Happy Birthday, er, Merry Christmas!

In anticipation of the birth of our second boy we bought a Baby's First Christmas ornament that has Winnie the Pooh telling Piglet, "How delightful to be so brand new." We thought it was cute then, but we especially liked it after little Gibson Brock was born on December 23 at 8:16 PM. He was 8 pounds and 3 ounces and 20 inches tall.

Gibby, as we like to call him, seems to be a pretty peaceful baby (judging by the statistically insignificant amount of time we have been able to have him here.) He is already accomplished at both sleeping and eating - things his older brother McKay kind of struggled with.

Gibby was also a lot of fun to have around at Christmas. He certainly added a great deal of perspective to our holiday. The hospital was actually a lot of fun to be at, even though you perhaps wouldn't think so. Our nurse Diane came in on Christmas Eve with her 12 string guitar and sang "Silent Night" - a song that is special to listen to while watching your beautiful wife and sleeping newborn. Another nurse brought in a knitted Santa Hat for Gibson to wear instead of the traditional baby beanie.

Even Santa Claus got into the act. He stopped by everyone's room and gave the newborns a bear for Christmas. Even though Gibby is asleep here, he was pretty excited.

It was just a wonderful Christmas. We were able to bring Gibson home on Christmas Eve, about 24 hours after he was born, because he and Teri were both doing so well. This was great because it meant that Teri and I could be home with McKay for Christmas.

McKay has been one of the big surprises of the whole season. He used to be very possessive of Teri, even going so far as to try and push other babies off of Teri's lap when she would hold them just to make sure that she was still "His Mommy." But McKay has been so kind to Gibson. It's actually kind of funny because whenever McKay would first go up to Gibson we would tell him to give Gibby a hug. As soon as he started to hug his brother everyone would go "Awhhhhh. That's so cute." McKay, ever the learning type, then decided that whenever he wanted to see Gibby all he had to say was, "Awhhhhh" and hugging time would commence. It's been good for McKay too because as long as he can see the baby every once in a while and give him a hug, he really doesn't care too much about the baby - meaning he doesn't get jealous.

So this Christmas we're now a family of four. We're sure that it will still take a little while to settle in to our new roles and new responsibilities. (It's funny that last week McKay was a toddler and now we expect him to be a big brother.) But we are confident that everything will work out all right.

We are very grateful for the many miracles we have seen and been a part of this season and we hope that you and yours will be able to experience the joy of this wonderful season as well.

New Baby Update

With Teri's due date fast approaching (Dec 21) and Teri having regular contractions, albeit 30 minutes apart, our doctor has decided that Teri won't have to tough it out too much longer. Teri is scheduled to be induced on December 23 in the morning.

We'll keep you posted, but in the meantime if you wouldn't mind thinking positive thoughts so that Teri can go into labor on her own before then we'd be appreciative.

Tennis League (Happy Anniversary)

I just finished the regular season portion of the 7 week long winter tennis league. My partner Jared and I played pretty well. We only dropped one set the entire 6 weeks. It didn't look like that at the start of the season though. While we had played in the spring league, both of our jobs had us pretty busy during the summer and fall and by the time we played our first match in October, I was feeling like Lightning McQueen - the spokesman for Rust-eze medicated bumper ointment. Everything just felt a little bit off.

Fortunately, we were able to play regularly after that first match and things seem to be falling into place. The unlucky part of the story is that although we're 6 -0 in league play, we'd really rather be playing in the division we belong in - even if that meant having a mixed record. Our last stint in the Mesa league featured us playing teams really close but just not being able to finish. So even though we were tied for 5th after the regular season, a coin flip left us in the 7th -8th place game where we won handily to avoid last place. But the league doesn't reward close finishes and so even though we had at one point defeated the team that ended up winning that league, we were demoted to a mixed league that included two teams who were pretty good and two teams who weren't very good.

All in all it is fun to be playing tennis again. It reminds me of when Teri and I were dating. I had signed up to be in the Mesa league with a law school friend and we were playing in the 4.0 league. 4.0 is a tennis term for a good but not great tennis player. Truthfully, we were over seeded and most matches weren't even competitive as we lost again and again. The one match we won that season was the first match Teri attended.

The week before that match, Teri and I had just started dating. I was leaving to go up to Utah to see my brother Russ off on his mission to Maine. Teri and I were getting to know each other and we had some definite mutual interest in one another. The night before I left I had decided that I was going to kiss Teri prior to my trip - leaving her yearning for me the whole time I was gone. It was a clever plan, but it didn't work out the way I'd hoped.

