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Potty Training - Take 1

2009-07-27T20:30:00.001-07:00

Potty Training – Getting Ready

Not too long after Hannah was born, Vanessa came home form work one day and told me about 3 day potty training. A guy at work had tried it and said it worked. We read through the instructions several times and it sounded great. I had heard from a couple of people that it worked for them as well. The internet is full of success stories. We followed the directions and did all of the right stuff leading up to the start.

Two weeks before starting, we took her to the mall. It was “Big Girl Day”. We went to 4 or 5 stores and had her pick out panties. She was very excited.

Potty Training Day 1

Well, I was in Pheonix the morning of day 1, but this is based on what I heard when calling home and once I got home. Vanessa had some sort of conversation which Hannah about being a “Big Girl ” and learnging to use her toilet. I called around 9:30 in the morning to see how things were going. Hannah helped throw out all of her diapers. She had on her first pair of Big Girl pantines and it was time to start. I called home aorund noon. Hannah had just gone pee pee in the potty for the first time. I was so excited! I was also in a suburban full of executives from work. I tried to convey as much excitement to Hannah over the phone without everyone in the car thinking I was insane about the potty.

During the day Hannah went through around 20 pairs of panties. Mostly just very small leaks where she realized she was going pee and then stopped.

I got home at 5pm. From then until 9pm Hannah went pee pee 3 times. She went in the toilet the first time. We clapped, jumped up and down, gave her high-fives, and called Grandma and Grandpa Chatigny. She had a little accident, but finished on the toilet the 2nd time. Then she made it to the toilet the 3rd time. Fantastic!!! This was going to be great.

Potty Training Day 2

The instructions say to wake them up a couple of times during the night and have them sit on the toilet. We opted not to do this. I set the alarm for 5:30 am. The instructions say to get them up a little before they normally wake up since most kids empty their bladder shortly after waking up. I woke Hannah up. She was dry! I was so excited that she made it throught the night without peeing! Yes! This was going great! She said she didn’t have to pee, so we sat on the couch and I gave her some juice. By 9:00 she still hadn’t peed. She was visably uncofortable and was holdinhg her panties saying, “peep, peep” while walking around on her tip toes. We tried a couple of different things. I then suggested we put her in the bath. Hey… it works for me. She was excited about the bubble bath, but then flipped out once she was inside. She started screaming and crying. She didn’t want to pee.

Sure enough a couple of seconds later she peed. We we very excited for her and told her repeatedly, “Good job!” and, “It’s okay!”. She was not happy. Still crying and screaming. We took her out of the bath. Throughout the day, she continued to hold her pee. She would sit on the toilet for 2 seconds and say, “all done”, but nothing was in the potty.

At nap time, she would lay down, say, “peep”, get up ,run over to the potty, sit down, say “all done”, then head back to bed. Then repeat it 20 times. She never did take a nap. Throughout the day she was walking on her tip toes, hold her pee, crying, and saying “peep, peep”. It was heartbreaking. We couldn’t get her to go pee.

At some point in the afternoon, she was running down the hallway (tiptoes, holding her pee in, yelling “ppep”). She peed on the floor while running, slipped in it, fell on her back and hit her head. No good. Big contusion on her back and a bump on her head. Follow that by lots of crying. The rest of the day didn’t get any better. When it was time to go to bed, it was a repeat of nap time.

By 11:00 pm we had had it. Too much stress. Hannah was freaking out. Vanessa and I agreed to put her back in a diaper. We still had 5 in a diaper bag in the car. She ended up falling asleep in our bed while Vanessa held her. We never let her sleep in our bed.

Potty Training Day 3 (aka Un-Potty Training Day 1)

Hannah woke up with the same dry diaper we put on her the night before. Hmm. The morning ws a repeat of the previous day. Holding pee, walking on tip toes, crying “peep, peep”, screaming, etc. The shower trick didn’t work this time. Nothing was working. I offered to take her to Disneyland if she peed. I even offered to buyer her a house. She didn’t take me up on the offer.

At 10 am, 11 hours after putting on a diaper and around 14 hours from her last pee, she finally let it go, although it was still against her will. She completely flooded through one diaper including covering my shirt, shorts, and the floor. I was so happy I could care less. We cheered and celebrated. She was not happy. 10 minutes later she flooded through a second diaper. Wow! That was a lot of pee.

We immediately put her down for a nap. While she was sleeping, we decided we would take her to Disneyland for the rest of the day. The idea was to get her mind off of the peeing thing. We went to Disneyland and went on Jungle Cruise. She loved it. Next we stopped to eat. That didn’t work out so well. She started holding, crying, yelling “peep”, and walking on her tip toes again. Vanessa took her to the bathroom, but Hannah didn’t pee. After she came back, we switched. I took her for a walk. She was so uncomfortable and stressing out. She wouldn’t pee in her diaper.
There wasn’t anything we could do. We kept taking her on rides. King Authors’ Carousel, Dumbo, Casie’s Circus Train, and Nemo. When we got to the front of the line in Nemo, she finally let go and filled her diaper to the brim again. Her diaper held through the ride. We changed her afterwards. Went on Small World, then headed home.

Thngs didn’t get any better last night. Still holding. Had to fall asleep in our bed. Woke up at 11:30pm, 3:30 am, and 4:30 am. Thank you Vanessa! You are the best.

She was still holding today, but it doesn’t seem quite as bad. Not sure where to go from here. We will see how things go for the next couple of days/weeks. Play it by ear.

Karma – 1 Page – 0

2008-12-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

I stopped at a Carl’s Jr. this morning on my way to work. It’s a guilty pleasure I partake in about once every two weeks. I feel better when it isn’t the regular guy working, because I think he recognizes me now. Sad.

