircut. It's adorable. Real short. I'll post some pics of her soon.

Oh! Kaitlin, Sarah's youngest sister, is coming out on Wednesday to stay for a couple weeks! We're real excited about it, and are looking forward to Kiah spending some quality time with his aunt. There's still no word on when anyone from my family will be able to come, but Sarah's parents and sister Jessica will be coming out to pick Kait up and drive back home. Its so nice to have family around.

In other family news, my sister Tammy had her baby, Eowyn Jeane. She's pretty cute, for a girl... just kidding, she's adorable. Kid has a ton of dark hair... My mom went out to be with her for a week or so, and my brothers are going to stay with her while my parents go to Africa for a few weeks. They are specing out the city in Tanzania they are going to, and will get to see Tammy, Josh and the baby before they head out. Wish we could go, but it's not to be. At least not now.

Well, I gotta go. Looks like he's going to sleep, and I don't want to wake him.

Peace

More pictures of the baby

Pictures of Kiah...

The pics aren't all I'm postin'!

See the detailed account of Kiah's delivery below!

Here are the pics.

This one is a compilation of some the best pictures from Friday...


Here's one of my favourite pictures of Kiah so far.


Here's our beautiful blossom... and some flowers.


And finally, pics from the nursery. Jaundice stinks!

Updates on Kiah and Sarah

Hi everyone. Thanks for being patient. We've had a crazy couple days, and I'll go over in part, what's going on now, and a bit of what the delivery was like.

Sarah had some contractions last Wednesday night. We went to the mall, and walked around a little bit, and after we got home, I went to take a nap in case we were going to go into labor that night. I woke up around 10:30 and Sarah was pretty serious about the contractions. I updated the blog, and did a few other things and slept for another hour. She tried to sleep, but didn't, and woke me up at 1:30 with the news that we needed to leave NOW. We did, and we arrived at the hospital around 2:00. We walked to the check in, and at her first checkup, Sarah was 5cm dialated already. She was 10cm by 6am, so 5cm in 4 hours was pretty impressive. The nurses wheeled a baby warmer in, and Sarah started pushing. Her doctor arrived about an hour later and after taking a look at Sarah, let us know that she shouldn't be pushing yet. That there was still some cervix left to dialate, and that we were just bruising the baby. So we did some more contraction handling, and were soon at the pushing stage officially. Now for the uninitiated, dialation of the cervix requires breathing through contractions. You're not pushing, you're simply surviving. Once they let you push, as I understand it, it is alot more gratifying. And shorter. Generally. According to a book we have, the pushing phase of childbirth should last 1 push to 2 hours. Sarah pushed for 3. With no pain medication. No local anisthetic, no epideral. Nothing. She's like a legend now. Doctors were gathering outside the room to see the girl with no pain medication. One of them told me it's one in a hundred, but probably more than a hundred...

Anyway, during the labor, our doctor, a very smart lady, tried to use a vaccuum to help extract the baby while Sarah pushed. But, it was unsuccessful. They only try 3-4 times, because there's just too much risk of hurting the baby. I forgot to mention, that for the doctor to even attempt to use the vaccuum (the modern alternative to forceps) she would have to be able to see Kiah's head. Which we could! Sarah had been pushing so hard, that he was crowning. Almost there. But stuck. It was so hard to see him so close, only to go through contraction after contraction, pushing and pushing, with no forward movement. I asked doctor Schwietzer what she thought, and she said that after a few more pushes, we might have to move to a c-section. She gave Sarah the benefit of the doubt, and waited until even Sarah had given up hope of pushing him out. She said it later, but I'll say it now, the doctor believed that it was the right decision because it was made at a point when Kiah still had a strong heartbeat, and wasn't in too much distress. If we had kept trying, the results could have been very bad.

We moved Sarah to the operating room, while she tried to control her contractions. Go back to breathing... try not to push... It was really hard on her. They had me get into operating clothes, and let me bring my camera. I had to wait outside the room for 10-15 minutes while they prepped her, and got her epideral in place. They called me in, and I sat next to her head while Dr. Schwietzer and another doctor operated. Several nurses, and a pediatrician for Kiah assisted. After a little while of talking to eachother quietly, Sarah heard a squeek over at the pediatrician's table. Then a cry. She said "Is that him?" and I looked to see, and yes it was. They had extracted him a few moments before, and were cleaning him off and giving him oxygen. He was blue, and squished, and looked bruised all over. It turned out that the worst of his bruising was on his face. He had been sunny side up, or facing the wrong way, and would never have come out. We made the right decision and just in time.

