Sneak Peek

Heeeeeeere's Davis! The 8 lb 14 oz, 22 inch long wonder, born at 4:38 am. 

Turns out birthing centers have poor lighting compared to super-bright hospitals, so the pics we have so far aren't great. Above is the best shot of Davis' face. His head is still swollen and red from the cord being tightly wrapped around his neck, so who knows what he'll look like in a week or two. We think this boy might actually look more like The Lovely Cynthia (does that make him TLD?) - comment your thoughts.

TLC woke us up with a sharp gasp at 2 am when her water broke. Being nine days early, TLC's Mom hadn't arrived yet (she comes Thurs) so our good friend Jenny graciously agreed to watch our kids as we booked it down to the birthing center. TLC has been having real contractions for weeks now and didn't quite know when to go in, so the burst water was an answer to prayers.

Just 2.5 hours after we woke up, we had a baby boy. The midwives and I were not expecting the process to go so quickly; it took two pushes, less than a minute, for the delivery. I was in a state of quasi-shock when I caught Davis.

Cynthia deserves some mad props for this one. We were dissatisfied with the hospital deliveries for Jordan and Carter so TLC decided to have Davis naturally and in a water birth (I guess we're officially Portland hippies). I describe the process as being fast; she describes it as excruciatingly painful. During her pushing she screamed "I'm gonna die!" and "I don't want to do this!". She said she felt like he was so big that she'd rip in two pieces. When the midwives said it was time to push out the placenta, TLC flatly refused; she was spent.

This shot is included not because it's a good shot, but because it was meaningful to the boys. I told them before taking it that it would be the very first pic of all three of our boys. That awed them a little bit and they were staring at it immediately after it was taken.

Davis, so far, seems to be a really good baby. A cute kid, a cute cry, seems to eat well, and is quiet. While he was in the womb, TLC would often comment that he would respond to touch really well. The midwives also noticed this during an appointment and said he liked to play. Now that he's here, he's really responsive and interested in his environment.

Wow. This is going to be really fun. Welcome to the Crazy Clan, little one!

Quilt, part 1

Jordan's school had an open house last week. The main purpose was to show us the awesome Egyptian decorations set up for the school's "Culture Week". Jordan also took us down to his classroom to pick up the above 'quilt' that he made. Among the quilt patterns, there are four tiles that describe some of Jordan's favorite things.

The drawing of frogs and the drawing of our family made sense, but I couldn't quite understand the middle left drawing...was it a house?...a store?...a rocket? Luckily, on the back of the quilt, all of the squares were explained.

That's where I found out what my son's favorite place is:

Yes, it really says The Pot Store.

Uhh...

I can explain that...

What Jordan means is the CERAMIC store. Yeah, ceramics. A few months ago, we took the boys to one of those ceramic studios where you purchase a bowl or plate, paint it up, and come back a few days later when it's glazed and toasty from the kiln. Jordan has quite an artistic nature so it's no surprise that he would enjoy the process enough to call it his favorite place.

This is the dinosaur that Jordan painted with Mommy's help

Carter, ever the financial-minded child, picked out a bank shaped like a soda can. You can probably already tell from the not-quite-even layers that I helped him with this one. I for one thought it was clever to use a Poké Ball instead of the Pepsi logo.

You know what else you could do with that bank? Hide your weed in there!

Quilt, part 2

But here's the real reason Jordan's quilt was so remarkable...

I love playing catch. Probably because it was one of the few activities I felt like my dad and I could enjoy together in my formative years. There's just something about the sound of baseball smacking a leather web that's almost magical to me. I've played catch with TLC for years (even during all three pregnancies) and now the boys are old enough to play. I have seriously been choked up after playing catch with my boys a few times.

So you can imagine how great I felt when I saw Jordan's favorite thing to do:

I promise it doesn't say doll. We'll just have to work on those lowercase b's

The 'playing ball' pic is middle-right. Jordan specifically pointed out that it is a picture of him playing catch with me. I give him an A+.

Pioneer Century 2011

Someday, in the far future, I'll look back on last Saturday as one of the dumbest, the craziest, the most painful, the most awesomest things I've ever done. I biked my first century ride (100 miles); it's the biking equivalent of running a marathon...and I'm happy to be alive.

and all I got was a lousy photo

Truth be told, this has been a goal of mine for quite some time. I've ridden over a thousand miles in preparation for this century, and I was really excited to finally give it a go...but it was much harder than I anticipated. I had the most fun 55 miles of my life on a bike; too bad the ride was 102 miles.

