Heeere's Eli!

Elijah was born at 11:04 pm on Friday, March 27. He shares his birthday with his uncle Jason. Elijah was 21 inches long and weighed 8 lbs, 12 ozs at birth. He has big feet with long monkey-like toes that he can grasp fingers with. He's a pretty mellow little guy and loves to be held so much that the nurses nicknamed him "cuddlebug."

Everyone Out of the Pool

The baby is now six days overdue. We met with the midwife today and decided that if Kristy doesn't go into labor today or tonight, we'll be heading in to the hospital early tomorrow morning to begin inducing labor. Tomorrow also happens to be my brother-in-law Jason's birthday, so it appears that Elijah will be sharing his birthday with a relative.

For news on the birth tomorrow your best bet is to check the Dark Destinations blog. It is likely that Casey will be making a post there to let people know the news at some point tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll be posting details when we get back from the hospital and I find time to write again.

Wish us luck!

...and Still Waiting...

Kristy is now five days overdue with the baby. We get phone calls, emails and instant messages on a continuous basis asking if the baby has arrived yet. This morning, my father-in-law called and asked if anything was "going to happen in the next couple of hours" because he needed to go out and run errands. I told him that as far as we knew nothing was happening.

My mother has been staying with us the past two weeks to help out. She took Kyra to a local playgroup this morning while Kristy and I stayed home. When they returned Kyra had a funny conversation with Kristy. Kristy mentioned to Kyra that she'd taken a shower. Kyra asked if it was a "baby shower." Kristy told her that it had been a regular shower. Kyra replied, "Every time you take a shower with the baby inside you, it's a baby shower.”

Last week I bought a new Duncan Butterfly yo-yo and have been playing around with it. Back when I was in the Air Force I got into the yo-yo habit. It was something I used to do to pass the time while waiting to service aircraft. It is sort of like pacing, only it annoys people less and is healthier than smoking. It's been a while since I carried a yo-yo on me like some folks carry a pack of cigarettes. I passed my old worn yo-yo on to Kyra to play with. She likes to drag it around on the floor. So she has part of "walking the dog" down.

Kristy has an appointment with her mid-wife tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be discussing an inducement plan in case Elijah keeps hitting his snooze button.

The Haunting in Connecticut

We're still waiting on Elijah over here. He's hitting the snooze button inside the womb.

Next week The Haunting in Connecticut film hits theaters. The movie is inspired by real life events. Casey Hopkins and I just wrote a long article on the subject. Click here to check it out.

If She Had Been a Ninja...

This morning, when I went to wake Kyra up, I saw a Kyra-sized lump under her blankets. As I reached out to the lump to wake her up, Kyra called out from behind me. She was hiding underneath of her brother's crib. She'd taken a pillow under there and slept there in her makeshift shelter all night. She fooled me, so I'm sure she also fooled the closet monsters.

Lucky for me, Kyra isn't a ninja. I so would have wound up with a blowdart in the back of my neck had she been.

Reminder to self: Don't get Kyra blowguns or shuriken for her birthday.

Funeral, Angering Prison Guards and Still Waiting for the Baby

We made it to the funeral service and back home without going into labor.

Kyra has been having a tough time with Grandma Frieda's death. She seemed not to be affected much by the news at first, but that night she started crying at bedtime. She said she was crying about an old stuffed animal of hers (named "Boo Bear") that she had placed in the crib for her brother many weeks back. She was suddenly worried she was never going to see Boo Bear again. We had a talk and what was really bothering her quickly became apparent - knowledge of what had happened with Grandma Frieda had sunk in.

We've had a few talks about Frieda and the grief that Kyra is feeling. She seems to be dealing pretty well with it overall. Kyra made cards for Frieda by cutting and decorating construction paper, writing the words "Kyra", "Mom", "Dad" and "Nana" on the pieces and gluing googly eyes to them. This morning we placed Kyra's cards in Frieda's coffin along with the photos of Frieda's cats and great grandchildren that had been placed there by other relatives. The service was well done and now Frieda is back with her husband Bob, who passed away a couple of years back. When our son is born, we're giving him the middle name Robert in honor of Bob.

On the way home we passed by the prison that had once held Amy Fisher. Prison articles are popular for Dark Destinations (because there are usually a ton of stories with each one), so I pulled over across the road from it and snapped a few photos. I immediately had a corrections officer pulling alongside me in a big blue truck and telling me to "Git!"

I understand prison guards having concerns, but there are no signs posted condemning photography or stopping along the road. It is a residential road. In fact, we were parked right in front of the house my wife lived in as a toddler right across from the prison. I'm aware of my photography rights and was well within them with what I was doing. However, I'd already gotten enough shots and am not in the habit of arguing with surly liver-spotted prison guards (especially when I have a woman in the car who could go into labor at any time). We mosied along and had an otherwise uneventful trip home.

Now we should be staying put at home until Eljah decides to be born finally.

Any Time Now...

Kristy is due on the 20th. We're all anxious for the baby to make his appearance. My mother has come to stay with us for a little while in order to watch Kyra and help out.

Kristy's grandmother passed away last night. It sucks. Frieda was a cool lady and we'll miss her.
We're going to the funeral in a couple days. I'm really hoping that Kristy doesn't go into labor while we're nearly four hours away from home... or worse while I'm driving in the middle of nowhere between the two locations. Ugh!