NEW FAMILY PICS

A really good friend of ours was so kind enough to take some pictures of our new addition plus more! He does a great job! I absolutely love what he can do! So much better than going anywhere else! ENJOY!

Panthers Sunday!

The boys, well-Cade really, likes it when ALL of us wear our Panthers or Steelers gear. Yesterday, they all came home from church wanting us girls to support our Panthers. We were glad to do it! However, it wasn't enough to get them to win! Sorry Daddy! Cade was more upset about the game than Cheeto was. The kid is 8!

Even our Lil' Addelyn had something to wear. I made these little pants for Kelson when he was first born. I even got some use out of them with the girls. Analise loves to dress like the boys. She knows that speaking spanish to Papa makes him happy and knows that wearing Panthers/Steelers makes her Daddy happy! Daddy's girls- what can I say?

TOUCHDOWN!!!!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!

I swear this is what she was doing in utero!

Guessing Game

So just after Kelson was born, we thought it would be fun to compare baby pictures of Cade & Kelson to see if friends and family could tell them apart. Let's re-visit that game for a moment shall we?


I won't keep you in suspense, Cade is #2 & Kelson is #1. Wasn't that fun?

Now, let's play again...let's see how good you are. Tell me if you can tell which picture is Analise and which is Addelyn in the following pictures:

We'll call this one picture #1


This is picture #2.

Now I know it's tough, but who is who?

Shena and I just laughed and laughed when we saw those two. Ol' thunder thighs up there was the biggest baby we had and Addelyn was the smallest. Feel free to laugh yourself, we don't mind. I just hope this doesn't cause scars when Analise is all grown up and reading this herself.

Surprise- SNOW!

I had to get Cheeto to sit with Addelyn for a few hours last night. She was up off and on so much between midnight and 3:30am, that I couldn't stay up with her any longer and had to call in for backup. First time I had to do that. I went to bed knowing it was raining. When I woke up at 5:30am there was snow on the ground. Usually this means no school for us. Ridiculous- I know! However, it had only accumulated on the grass and not on the roads. This just made for a 2 hour delay. Of course, by 7:30am my kids had waited as long as they could. They just had to get out in it. I wonder how excited they would be if they ever saw an Idaho snowstorm. Where the snow can be as tall as your car. It wasn't good snowball/snowman making snow. Besides they had to be getting for school by 8am. We really don't own any clothes that is good for playing in the snow. They were soaked through in about 10 minutes.

Sleep.... not happening

Just let me start by saying... I would not want to put her back inside. That was much worse than being sleep deprived. I'm sure Cheeto would beg to differ. However, Cheeto has sleep issues anyway- he doesn't sleep when the rest of us sleep deeply for 8-10 hours.

The last night I slept well, without being heavily medicated, was last Friday night before our Sunday delivery. Saturday night I was too uptight about what might become of Sunday's events. I really tried to sleep after they gave me the epidural. I shut my eyes and just listened to football games. Then you know what happened to Sunday night. The tubal surgery made things very complicated. I got back about 2am. The pain medication wasn't working so they started me on dilotted. This is what they gave me when I had a bile leak from gall bladder surgery. It was a rush of relief then and it was this time too. However, because of the all the ansthesia they gave me to get the epidural to work and then having to have general ansethsia- add the dilotted to that it kept making my pulse ox drop like crazy. They had me monitered closely and every 5 minutes an alarm would go off, 2 nurses would rush in and adjust medication and such. After about an hour and half of this, they just started giving me oxygen and said they had to get me off the dilotted- which caused the surgery pains to come back. At one point, I remember just losing it and started crying. One- I wished Cheeto had stayed around. Two- I was so exhausted I couldn't do anything but cry. By this time it was after 4:30am. I just had to get some sleep, which I thought I could get during the day. At 5am- a nurse came in to take blood. At 6:30am they came in to take me off the oxygen. At 7am they brought breakfast- which I was starving since I hadn't eaten since Saturday dinner. I ate and they brought Addelyn in. I was so loopy from all the drugs and ansesthia I was a bit nervous having her in with me. I kept falling asleep. Mom, Dad and Analise showed up about 9:30am. Cheeto came about 10:30. He helped me get showered and then left to get kids. Company came that night. I didn't get a nap all day. My stomach has issues when I have surgery. It takes days for it to start working again. This caused more sleepless nights. Cheeto had the nurse give me ambien that night which was great until 4am. Since then we have been home.

Addelyn wakes up pretty close to every 2 hours. In between, feedings its hard to really sleep because of soreness from milk coming in and feedings. I'm a tummy sleeper- have a hard time sleeping on my back. Yesterday we had a doctors appointment for Addelyn to get weighed. Of course, the only time they had available was during Sassy's nap time so I still didn't get a nap. I have decided I run on 8-10 ours of sleep a night. The first day wasn't too bad but after 5 days- it's really catching up to me. I don't like to sleep when the other kids are around because I like to spend some time with them. I don't want them to feel like I'm a totally dogging them. I keep telling myself, "This too shall pass." I try to not be grumpy and take it out on Cheeto and the kids. So far, I think I have done really well doing that. It's my last baby and I love every chance I get to spend with her.

Addelyn's weight came up a bit but not enough. We have to take her back on Monday to get weighed again. She weighed 5lbs 8z when we brought her home and has only gained 2oz since then. She should be almost back to her birth weight by now. Hopefully, Monday goes better for her.

The first few days... from Shena's point of view

I couldn't resist posting these. My mom likes to see the little ones with their eyes open. She was just watching the chaos last night when I too these.

I can't believe how little our sweet Addelyn is. Cheeto has the "football" hold down perfect and of course, she loves it. Cheeto doesn't have real large hands so this shows you how tiny she is. Analise came home only wearing this outfit once or twice. We had some great friends lend and give us preemie clothes for the first few months. They will fit much better for sure!

We are adjusting. Last night was everything you can expect the first nights to be like. Not all babies can be like my Analise. She slept 5-6 hours straight from the day she was born but she was 9 lbs too. Addelyn wakes up 2 hours on the clock all night. It's exhausting but knowing she is our last one it's not as frustrating to get up so often. I have to relish in the moments I have with her in at such a young age. Analise and Addelyn share a room. Analise heard Addie crying and met me in the hall way in tears. She was so concerned for her little sister. I assured her she was fine and just hungry. Analise was more than willing to help mommy at 2 o'clock in the morning. She was a great help at 4am when Addie blew out a diaper and needed a complete outfit change and feeding.
As for me... I'm just trying to get through the first few days of nursing. As most of you mommies know... the first week of nursing is painful and frustrating. Addie is a great eater so at least that's not adding to the frustration. The older kids are of course too interested about the nursing process. I have had some crazy questions to answer about breast feeding- especially from the boys. I have had my emotional moments; more this time than with the other 3. I'm sure Cheeto thinks I'm losing it. I assure you I am not. There are times it hits me that this is truly our last. And others it's just because I can't believe it's over and have another little girl. I feel so blessed! I look at our family now and know we are done but know there are a lot of last "firsts" ahead. This honestly saddens me. I'm sure these are tears that will come and go a lot over the first few years. I wouldn't change my decision about getting the tubal. I have miserable pregnancies and know physically I don't want to go through another one. I have always said I wanted 4 before I turned 30 and we did that. I wouldn't want an odd number either- I like being even and I know I can't do 6 kids. Our family is complete but that doesn't mean it doesn't make me sad at times. We have truly started the next phase in our family.
The kids are adjusting well to the chaos. Cheeto is doing a great job keeping the house together. He gets frustrated with kids faster than mom does but he's doing great considering there are four kids, 2 of which are in school and have to have be up at 6am, have lunches made, homework done, baths each night, and in bed by 7:30pm and a wife that sits on the couch all day. It's a lot to throw at him. Mom, dad, and Tia Lettie have been great. They took the kids to Mexico Monday night for dinner. We all appreciated that one! I'm glad I froze a few meals and cookies the past month. We have needed them.
My mom and sister found some really cheap airfare so they are coming to help in a few weeks. I'm so excited to see them. It will allow Cheeto to get some real work and studying done for a week. Nola is probably going through Sassy-withdrawal. She has watched her some much in the past month- at least a couple of hours each day. We have appreciated all the help, calls, gifts, and visits. We are blessed with awesome friends and family.

