Hey!! Something not baby related.

Here's an interesting story that I recently had the pleasure of being a part of. Lori was one of the first matches I made with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Dealing with local media is always a crap shoot from the accuracy standpoint. In this case, however, he did a fairly good job getting the story right [with a few exceptions].

WEST SALEM, Wis. — “Someday, I can live a normal life.” A life with parents who love me. A life far away from the one I’m “stuck in.”

That’s what Lori Groth, sophomore at West Salem High School, remembers thinking as a young girl.

But even she admits to some amazement at how far she has come toward that dream. She has found a stable, loving home after being adopted by Kelly and Todd Groth of West Salem.

Within her adopted home, she has flourished. She’s earning nearly perfect grades and is making college plans.

Groth credits Sara Lassig, who for three years served as her “Big Sister” through Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Coulee Region, with being there for her during her “tumultuous” childhood and providing her the momentum to chase her dreams.

Read more here...

In light of this "heart wrenching" story, Bowl For Kids' Sake is fast approaching [ok, it isn't until the end of March], but it's never to early to start begging. I'll be sending an email out later, since 2 days after Xmas probably isn't the best time to hit people up for money. However, this year we have on-line credit card donations available. Click here to lend your support.

Christmas Video

As promised, here's the video from Christmas. Unfortunately, we failed to shoot any video with Kaye's family. There are a few pics in the album, however.

Apparently, it isn't Christmas unless Matthew is making some sort of vulgar gesture.

First Christmas

First Christmas.2006

Well, we made it through our first Christmas. We spent the 23rd with Kaye's parents, brothers, and their kids. Sunday was the Erickson [my mom's side] in Oxford, WI. Charlotte made the trip splendidly and was able to meet her namesake-my grandmother, Esther. Christmas Day was spent with Kaye's family again. I've added pictures to the album. Charlotte received plenty of gifts although we really have to work on her gratitude. I don't think she said "thank you" once. I'll have video later.

Also, she had her one week [10 days due to the holiday] appointment with her [and our] new doctor today. It looks like everything is going well.

I swear we didn't plan to do this

Yesterday, Kaye and I were doing some last minute Christmas shopping at the mall. As we were pushing Charlotte through the mall, I noticed the "Have Your Picture Taken with Santa" display. I think we both didn't put 2 and 2 together at first. I think it took us a few seconds to realize that we had our child with us and there's some sort of law that, no matter how young they are, you're supposed to have their picture taken with Santa. We debated for a few seconds about how corny the idea was, but couldn't turn down the opportunity. So, we dragged our poor sleeping child out of her cozy car seat to have this picture taken.

In other news, she's finally warming up to her father and she's sleeping for more than 15 minutes. Without going into too much detail, at some point on Tuesday, she finally started getting regular food from Kaye. Apparently, they like to be fed regularly. Huh. I don't remember seeing that in the owners manual. As the nights go on, Kaye is getting more and more sleep...although we aren't where we'd like to be.

Charlotte and Lucy are getting to know each other. Ok, Lucy's getting to know Charlotte. Charlotte isn't terribly interested yet.

I'll have more Christmas pics in the web album as they become available. Also, very off the topic; I just received some pictures from Matthew this weekend from a few of the local festivals that he and I and my cousin Marnie attended this past year.

Lastly, yesterday a friend of mine pointed out that I had put the wrong in date in the mass email I sent out regarding Charlotte's birth and another friend mentioned that I had her length wrong in the original post . Anyone who knows me knows that I suffer from ADD. I can only say that in the days following her birth, my mind wasn't exactly up to the task of typing and "minor" details.

Video, more pix, and first day home..

Well, the video is rough in spots due to lighting [and the guy handling the camera]. The first scene is fairly soon after Charlotte was born. I also have new pics in the album that I forgot I had taken. They're a little grainy because they were taken with the video camera, which apparently isn't the best camera for stills. Unfortunately, the batteries went out later on Saturday night on my digital camera.

Well, we had our first night home and Kaye continues to amaze me. If Charlotte isn't sleeping she wants to be eating. Kaye still isn't getting a lot of sleep and I've been relegated to "cook", "room service", "house keeping", "cheerleader", "diaper changer", and "guy who holds Charlotte when Kaye isn't feeding her"...which isn't very often at this point and let's just say Charlotte isn't thrilled with it. I have faith that she'll soon learn that, even though I don't have the equipment for feeding, I'm not such a bad guy. At times, I'm even a little charming.

Here she is...

Charlotte Esther Michael 12.16.06

Well, I finally have some pictures available [click on pic above]. I'll have video tonight or tomorrow if you check back or subscribe.

Here's the story. Kaye started feeling labor pains at approximately 1 or 1:30 AM Saturday morning. At about 3 AM we called the hospital and were told that they needed to be consistently closer together. So, since I was so helpful, Kaye sent me back to bed at about 4 AM. At about 6 AM she woke me up [don't ask me how I managed to sleep...probably in denial] and told me that they were 3-5 minutes apart. So, we sat around for a few minutes and tried to decide what to do. At about 6:30 her labor pains got pretty intense so we decided to go in to the hospital.

After arriving at about 7 AM, they discovered that she was 6-7 cm dilated and informed us that we were staying. After a little over an hour, the contractions started getting pretty intense, so Kaye asked for a little something to "take the edge off", which she got. Shortly after that, she decided that she needed a little more than the edge taken off. She asked for the epidural. Of course, they don't pressure you into not getting the epidural [at least that's what they tell you up front], but the nurse informed Kaye she wasn't giving herself enough credit. Kaye said she'd think about it a few more minutes [probably until the next contraction]. In the nurses defense, Kaye was pretty quiet throughout this entire experience, so it probably did appear as though Kaye wasn't in that much pain. Nonetheless, having been warned about the "whoops, now it's to late for the epidural" scenario, I asked what kind of a window we had to make this decision. The nurse informed me we had plenty of time. Apparently, "plenty of time" is about 10 minutes because in that amount of time, Kaye again, asked for the epidural. The nurse agreed and informed her that she'd have to check to see how far along she was. During her examination the nurse said, "Hmmmm, I can't find your cervix." So, everyone agreed that it was too late and it was almost time to start pushing.

I'll spare you the details of the pushing, but let's just say that Kaye and I were essentially mute during the entire thing; Kaye, because she was trying to stay focused [and possibly the drugs]. Me, because I think I was a little shell shocked. I'll also spare you all the typical stories about how amazing it was [and it was]. However, I was able to watch Charlotte enter this world at 10:43 AM, Saturday, December 16th 2006. I'll only say that Kaye was unbelievable and Charlotte is beautiful...loud, like her daddy, but beautiful, like her mommy.

Lastly, Charlotte is Kaye's late grandmother's name [maternal]. Esther is my grandmother's name [maternal].

Again, I will try to get some video up tonight or tomorrow morning.

Charlotte Esther Michael...

Charlotte joined us Saturday, December 16th @ 10:43 AM. She weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz and is 20 1/4 inches long.

Pictues, video and other details to follow...when I get home to my computer.

Nothing to see here...

Kaye had an appointment with the Midwife today. She is 1-2 cm dilated and 75% effaced. So could come any time. Kaye was given the window of tomorrow to 3 weeks. And who said they didn't have this stuff down to a science?

FAQ #1 revisited

How's Kaye doing? She's a trooper. I'd be a much bigger whiner if I was her. She is, however, uncomfortable and ready to have this baby. This morning, she explained to me that tonight we're going to find the sheet that has all the pressure points on it and work the ones that induce labor...nothing weird, I think they're on her hands and shoulders.