Christmas is near

Christmas is just around the corner and we are really looking forward to seeing family and spending our first Christmas with Ethan (and as a married couple). Kinda funny how in the craziness that raising a baby brings we totally forgot that although it is Ethan's first Christmas it is also our's a Mr and Mrs! On top of the coming holiday I had to have hernia surgery pretty much putting me out of commission for a few weeks leaving all the heavy lifting, literally, of baby raising to Fatima.. During my more lucid periods I have seen how awesome she is and has really reinforced all the butterfly feelings that I feel for her since the day we met!

We are the funniest parents sometimes because we go through a period of time with the best intentions to do things "right" and then totally forget some of the obvious things that we should have done.. We took Ethan to the mall to get a picture with Santa and when it was all said and done realized that we should have all been in the picture and then used it as our family Christmas pic. Oh well, it turned out pretty good without us!

He has to be the cutest boy on this planet! 

Over the past few months we have noticed that he has a buffer of time from when he first sees someone new before he begins to all out cry. So, with that in mind we had a plan to get the best Santa picture. One of use would talk to the photographer and let them know that as soon as he is in Santa;s lap that they should snap the picture as quick as they could. Plan worked and the picture turned out great!

I also purchased a new video camera this month so I can capture better quality video of Ethan and our adventures in raising him. I got the Kodak Playsport Zx3, which is pretty cool because not only can it fir in your pocket with no problem creating more opportunity for use but it also shoots 1080p video at 30fps and 720p at both 30 and 60fps (for fast moving situations)! On top of those specs it can shoot 5 megapixel stills and is water proof to 3 meters. Needless to say that cute face of Ethan's will be shown in full HD resolution! Here is a sampling of the camera (and Ethan) in action!

Plenty more video where that came from and plenty more to be taken. Mater of fact, I have been thinking about the best way to put that video footage together into something that is a bit more manageable. I started to use Picasa for picture and video management and so far it has help with that a lot. Unfortunately, my last camera has left me with a lot of low def footage and video files in the wrong format so I have had to convert them to a more cross platform useable format and has taken some of the joy out of playing around with putting together some sort of video montage. Maybe I will try and do a few milestone videos of Ethan; like birth, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, etc.. Any other ideas would be great!

Halloween 2010

It was Ethans first Halloween and Fatima made him a costume. She made him into a giant Ice Cream Cone! Pretty awesome! We went to the new park down the street from us and met up with a bunch of families that are all affiliated with the West Loop Moms group that Fatima has been doing stuff with. It was fun seeing all the little kids (under like 2) in their costumes! We took a bunch of pictures that you can check out in the picture feed to the right. We also went to the pumpkin farm and got some pumpkins and Ethan got to pet a bunch of animals, both domestic and exotic! It was all a lot of fun and we can't wait till next year when he is walking and can have a little more fun with this holiday!

Ethan's First Haircut

We took Ethan for his first haircut today! He did really awesome and just sat there and let the lady do her thing and cut his hair. We kept it long because we felt it increases the cute factor! Here is the video!

First Time Eating Solid Food

Ethan ate solid food for the first time today! Well I guess you can call it solid food, rice cereal! He did a pretty good job for his first time, I was at work but Fatima recorded it for me so I will post it once I get it uploaded!

Today's Adventure

Went for a walk today from a park by our house to Greek Town (about 8 blocks). We decided that it was such a nice day out that it warrented a leasurly walk and then lunch outside at one of the many greek resturants on Halstead, west of downtown Chicago. We get to Greek Town and decided that we wanted to eat at Athena, which has a great outdoor eating area (complete with multiple levels and a great fountain). The food was great and Ethan slept most of the time untill just before we were finishing up with lunch. He starts crying so I unbuckle him from the carrier and pull him out. Surprise, poop all down his right leg and all over the carrier! Straps, cusions, buckle, my pants (very small amount), and all over his Onesie had poop on it.. Well, needless to say it was a very messy ordeal! You know what though, I handed him to Fatima and she got him cleaned up and changed in the bathroom then I went to work on cleaning the carrier (and myself). We make a great team and because of times like that I know we are going to be great parents and Ethan will grow up to be a very well adjusted person!

