Andi and I are busy, busy! Justus and Callie Grace are keeping us on our toes! Callie is saying new words everyday and Justus is so gentle, smiling all day long. :) Here is a picture of Callie looking over the hymnal while playing the piano. She was quite a hit!
We sure hope you had a wonderful Christmas morning with your family. Here is a quick glimpse of our blessed morning with our children. Blessings to you!
Well, a little over a week has passed since we brought home Justus. We are doing remarkably well! I am so thankful for my mother-in-law, Bev, who is helping in so many wonderful ways. Callie Grace is being such a sweet little girl. She is taking the new addition quite well and is learning new things everyday. I have had the pleasure of having a couple of “Daddy-Daughter” days with Callie. The picture below is us getting ready to go do a little Christmas shopping, just the two of us. 
Justus is eating great, sleeping well, and pooping! What else can we ask for? He has had a lot of mucus which has given him some breathing fits a few times, but overall he is super well. Justus is all about mommy. I can certainly calm him down and he is happy in my arms, but he really just “fits” in his mommy’s arms and is always more content there than anywhere else. Of course, so am I. So, I don’t blame him! Here are a few more pics. Keep checking back for more updates!
Our little baby boy was born on December 9th, 2009 at 6:10 pm. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 20 inches long. We have been contacted through email, text message, Facebook, and phone calls by so many of you and we sure do appreciate your prayers and thoughts. Here is a brief run-down of the events as they transpired on Wednesday along with some pictures!
I received a phone call at about 1:30 pm from Andi who said she was experiencing some pretty strong contractions and they were only about 5-6 minutes apart. That was pretty shocking to me because she really had not had any kind of consistent early labor contractions. I locked up my office and said goodbye to the tons of Christmas work I had sitting on my desk. It’s so funny how everything else in life can just immediately take a back-seat when your wife goes into labor. That is a reminder that all the stuff we do should never dominate our lives to the point of anxiety. I was happy to leave it all behind and not think twice.
Once I arrived at the house, which is a 8 minute drive from the church, Andi was in pretty serious pain and was ready to hit the road to the hospital. Unfortunately, it is a 50 minute drive to the St. Joseph’s Hospital in downtown Denver, so we loaded up the car as quickly as we could. I had a last minute thought to grab my Ipod and Ihome portable speaker player. That came in pretty useful as it would turn out.
After being in the car for about 5 minutes, Andi called to let the hospital know we were on our way. I then heard the craziest words I think I have ever heard. When Andi described the severity of her contraction and the frequency (they were now 4 minutes apart), the lady she was talking to on the phone said this: “Tell your husband that if the baby comes, pull over to the side of the road and call 9-1-1. Do not try to make it to the hospital.” Are you kidding me? I thought that kind of thing only happened in movies. So, this was the longest 50 minute drive of my life.
But, we made it. By the time we arrived at the hospital, Andi’s contractions were about 3 minutes apart. After a frustrating encounter with the Labor and Delivery entrance, we finally made our way into the “Baby Place” at St. Josephs. The initial “check” of Andi showed that this baby was going to be coming very soon. I thanked God for letting us get to the hospital. We were put in our delivery room, which was very nice, and met our nurse, Milynda. She was a very “go get em” kind of nurse, but she was very good and confident. Andi’s contractions were so powerful and frequent that Milynda was concerned about the possibility of an epidural. I watched Andi experience some super intense contractions for a long time until finally the anesthesiologist made her way into the room and did a tremendous job of giving Andi an epidural while she was experiencing intense contractions. Andi was so amazing during this time, taking the pain without complaining, and in typical Andi fashion, was more concerned about the people around her than herself, often times saying, “I hope I’m not bothering anyone.” Amazing.
After the epidural happened, Andi was ready to have the baby. took out the Ipod and plugged it into the little IHome speaker system. We listened to two albums, Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb” Christmas album and Kenny Roger’s Christmas album. The Ipod was a huge hit and the nurses and doctors kept commenting on the “peace” the music brought to the delivery room. Milynda asked if she would like a few minutes to rest since she was no longer in pain, which Andi did. So, we took about an hour and just let Andi chill while the contractions more than prepared Justus for his arrival. When it came time to push, the process took less than 20 minutes. Toward the end, the doctor actually told Andi to stop pushing! I watched in amazement as the contractions alone forced Justus out of the womb. And there he was, my precious boy! He looked so great and Andi, unlike her experience with Callie, was totally aware of what was happening and got to enjoy Justus’ entry into the world.
I am thankful for St. Josephs and the great medical team there. One funny story - St. Joseph’s is a teaching hospital. As they were stitching Andi up after the birth, Andi overheard the doctor tell the resident, “No wait, you are doing it wrong.” Not exactly what you want to hear! Nevertheless, things are great and less than 24 hours later, we were back at home. Obviously, many more pictures will follow and now we have two incredible children to love, nurture, and thank God for.
Our little girl is walking. This video is several weeks old, but is still so incredible.
Well, since it has been forever since we last posted, we figured the best way to get things started again was to post a bunch of pictures of Callie Grace. She is so big, so cute, and so amazing. Here she is enjoying her rocking chair and having a blast while we put up the Christmas tree. Yes, our Christmas tree is already up - my beautiful wife has a tradition; the Meade Christmas tree goes up on her birthday!
Here is a quick little video of Callie hopping and crawling on our porch. All while holding her hairbrush, her very best friend in the world!
I am currently reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart, by Tedd Tripp. It is a wonderful book, and I feel like I am underlining most of it! The author has a hard word for parents, or at least it is a hard word for me. He says “Children are worshipers. Either they worship Jehovah or idols. They are never neutral. Your children filter the experiences of life through a religious grid.” He goes on to say, “To be sure, the young child may not be conscious of his religious commitment, but he is never neutral.” He talks about the biblical mandate to parent and to discipline our children, and the importance of not acting out of selfish desires as parents. I would be interested to hear any opinions on this book, if anyone has read it, and opinions on the quote.
It is so fascinating, and scary, that Callie Grace is watching us, everything that we do, and will imitate it. She imitates our words, our actions, and the things we do over and over. For instance, we have played Patty Cake so much now that when we start singing the song, she claps on her own. She didn’t know to do that when she was born, but through all of the hundreds of times we’ve played it with her, she has learned. She’s only 10 months old! It makes me wonder what else she has learned and what else she knows, what other information and actions have become normal to her, and what other things over the course of time will take root. It is an intimidating thing to know that Philip and I are responsible for what she is learning, even now.
Callie Grace and I went with Philip to the nursing home today and listened to Philip bring a simple, yet powerful message to the residents. They loved Callie and were a little distracted by her! I have decided to make it a weekly outing for Callie and me, and we are looking forward to getting to know the people there. One funny thing that happened while we were walking around meeting people: an elderly lady stopped me and said that Callie didn’t look like my baby. I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I just smiled and affirmed that she is indeed mine. The lady followed us to the lobby and starting yelling, “She’s not your baby!”. Everyone seemed to be familiar with her outbursts, so Callie and I were the only ones who seemed startled! Fortunately I have enough experience at nursing homes to not be deterred by such events.
Callie is growing and changing daily, and keeping up with her is a wonderful challenge! Her little personality is coming out, and it’s funny to see the things that she likes: the ice maker, any business cards, cheering for everything thing and everyone, certain stuffed animals, her blanket, throwing things and watching where they go, listening to Philip play the guitar, playing with my hair, and talking to her pacifier first thing in the morning. She is so precious, and every day with her is a blessing and an adventure!