So, today I placed my normal order - Sunrise Croissant Combo with orange juice. The total appeared on the screen at $4.73. That’s correct. Trust me, I have it memorized. I already had my $5 bill ready to go. It was the same guy, so I’m trying not to make eye contact. I hand him my $5 and a couple of seconds later he hands me the change.

I could tell right away the change was too much. It should have been $0.27, but right away I could see two quarters, a dime or two and some pennies. He gave me back too much change.

For the next 20 seconds I think about whether I should tell him or not. First I think to myself, “I’m going to give it back. It feels good to be honest”. Then I think, “I’m sure I have been short-changed several times.” Then it’s “How come I always lose pens, but never find them.” This argument goes on in my head until he come to the window and hands me my bag of food.

I thanked him and drove off. As I get down the road, I realize I never got my orange juice. Sigh…

Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T21:42:00.001-07:00

Ethics Survey?

2008-10-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Work has been better, although far from good. Last week we had to go to another ethics class It seems like we have 5 of these a year. At the end of the class there was an “anonymous” ethics survey. It turned out to be roughly 50 questions such as:

Are you currently looking for another job? - No
Do you think you will still work here in 1 year? - Yes
Does your boss value your opinions? – No
Do you believe in what you are doing? Yes
Does your boss inspire you? - No

The “anonymous" part turned out to be not so anonymous at the end when we were asked to bubble in our level in the company, age range, department, and ethnicity. I answered everything honestly. They were placed in sealed envelopes to go to Corporate. We’ll se how that goes. The other Managers I spoke with said they filled it out honestly as well. Worst case is my boss finds out and fires me. Then I sue the company for millions and move to Thailand with Vanessa and Hannah. See you soon Dad.

By the way, Barney is back to work. He said the heart attack was caused by salmonella. I talked to a doctor and it is possible. Who knew?

Too legit to quit

2008-09-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks Lollipop for giving me a little nudge to start writing again. Now is a good time since I am elated at home and completely miserable at work. Should make for some nice contrasts. Before I get started, I learned today that Barney, who worked for me when I was in my last position at my current employer, had a heart attack on Wednesday. He’s doing okay, but I wish him well.

I am really enjoying the house. The difference between renting and owning is more than I expected. Hard work and a lot of pride. I am spending a lot of time on the yard lately and have found the tan I lost when I was 12 and locked myself in my room for 6 years. So here is a list of things we have done so far…

Scraped all of the ceilings (primed, painted)
Installed 10 recessed lights
Replaced all of the doorknobs
Painted the bedroom
Painted Hannah’s room
Painted one wall in the fireplace room
Dug up 7 rosebushes and replanted 3 of them
Fixed the sprinkler system
Sanded and painted a roof support by the front door
Put-up new house numbers
Fixed the bedroom closet
Installed new showerheads
Installed childproof drawer locks
Pulled weeds
Mowed the lawn 20 times
Removed lots of wallpaper
Sanded and painted the front bathroom
Installed new bathroom hardware
Painted behind the fridge
Installed bathroom lights
Etc.

I adore Hannah. She’s 16 months now. She’s really tall (shocking) and the cutest happiest baby ever. She likes talking on the phone, but not if it’s real. She loves putting on shoes, but her favorite thing right now is books. One after another after another. She likes quacking like a duck and mooing like a cow. She loves showers and blowing kisses. Anyway… there will be other blog entries about her later.

Vanessa is doing well. She is teaching high school theatre again this year. It’s nice to see the excitement in her eyes, even though she won’t admit to it.

Work sucks! My boss has turned into a complete psycho. Unrealistic deadlines and no compassion. There are discussions of mass quitting. Out of the 6 managers in my department 3 are actively looking for other jobs. One tells me on a daily basis that they aren’t sure how long they can take it. One I don’t talk to. Then there is me. My plan is to wait her out. Sooner or later everyone gets promoted, fired, moves, or dies. Seriously though, if I didn’t have a massive mortgage and a daughter I would have quit 15 times by now.

In addition to my normal department, I also oversee the mail room. The mail room consists of 1 guy. My Normal department consisted of 3 people, plus me. I say “consisted” instead of consists, because two weeks ago I had to eliminate 1 of the positions. Fine. Friday another one of my employees resigned. AGH! I am already working 55 – 60 hours per week consistently, which means I get to see my daughter for 15 to 60 minutes each workday (not including the days I drop her off at daycare). What about the last employee I have in my regular department? Oh, I’m putting that employee on a 60 day notice next week to improve or be terminated. Great timing! So, I am going to go from being stressed-out with a wicked boss and 4 employees to being stressed-out with a wicked boss with a wicked boss and 2 employees. Me and the mail room guy. Crap.

More to come…

Buying a house

2008-05-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

The thought of buying a house has been on my mind constantly since I was around 7 years old. I think that’s about the time my parents told me my Grandma Helen and Grandpa Grumpa had purchased a savings bond from the city of Long Beach for my sister and I when we were born. I figured by the time I was 25, it would be worth a nice chunk of money and would make a nice down payment on a house. A couple of years later the bond was paid off early by the city, so is was not worth nearly as much money as it would be if it had matured. My Dad put it in a money market for me to get good interest. That’s where it sat undisturbed for years.

Then, when I was 16 I got my first credit card. It wasn’t until I was 19 and dating that having a credit card became a problem. This went on for a couple of years with some stern talks from my parents (it was my name on one of their cards). When my parents got divorced, I was 22 (I think). They were going to cancel the credit card since it was in both of their names. One problem… I owed about $8,000 on that card. My only option was to cash-in the money from the original savings bond and therefore… the nest-egg that was supposed to eventually be my down-payment. You think I would have learned my lesson, but it wasn’t until years later that I finally did.

