Okay we're at WillowCreek. We are currently back in triage. We've been back here enough now I recognize the nurses-I wish it was because we had 5 kids instead of Jenna's other surgeries but what are you gonna do?
Funny we get here so early to sit and wait. I'm sure it's for their benefit to have you ready but all it does is build anxiety in Jenna. I'll try to post when she goes back but you never know.
Well we have to leave at 545 in the morning to head to the hospital. I don't know how Jenna's going to go to sleep. I popped a Tylenol PM so I'm good :) I will be blogging the day tomorrow so stay tuned to the website and I'll keep you up to date.
Wow, I knew Campbell was going to be here tomorrow but I just noticed the countdown timer on the blog and it reads just over 21 hours. Okay, I'm going to stop typing now and go grab an inhaler.
There's something about a guy with pink hair everyone seems to love. Saturday's newspaper had pictures from the pink trash ball and I made the cut. So of course all week my picture has been up in the teacher's lounge at just about every school I go to. I even had a 4th grader come up to me and say he saw me in the paper. There's no telling what his parents think.
The night was a sellout and raised several thousand dollars. Someone at work said it takes a pretty confident guy to wear that to a bar. I told them the bar was fine (everyone was dressed in pink)-it was the long walk down Dickson street by myself that tested my willingness to dress in partial drag to raise money for Komen, but somehow I managed.
I know we cut it close since she'll be here a week from tomorrow but her room is officially done. Here's a video of what she'll be coming home to.
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The reason for this blog post is two-fold. First I wanted to share a story about last night, and secondly I wanted to test out Wordpress' new iPhone app. Wordpress is the software that powers this blog. When Noah was born I blogged the entire day but I had a lot of time since he didn't exactly get in a hurry to come after Jenna's water broke. Campbell is scheduled at 730AM so their isn't going to be excessive time to get the laptop out and tell everyone what's going on. So I'm trying put blog tools for the iPhone and I really wanted to see how the photos would upload. So here goes.
Last night Noah and I went to the Razorback game. I have sat in basically these seats for 8 years and I have never been on the jumbotron. Nick has been to at least 4 times more games than I've been to. He's never been on the jumbotron. Noah's first game ever? Jumbotron. Here's the link to that day.
This was Noah's 3rd game and what do you know-we all get on the jumbotron. Not once but twice. Unbelievable.
I didn't get a pic this time but here's a pic from the game.
Sometimes life just isn't fair but I'll get to that in a minute.
Jenna has this crazy thing she says periodically. Whenever we have any big or even semi-big event happen she always asks "Don't you feel like a grown-up?" The most recent example is our new bedroom furniture. When it was delivered she was so excited because somehow in her brain having a matching set of nightstands, bed, and dresser officially moved us into the ranks of adulthood. Never mind the marriage, mortgage, 3 dogs, 3 y/o son, pregnancy, and the fact that we are in our mid-30s. That was all practice for having bedroom furniture.
An odd segway but here I am on a Saturday morning a little after 6. My son is spending the night with grandparents. I'm 1 1/2 weeks away from a new baby in our life with all the sleeplessness that entails. I'm wide awake.
I certainly didn't mean to. I polished off a bottle of wine last night. I stayed up a little too late. I didn't set an alarm and my last thought last how wonderful it was going to be to sleep in with the Razorback game being at 6PM and how late Noah and I would get in.
I wake up too early some mornings but I can just lay still and my mind wanderings will eventually turn to a dream and back off to sleep I go. Sometimes the brain just won't turnoff. I woke up in that half sleep and started to think. I thought about last night and the homemade pizzas and the Italy Blu-Ray reliving our honeymoon. It was similar to a 'last hooray' before the new baby, although I was the only one who could toast.
Despite these thoughts I was still half asleep when my mind wandered to work but I know better to think about work so I quickly put myself on a golf course. Playing an imaginary round of golf is my equivalent of counting sheep. This worked for awhile but then I made a tragic error.
I thought about some speeches I'll have to give soon. Last year I had to speak at a few events here and there. This year it will be many more. The ones with the most people aren't bad. I'm only 1 of several people and we have a script. Being on the start stage of the race for the cure speaking to 18,000 people sounds bad but I get to read from a script so it's really not.
