O.k., first things first. Thank you for your love and support. You’ve called to check up on us, sent cards and emails (sorry if we haven’t responded just yet), watched Maddie, done our laundry (!), visited us in the hospital, brought us food (as I’m sure you can imagine, these days it can be pretty easy to forget to eat), sent Target gift cards, knitted our girls hats and teddy bears (the coolest in the world - I’ll post pictures soon). In a nutshell, you have gone above and beyond, and we are blessed to have you in our lives. We will never forget your kindness, and we promise to pay it forward.

Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. I’m happier than ever. And I was right -- the space in my heart that Maddie has occupied for the past two years and four months did not have to get smaller to make room for Shelby. My heart has gotten bigger. I’ve added a new wing.

By the way, Maddie has already proven herself to be an incredible big sister. We’ve never been more proud of her.







So here’s the Reader’s Digest version of the story. . .

Ahem. . . .

Part 1.

Monday.

Lori calls me at work, nearly in tears. “I can’t take this any longer,” she cries. “I’ve been having contractions for weeks, but nothing is happening. I can barely walk. I can’t come to work another day.” She calls her doctor, who agrees to induce her into labor the following morning. I leave work a few minutes early, meet Lori at her office, and together we head home. My mom comes over, and we spend the evening packing.

Tuesday.

We arrive at the hospital at 7am and check in at the OB triage. After checking Lori’s vitals, a nurse takes us to our room. Lori is already having contractions but is given a Pitocin drip to further them along.



Shelby’s heart rate drops. A lot.

They stop the Pitocin, and the contractions ease up. They start it up again, and Shelby’s heart rate drops even lower than it did before.





In a matter of seconds, a swarm of nurses closes in on Lori’s bed and tells us they’re taking Lori to the operating room. Lori looks at me with a confused look on her face, and I tell her she’s going to get a C-section. She doesn’t understand. I assure her that everything is going to be all right, tell her I love her, say goodbye, and the nurses take her away. Another nurse comes in, hands me a set of scrubs, and together we carry our bags to another room. I wait what seems like an eternity until finally I am taken into the operating room and placed on a stool next to Lori. She’s shaking like a leaf on a tree. I hold her hand and tell her I love her.

A few minutes later, we hear Shelby cry.

And then we see her.

I follow a couple of nurses to another room, where they get footprints, measure her and check her weight. She weighs in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces and measures 20 inches long.



One of the nurses picks Shelby up, and, one by one, she stamps my shirt with her feet. She smiles and says, “There you go. She’s walked all over your heart. And it won’t be the last time, either.”



I hold my daughter for the first time.



I bring Shelby to meet her mommy.



I take Shelby back to the other room. We sit down in a chair together, and she listens intently as I sing her a song. . .

"I’m just an old chunk of coal,
But I’m gonna be a diamond someday.
I’m gonna grow and glow ‘til I’m so blue pure perfect,
I’m gonna put a smile on everybody’s face.

But I’m gonna kneel and pray every day,
Lest I should become vain along the way.
I’m just an old chunk of coal, now, Lord,
But I’m gonna be a diamond someday.

I’m gonna learn the right way to talk.
Gonna search and find a better way to walk.
I’m gonna spit and polish my ol’ rough edged self
Until I get rid of every single flaw.

I’m gonna be the world’s best friend.
I’m gonna go ‘round shakin’ everybody’s hand.
I’m gonna be the cotton-pickin’ rage of the age,
Yes, I’m gonna be a diamond someday.

I’m just an old chunk of coal, now, Lord,
But I’m gonna be a diamond someday."

I'm on Cloud 9.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

And have a happy Tuesday.

We're home from the hospital, and we're doing fine. We have two daughters, by the way. We're a family of four now. Oh, my goodness gracious.

CLICK HERE to see a set of photos from the first few days with Shelby Jean, a.k.a. the Jelly Bean, a.k.a. the Bean, a.k.a. our little Honey Bee.

Have a happy Friday!

Allow me to introduce you to the newest member of our family.





Shelby Jean Goss was born at 1:50pm on Tuesday, June 24th. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces and measured 20 inches long.

We couldn't be more proud.







I'll fill you in on the details soon. For now, just know that all is well. Lori had to have an emergency C-section, but she's recovering nicely, and we'll be going home tomorrow. Shelby's healthy, Maddie's met her, and yes, you are more than welcome to swing on by. Just give us a call before you come over.

Have a happy Thursday!

Tomorrow at 7am, Lori's doctor is inducing her into labor.

Pause for dramatic effect.

Woohoo!

Woohoo!

Have a happy Shelby's Birthday Eve!

Wait, does this mean that tonight will be our last night of sleep for a while? Oh, who am I kidding? I'm not going to be able to sleep! I'll be too excited!

:-)

Talk to you soon!

Lori is 39 weeks pregnant. Yesterday, I took her to the doctor for a routine checkup. She started having contractions in the exam room, and the doctor took one look at her and said, “I’d say you’re ready. It looks like it may be time.” She listened to Shelby’s heartbeat, noticed some irregularities and then performed an exam and told us that Lori was one or two centimenters dilated. The combination of those two things, she said, might have indicated that Lori had gone into labor. She sent us to the OB triage for monitoring. A nurse hooked Lori up to an ultrasound machine, and we waited for another doctor. About an hour later, one came. It turned out that Shelby’s heart rate was absolutely fine. The irregularities Lori’s doctor had noticed may have been the result of some sounds Shelby had heard that made her jump. Whatever the case, they let us go. But the contractions continued. In fact, they grew stronger, no doubt because of the exam the doctor performed on Lori.

