Waking up, again and again and again...

Long night.  Tough to get into a rhythm when someone walks into your room every hour.  I don't think Rebecca slept well either.  Ha.  The magnesium made Rebecca sick in the middle if the night.  We're still in a wait mode.  Contractions are still there, but further apart.  So we're going to stay on the magnesium til 2:00 and then see what happens.  She'll either get to move out of labor and delivery and into the anti-pardum wing with the other expectant mothers, or she'll have the baby.  On the bright side, there are lots of Olympics on tv.

8PM. I'm where all the cool people hang out

We're semi-winding down our day here at Labor and Delivery in the Baylor Hospital.  Rebecca has already gone stir crazy not being able to get out of her bed, so I think the next 2 weeks look really promising for her temprement.  Complaint #1 from the peanut gallery that can get up and do what he wants, eat what he wants (Rebecca's on a liquid diet), exercise, go outside and feel the sun, etc.  In the 3 and a half years since we were last here, the Baylor IT staff has blocked Slingbox, so we're at the mercy of the channels provided by the hospital. 

Speaking of liquid diets, she's craving pizza quite badly.  They have her on magnesium to slow the contractions, which were at 6 minutes, but are now around 10-12.  The magnesium also makes her a little loopy and she has hot and cold flashes, so I'm enjoying moving the thermostat 10 degrees every half hour or so. 

Rebecca's mom drove over from Shreveport which gave me the opportunity to go home, pick up a few things and bring Thomas back up to the hospital.  You'd think they'd do a slightly better job of child-proofing a room in the labor and delivery wing, but Thomas found lots to do.  Mimi has taken Thomas home so that Rebecca could relax a little.  She's dozing right now, so hopefully she'll get some rest, until the next nurse walks in, which is about every 30 minutes. 

True or False
1.  This was the only way I could think to relaunch this blog
2.  I'm not ready for the triathlon and this seemed a better plan than admitting it.
3.  This isn't how all pregnancies work?
4.  We like being the center of attention.
5.  I wanted to spend more time indoors.
6.  Rebecca is simply a lazy person by nature.  Two weeks of bed rest?  Yes please!
7.  The hospital chair is actually really good for your back. 
8.  A slightly sedated wife that slips in and out of consciousness and sometimes babbles is the best kind of wife. 

Good news, all of the sounds of the monitoring machines sould exactly the same as they did the last time...

Here We Go Again

Sorry for the mass email, but I haven't even had time to decide on creating a new blog or just continuing the old one. So let me just get right to it. It apppears that another cool thing that I wanted to do is being thwarted by my offspring. Three and a half years ago I was dressed to the nines in red and blue, ready to go support Ole Miss at the Cotton Bowl. I still have those tickets and a charming little boy to boot. In one week I'm supposed to travel to Shreveport to do a triathlon. Well this morning at 5am, Rebecca's water broke. She is at 32 weeks, so were not supposed to be here yet. The picture attached suggests otherwise. We re back at Baylor Hospital again, starting the process of prolonging this pregnancy as long ass possible. According to the doctor, the ideal situation will be to keep the baby from showing up until Rebecca reaches 34 weeks. One way or another, we'll be here for the duration. There is a suspicion of mild contractions, so we'll see. They are going to start steroids, antibiotics and potentially magnesium to slow things down. We had an sonogram Monday and everything was good, so this is completely out of left field. Rebecca is doing ok, all things considered.

I'll probably start posting again to the blog. thomas.elliot@blogspot.com. I'll let you know what's going on.

Signing off for now,

Michael Elliot

I growed up

So my wife’s uncle is visiting this week and much like some other folks, has gotten on to me about writing again.  I feel bad because there is so much that I’d like to write about.  I enjoy writing, but life has a way of stealing the time I’d otherwise set aside for this blog.  It has also stolen the time I would otherwise set aside for watching cartoons, playing video games, or mindlessly chewing bubblegum.  Oh well.  I will once again try though, to set aside and hour a week and see where that goes (so, I want to thank you for reading what will likely be my last blog entry…). 