The scary ones are the small groups of people at a lunch and they ask you to come in and speak. One time last year I was asked if I would speak about the "Role of the husband during crisis." I said yes and then I when I was alone I was "What?!?" which quickly led to "WTF?!?!?!?"
The only reason I'm telling you this was because in the instant I thought about these upcoming speeches I had a good idea. I lay there thinking through the whole idea and soon it fleshed out into a great idea. I even had my starting joke an a witty remark in the middle that I actually giggled when I thought of it.
I'm just laying there in bed formulating something I'll say in a few months-not next week-a few months-like after Christmas. Then a funny thought interjects. "You should write this down." I panic. I thought this was a safe thought pattern to follow but now I know the error of my ways, because the instant those words were 'spoken' I was awake. I want to go back to sleep. I want to think about something else. I want anything in this world rather than get out of this bed. Then a slightly twisted version of the thought popped in my head. It's like the Wizard of Oz has a curtain behind my eardrums or something. "You have to write this down."
So here I sit at the keyboard at 715 after having written not 1 but 2 versions of the speech (a 5 minute and a 10 minute). I guess I couldn't stop typing so I wanted to put my plight here. Now I'm wide awake with my wife still asleep. The dog's are asleep. My son isn't even here. Then the damn Oz guy in my ear says, "You should go for a run."
When Jenna wakes up I owe her an apology. I feel like a grown-up.
I'll start with:
Best..age...ever...for...trick-or-treating!
Noah had a blast this year for Halloween. His mutant ninja costume has consumed his thoughts the past 3 weeks. He's gotten to wear it for spots here and there but on Saturday he got don it for real. When he puts it on he runs through the house and does cartwheels and comes up in his 'ninja pose.' His friends Hayden and Julia came over to go trick-or-treating with him. Jenna and Val did our street and then the Dad's took them into the neighborhood. Then the fun began.
Noah and Hayden were the oddest tagteam of superheroes ever. Leonardo and Venom made quite the team. They started out timid and shy but after awhile, Noah got into character. After 30 minutes they weren't even saying 'Trick-or-treat' anymore. Noah would run to the door, do his cartwheel, drop to his ninja pose and shout 'Mutant Ninja Tuttle!!!' followed by Hayden's jump and '...And Spida-Man!!!!' The people couldn't help but laugh at their exuberance and then the 'Awwww's when they shouted "Thank you!!!' and took off back to Ron and I. Down the homestretch Noah wasn't paying attention to the trick-or-treating anymore. He was doing spins and kicks down the street/sidewalk and I could tell he was singing the TMNT theme song. He only knows about every 5th word but he hummed it good until the word he knew.
It was pretty funny but when we got back to the house the real fun began. You would have thought they'd never seen candy before. They jumped on the bed watching ninja turtles for a couple of hours. After Hayden left, Noah finally relented in going upstairs to bed but he wanted to sleep in his costume. It took some convincing but I finally talked him into letting me take the costume off, taking his clothes underneath off, and then putting the costume back on.
After about 5 minutes in the bed he was out. When I went up to tuck him in-after the Yankees game 4 win-I could tell he hadn't moved. He was flat on his back wearing his Leonardo costume with his hands out in his ninja pose.
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I mainly wanted to post this for Mom and Mamaw. I forgot to show Mom last time she was up here on the DVR so I'm putting it on here for her to see.
Last month I spoke to a large group of sponsors at aLoft Hotel about the 2010 Race for the Cure. It went great and I got a little face time on the news.
As always click the photo--wait for it to load--and it will pop up as long as you have QuickTime installed. I have no idea how this links in Facebook so if it just looks like a Facebook page-click here: http://macadactyl.com/lilbit/?p=491
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The title is crazy but its late and the Yankee game is going into the 12th inning. I watched Mythbuster's on Wednesday where they basically proved duct tape can save the world in any cataclysmic event. It's the ultimate bonding agent and that is its only reference to this post.