But still no baby.

Who knows, though? Maybe today.

By the way, did I mention that the doctor felt Shelby's head? There's an actual person in there! Craaaazy!

And even though we don't know when she'll decide to come out, we do know one thing: she's not four and a half pounds.

Have a happy Friday!

I’m all about Obama, and I have been since the beginning. What originally drew me to him was his intelligence. I mean, seriously, even if you don’t like the guy (and honestly, I don’t see how you couldn’t), you can't deny that he’s smart as a whip. But what kept me with him was this -- he made me want to be a better American, to play an active role in the forward progress of this country. I can’t say that about any other president in my lifetime. The man inspires me, and that, in my humble opinion, is what all good leaders should do. I’m behind Barack Obama 100%.

And by the way, you know all those rumors aren’t true, right?

WWW.FIGHTTHESMEARS.COM

Have a happy Wednesday.

Yes, it’s true. I’m a very serious uncle. I don’t like to kid around.

Anyway. . . since it’s almost 9:00 am and I haven’t yet had the conversation I have about 237 times a day, I might as well go ahead and have it with everybody all at once - you know, to get it out of the way. Here goes. . .

EVERYBODY: No baby yet?!

ME: Nope! No baby yet!

EVERYBODY: Wow! I can’t believe you’re here today!

ME: I know. Me neither. I never thought we would have made it this far.

EVERYBODY: Is Lori still working?

ME: Yep, she’s still working!

EVERYBODY: Wow, what a trooper!

ME: Yeah, I know!

EVERYBODY: I can’t believe that!

ME: Yeah, I know!

EVERYBODY: How’s she feeling?

ME: She’s pretty miserable, and I wish there was something I could do for her.

EVERYBODY: Poor thing.

ME: Yep.

EVERYBODY: When’s the actual due date again?

ME: The 26th, but it could be any day.

EVERYBODY: Could be.

ME: Guess we’ll see!

EVERYBODY: Guess so! Good luck!

ME: Thanks!

O.k., done. Now we can talk about other things.

My mom invited a few of Lori’s friends over to our apartment on Saturday for an impromptu “diaper shower.”



What a blast.

Lia came, too, and after having cake. . .



. . . she and her cousin Maddie spent the afternoon bouncing off the walls.

On Sunday morning, Maddie walked into the kitchen, said, "Happy Father's Day," and gave me this card:



She pointed to the picture on the left, said, “That’s a heart,” and then she pointed to the picture on the right and said, "That's Mommy."



That night, she and Lori took me out to dinner at the Outback Steakhouse, where I stuffed myself with prime rib and crab cakes. Oh, yes. It hurt so good.



Yesterday, I thought Lori was going to go into labor.

And today? Today I think Lori is going to go into labor.

Guess we’ll see.

Have a happy Tuesday.

And check out these photos:

IMPROMPTU "DIAPER SHOWER" FOR SHELBY

FATHER'S DAY DINNER

Tomorrow, my mom is throwing Lori a last minute baby shower at our apartment. This all came about yesterday. She called me with the realization that Lori had missed her first one and said she wanted to give her the experience. Lori, of course, is very excited. If you want to come, please do. If you didn’t get an email from my mom, that doesn’t mean you’re not invited. We probably didn’t have your email address, and we had to think quickly. I guess it’s possible that we just don’t like you, but even so, you’re still invited. Seriously - if you want to come, lemme know. I’ll give you our new address.

And another thing: don’t bring any gifts. We’ve got everything we need. I think my mom asked people to bring diapers, but all we really need is you.

Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if Lori went into labor tomorrow and missed this shower, too? I probably shouldn’t have said that.

On another note, Lori is over 38 weeks pregnant, and as I mentioned a couple of days ago, she’s absolutely miserable. She’s nauseous, tired, achy and irritable. And Maddie knows that something is up. Lately, she’s been very protective of Lori and wanting to be by her side just about every minute. She doesn’t quite understand why her mommy moves so slowly and can’t pick her up as often as she’d like. She does, however, understand that she’s about to be a big sister. She talks about Shelby all the time. Recently, while watching Lori organize some of her old clothes, she looked at me and said, “Mommy’s folding clothes. My sister Shelby.” This morning at breakfast, I asked her, “Guess who’s coming over tomorrow?” She answered, “Shelby!” And I said, “Actually, I meant Grandma and Granddad, but I don’t know – maybe!”

Have a happy Friday and an awesome weekend.

A month or two ago, we wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told us we’d make it to the end of May. Now, here we are at June 11th, seriously wondering if we’ll make it to the end of June. We have no idea when Shelby will come. All we know is that she’s completely healthy (we had a doctor’s appointment on Monday) and that Lori’s been having contractions for over two weeks. I tell you what, though -- I hope Shelby comes soon, not only because I want to meet her but also because I don’t know how much longer I can stand to see Lori in pain. She’s absolutely miserable.

In other news, I’ve made it through three months of my “365 Days Project.” Here are some of my favorite photos from the past month:











If you want to see the whole set (about 90 photos so far),
CLICK HERE.

Have a happy Wednesday!

At moments like these, I wonder how my heart could possibly have enough room for another little girl. And then I realize that it probably won't. I think it will just get bigger.

I'm really excited, folks.

Have a happy Friday and an awesome weekend.