As you may or may not know, Rebecca is having another boy, who she has named William Michael, despite all of my protests and demands that we go with Gunther.  Anyway, the unnamed child is showing up in September and we need to use the crib that Thomas currently occupies.  So Rebecca’s dad had graciously and expertly built Thomas his first big boy bed.  I picked said bed on Thursday and brought it back.  Rebecca and Thomas stayed in Shreveport and returned today (with Uncle Bill of course).  So I moved the crib to its new home and Thomas’ bed in his room.  We’ve been discussing it with him for weeks and the excitement was certainly building (along with a fair amount of trepidation on our part.  Thomas is not what you would call a sedentary individual.)  So everyone rolled in this evening and the big unveiling occurred.  Thomas immediately jumped on the bed and almost as quickly asked to see his old bed.  This gave us pause and concern for the first night. 

Then the moment that only a parent would be bothered by arrived.  As Rebecca was getting Thomas unpacked and prepped for bed, he sat in his new bed and said to her, “I growed up.”  Pretty much heartbreaking.  Really not sure how they keep tricking people into having kids. 

Day 2.  Thomas slept through the night quite well, but woke up at 5:30 and mommy went in to get him resettled.  After some patient rocking, she told him he had to go back to bed.  He begrudgingly climbed in the bed, but was not happy.  She shut the door, waited and heard the pitter patter of little footsteps.  She opened the door back up and caught Thomas at his book case holding a book.  He was “deer in the headlights”, but quickly recovered his poise and walked over to the rocking chair in his room and pushed it back and forth as he began singing rock-a-by-baby.  (Some day, historians will look back on this blog to trace the first indications of his evil genius) So he was herded back into the bed and fell asleep finally.  When he woke up this morning he immediately asked to sleep in his bed again.  So we’re off to a good start.

A Birthday Greeting from Thomas

This was recorded for mommy, who's birthday was Monday, June 4th.  Please feel free to incorporate into any upcoming birthday wishes you may need.  (Thomas will expect a royalty though) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6cWQ2FP2DM&feature=youtu.be

Getting into a good school

Its 20 minutes after 8 on a Monday night. I’m sitting in a parking lot of a church. A church that has a good preschool (not college, pre school) that we would like to get Thomas into. We toured it last week and it seemed like a good fit. Small class rooms, progressive curriculum, friendly staff, close to the house. We want what’s best for Thomas and the director’s warning that registration is a little out of hand didn’t completely deter us. “Last year we had a gentleman show up at 5pm the day before registration and he didn’t even get the class he wanted for his child.” We debated about getting up at 4am or even coming out in the middle of the night. Registration is at 7am, its supposed to get down to 40 degrees, but we want to give Thomas the best opportunity we can. We want to be good parents. Just for fun, I drove past here on the way home from work at 4:45. My stomach dropped when I saw a tent city already set up and at least 20 people milling about. All of the sudden, I’m not a good parent. So I trucked on home and Rebecca and I talked through our options and I made the decision to go out as soon as I could. So a quick dinner, bath and some reading for Thomas, I packed up a chair, blanket, ipad, a space heater and battery, thinking I’m prepared and thinking ahead. I arrived at around 7:45, pulled into a space reserved for restricted walkers (I feel bad, but I think I’ll be gone before its really needed. As I walked up, the preparedness of the other parents and vastness of the situation really hit me. Big propane heaters, tents, cots, coolers, tables, a fair dose of alcohol, music. It was quite a scene. I approached what I thought might be the end of a line of sorts and asked someone if I indeed had found the end. He stated, that there wasn’t really a line, but there was a sign up sheet at the front that they were hoping all would adhere to. So I moved up front found the list and found that I am number 43 on a list. The camp and cliques also had been established and I felt on the outside looking in on a private party. Everyone seems to know each other and my near crippling shyness immediately sets in. When I was a kid, my sister would make friends for me, but she’s not here and I’m comfortably off by myself. My being alone doesn’t bother me and it doesn’t seem to bother any of them, so we’re all good. I suppose if we’re lucky enough to get Thomas in here, these will be people that I will have to meet and talk to, but I’ll rely on Rebecca to establish those relationships. That’s why I married her.