Kelson genuinely loves his new little sister! He is the only one that will hold her for more than 2 seconds. Cade and Analise ask and give her back almost immediately. Kelson would sit and hold her all evening if you'd let him. She does have some protective older siblings! Kelson's teacher told us that he has been bouncing off walls since she was born and always has more stories to tell them about Addelyn. Kelson has a tender heart. This morning he was getting his lunch ready and Cheeto reminded him to get a snack. Kelson said he was going to take 2 fruit snacks. Cheeto told him no- one was enough. Kelson instantly broke out in tears saying, " I need two!" Cheeto asked why. He said, "Because there was a child that never had a snack and he really needed to share." How can you say no to that? What a little sweet heart!

1st day home pics

Random Stuff from Today

As much as my exhausted mind and fingers can handle right now.

Kids got to see mom and the baby again today, Analise twice. Once with grandma and grandpa, and once when the boys got home from school. They were all excited to go and see her again. Kelson was the most excited since he overheard someone say that she looks like him. Makes him proud. He held her the most...would have held her longer if we let him, but the other kids were bugging to hold her (although they were tired of holding her after about 2 minutes). Kelson never did say "I'm done." He was just a nice brother and shared.

Got visits from my business partner, Jim & his wife Edna. Also got a quick visit from our family friend Teresa Slack. She used us to hold the baby. I don't think she really likes us, she just wants to be able to hold the baby and play with her.

Shena never did get any sleep during the day, so as I was leaving, I dropped Addie off at the nursery and asked them to keep her all night and just feed her bottles. The nurse was going to give her a strong dose of ambian to just let her sleep.

The kids went with Tia Lettie to buy a "bring home" outfit for Addelyn. Sounds like they had fun.

The kids and I stopped in at Party City and got Addelyn a big pink bottle mylar baloon, and then stopped at the flower shop to get mom a dozen roses (I'm a terrible husband...it's about the only time she gets flowers...when we have kids. She was lamenting the fact and was saying since we are done she will never get flowers again...I understand I will now take abuse from all of the female readers out there, but I had to be honest...I'm not the most romantic).

Baby & mom will be coming home tomorrow (Tuesday).

I'm losing it...can barely read the screen. Ta, ta.

Sleep Deprived

They finally brought Shena back from surgery at 1:00 am. She was feeling pretty sore, worse pain from the surgery vs. having the baby. After I got her settled, we decided I would get more rest if I went home, plus we felt bad having my mom get up with the kids to get them ready for school. So I came home and tried to sleep. It didn't work. I finally fell asleep about 3:00 and was up at 6:15.
I'm having a hard time putting together a sentence right now, so I won't say much more.

Oh, here is the Holiday Inn Express Commercial I mentioned in the long post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7kQkGDprzw&eurl

Surgery Update

Doctor just poked his head in and told me that the surgery went fine. They were hoping to use the epidural line for the surgery, but it didn't work well enough and they wound up putting her to sleep. They will be bringing her in after she recovers. I'm not sure what that means for my plans the rest of the night. I had planned on hanging around here only until she had had something to eat and was comfortable. Since they gassed her up, it might be a bit before she is able to eat. Might be a long night (expect to hear plenty of that for the next 5 months!).

No more kids for us...

They just took Shena to surgery to tie her tubes. We have thought and prayed long and hard about this, and we are done. No way to reverse this, it will be permanent when they are finished. We feel our family is complete, so there is no remorse. It's still a hard decision, though.

Another Story

As I remember things, I will add them. Long post is below the pictures, this is an addition to it. Excuse my unorganizedness.

Just before the doctor told Shena to push, I tried to move the little remote thingie on the bed (you know, it controls the bed position, the tv, and has a nurse call button). When I grabbed it I accidentally hit the nurse call button. They came over the speaker and said "Can I help you?" And I told them it was an accident, but about 3 seconds later four nurses came pouring into the room. I had to apologize because they obviously thought something bad was happening during the delivery, but it was just the idiot father who hit the wrong button.

One of those four nurses decided to hang around to help our regular nurse. At that point, the doctor announced to the nurses that we didn't know the sex of the baby so we were all in for a surprise. He then said, "When the baby gets here, I'll let you call out the sex, ok?" As he pulled her out I looked down and didn't see anything obvious in the crotch region so I blurted out "You had your little girl!" As soon as I said it I realized that I hadn't got a good look. The umbilical cord was kind of in the way...so I was thinking "Oh, crap, I hope I'm right. This would not be good for Shena's emotions if it isn't."

I also didn't mention just how good Shena did. I know the drugs helped (I can't begin to describe the difference between this delivery and the last one, when the epidural wasn't working), but she didn't complain for one second. It was a nice, smooth, relatively clean delivery.

Funny Kid Quote of the Day

Details on Delivery, Etc.

This post may ramble, so forgive me...it's for posterity's sake (in other word's I'm not writing for you), you are just invited to peek in if you want to...this post was not proof-read, please excuse typos and poor grammar.

As I'm writing this, Shena is posting pictures on her computer. If you are reading this note on Facebook and can't see the pictures, click on the link on my profile page to get to the blog, which will have the pictures on it.

A quick summary...Panthers won, we had a baby girl, then the Steelers won. Awesome.

Couldn't ask for a much better day. The labor went fine...very little pain (from what I could tell). The drugs worked, so she wasn't in much pain at all. She started shaking when it was time to deliver the baby, but the nurse said that was because her body was working hard and was getting worn out, even though she couldn't feel it. Shena looked at me once or twice like she wanted to push, but the doctor wasn't in yet, so she was good and waited. He came in, got ready and sat down then the nurse said "You are having a contraction, go ahead and push if you want to." The doctor said, "yeah, give me a good push," and then after about the count of 2 said "oh, whoa! No more pushing, no more pushing!" The baby's head was already out and Shena just about pushed her out onto the floor. Her cord was wrapped around her neck, but he was able to get it off easily. He got his fingers under her armpits and pulled her out. It took her a minute to make any noises, but nobody seemed concerned at all. As the doctor was trying to clamp the cord, Addelyn grabbed the clamp and wouldn't let go. I immediately thought of that new Holiday Inn Express commercial (I'll post a link to it later...connection is too slow here at the hospital). He finally pried it away from her, and handed me the scissors. I cut the cord and she immediately grabbed the clamp again. Her first trait demonstrating itself. She's been pretty quiet...let's hope that trait continues, too.

After the delivery, we called parents first. I then called Lettie, who was watching the kids, and told them all over her speakerphone. I heard lots of yelling, but I think most of it was Lettie. From what I've heard, Cade was more interested in watching the Steelers game than finding out the news (where'd he get that from?). She brought the kids up at about 7:00 and they got to meet their new sister. There was unanimous agreement from all three of them before hand that they wanted a little sister, so they really were excited. I'm sure it was their faith that pulled that one off, because Shena and I were seriously doubting that it was going to be a girl. Up to this point we have been calling this baby "Sera, Sera" (as in "it is what it is). The kids have been calling mom's belly that for 5 months now, and so it was pretty funny to hear all of us trying to remember to refer to Addelyn by her real name. Everyone called her the wrong thing at one point or another while we visited with her. They were all excited to hold her...even Cade, but only after the Steelers game was over. We have had a tradition in our family where the sibling(s) buy a present for the new baby and the baby has a present for each of the sibling(s) when they meet for the first time. I took the kids yesterday to find something for the baby, but we had to make it a unisex gift and I told them that we were only buying one gift, not three, so they all had to agree on something. It came down to a pair of Carolina Panthers onesies and a stuffed duck. Kelson and Analise were pulling for the duck, Cade wanted the onesies. Cade said "Ok. We need to have a vote. Whoever wants the duck, raise your hand." (Kelson and Analise raise their hand). "Whoever wants the onesie, raise their hand." (Cade raises his hand.) "Ok, so two people voted for the duck and one voted for the onesie, so we are going to get the duck, dad." I was proud of him. That is not necessarily like Cade. He doesn't like surprises and he doesn't like to give in when he has an opinion. So the kids bought a duck for the baby and were very proud of it. Addelyn brought wrapped gifts for the kids. They were white boards (pictured in Shena's post) with either a "Cars" or princesses design. The kids were excited to get them, and as you can see in the pictures, Kelson was excited to write a message to Addelyn (I love you Addelyn). He couldn't spell it, but he came up with the message himself. Cute kid.