I have lived in 7 different apartments or condos since I was 20. I am happy to say my life of renting is almost over. After years of hard work by both Vanessa and myself, we are finally ready to buy a house. At the end of February, Vanessa and I decided to stop by an Open House on a whim. We talked about buying a house in the summer and wanted to get an idea of what houses in the area were going for. That’s where we met two Realtors. Stacey and Cathy for as a Real Estate Team. They were so incredibly nice, did not pressure us, and genuinely seemed interested in helping us get what we want. Did I mention they adored Hannah?

The next weekend, and over the next four days I think they took us through 20 houses. Vanessa and I drove past at least 30 by ourselves. Some were absolutely awful (we were looking in the absolute low price range for the area). A few were fairly nice. We finally stopped by a place that was on the market for 1 day. We had stopped by the night before, but the lock box wasn’t on it yet. We couldn’t believe the sales price. It was in better shape than 95% of everything we looked at, but it was also almost the lowest asking price. Ah… I love foreclosures! Within 2 minutes and after seeing only ½ of the house, I knew this was the one I wanted. Luckily, Vanessa felt the same way. We drew-up an offer that night.

The bank accepted our offer, despite getting 10 others. This month has been an absolute whirlwind of paperwork, bank records, W2s, home inspections, phone calls, carpet samples, paint samples, Do It Yourself shows, and internet research. Vanessa and I have also slowly started packing. That is going to be a pain. We have so much stuff. We close escrow on May 16^th and we have until May 31^st to move out of our condo. That gives us two weeks to scrape the ceilings, remove some wallpaper, paint, have carpet installed in the bedrooms, and move. No problem.

Wish us luck. I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday Princess

2008-05-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe a year has already passed. Tonight I put our 11 month-old down to sleep. Tomorrow morning she will be 1. What a great year and what an amazing little girl. She is walking a little now and says a couple of words. SHE’S SO TALL!!! So proud of her. It’s amazing to watch her learn new things every day. She gets so excited and claps her hands and giggles with glee.

Having a little girl has been an inspiration to me. It’s fun to see how excited she gets and how happy she is all of the time. One little smile from her and it brightens my day. Lucky for me, she smiles a lot. Over the last year I have taken well over 4 gigabytes of pictures. We’ve gone to the zoo, the aquarium, a 49er game, Santa Cruz (to see Great Grandma), South Dakota, and roughly 40 Wednesday Night BBQ’s.

Vanessa has been an amazing Mom and I think I have done a pretty good job as a Dad. I thought about it on the way home last night and I figure I have given her roughly 30,000 kisses since she has been born. Still not enough. I look forward to seeing her every morning when I wake up and every day when I get home from work.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

People Suck!

2008-03-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

So last week I was on Spring Break! It was a pretty boring, but good week. I spent a lot of time with Hannah we went out to lunch, played on the swings and went to the library twice. I spent a lot of time in the Pomona library growing up and have a fondness for libraries. I hope Hannah can one day appreciate libraries for all they are worth. She did have a lot of fun when we went, even picked out some good books to take home and read.

Our great friends Ed & Tiffany gave us passes to the San Diego Zoo for Christmas, so the 6 of us (their son, Liam included---he's 1 1/2) met for breakfast and then all piled into their Hummer and headed south. We got to the zoo and walked around, went to the sad excuse for a petting zoo, all the kids could pet were goats and went for a bus tour. It was a great time had by all! Liam and Hannah liked the animals and we got some good walking exercise.

Last thing we decided to do was to go on the Skyfari. Now for those of you who don't know, I hate heights. The Skyfari looks like this: Yeah a big bucket on wires. I wasn't too excited about going on this, but I did. So we went from one side of the zoo to the other, got off, went and saw the polar bears, got back on the torture in the sky and got back off at our original departure. We decided that it was time to go home, it was about 5. So we went to get our strollers where we left them at the drop off with all the other 50 million strollers that were there.

Well we found Liam's stroller, but Hannah's stroller was no where to be found. That's right! PEOPLE SUCK! Someone took Hannah's stroller and left the park. How do we know they left and that we were never going to get it back????? Because we called today and still no stroller! Not left abandoned, with all the stuff in it that I hope it would be. But gone, forever. Here are the last pictures we have of Hannah and her stroller. One with Hannah and mommy and one with Liam pushing Hannah.

Score is tied in the bottom of the 3rd inning

2008-01-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

On the eve of my 33rd birthday (no sympathy Happy Birthday wishes please) I find it only natural to reflect and take stock on my life. I guess reading www.noiseinsidemyhead.com might have something to do with it too. I guess I am pretty much where I thought I would be at this point. Not the job I thought I would have, but then again I'm not sure what I thought. I’m happy with what I do and the pay I get, but I wouldn’t say that I love, or even like my job right now.

Not the nice home I was hoping for, but I'm happy with my neighborhood (not my neighbors). We are hoping to buy a starter home this year. We’ll see how that goes. I love my wife and adore our daughter. I just can’t believe someone could be so happy all of the time. She must spend 90% of her day smiling. We are so lucky.

I do have dreams of moving to another state, but I am realistic that although it looks like St Andrews from here, there is bound to be dried-up dog poop on that lawn too. “Hold on, Voltaire”. Still might make the move though. Traffic is getting worse and I don’t ever see it getting better.