So this is all insanely crazy and intolerably out of perspective and I hate that I’m a part of it. Its only preschool for goodness sake. I could probably drive off and come back later and no one would be the wiser, but my sense of fair play and my fear that if I leave I’ll lose my spot are keeping me here. I’m not even sitting in my car, so I can keep better tabs on what’s going on. I do see people making food runs and other nefarious activities. There’s also a guy playing dj with his Mercedes audio system. Its loud and bassey and he’s played a fair amount of music that probably doesn’t get a lot of airplay in a church parking lot.

Speaking of observations, I saw a gentleman walk up in slacks and a button down and immediately questioned his approach to this, both timing and attire wise. I saw him wander about not completely dissimilar to my approach. The good news is that he stopped by my little spot in leper-land and asked where I was on the list and thought that I had a decent shot, depending on how many parents before me have triplets. Turns out he is a member of the church and was getting a headcount for coffee and donuts in the morning (fellowship does exist). He stated that there are probably 55 to 60 spots, so no guarantee, but it was the most positive I’ve felt all evening. Its all very stressful. I don’t mind camping out at all, but I want it to work out. We’ll see. If anything else is worth talking bout, I’ll add to this. In the meantime, I’ll be watching soccer on my slingbox and trying to get my legs a little warmer than they currently are. Perhaps a few laps around the parking lot.

9:45 observations:
Observation #1: There’s not 42 other people here in my opinion. I’m suspicious that some folks have signed up and left. We’ll see how tomorrow morning plays out.
Observation #2: The main tent group, who also harbors the would-be dj, is playing poker and
enjoying adult beverages. It would probably be bad form to reenact Jesus’ turning over the gambling tables, but the thought and irony do seem appropriate here.
Observation #3: I’m going to be useless for the next couple days, I’m pretty sure of it.
Observation #4: There are at least 1 or 2 kids here. This may be because the parent doesn’t have another option, or they’re using them as a pawn to garner sympathy and favor. I guess I’ll call Rebecca to wake up Thomas and drag him out here.
Observation #5: Phone says its 49 degrees.

7:18am
Its all over. I sought refuge in the station wagon around 10:30. Nodded off occasionally, but not what you would call restful slumber. The parking lot security lights were not much help. At 4am it rained for about 10 minutes. At 5:30 the alarm went off. I extricated myself from the car and started milling about with the rest of the hopefuls. People started breaking down their campsites. The resurrection of the Occupy Wall Street movement lasted just one night, but we will fight on. The coffee and donuts showed up (no cake donuts, so what's the point really) around 6 and at 6:30 an ambitious mom took the list and got everyone cued up in their proper order. I felt perversely justified because there were 17 people behind me in line. The rumor flying through the line that there two sets of triplets did not appear to be good news. There were a few people who showed up fresh faced and well rested. Perhaps they will end up being smarter than the rest of us if they still get in. At 6:50, the door opened, and just like that it was over. In less than 5 minutes, I’d gotten to the front, dropped my application in the box and in my car. SEVERELY anti-climactic. Not so much as a ticket or any memento to justify this little play. So I stopped and got donuts for Thomas and Rebecca.

The End

Fears at 5:30 in the morning

I was awoken this morning by thunderstorms at the very early and rarely seen hour of 5:30 am. I know what you're thinking, there's a 5:30? I pride myself on rarley seeing anything on the southside of 7 and well up with significant pride that Thomas follows strong in my footsteps. Of all of my own dad's wonderful traits, rising early to get a good start on the day somehow was blocked in my DNA. Perhaps in future years and generations, scientists will conduct studies and come up with cures based on this significant break in heredity that I have experienced. Until then, don't schedule any early morning meetings with me.

Anywho, I couldn't get back to sleep and laying in the dark, my mind wandered to a subject that sometimes creeps into my head and I try to push out, because there are some things that may never happen, things that if did happen you can't control or both. Its one of those moments when you start thinking or overthinking scenarios and taking them to their worst cases. Maybe that's why I like to watch cartoons, it keeps out the voices. Enough set up and context I guess.