Regarding whether this was going to be a boy or a girl, we obviously didn't know, but we didn't have any hunches either. When I was pressed, I was guessing a boy, but I was positive that Cade was a girl before he was born. When Cade was baptized in August, I was the one who confirmed him a member of the church (and for those who don't know, this involves giving a priesthood blessing, without specific verbiage...kind of like a prayer). I don't remember, but during the confirmation, Shena said that I mentioned his "brother and sisters." Shena was excited because she thought that meant that is what we were having. With all of the ultrasounds she had, I was surprised that we hadn't accidentally seen some boy or girl parts. I actually thought that I had a week or two ago. During one of the ultrasounds I was positive I saw some boy parts, but I wasn't sure. I couldn't see an umbilical cord in the same shot, so I was a little unsure. I had my fingers crossed because Shena BADLY wanted another little girl. I know she had really bad heartburn the whole pregnancy, and that was similar to her experience with Analise.

They headed home about 7:30 when Addelyn had to go to the nursery for her check up. They had done all the weighing and measuring inside the room, so as we were walking out we realized that we could see her from the Delivery waiting room as they checked her out. The kids went in there and there was another family there waiting for their baby to be born. The kids were excited to show off their new little sister. Kelson said to a grandma who was in there "Yeah, that's my little sister." We watched her for about 5 minutes while the pulled her arms out, checked her mouth took her temperature, etc. Analise kept saying "Pick me up. Me wanna see." They finally headed out the door to go to sleep about 7:45.

As for names, we appreciate all the input and suggestions. I'll make a seperate post on why some were rejected. We tried hard to give this one a name from my mom's side of the family. Cade is named after my dad and Shena's brother. Kelson is named after a family member on Shena's dad's side. Analise was named after Shena's mom's side. So we felt it only fair to use my mom's side this time. We searched the names for something we liked. We found a boy's name realtively easy, because it would be a middle name and we could then pick out another first name, kind of like we did with Kelson, that wasn't necessarily a family name. But the girl's name was harder. Shena and her sisters didn't have middle names, my sister didn't have a middle name and Analise does not have a middle name, so we didn't want to give this one a middle name either. We had to pick just one name that was not only a family name but also one that we really liked. Our first perusal over the names didn't generate anything that caught our eye. We toyed with the idea of just picking a seperate name without any family ties. That is when we opened it up to suggestion from the blog audience. I got a suggestion last week from Teresa Slack that I really liked, Adelaide, and Shena thought she liked it too. But as we got closer to birth day, Shena was having second thoughts. She was afraid that this baby would feel slighted (if it was a girl) that she didn't get a family name when everyone else did. I had looked through the names again on mom's side (on familysearch.org) and had come across a name that was pretty similar, just not necessarily as direct as we would have liked. My mom had a great aunt named Addaline. It was close to Adelaide, but we didn't like the spelling. It looked like a poorly punctuated clerical instruction, not a name. So we played with several different spellings: Adaline, Adeline, Addeline, Addalynne. We were afraid that "Adaline" would get pronounced "Aid-uh-line" instead of how we wanted to pronounce it "Add-uh-lyn" so we kept the two "d's" and changed the "line" to "lyn." There you go. Pronunciation and all...Addelyn. We like it.

The one draw back is, for the time being, she will have the same initials as Analise, but that wasn't enough to get us to pick a different name. Oh well.

After the kids left, I ran back down to the nursery to get a couple better shots of Addelyn. The only pictures I had taken up to that point she was still pretty dirty. They had cleaned her up pretty good in the nursery, so we had to get better pics for the blog.

The original plan was for Shena to get a tubal about an hour after her surgery. The nurse came in and gave her some kind of sodium nitrate to settle her stomach to get her ready for surgery. It's pretty nasty tasting and of course she couldn't have anything else to eat or drink afterwards. About 10 minutes after, the anthesiologist came in and said that there was a change of plans and that they weren't going to be able to do the surgery tonight. Some kind of emergency had tied up the operating room. Shena was a little disappointed that she had to swallow that nasty stuff for nothing, now. They decided to move her to the regular rooms and get her settled for the night. The nurse came in and asked her if she would like something to eat and said about all I have to offer you is a cold sandwich. She hadn't eaten in about 23 hours, so she didn't really care. As the nurse was taking care of a few other things, filling out paperwork and such, the nurse from labor and delivery came running back in the room "You haven't eaten have you? Drink anything? The room opened back up and they want to get you taken care of tonight."

So that is where we stand right now. They got her dressed and ready to take her down to the OR...and we are sitting here waiting for them to come in and tell her whether she has to take that nasty stuff again. It's been over an hour since she took it last time and they might make her do it again. We'll see.

Addelyn Arellano

Little Girl - 6:01 pm - 5 lbs. 14 oz - 19.25'' long

Epidural worked beautifully, Dr. said ok, give me a push...no, wait stop! And the baby was there.

Steelers game went to half time at about 5:55, I turned off the TV and the nurse called the doctor...Shena was ready to push by the time he got here, but she waited until he said to.

More later.

Countdown Begins...

Nurse just checked again. She's @ 6 & 90%. Look for news in the next hour or so...might be pretty dang close by then.

Progressing

Nurse just checked Shena. She's 4 & 80%. Don't ask me to explain what that means, because if you don't know, I'm not going to tell you. This is a family blog.

As I was getting ready to type this note, Troy Polamalu made an INCREDIBLE interception in the Steelers game. Shena looked at me and said "We are not naming this baby Polamalu." I don't know...I kinda like Polly for a boy's name (better than Malu, right?). I offered "Troy" and she didn't like that either.

Just Resting

Nothing exciting to report. Shena's sleeping, letting the drugs do their work. A lady came in to get everything ready for the delivery...utensils, baby lights, etc. Otherwise, I'm just watching the game...still trying to pin down a boy name. We think we've got one...but it's a little too "popular" for me...we'll see what happens.

Pitocin & Epidural

Contractions are going regularly, but she wasn't progressing as quick as they wanted, so they added pitocin to the IV at about 2:00. Shena then ordered her epidural as the nurse was putting the pitocin in just in case it goes quick. Last time the epidural wasn't done properly and she felt everything during labor, and she didn't want to go through that again. Plus, if she is going to get her tubal afterwards, having the epidural will make things go easier.

He came in for the epidural about 2:20, just as the Panthers were driving for the final 1st half touchdown. He and I were joking about the game and Shena's labor as he was sticking the epidural in. She didn't think it was very funny. I will post this now, and if the epidural doesn't wind up working right she will be ticked, but he was watching the game almost as much as I was while he was getting her set up on it. Of course he paid attention while he was actually sticking her, but the rest of the time, he had his eye on the game.

About 15 minutes after the epidural, she was out like a light. Mumbling something about wishing there was such a thing as a walking epidural for the last tri-mester of pregnancy.

It's half time of the Panther's game 21-16 Panther's over the winless Detroit Lions. Sad.

