Such a perfect baby.

Hello again!!!
It's been a few days since our last posting. Charlie has been very busy over the last few days. He is doing just great! Michelle and I keep saying how we feel that we won the lottery with him. Each day we are amazed at how good a baby he is. He only fusses a little now and again. Otherwise he is just as quiet as a mouse and looks around at whatever the nearest contrasting patter or color is within his depth of field of his vision. His eyes are just beautiful. Michelle thinks that they are shifting towards my color a little. I guess green eyes wouldn't be so bad, but I do think Michelle's eyes are prettier.


I have been changing a lot of diapers. It seems to be a new hobby. I am beginning to feel like I am in the diaper rodeo and the event is to see how fast you can change a diaper. \

This last weekend was full of visitors dropping in to see Charlie. We are still taking visits, please just call ahead first to set up a good time.


Charlie got his first car trip out of the house yesterday since coming home from the hospital. We went to show him off at the "CAPE" at the Univerity of Colorado Health Sciences where I work part time as a standardized patient. If you don't know what that is just ask me sometime. From there we went to Michelles OB/GYN appointment where they told her she is recovering very well from the c-section. I have been amazed at how quickly she has been healing up too.
From there we zipped over to Grandma Pat's house top pick up Gramma Cheryl. They had lunch together while we were galavanting about the town.


As for sleep we are doing just fine. Michelle is catching a few more z's this morning to rest up a bit more. I've been giving Charlie his early morning feedings and helping occasionally at night so I guess you could say we are getting a system down that allows us both to get some rest.


Charlie is currently happily asleep in his bouncy chair. He really likes it. I put it on vibrating mode and I presume it feels like a 1000 fingers massage to him. I've decided I'm too big to sit in the chair myself to try it out. There will be plenty of time to teach him the story of the three bears without visual aids..

My mom continues to be a huge help around here. I really appreciate all of her support. I suppose I forgot what a great cook she is too so let me say if you ever get the chance to try her chicken picata leap at it. Mom leaves in just a few more days. It has been a really nice stay. She will be getting away tomorrow for an overnight visit in Lyons with a friend. I think it will be a nice break for her and at the same time a chance for us to see what it is like to be just the three of us in the house. Having mom around to take the baby while I run stuff upstair or to change an occasional diaper has been quite handy but I can't get too used to it.



We would also like to thank everyone who has dropped off food. It really is appreciated. We have quite enough lasagna now; enough to feed an army! Thank you Will. I'm going to end up dividing it into sections and freezing part of it.


Okay so enough writing here is your "Charlie Photo Fix"...Until next time.



Auntie Anne pays a visit







Jennifer and Idrissu popped in on Saturday too!



What a happy looking family!



Look.... two "Charlies" for the price of one!



Dalai and Charlie are getting along fine!

Such a little hand.

First bath and I'm not happy!

Yesterday morning Charlie got his first bath at home. He isn't a fan of baths yet but I think that has to do with the cool air feeling you get with a sponge bath.



Here a picture of the bath experience. I was going to post this last night but we are all keeping very busy. The boy needs his food you know. Michelle is doing great too. We are so lucky to have such a sweet and contented baby. He is so funny when he does his little squeeks and squeals but as for crying "mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" cries he hasn't had one yet. (knock on wood)

I did have a little time yesterday to play with some of the photos I took of Charlie and Michelle. I really like the half tone one of Michelle and Charlie sleeping. We may be publishing some of these as greeting cards to pay for the boy's college..Sure we will...with all of the other projects that I need to get done too.


I've been balancing work fairly well these last few days. Working while taking care of Charlie shouldn't be too difficult. If anything I think it will make me more focused. Well I'll need to load up the photos I promised and finish up this posting here.
Michelle needs some breakfast.

Charles is now at home and WE ARE LOVING THIS!!!

Home at last!

Finally we pulled into the driveway on Wednsday at 1:30pm. It is so much nicer taking care of your baby from the comfort of your own home. We had our first night last night and it was really wonderful. Charlie is such a good baby. He hardly cries or fusses (knock on wood for now) and he let us get a whole 4 hours sleep in one stretch. Michelle seems to be developing the food source quite well and seems to have a pretty good system for feeding management. The diapers have been flying off and onto the baby at a healthy rate which is great because that helps some guy named Billy Ruben, (Inside joke to anyone who has had a baby that turned a little yellow in complexion right after being born)

It's so nice to have my mom here to help!

