Then, time stopped. Not all of time, mind you, just most of it. The part that didn't stop allowed Eli's belly to rumble and tumble as his last meal quickly traveled up his little throat, out from between his little lips, and across a majestic arc spanning the void between his mouth and Grammy's unprepared (and apparently wide open) smile. Now things might have been okay except that time chose that precise moment to resume making Grammy fully aware of everything that had just transpired and, quite understandably, she was... displeased. PaPa on the other hand was quite amused. Apparently as bad as the stuff smells when it comes back up it tastes even worse. Good thing it was just formula!

She's doing her best to be "Super-Wife-Mommy" but a five week old son and crutches don't really make for the best circumstances around the house. That leaves me as the only mobile human on the premises and that's just not a good idea for anyone. I may be wearing slightly less than clean shirts to work this week and our dishes are starting to bear a striking resemblance to various wonders of the ancient world.

Hopefully this is short lived, but when we're old we'll have no lack of interesting stories about Eli's first few months. In the meantime, I guess I'm stopping on the way home from work for paper plates.

We took him home on February 20th, Danielles birthday, and began the process of getting used to living as a family of three (Sample 1 | Sample 2). The 21st & 22nd both brought doctors visits over the "output" issue. A little supplemental fluids and everything was back on track.

I spent the first week at home with Danielle and it was a valuable, but trying time. Sleep wasn't exactly something in large supply, despite Eli's generally quiet / calm behavior. Learning to feed was a difficult thing. Eli would (and still does) fall asleep many times almost as soon as he would begin eating. We were blessed to have about 2 weeks of dinner dropped of by family & friends. It's amazing what a difference something as simple as not having to cook dinner can make. Grandma & Grandaddy came by several times and Grammie and Papa did as well. Those brief times of having someone watch Eli while we got to sleep meant more than I think they knew.

And now, today is our second wedding anniversary. As we look around the house, we suddenly look like those "people with kids". Car seat parts sit on the floor beside a rocking swing. Breastfeeding pullows sit on the floor under a coffee table littered with everything from pacifiers and booklets from the pediatrician, to comfort foods like Slim Jims and a chocolate orange. (Yes, Slim Jims are comfort food. Don't argue.) The other couch is perpetually decorated with a towel for Eli because... well... it's not microfiber and pee soaks in. Two years into this thing and suddenly we're a family. Sometimes I look at Danielle and see a mom. Sometimes, like now, I look and make it a point to see my wife.

The past three weeks have been a blur on one hand and the longest three weeks ever on the other, but I can't imagine anything being more amazing for our family than having the Lord give us Elijah to care for. In some ways these are some of the hardest times Danielle and I have ever known, but I know we'll eventually look back on them with grateful hearts toward the God who walked through them with us. Even now, I wouldn't trade her or Eli for all the ease in the world.

Happy anniversary Danielle. I took you for better or worse, but I kind of cheated. I knew going into it that with you, there was no chance of "worse".

He's absolutely amazing. He's been so quiet. The one thing is... He has really big feet!!!

*NOTE: This post was published just after Elijah's birth, but was uploaded with an incorrect publish date.

We spoke to him more about the induction. He's going to keep an eye on me and if he feels that my body is ready to deliver and needs a little push, he'll induce me somewhere between three days before and three days after my due date. Apparently there is a recommended dosage of pitocin that most doctors use but it's more than the body actually needs. He'll start me on a much lower dosage and will only increase it if my body needs it. If I'm given the pitocin and my body starts doing all the work on it's own, then he'll take me off the pitocin all together for a more natural birth. We're both very comfortable with everything now and trust our doctor with everything because he really is great.

I switched over to the heparin this morning. It looks a little intimidating... instead of pre-filled syringes we have to draw it out of the vile ourselves and the needle is slightly bigger but I'm happy to say that the medicine doesn't feel like liquid fire like the lovenox did. I'll be taking two injections a day from now until I go into labor.

Cliff and I are driving to Orlando today to pick up the dresser for the nursery. I know, driving such a long way sounds crazy but we haven't had much luck in finding a dresser in our price range so this seemed to be the best option. Besides, we enjoy car trips and look forward to spending some time together since this may be our last weekend before we're officially parents. By the end of the weekend the nursery should be pretty much finished. I'll post pictures as soon as they're available!

To that end I've decided to give my son's career a massive jump start by creating this totally rad "Thornhammer" tee shirt, sized specifically for the 6 month old rocker.

True fans can download the desktop wallpaper too.

(Incidentally Danielle was far less excited about this than I was)

Since I've been taking the Lovenox injections, the doctor is talking about inducing me 3 or 4 days before my due date. Apparently, the Lovenox must be stopped 2 weeks prior to the delivery to control bleeding (since it's a blood thinner). They will be switching me to another injection called Heprin which is supposed to be stopped 24 hours before delivery. We were pretty set on not being induced, but apparently the doctor would prefer to have things more controlled. He is supportive to our wishes though and understands if we do not want the induction as long as the pregnancy doesn't go past 40 weeks. We didn't have a whole lot of time to talk to the doctor today as Cliff had to get to work, but we will be talking with him more on the subject next week and will make our decision from there.

It's crazy to think that our little man is going to be with us in the next three weeks. I love to put it into perspective by thinking about where we were at just three weeks ago... New Years Day. He's going to be here so soon! I can't wait! I feel like a little kid anticipating Christmas, lol.

Click here to take a look.