I was in Phoenix Sunday through Friday of last week for systems training. New program we are rolling out nation-wide. Pretty dull stuff. It was nice to see other people form other divisions that do what I do. Bounce ideas off of each other, gripe, compare. I missed my family a lot. I learned it is difficult to smile at little kids in an airport and at the same time project to the parents and others that you aren’t a creepy pervert. I didn’t sleep well while I was gone. I sure slept like a baby when I got back though.

Anyway… I’m rambling and it-s getting late. Time to go upstairs and rub my cold feet on my wife’s legs.

2007-12-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

Over the river and through the woods...

2007-12-22T16:47:00.000-08:00

Hello to my one last reader. I haven’t been doing a great job of posting, but I think I have been doing a good job of spending time with Hannah and taking lots of pictures. Of course I don’t have any on this computer to post right this second, but I will add some in the next few days.

Hannah is now 7 months old and is quite entertaining. She now has 6 teeth with one more coming in. She can stand as long as she is holding onto something. She crawls everywhere (started on Thanksgiving), and can climb the stairs. She has only made it to the third stair before we get nervous and pull her back.

She spends most of her days smiling and melting our hearts. For Christmas we are all traveling up to see my Grandma. We stopped at Vanessa’s Mom and Dad’s house to visit them today before we continue our trip to Capitola, Ca.

Work is going well. I am stressed most of the time, but I am working on a system conversion in my department that at this point appears it will take a full year to complete. Corporate is working out the bugs as we move along.

My dad and his wife came to visit in November. They were here for two weeks and spent some time with us as well as traveling around California and Vegas. It was great to see them and great to see that my dad had lost more weight. Go Dad!

Getting ready for Halloween

2007-10-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Today we made a trip to a pumpkin patch to pick-up an overpriced pumpkin and take some cute pictures of Hannah. Hannah was a little distracted by the pumpkins, so no great pictures, but she made up for it later. We bought her a padded playmate since she is starting to get around a lot more.

Ness and I are doing fine. We have been staying busy taking care of Hannah and seeing friends when we can. My dad will be visiting for about 3 weeks starting on November 10^th. Looking forward to seeing him!

Nothing exciting going on at work. I’m working on a system conversion that is taking up most of my time.

If you look carefully, in the last picture you can see Hannah's bottom teeth coming in.

IT'S A FIRST

2007-10-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hannah broke in her first tooth today! It is the front left tooth on the bottom. It has barely broken through, but it is definitely there! Last weekend she attended her first 49er game and had a great time! :)

Raspberries for everyone!

2007-07-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hannah will be 3 months old on August 2^nd. Rather than having a huge celebration with Cirque du Soleil dancers and a band, I thought I would just write a blog. No need to send gifts either…

Last week I was in Atlanta for a couple of days for a work conference. I didn’t even make it to my car to head to the airport before I started missing Vanessa and Hannah. Vanessa did a great job of emailing me a couple of pictures and having me talk to her on the phone. Hannah has already mastered the art of grabbing onto objects, smiling, blushing, and sleeping. Her newest trick is giving raspberries. She doesn’t have it mastered yet and she only does it when she feels like it, but it’s so much fun when she decides it’s time to entertain us.

Hannah had a second doctor appointment recently. They said she is in the 96^th percentile for her height! I wonder where she gets that from…

Work is going well, but has been a little hectic lately. While I am sure this new position will result in a steady schedule with less hours, that has not been the case recently. Despite very little training, my boss is still requesting impossible due dates for things I was never trained on. No excuses allowed of course. When I flew to Atlanta I was working at the airport, during the entire flight and at the hotel until 2:00 am. Same thing all the way back. Still enjoying doing something new.

I have a new employee who is awesome. She is from India and this is her first job here. She has a Master’s Degree in finance, knows Excel as well as I do, and is very bright. My favorite part is she is the most polite person I have ever met. She stands up every time I talk to her and says, “thank you” after almost every sentence. Quite a change from working with Barney. Ugh. So glad to have him no longer reporting to me!

I’m at the airport now waiting for my delayed flight to take me to Phoenix for training on a new system. My newest employee is along for the trip. So far she has offered to carry my bags and give me her lunch. Should be an interesting trip. Be back Wednesday night.

No shame in my game

2007-06-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

Well, Hannah will be 5 weeks tomorrow. Everyone was doing well, but about 10 minutes before I got home yesterday, Vanessa called to tell me she wasn’t feeling well. I walked in the door just in time to see her tossing her cookies. Not the Snicker Doodle kind. Today she is running a temperature, so I am staying home from work to take care of Vanessa and Hannah. I guess I’m not doing a very good job since I am writing a blog and watching the finale of Lost.

At 5 weeks there isn’t a whole lot that a baby can do. Aside from gaining a couple of pounds, her big achievements are tracking objects with her eyes and gazing into our eyes. She smiles now and then too, which is what makes everything worthwhile. She is also adept at pooping, peeing, eating, and sleeping. Vanessa has been adjusting to the life of staying home with a newborn. It’s not easy taking care of someone 24 hours a day, everyday. Vanessa will return back to work in September.

I’m starting a new job at work. Over the next three weeks I will be training the person taking my job (not Barney) and moving into my new job.

We spent Saturday at Jerome’s Birthday party. It was a barbeque in the park and it was fantastic. I hadn’t been to a party like that since I was a kid. James and I won the three-legged race, our team won the tug-a-war, and James and I came in second or third in the water balloon toss. You know that little muscle that is used to flare your nostrils? Yeah, that’s the only one that doesn’t hurt today.

On Sunday I agreed to wake up at 5:30 am and go with James to the Pomona Car show. They have this thing on the first Sunday every month. Everyone brings their old cars and junk. I like looking at the old cars and walking around with James and having a beer at 7:30 in the morning is why I go.

The first 2 weeks...