The hard part was then going with the baby to the Infant ward where they treat distressed babies, and leaving Sarah behind. But they had to stitch her up and get her to recovery. While I waited with Kiah, they got some saleen going through his system to boost his circulation, and gave him a little oxygen. I took pictures and a video or two, so that Sarah could see him, and when I was comfortable with how he was doing, I went to find her. I found her recovering, and I changed clothes back to my street clothes after showing her the pics and video. She was happy to see him doing well, but wanted to be with him. I ran back and forth between them for awhile, until we all got to be up in the mother/baby ward, where she still is now.

Sarah got to hold the baby for about 20 minutes before I had to take him back to the nursery for them to check his vitals. It was fast though, and I got him back to her in minutes. Her mom arrived soon after that from her flight and shuttle ride from Chicago. That's where most of the pics that you've seen have come from. That period of time.

--------------

Since then, Kiah has been trying to nurse, but hasn't done real well yet. He'll have to get it, and hasn't been peaceful enough to. The first deal was his blood sugar level, so they poked and prodded, and fed him formula. Now he has jaundice, so the poke and prod him and make us feed him formula. We chose a soy formula so that he won't have any bad reactions. Sarah couldn't eat formula as a baby, and we don't want to chance it. The jaundice is pretty bad, so they have him under this crazy blue light. He has to wear these little eye covers, and is away from us all the time. They bring Sarah to him so that she can try and feed him, but he's so comforted by her holding him that he falls asleep instantly when she holds him. He's so stressed and worn. So is she. She misses him, and so do I for that matter, but I've been in the nursery with him alot, making sure that they don't neglect him, or let him scream, or forget to feed him... Every time we just "trust" them, it hasn't worked out, so I ride them like a bull. Every nurse has a different opinion, different info, different levels of interest in our well being. One will say that the baby should never have water, the other will list it has her first suggestion. One will say that she'll wake Sarah up to feed and forget, while another will bust into the room, give Sarah a time limit, and demand she feed him that instant. They're really not bad as a hospital goes, but they try our patience.

At this point, Kiah is still under the lights. Sarah tries to breastfeed every few hours, I feed him soy after she's done. She doesn't want Kiah associating her smell with bottle feeding. It gives us both bonding time, but we miss him. I hope he'll come back to the room with us tomorrow.

Sarah's mom has been awesome. We've gotten to spend some fun time together, and with Sarah. Trying to be supportive.

Well, I am bushed. I'm off to bed. Love you all, hope the update was good. More pics to come!

Hezekiah Immanuel Miller

Hezekiah Immanuel Miller
Born: May 25, 2006 @ 10:53 am
Weight: 8 pounds, 13 ounces
Length: 21 inches
He was delivered emergency c-section after a ton of natural labor.

Here's an early picture of me and the boy after the surgery.

Another early pic.


The new mommy.


Kiah and his giant red hat. He was happier than he looks... really.


Sarah's mom flew out to help out in our early weeks with the baby.


Giving eachother funny looks...



Well. That's it for now. I just wanted to run home for a couple minutes to update you all.
I'll write about the whole labor later.

Distractions, contractions and contraptions.

Well. Here we are. Once again in the middle of the night. Obviously things aren't too crazy, or I'd be in the hospital, not blogging, but if we're reading the signs right, and there are a ton of them, we're heading into labor within the next few hours.

Sarah's contractions are about 10-15 minutes apart. Some less than that, but on an average, 10-15. They've been that way for a few hours. Seemingly getting a bit stronger. She's had every sign in the book, short of her water breaking, so we're pretty excited. I got about 3 hours sleep, and woke up around 10:30. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a few more minutes rest before we need to leave for the hospital. Sarah's been resting as best as possible, and drinking more water than Robin Williams on broadway.

We've been trying to remember everything. Charge the camera battery. Remember the iPod and cds... Pack our toiletries... We have changes of clothes in our bags, and snacks for me.

We ended up in the hospital for a few hours on Tuesday. Sarah went in for her checkup, and the baby's heartbeat was a bit fast, so the doctor sent us over to Memorial to have Sarah monitered for awhile. It gave us a chance to see the facilities a bit better. We've been on two tours, but I got to see the little kitchen area, where I can get water, juice or popsicles for Sarah, and coffee for me. We weren't sure what was going to happen, but we had brought our bags, so just in case they needed to induce her or anything... we were ready. But after two hours, they let us go home, and told Sarah to drink as much water as possible. That his heartbeat was fast, but still acceptable. He's just active they said. Which is funny. He seems like a quiet baby for the most part, with active moments.