Ethan the Movie

Been a while

As you can imagine it has been a busy 3 months since Ethan's arrival! I will tell all of you this, what a game changer! When my little man popped out the world as I knew it got better (and I got less sleep). When I saw Ethan for the first time I, well to be honest, I cried.. What an emotional experience that is, to see your child born right before your eyes! So I cried and in retrospect I can deduce that this expereince was one of maybe 3 that I can think of in my whole life that I couldn't physically hold back the flood gates and keep my man composure. Ethan came and all I could think of was how I was not ready to do this, to be this little guys Dad. Then, the nurse put him in my arms and I think at that moment I knew that I had better be ready and that as long as I do everything I can to be the best dad I can be everything would work and Ethan, Fatima, and I would be a happy family. 

Now, 3 months later, I think these feelings have solidified and all I can think about is whats next. What grand adventure is around the bend for the 3 of us. The great thing is both Fatima and I, although in our 30's and Ethan in his >1's, are completely new to all the coming expereinces and so just about every minute of the next ..... many years will be new and exciting for all of us! 

Although I might not share often on this site I hope to be a little more regular then 3 months! Stay tuned!

Baby's Arrival

Ethan Vincent Lake, born 3/8/2010 at 3:09 pm CST. He is 19.5 inches and weighs 7lbs 11oz. Fatima is doing great and her and Ethan are resting!

This is the day!

Fatima started to have contractions around 3:30 this morning and around 5 am they were about 5 minutes apart. We called the doctor at about 6am and she told use to go to the hospital to make sure that she was in fact in labor. They said she is and now we are in our room and Fatima was given an epidoral. She is resting now and we are getting ready to see our son in person!

Is this the day?

Contractions have started, called the doctor, at the hospital!

A New Leaf: finished

Ok, I finished repainting the leaves and I think they turned out pretty good. I only wish we had selected this color originally.. Take a look for yourself:

We also got some drapery hold backs for the curtain, Pineapples!

Last Ultrasound

We had our last Ultrasound on Friday. It seemed much more routine this time around, I guess thats what happens when you are at the doctors office every other week.. But never the less, the pictures came out great (and some what indiscernible). You know, you see these pictures some people have of their baby from an ultrasound and they look awesome and I am left wondering if our doctor's office just cheeped out on the equipment or the talent.. Maybe our baby isn't very photogenic? Nah, must be the equipment or the talent..! Anyway, here are the pictures from the last ultra sound!

He looks like he is pointing to his way out!

They tell me this is a profile shot

They say this is him looking our way, but I think it looks like one of those heads from Easter Island!

The doctor says that he is a healthy 6 pounds 10 ounces and is on his way to being about 7 and a half pounds at birth! Now this is at 37 weeks and my birth weight guess is 7 lb. 14 oz. What do you think the weight will be? Answer my poll:

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

A New Leaf

We had finished the Monkey in a Tree mural and decided that the leaves were to light, especially at night with the light on. So, we decided to paint over them with a darker green. Here are some pictures that show the difference. We are not done painting but I thought a preview would be nice.

Although the leaves aren't as perfect as when I did them with just a stencil, I think they are turning out nice. You can definitely see them much better with this new color!

Ethan or Magnum PI?

You decide!

I just hope the large bushy mustache comes back into style!

Final Ultrasound

He is pointing to his exit! Almost time!

TV in the Nursery

I got the LCD mount today and installed it! I think it came out pretty nicely! Here are the pictures.

I know your probably asking why a new born baby needs a TV.. Well I figure when Mom Fatima is in there with the baby rocking away in the chair she can watch something.. Se can also put CDs in the DVD player and play some music.

Nursery is done!

We pretty much finished the Nursery tonight! We moved down the curtain rod and hung the curtains that Fatima and her Mom made and de-cluttered the rest of the room. Just some minor stuff left like securing the changing pad to the dresser and we are going to mount a small LCD to the wall through the book shelf so that it can retract into the bookshelf when not in use, more on that later! Here are some pictures of the finished product! I already painted over the those white spots above the curtain so please ignore those..

Curtain Fatima and Her Mom made

Fatima! Baby is almost ready!

EVL

I added the baby's initials on the wall today and got a lot of the clutter out of the Nursery. We also decided to move the curtain rod down and to not use the valance.

