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.

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.

Car Accident

On Tuesday morning, Kristy got into a car accident on her way into work. Luckily, her and the baby are okay. She was going under 30 mph at the time and was buckled in. She was driving down a winding section of road when she saw cars stopped ahead (presumably due to another accident) and slowed down. Her car began sliding and spinning and she struck a guard rail twice, smashing the front and back on the driver side.

The insurance company decided to total the vehicle based on it's book value. Kristy wasn't very happy with what they are paying us for it. Luckily, we have a reliable second vehicle, so she's able to get back and forth to work. It just means that Kyra and I will be limited in travel for a bit and will miss playgroups at the local community family room. As soon as we get the money for the vehicle, we'll shop around for another car. It will likely not be as nice though. Oh well.

The important thing is that there were absolutely no injuries during the incident.

Meet the Family: Kristy

This is my beautiful wife Kristy.

Unlike me, she has skills that are practical and that are more easily put to use. Currently, she's the bread winner in the family. Kristy is awesome with tools and built the shelves in the photo above in an attempt to get our movie collection under control.

Kristy and I met in 1997. We were fixed up by my dad, who had been her Sunday school teacher. See what happens when you send your daughters to church? They wind up married to creepy freaks like me. Speaking of which, we've been married since 2002. She's put up with 11 years of my crap and still hasn't run screaming for the hills, so I guess she's here to stay. How many women would put with their husband owning an actual coffin (I sold the second one I had) and mucking up the kitchen with stinky liquid latex, fake blood and other FX nastiness?

Besides making enough of living to support her husband staying at home to provide childcare and her abilities in DIY home improvements, Kristy is also musically inclined. She plays piano mostly, but I've lost count of the musical instruments in her collection. Luckily for me she also has an appreciation for horror movies and literature as well as enjoying taking trips to odd creepy locations with me, such as the time we spent the night in the Lizzie Borden house.

We have been parents since 2005 and are expecting another child in March of 2009.