Wow. I’m usually much better at this. Well… it’s 2:30 in the moring, and here are the photos I have been wanting to post:

Julia in her hat from Dr. Landgraf. (Yes, our doctor made Julia a hat!!!) 🙂
(Click to enlarge)

Babies are always so tired! Julia is no exception. 🙂

Julia has a cool, round face.

What exactly is she reaching for? 🙂

Julia shares her Grammy’s middle name: Gayle

Baby Julia and Grandpa Tom

Almost time to leave the hospital. A familiar scene. Baby strapped into car seat, with parents who look like they haven’t gotten much sleep. Very nice…

Julia in pink. Even she is pink. 🙂

Julia in pink. Another.

Julia in pink. And yet another. 🙂

I really do have some video too. Will post that soon. Hopefully not at 3:00am any time soon. 🙂

Today is my Dad’s birthday! He’s a young fifty-six years old today. Not bad being so young, and having seven grand kids to show for it!! 🙂

My mom and dad came up this past weekend to see the new baby and to be with us for a short time. My dad needed to get back for his work. But they called tonight and offered to keep our boys for a whole week if we could just get them down to Cleveland somehow! That was a very generous offer, and actually, a bit uncommon from them. But over the years, my dad has done some extraordinary stuff for us kids. Lots of driving to pick up and drop off…. I remember he would drive me out to East Lansing, MI to my dorm, and then turn right around – literally – and head back to Clarence, NY. That was not a short trip to be making to just drop me off. From driving me around, to taking care of monetary and other stuffs… my Dad has always been a self-sacrificing cool guy. 🙂

As I look around my house, I also see that nearly all of the furniture is actually from his own hands. He made nearly everything in here. And if he didn’t make it, he probably bought it. But the Dad-made stuff is definitely a favorite in our house, and scores high on the cool factor chart as well.

(sorry… it’s 2am.)

Thanks Dad for being a good example of selfless, generous parenting. I hope I can be that to my kids too.

Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great one. 🙂

(My dad reads this blog, so if you’d like to pass along a Happy Birthday to him, just leave a comment here on this blog. His name’s Tom.)

I forget if I have mentioned this here, but, remember the new book I have been working on? It’s now two. I decided (based on advice from a few folks) that two would be better than one. One was going to be about 350 pages! So, we made it two.

The first one is on to the final proof reading stage. That book is called “Life In The Rear-View Mirror”. The second book will focus on the church, and a lot of what we have been processing over the past couple years regarding all that. I really think there’s some great stuff in there. It has been an issue in the forefront of our thoughts over 2004-2005, and so there is a great deal of material I have written on that subject. That book is still nameless, and definitely close to being ready for the final proof read.

Exciting! 🙂

With the baby and all I have not been able to do much with it, but thought the update worth posting.

Stay tuned…

Speaking of madness…

Perhaps my life at the moment could be described as madness. Although, I must admit, just the fact that I am sitting here blogging is a good sign that there has been a slight reprieve in the constant happenings.

It all started … well, it all started quite some time ago, but for my purposes right now… it all started last Saturday morning at 5:35am. You most likely read how I awoke very early that Saturday morning to a spouse-less bed, and shortly thereafter, a rest-less spouse. She was ready to go, and so my adventure began.

Jen had packed well for the trip to the hospital, so it only took me ten minutes or so to wake myself up, and get the things we needed. I called our neighbor, and he came to stay with our kids while we hit the road. All of that went very well – way better than other times. It felt like one thing led to another led to another led to a baby. In the past, there have been times of waiting, or even “down times”. Not this time! It’s all a blur from the time I woke up s to the time the baby was born and beyond.

Another interesting thing we noticed later was the visitors. This was our first morning baby. All the others were born at least in the evening, if not the night time. So, after they were born, Jen was allowed to rest, and then we received visitors. But this time, because she was born at 8:23am on a Saturday, we had plenty of visitors, only hours after she was born! 🙂 Now don’t get me wrong, we loved it. In every way. But at the end of that day, we looked back on everything, and it was easy to see why we were more tired than usual.

Well, so far that hasn’t really stopped. 🙂

Just like each time we have a baby, I plan for months in advance to take some time off to take over the household responsiblities while Jen recovers. With Alex, I took a week off. With Kirstie, and now Julia, I have taken two weeks. I won’t be back in my office until Monday, March 27th. I am loving it so far, but I really understand very well now why Jen has a hard time getting ANYTHING else done during the day!!!! Three kids can be very demanding of your time. 🙂

I’ve been cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, doing dishes, changing diapers, changing bed sheets, reading, playing, running errands, driving to piano lessons, hosting friends and family, and all sorts of great things over the past 3 days so far. It really has been wonderful. But it’s not stop. From 9:30am (when the kids get up) till about 10:30pm… there is constant activity. Today, I had to put a stop to that for 45 min, so I had the boys lay down on their beds. There was a bit more craziness than usual, so I thought the break to be necessary. It was. Alex slept for a long nap, and Ian I think got some rest that helped him. And, I got a break. Long enough to take a shower and get a few other things done.

