So Much to Write, so Little Scotch...

Actually, that's not accurate. I have an entire bottle of J&B yet to be cracked open, but this entry really doesn't merit an entire bottle of scotch. That's saved for the holiday stress.

The first thing I have to address is the question that is on everyone's mind, "Are you guys moving home?" The answer is an emphatic, "YES!" We cruised up to the hometown last week for Carrie's interview, and all went well, and so we are planning on heading north in two weeks. Yes, two weeks. We have a lot to get done, and have to balance all of that with caring for Layla and working, so the next two weeks will probably be the highest-stress days for us so far. Say a prayer for patience, and also for the ability to let go of some of this crap that is sitting around here. Yikes!

We will be moving back into my house on N. Middle St, in Cape. Now it's time for me to pour out and laud the efforts that our friends made in preparing a place to call home...

When we found out we were pregnant, I immediately began thinking about the possibility of moving us home. Around the same time, my renters told me they were moving into a house of their own (grats again, guys), and so I asked Liz and Josh to do some clean up in there for me. As things progressed and it began to look more and more like we'd be able to come home, they approached me about doing up Layla's room as a surprise for Carrie. "Absolutely," I told them, knowing that both of their artistic touches would make it perfect.

Fast forward to last week, and one night they said they wanted to meet us at the house to show Carrie her "surprise" (and yes, it was; I can keep a secret). To both our surprises, the entire upstairs of the house was redone! The carpets in all the rooms had been pulled, and the hardwood refinished. New flooring in the bar/music room, kitchen and bath. New paint jobs; they even took down all of Pat's sex toys (oh; i've said too much)!

Seriously, we were overwhelmed. I can't begin to describe the feeling of relief that I had at seeing this. I was dreading trying to move back in and do this work while doing my work and trying to have a home for our daughter. I almost cried in front of Josh, and that would've demoted my seat on the bus to Hell.

They gave us a nice certificate with everyone's names on it that pitched in, whether it was funds, labor, supplies or all of that. The love that I have for you all is so huge; you have no idea. It cemented my thoughts that this was the right decision for us, knowing the kind of friendship and love that Layla will experience from all of our true friends as she grows up. Carrie and I thank you all, with every ounce of our being.

And to Liz and Josh; words can't describe the appreciation I have for you putting this together and seeing it to fruition. Sometimes the best intentions never see the light of day, and to know that your gift to us was realized and done so well moves my heart. We love you both, and look forward to stealing your daughters for babysitting.

In other news, Layla is doing great. She's growing like a weed, and is really developing a personality. She always has a smile for Mommy and Daddy in the morning, no matter how early, and is still sleeping through the night. She was a bit constipated this week, which made for some really rough evenings (to the point where I had to lay her on the bed and walk away). Her screams could wake the dead, and after 4 days of no poop, we called the doc. "Give her 1/2 ounce of prune juice, and see if that clears it up."

Oh, my dear lord. I've seen nervous cattle poop less than this child did today. It was so extreme, I actually paused to take a picture. That's pride, mixed with awe and sick fascination. Good stuff.

Time for me to hit the sack, but I wanted to drop and update. Between work and Layla, the extra-curricular writing has taken a hit for a while. Hopefully, after the move, I can get back to the funny stuff.

One Love,
D

Dumb but on My Mind

So as I sit here at 230 in the morning, I've been thinking about something that's been weighing on my mind. I've had pets for pretty much my entire life, and I've always thought of them as members of my immediate family. I've talked to my pets, told them things that no human will probably ever hear. My cat, Truman, has been like a best friend to me for over 12 years now.

Now I have a daughter. It's weird how, at infancy, the child is very much like a pet. She requires food and water and things of that nature, and her diaper's the equivalent of a litter box.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want anyone to think that I'm lessening the importance of my child to that of a common house cat. That's not my point at all.

My point, in this early-morning/late-night rambling, is that even though they have similarities this point, I can look at my daughter's eyes and realize she is listening to me. Actually listening to me. She is going to retain the things I say, to a certain extent. She's going to be able to speak back to me, and make choices on her own. I can already see her eyes and mouth reacting to things I say, and the things I do.

But don't really know where I'm going to us. I just was really thinking that I still haven't really come to the realization of the depth of having a child. It really will make you rethink your outlook on the entire human race. You have a new appreciation for people's feelings and reactions that you may have not cared about before.

