Lap Time

Mimi and Poppy Come Visit!

Mom and dad drove in from Kentucky to see Gus. Here we are at first glance of the little guy. This is their second grandbaby and boy. My brother has a son named Jake who is almost 2. They were so excited to finally meet him.

Mom (Mimi) holding Gus for the first time.

Dad (Poppy) taking Gus for a trip around the living room. We think he was seeing all of the shadows. He was very alert.

Proud Mimi

My mom laughing at herself after she asked me what my password was to my computer. I told her the name I use as a password and that it had no space between the first and last name and she tried to spell out "no space" in between rather than omitting the space. Needless to say we teased her mercilessly.

It is so hot right now that our outings with Gus are very few. This is his maiden trip in his stroller to tour the block. He looked around for a couple of seconds and promptly passed out for the rest of the trip.

Well Groomed Group

Here are a couple of pics of our fur babies. Many of you have inquired about them with the addition of Gus and they are doing great! JoJo acts like nothing has changed and Fitzi just wants to lick him so bad she can't stand it. She's very interested in the sounds he makes but is very sweet around him.

This is actually the before picture of Fitzi before I got my shears out but I thought it was cute. She still has bangs but more of a shaggy "bob" look.

This is a short video of Shiloh grooming Fitzi. It happens every evening when Shiloh comes over and it actually lasts for a very long time. They are usually in some sort of belly to belly embrace licking each other's ears and heads. It is very cute. Check it out.

Jo Bear

Fitzi Bear

Gus Goes Home

Gus and I leaving our air conditioned cocoon in the hospital. Its been very hot this week. This was Gus' first time being outside and mine for 5 days.

Guarding his binky. Amazingly he slept the entire way home and didn't seem to mind the carseat.

"Gus"

The nurse wheeling me into the operating room asked what Gus' name was going to be and when I told her she said she loved the name and that we had to buy the Cinderella DVD. When I asked why she gave me another reason to love his name. Cinderella's chubby helper mouse with the tiny t-shirt is named Gus. I cracked up and it sent me into the birth of our boy with a big smile on my face.

BIG baby boy

big boy handsand feet..

The Many Faces of Gus

Hospital:Day 2

We thought everyone might enjoy an update on how things are going here at the hospital. Mom, dad, and baby are all doing great! We've been enjoying the professional help of the incredible nurses and lactation consultant here at the hospital which allows us to sleep as well as figure out how to take care of this little guy in the best way possible. They really are a wealth of information.

We've been enjoying visits from friends as well as phone calls, flowers and food from co-workers and family. Your thoughts and well wishes are truly appreciated right now. This has been such a sweet and pleasant experience and its touching to know we are in the thoughts of so many people.

Richard, Dwayne, Jeff and Julie came to meet Gus on day 2. We were ready to show him off and although he mostly slept, I am sure he enjoyed meeting his neighborhood family. Just wait until he gets to meet Harrison who has been practicing saying "Gus" for a little while now and has it down pat!

Richard and Dwayne holding Gus. Richard was a NICU nurse so he has a little experience with babies (this guy is handy to have around for a variety of reasons, huh?). He also came by every day during my bedrest to take my blood pressure. It was nice to know that all that rest was helping.
Gus and Uncle Richard

Sweet Gus napping (he does this a lot).

Good daddy. Aaron is giving Gus a pep talk before a diaper change.

Oh Boy.. Gus Is Doing Great!!

Up early this morning to see the sunrise and walk the pups. Then to pack the car and go get Gus. We were amazed by how well everything went. Stacey was prepped without problem and by the time I got into my scrubs we were ready for the main event. In for operation by 1pm, Gus was definitely turned all around "facing backwards and wrongside down". By 1:30 we had Gus in hand, tipping the scales at nearly 9lbs (8lbs 14ounces). Total length 21inches from his hefty hands to his sizeable feet. See pictures below for a peek. More blogging to come after our first round of baby bombardment.t

What's Blooming at the Casa

We have a yard full of bloom right now. This is what helps me survive summer! When my mom was a little girl she used to dream she'd marry a man who raised palomino horses. She got close - just a different breed. Even as a kid I preferred flowers to most other things and managed to marry a man who keeps us surrounded by them. Thanks, honey!