Aunt Shari and Grandma Char flew down from Ohio to join us. We had a great time! For all of you that made it to the shower, thank you so much for giving your time and support! It was good to see so many people that have been dear to my heart over the years.

Three years ago today Danielle and I started dating. I was so into her that I actually pretended I thought it was a good idea to jump off of an old dock into a freezing lake for the fun of it. (Don't laugh... it worked.) Since then we've planned a wedding, left the country together (and successfully returned), made a home and a life together, watched her belly grow and felt our son kick. Our son. How has it all happened in only three years? One thing is the same today as it was on October 28, 2007: I don't want to be away from her. Not for a second. Who could ask for a better three years?

There are people that don't want to know this so we're going to post photos somewhere else soon.

WARNING: DO NOT READ COMMENTS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT WE'RE HAVING

This time around we finally got to meet our doctor. (Don't most people generally meet doctors before they decide on who they're using?) He's a little... different. Seems competent enough anyway. Judging from these ultrasound images I'd rather hire him to be my doctor than my Photographer. His lighting choices suck.

Important: If you happen to be using Internet Explorer 6 (still) you might see a few problems. I'll get around to fixing that, but IE6 is a really bad browser and upgrading to IE7 is probably worth the trouble. Or, better yet, switch to Firefox, which really is a much better browser. Trust me on that.

Fun Facts:

For Danielle injections hurt worse on her right side

They hurt least closer to the front

Syringes still work when you pull the cap off badly and bend the needle

Inserting a needle half way and pulling out because you thought you missed is not the start of a romantic evening

Pregnancy is exciting in some ways and quite a strain in others. Right now, Danielle is sleeping on the couch with a heating pack on her face. Something started making her tooth hurt very badly at church this morning. Because of the pregnancy she can't take anything but Tylenol (which is basically a placebo). I end up feeling guilty because she seems to always be the one hurting.

At least as we sit down each night to give Danielle her injection, we can find joy in the fact that we're doing it together, and that there's a little love in every dose of Lovenox. (Barf.)

Given the rather violent nature of these birds I'm wondering how they ever got the reputation for delivering babies? They're mean and ugly and decidedly non-parental in nature. Needless to say I'm glad Danielle is taking this job into her own hands, as I don't trust this beast anywhere near my child. Danielle and I looked it up today and apparently these things are pretty closely related to vultures (which eat the dead). Figures.

Anyway... I know the grandmothers only want two things, photos & a due date. So here's the photo and the baby is due on ... February 17th

We have an appointment scheduled for next week at which time we'll be able to hear the baby's heart beat and get a due date. It seems like time has been crawling these past few weeks as we've been anticipating this appointment. Now, it's only 10 days away!

I have been feeling great too. No morning sickness or any weird cravings, I've just been very tired. Oh, and my memory has been horrible. Like a couple of weeks ago when I went to Publix with the intention of buying Sprite. I sat in the grocery aisle looking at the difference in prices between Sprite and Publix Lemon-Lime soda. For some reason, it took me a very long time to work the prices out in my head and when I finally did, I walked away without even picking up the sprite I was there to get in the first place. Then there was the wine incident. I bought alcohol removed wine since I can't have the real stuff and poured myself a glass before sitting down to watch a movie with Cliff. As I was sipping on it I suddenly freaked out, almost spilling it on myself as I thought, "Oh my goodness!! What am I doing?!?! I can't have wine!!!"... completely forgetting about the fact that I had specifically bought the alcohol removed wine for that purpose. Since then there have been several other instances, but of course, I can't remember them.

Tonight Cliff bought me a special gift that I am VERY excited about. He told me a while ago that there was something he really wanted to buy for me and then a few days ago mentioned he had purchased it. It came in today and I just about started crying when he had me open it. It was a flip video camera. Always thinking ahead, Cliff thought it would be a good idea for me to have the little video camera to keep with me at all times so that we can catch all the important things on video. He mentioned video taping the baby's heartbeat at my next appointment and of course footage of the little one once they're born. And all the stuff Cliff might like to see (although he doesn't necessarily want to be present for) like shopping for baby stuff with our moms. I love my husband and his great big heart! =)

Since it'll be a while till we have "kids" and we've got the whole "baby" stage to go through first, I picked up on one set of tips for "10 Tips for tent camping with a baby/toddler". Although it's nothing overly revolutionary (granted, I'd never think of some of them), it's reassuring to think that Danielle and I will still be doing a lot the things we love if we make the time to do them. We'll just get to have someone else along with us and carry lots... lots... of additional junk with us. OK so maybe the appalachian trail will need to wait a few years, but we may as well get him/her used to bugs as early as possible.

Turns out it was only nine short days ago that Danielle went to get her regular thyroid blood work done and a day later that we got a "congratulations" phone call from the doc letting us know that we had our very own little micro-human on the way.  Only nine days?  When she looked at her calendar we were both kind of shocked.  It feels like with this much going on it just had to be longer than that.

Danielle's sister gave us this little stuffed bunny / rattle thing that before I'd never have let into my house and now I somehow kind of think is cute.  My mother in law gave us a little Gap sweatshirt.  I'm sure my mother is all set for gift giving as well.  Danielle has been looking at furniture and clothing, reading "mommy" type books, etc...  What about me?  I don't know anything about this "dad" stuff yet, so I just do what I know how to do... set up a small collection of websites to keep the family informed.  Sure, it may be slightly geeky, but it's love just the same.  I can't wait to figure out a name so I can try to grab the .com.