Here are the important stats:

Total Distance = 102.21 miles

Total Time = 6:51:57

Average Speed = 14.8 mph

And here's a mile-by-mile log of highlights/lowlights and a few more stats:

Mile 0 - Man, these bike events are cool. Lots o' cool and weird bikes to ogle and stories to hear. I fill up on free granola and yogurt, say goodbye to the wifey, and head out at 7:45.

Mile 12 - As I'm zooming by beautiful farmland with Mt Hood in the background, I start to notice painful spasms (like charley horses) in my calf muscles. I stretch them out as best as I can, but I start to get a little worried - I've never had this problem before. Turns out they stayed painful for the next 68 miles.

Mile 17 - I start to feel more bumps through my bike. I wonder if my rear tire is losing air, but it doesn't get worse, so I don't check until after the ride is over. Turns out it was a flat (oops...).

Mile 20 - We start climbing the 3-mile ascent of the largest hill of the course. Which brings me to my next stat:

Total Elevation Gain = 4414 ft

This particular hill was so killer that I didn't see anyone biking over 9 mph. I saw one lady fall off her bike onto the roadside in agony and say "I just wanted to get to the top!"

Mile 25 - This was the coolest part of the ride. That giant hill we just climbed? Time to go down the other side. It was a fairly technical descent and I had to apply the brakes a few times to ensure I'd make the turns. Even so, I went faster than I've ever gone on a bike:

Maximum Speed = 49 mph

If I had known how close to 50 I had been, I would have eased up on the brakes!

Mile 48 - This is where the headwind started. That foul, nasty headwind that everyone started complaining about the rest of the day. It never left.

Mile 50 - Here's where I saw a guy hop off his bike and puke on the roadside. That's when I first realized "What I am doing is stupid! And I kinda love it!" This is also around the spot where people stopped saying "hi" while passing each other.

Mile 55 - A wonderful fajita lunch. Most people don't go on for the remaining 45 miles, so it's a celebratory atmosphere at lunch. Around this time, eating becomes a chore; a necessary evil. This was my fourth large meal of the day. Why so much food? Here's my next stat:

Calories Burned (estimated) = 6970

That's the equivalent of eating ALL of this:

...and still having enough room to eat an In-N-Out burger, fries, and shake.

Mile 70 - Here's where I noticed that my body was having trouble regulating temperature. I was frozen in the wind, and boiling in the heat at the same time. I was showering myself with water and ended up running out of liquid a few miles before the next rest stop. How hot was it?

High Temperature = 94

It was the hottest day of the year so far, actually. My hottest training ride before this was probably 68 degrees.

Mile 82 - I got to the last rest stop and realized that I could not force myself to eat anymore. I knew I'd be out of energy by the end, but I couldn't shove down more than two pineapple slices. My legs no longer hurt, but I think it's because my body went into survival mode; goosebumps spread all over my skin, and my thought processes started to slow down. My biking pace slowed 20%.

Mile 100 - Holy crap! I did it! Look at me, Mom, I biked a century! But...wait a second...where's the end of the route? Nowhere in sight. I keep pedaling and hoping for the end (or death, whichever comes first). I saw another large hill in front of me and I almost went berserk.

Mile 102.21 - I finally make it back. I see my wife snapping shots and my boys run out to greet me. I don't think they'll ever understand how happy I was to see them.

Wow. I will never, ever do this again.

Until next year, that is.

Last Bump

Any day now...

The due date is the 23rd.

Japanese Garden

We finally visited the Japanese Garden in Forest Park a few weeks ago. Forest Park is an amazing place. You'd never guess that somewhere in all those rolling hills and trees that there's a zoo, an authentic Japanese garden, an arboretum, the International Rose Test Garden, children's museum, war memorial, etc.

I think the boys enjoyed this garden a bit more than the Chinese garden because there was a scavenger hunt with a prize at the end. We didn't have to worry about them being bored the whole time because of the promised reward (which ended up being a bookmark...lame).

I don't have any stories to tell, but here are some pics of the trip.