The mannor here is running remarkably smoothly. Our live-in chef and director of house management has done a superb job and created some wonderful gourmet meals already. (Thanks mom!)

Let the visitations begin!
The Kaiser Permanente nurse drops in later today and we are ramping up for a big "open house" visit day this coming Saturday. In the mean time if you would like an earlier visit, please call ahead and we would be glad to set up a time for you and give you a few ways that you might be able to help us get through the first couple of weeks settling into home. We are requesting for the first little while that visitors not bring younger school age children until we get Charlie's immune system into shape a little more.

And now what you are really coming here for...
Here are a few more photos for you to oggle over and Charlie will be posting here himself very soon to tell you about all he is going through. Thank you again to everyone who has helped us leading up to this wonderful event and we are over the moon with happiness!

He's here..and he's BIG!!!!

Ladies and Gentlement may I present to you...

CHARLES NASH VANDER HOUWEN
BORN 10/19/08 AT 11:34AM BY CESARIAN

9 LBS. 15 Oz. 21"TALL.

(Yeah that's big!)

I'm tired AND amped at the same time, mom is doing great but needs some rest too. I figure that because a photo says a thousand words I would go ahead and let the photos do the talking for me so I can get a shower in and get back to the hospital to hold my boy some more and help Michelle get some more needed and deserved rest. We want to thank all of you for your support over the last 9 months.

Sir Charles will be taking court at our home very soon. Please call ahead to see about visits and if we need anything.

Here's a short photo essay. Because you might be eating we have omitted photos that show the disembowlment of my wife.

We are up and ready to go! Not much sleep....We watched a little 30Rock season 1 on dvd last night to lighten our tensions and laugh a little. That was nice but it was still difficult to get settled in. Dalai was acting all weird like she wasn't ready for bed or something. I took her out several times and she was still acting weird. Well at about 2 am Michelle wakes me up to ask "Was that the dog throwing up?" ....Why yes it was... Some would say that she was also nervous or perhaps picking up on our nerves. More likely it was the amount of treats she had paired with a little tapioca pudding I stupidly let her taste.

As I said we are up and almost really ready to leave the house. It's 6:20 and we leave here at 7. Most everything is together we're just waiting for clearance from the tower to taxi to the runway... I'm going to turn the blog posting over to Michelle so that she can say a few words...

Words, words, words...
But seriously, Cheryl flew in yesterday and we had a great day just bumming around with her. Now it's off to the hospital on very little sleep (about three hours) to be told whether induction or c-section seems like the better option. Considering that I was miserable last night I'm guessing that it will be induction. I believe that my body is finally playing along. I have had some good contractions, major back pain and it looks a lot like Charlie is heading south.
Contrary to my training as a traveling Goodman our bags for the hospital are not small. They look like we'll be staying for a month... to say nothing of the birthing/ yoga ball. There are so many massage tools, sudoku books and snacks for Dennis that the bags are brimming.

Please keep us in your thoughts today and send us all the good ju-ju (Britta's word) that you can. The next posting should be full of wonderful news and maybe even a picture or two.

Still no Baby

Sorry folks... still no Charlie. It is getting a bit harder to move every day but, other than that, no significant changes. Although today would be a good day as he would share a birthday with Oscar Wilde, Eugene O'Neil and Angela Lansbury.

Still, better to share a birthday with Gramma Cheryl. I'll have to look up who else was born on the 19th.

I must say that I love you all for caring but... stop giving us advise on how to induce labor!!! We have heard it all and believe none of it!!! Apparently pumping is the only thing that has been scientifically proven to work (occasionally) and, I don't have a pump yet. Walking, sex, driving down bumpy roads, drinking mineral oil.... none of these things produce oxitocin and, without that, no labor... sorry. We will all have to be patient... it can't be more than three or four days now so, relax, have a cup of tea and be glad you're not the one hobbling around looking like Tweedle-Dee without the suspenders.