What I was thinking about was how happy and innocent Thomas is. I mean, he's exceedingly happy. Happy to play, happy to read, happy to explore, happy to be alive. He 's just uncontrollably enthusiastic. You can especially see it when he gets around other kids. We're in the middle of one of those big milestone moments in our lives and his. We're trying to figure out and find a mothers day out/preschool for Thomas, probably in the Fall. He's developing great, but still behind in some areas. So we have to find the right fit for him. He's basically spent his whole life in our presence and the idea of leaving him somewhere else, left to well meaning but potentially less dilligent people is daunting and obviously a concept that Rebecca doesn't relish. I've for the most part been ok with it, because I know Thomas needs to grow and become independent and some day be embarrassed to be within 5 feet of us. Such is life. It's not as severe as shoving a bird out of a nest to make it fly, but it's what has to happen.

The thought that I usually try not to imagine, but can and did get stuck in my head this morning was that first moment when someone takes his innocence away, when he isn't able to immediately bounce back and see the world through his optimistic eyes. My biggest concern is that inevitable moment when some other kid takes away his enthusiasm, is mean to him in some way. I hope that moment is minor, that he will have the inner strength to persevere and rise above. I hope I'm there to protect him, but I hope I'm not there to react or overreact. I don't want him to be picked on, or bullied, or made fun of, or ignored, or his friendship not reciprocated, ever. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you? Thomas is really such an amazing and awesome person and part of my life.

Well, anyway that kept me up for a while. To top that off, a morning sports show I listen to had a very tough segment that tied into my already awkward thoughts and mood. It's not a happy story, but there is a good message in it that reinforces the importance of the big picture, something that I always try to keep in mind, to somewhat limited success. I encourage you to click on the link and listen to the story, but it is a difficult story.

http://gordonkeith.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/2012-01-25-george-star.mp3

I apologize for kind of being heavy after such a long absence. But the thunderstorm and story got me thinking and I thought it best to write it all down. I hope all is well with whoever is out there. We're doing great.

Some Assembly Required - Epic Failure

Christmas Eve snuck up on me, only in that after a long evening of church, dinner and socializing, having settled into the idea of closing my eyes soon so that Santa could work his magic, I was presented with my first late evening parental experience with a cardboard box full of pieces of plastic and metal that in 34 simple steps, the use of a hammer, a screwdriver, a drill and a file (this one was not listed as a needed tool, but ended up being critical) would turn into something Thomas would treasure for at least as long as it ended up taking me, my father-in-law and my brother-in-law (also not listed in the needed tools section) to assemble.

The torture device in question is a Cozy Coupe, a nice little 4 wheel push car, no motor or any moving parts, save for the wheels. And not just any cozy coupe, but the 30th anniversary edition, which means they've had 30 years to get assembly down to a science. To keep things simple, there are no words in the instructions, its all pictures, letters and arrows. Issues #1 was the precise fit (or lack there of) of the pieces. A simple axle through a wheel proved to be a mix between an optical illusion and a defiance of the laws of physics. Some quick file adjustments got us over that hump. Issue #2 was all me. To secure the wheels to the axles requires the use of a metal cap and a hammer. Initially, not wanting to brave the sub freezing temperature in my Homer Simpson pajamas, I attempted to apply the cap to the axle delicately in the living room. This approved both inadequate to attach the cap and excessively loud enough to wake Thomas. So I was forced to brave the cold each time I needed to hammer (6 trips in all). As I was distracted, frustrated and flustered by 5 other people watching my exploits, I managed to apply a cap to an axle without sticking the plastic hubcap on first. An irreversible oversight that has left a blemish on the Cozy Coupe. Basically it looks like Thomas is riding around with a spare tire. Theoretically we can dremmel that cap off. Part of me wants his car to be perfect, part of me wants the reminder of my first attempt.