He's probably just getting ready.

I got an email from a dear friend, and while I think he was joking, I can see how some people would actually think that the name "Kiah" is somehow tied to a certain Korean car company of a similar name. I then realized that I don't believe I've ever explained the reasons behind the name in the blog, and if there were ever a time, I guess it's now.

If indeed we are having a boy, and not just an incredibly devious girl with athletic sonogram abilities, we are naming our baby Hezekiah Immanuel. We'll call him Kiah for short, but the name Hezekiah is one that I've grown up loving, and that Sarah has fallen for as well.

Hezekiah was the name of a king of Judah in the old testament. His father was an evil man, but despite that fact, when Hezekiah took over at the age of 25, he didn't waste a day turning the country around. Within 3 weeks he had instigated a complete turnaround. He brought the people back to God. Back to where they should be. Under his kingship, the nation of Israel withstood some of it's heaviest attacks and continued to prosper. In his entire reign, he only made one serious mistake, the consequences of which, he'd never even see. When we think of the things we want for our son, we think of leadership. Wisdom. A heart for the needs of others. And the name Hezekiah is a fitting one for someone with those qualities. Kiah seems like the best shortening of the name, and is kind of fun to say.

Immanuel means "God with us." If there's been one all encompassing statement that's surrounded us this year, it's that God has not, and will not forsake us. No matter the circumstances of life. We've been so encouraged by all He's seen us through. Plus, a short name after Hezekiah would sound stupid. "Hi, I'm Hezekiah Joe!" Sounds like a forty niner or something... "Hi, I'm stinky Pete!"

Well, I'll keep you updated. Hopefully we'll have a picture post soon that won't consist of internet humor, but will instead having a healthy baby boy. Not to mention, that if we have him today, my brother Ezra will be insanely happy. I mean, insanely happy. He turns 11 today, and has been pushing us to have the baby on his birthday since he found out the due date.

P.S. Sarah and I went to the mall yesterday and saw baseball caps on sale. 2 for $14... so Sarah got her Cubbies hat, and I got a Sox hat. So now we can represent! Nice. Jim, don't give her too hard a time. Her grandmother was a fan, and Sarah's love of her grandma clouded her judgement growing up. We can't all be St. Louis fans...

Middle of the night.

It's the middle of the night. Or the beginning, depending on one's perspective. Either way. It's 12:30 am.

I went to bed at 7:30, having been up since 3 as usual. I wanted to try to get a full 8 hours, but when I woke up to get a drink about 11:30, Sarah was in bed too, and still awake.

I asked her how she was doing, and she has been having contractions. Not steady yet, but we're getting there. I'm so excited right now, I just can't sleep. I should be trying... if today is the day, we've got alot ahead of us, and being rested will help a ton. I got up and finished a mix cd for Sarah during labor. (They let you bring your own cds...) I will go to work at 4 if nothing is steady, but I'll be ready to run home if she needs me.

In other exciting news... I GOT THE JOB! Pretty awesome. They made me an offer yesterday, which I accepted. I start on the 30th. So just a few more days of being a valet. I'm very excited. All these changes at once... feels, well... feels like normal. I won't be starting in the restaurant like I first believed, instead, I will be starting in the front office/desk area. My least favourite area, but who knows? I may end up loving it. I can't wait to wear a suit to work.

Well, I'm gonna go try sleeping. Before I go, here's the playlist to the cd I made Sarah for labor. If you want a peaceful, but inspiring mix... look no further. I'm real happy with it.

Labor Day (ha ha) mix

1. The Golden Age, by Beck
2. Switching Off, by Elbow
3. Bob Dylan's 49th Beard, by Wilco
4. Gravity, by Vienna Teng
5. The Princess Bride, by Willy DeVille & Mark Knopfler
6. Baby Mine (Dumbo cover), by Allison Kraus
7. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, by Elliot Smith
8. Boadicea, by Enya
9. Bothered, by Over the Rhine
10. Time After Time, by Cindi Lauper
11. Halo Friendly, by Damien Jurado
12. I Didn't Know About You, by Karrin Allyson
13. Miles, by Over the Rhine
14. Lullaby, by Pedro the Lion
15. Rest Easy, by Audio Adrenaline
16. Fade Into You, by Mazzy Star
17. Sleeping In, by the Postal Service
18. Let Down, by Radiohead
19. Tell Me How, by Rosie Thomas

Fridays are weird...