I need to get some sleep, but it is said to get that out of my head I should probably write it down. That's it for tonight's little blog. Nighty night.

Oh, I know... so BACK OFF.

Yeah, I've been slacking on the writing. Not for lack of want, but for lack of focus. Between Layla and working things out to adjust our lives, I've been busy. Plus, I spend entirely too much time playing World of Warcraft, but if that's my worst vice, we're doing okay.

Layla is 5 weeks old today. It's hard to believe how quickly this last month has gone by. We've had visits from both parents, as well as from Aunt Renae and our friends here in Texas. She's been to my office to meet the SHOEBACCA.com crew, and even got to see Uncle Justin play a show last weekend (it was acoustic, so don't chastise me for taking my kid to a rock show just yet).

We've been pretty busy, taking care of Layla and trying to keep up with the daily things we can't neglect here in our time of bliss. It's hard to not want to just lay in bed with my baby girl, watching her search for things to fixate on, listening to her grunts and coos, and feeling her death grips on my fingers. She's happy and healthy, and we've been very, very blessed to this point. Last night, she decided that once she was free of her diaper, it was time to try to shoot across the room. Unfortunately, that whole "opposing forces" logic only works when the force is equal to or greater than the object that its trying to move, so instead we got poopy sheets.

Good times.

So my mom and dad came down last weekend for a very short but very fun visit. Aunt Renae flew in to meet her niece as well! The Grandparents and Carrie and Layla and I went to El Chico on Friday night and saw Justin play. Dad's smile when he broke out the Johnny Cash was great. Layla seemed to enjoy herself, especially when she got to hear Uncle Justin sing "The Rain" by her request. ;-)

On Saturday, Opa, Carrie and I took Layla to the fair. We were hoping she'd get her first look at some beef cattle, but they weren't in the barn yet. The cattle that were there were miniatures; Xebu is the breed. I don't understand it; what's the point of miniature cattle? It remains a mystery to me, but they are cute. You could hear all the non-observant types saying, "Aww, look at all the babies." Ha, ha.

We had a great time at the fair, getting to hear new sounds and see new sights. I know Layla's vision at this age is pretty limited (http://www.tinyeyes.com/), but she did react well to the parade at dusk. I can't imagine what goes through her head sometimes, with all the new things to take in. Such a small child and so many things to learn!

We were sad to see Grammy and Opa head back to Missouri, but we are hoping that we'll be seeing them again soon! We are also looking forward to the day she gets to meet her cousin Dori and Aunt Jamie and Uncle Hef!

A couple of weeks ago, I had "the talk" with my boss about working from home. Ideally, I wanted to continue my work for SHOEBACCA.com that I love so much and be able to do it from home, so that I can be there for Layla, but mainly so we can move back home to Missouri where we will have an actual house and all of our family and friends there to be a part of Layla's life.

Yesterday, we came to the resolution that this will work, so starting next week, I will be working from home. I will still come into the office a few times a week for now, to kind of transition everything and to be able to see my friends here, but sometime this fall, I hope to have us loaded up and heading back home. The key to everything right now is Carrie's work. We need a comparable position to open up at the Best Buy in Cape, so that Carrie can continue to work and carry her insurance. Layla is on her insurance now, and with me going to "at home" status, I will lose my company insurance, so it's imperative that we keep Mom and Baby healthy!

When will we be heading that way? It's hard to say, without any definites from Best Buy. Carrie goes back to work on Tuesday, and hopefully that will give her a better opportunity to find things out in Cape. For now though, We'll be balancing schedules here in Dallas. Despite our anxiety over all of this, we got a big dose of stress relief when my boss said we're good. Now we don't have to worry about putting Layla in some damn daycare while Carrie and I are at work.

Thanks to all of you who have sent goodies for the kiddo. We've gotten some pretty cool stuff, as well as some much-needed gift cards. I've been slow on the "thank you" notes, which, if you are a friend, probably doesn't surprise you that much, but they are coming. Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers and well-wishes!

Layla sends her love. For a look a lot of the pictures from the Grandparent visits, go to my MySpace page at www.myspace.com/iceburgtx or to my PhotoBucket scrapbooks at http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll125/IceburgTX/. I promise to write something damn funny in the next 5 days!!! :-)

One Love,

D

The First Week

Here we are, bright and early on a Friday, and it amazes me that it's been a week since the arrival of my daughter. Even now, it seems like it was only a couple months ago when Carrie and I weren't even thinking about having children yet... Oh, wait.

