June 2013

Matthew is a month old!!  Needless to say, while I’m still getting used to having the opportunity to brag about my son to people (guilty of this to an embarrassing degree), I’m still simply in awe of the sheer complex simplicity that is human life.  Anna and I were talking about this the other night – just the immensely amazing fact that something so simple is, at the same instant, beyond our ability to describe properly due to the intricately complexity.  A child.  A human being.  The ability of creation is staggering – and humbling.  I joke about the fact that we were only required to basically sign a birth certificate before the hospital allowed us to bring Matthew home…but sometimes, it staggers me that this is all that they require.  Matthew, as perfect as he is, still requires immense levels of attention (not to mention patience) from us; something that sometimes I can be short of when I’m not fully cognizant of my surroundings (which makes me watch in awe as Anna handles this new responsibility with what seems, to me, instinctual ease).

Obviously, work has taken a burner farther back on the proverbial stove of our lives as we get reacquainted with the demands of actually having a family (ironic how the life that we lived before this seems so far and distant from what we are experiencing today – even though it literally has been just a few days over a month since it all really changed).  I’m back in the office for most of the week (gotta love those banking holidays) and Anna is finally feeling back up to getting in the car to make the drive into the ‘office’ that she works from.

We’re still getting used to the schedule changes that Matthew has demanded, so we’re finding it somewhat difficult to schedule visitations for the little ‘wiggle-worm’ (to see the definition of this, just check out the video that Anna posted on Facebook), but we’re getting better.  Hopefully we’ll manage to get that figured out here soon (though, from what I understand, we’re just getting to the point where we realize how much of a lack of control we actually have…).

As always, if you’re in the area, shoot us a text or give us a call.  I can’t make any solid promises, but we will definitely try our best to get everything into some rough semblance of order and have you over for a cup of coffee!  -Jay

May 2013

So, yeah - this is late.  Apparently (for those of you who haven't had the luxury of going through the experience), having a kid takes up a lot of time.  Enjoy that tidbit of a warning.  But, then again, it's totally worth it.  If you haven't had a chance to see some of the amazing photos that were put up on Facebook by our friend, Janel, you're totally missing out on some of the most adorable baby shots ever (sue me, I'm biased on the subject).

Matthew's doing amazing - we went in for his one week checkup to find that he's already back over his birth weight benchmark (apparently this is a 'goal' that they have for newborns to achieve by week 2.  My son, who eats like a small football team, achieved this in less than a week.) and that his overall progress is great.  I'm pretty sure that we haven't gone into their office without one of the nurses 'kidnapping' him to go and show everyone else how awesome this kid is. Also, for the other new parents (or parents-to-be, in some of our readers' CASES [you see what I did there?]), you really need to check out the Woombies.  These things are one of the most ingenious designs of a easy swaddling device that I've seen in my (somewhat limited) time as a parent.  And they're cheap. Did someone order a win-win?  Cause they just delivered it here: http://www.woombie.com/

Kyara is adopting her new 'charge' without too much trouble (her concern is currently limited to making sure that we remembered to bring him home every time we go out with him and to periodically check on him throughout the night to make sure that he's still 'planted' in his crib).  Anna has taken on being a mom with a good amount of care - there were some rocky areas that we both had to get over on the first few days (primarily the realization that they actually let us leave the hospital with another human being without making us sign anything or take a test or swear a pledge of ownership - at least for me it was....still trying to get my head around that one, to be honest).

We're still getting through the first 2 week stage of having a child (which I'm sure has been severely padded for us by the presence of a great family support system here by Anna's mom), but I think that once we get through the initial phase of "what the hell do we do now?" that we'll be back in the mood for some visitors and life will return to (or at least seek to achieve a form of) normality.

I hope?

April 2013

Well, as is usual, I'm running a bit behind on the update this month - my apologies, it seems that between the upcoming arrival of Matthew, getting through the last stages of our system testing process in addition to getting ready for user training and going live across the company,& it being tax season for Anna – we’re running a bit behind on all fronts. However, we’ve managed to get the majority of the new nursery completed for Matthew’s homecoming; we just have a few minor touches left before Anna considers it completely done. Hopefully the weather will start getting warmer here soon and allow us to get a little bit of the initial outside work complete before he arrives and takes my attention completely away.

Just last week, Anna’s family went through the loss of her grandfather – a great man who had, for the last 10 or so years, been slowly succumbing to the effects of Alzheimer’s. While it was a very sorrowful event, the service that was held in his memory Tuesday was lovely and it was really quite wonderful having an opportunity for Anna to see all her extended family. In addition, a few days ago, her aunt also lost her husband – any prayers that you can spare for her at this time are greatly appreciated.