I told Shena that we've got to get a win here because I don't want to have mixed emotions about today. Of course it's a great day that we will be having the baby, but I don't want the bad memory of a loss to a winless team! Ha!

Water Has Been Broken

Shena & I debated names for an hour...from 11:30 to 12:30. We had just settled on a girl's name (I'll give details on how this process went later...after we've announced the birth, the sex and the name of the baby) when the doctor came in to break her water. He broke it about 12:40 and said he would try to get the baby to come out at halftime of the Steelers game.

We also discussed the "tubal" that will probably take place after the baby is born. As we've mentioned before, this is our last child, so we are taking the steps necessary to make it permanent and definite.

They were also kind enough to bring me a plate of lunch. It was hospital food, but the dessert was banana pudding, which is one of my all time favorite desserts, and it wasn't too bad. Other items: one piece of fried chicken, some kraut looking stuff, baked beans, corn bread. It will hold me over until this evening anyway.

In Our Room

We're into our room. They moved us from the triage room (where we first arrived) to the labor and delivery room and got Shena checked in about 11:00 am. We are still working out names. This may wind up being a last minute decision. Who knows, maybe the kid comes home without a name and just goes by "Sera, Sera" for the rest of it's life regardless of it's sex. We did however have a conversation regarding an ex-flame of Shena's. His birthday is today so I suggested that if it's a boy we name him after her ex. She is going to kill me for writing this, and I hope I don't tick him off (I believe he or his wife checks this blog on occasion), but she said "I really never liked that name much." I think what she was saying was, "I liked this guy, and it's not like I didn't like him because of his name, but I don't know that I like that name for my children." Either way, it was fun to bug her about it. Anybody who knows us as a couple know that we have no problem discussing past boyfriends/girlfriends. There is not even a twinge of jealousy in me when I Shena talks about ex's, so it was a funny conversation.

Baby's Birthday...Probably Today

We came to the hospital this morning at 9:00 am. Nurse called the doctor and the doctor said, no more monkeys...wait, nevermind scratch that. The doctor said we had 2 options...1 was to have another ultrasound to check the fluids. If they were ok, she could go home, or #2 was to go ahead and break her water and have the baby today.

Shena thought about it for about .02534 (I counted) seconds and then said "I'm ready to have a baby, thank you." She has been really miserable the last 3 days...pressure, contractions, back pain, etc.

They will be checking her in in just a few minutes. Get ready for play by play. I'm just hoping this baby gets here either before the Panthers' game starts at 1:00 or waits until after the Steelers' game ends at around 7:30 or so. Otherwise I may not be a very helpful coach.

(One of) My Wife's Addiction

So we were cleaning the house today (nesting as they call it) getting ready for the baby. At least we took the time to do it. We have been procrastinating this, didn't really feel the urgency, until we had our close call last week.

Anyway, Shena has this little corner of the couch where she sits, and next to her there are some built in shelves and an open space down below the shelves. We pulled the couch back to vacuum underneath it and I noticed the pile of stuff that had accumulated there. I started pulling stuff out and counted about 25 skeins of yarn. I also found 6 different "knitting bags," as she calls them, stuffed down in this corner. It took us 20 minutes to get through the pile and roll up and unknot (that's a word, right?) the mess of skeins. In the mean time, we also found 3 different, unfinished projects. She has a problem. She even commented "I'm as bad as my sister." If you know of a way to break this addiction let me know (I've heard that juice & Vitamin C works for cigarettes...maybe it would work for this, too).

Still Incubating

We had another visit to the doctor today. Fluids have dropped again, from 23rd to 16th percentile, but apparently it's not enough for Shena's doctor to induce. He is on call all weekend, though, and hinted that if she is having a lot of contractions on Sunday, she should probably come in and have her fluids checked again (at the hospital). If Shena doesn't go into labor this weekend, he will probably not get to deliver the baby (he's done all of our other 3). After this weekend, he is not on call until after Thanksgiving week.

But he also said that if she doesn't have any problems, she will probably make it another week. We'll see what the next 48 hours bring. Stay tuned. We'll keep you up to date.

In other news, I had one of those indoor waterfalls in my office today. Kinda like the ones that are meant to relax you. Problem is, it wasn't supposed to be there, and it was getting water all over my desk, files and leather couch...so it wasn't so relaxing.

It was a rainy day today, slightly heavy at times, and there is a drain outside my wall that was partly plugged up. The water pooled near the down spout and found it's way through some holes in the room (there are a lot of them there, apparently). It was quite the mess. I was running up and down the halls of the building trying to track down a mop and trying to get somebody from the leasing office to come in and see just how bad it was. I knew they would think I was exaggerating, but you can ask anyone who saw it...it was coming down. I'm just glad I was there when it started. I was about to head out for lunch, when I started reading an e-mail and so I wound up staying an extra 10 minutes. If I had walked out I very well may have had a ruined couch, shorted out laptop and water out in our lobby area. It was coming down that fast.

I wound up moving all my furniture out of that corner of the office and will probably leave it like that until they tell me it's fixed. Weatherman calls for more rain tonight and tomorrow, so it may be an interesting day of work tomorrow.


Funny Kid Quote of the Day
Kelson: Mom, you know what? Daddy's and mommy's sleep together because monsters can't eat two heads at the same time.

Kelson's Oral Surgery

After finding out Monday that all was ok with baby, we decided to try to go ahead with Kelson's surgery today. Thankfully they still had his original appointment available. We had to be there at 7:45am. Kelson was just as calm as ever. We weren't allowed to go back with him for prep or anything. Kelson simply kissed us and walked with the nurse. What a brave little boy! We would probably have to knock Cade out just to get him to leave the house for such an ordeal. The entire procedure took less than 30 minutes. They told us that there was a really good chance that they would have to start an IV and put him under sedation. Cheeto had stepped out to get something out of the car when the nurse came and asked for us to go to recovery. She said Kelson is one of the bravest little guys they had ever worked on. He did it all without sedation. They gave him a shot of novocaine and he didn't even flinch. He was sitting up and just waiting for me when I saw him. They had to pull out his two front baby teeth and then made an incision to cut out the extra teeth. He has a few dissolvable stitches which should fall out within a couple of days. The surgeon said it was a good thing we did it as soon as we did because the extra teeth had started to root themselves to the baby teeth which would have caused more problems later. Kelson will be without front teeth for almost a year. Good news is that his adult front teeth are aligned correctly and should come in perfectly. He is a bit embarrassed that his front toothless. He was happy to hear that he got to leave 4 teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy. He might break her bank tonight!

We have him home and he is eating his "special" Spiderman popcicles. Daddy went and got him Kung Fu Panda to watch. He is happy and comfortable. We are enjoying a lazy day. It's nice that it's cold and dreary outside. I like lazy days like this. We are so proud of our Kelson. He truly is an angel child to have gone through so much the past month without one single complaint!

I was shocked to see how big the teeth the pulled out were.
Where was he keeping all these teeth in his little mouth?

FHE

Last night we had FHE at G'ma's and Papa's house. Well, we usually do, but last night they prepared the lesson. We had to do before dinner because part of it took place outside and it would dark and cold soon. Too bad, Dad had to miss it. What a fun time the kids had! It will be one I hope they will remember. Papa started out by giving them treasure maps. He made one for each one of them to carry. He then gave them a little garden shovel so they could dig up their treasure.
Cade went first and found his immediately. Analise went second and had to dig a bit and get some extra help. Kelson found his easily as well. Each of them found these "diamonds" (as they called them). Each of them were different colors. They truly felt they found a treasure.