So, from about 9-9:30am, and 10:30 or 11:00pm till ???, I get things done that I need to do with no kids to direct. Last night I paid the bills, and other things financial. I usually finish cleaning the kitchen, fold laundry, and other various things. I also check emails at this point, and answer them if able. Then, since it’s late enough by then for a midnight snack, I usually grab something while I watch a video from iTunes or DVD or something.

My days are long. But, you’ve heard this already.

I just wanted to officially commend Mom’s again. Mom’s rock. Especially moms who can take care of, and direct activities for 3 small children ALL DAY LONG and STILL get other stuff done somehow – all while feeling well rested.

Those moms rock.

And in honor of moms everywhere… I leave you with a special gift from a fellow Mr. Mom. A music video… starring another Mr….

Mr. T.

It’s about to begin. At 12:20pm EST, the madness will commence. 65 teams (what happened to 64?) will duke it out, in a manner of speaking, for NCAA hoops supremacy. It’s actually one of the greatest sports moments of each year, in my opinion. Lots of people who are not into college hoops during the season can get enthralled with any number of teams whom they have never heard of. I have done it. It’s great! The action is intense, and the finishes can be simply phenomenal.

This is also the time of the year when Jen and I remember first really hanging out together. We were in 10th grade. I believe we were even at our friend Adam’s house. The tournament was on. The (Univ of Mich) Fab Five were playing. They were good. But I was beginning to notice something more than basketball. Nothing official, or nothing really that I can point to. All I know is, Jen was different, and I knew that I wanted to be around her more often. And so, from some NCAA hoops in March of 1990, we now have a fourth baby with whom to watch NCAA hoops in 2006. Hard to believe sometimes.

I wonder if I was the favorite, or the underdog? 🙂

I heard on a podcast recently that Starbucks has a policy that they will stay open 10 minutes later than their posted closing time, just in case someone was rushing to get there and wanted to get some coffee before close. Ten minutes is not a lot, but if you recall, one of my pet peeves is the insane American way of closing BEFORE posted closing times!!!! (Read this if you don’t recall.)

Not sure if that’s true or not. Tyana? You reading this? What’s the policy?

If that’s true, it’s awesome, and I wish more companies in America would follow suit.

To The Parents of More Than Four,

Hello. I hope this letter finds you well. (As well as can be expected, with more than four kids in your house!) We are thrilled to let you know that God added to our family yesterday. We are now the proud parents of four healthy children! The latest is our second daughter, Julia Gayle. She’s beautiful! And very content, as far as 1-day-old infants are concerned. She’s definitely a joy, and every step of her life so far (most of which has been in the womb) has not been taken for granted. At least, not by me.

What I wanted to write to you about was this interesting sensation I am having as we sit in the quietness of this birthing room at our hospital. I am noticing that even though we came in here maintaining our desire to have many more children, both my wife and I, at least at the moment, feel like four is quite enough, thank you. We think about the three rambunctious kids we have at home, and the thought of adding another to that mix is somewhat daunting, now that it is a reality. We are not completely excited at the moment to go through the whole first weeks of a baby’s life again, with one or more feedings in the middle of the night. Sleep can be addictive, you know. And, at some levels, we almost think we don’t want to “chance” breaking our streak of amazingly healthy, awesome babies. I mean, we can’t really keep this up, right? Surely there will be some complications among eight to ten children?

So what motivated you to have more children? Or, to let God give you as many as He chose? Did you ever have a moment where you wondered if (Insert Number Here) was enough? If you did, was there a point where you changed your mind? And overall, how is life with four or more?

We are thrilled, as I said, to welcome our new family member. It’s especially cool that Julia is a girl – a sister for Kirstie. I just thought that perhaps you, with your experience, could help us if indeed we are to press on and allow God to add more to our family in the future. Any advice you could pass along would be wonderful. I imagine at some point down the road (as He has done with most of our kids) God will place a desire in both of our hearts for more children, though that’s harder to see at the moment!

Thanks in advance for your help, and may God continue to bless you in abundance through the families he has given you.

We have another baby girl!!! She was born, very healthy at 8:23am! She looks just like her big sister, Kirsten!! Click the photo above to see that photo enlarged. Mom is doing very well, after a quick but intense labor and delivery. She’s resting now as I get these photos up for all interested parties. 🙂

Birth Story
We had a regular doctor appointment yesterday, and there was a little progress, but nothing major to report. Doc asked if Jen wanted her to do a little trick that sometimes can help start labor. Jen said yes.