So things have been going pretty smoothly. Yes, we're losing some sleep, but I honestly can't blame Layla for it, other than being so sweet that we want to just stay up and look at her. She's strictly breastfeeding now; has been since about her 3rd day here. Carrie is a wonderful mom already.

I'll tell you what; I'm extremely lucky to have Carrie. As a new mother, she's adapted to so much, from the breastfeeding and irritating "leakage" that comes with it to the late night wake-up calls for more food from mommy. I knew she would make a good mommy someday, with her patience and integrity, but she's really shined through all of this. I'm very blessed.

Plus, she got a prescription for Hydrocodone, which is making this badass toothache I've got bearable. If you've never taken a close look at one, these pills look like Certs. Hydrocodone: now with Retsin!

Toothaches suck, and now that I have my dental insurance (hey, only 5 months late!), I can finally get it taken care of. I hate the dentist, but I hate the distraction of pain more.

Layla is very healthy. We took her in for her first visit with the pediatrician Wednesday morning, and the doctor--besides noticing her obvious beauty--said she's a happy, healthy girl. The jaundice is fading, and wasn't that bad to begin with, and she's alert and all her vitals are right on target. Again, very blessed!

Here's a couple of fresh pictures of her from Tuesday. She was laying in the sun (as recommended by the doctor) to help dissapate the jaundice, and I had to take a couple shots. That's Truman in the background, studying this new little person that's arrived in our home.

The cats are slowly adjusting. Surprisingly, Napoleon is the one that is warming up faster. Maybe it's because he was a baby when Dori was born, but I think it's because he's always kind of been Carrie's baby, and feels a stronger bond with Layla. Of course, he could just like the smell.

We're doing well... using up the diapers and wipes pretty fast, but no surprises there. We had a wonderful visit with Carrie's parents when Layla came, and am looking forward to getting to introduce her to the rest of our family and friends. We miss you all, and hope to see you soon!

* * *

SEMO plays Mizzou tomorrow night. I actually found this on the Uverse guide last night, on PPV. I'm going to get on tomorrow and see how much the PPV is to watch the game. I can't imagine how horrible this slaughter will be. The odds have got to be ridiculous. I honestly looked, just to find out, and I can't find any place even taking bets. I have not seen a spread less than 50 points though, which leads me to think that maybe SEMO will be looking beyond the bench for some players. Golden Eagles; now is your time to shine!

I wish Southeast the best of luck, don't get me wrong. This is a Redhawks hat on my desk, after all. I just hope that this $100k exhibition game doesn't break half of the team. Chants of "Puuuut in, Jaaaaay C!" ring through my head.

Stay happy, healthy and let the rest fall into place. Hope to write again soon!
D

Layla Marie has Arrived!

28 August 2008: The day begins at 2am, when we finally fall asleep. The feeling is one of high anticipation, touched with a sense of anxiety that I'm sure is exponentially higher for Carrie. Around 4am, I woke with a start as Carrie was getting out of bed. "Ooh; everything okay, woman?" I ask. "Yep, just gotta pee." Seconds later, I'm back asleep.

5:00 comes just as quickly as you'd suspect, and even the cats weren't awake. After a couple of short snoozes, I hit the shower. We managed to pack and repack everything the night before, so that we wouldn't have to think too much in the morning. The Pontiac horses are saddled, and we make our way to Baylor.

After a brief check in, we're taken down the hall to room 112, or something similar. I know it has a 12 in it, anyway. It's a pretty big room, and a decent daddy chair stands ready against the wall. Guess where I am right now.

I'm going to chronicle the day in military time, because I've always felt that using "a," "p" and "m" for time designation was a waste of good letters.

1900: Carrie has her IV at this point, and they're getting the "Let's Have a Baby" juice, a.k.a. Potosin. Our nurse's name is Jamecia, I think. Again; it's way too early to think at this point, and my brain is the only one in the room that hasn't been challenged mentally. They've checked her cervix, and she's around 2cm dilated. The inducing has begun!

0830: The Potosin is doing its job, and we have our first visit from the doc. She decided that to speed things along, she would break Carrie's water. Okay; that worked. Contractions have started.

0916: Her last contraction merits an "8" on the pain scale. The reality of this entire day is settling in really quickly, and I'm realizing that two nights in a row of sleeplessness is taking its toll on both of us. We know that we have a long day ahead of us, and it's key to pace our energy right now. That, and the two episodes of "Saved by the Bell." That gets to me pretty damn quick.

