The First Day of Bruin's Life

I thought it would be a good idea to just chronicle the events of Bruin's first day of coming into the world to meet us. Sorry in advance for the extra long post. If you're A.D.D like me - you might as well stop reading now.

Andrea was scheduled for a C-section last Friday 9/25. So we knew that it would be our last "childless" weekend. We made it a point to go out to breakfast the Matt and Kristi Craig (great friends of ours) and then we also went out to eat later Saturday evening as well. On Sunday night, we went out to a great dinner at "Manzana" in Lake Oswego. Again, knowing this would likely be one of our last quiet evenings together. We got home at around 9 or so in the evening and headed to bed at roughly 10 or so.

We both had pretty restless sleep. Andrea slept solidly till about midnight and me about the same. After midnight - we were awake about every 40 minutes, anxiously looking forward to Bruin's arrival the next morning.

On Monday morning, I was up at 4am (not too far from the norm) and I woke Andrea up at 4:15. We needed to be at the hospital by 5:30 for the prep work of the surgery. We made it out the door by 5:15am and got to the hospital just before 5:30. So far, not the most climactic of mornings. :)

We got to the hospital and got all checked in, this is when all of the fun began. Andrea had 2 nurses, one on either side of her, bombarding her with "stuff". One of them was getting all of her life history worth of anything medical, while the other one was taking her dear sweet time starting the "pic line" for the IV to go into her. If you ask Andrea, I think she'll tell you this was the worst part of the whole day.

Close to 7:15ish our doctor, Dr. David Johnson, came in to make sure everything was on track. He started his visit with, "What'd you think of that Bears game last night?". Have I mentioned that I love this doctor? Then we met the anesthetist who would be responsible for making sure that Andrea felt nothing during the C-section. He was awesome as well. Very relaxed, soothing, and confident. Great bedside manner to ensure neither Andrea nor I would get freaked out about anything that was about to happen. The theme for the day was "As Few Details As Possible". Andrea did NOT need a play-by-play of what they were doing to her. Everyone did a great job of accommodating this request.

At about 7:40 they took Andrea to the Operating Room and got her all prepped, numbed up, and attached to just about every machine you can think of. I was waiting patiently back in our room for them to come back and get me once she was all ready. I said a prayer for the safety of Mom and Baby, and then it was on.

I walked into the O.R. at maybe 7:55 and I swear it was the brightest room that I've ever been in in my life. Andrea was on the table and there were about 7 people in there to help bring Bruin into the world. I sat on a stool by Andrea's head as they got to work. I have to say that I have a very, VERY strong wife. She did outstanding throughout the whole thing. I kid you not, she acted like this was her fourth child! Good job honey. What seemed like mere minutes later (well, because it was), I heard Bruin cry! It was awesome! I looked over the curtain just in time to see him startled and purplish. What a sight!



They took him over to the table to get him cleaned up and I went over and looked at my son. How weird is that to say? My son! I took tons and tons of pictures to use as blackmail on prom night for him. He was great! I did catch myself counting his fingers, toes, umm ears, arms...you name it. He was perfect! It seemed like an eternity before they were finished poking and prodding him. When they did finish, it was time to meet Momma. After some more pics and bonding - it was time to go back to our room.


He was a cryer to begin with. For maybe the first hour?, he was crying - and you would not believe the set of pipes he has! Since he was born on a Monday, we didn't have any visitors until the early evening. I think this worked out for the best to be honest. It gave us time to just hang out with Bruin. After the initial cry, he wasn't bad at all. He would cry when he was hungry, or wet, or umm...not wet. :) Outside of that he would just either sleep, or lay in our arms just looking around.

My parents showed up at about 6ish or so and they were thrilled to meet their new gradnson. My sister had 3 children before she passed and they all leave in Kentucky, so this is their first opportunity to have a grandchild so close to them. It was great to see them! It was also great to see the big bucket of "Popeyes" chicken they brought with them! Yum! Then Mike and Stacy Gellner showed up with Jacoby. Later, Matt and Kristi Craig came over too. It's awesome to know how much support that Andrea and I have.




Once everyone had left, it was back to the three of us. We were very curious to see how the night would go. At about 10 or 11 or 12? We were still trying to see how the night would go. Bruin was perfect as long as he was being held. We tried to put him in the bassinet and he would be a little grumpy about that. Between feedings and changing and all of that good stuff - it was a pretty long night. This coming from a family that had gotten quite used to the 9pm bedtime. Yikes! Finally, at about 3am the nurse came and said she would take Bruin for his hearing test and then keep him parked at the nurses station for a couple of hours. Bless her soul! So Andrea and I were able to sleep for a good solid 3 hours and it was magnificent!

This morning - I woke up at 6am and left our room to get some coffee across the hall and saw little Bruin sleeping soundly at the nurses station and my heart melted a little. It's crazy how attached you can be to someone that you met barely 22 hours before. what an awesome time we're having discovering this new chapter in our life.



If you're still reading this crazy long post - I'm done. :)

Welcome - Bruin Deffie Whitaker

He's here! On September 28,2009 at 8:13 am, Bruin decided to make his appearance into the world. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces. He is 21 inches long. His head size is 15 inches, which from what I'm told is about 2 inches bigger than average. Can't say that we're all that surprised. He was delivered by C-Section and it went very, very well.

Mom and baby and doing great! Seeing such a perfect little boy is just another testament to how great God is. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful son.

Short and sweet and I'll get to the part that everyone wants to see. Pictures! Trust me - many, many more to follow.

These aren't the greatest pics - but they're the best I could do for now. Keep checking back for updates!