2007-05-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

Hannah is a little over a week old now, so I feel that I can now write to you all as an expert at parenting! So here is what being a new parent is like…

Minimal sleep. While it has become slightly better, we get sleep in chunks of 5 minutes to 3 hours at a time. The newest plan is to try an keep her awake in the afternoon, so she is ready to sleep around 8:30 or 9:00 every night. Sometimes this works and sometimes is doesn’t. It is getting better every day. You can’t let them sleep more than 3 hours though, because they need to be fed.
If you are the dad, you will now be a gopher. You will spend ½ of your time getting things for the baby or the mom. This is especially true if mom had a C-Section. This is what will wear you out the most.
Changing diapers. You will learn tricks over the first two weeks and at some point your hands will be completely covered with poop trying to figure out how to hold the baby without making it worse. I have learned that Hannah will either poop or pee, then just after you clean her with wipes, the real poop and pee comes. She will send a blast of poop 2 feet across the changing table covering your hand, the changing pad, the changing table, baskets, wipes, and anything else within range with Dijon-mustard-consistency poop. As you are standing there with her feet in one hand and your other hand covered in poop, you will look at the wipes, which are also covered in poop trying to figure out how to clean-up the poop, when the wipes are covered in poop. This is where a wife comes in handy.
You live for the 30 minutes. There are about 30 minutes spread-out through the day when they are not sleeping, pooping, peeing, feeding, or crying that Hannah is completely adorable. It’s not that she can’t be adorable during these other activities, but you pull out the camera during those other times. They get a bit of a smirk, or go a little cross-eyed, because the eye muscles are still forming.
Read or sing to your baby. We try and read at least one story every day to Hannah. We also sing. It wasn’t until we had Hannah that I realized I don’t remember the lyrics or words to any song completely. So you begin making-up words, or humming. Hannah doesn’t mind. She just likes hearing our voices. I will be brushing-up on my nursery rhymes.

I can’t imagine trying to do this as a single parent or with twins. It’s a lot of work, but it’s completely worth it. I’m going back to work on May 21^st. Vanessa’s mom is going to take that week off to help Vanessa with the baby that week. I feel bad for going back to work, but I will have been off for 3 weeks and I need to get back. I know Vanessa will do well. She has been the most amazing mom to Hannah and has been patient with my novice parenting skills.

I'M A DAD!!!

2007-05-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

Sigh… It’s been a long week. First, let me say that it’s not Hannah or Vanessa. Hannah is adorable and well behaved. Vanessa has been very sweet and it’s been nice to spend time with her.

On Monday (April 30th), we went to see Vanessa’s chiropractor. She has been seeing him regularly for about 4 months now. He specializes in adjusting pregnant women and children. Vanessa was 41 weeks pregnant, the baby hadn’t dropped, and Vanessa showed no signs of delivering anytime soon. He showed us a pressure point to relax one of the ligaments that may be keeping the baby from dropping and to get the baby to turn in the right direction. After that we went to lunch. While we were at lunch Vanessa started getting contractions. We hastily got lunch wrapped-up to go and headed home.

These contractions went on from 1:30 pm that day, until 9:00 am the next morning when they ramped-up and started becoming stronger. These contractions were coming every 5 to 7 minutes, so we didn’t get much sleep that night. The stronger contractions that started around 9:00 am were so strong that Vanessa couldn’t walk or stand on her own. They were coming every 5 to 14 minutes in waves. We called Vanessa’s mom, since she lives 2 hours away. Vanessa was able to take a nap and by 2:30 it was time to go to our appointment at the Midwife’s office. This wasn’t a comfortable drive for Vanessa.

When we got to the Midwife they examined Vanessa to see how far along she was. The midwife told her staff to close the office and cancel all of her appointments. YEAH!!! I followed the midwife out and asked her how far Vanessa was. She said 6 centimeters! Wow! She needed to get to 10 cm or so to deliver, so we were close.

For the next 14 hours, Vanessa and I became closer than ever before and we each learned a lot about each other. She is by far the bravest, strongest, and most determined person I have ever met. Most people would have not chosen a natural childbirth. Most people would have given-up after 5 or 6 hours. Vanessa was calm, sweet, and focused for 14 hours straight. I’m not going to go into all of the detail, but it was amazing.

For 14 hours the Midwife, her team, Vanessa’s mom, Vanessa, and I tried everything possible, but the baby would not drop. The Midwife, Amber, explained the baby’s head was tilted to the side and that was preventing the baby from dropping. Vanessa had contractions the entire time starting 5 minutes apart and lasting a minute, to toward the end the contractions were several minutes long and overlapping. At 4:00 in the morning, we called in a chiropractor that works with the Midwives to see if she could do anything. That didn’t work either. Finally, at 5:30 am, I went to talk to Amber. We both agreed that it was time to go to the hospital, which meant getting a C-Section.

I knew that Vanessa would never give-up unless everyone agreed it was the right thing to do. Even after telling her, it took an hour to get Vanessa to her Aunt Beth’s car. We all drove to the hospital. Amber went in ahead of us and took care of most of the admitting paperwork. Within 5 minutes of getting to the hospital, Vanessa was in a room. Within another 20 minutes, we had answered all of the questions about allergies, and signed all of the release forms. Amber was in the room with us the entire time acting as a buffer between the hospital staff and us. Remember, the reason we chose South Coast Midwifery is that we didn’t like the hospital environment and the possibility of a C-Section. Vanessa and I were wheeled to the surgery room. Vanessa and I gave each other a couple of kisses while fighting back tears. I dressed in scrubs, while they wheeled Vanessa into the room for surgery.