You see, Noah and I did some serious bonding last night. He's had a chest cold and I was trying to keep him away from Jenna. So he and I sat down last night and played a little Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's on the PS3. Some of my first memories were 1978, playing Missile Command on the Atari 2600 with Cuz. We'd name the 4 cities we were saving Junction, ElDorado, Norphlet, and Smackover. After 3 hours and the game got hard we'd basically save JC and let the others get blown to hell.
Wow I'm seriously digressing here. The point is I loved video games when I was a kid and always have. Noah loves them too. Not only does he have 2 pages of games on my iPhone but he can navigate all their menus and play them independently. He also has a Diego and Reader Rabbit game on the iMac. How a 3 year-old can be so good with a mouse is kind of creepy.
TMNT is his new love ever since he accidently saw an episode 2 months ago. He's going as Leonardo, or 'the blue ninja tuttle' for Halloween. Every day is a combination of him crashing through the house doing ninja poses with his play swords over his head and shouting 'Turtle Power.' So I downloaded a TMNT game off the PS Network. It was to be his first real video game and not some interactive cartoon trying to teach him something. It's a coop game so we can play as a team. We've played some levels this past week but last night I told him we were going to play until we run out of 'men.'
When we got to a new level he was so excited. He'd pause the game and yell 'We at new level Mom!!!!' Finally we got to the boss battle against Shredder and he was beside himself. I mean truly beside himself. He was fired up. When we finally beat him he did a dance. Then...there were no more levels. I thought he was going to cry. I guess he thought the game would go on forever. I had to explain to him that video games end. We can play it again but they just don't go on forever (unless its a MMO but that would only confuse him more).
It was a lot of fun and it reminded me of Cuz and I sitting on the living room floor saving JC from annihilation, Holly watching me play a Zelda game, and the Madden/SF2 throwdowns in the dorm at college. People can say what they want about video games but I love them. I think Noah's gonna be a fan too.
We did finally settle on a name for my little girl. Just in time for her 'birthday' to be scheduled. Unless Jenna goes into premature labor, little Campbell Christine Sullivan will be here November 24, 2009. The C-section is scheduled for 7:30 that AM so she'll have a full day ahead of her. This will be night and day from Noah's delivery which went on and on.
It finally feels real that we'll have a new baby in our life next month. The past month we've finally gone into baby mode. Her room is coming together with it's light pink and green. She's already gotten some gifts and some clothes. Jenna has them hanging up. I still have a bunch of computer stuff in her closet but I promise I'll have it out before she gets here.
Jenna's doing well. This pregnancy has been much easier on her, or at least she knows what to expect this time around so some stuff doesn't bother her as much. Campbell is definitely more active than Noah. It's either that or she really, really doesn't like the fetal position. She always has an elbow or knee trying to make more room in her Mommy's belly. Sometimes when Jenna's asleep I'll put my hands on her stomach and marvel at her ability to sleep through Campbell breakdancing in her belly.
I'm just feeling mushy because I bought her something today. Dillard's had a big sale and I had the day off. I grabbed some stuff for Noah and decided to check the newborn stuff. I guess newborn clothes are like jeans and never go on sale. I had a big stack for Noah and felt bad for not getting Campbell something so I got her a little 2-pack of pink bows. After Jenna's surgery I had to wash and fix her hair and I learned right away that the genetic code for putting hair in a bow did not come from the 'Y' chromosome. But here I was buying little bitty pink bows and looking at the back to see if I can figure out how to put them in her hair.
So, my boys headed south this afternoon: a golf tourney for Chad and a weekend with Mamaw and Papaw for Noah. Both, I think, were pretty excited. However, they weren't as excited as dear old wife and mom. I was pumped up about eating cereal for dinner and getting in my pjs to watch last night's Grey's Anatomy season premiere. I cannot remember the last time I had an entire house to myself for an entire weekend. It was well before Noah was born and maybe before Chad and I married. And now, I think I have forgotten what it feels like to have so few responsibilities after coming home from work. I have watched Grey's Anatomy, put my pjs on and eaten two bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, my fam's new fav. Now I really don't know what to do. I don't feel as exhausted as normal because I didn't start another job after coming home from my paying day job. I do feel sleepy though and will head to the bed soon. I hope to sleep well and wake up rested. I look forward to my morning coffee in a relaxed way without answering to my little prince for juice or oatmeal. I may even treat myself to a manicure and pedicure and an afternoon movie. Then I will be ready for my family to return. I miss the comfort of my husband and sing song narrative of my beautiful son. All that to say, life is different now-it's the big things that make one appreciate the little things!