We then went inside to talk about "real" treasures. This took some convincing. G'ma took over with the lesson and led them in the right direction to figure out what a real treasure is- that is nothing you can buy or keep on earth. She then showed them her scriptures and taught them that Heavenly Father has given us a great treasure map, the scriptures, and just like digging for the "diamonds" we need to dig into the scriptures and read about how we can return with our Heavenly Father and families forever.
My hope is that they will look at these stones they got and remember this important lesson. Cade has really been into monetary items lately. He seems to never be happy with what he has and believes that he just has this one more thing then it will make him happy. Aren't so many of us like this? I hope this important lesson will stay with them forever. Thanks for the great lesson Papa and G'ma!




sorry if the video makes you sick- it was hard to film and walk steady!

No Action Today

We got back from the doctor's a little bit ago. The patch seems to be working and the fluids are even up just a little bit from Friday, so nothing exciting to report for now. More tests on Thursday...but at this point it looks like we may wind up going full term after all.

The frustrating thing will be going week by week. But I guess that is what we have gone through with all the others, too. No biggie.

Word up.

Help with Names

I haven't cleared this with the boss, but I thought it would be fun anyway.

As mentioned before, we haven't picked out baby names yet. Complicating the issue is our lack of knowledge on the gender. I first thought we could be efficient and choose a name that could go either way (Pat, Alex, Blair, etc.). But then I had an encounter with the cashier at our new local Bojangles the other day. It was a true Pat moment(the cashier's name was Lindsey...which I have heard for both girls and boys) and I'm still not sure if the cashier was male or female. What if this new one we have had the unfortunate unisex name, and also decided to dress and style their hair in a way that would make them indistinguishable to the common stranger?

So, we need two names. One boy, one girl. Want to help? Leave comments below and we will consider them. Just know upfront that we might not pick your suggestion, and even if we did there is no prize...other than a big "thank you" and maybe some appropriate hugging and kissing.

A few rough guidelines that we have made in the past and are trying to use again:

1 - We like unique-ish names. We both have unique names and for the most part have enjoyed that part of us.

2 - We aren't big fans of long names. Analise's name was pushing it because it is three syllables.

3 - We also would like to avoid a "k" sounding name. We already often confuse Cade & Kelson's names, and adding another "k" sound would really make it rough.

4 - As previous mentioned, we aren't big fans of unisex names (although I guess some might argue that the mispronunciation of Cade's name could cause it to sound like a female name...we didn't consider the name itself as unisex).

5 - For the boy's name, please avoid any names that start with the letter "S". We have picked out the middle name, which already starts with the letter "S", and his initials would become an unfortunate backward spelling of a part of the human anatomy.

No news...

...for now. I don't expect much until Monday. So if you've been checking regularly to find out what is going on, you should really spend more time with your family and quit worrying about us! I'm kidding of course.

I don't expect anything exciting to happen until Monday. I expect Shena will have a couple of pictures for you at some point this weekend, but I don't know when that will be.

BTW, Thursday night's Daily Show was funny too. Looks like I AM going to get to enjoy it again.

Jinx!

Ok...I'm not going to make it until 11:00. I'll be lucky to make it until 9:00.

There really aren't a whole lot of details to go over. I guess we jinxed ourselves by making the announcements so early. But, oh well. No biggie. It's not like we had anybody closely following the blog.

So after the ultrasound, the nurse sneaks in to Shena's room and says "I've got good news, you can go home." We were a little miffed because (as mentioned) we thought we were there until the baby came.

To make a long story short, apparently Shena's fluid retention was short of a miracle, but pretty remarkable and they didn't expect it. They were pretty sure that even with the over night fluids that she would still be low. But the ultrasound showed she was back to the "normal" (but still low) stage. She was in the 3rd percentile yesterday (I think I'm repeating myself now, but forgive me...I'm exhausted) and is now in the 17th percentile.

We got the doctor who made the call to come over and talk to us about the decision. She essentially said she was expecting to deliver our baby after seeing our chart first thing in the morning...expected the percentile to move to the 5th or 6th but no higher. But shen she got the ultrasound results, she felt so good about letting Shena go home that she didn't feel like she needed to make a special trip to give us any special instructions. She essentially told Shena just to "be a little extra lazy" and come back on Monday for another quick ultrasound to check the fluid levels.

I'm comparing it to a tire. They've re-filled the tire with air to see what it does. If it's going flat again by Monday, they will go ahead and induce. If the air has stayed in the tire, they will wait as long as they can (until full term if possible, which is the first week of December).

So we got home around 5:00-ish. Mom and dad brought the kids back to our house along with fast food for dinner. We appreciate all their help. I know they like living close by when it's time to see the grandkids for fun, but this is the drawback...they get roped in to helping out when things get hectic.

Of course, we'll keep you up to date.

Nighty, night.

We're Home - Details at 11:00pm

One of us will write a post later about test results. Everything is fine, but they sent us home until at least Monday.

Of course...

...we spread the word that we have been told that we won't be leaving the hospital until the baby gets here, now we hear that they will be discharging Shena this afternoon.

We are still waiting for the doctor who made that decision to come in and talk to us about it. We are a little concerned after the comments that were made by Shena's primary doctor and the doctor on call last night.

As for the rest of the day it was just a lot of waiting around for tests and results.

I took Kelson to Winston-Salem for his doctor's appointment. What a waste of 3 hours. We got there, and after waiting for 60 minutes, we saw the doctor for all of 3 minutes...just long enough for her to say "The biopsy was negative. Everything is fine there." Then she use some tweezers (maybe there were magic tweezers, I don't know) to pull the tape off his face. Then she said, see you later. Sheesh. I could have done that without spending $20 in gas and 3 hours of my life. (What's the deal with the waits, anyway? Why do doctor's get away with making us wait so long. SURELY there is a better way to time appointments so that patients don't have to wait so friggin' long. We do have other things going on. Please, somebody in the medical field explain why we can't improve the system. How about a phone call "check-in" so that we don't have to wait in the lobby for 30 minutes?)

After his appointment we stopped in to see Shena because he was crying missing his mom. We hung around for 60 minutes to go with her to get her ultrasound so that they could re-check the fluid levels and see if they had gone up. The appointment was supposed to be between 11 and 12...she finally got called in at 1:50. Kelson thought it was cool, but he couldn't make out the baby shapes in there. He did mention that he saw the baby "use the force" and he also said it looked like mommy "had a puppy in her tummy. I did, I saw a dog face."

We then ran home to pick up Cade from the school bus, I dropped the boys off at my mom's house, and now...here we sit. Waiting a little longer to see if they really are going to send Shena home.

Her fluid levels were in the 3rd percentile yesterday, and the nurse just told us she is back to the 17th percentile, which is essentially where she was last week. So I guess that's good.

I'm tired (3.5 hours doesn't cut it in my world), I'm hungry (haven't had the opportunity to eat besides one bite of Shena's hospital food (mmmm....yummy...blech) and two bites of her pudding (that wasn't so bad...when you are hungry, you take what you can get), and I'm sick of all of this. I'm just cranky right now. If it we were closely to Christmas I would give you all a big "bah humbug," but I won't do that right now.

I Feel Refreshed...

...after that 3.5 hours on the hard bed. I finally fell asleep around 3. Woke up about about every hour and finally stayed awake at 6:30.

I'm headed to the house right now to relieve Lettie and to shower, etc. Shena will have to have another ultrasound sometime this morning to check the fluid levels again. But we have no idea when that will be. So I'm going to take Kelson to the doctor and we'll hope that they don't make any decisions while I'm there.

Word to your mother.

The Michael Savage Rule

Here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27582910/displaymode/1176/rstry/27582369/

This is an interesting picture. Remember how I said I listen to Savage every now and then to remind me that it doesn't get you very far to call people names and scream? Another example is in the above picture. I would not be interested in talking to either of the guys holding the black signs. So what did they accomplish?

But the guy in the front has a pretty funny sign...even though he forgot a word and had to scribble it in the corner with pen afterwords.

But his sign brings up something that bugs the crap out of me. I hate that the rainbow has been hijacked the way it has. Why couldn't they have created their own symbol, been a little creative? I can't use the rainbow colors in rainbow form without someone misinterpreting that as support for their cause. And those dang Nazis, too. Hijacking the swastika like that. It had such a different, peaceful meaning before they turned it into a symbol of hate.