1004: The decision has been made to kick in some pain meds. Carrie's a trooper, but it's time to bring that 8 down to a 4 or so. It's gonna be a long day, kids.

1131: Contractions are steady. She's going from passed out from pain meds to waking up and squirming… Carrie + Drugs = bad experiences, I think. I'm doing my best to be supportive, but the meds have made her pretty lucid, so I could be talking about tattooing our daughter's name on my butt and she wouldn't know the difference. Good times.

1204: The decision is made that she wants the epidural. Anesthesiologist's on his way… until then, its breathe and wait.

1220: Epidural gooooood… Amidst the small talk that I shared with the doctor, I mentioned that we were originally from southeast Missouri, and he said, "Like Cape Girardeau?" Well, smack my mama; he's heard of Cape! He got Carrie taken care of lickety-split, and her spirits lifted pretty quickly. Shortly after the epidural placement, her parents arrived. Time for lunch…

1330: A Chik-Fil-A sandwich later, Carrie's dad and I are back in the room, just in time to find out about the nausea. Just another one of the many pleasures of labor, ladies! Looks like that Aquafina wasn't so fina after all-a.While I was gone for lunch, the doc came in for a check up. Carrie's around 4cm now, and (this is paraphrased) you can expect about a centimeter an hour. Okay… so, Carrie should be at 10 cm by 1900. That's a long time, to be certain, but then you have to throw on the 2-3 hours of pushing time, and you suddenly get the big picture of what childbirth is all about. The stuff you see on TV is bullshit; don't believe the hype.

1710: almost 10 cm!!! she's really progressed quickly. SO much that I need to go--[ed. ps.; i stopped typing here because the last thing I wanted to do was to piss off the nurses becuase "dad won't get off the damn laptop"]

1750: the doc should be back in about ten to check her out personally, and if everything is cool we'll set up with the green light to push push push! I know this hasn't been the most creatively written blog I've ever done, but dammit; I'm going on 12 hours at the hospital in a baby shit green chair with the most awkward sitting position ever. Not to mention, I'M GONNA BE A DAD IN A FEW HOURS SO BACK OFF. Oh, sorry; I didn't get an epidural. I thought about tapping the lines, but voted against it.

1753: checking to see if that last little bit of her cervix is gone and then it's time to start pushing!!!

29 August 2008: and here we are.

0139: ...and pushing commenced. I will write a more detailed completion to this blog later, but for now, here are the vital stats:

Layla Marie Burgfeld

21" 8lb 9.2oz

Born at 1957, 28 August 2008

Here is our current hospital information:

Baylor University Medical Center

3500 Gaston Ave

Dallas TX 75246

Room 725

Jonsson Hospital

Room Direct Line: 214-818-9725

Like I said, more to come, but we want to say thank you to everyone who was praying and writing and texting and anticipating right beside us through this whole ordeal. Layla is absolutely breathtaking; I am so in love.

For now, enjoy some pics.

Peace,

D

\

Let the Countdown Begin...

26 August 2008: Today we headed back to Dr. Bakos' office, for the "Okay, the baby's not here yet; let's talk" appointment. After a short ten minute wait (no interesting articles this time), we headed in for the sonogram. Today, we were joined by Carrie's parents, who got in Saturday afternoon.

After jellyin' the belly, the sonogram started. "The head is down, so that's good." Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Well, she rolled around Carrie's big beach ball, and did the usual checkups. Layla's heart rate is around 150, which is great. We saw fingers and her face, and again, the vag. I don't know why this tech is insistant on showing us the vag every time; we get it. She's a... she.

Then came time for the measurements. After doing the very scientific point-and-clicks that the tech does, she said, "...and put all that together and we get 9.1 pounds."

HOLY SHIT.

Remember, folks, the baby is still inside Carrie. I wasn't surprised, frankly. I was surprised in my accuracy in predicting the weight today, though. After the first two sonograms, I did an estimated per-day weight gain, based on my experiences with the cattle. Yeah, it sounds archaic, but it's freakin' accurate. I estimated her at 9 pounds, 2 ounces on this date, and she is 9 pounds, 1.6 ounces. Man, I'm good...

Epidural is sounding better and better.

