No updates...

I (Jared) have been studying all day... Tara has been fighting the real battle, no A/C and 2 small kids. I'm very lucky to have her as my wife. I've caused a little grief at times, but my great looks and intelligence make up for it... right, babe?

I can say one thing about anesthesia school, and I'll quote a dear friend who also made the choice to do this for a living. "This ain't no joke!" I concur with that statement. You can have a ton of clinical experience, but it doesn't matter. You are now learning things that keep people alive... full agonist, partial agonist, noncompeting antagonist... and the genetics that dictate whether or not a drug will give the desired effect, or if the cimetidine you bought over the counter is going to interfere with the anesthesia plan I wanted to follow.... We study @ 10-12 hours a day, everyday.

Tara and Porter came to see me on Labor Day weekend. I had a great time, I think they did too. We went to the Fort Worth Zoo, and a lot of places to eat. Porter and I played a lot... I was usually the tiger and he was the hunter. Needless to say, I was pretend killed a lot. I can't wait to be home, even if its for long weekend.

Laughing and Hiccuping Porter

I love to hear Porter laugh. It's hard to get it on video because we usually don't have a video camera handy, but now that we have video on our phones it's much easier. Here is a video we took the other night of him laughing. He had been laughing so hard he gave himself he hiccups. We just caught the end of it, but still got a little footage. ***Note: This video is not great--it's sideways and I can't figure out how to turn it up. It was for the sound more than the picture.***

More spearfishing

New fish pics!

Big triggerfish

Jared and Scott

Fish!

Here are pictures from Jared's spearfishing trips.

Jared and diving buddy Trip.

The end of the day...

African Pompano

Spearfishing Season is upon us

Here is a picture of a cobia Jared shot on a recent outing...
He went out again today. More pictures to follow.

Me and Daddy

Watching the big TV.....

I <3 Daddy!

Porter loves his Daddy.  He always watches him and laughs and smiles at him like he is the greatest thing ever.  Here are some pictures from Sunday afternoon.  

This little piggy

Porter's been a little unpredictable lately with his eating and sleeping habits. Like, not eating or sleeping. This evening I guess he finally got hungry. He ate a whole bowl of cereal, a jar of prunes (should be fun later), and drank a 4 oz bottle. That look on Jared's face is him thinking he's going to get some good sleep tonight, and the look on Porter's face is him thinking he might puke if he moves.....

Day 1

The Daddy person will be out of town for the next 4 weeks on business, so we will be keeping him updated on everything via the blog. This morning we left the house around 4:30 so Jared could be at the airport in time to leave on a 6:00 flight. We left Porter with Nana rocking him back to sleep after a bottle. He has not been feeling well the last couple of days, so we had planned to take him to the doctor in the afternoon when I could get away from work. He started feeling better throughout the morning though, so we just cancelled the appointment. Porter hung out with Nannie and Aunt Monkey (yes, that is a real person) while Mama, Brooke, and I hit the Malbis mall--hard. We did some serious damage in a couple of hours. We had a blast. This evening Porter had a little cereal, got a bath, and had a bottle before bed. He didn't think he was quite ready to go to bed at 8:00, but a little rocking convinced him he was sleepy after all. I know it's a bad habit to start--I did try putting him to bed without rocking, but he was a little fussy, so I had to go get him.

We're eating a little cereal.

It appears to be fun.

Little fat boy.

Sunday afternoon nap with daddy.

Porter's Birth Day

So here is the L&D post. It took a few days to get together, but finally it is finished....

One of the last known images of me while I was pregnant. Take a good look...... You may never see me this way again. Not that I don't love Porter to death, but I just need to have a little distance from the pregnancy memories and get a little more sleep.

I guess the "labor" probably started on Tuesday, November 11th. I woke up and felt like I was going to puke. Jared and some of our friends had been sick over the weekend, so I thought I must be coming down with what they had. I had my 38 week prenatal visit that day, so I had to get up and get going. After I was up, I didn't feel as bad, so I just blew it off and didn't mention it at my appointment. My regular doctor was on vacation (fine time for me to go into labor), so I saw Dr Bodie instead. He's a family friend and is super nice and an excellent doctor, so I didn't mind. He "checked" me and said there was no way in hell he would even discuss induction. I wasn't favorable.... It could be a week or 3..... Go home and kick your feet up.... The going home was going to happen, but not the kick my feet up part. I had an agenda for the week. I had taken maternity leave starting the previous Saturday, and was going to use the next week to go into nesting overdrive---clean out the cabinets, and even tackle the dreaded junk drawer(s) in the kitchen.

Back to Tuesday. I spent the rest of the day sleeping on the couch and feeling pretty miserable. I didn't even eat anything (very strange for me). Jared had to wake me up that night to tell me to go to bed. I tossed and turned for several hours, couldn't get comfortable, and still felt queasy. About 11:30pm I finally decided I would medicate myself, so I took tylenol with benadryl and sat on the edge of the tub eating rolaids until I felt like I had taken an adequate dose for my illness.

I woke up around 3:30am and felt a little funny---and I'll just leave it at that. Soon thereafter I came to the conclusion that my "water" had broken (that looks weird seeing it in writing). I promptly went back to bed and told Jared. For the next 30 minutes we layed in bed in the dark not sleeping. Then we got up and did the dishes and then we went back to bed again. Around 6:00 am I called my mom and told her not to get dressed for work, but for baby birthing. Then I called Dr Owens at home and woke her up from her vacation. Then I got a shower while Jared packed our stuff (interesting) and we headed to the hospital. Dr Bodie saw me in the screening room and confirmed what we already knew, and we were on our way to a room for and epidural and pitocin. By the end of the day (5:05pm) I looked like this.....

This was right before I completely unwrapped him to survey everything.
Daddy getting acquainted with his new full time job......


You know how everybody has that aunt that smells like moth balls??? Well, this is Porter's "Aunt Moth Ball."

Can't leave out Nana....

Ready for the first ride home.....

First bath.