2:00 am, and I'm still going...these posts may get a bit weird (as if they weren't already) as the night goes on if this keeps up. At least Shena is sleeping peacefully. She'll need it.

Forget John Stewart - THIS is Funny

If you want, here is the link, but the title should be enough to make you laugh. "Palin Returns to Alaska to 2012 Chants." Really? I didn't bother to read the article. Surely there aren't many people who think that would be a good idea.

I've Missed John Stewart

Sitting here at 1 am, I've just thoroughly enjoyed my first Daily Show episode in years. It's an unanticipated joy that I didn't consider just prior to the election.

I used to enjoy the Daily Show quite a bit. I would watch it nightly. But then it just got a little over the top for me. They didn't even pretend to be non-partisan, and the audience became less and less evenly split, and it became unfunny to me. Sure, part of that was because I felt like I was the one being laughed at, and that doesn't make anybody feel good, but it was mostly because there was no "fairness" to it. I can laugh at myself sometimes, anybody who knows me knows that I laugh at myself regularly, but man, ease up a little and let's laugh at the other guys too. Let's laugh at everybody and all of our stupid mistkaes (catch that?) and all of our stupid relationships.

So I turned it off. My life was too short to have the blood pressure rising each night just before I hit the pillow to go to sleep. But I have to admit, I missed it. Just not enough to turn it back on.

But Wednesday night's episode was my first episode back. I was curious how it would be handled, and it was good! The show opened with Stewart holding up a New York Post, pretending to read while the audience went nuts over President-Elect Obama's picture, screaming clapping whooping (and a chant of "Yes we can" I might add). And then came the part that was funny (to me, anyway). Stewart does his typical shtick and pokes some fun at the new president. Relatively safe stuff, nothing harsh, so it was ok for the audience to laugh. Then Stewart did what he used to do for the current administration, he poked a little harder. He referenced the false rumor that Obama is Muslim. Reaction from the audience? Not laughter, but "ooohhhh..." as in, "don't do it, John. Don't make fun of OUR guy. I mean, he's OUR guy, John. You are on our team, you've been making fun of the enemy all these years and now you are going to make fun of our guy? Don't do it!"

Then Stewart used part of Obama's acceptance speech to set up another joke. As Obama got ready to thank his wife, he said "And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years, the rock of our family, the love of my life..." And then Stewart cuts in and says "Bill Ayers." Another poke. And another tepid reaction from the crowd. Polite laughter, I think because they didn't like their guy getting made fun of.

The guest on this show was Chris Wallace from FoxNews. An interesting choice. Maybe they wanted to try to rub it in Fox's face or something, I don't know. I would have thought they would be a little more interested in getting somebody they could celebrate with, but it was a great choice. It was that akward, tense, "I don't like you" uneasiness that plays so well on tv (that's the reason "The Office" is so popular, right?). John took his shots, Chris played a gracious loser and it was funny. But I couldn't help but wonder as Stewart was poking fun at Chris Wallace, he asked "What is Fox going to do now? You surely can't continue the way you've been going." (or something like that). And I wondered the same thing about The Daily Show. What will they do? They've lost their clowns in Washington. Will TDS continue chasing the Republicans and make fun of the guys who remain? Or do they truly dare keep their guns aimed at whoever is in the White House? From this episode, it looks like that might be the case, and I look forward to watching The Daily Show. Not because I think they will now ignore the Republicans and only make fun of the controlling party, but because I think now they will be a little more balanced about it. Which will make it funnier.

That's my two cents...and I'm not any closer to going to sleep than I was 20 minutes ago when I started this post. If you see my on the road tomorrow, I'd pull over and wait until I've gone by you...it might not be safe.

About that long night...

It's 11:30, and I can't sleep. I know, I know. "Whiney, whine, whine, whine. Shena's been carrying the baby for 9 months and you can't handle one night on an uncomfortable bed and not complain?"



What can I say. It's going to be a long night. Maybe I'll take more than the usual 15 minutes to get my fantasy football team ready to play this week.

The Office - 9 pm

Watching "The Office" on a small, crappy hospital TV with crappy sound and no ability to skip through the commercials. Man we are spoiled.

At least I have my blog to keep me entertained during the commercials. Aren't YOU glad I am being productive during commercial time? I knew you were.

Cook Out Shakes - 7:30 pm

So here is the first play by play.

We just had a couple of Cook Out shakes. Shena had an Oreo shake, I had caramel fudge. Her last food for a while. If tomorrow is the day, she won't be eating anything else for a while.

I'm spending the night in the hospital with her (just in case something happens overnight) and my sister Lettie is staying with the kids at the house. She'll get the boys out the door for school.

Our nurse's name (through the night) is Leigh Anne.

We are in room ***. I'm kidding. Do you really think I would post that on this blog? I'm not that crazy.

What else you want to know? The bed I'm going to sleep on feels hard already. Shena has already warned me that because of all the fluids she is getting that she will be up peeing all night...and I will have to help her with that (unhook the baby monitors), so it will be a long night.

It seems that the hospital is realtively quiet tonight. Down the hall from us are about 5 empty rooms. Seems like the last couple of times we were here it was packed. I remember having to wait for a room one time, and another time I remember them telling us we were lucky because we got one of the last 2 or 3 rooms.

I shouldn't have mentioned names in the last post. Shena is grilling me now. Worried we won't have names ready when the kid shows up.

Stay Tuned for play by play....

Cheeto here...

I'm going to do this a little different this time. When we had Analise, we had the blog, but I didn't find out until afterwards that we had an internet connection in the room, and so I didn't blog about it. I simply wrote down the story afterwords in Word and then posted it that way.

This time I'm going to do short posts to document the process. Again, this blog is mainly for posterity's sake, so if you get bored, tough cookies. We enjoy your coming by and visiting our little blog, but we aren't here for entertainment. If you want to be entertained, checkout my brother Adam's blog www.tigertooth.blogspot.com It even has some full frontal (male) nudity if you are into that kind of thing. And yes, I'm embarassed to say, he did wax before they took those pictures. The Arellano's aren't that hairless.

Anyway. Point is, I'll post as things happen. As Shena mentions in her post below, we don't know when that will be. Might be tomorrow afternoon, might be Monday. Just check in every now and then if you are curious where we stand.

Just don't expect pictures. I threatened Shena with a webcam, but she threatened to get a high priced attorney and take me for all I had if I did that. So no such action. But you can expect some still photos of the little one afterwards.

In case anyone was wondering, we haven't decided on a name yet. We still don't know if it is a boy or a girl, so we've got to come up with two...just so we are ready. I'm leaning towards Barrack if it is a boy and Oprah if it is a girl. But we'll just have to wait and see.




Funny Kid Quote of the Day

This was not the plan

I had an ultrasound, stress test, and 36 week check with my doctor this morning. All of this started about 10am. It was about 12:15pm when we found out the prognosis wasn't great. My doctor said the amniotic fluids went from 18% to 3% since last week. He said if I were 38 weeks that he would have sent me to the hospital to be induced immediately. The baby is active and looks great. Just the amniotic fluid is severly low. Because of this he sent me to the hospital anyway for IV fluids and monitored bed rest. I guess drinking gallons of water at home wasn't cutting it. He allowed us enough time to go home and get a bag packed. I finally HAD to do it! We got checked in and settled around 2pm this afternoon. I had to wait until after 5pm to hear what the game plans are going to be. We basically have 2 options. #1- start inducing labor tonight and have a baby sometime tomorrow. #2- start IV fluids tonight (more than 2 liters an hour) and check fluid levels again in the morning. If fluids have gone up significantly, then we can take it day by day until Monday. Monday is when my doctor is on call and we would really like to hold out for him. Either way, sounds like I'm here through the weekend. They won't discharge me until baby is born. Right now we have chosen option #2. The longer I can wait the better but if it's in the best interest of the baby then we will be inducing soon. Many plans have had to be rearranged. Cheeto is doing a great job juggling it all. Thanks to great family that live close we are very well taken care of. Cheeto brought the kids by for a little bit this evening. It was good to see them. Analise was a bit timid with the environment but the boys did great. It goes to show you that just because you have 3 uneventful pregnancies doesn't mean that all will go like that again. This pregnancy has had it's ups and downs and looks like it will still make life interesting for the next few days. And here I thought I was going to have to decide right before Thanksgiving or right after Thanksgiving. I guess I'm not deciding anything. It's all up to this baby and the doctors now. I surrender!