I, as many of you might know, am always fascinated by the ebb and flow of the sociological impact of death and loss – and this situation was certainly no different. Especially standing in the unique position that I had throughout the ceremony – as both a member of the family, but at the same time, separate from them – I was once again struck with just how the family unit responded to the unexpected grief by constricting into a powerful, single entity whose sole purpose, for the short term, was the protection of itself. The support that flowed throughout this group of individuals, many who were usually somewhat at odds with one another, was awesome and really pointed to the underlying strength and faith that each of them had in each other and, ultimately, in God. It was, to me, yet another point of pride that this was the group that my son would be growing up within – a group of people that, even through the immense pain of the loss of a central figure in most of their lives, was able to continue to radiate warmth and love to each other on a level that rose them above many people that I’ve seen in my life. Truly, I am not able to think of a more supportive environment to raise a child within – the knowledge that this intricately woven web of support was behind Anna and I made me realize just how lucky we are.

As is the norm, I want to be sure to say that if any of you are ever in the area, please do not hesitate to give us a call – we would love to catch up with you over a cup of coffee (or, in Anna’s case, tea) or dinner. Also, due to the impending arrival of Matthew – we know that many of you are wanting to come see us (and we’re super excited for that!!), but I would ask that you give us a heads up on when you’re planning on coming up so that we can be sure that we give everyone a fair share of our attention and love. Shoot me an email or text about when you’re hoping to come by – I know that Anna is really, really looking forward to introducing our new arrival to everyone.

March 2013

Hey friends and family,

I know Jay usually does the blog updates, but I'm going to give y'all an update on what's been going on this month.

So, mostly, we've been spending the past month getting ready to bring Matthew home.  Jay got the crib set up and the quote put up in the nursery.  Also, we just had our second baby shower, hosted by my aunts on my mom's side, lovingly known as "the Queens".  It was a great shower with lots of great advice, and we got several of the "large items" we needed to be ready for Matthew (like a car seat, a stroller, and a high chair).  We haven't even had a chance to open all of the gifts yet.  It makes me feel a lot better to know that we have  the major things in place for our son.  We also attended our birthing class last weekend, which ended up being really informative.  We had an amazing instructor and I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I can expect when labor starts.  And I think we have our hospital chosen.  For those of you familiar with the hospitals in the area, I think we're going to be delivering at Shawnee Mission Medical Center.  They have a brand new labor and delivery ward and we were very impressed.

That's mostly what we've been up to, aside from work.  Both of us are pretty busy these days.  We're at the busiest point in tax season with the March 15th deadline for businesses and the April 15th deadline looming not far behind.  I'm really hoping Matthew will hang in there until we wrap up the season...it sure would make it easier on everyone, lol.  Jay works lots of late nights helping the bank get ready to launch the system they've been working on for months.  I'd give you more details if I actually understood just what he does...but from what I can tell, he's involved in LOTS of meetings and conference calls and spends most of his days as "support" for the rest of his team, dealing with issues in the system as they arrive.  I'm really proud of him for how hard he's been working...but honestly, I'm really looking forward to him taking a couple weeks off after Matthew is born.

Okay, I think that's it for now.  If you're friends with me on Facebook, I post a pregnancy update about once a week.  I'm about to enter week 33 of the pregnancy and so far things are going well.  My blood pressure is a bit high these days, so they are keeping a close eye on it, but so far there's not reason for concern.  Matthew's growing and moving a lot, so everything seems good to me.

As Jay always says, if you're going to be in the area, let us know.  Things may be busy, but we'd love to grab coffee (decaf) or dinner with anyone passing through if we can.  Otherwise, we're looking forward to people visiting and meeting Matthew once he gets here.  We love you all and hope things are going great for you and yours.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers--I really attribute my wonderful pregnancy to all the prayers and well wishes of my friends and family.  So, thank you.

February 2013

Good morning everyone!

Things are pretty hectic up here - not terribly, but enough that we're noticing it.  We're in the process of getting the crib for Matthew at the moment, so the majority of the nursery developments are on hold until we acquire that rather important piece of furniture.  We did manage to find the decals that we're going to be putting up around the room, but until we get the centerpiece of the room and decide where that is going to be placed, the actual deployment of those are pending.  Anna's noticing more and more movement (for those of you who aren't followers of her weekly updates on her Facebook page) and is getting more excited and nervous as the time continues to count down towards the arrival of our VIB (yes, that means Very Important Baby - sue me).