We went home (after a quick stop at McDonald’s for lunch, since that’s what we did right before Kirstie came…) and Jen noticed that there were some more signs of baby’s impending arrival, but seeming quite faint still. We monitored them though, obviously, and were ready should they ever increase.

We went through a fairly normal day… and after dinner, Jen had a hankering for some donuts, so we headed out for those. All the while, she was still having those infrequent, mild contractions. She almost didn’t want to call them that.

It was after 9:30 when we got home, so I put Kirsten in bed, and Jen started an A-Team with the boys! (They had been wanting to do that all day.) Kirstie and I talked about how the baby might be coming even before she wakes up again! I guess we were right!! 🙂

We went to bed around 11pm, and Jen was still having mild contractions. I said, “Shouldn’t we call somebody??” We did not. We just went to bed. 🙂 (Jen thought she could get some rest. She did not.)

I woke up at 5:35am to an empty bed, and the bathroom light on. Jen came back in the room, doubled over, obviously in much more intense labor. As I tried to get my wits about me (that’s very early in the morning, you know!!!) I got from her that the contractions were stronger, five minutes apart and 30 seconds long. That’s time to head out!!!

I gathered the things we needed, and called our neighbors to come over and stay with the rest of our sleeping kids. (Don’t worry, they’re up at 6am!) 🙂 Mr. Tones came over and we headed out to the hospital.

Now, I usually am happy to obey most traffic laws – but not today. We made the 25+ minute trip in well under 20. 🙂 It was nice. No traffic, and it was daylight…. a nice quick trip.

We arrived at the hospital at about 6:15 and were in the room, getting ready to have the baby before 6:30am!!! Usually we walk around, taking some laps to get labor started. We hang out, Jen in the rocking chair, and just chatting. NOT TODAY. We were ready to go!!!!

Our doctor got there not long after we did. Another friend who helped with Kirstie’s delivery was also on duty when we got there, so she helped out as well.

The labor was quite intense – more than usual – but Jen did GREAT as always. She’s awesome. 🙂 After some intense labor, it was time for the baby to come! Everything was very “by the book”, and Julia entered the world at 8:23am this Saturday morning!!! (Maybe she’ll be a morning person?) 🙂

Jen is doing very well. Happy to have Julia on the outside. We haven’t seen her much as the maternity ward is SUPER busy. Twins, and just LOTS of babies last night and today. Cool.

The name? Well, Julia was our second choice for a girl name even before Alex was born. We hoped we could someday use that. And the middle name is my Mom’s middle name. A couple months ago (or less?) we had a different middle name, but I just had a strong thought (that I had not had previously) that we should name the baby Julia Gayle, after Grammy. I liked it, and shared that with Jen. Being new, she wasn’t sure of it at first, but it grew on us. Grammy was a 4th baby, and a girl (obviously…) and we just thought it would be cool. We love Grammy. 🙂 THEN, Jen found out that Gayle means “Lively One”, which has certainly been true of this baby while in the womb!!!!! So, it fit, and we loved it, and…

Here’s Julia Gayle!!!

Julia Gayle and Grandma and Grandpa Walker

Julia Gayle and Grandpa Walker

Julia Gayle on the scale – 8lbs 6oz

Jen and her doctor, Dr. Landgraf

More to come!!!

I posted an interesting editorial to Newsvine.com today. I just thought I would link that here. Basically, I have been fascinated by a trend I have noticed lately, that mostly there is no allowance for varying opinions in our country. Whether it’s on topics such as President Bush and the war in Iraq, or creation vs evolution, or abortion, gay-marriage, or other politically charged issues – or, even within the christian community, topics such as worship styles, and now even whether one should even be part of weekend gatherings or any organized religious institution. Fascinating.

Click the link below to read my article at Newsvine. (Which, by the way, has a very high concentration of “liberal” users.)

Editorial: Are You Entitled To Your Opinion?

Just a quick story for the evening…

I mentioned a while back that I watched Remember The Titans, and that Jen and the kids were going to watch it later. In fact, they did. But, Ian was the only one to make it all the way through. We talked about the movie a bit after he (they) watched it. It is defintely a great movie, with a cool, but sometimes sad story.

So, a few days later, maybe a week, Ian starts talking about the movie again from the back seat of the van.

“You know the sad part of Remember the Titans, where Gary is in the accident, and (later) he dies… Well, I didn’t really cry when that happened. I didn’t cry, but my throat felt like there was a walnut in it or something!!!”

That was cute. 🙂