I told Chad I had planned on writing down a few little stories about Noah to put in his keepsake box and he reminded me that's why this blog was designed. There have just been a few moments that have tugged on my heart and I didn't want to forget them. You always think you'll remember, but you don't.
Since Noah started preschool, he has learned so much. New phrases, words, appreciation for art, and a new prayer. As the three of us sat down for dinner the other night, we asked Noah if he wanted to say the prayer. He said no as he always does, but then after we prayed, he wanted to show us how he prays at school. Noah precedes to clasp his hands together, bow his head, shut his eyes, and recite, "God is great, God is good, Let us thank you for this food. Amen". The innocent look on his face and his long eyelashes gently resting together moved me to tears. The sweetest prayer I ever heard and the same one I recited as a child.
Then this morning, Noah and I went to church without Chad as he was suffering from allergies. On the way home, Noah was quiet. I looked at him in the rear view mirror and he smiled. He then said, "Mom, your so nice and pretty." Ahh, where does he get this? I smiled and thanked him.
One more...this afternoon Noah asked to go ride his big wheel. I told him I would walk beside him while he rode. So off we went, after a brief interception by the ice cream man. As we were moving along, Noah stopped and picked a long piece of grass. You know, like a weed that had seeded at the top. He gave it to me. I held it and we moved on. Well we went to visit our previous next door neighbor's house to see how she was making out since moving. I guess I left my "flower" there and when we got to the section where he picked it, he turned and asked where mine went. Oh no. I must have left it at Ms. Jill's. He has a complete meltdown right there on the sidewalk because he wants to go back and get it. I say no and ask him to pick me another one. He cries no; he wants that one (the one at Jill's). So here we are: a big pregnant girl and her crying toddler sitting on the sidewalk on Wagon Wheel Road. How could I get upset with this though? He's so sad because the "flower" he picked for me was left behind. Noah, you are such a sensitive boy and I love, love, love that in you the same way I love it in your dad!
And, just now when I left Noah's bedroom, he picked up my hand, put it on his head and sort of shuffled his hair. Then he took my hand and kissed it. All priceless moments and moments to be thankful for! Noah at 3 years, 4 months.
Wow! When you have 4 kids, 9 grandchildren and spouses, and 7 great grandchildren it would seem next to impossible to get everyone together, but that is exactly what we did. I can't remember the last time all of us could get together. We had people fly in, drive in, and just come down the road a bit. The occassion? Fae Rotton-Mamaw, the matriarch of our family, turned 80!
It was a great weekend. Lots of good food and I got to see so many good friends that just don't live close enough. Noah got to spend a lot of quality time with his aunt Holly and his great-aunts Amanda and Sue who he gets to see so rarely. We even had a photographer come and take a picture of all 30 or so of us. Here's a shot of Mamaw with her great-grandchildren.
Noah went the past few weeks to his new preschool but it didn't officially start with his new class until yesterday. He had a few days of separation problems but now he's a big boy and is excited. You can tell he misses Ms. Susan because he has asked a few times, "I go to Ms. Susan's house today." His teacher's name is Mr. Robert and Noah's thinks he hung the moon. The cutest thing is if you ask him where he goes and he'll tell you. "I big boy and go to PeeSchool and Mr. Robber is my teacher." I'll try to take a picture of him with Mr. "Rober" in the next few days and put them on here.
We are struggling to find the right name for BS. That's Baby Sullivan by the by. We've tried everything under the sun. We know we want Christine as one of the names but neither of us love it as the first name. We thought we had a name picked out in Campbell but after we started calling her that it just doesn't fit when you say Noah and Campbell. I like Ava a lot but Jenna doesn't want a name that is so trendy and popular right now. A lot of people she works with have Ava's and there's one in Noah's class and we are seeing them everywhere. I like Christine Alese but we like Alese and Jenna doesn't want her to go by her middle name. We both like Victoria (Torre) but it was the name we had if Noah was a girl not to mention the nicknames you can get from it. We're trying different things but she may just be born BS for now.