I had to wait until they had her prepped before I could come into the room. I went through so many emotions during those 10 minutes. Fear, love, exhaustion, worry, stress, love, excitement, and more exhaustion.

Once they had her on the table and had the epidural set, they brought me into the room. Vanessa was prepped for surgery. They had a draping separating her head and her body. They had a stool for me next to her head. I sat by her, held her hand, and talked to her as I saw the surgeons begin moving around. I could only assume the procedure has started, since I didn’t want to look over the dressing. There were 12 people in the room all either tending to Vanessa or waiting to take care of our new baby. Vanessa was giggling and talking to everyone. She wasn’t drugged, but she couldn’t feel anything from her chest down. The other relief is that she couldn’t feel the contractions anymore.

After two or three minutes I heard the doctor say, “Congratulations, you have a girl!”. I was in shock and just wanted to make sure the baby was healthy. Vanessa and I had several discussions throughout the pregnancy. We agreed that once the baby was born, that I would not leave the baby’s side. I looked at Vanessa and she said, “Hi Hannah!” She then told me to go to the baby. As I walked over to the table I could see Hannah was already pink, had a head full of hair, and was very alert. All unusual for a baby 10 seconds after being born. I glanced at her fingers and toes and without counting each one, I could tell they looked normal. I leaned my head next to hers and said, “Hi Hannah.” She turned her head and we locked eyes. It was clear that she recognized my voice from the stories I read through Vanessa’s belly button and the multiple conversations I had already had with her. The nurses commented on it as well. I reached out to touched her hand and she gripped onto my finger. I was immediately filled with love.

They brought Hannah over to see Vanessa. Vanessa got to say hello to her before taking Hannah to the nursery. I made sure Vanessa was okay, then followed Hannah out the door. They were pushing her in a little bassinet past the waiting room, so I peeked my head in and said, “it’s a girl!” The room lit-up. Everyone stepped into the hall to take their first peek.

That was Wednesday morning. At the hospital, sleep was a luxury not covered by insurance. We were fortunate to have a private room where I had a bed to sleep in. My best guess is that we each got between 1 and 3 hours of sleep each night. Those 1 or 3 hours were taken in 5 to 40 minute chunks. Part of this was because Hannah would wake up and need to nurse or a diaper change, part of it was taking care of Vanessa, and part of it was the interruptions by the nurse staff. We came home on Saturday around noon. There has been a lot to do around here, but it is much nicer being home. Hannah is sleeping well, and last night we each got 6 or 7 hours of sleep in 30 minute to 2 hour chunks. Much better. Hannah is a little angel and we just adore her.

We are looking forward to just spending time with her and introducing her to friends and family.

Thanks,

Hannah's Dad

Hannah Elizabeth Montgomery

2007-05-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

Our daughter was born on Wednesday, May 2nd at 7:13 AM. 6 pounds 15 ounces.

Will update more later...

Just twiddling my thumbs…

2007-04-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

Vanessa is now 40 weeks pregnant. The average pregnancy for first-time moms is 41 weeks 2 days, so we may still have a bit of time, but I am hoping for Thursday night. You may be wondering why I would suggest Thursday, so here it goes. I have a 5-hour meeting on Friday that I really don’t want to go to. Selfish? Perhaps, but it’s not like I’m going to push down on Vanessa’s tummy to make it happen. Could be anytime between Wednesday and May 10th.

So, why not before Thursday night??? Well, Vanessa’s mom had cataracts surgery today, so she won’t have her vision fully restored until Wednesday. Also, I am getting a somewhat lateral promotion at work. I will still be a Manager in the Finance Department, and will still report to the CFO, but it has a higher pay grade and is completely different than anything I have ever done. The person currently in the position I will be taking is leaving. This is a job that I should probably have two months of training before I take over. She is leaving next Wednesday. So if I can at least get trained through Thursday, then that will be 3 more days of training. Friday will be a waste because of the meeting. Next week will not be much help either, because it will be her last week and we are in the middle of a two-week audit. Since I won’t be fully trained anyway, I might as well get to skip the meeting!

Oh.. and a request please. Don’t ask us if the baby is coming soon. THERE’S NO WAY TO TELL!!! And don’t ask us if the baby is here yet. You will get a call, or a text message, or if you aren’t someone we talk to on a monthly basis, then you will get an update on the blog. I promise that within 1 week of this baby being born, you will be overwhelmed with pictures. Sorry. We get phone calls at home daily asking me these questions. People stop by my office 3 times a day asking me if the baby is here yet. CRAZY!!!

Here’s some pictures of how the nursery turned out. We have added some other things since these pictures, but at least you get a peek!

April or May?

2007-04-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a bit busy lately. Vanessa is in her 9th month now, so sometime between tomorrow and the first week of May I should be completely insane and really tired. I think we are ready. I hope. Car seat is in the car, the suitcase is packed, and the room is basically ready. I’m glad I did a bunch of stuff early on, because there is still stuff to do and no way to tell how many more weekends I have to get it done. We have an appointment tomorrow (Tuesday), and will keep going back each week.

It was a busy weekend for us. We went to James and Reina’s house to celebrate James’ 32nd birthday. We had a great time and I was surprised that Vanessa was able to stay up past 11:30. Great to see everyone. On Sunday we had our Baby Shower, or Penetration Celebration as we preferred to call it. It was great and Vanessa’s family did a great job with the food and the decorations. Lots of people and I think everyone had a good time. Well everyone except our 8-year-old neighbor Devon. His 5-year-old brother won some marbles for creating a cool bodysuit with fabric paint and he didn’t. Don’t worry, he got over it.