Work is...calming down?  Not really, actually.  We're through the brunt of the first round of system testing for the new systems that we're implementing into the company and have found a ton of errors (surprise, it's system testing!) that we're needing to address before proceeding.  Needless to say, there have been a number of days that I've been here around 10-12 hours; most of them spent in front of a computer with headphones in to help with the concentration.  Thank God for Google chat (otherwise I think that Anna would have thought that I had run away or been kidnapped sometimes).  That all said, I'm getting really excited to see this little beastie come out from the lair and rear it's head on the go-live date.  It's certainly going to be an impressive setup...and hopefully it'll cooperate and work for everyone else as it does for us here in the planning stages.

Anna is getting through the preliminary stages of the dreaded Tax Season - and from the sounds of it, it's going pretty well for everyone.  I know that she's having to go in more and more (which isn't a huge surprise, given that, well, it's Tax Season) but overall she seems much happier and more comfortable with her position.  She's also (as far as I can tell) enjoying having the semester off from taking classes - even though, deep down, I think she sorta misses it (because she's crazy like that).

As usual, if you're in the area, please do not hesitate to give us a call or shoot us a text - we'd love to show you around our home and catch up with you.  We might even have you over for dinner, if we really like you. Possibly.  (Yes - that was sarcasm.  We'd probably let you stay with us, even if we didn't like you.)

But in all seriousness - if you're in our neck of the woods, give us a call so that we can schedule a meal and time to catch up with you (hopefully I'll be able to make it out of the office in time to see you too - but if nothing else, Anna would love to have someone other than Kyara to hang out with).

January 2013

Whew.

So we're finally done with the two weeks of running from one place to the next - and after counting the many, many blessings, it is with dead certainty that I say this:  It. Was. Awesome.

There were times that we both were so worn out from running from one thing to another and from one city to the next - but throughout it all, I think that Anna and I both felt that it was truly the most enjoyable manner in which to spend our vacation time.  From the awesome baby shower that my family threw for us when we visited Waco for Christmas this year to the sheer enjoyment that we all had over the New Year Eve, the one thing I remember is the sense of feeling that this was where we both belonged.  It is truly a blessing to know that your child, even before he is born, has such a loved and valued place in the world.

Needless to say, we're super busy with work and life in general (something about a new baby always makes things kick it up a notch).  We have started to arrange the new nursery for Matthew's arrival and are hoping that we'll have it mostly completed by the end of the month.  Anna has taken the semester off from school in order to give herself more time to focus on her work (remember it's tax season people!!) and baby Matthew's health.

Work has also started gearing up on my side - the upcoming system testing for our new programs start in the next few weeks and, as part of that, the preparations are beginning in earnest.  Hopefully I'll still manage to have some time for work around the house and to spend with Anna.

As usual, if anyone is ever in the area, please do not hesitate to give us a call so that we can try to have some time to catch up with you!

December 2012

So, as usual, this month is gearing up to be somewhat of a full schedule.  Anna's finals are next week (if I'm remembering her school schedule correctly), so she's getting ready for all that 'excitement.'  We're also scheduled for our next ultrasound this Friday to finally learn what gender the baby is (!!) and will be promptly going from that appointment to register for the baby shower gifts - which means that this weekend is going to be really tight in regards to scheduling.

I've managed to get everything (mostly) down to the new office and Sheila (Anna's mom, for those of you who don't know) came over this weekend and helped Anna paint the 'new' guest room in order to prepare our moving all the furniture over there to make room for the new nursery.  Hopefully we'll be able to get all that done before we leave for Christmas in Texas, which will mean that we can get that room painted and the 'construction' (as Anna calls housework) started.  We also managed to get all the Christmas decorations up for the house - so here's hoping that the joy of the season makes Anna's hectic schedule a bit more manageable and bearable.

Other than that, work's been....well, work.  Deadlines for me have been moved back (yay for companies not cooperating) and Anna's office is getting prepped for the upcoming tax season.  Needless to say, we spend quite a bit of time working and then, when we do get home during the week, we've got the majestic programs of Netflix and Blockbuster to help us unwind!

I'm also going to try to get some photos put up either here or on Facebook of the new office/guest room and we're going to definitely be putting some up of the nursery (duh), so hopefully we'll be able to share with everyone what we've been doing over the past 4-6 months with the house.

As usual, if you're ever in our neck of the woods, please don't hesitate to give us a shout so that we can at least get together over a cup of coffee to catch up!

Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Jay & Anna