I adore these spidery orchids. We have several blooming right now and some blooms are as big as my hand! They are kind of ominous looking but have the sweetest smell. We have some inside and some on porch on my orchid rack.These will bloom for as long as 8 weeks!

One of Aaron's rose friends has so many blooms that cutting all of them to encourage growth becomes a chore for her! Can you imagine? I happily take the blooms off her hands whenever I can!

Ahhh. I look forward to lily season every year. They always manage to bloom around July 4. I have a ridiculous amount of blooms to pick this year so our house smells very sweet.

Old fashioned daylilly. These are super big and very tall. They are fun to look at in the garden.

One of my very favorites - the pineapple lily. I love this burgundy color. We also have lime green

Gorgeous clear yellow daylily.

Elegant white agapanthus blooms from the college. Look at the cool box Aime brought me from China!

Something to Make You Laugh at Work

This was an actual posting on Craigslist. Maybe I should hire a nemesis to keep me from getting bored on bedrest.

Nemesis required. 6-month project with possibilty to extend
Date: 2008-05-07, 2:49PM PDT

I've been trying to think of ways to spice up my life. I'm 35 years old, happily married with two kids and I have a good job in insurance. But somethings missing. I feel like I'm old before my time. I need to inject some excitement into my daily routine through my arm before its too late. I need a challenge, something to get the adrenaline pumping again. An addiction would be nice, but, in short, I need a nemesis. I'm willing to pay $350 up front for you services as an arch enemy over the next six months. Nothing crazy. Steal my parking space, knock my coffee over, trip me when Im running to catch the BART and occasionaly whisper in my ear, "Ahha, we meet again". That kind of thing. Just keep me on my toes. Complacency will be the death of me. You need to have an evil streak and be blessed with innate guile and cunning. You should also be adept at inconsicuous pursuit. Evil laugh preferred. Send me a photo and a brief explanation why you would be a good nemesis. British accent preferred.
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests Compensation: $350 up front

Bedrest Day 1: Still Smiling

One week to go and the doc didn't want me working this week since I have an active job and its quite hot here so she told me to take it easy. Twist my arm, doc. Actually, it has been harder than I thought it would be tapering down my responsibilities as the day draws near. I stopped going to my furthest destination last week and it drives me a little nuts not to have my finger on the pulse of my territory for 8 weeks. But this is Day One of no work and as of today, I am good. As you can see the dogs are using this as an excuse to spend quality time with me and I am listening to XM radio online, reading magazines, and blogging (okay, and doing some work via the computer). Aaron also put Gus' camo overalls on Teddy to entertain me. It worked. Keep you posted.

August Comes Early This Year

Most of you know the name of our future son at this point but we are making the formal announcement while we wait for his arrival in about a week (Yikes!).

We have chosen the name "August Reid" for many reasons. In fact, we (Aaron actually) came up with it years ago before we even discussed having kids. We've always liked the first name and he really liked the name of an acquaintances's son (Reid) and together it just felt right. So all these years later we get to use it!

August has many appropriate meanings for us. Aaron first found the name from his fathers (German) family tree, it is also Aaron's birth month, and we tend to make our biggest life changes in August for some reason - all major moves we have made have been during this hot month. I think this constitutes a major life change! Another few weeks and he would have been born in August!

August means inspiring awe or admiration; magnificent, majestic, and sublime. We particularly like the reference to nobility and "befitting a lord" (just kidding). We also like that it shortens to "Gus" which is what he will be called for the most part. Aaron was also playing around with words and found "Gusto" (another appropriate nickname?) meaning "vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment". Uh oh. Might be a handful.

Reid is the spooky part. I have always liked the name and Aaron found out a few months ago that it means "red haired" (can you believe that??) or "near the reeds" which is a botanical reference Aaron loves. So that settled it.

It was important for us to have it be a flexible name he could grow with and also be just unique enough without being very strange (ie, Wingspan or Banjo). You will all be getting a better view of his stationery soon (see above with his personalized album and Teddy as spokesbear). He could be a lawyer (August Reid, A.R. Reid) or a lumberjack (Gus) with that name, don't you think?

Warning: in case you are considering monogramming something for us (this is primarily for the grandma's) - don't bother. His initials spell "ARS" which is the same reason Aaron and I cannot have a proper monogram with our married initials which spell "ASS" if done in the traditional way. Let's just hope none of his buddies are familiar with old English.

We can't wait to meet him and introduce you all to him!