Take care everyone. The Tweedles love you for checking in. (No, Dennis' belly isn't quite Tweedle size yet but, he is working on it).

Where is that boy?

Okay so it's officially the end of the 14th of October and there is no Charlie to be seen without the help of an ultrasound.

I suppose some would say we have to be more patient still. Well, we've played our share of solitaire (me on the computer and Michelle the old fashioned way, with actual cards.) I've organized my magic studio, started reading 2 books, and have cooked up as much food as I could from the garden. So I have decided to issue this announcement.

Attn: Charles Nash Vander Houwen

On behalf of your mother and I, we are quite tired of waiting for you to decide to come out here to the big world. We've been to the doctor's office so many times now we can literally hook your mother up to the testing machines ourselves and I have learned to read your ultrasound images better than the nurses sometimes. Your mother has worked very hard to get your room ready, stock up on diapers, clothing, and food in the freezer and has kept her own health in check throughout this whole process.

We have read every piece of literature we can for your safety, taken special care to get you the best car seat, learn how to install it correctly, taken every class for getting you here, sat through insanely contrived and mundane video productions for your ergo baby carrier, and furthermore learned to correctly make a "shhhhh" sound to calm you and make your the happiest baby on the block, The house is cleaner than it's ever been... What could we possibly be forgetting to have ready? Come on little buddy. Don't you know how wonderful things are going to be?

Understand that we love you very much. Please be advised though that you are to begin heading south for the winter. Please go head first towards the birth canal by the 19th of October or we will be serving you an eviction notice in the form of an induction drug called "Pitocin". If further action is required beyond that we are prepared to ask for a cesarean section removal from the premises you more commonly know as "this warm comfy place." Please let this letter serve as our official notice that we are ready to shower you with love, kisses, fun and learning!

-Sincerely and with all our love,

Your dad and very tired mom

Giraffe! Giraffe! ...Yes Charlie, That's a giraffe.

The mom finally got around to the giraffes in Charlie's room. Ideally there will be fish above the crib too but at least one wall is finished! It is hard to tell from the photo but the orange giraffe is tone on tone retro patterned wall paper. Please note the expertly installed light fixture (thank you Dennis) and, the beautiful glider from our friend Amy... yes the same Amy responsible for my shower... we love Amy. I just had to turn the glider from green to orange and add the ottoman. I still need to make two valances and three roman shades but the giraffes are done - yippee!

Dennis has been working his tail off. He had three gigs yesterday and he spent this afternoon defrosting the freezer and trying to clean the laundry room (the kind of mess no one wants to have to deal with). Charlie and I are very lucky to have him!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am getting bigger every day but... this shall cease soon... the induction is scheduled for a week from today so sometime this week Charlie will join us all in the land of air and light.

So, the bags are packed for the hospital, the moses basket, crib and play yard are ready for a sleeping baby (we hope he sleeps), the freezer is stocked with lasagna, brisket and zucchini muffins thanks to my mom, the house is clean, the spider traps are out and, Charlie's closet is full of toys, clothes, and ten thousand diapers. I challenge anyone to say that we're not ready... ha ha... of course we are not ready... how could we be? There will be an infant in this house within the week and I haven't changed a diaper since I was thirteen... Oh well, bring it on Charlie.

Gramma Cheryl.. coming soon

Yeah!!! We just found out that Dennis' mom is coming next Saturday and staying for two weeks! If I don't go into labor before then and I am induced on the 19th she will be here when her birthday present (grandchild #6) arrives.
If I am a ball of nerves later on and overwhelmed by 'postpartum crazy' and I don't say it enough... Thank you for coming Cheryl! Your help will be greatly appreciated and I know how much it means to Dennis that you will be here! Plus, Charlie can't have too much love and attention.
However... and this goes for everyone... know now that Charlie's entrance into the world will only be witnessed by his dad and a few medical professionals! No web-cast, no videos, no grandmas ;)

P.S. New pictures of the nursery coming soon...

paderfamilias ...bonafide...Sometime in the next 10 days!!!!