Nursery is almost done

Here are a few more pictures of the nursery! All we have left to do is to hang the curtains and de-clutter.

Cord Blood Banking

We have another appointment today at 2:30 where I think we will see Dr. Chen again. Last visit he brought up cord blood banking and I started wondering how much of an "insurance" policy it really was. So, like I am sure a lot of people have done, I did some research. Dr Chen said that he recomended a company called ViaCord and they had been around for a while and due to the nature of Cord Blood Banking, meaning they will be storing it till we tell them to stop, going with a seasoned company would be ideal. First a little background for all of you out there that were like me a few months ago and had no idea what "Cord Blood Banking" is. Basically, you take blood from the ambilical cord after birth because it is very rich in stem cells and you store it for possible later use. Now, here is the thing about later use. Currently the theory is that those stems cells can someday be turned into any other type of cell. So, you could possily treat things like Leukemia, Lymphoma, Sickle Cell Anemia, and others. Now that sounds great and does bring some benifit but this practice is still in its infancy and really not fully supported by many medical associations for every person [AAP and ACOG]. It turns out that not many of these associations even take a stance on the practice other then to say the Doctor recomending it disclose any finacial benifit they might recieve from your choice to do it. And as far as I can tell the probability that you would even use it ranges from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 200,000.

I think this quote from an article for WebMD says it best:
"Other estimates range widely. Advertising from one private cord blood bank puts the odds at 1 in 27. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests it's more like 1 in 200,000. Indisputably, there are very few documented cases of a child receiving his or her own banked cord blood as treatment. The Institute of Medicine says that there may only have been as few as 14 total of these procedures ever performed. One reason is that the conditions cord blood stem cells could help treat just aren't that common. "The diseases in children that we can treat with their own cord blood stem cells are really rare," says Feig."

In all, I think the whole thing boils down to a few comapnies jumping on the stem cell bandwagon and feeding off the good intentions of soon to be parents. This is what it takes to get your baby's cord blood privatly banked: Setup fee of about $1800, Yearly fee of between $100 and $500. I hope I don't sound like someone that doesn't care about my baby, but thats a lot of money to spend on something that will more then likely never be used.. What do you all think?

Baby Class

So, I have a whole new respect for the ladies now that I have a visual record of what they go through to bring another human being into the world. I also have a whole new respect for Fatima because even after seeing all of that she still wants to do it drug free! It is funny that even now, having just watched a birth video, I feel so helpless in the process. Us guys have it so easy and I think we take it for granted a lot of times. As you can probably tell, we just went to a baby class that pretty much prepares us for the birth of our son. We learned a lot of stuff about the various things involved with birth. I think the best information that we got was on when to come to the hospital. They say that when your contractions are about 5 minutes apart, on average, and constant for about an hour that you should come to the hospital. I know this sounds really quick but you have to keep in mind that the contraction really will only last about 30-45 seconds, so there is still a lot of down time between them. Overall though, I think the class was worth it and during a day of so many unknowns and ever changing variables it will be nice to know a little about what is going on, even if it just so the doctor has a few less questions to enoy him/her with!

Cool Picture

I couldn't sleep so I was playing around with my camera and took this picture of our nursery with the turtle night light that I got.

I thought it turned out pretty nicely! The light from the window that is to the right of the mural light up the monkey and help make the mural visible underneath the stars from the night light! I had to get creative with how I kept the camera still because I couldn't find the mount for my tripod and I didn't want to wake up Fatima but it turned out ok.

32 weeks and counting!

So, we went to the Doctor's office today for what seems like one of a trillion doctors appointments. I think that after this I will have gotten over my white coat syndrome.. Anyway, we had another ultrasound and everything is looking good! Unfortunately, Fatima is so good at making a baby that our 32 week old son is 5 pounds 4 ounces, putting him on track for delivery of about 8-9 pounds. Needless to say, she is not looking forward to having to deliver that much child! Here are some pictures from todays ultrasound.

Not sure if I mentioned this but our doctor, Doctor King, is moving to St Louis and therefore will not be around for the delivery. So, we are mostly seeing the other three doctors in the practice. We really like 2 of the doctors, Dr. Chen and Dr. Hikemein. The other doctor, Dr. Beyer isn't very personable and always seems to be mad or upset about something. So I guess we have a 66.6% chance of having a doctor deliver Ethan that we like.. Keep your fingers crossed!