Homeland Creamery

Yesterday was Kelson's first field trip. Excited isn't a great word to describe how he felt. He was bouncing off walls. I was worried they were going to postpone it until next Wednesday because of the drizzling weather. Kelson is suppose to have his oral surgery next Wednesday and would've had to miss it. So I was more than thrilled when I got the call that all was on as planned. I was able to carpool with other mommies which made it really easy on me. I had so much fun with him. He genuinely appreciated me with him and that's all I ask for. There was a lady there that taught the kids all about how a dairy farm operates. Both classes road on a hay ride around to the different fields of cows. First thing Kelson asked was, "Mom, is this a farm?" I said, "Sure is." He said, "Well, I like the way Papa C's farm smells better." (Papa C has a potato/wheat/barley farm in Idaho) Kelson was so proud of his Papa C yesterday. He acted like he had the coolest Papa ever because he was a farmer. Kelson went on and on telling stories to the his class about riding the combine, planting in the tractor last spring, riding four wheelers, digging up potatoes, this list went on. It was sweet. Both my boys say they are going to move to Idaho to Papa's farm when they get older. Funny kids! I think they enjoy the wide open freedoms the farm has to offer. I miss that for my kids!

Ok... back to the field trip. :) The first field we went to was designated for only milking cows. The lady talked to them about how they are only female cows that has already had a baby so now she got put on the milking line. Many of these cows starting jumping up on each other (if ya know what I mean ;). All the kids thought this was hilarious. All the adults were eyeing each other and laughing. Kelson said, "Look mom- they are wrestling!" What could I say? Moving on... the second field was only for pregnant cows. This brought up a bunch of questions as you can imagine. One little girl as me, "How does the baby cow get out?" I looked at the teacher and she suggested that that would be a great question to ask the nice lady. She did a great job answering it. All she said was, "Behind the two back legs there is an opening that the baby calf comes out front feet first." Then this little boys said, "And it REALLY HURTS! I saw a video of my mom having a baby and she screamed A LOT!" This is when both teachers said in unison, "MOVING ON! Let's go see the horses!" PHEW!!! Bullet dodged! One little girl still had one question, "How does the baby cow get in the mommy cows tummy?" The lady just said, "Who wants ice cream?" Another one dodged! It was an interesting few minutes on the hay ride. Once back at the house all the kids got to milk a pretend cow. Kelson wasn't too sure he should be grabbing those "things", as he called them. He did it and thought it was cool after he took his turn. They were allowed to pet a baby calf that they were feeding with a bottle. Then they moved them to the machinery on the milking line. It surprised some of the kids that machines milked the cows. It was cold and they had given the hard as rock ice cream. So we ate lunch first and then enjoyed the freshly made ice cream. What a treat! It was only noon and we were on our back to the school. Kelson had a great time and thanked me over and over for coming with him. What a fun morning spent with my little boy! These are the moments I cherish and I'm so glad that my husband works so hard to allow me to have these opportunities! They grow up so fast and I try to do as much as can with them before the time is past. I just wish daddy could have the same experiences with the kids. Fathers give up a lot to allow mom to stay home with the kids. For this, I'm forever grateful!

You're Getting verrryyy slleeeeepy...

I wasn't going to do any bashing today. It's a great moment in US history and I wanted to enjoy it along with everybody else who is glad that we can now get on with it.

But I had one observation late last night that I wanted to get posted before somebody accused me of not having the original thought myself...of only repeating what I had heard on one of those radio shows or tv stations or something.

I didn't watch President-Elect Obama's speach live. I was busy watching re-runs of "NewsRadio" on Hulu.com (it's still one of my all time favorite shows). But after his speech, I came across what was listed as a "raw" transcript of the speech. Towards the end of the speech I noticed a few curious lines. After Preident-Elect Obama would end a statement with "Yes we can" the transcript listed the audience reaction as repeating back to him "Yes we can."

It seemed a little creepy to me, so I watched the end of the video (man, there were alot of people there, an incredible sight) to make sure this wasn't some Right Wing Conspiracy to make him look bad. But no, there it was. Several times after he gave the call "Yes we can" those in attendance repeated back to him "Yes we can."

In the (not to distant) future:

Setting: a public classroom, 2nd or 3rd graders...it doesn't really matter

Teacher: "Good morning class! It's time to get started! Yes we can!"

Class (in unison): "Yes we can."

Teacher: "I would like you all to open your "Modern Day Presidents: Barack H. Obama" textbooks to page 44 (get it? page 44? Man, I'm clever). Yes we can."

Class (in uinson): "Yes we can."

Teacher: "Let us begin with the chapter entitled, "How President Obama Saved the World." Barack H. Obama Jones (because by this point every other kid is named Barack H. Obama, they just keep their last name), will you please read the paragraph that begins "In 2000 when the Republicans STOLE the election from the Chosen party...?" Yes we can."

Class (in unison): "Yes we can."

....and so on and so forth.

I've Got To Let It All Out

****Fair Warning - Post for Posterity's Sake - Rambling will commence in 3....2....1


I'm not a writer. Anyone who has read my posts knows that. So this is just for me and my posterity to look back on in 10, 20, maybe 30 years and see what may have changed in that time. Feel free to read on if you'd like...even comment if you want to, but just don't say you weren't warned. I just felt like I should put some of this down in writing.

If you are easily offended...I'm not apologizing. I'm sure I'm going to tick some people off, I'm sure people who in the past referred to me as an "acquaintance" will now claim they've never heard of me. I honestly don't care. Not that this is going to be some kind of raving, Michael Savage type of post. I just want to write some of this down because I'm sure I will forget how I felt in a couple of years (that kool-aid they serve seems to be working pretty well for everybody else, so I'm sure it will get to me sometime, too) I just am not into the whole politically correct thing. Maybe it's the fact that I'm 1/2 Mexican that I think I can get away with it. Either way, this is all just my opinion and the way I see it. I don't think anybody can accuse me of trying to force my views on anybody. I like to think that I regularly (but not all the time) listen to what others have to say, regardless of how much I disagree with them.

I also want to point out that I don't claim any unique or special knowledge of the subject. I wasn't a poly-sci major in college, but I don't think that disqualifies me from having something to say about politics in general. I've typically voted Republican in the past, and I would think most would describe me as conservative. But I also think (as I mentioned earlier) that I'm relatively well rounded. I don't just listen to people who think like I do. Just so you know my spheres of influence, on my bookmarks inside a "News" folder I have the following links that I look at each morning (in the order that they appear): CNN, Drudge Report, Google News, FoxNews, MSNBC, USAToday, News-Record, CNBC. When I'm in the car, I tend to listen to only a small handful of radio stations. I'm rarely in the mood for just music, so I listen to 2 Guys Named Chris on Rock 92 in the mornings (for my 10 minute commute), Neal Boortz on FM Talk 101.1 around the lunch hour (for the 10 minutes I'm grabbing a bite...if I grab a bite at all), Allan Handelman on FM Talk 101.1 on the drive home (another 10 minutes), and sometimes I swallow real hard and listen to about 5 minutes worth of Michael Savage when I'm driving later in the evening (also on FM Talk 101.1). As for television, I don't watch any news broadcasts regularly (unless SportsCenter counts), and I don't watch any newsmagazines either. I tend to stick to scripted shows (like Jerry Springer...kidding) and sports events. Oh, and when I happen past a Rhino Times rack, I will usually pick one up and browse through it.