Michelle pointed out this morning that sometime in the next 10 days Charlie is going to be here. Not a day later I say and earlier would be wonderful too.

We're both very excited and anxious too. Charlie has been moving around quite a bit today and it looks like he is practicing for the big arrival. Well, why don't I let him tell you..?


Hi everybody. It's getting a little cramped in here. Dad's been talking to me a lot a lately about all the great stuff waiting for me on the outside. I understand that I have a dog who likes to sit on me a cat that likes to knead on me and dad says there are a couple of stinky hamsters out there too.

Mom and I started working on my nursery again last night. She's been so busy lately that she hasn't had any time to work on the room. I'm trying to let her sleep better at night but I just get too uncomfortable sometimes. I must admit it's been fun to push down on her bladder too sometimes. Mom has another doctor's appointment on Friday to get her blood pressure checked and stuff. The next day we have scheduled for a doctor visit is my due day. We'll see how much work I can get done inside here to make that the last one. Well, I've got to get a little rest in for now it's even harder than you think to type from en utero so I'll turn things back over to Dad again.

Well that's what the boy has to say for now. Myself, I have a public show the night of the 18th so I am hoping that Charlie doesn't decide to come on that evening. If he does I guess that I'll have to find a fill in for the show. Suppose I should get on that. So far it has been a relatively easy pregnancy for Michelle (from my humble position as paderfamilias ...bonafide) I'm sure the rest is going to be smooth sailing as much as I can help it.

Hopefully this will make you all smile... it makes me smile. Pogue does, in fact, have all four feet on my belly and, you can see by the stoned look on his face, that he is loving his new perch.

Mom's getting TIRED!

I almost had a breakdown (okay maybe I did) after this morning's appointment with the nurse. My blood pressure is still creeping up (134/94) so they hooked Charlie and I up to the monitor for twenty minutes... again. He is still doing just fine but the crazy nurse had me in a very uncomfortable position and, she kept leaving. My doc. wasn't in the office but a different doctor looked at the print-outs and said that all is well. They did have me pee in a cup for a second time down in the lab to check my liver function and said they would call me this afternoon if anything looked abnormal (somehow the liver is involved in preeclamsia). Since it is 8pm and I haven't heard anything I'm assuming that the results were normal.
Anyhoot, the crazy nurse slipped and told me that Dr. Bozeman has me scheduled for an induction on the 19th (Grandma Cheryl's b-day) and that is what my breakdown was about. Anything could happen between now and the 19th but, the idea of waiting for over two more weeks sent me into a tail spin.
I am happy that Charlie will, no matter what, be a Libra. Not that I don't love Scorpios but I don't want to think about a teen age one living in my house (Catherine, this might be your fault). So, that is all the news for now. If Charlie hasn't arrived by the 19th, that will be the day. Hopefully, however, something will motivate him to move before then. I am getting VERY anxious to meet the little guy.
My next appointment is on Tuesday morning so maybe things will have progressed a bit further by then. Thank you to everyone who is reading this nonsense with sympathy in your heart. I know that we all go through it and the frustration is what makes the idea of labor bearable.
I'm going to stop bitching now and see if I can muster up some dinner.
We love you all!

P.S. Charlie has been hiccuping like crazy lately... I like to tell myself that this is because he is practicing breathing, sucking and swallowing and all those other important mammal qualities.

Sometime in the next two weeks...

We had another two hour doc. appointment yesterday and Charlie got his first 'A+' (the first of many I imagine). His heart beat was perfect, he has plenty of fluid around him, no excess calcium in the placenta and, he is still dancing around quite a bit. Dennis seems to have a better sense of what he is seeing in the ultrasounds than I do and, he saw all kinds of fun stuff (he says that Charlie has my mouth)... we'll see.
As for me... I only got a 'B-'... this according to Dennis. My blood pressure is holding steady at 'higher than we would like it to be but, nowhere near dangerous' and, I'm showing no signs of going into labor anytime soon (but you never really know). I figure that I should get an 'A' just for getting out of bed at this point, let alone being at 38 weeks without having developed preeclampsia.

"I disagree with Dad and give Mom an 'A-'... she could be singing to me more and, my nursery is still not finished!"