On another note, I have decided that I am going to do a virtual tour of the nursery once we have all the furniture in place and everything hung up on the wall. I found this website that explains how to do it. You basically create a panoramic photo by stitching together a bunch of pictures then use a utility on MAC to turn it into a video! Once everything is done I will post it.

Mural Finished!

So, I finished the mural today and really think it turned out pretty good! The leaves are a bit on the light side but I think they might be ok. If I am not satisfied over the next few days I might go and get a darker green to go over them with. We will keep you posted on that. Anyways, without further a due here is the finished product!

I'm very proud of how this turned out. It has been so long since I have attempted anything so creative.. So, for all you out there that might want to try this in the future let me give you a play by play on how we accomplished it.

1. Find/draw something that you want to use as your mural on a piece paper. You can find something on the internet and print it out, free hand something on paper (if you are that good you might be beyond what I am explaining here), or use a computer program like Adobe Illustrator.
2. Take that piece of paper and draw grid lines both horizontally and vertically to give you manageable areas on the wall that you can draw out. I did mine in 1 inch x 1 inch sections which corresponded to 1 foot x 1 foot sections on the wall.
3. Next draw out you grid lines on the wall that correspond to the sheet with your sample picture/drawing from step 1. I used a 4 foot level to help me draw the grid on the wall.
4. Get what you need to draw/paint/etc.. I purchased 4 different paints, 2 from the art store in the acrylic paint section and 2 from Home Depot (play with the sheen a little if you want to provide more depth, I used a shinier paint for the leaves). I also got some pencils and small paint containers so it would be easier to manage on a ladder. I also purchase flat tip brushes to help with the precision I need to achieve in order to stay in the lines of my mural.
5. Draw out you mural with a pencil. Do one squarer at a time to keep the job manageable.
6. Paint! Advice: Use the right brush for the job! if you need to paint something small use a small brush and if you need to paint something big (like the trunk of a tree) use a bigger brush!
7. Touch up. You might need to go back and touch up from erasing grid lines or going outside the lines of your mural. This will make the whole mural look that much better.
8. Your Done! Enjoy!

The Mural part 2

So we have started to paint the mural in the Nursery. So far so good! I picked up a few supplies like a 4 foot level, pencil, paint (acrylic from the art store and interior paint from Home Depot). The I started by drawing a grid on the wall, 1' by 1', to help with drawing out the picture. After I was finished drawing out the picture I started to paint the monkey:

The monkey turned out really good as you can see! Next we started working on the tree, which due to the intricacies associated with all the tips of the branches and the fact that due to the paint on the wall we had to do at least two coats, this took a considerable amount of time. In the end though I think it turned out really good!

We have the leaves and some touch up wall paint to get rid of the grid lines but then we will be done! I will keep you posted!

Update to Nursery Mural

So I think I have decided to attempt a mural on my own with out a stencil. Here is a picture of what I am going to do. I put it on a back ground color that is similar to that of the nursery. Let me know what you think:

I found this website that explains how to successfully accomplish this task. So, here goes nothing! I will post a pic when it's done. We hope to do it this weekend! By the way, we have another OB appointment tomorrow, so we will let you all know how it goes!

Diaper Genie: Check!

We went to the Baby Superstore (aka Babys-R-Us) and got a few things to spruce up the nursery on Sunday. We went with the thought that we would get the dresser ordered and maybe the Diaper Genie and a few other misc items. Well, that didn't happen! We ended up getting just about everything we needed to decorate the room and a few other random items. We left with a new crib set and matching clock, light switch plate, hamper, mobile, valence, changing pad cover, and something else that I am forgetting I am sure. We also got a bath, changing pad, and some other misc things. Here is a quick picture of the nursery so far.

As you can see by the letters on the shelf above the crib we have settled on a name, Ethan Vincent Lake!  We have also decided to do a mural on the wall to the right of the crib of a tree with a boy hanging from a branch. Here is an example of what we want to do! As you can see I think the Monkey theme is working nicely! Let us know what you think or if there is anything you think might look nice as well!