Sorry for the extended break. I have been doing a lot of developing over the last few weeks. For starters, I am working on a series for the blog that is like a life story. I have been reading Tim Russert’s book, Big Russ and Me, and I am inspired to do a little writing about myself.
Second, I am in the process of moving my WordPress account from the basic web-based to a domain-based platform. That will allow me to pay less for my e-mail and play around with some ads to play for the thing. I am hoping to have that rolled out in mid to late April.
Today is Saint Patrick’s Day. I remember when I was working at Wyndham Consumer Finance some folks in accounting were throwing a Saint Patrick’s Day party. They were looking for trivia questions, so I gave them a few that were Catholic based. The primary organizer got a somewhat distasteful look and and stated, ‘I think we should leave Catholicism out of this.’ To which I replied, ‘Then you shouldn’t be celebrating ‘Saint Patrick’s Day, should you…’
It’s somewhat comical to me, that in our increasingly secular society, we loose sight of the fact that so much of our history is based on religous ideas and people. The two largest cities in California, as well as its capitol, are named in honor of Mary, St. Francis of Assisi and the Blessed Sacrament.
Los Angeles: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de la Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola). ’Our Lady’ being the Blessed Virgin Mary.
As you enjoy your beer and beef (or in my case, beer and yummy raw food something. I don’t know yet), try to give some thought to those who went before you and try to consider the impact you will have on others.
Hi everyone. I have decided to let my newest daughter, Leela Joy make her first blog entry. Keep in mind that she is only three days old, so don’t be surprised at what she says….
Wow. This place sure is bright. It is a lot brighter than where I came from. I must admit that I don’t really know where that is, or in this case, was. I just know that this place is brighter.
I noticed almost from day one (six days ago) that this place is filled with strange people of different sizes. There is a ‘No-well’, a ‘Sam-e’, and a ‘Mary Leela’. I am beginning to suspect that I am the ‘Mary Leela’, but I am not sure. Most of the time they call me ‘Mary’, then ‘Leela’ and makes some cryptic comments about getting the name wrong. Maybe if they just picked one name, it would not be so difficult.
Another thing I find interested is the amount to time people spend in near silence around here. I think that I am something very special because whenever people are around me, they speak with an awed, almost reverent hush. At first I thought it was because they did not want to disturb me, but I am beginning to think that it is out of respect for who I am. That rocks!
Today I made a trip somewhere I had not been before. It was very, very bright and colder than I am used to. The ceiling was very high and light blue with a single light way up at the top. I didn’t stay long because the guy who carries me around didn’t want me outside too long, just long enough to be exposed to something called ‘nature’. It seemed important, so I went along. All in all it was not bad.
There are also other people who come around sometimes, but don’t seem to be here as much. There is a ‘gram-e’, a ‘popa’, a ‘pat’ and most curiously, a ‘ral-fee’. The ‘ral-fee’ is around more than most and she is taller too.
All I do is eat, poop, pee, cry and sleep. I am really good at all of them.
I am also good at being cute. Look:
I decided to put in a picture of my big sister, Mary. She’s cute too. I think she is the ‘Mary’ of ‘Mary Leela’.
It’s that time of Mary’s life where she needs to learn to use the toliet. Tomorrow I start to potty train my current youngest. All indications are that it will go well. We have a baby toliet, underware and Raisinets. I’ll keep you all posted to let you know how it goes.
Ok! Let’s get started. But first, happy birthday to my sister, Joy, who is now the same age as me. But I still retain my right to boss her around.
And, very important, if you have not already done so, go to Name That Tune and listen to the song I posted and suggest a name. It will take about three minutes.
Here is Noelle, dressed up for dinner. We spent Thanksgiving in Carson City at my in-laws, Ralphie and Steve.
Next, we have, from left to right, Lisa, Tom, Casey and Steve. Tom and Lisa are Steve’s brother and wife. Casey is my wife and Steve is Ralphie’s husband.
Here we have Mary Elizabeth, waiting for food. She is good at that.
Here is Sammy, with food.
This next one is Sammy and Noelle. I won’t name the lady in the picture because she will hurt me. Badly.
Here is another family shot. The young man with the spatchula attached to his head is Scotty. He is Casey’s little itty bitty baby brother. In the foreground is Noelle and her first favorite Grandma, Ralphie.
Here is Mary asleep. Awwwww
Here is the birthday girl with another birthday girl. This is Joy (birthday today) and Mary (birthday on the day the picture was taken).
This is mom and dad’s oven. It the original oven, which makes it about 50 years old. Still works fine. Oh, and that is Joy and my niece busy izzy.
Today is the first birthday of my youngest daugther, Miss Mary Elizabeth. Here is the story:
In December of 2005, Casey, the kids and myself were in Fair Oaks for Chirstmas. My mother and I were at Chili’s having lunch and she asked if we were planning on having any more kids. I said that if we did, it was because God wanted us to have more. Turns out that was the case.
About five or six days later, on December 27th Casey and I were in our hotel room. The kids were asleep. We weren’t. You get the idea. Seconds later…
Casey and I meet the news of another little one with mixed feelings, as most parents do (at least I imagine). We decided not re-visit the OB-GYN who delivered two of our childern. We lost a little girl, Julia Grace, in January of 2005 and that was the OB who we were with then. Those feelings are hard to leave so we decided to go with a mid-wife. Her name is April and she was really nice. She did not do home deliveries, which was fine with us. Neither of us were really comfortable with a home delivery. Turns out that didn’t really matter.
The pregnancy progressed as most do. I didn’t want to know the sex, but Casey and her father were at the ultra-sound and couldn’t keep a secret very well. I had decided on the name Mary Elizabeth a few years ago. That is an entirely different story.
Mary was due on September 19, though I didn’t think that was the date, given the earlier information. The 19th came and went. So did the 20th and the 21st. This continued until October 3, 2006. A friend had told us that high alititude helps labor along. I took the day off of work, made our visit to the midwife and went to Mt. Charleston, which is around 8,000 feet. While up there we went to a meadow near the top. On the way up Casey had commented that she wished she could have the baby between two and four, just to get it over with. While at the meadow, now named Mary Meadow, Casey’s waters broke she started to have contractions. We decided to head down the hill. On the way down we timed the contractions at between five and six minutes. No pain, just pushing. Made it home and Casey went made a few phone calls and went to the bathroom. At about 3:25 she called me into the room. Water was all over the floor. I called Nathan (a good friend) to come and get the kids and then we got everything ready to go. Casey and retired to the bed and I went to get her. She looked at me and told me that she was not going anywhere. Home delivery it was. First I called our doula, Kim and then I called 911 and they told me what to do. I got a shoe lace to tie the cord off and waited for the head. Kim showed up and helped Casey while I concentrated on bringing my newest child into the world. About 25 mintues after she called me in the bathroom, Mary Elizabeth was born in our bed in Las Vegas. The parametics had arrived during that time and loaded us all up into to ambulance and off we went. Kim was a great support, keeping the parametics from doing anything we didn’t want.
Mary gave us her obligitory cries and the looked around with an alertness and peacefulness that only a newborn can show. She and I regrarded each other for a while with Casey was rolled to the ambulance. She soon drifted off and that was that. Today she is a year old and doing the amazing things that all one-year olds do.