So, let's summarize...online I get (I think) an even mix of news (CNN, MSNBC & News-Record vs. Drudge & FoxNews). On the radio I get (I think) an even mix of political commentary (2Guys is relatively neutral, Boortz is Libertarian but uses his time on the air to bash the Democrats & Handelman, when he talks politics, CLAIMS he is independent, but uses his time to bash the Republicans...and Michael Savage is just too crazy to listen to for very long, I listen to remind me that no one wants to hear what you have to say if you are screaming at them and calling them names).

I also want to say this before I say much more...I'm not racist, I'm really not (but isn't that what all racists say? So I'm sure some of you will judge me and say that I am even if I say I'm not, just because of some of the things that I say. Truth is, I'm not...not anymore than you are. You can't know my heart, so you'll just have to decide for yourself, but again, I don't care if you think I am or not). I like to make the same claim that I've heard from other minority groups in the past. "I can't be racist because I'm a minority." Truth is, I HAVE experienced racism directly. I had a very serious girlfriend (post mission...so when I say serious, I mean serious) break up with me because I was Mexican and we were getting a little too close to permanent commitment. She said our cultures just didn't go together. "I mean, how would we celebrate Christmas? Mexicans do things differently." I also overheard some comments from her parents regarding my ethnicity. (Now that I look back on it...maybe it was just an excuse. She just needed an excuse to break up with me because she didn't like the way I slurped my cold cereal in the morning and she thought the racism route was a good way to go). My reaction when I heard all this? At first I was a little shocked, maybe hurt, but more than anything it was so ridiculous I laughed about it (not the break up part, the racism part...I won't lie, my heart got broken because of the break up, not because of the Mexican comments). Not the only time I've faced it, but my first obvious experience. I've faced it since, but it doesn't bother me. Whatever. As I said, I'm not a PC kind of guy.

Now, here we are. It's Election night and we are on the verge of history (or so they say on TV). It's cool, it really is. I've been glad to see that, for the most part, the race issue hasn't come up. I would have been extremely disappointed if either party tried to use it to their advantage. That's not to say I haven't heard comments. There have been the idiots who would try to make me feel that I was racist if I didn't vote for Obama...because that is the only reason somebody WOULDN'T vote for Obama, because they hate black people, right? There have also been a few on the other side who have tried to imply that it's "us against THEM (you know, the black folk)."

I'm also glad that we will be getting past this "we've never had a black president before" elephant in the room. Who knows why it took so long. I don't think it was a racism issue, but I know others would argue with me. I just think the right black guy hasn't come along (yes, I used the present tense). I disagree with those who think this is the right black guy, but there are a lot more people voting for him than the old guy. Which brings up a point, are we sure that all these people that are voting for the black guy aren't voting against the old guy because he is old? Isn't that ageism? Isn't that just as despicable as racism? (Eat your heart out Michael Scott) Maybe not. I'm just saying.

One thing that seems to be happening, which I consider racism, is the contingent of people who are voting for Obama because he IS black. Issues and politics be damned, he's BLACK, so let's vote for him. Show everybody how progressive we are. Prove to the world we aren't racist! Whoops! What did we just do? Proved to the world how racist we are by voting for a guy BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN. I'm not saying everybody who voted for him did so because he was black. I'm just saying there seems to be a lot of people out there who ARE voting for him because of it. It's like all us white folk are afraid the world will think badly of us if we don't vote for the first black guy who gets a nomination. Forget the fact that we are already far more progressive racially than most of Europe. Have you read the accounts of racism that take place around a soccer pitch overt here? It's ridiculous. I can't tell you the last time I personally heard racial epithets at a sporting event, let alone anywhere else in public. And yet we are still trying to satisfy the rest of the world and try to make the rest of the world happy (what will they say about us if we don't elect Obama?), regardless of what it might mean to us as a country.

I have to be honest, I can't say I completely blame a black person for getting caught up in the excitement of having "one of their own" (I thought "we" were all Americans, but that is just my rosy point of view) running for president and voting for him. I've felt a twinge of pride when a Hispanic person is on the national stage for one reason or another (and a proportionate amount of shame, when it is for a bad reason). But I can honestly say that when it comes right down to it I realized just how silly it was to revel in those feelings. I realized there was an underlying amount of racism that was displayed in them.

As I'm writing this, Shena is watching her DVR'd episode of the what I consider the Devil incarnate, Oprah (I think I just made more enemies with that comment than anything else I've said up to this point). Which brings me to another thing that bugs the crap out of me. Why do famous people think that I care who they are voting for? More often than not they don't know what they are talking about or what "their" candidate stands for. They just want to be seen as being part of the right (make that left) group. Why is it ok for a billionaire woman who has a popular television show use that show for one particular candidate or party without running foul of election laws (of which I have no real knowledge...I thought there was something in there about equal air time for candidates...plenty of ignorance on my part in this area). Ok, ok. You got me. I'm just jealous that I don't have her money, right? I have to go by a nickname "Cheeto" and she can be known by just a single letter "O." That's the real reason I'm jealous. She saves so much more ink than I do.

I have to admit I'm a little concerned about what the next four (although I'm sure it will be eight) years will bring for us economically. I work in personal finance, and we try our hardest to help our clients prepare for and then live through retirement. We use every tool we can to help those clients hang on to as much of their money as possible. It's true we live under a form of Socialism now. That is what taxes do, but that doesn't mean it can't get, what I consider, worse. I just don't see how taking money from people who have legally earned it to give to someone else is a good policy. It's a good policy to get elected, and it may be a good policy to STAY elected, but I don't see it being good for the country as a whole. But, I could stand to be corrected. Maybe in eight years we are living in a Utopian society and everybody is happy as a peach. I just doubt it.

I'll bet by now you are thinking I voted for the old white guy, huh? Actually, no, I voted for the only other option on the ticket here in NC, Bob Barr of the Libertarian candidate. I couldn't pick Bob Barr out of a crowd. Don't know what the guy looks like, don't know what he stands for. He could be an alien named Dkleudrggg who has taken human form for all I know. Point is, I'm tired of the two party system. I'm tired of the media and the elephants and the donkeys making us think that one of the two represents the general public and we have to pick between these two because they are the only candidates out there. That's right, I took a proverbial vote bullet for the rest of the country. Truth is, it won't matter. It will help McCain lose and Obama win, but I hope that there will be enough others out there who vote "neither" that we can start getting a foot hold into the system and expose the Republicans and the Democrats for what they really are...One Party. They are the same. Obama won't be running the country anymore than Bush was. It will be run by lobbyists and cabinet members who tow the party line. It's not about what's best for the country, it's about what's best for the Democratic Party (or the Republican Party).

And don't get me started on those who say that if you are a Republican all you do is regurgitate what Limbaugh tells you to believe. Have you talked to an Obama supporter? They will use the word "change" 20 times. Where do you think they got that from? Look at that sign behind Obama's head. What's it say? And that is what they repeat back to you. They all got caught up in the moment, they felt the white guilt, they fell for the "it's Bush's (and therefore the Republicans) fault." He's a smooth talker, no doubt about it.

To me, this feels like getting strapped into the roller coaster at Space Mountain. The button has been pushed and the cars are on their way onto the track. No turning back now. You can't get off until the end of the ride...in eight years. We'll just have to see what the ride brings.

Have you notice the rambling yet. I think I followed a bit of a train of thought in the beginning...but now it's just getting ugly. I'll end there for now. Let's just hope this doesn't drag out until December (why is the party that lost convinced that there was voter fraud? I guarantee the party who loses will start the court proceedings on Wednesday)...the stock market can't handle it.