Well, Friday was no exception to my incredibly strange week. I mean, last week was like a script from a new sitcom. One of the ones that hasn't gotten it's feet under it yet. The writing is choppy, and the acting is sloppy, and this sentence is starting to sound like a song. It isn't... but it could be.

Friday morning, I checked to see if Neil Armstrong had checked in. He was in room 1202, and was due out on the 13th, so I was pretty sure I'd at least see him. Growing up a total space geek, I went over scenarios in my head to make sure that I didn't attack him when he came downstairs. I rehearsed "Mr. Armstrong, how are you this morning? How was your night? Do you have a car downstairs that we can bring up for you?" things like that.

Needless to say, that the morning went on fairly normally, and he did not come down before 6. One of the other navy officers from his squadron, however, did come down for breakfast. And as he was sitting alone, I struck up a conversation while he waited for the restaurant to open. We talked about the state, and where he was from, and he asked me where I was from. I said Ohio, and he commented that Neil was from there too. I said that Stryker, where I grew up, wasn't far from Wapekaneta, where Neil was born. Now take into account that while they are spry little guys, all of these navy officers are pushing 80, if they haven't already fallen into it. For those of you who don't know many 80+ year old men, they get excited easily, and then forget what they were excited about, and spend the rest of their day perpetually excited, but they don't know why. That's why they sleep like 3 hours a night. They are so excited about something or other. (Note: Sometimes, this can also translate into crankiness. Insert the word cranky instead of excited into the rule above, and it will account for about 1/3 of old men days per year. The other two thirds they spend mysteriously excited.) Anyway, he got very excited, and then ended up looking a little confused until the rest of his party came down for breakfast. I went back to work, and forgot the conversation for the moment.

About two hours later, I had just returned from bringing up a car, when I saw the navy squadron gathering outside to get on their bus, and get on with their busy and mysteriously exciting day, when I spotted Neil in the center of the group. He was wearing a light pink dress shirt, and was looking very healthy. The last few pics I've seen of him haven't done him justice. Anyway, he's a very private man, and I didn't want to scare him, so I took my look, and went inside. Just in the doors, I was accosted by the little old gentleman from earlier, and he said "Have ya met Neil yet?!?" I said no, and he hauled me out the door and toward the group. "Neil!" he yelled as he flung me in front of the first man to step on the moon... "This boy's from Ohia! (pronounced correctly, I might add.)" Neil asked me where, and shook my hand. I told him I was from Stryker, and he said he knew where that was. (Almost unbelievable, but he gave a reference town that established that he did indeed.) I told him that it was an honor to meet him, and that I hoped he had enjoyed his stay. I wished him a good day, and took my leave.

I was in a bit of shock. Introduced. How much better was that then pushing myself at him and saying something like "I'm glad ya made it back!" or "Way to beat those ruskies!" or something ridiculous like that. I was so happy, that I told a couple of coworkers before returning to the front to get back to work. As I approached the front desk, I noticed a slightly dishevelled customer waiting to be helped. I went up to ask him if he needed help, and possibly tell him about Neil Armstrong getting into the bus outside when he turned around. It was Ron White. Ron "Tater salad" White of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. He looked slightly drunk, which is, or course, his look. "Mr. White. How are you this morning?" I asked. He said he was ok, and I told him I loved his show. (He is easily the funniest part of what can be a thoroughly disturbing look at america.) He was simply looking for a place to buy socks, preferably where there was a pretty salesgirl, and I directed him to the right place. He went and ate breakfast, and spent the morning wandering around looking for something to do. Unfortunately... there IS nothing to do in Colorado Springs at 9am on a Friday morning. So he went over to the spa and flirted with the girls there. Avoiding the random "TATER SALAD!!!" screaming fan with grace. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked. Armstrong, I saw coming, but a week of naked old men, half drunk celebrities, and new shoes... it was a bit too much for me. I needed a few days to process it before bringing it to you my faithful readers.

Well. On to something else. Here is a montage of Sarah pics from this, our ninth and final month of pregnancy. Below it, you will find a desktop picture of Sarah's 9th month. (I'm a dork. But a freakin proud one...)