Last week Noah said he wanted to go fishing. His buddy Hayden got a fishing pole at his birthday party and a recent episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse had Mickey testing his angling skills. I guess it was on his mind because he announced it at bedtime when I asked him what he wanted to do for Father-Son day. In the summer, I take off 1 day a week and Noah and I have a boys' day out. We've golfed and we've bowled, and we've played video games until our fingers bled but I have never brought up fishing. Visions of him hooking me and yanking the pole have left it off my "suggestion list."
But on this day he declared he wanted to go fishing. I gave him the whole lecture of "You have to be a good listener to go fishing" and then put him to bed. Then it was off to the internet to buy a license and off to Wal-Mart to buy him a pole and some tackle. I only own bass and trout gear and there is no way I was doing either of those with him. I got nostalgic as I bought him his first Zebco. I still remember what mine looked like. Hooks, sinkers, bobbers, and a Spider-Man tackle box filled the cart and I went home with visions of lunkers in my head.
The next morning we were off to Southtown for crickets and Lake Fayetteville for fun. He was a really good listener and he held the pole by himself but he wasn't the most adamant 'watcher' of his bobber. After a few got away, I had him sit in my lap and we held the pole together. After about 45 minutes we hooked one. He reeled it in himself so I didn't think we'd land it for the amount of time it took but eventually we got him to shore. It was a decent size bream that would've made Cloise Rotton proud. I snapped the picture and asked if he wanted to take it home to eat. He said "No I take him home and put him in the bathtub." I actually thought about honoring this wish just to see the look on Jenna's face but we finally let it go back to its home.
I know everyone thinks their child is the cutest and funniest child in the world, but this story had me convinced of the latter.
Noah was watching Noggin (a TV channel for toddlers)after his bath tonight and for some reason he didn't want to put his pj's on so he was watching from the chair fully in the buff. The little bird duo that comes on between shows was on and as always speaks directly to the audience. I don't know what lesson he was trying to convey but the little yellow bird asked "Are you wearing your pajamas?"
To this question Noah stood up and responded, "No, I naked. See, here is my boo-ty and this is my pee-pee." Now this alone is a little funny but watching him shake the indicated body part at the TV was the funniest thing I've seen in awhile. When the bird started talking again Noah sat back down like nothing had transpired between them and continued to watch. I love kids.
I guess we just need to put a white picket fence around the house to complete the American dream. Family of four with a son and a DAUGHTER! Yep, Flapjack is of the female persuasion. We found out yesterday afternoon. We took Noah and he was excited until we were in the room with all the fancy equipment he wasn't allowed to touch. Loved the look on the lady's face when Noah looked at her like she was crazy and said "That not a baby." He couldn't recognize it but it definitely was a baby and she was beautiful.
All her measurements, heart rate, and organs looked perfect. Her size has her due date just 1 day off the original due date so everything is going...well...perfect. We got a few good profiles of her, one while she was yawning. The cutest thing was she was laying on her side with her legs out straight and both her hands tucked on one side of her sweet little face like she was using them for a pillow.
Jenna was trying so hard to not be disappointed if it was a boy. She knew she'd love a boy but we also knew this was our last child and she really wanted a girl. The lady paused and said "Are you ready?" and I said "Well if this is the view, that's a girl." Jenna looked at her and she said "Yep, your having a girl." Jenna immediately started to cry and Noah squealed.
We went to the the lobby to wait for the Dr. I tried to get Noah to do a quick film like the previous one to tell everyone but he said everything except the "It's a sister" part. He wasn't making the best choices anyways and the Dr. calling us back may have saved him because I was about to pinch his head off. She again told us everything looked perfect and we're on track.
It took a little bit for it to sink in but I'm pretty excited. I figure I know myself pretty well so I'll be able to spot the boys she should avoid. I've got a few years to practice my shooting skills before she's dating:)
Here's the video of the ultrasound. If it doesn't work right away it's still uploading.
Love you guys!!!!!
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Follow the adventures of Chad and Jenna trying to keep up with the triumphs and tribulations of Noah and Campbell.