I'm a TV Star!!

Well, maybe not a TV star but I was able to play an FBI Agent on the TV series "Leverage" It was such a great time. I think I might have even been in an important enough part that I won't get cut!

I signed up online to be an extra and they emailed me that they needed me last Sunday. I got up at 4am to arrive on "set" at 5:30am on Swan Island in N Portland. I had to bring my own dark suit and show up looking official. There was a lot of waiting around and doing nothing. I was basically waiting for them to come and get me for whatever the scene was going to be. When they did, the fun really began.

The scene I was in was towards the end of the show. The FBI comes swarming in to arrest the "Leverage" team (since they're technically bad guys). A real-life helicopter would take off, and then 3 FBI vehicles (An SUV, and 2 other black sedans) and a cop car would come barreling out of nowhere. I had to run on foot behind one of the vehicles and take cover behind the cop car and aim my MACHINE GUN at the guys. Good times!

Another was I had to run across the top deck of this freighter ship and aim the machine gun at the bad guys. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. Take after take after take. I ended up being there about 13 hours getting paid minimum wage. What a blast though!

The episode I'm in is actually the Season 2 finale of the show. It's a two-parter and I'm in the second half. This may be my break into stardom!

HEATWAVE!!!

Man-o-man!

So there aren't any pics of the heatwave that we're at the tail-end of, but oh my gosh! It was HOT! Working at PGE you can see the direct effect of crazy hot temperatures. We had lots of customers lose power due to fuses in transformers melting. And inside transformers is oil that is used to keep the transformers cool - this oil was close to boiling point! What in the world? This is still Oregon right? Last time I checked we weren't living in Phoenix or something.

Last week, the temps topped about low 100's for 3 straight days. Who would have thought that living in Oregon, we would be excited to see the temperature drop to low 90's?! Luckily today, it will only get to 95.... (can you sense the sarcasm?)

We are so thankful that we installed the Heat-Pump a few months ago. After suffering through last summer without A/C - it is great to be able to feel the difference. Especially with Andrea being pregnant. Everyday last week we found ourselves very, very thankful for making the decision to buy the heatpump. I truly do feel bad for the people we run into that don't have A/C. My heart goes out to them since we were in that same position last year. Even though the hot weather only last for a couple of weeks - I think it was worth every penny.

I am a little curious to find out what August will hold. It was mid-august of last year that we had the intense heat. I'm wondering if we'll see 100's again this year. I'm bettin' we will...

Walking on Broken Glass

Well, maybe not quite that dramatic.

About 2 months ago there was a group of us from work who thought it would be a good idea to walk a Half-Marathon. We usually walk during lunch or something and we thought it would fun. As the day drew closer we were getting a little more nervous. However, when the day finally came we were in pretty good spirits.

We walked the "Lacamas Lake 1/2 Marathon" up in Camas, Washington, the weather cooperated and it was only up to about 80 when we finished. Unfortunately, since Andrea is pretty darn pregnant, she didn't make the trip up there with us.

Walking 13 miles tends to take a little while. I was able to finish in 3 hours and 18 minutes. It was a blast! I actually won a certificate for the top male finisher in my age group 30-39! Before getting too excited, it may be important to know that I was the ONLY MALE PERSON IN MY AGE GROUP! Oh well, at least I had something to show for it.

I've never been much of a runner, and now I have some ankle issues that more or less prevent me from running. I could get into this walking thing though.

Kind of a quick post - thought I would get this in there though.

READ THIS ONE - QUICKLY - IT WON'T LAST!!!

Andrea and I (and Payton) went and had our pictures taken on Saturday, July 18th. It was with a new girl, Kim Harris. She did a great job and was really nice. Since Mindy Strauss was busy with a brand new baby we had to venture out and find someone else.

We had a great time at the NIke Campus in Beaverton. Our growing family took a lot of pictures. Payton did especially well, especially after just having extensive mouth surgery and other stuff the day before.

Here is the website that a sample of our pictures is on. It's kind of a sneak peek. We really lile how they came out and are a little worried that the rest of them look this good. We may go broke buying all of the pictures from Kim.

Here is the website: www.blubelstudio.com . They likely won't be on there for long.

Our poor poor Payton!

So our little pup Payton had some pretty extensive work done at the vet today. I took him into the vet about a month ago and they recommended that we do a pretty serious dental cleaning. His mouth was pretty bad and they said they would likely have to pull 2 or 3 teeth. He also had two fatty masses on himself. One was on his rear right leg, the other was in the middle of his chest.

I took him back in this morning and dropped the little guy off. Knowing that he was going to have a bad day, we gave him some really good "wet" dog food last night instead if the same old "Dry" stuff. If he only knew what was in store for him.

I dropped him off at about 8am this morning. At about 9:30am, I had a message from the vet that his mouth had gotten much worse in the last month and she would have to do "multiple" extractions. I figured, okay, at least he'll have a healthy mouth again. Truthfully, his breath had gotten horrid in the last few weeks.

Well, at about 11am I get a call from the vet. She lets me know that Payton is fine and he is in recovery. She then goes on to let me know that he had to have multiple extractions. I figured, that stinks but now he's better.

I then ask the question, "So how many is multiple?"

The vet then thinks a moment and starts counting more to herself than to me..."12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18..." I'm thinking to myself. "Whaaaaa?!" She ends up saying that he had 29, that's right, 29! One more time - - - 29 teeth were pulled!!!

On top of that - he had the two masses removed. So this evening he is a hurtin' unit and he seems to be just miserable. Poor little thing.