Anyway, we walked away with a ton of great things. Thanks to all who attended! Vanessa has another baby shower at her school on Wednesday. I think this weekend we will be unpacking everything, washing all of the clothes, and finishing up the room. Once everything is in place, I will take a couple of pictures and post them here.

I finally lost 30 pounds! I started my diet on December 8th after challenging a friend to a little bet. First one to lose 30 pounds. Loser buys dinner for the 4 of us and the winner chooses the restaurant. We both decided on Fogo De Chao in Beverly Hills. I basically followed the Weight Watchers plan, but I didn’t count points. I just knew what I should and shouldn’t eat. It took a long time, but I lost the weight in a healthy way. Last time I checked, he lost 8 pounds. His wife was pissed at him and told him he was going to have to mow the lawn a lot to make up for this. Tee hee hee…

Extra! Extra! Read all about it…

2007-02-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight, Vanessa and I attended Matt and Michele’s wedding reception. It was a great event and very tastefully done. I was introduced to Broken Candy’s mom and she immediately recognized my name and related it to Page’s Pages. I’m a celebrity!!! While at the event there was an impromptu Blogger meeting. All of the big names were there. Broken Candy, NIMH, Right On Bro, Yakface Speaketh, and the late Mr. Hinojosa. We all complained that no one has been updating their Blogs in a long time, so I have decided to step-up.

Vanessa is now in her 7th month. I am very excited! Little Bean (that is the baby’s nickname for now), is very active and is constantly moving, kicking, and rolling. The good/bad thing is my touch seems to calm Bean down. Good because it gives Vanessa some relief, but bad, because I seldom get to feel Bean moving around. We still aren’t going to find out the sex of Bean. To me it’s like putting your Christmas present through an X-ray to figure out what you are getting before you open the present on Christmas morning.

Our new couch was delivered today. It is HUGE (that’s what she said). It’s about 14 ½ feet long (that’s what she said). I think it will sit 7, but I can’t get Vanessa to help me find out. I tried to get her to sit on one end, then I would sit next to her, then she would get up and sit on the other side of me, then I would get up… will you get the picture. It has a chaise lounge, a sleeper, and extra seat, a corner and a recliner. I love it!

Tomorrow, James is coming over to help me finish the next to last major thing I need to get done before the baby comes. We are moving some furniture from our place to my mom’s, then picking-up the nursery furniture and bringing it back here. The only other thing I need to do is paint. I already set-up an IP camera with infrared for the nursery. You will be able to check on the baby from anywhere in the world using the internet and will be able to see in the dark as well. Crazy. We can check on the baby from the bedroom, while I am at work, or my dad can check on the baby from Thailand. Pretty cool stuff.

Everyone is getting married! James and Reina, Mike and Caroline, Ryan and Jerome, and Angie and Tony. It’s crazy! Such a shift in the culture of the people I hang around. I think it’s a good change. The nice part is that everyone will still be a crazy as ever. I hope that will never change.

Lots of big events coming up. Vanessa’s birthday will be celebrated the first weekend in March with “Vanessa’s Amazing Race”. This is kind of ironic, since she doesn’t watch the show, but it will be really cool. Teams will go through challenges and have to drive to different locations. On April 1st we are having a Penetration Celebration. Some couples have a baby shower… we have a Penetration Celebration. I think it will be a lot like our rehearsal dinner, but with Mai Tai’s instead of margarita’s and Petron.

See you all again soon. Now update your blogs!!!

Stop the bleeding!

2006-12-25T17:33:00.000-08:00

Between Christmas and preparing for the baby we are hemorrhaging money right now. Major purchases in the past 2 weeks include a crib and dresser for the nursery, a new couch for the living room, stroller, car seat, bouncer, Steam Vacuum for the carpets, vinyl wall stickers, and Christmas presents.

Explanations??? Hopefully you understand why we need a crib and dresser for the nursery. If not, then you shouldn’t be having sex. Both grandmas helped with that expense and we will pay the balance when we pick them up. Couches? The couches we have are 8 years old. I have never really taken care of them and they weren’t nice couches to begin with. They can seat 5 uncomfortably. Aside from being a little old, we needed something with a sleeper sofa for guests. Without a guest room having a sleeper sofa is the best alternative we could come up with. The new couch has a chaise, long couch with a sleeper, and recliner all built in one. It will wrap around the living room and provide seating for 7. It will be delivered in February or March. We made sure to get the stain protector for impending throw-up or dirty diapers.

Getting a stroller is something we went back and forth about getting. Ed and Tiffany (our guinea pig parents) have a 3 month old son. They like having a stroller and convinced us to get one. Car seats are a no-brainer if you want to stay out of jail and like your kids even a little. The bouncer is a good place to place the baby for exercise and if there is a moment when you need both of your hands to do something. My dad was nice enough to pay for all three of these items as our Christmas gift. Thanks Dad!

For the last 6 months I have wanted a steam vacuum. The carpets in our place were looking bad. Aside from ascetics, I cringed every time I thought about a baby crawling on our floor. Vanessa got me one for Christmas, so this weekend I cleaned the front half of the living room. Wow. What a difference. First I vacuumed with our regular vacuum cleaner, then I used the steam vacuum. I emptied the water 3 times. The first two times the water was black. Not brown, black. So much nicer now. I will be conquering the rest of the house over the next two weeks. This is also good for upholstery.

Vinyl stickers are for the nursery wall. We aren’t sure how many years we will stay here before getting a house, so I looked for alternatives to having a mural painted. I found some vinyl stick-ups online that are transferable. You can stick them up, peel them off, and stick them back up. So we will paint the wall to look like it’s underwater, then use these to add to the effect. We bought the dolphin, turtle, a shark, 2 angel fish, and a shcool of yellow fish.