Nuggets of Denver

Well, a few weeks ago, I won a free night's stay at the Adam's Mark hotel in Denver.
It happened at the "Care Rally" that we had, when the general manager read a letter from a customer to the hotel, and the letter was about how I personally had taken care of him. So the GM had me come up and spin the wheel of prizes, and I got a good one.

Sarah and I had plans for the next few weekends, or responsibilities, so we put it off for awhile. This weekend, we were free, so we decided to go out Friday night, and spend Saturday wandering around. Our hotel was really nice, and we were on the 15th floor, so we had a good view. Here's a pic from our hotel room, as well as a picture of the 16th street mall (Which you can see from our room.) and a pic of a sculpture outside, and a few downtown buildings.


The night was good. It was cool to sleep in a king bed. We ate dinner at Chilis on the 16th St. mall, and went over to the theatre to see Benchwarmers. The next morning, we got up around 9 or 10, and ate breakfast/lunch at a little place called the Extraordinary Egg. Very good service, decent food. Then we wandered around the downtown area. It's a beautiful city. There was a building I remembered from when I'd been here back in 97, and I was able to get directions to it. It's an ornate catholic church at the corner of 19th and Broadway called the Church of the Holy Ghost. A few years back, they were offered a big deal for the land they're on. A corporation wanted to put a skyscraper there, and the church was in the way. Well, the church had been there forever, and didn't want to move. This happens alot in cities, but not necessarily the resulting solution. The church and the business met a compromise in that the church sold the airspace above them, and enough surrounding area to put the base of the skyscraper for 2.5 million. They used the money to build a youth center for kids in the poor area of the city. The resulting image is one of architectural ingenuity. I'll post a few pics, but it's really something to see.


Finally, I was taking a few pics around the house the other day, and got this one of Sarah. It's really cute, and I thought I'd share it.

Hoist that rag

I feel like a pirate today. I am listening to the ultra-awesome song by Tom Waits "Hoist that rag" off of his 2004 album Real Gone. It's gotta be about being a pirate. At least a little.

Things have been going very well, but busy. Real busy. It's kinda nice, because now we won't fly into babyhood straight from boring, slow, lonely life. We have had alot of events at church, doctor appointments, and good times with new friends... which balanced with a really weird new schedule makes for a very tired little duo.

Sarah's been having a harder time lately. She pretty uncomfortable. Cute, but uncomfortable. Here's a picture.


I've been working 4:30 am - 1 pm. It's got advantages, but I'm just bushed when I get home. It's hard to get to bed before 8, and so most days I get 5 hours sleep. Sarah's dealt with it, and we've been making the most of our time together, but she's tutoring 4 days a week now, as Halie needs to catch up on her studies. So I get home, we get a few hours, and then she's off to tutor, and by the time she's back, I'm in bed, or getting there.

I am so excited about the baby. He's almost here! It's so cool to see him move, and know what he's doing. He's had hiccups the last few days. It weirds Sarah out, but it's pretty funny to me.

I'm almost to the point when I can announce our cool new news. It's just not all together yet.

Well, that's it for today, oh, and for the gullible out there, that was not a picture of our church event. It just looked funny, so I put it up.

cya.

Day off.

Ahhhhh....

It was so weird waking up when it's light outside. Feels good though.

Woke up this morning and made breakfast. Bacon, scrambled eggs and biscuits with raspberries inside. (I took regular Pillsbury biscuits, and cut them down the side before cooking, spread a mixture of raspberries and sugar inside that I had microwaved for a couple seconds, and pinched the sides shut again. Regular baking time, and they were ready to go.) It turned out great, and was a fun way to start our day off together.

Sarah tutors Halie tonight. Oh! I didn't mention. Now that Halie is back from the Olympics, she needs to catch up on her studies. This means that Sar will be tutoring every weeknight, except for Wednesdays, and that means alot more money. And some alone time for me before the baby comes. I beat a computer game I've been playing for a long time, and I've had a chance to catch up on some reading.

Currently, I'm reading a book on preaching by Haddon Robinson. It's really great. Very eye opening. I finished a book or two by Origen, an Alexandrian theologen in the 200s. He was a bit off on quite a few things, but some of his ideas, and ways of explaining things are still used today.

Well, if I'm describing breakfast, and what I've been reading, it's proof that I don't really have a whole lot to say right now, so I'll stop for today.

Peace and thank you.