So Christmas morning went very well. As my dad is recovering from his surgery, they were stuck in Cincinnati rather than making the trek to my sister's in Virginia. Although judging by the weather, that may ultimately have been a blessing. To help my parents get a little Christmas excitement, we brought a laptop into the gift room and used Skype to let my parents watch Thomas enter the room and open his presents. I'm happy to say that he went right to the Coups and really enjoyed it. And he was not overwhelmed by the toy store that lay before him. He took the time to check out each present and enjoyed himself all day. He seems to be impervious to being spoiled so far, but now I have to figure out how to build another room onto the house for all of his stuff. Pledges have been made all around that next year there will be restraint, but that's a long way off and by then, he'll start knowing what he wants. And his birthday is a week away...

Twas the Week Before Christmas...

It really twas...Christmas day is 6 days away and we have a spoilage alert! Thomas is about to get bombarded with gifts from grandparents that will be beyond his comprehension or ability to fully enjoy before he outgrows them. I have been as stern and disapproving as I can be. Lots of harrumphs and eye rolls but nothing seems to work. I'm afraid that my beautiful wife is also complicit in this act of treachery. Alas, I've seen the home videos of her childhood and its written that we are doomed to repeat what we have experienced. So I will stand back and watch as Thomas spends as much time playing with ribbon and wrapping paper as what was inside them.


I will provide an update of the festivities later this week. In the meantime, I wanted to touch on a couple of things that are less humorous, but have been on my mind. The first concerns Thomas' grandfather, my dad. Let me just spoil the ending and let the reader know that this has a very happy ending, but over Thanksgiving we learned that my dad had prostate cancer. It was very sobering and scary for all of us. Fortunately prostate cancer is the kind of cancer that you want to get, if there is such a thing. My dad and his doctor were on top of things and caught it early. They went in last week and removed the cancer cells and everything looks really good.

The month that I was aware of the challenge my dad faced and the possibility that things could have turned out much worse were obviously scary. Not only for me as his son, but it brought to mind how important and impactful both of my grandfathers were on me and the possibility of Thomas missing out on spending time and learning from my dad was not a prospect I wanted to deal with. Thomas already has a natural connection with both of his grandfathers. Goes right to them and truly knows them to be something more than the large number of people that fawn over him (he is not want for attention). I am thankful that things turned out ok, because Thomas has to learn the tradition of making waffles from scratch on a random Sunday morning from my dad. Not only because its a memory I treasure, but also because my dad does the recipe from memory and by the time I get up these days, the waffles are already done. So someone needs to get that recipe for me. Best waffles in the world.

The other thing that has me bothered/thinking these days is my little brother in the big brother/little brother program. He just turned 16 and he has reached a point in his life that is truly a crossroads. He's making some really bad choices that will have far reaching consequences. For the first time in our relationship, I am finding myself acting like a parent more than a friend. Unfortunately, I can see in his eyes some of the same "you don't understand or I don't want to talk about this" look that I know I would have had at that age. He's still just a kid and I know he just wants to ignore bad things in the hopes they'll just go away or resolve themselves. The choices he has made, I've warned him against and tried to show him the opportunities and alternatives that are there for him if he wants them. There's really not much more I think I could have done, but I can't help but feel I'm failing a bit. Thomas could easily be him, sitting across from me, not wanting to look me in the eye. In just 2 years, I've seen my little brother change dramatically. In some ways, he's exactly the same, but in others obviously not. He's grown alot. Thomas, too, has grown so much. I worry about the choices that Thomas will one day be faced with and if I can properly prepare him to minimize the mistakes that he will inevitably make. Why do people sign up for this stuff?

Short Stories of laziness

So, I was supposed to post a video of Thomas climbing the stairs last week and I was supposed to post a new blog entry this week. Well, I didn't get around to last week and here it is this week and Thomas didn't do diddley for me to write about (actually he was awesome, is growing and took a bunch of steps, but go with me here, I'm laying out an excuse), so I'm forced to cover for him by posting, not one, not two, but three big time videos. I will have a very stern conversation with Thomas about his responsibility in regards to this blog. I'm pretty sure that will tide everyone over for a little while. I'll be back soon. Thomas says hey.

Thomas climbing stairs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GdsEtvow98


Thomas playing with Tyler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxK29m1yaSE

Thomas walking with balloon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfvkOOd8E_w