Vanessa is doing well and is 23 weeks along. She started feeling the baby moving around Thursday night. It was a nice Christmas present. I’m looking forward to next year when we will be spending our first Christmas with the new addition to our family.

Eating garlic with Sugar Bear

2006-12-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

What a lazy day. Last Thursday by this time I had already fixed the plumbing, trimmed 2 trees, put up Christmas lights, gone to the grocery store, watched some TV, and started prepping dinner. The difference? Vanessa was visiting her parents last Thursday and I was home alone. Vanessa took the train to her parents’ house the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I had to work Friday morning, so I stayed home and drove-up to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday after work. When she is home I find myself laying around, watching TV and spending time on the laptop. I think it’s kind of like when people break-up, loose a bunch of weight, and buy new clothes. They start taking care of themselves. It also helped that I started planning that day earlier in the week.

Vanessa is now 20 weeks pregnant, so she is half way through. The baby is about 10” long but is about the size of a mango, since it is all curled up. Back around week 6 the baby was the size of a bean, so we now call it Bean. We still aren’t going to find out the sex of the baby until birth. We have almost nothing around the house in preparation. I installed the garage door opener. It took me 3 weeks, a couple of cuts, and lots of frustration. The opener had been sitting in the garage for 8 years and did not have the instructions. The other problem I ran into was the springs on the garage were too strong for the opener to push against. Anyway, I got that done.

We still have to clear out the office (aka Junk Room) and make it into a nursery. That means agreeing on paint and other stuff. We have picked out the crib and dresser/changing table. We need to order that sometime in the next couple of weeks. We have our next appointment on the 12th.

Went to dinner at The Stinking Rose for Adam's 33rd birthday tonight. Always like going to that place. Celebrity sighting: Suge Night

Woosh, woosh, woosh....

2006-10-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

The appointment went well and we learned Vanessa s really good at growing our baby. We received Vanessa’s blood test results back. Everything is perfect. The midwife took out the Doppler to listen to the babies heartbeat. This is when I started getting excited. The only evidence I have had that we are having a baby is two little blue lines on a pee stick, Vanessa not feeling well, and Vanessa sleeping a whole lot. It’s not that I didn’t believe that we are having a baby, it’s just nice to have some kind of contact with the little one. As soon as the Doppler touched Vanessa’s stomach the heartbeat was loud and clear. It sounded more like a woosh, woosh, woosh… about two a second. The midwife was surprised that it was so easy to find and that it was so strong. That made me happy. Strong heart = good.

So after a couple of minutes, they called me into the room so we could see the ultrasound. This is what I have been waiting for! So the midwife squeezed some hair gel onto Vanessa’s stomach. It might have been something medical, but it looked like hair gel to me. The ultrasound thingy went on Vanessa’s stomach and then we could see all sorts of black and white blobs on the screen. Then I could start to make out the head, legs, and torso. Most importantly, we only saw 1 baby. The baby was about the size of a lime, so you couldn’t really see features, but it did seam to have all of the right body parts. As far as the sex, we are not going to find out and we wouldn’t be able to tell for another 6 weeks or so.

I find that “Do you know if it is going to be a boy or a girl” is the most common question I get. It’s also the question people ask repeatedly every couple of days even after I have explained we don’t want to know. People are surprised that we don’t want to know the sex. I read last night that roughly 64% of people do want to know, so that is only 2 out of 3 couples. There are definitely pros to knowing the sex ahead of time, but we are looking forward to the anticipation and the surprise. It also keeps the grandmothers and myself from going crazy with buying a lot of stuff ahead of time.

90 Down & 190 To Go

2006-10-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

Vanessa is down to the last day of the first trimester. So far, everything has gone really well. Vanessa had some nausea throughout most of the first trimester, but not enough to throw-up and it has subsided now. The second trimester is supposed to be much less eventful other than continuing to buy new clothes every couple of weeks and we should be able to feel the baby moving sometime in the next 4 to 8 weeks. Vanessa has really been taking care of herself. She’s eating very healthy and we are walking more often.

We have decided to have the baby at the South Coast Midwifery. I originally wanted Vanessa to have the baby at a hospital, but after going on a tour of a hospital’s facilities and then visiting the South Coast Midwifery, there was no doubt in my mind. The hospital was impersonal, only allowed two people in the room, and told us we would be prohibited from plugging anything in. They said it didn’t matter if the digital camera was dying and the baby was on its way. Too bad.

The Midwifery was much more friendly. They have birthing rooms that look like bedrooms , including one that has a spa tub. When Vanessa goes into labor, they will shut down the entire office for us. We can have as many people as we want, we can throw a party, we can eat whatever we want, we can play music, whatever. At the hospital Vanessa would only be allowed ice chips. Here, she can eat and do whatever she wants. They were 10 times more friendly and would be our primary care all of the way through the pregnancy. It was a no brainer. If something goes wrong, UCI is right around the corner. I did a lot of research on the place and their staff to assure we would be getting the best care.

We went to the first doctor appointment a month ago. I was surprised to learn doctors won’t even see you until you are 8 weeks pregnant. It was much less eventful than I thought. Vanessa gave a urine sample and a blood sample. Other than that it was just 20 questions and we were done. We had a second appointment scheduled for last week, but it was rescheduled after someone went into labor.

Our second appointment is now tomorrow (Tuesday). I’ll update my blog sometime later this week to let you know how that goes. I’m excited because this should be our first ultrasound. We haven’t made a lot of decisions so far, but we did make a decision not to find out the sex of the baby. The baby already has all of it’s organs and parts at this point. It’s just the size of a lime, so the next 190 days is all about growing.