I wanted to share the video of the sonogram, but since it's nearly half a gig and I don't have an FTP set up to let you watch it while I host it, you're out of luck. Sorry; I'll figure out someway to screenshot it or something. Windows sucks (and that's a whole other blog, too).

We got back upstairs and saw the doc. She said that Carrie is about 2 cm dialated, so we will have to induce. We have set up an appointment for Thursday morning at 6 am to go to the hospital and get the ball rolling, so to speak. Now we're preparing for the longest day of our lives... Carrie's already taking a nap. I think she's a bit overloaded after all that. I can't imagine what is going through her head. I'd be scared poopless, frankly, to imagine pushing something that big out of my body. I'm here for her, though, and her parents as well, and for those of you lamenting us being so many miles away, we do feel your hugs and hear your prayers. Thanks to all of you; from the heart.

So now we wait... again. Layla definitely has my "I don't wanna get outta bed" genes, that's for certain. I'll be filling in loads of bloggy goodness on Thursday, when Bump Watch '08 goes live on location. Be sure to tune in on any of my blogs; http://iceburgtx.blogspot.com/, www.myspace.com/iceburgtx or on the Facebook for a link. I'm taking the webcam, so for those of you with MSN messenger access, add me at iotapsi94@hotmail.com and you'll be able to join in the conference. I've also got skype (Iceburgtx), and I may use that as well.

Here we go, kids; the ride has been quick, but we're coming up on the big finish!

Love,
D

Bump Watch Update: Feel the excitement, kids.

19 August 2008: Headed to the doctor's office today, for our scheduled appointment. After my usual 10 minute nap in the waiting room and reading an intriguing article about the future of Penthouse in Forbes magazine, we headed back for Carrie's check up.

"Well, looks like you're about 1 cm. The head is down, so that's good."

Could be any day now. Could be a week. It's just that time to play the waiting game. We did set up another appointment for next week Tuesday. If Layla hasn't made her grand entrance by that time, we are doing another sonogram and will talk about inducing labor. IF (and that's a big "if") we have to induce, I'm going to suggest that we go to B-Dubs (a.k.a. Buffalo Wild Wings for the layman).

B-Dubs, as we affectionately call it, has a little in-house contest associated with their hottest wings. The sauce is known as "Blazin'," which is probably the understatement of the year. This sauce has the potential energy to run Dallas for about 2 months in one bottle. Frankly, I don't see why we don't tap this renewable energy source and start saving money immediately, but that's an entirely different blog.

Anyway, they have a contest that if you can eat six wings in the Blazin' sauce in six minutes, you get a t-shirt and your photo posted on their "Wall of Bad-asses" or whatever they actually call it. It's interesting to me to see the pictures of people who have accomplished this seemingly impossible feat. I feel for them; going the rest of your life without a sense of taste seems like one hell of a sacrifice to make for a t-shirt and a photo with a semi-hot waitress, but I digress.

They say spicy food is one way to start labor along its natural path. I'm thinking, let her tear into these wings, and maybe (and this is a long shot) they'll have to put a picture of Carrie on their wall with "Labor Face"* and shocked waitresses. I think that would trump any Polo-wearing Mexican with a 6-pack waitress.

Of course, there are the side effects to think of, but those are just that: Things to think of and not write about. At least, not today.

*Labor Face: I use this term to define what can only be described as a mix of primal aggression, fear, fatigue and longing for satisfaction and rest. It applies to women during childbirth and men during really, really bad constipation. I'm not saying the acts are equal; just the faces are similar.

One night last week, we put all of our stuffed animals that we owned and that we've received in the crib. We thought that would be nice, for Layla to share some cushy goodness that helped us through some tough times as a kid.

We did that in the evening, and when Carrie came upstairs to go to bed, she came to me and told me to get the camera for an uber-cute moment. Napoleon decided that he needed some cushy comfort, too. After I snapped the picture, I went back into the other room, and then Carrie came and grabbed me about five minutes later. Truman, it appeared, had decided that Nappy took his turn and ousted him from his spot. Napoleon got voted off the island, so to speak.

"Any day now..." I guess we're ready. Here's a photo of our super awesome mega stroller 5000. It's one of the "Travel Systems," as they're known. We scored this off of Craigslist for less than half of the original price, brand new and still in the box. Just outstanding.

Someone made the comment to me about what it will be like when we have our second, having to wait 9 months instead of 6 weeks. I'm sure it will be ridiculously long, but on the upside, I'll be able to blog about it a lot more. :-)