As Teri says now, she knew something was up that night and she was terrified that it meant I wanted to kiss her. The problem was Teri had never kissed anyone - at least willingly. One of her old boyfriends tried to kiss her and Teri made him regret it. Poor Teri was a conflicted young woman. While she liked the thought of being in love, she was terrified of the physical attraction and the kissing that came with it. All night, Teri rebuffed me. We'd cuddle and then she'd break away to get or do something. In her mind she was just to delay the inevitable kiss.

Finally, towards the end of the night Teri broke away to the kitchen to get a drink. I followed. I embraced Teri around the waist. She, now feeling trapped and helpless, leaned away rather than in to me. Then she began to shake. At first I thought it was cute. "Teri's probably a bit nervous," I thought. "And she is awfully young so she might not have kissed too many times before." Then her light shaking turned into a trembling. If Arizona had regular earthquakes I might have mistaken her reaction. But even though Teri was obviously nervous to the point of impairment I still figured that only a kiss could ease her tension.

Our foreheads met; our heads started to turn; and just as our lips were about to touch, Teri turned her head to the side and blurted out at the speed of the Micro Machine man, "How many girls have you kissed?" It was like one of those last second shots from beyond the half court line - you figure it won't work but at least it gives you a chance. Teri would have done anything not to kiss me that night. And in this case Teri's prayers were answered.

I told her 6. I thought that was a low number. She was appalled. Quickly recognizing that I had seen her surprised look, Teri tried to make amends by saying, "So am I going to be number 7?"

"Yes Teri. You're going to be number 7," I replied. "But not tonight." No, that night was pretty much done for in romantic terms. I kissed her on the cheek and said my goodbyes.

While I was in Utah I played tennis every day with my dad and brothers. I also talked to Teri a few times on the phone. I had let her borrow my car with the hopes that she could pick me up from the airport and then take me to my tennis match which she ended up doing. That match turned out to be the best I had played in a long time (including since then). Teri saw us win and that's not all. We went back to her apartment after the match and there with no trembling and no awkward questions we had our first kiss.

It's funny that tennis has always been a little more special since then. I guess it's because Teri is special. Happy Anniversary Teri. I love you.

Tag! I'm it.

Here are seven things about me (and Teri).

1. Teri and I only went on two official dates before we got engaged. One was to the Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers game, where Teri freaked out when I explained infield defensive shifts by "drawing" a baseball diamond on her leg near her knee with my finger. Our second date was going on the paddle boats at Tempe Town Lake. The rest of the time Teri and I would just be with each other doing exciting things like watching the 2004 Olympic coverage every night, swimming, and playing Texas Hold 'em - where Teri would eat all of my high dollar chips (Starbursts).

2. If given the opportunity I will pump gas into my car exclusively from Pump #11 regardless of gasoline brand or station. I will use any other gas pump number if a) Pump #11 is broken, b) someone is already using Pump #11, c) I feel like I'm getting too neurotic for my own good or d) if Pump #11 is the diesel pump, ethanol pump, or something else that would ruin my car. I'm not particularly sure why I started doing that other than 11 has been my lucky number since before I left on my mission on August 11 and most good things have happened to me either in sets of 11 or on the 11th.

3. I am a sucker for certain TV shows - some good, some bad. For instance, I think it's funny when people ask me "Did you ever see the episode of the Office when..." because they should know that not only have I seen the episode, I own the DVD...and a Dwight K. Shrute bobblehead.

I also am planning a big get together of fellow Children of the 80s on January 6, 2008 because - yep, you guessed it - the new version of American Gladiators comes out on NBC. I'm still not sure about the blonde guy in front.

4. In 6th grade I was the student body president of Horizon Elementary School.


Apparently believing that the student body president actually meant something I tried my best to be active in the school politics. Looking back I suppose I was fairly successful. For instance, when the Principal cancelled the annual 6th graders vs. Faculty softball game because, as she announced it, "the faculty wasn't interested," I conducted my own poll of the faculty and found 12 teachers who were willing to play but had never been asked about it. I took my findings to the Principal (and the 6th grade teachers) and the game was reinstated. Unfortunately, there were 90+ 6th graders who signed up to play so I batted 77th. I never got up but I was happy that we had gotten to play. By the way, 6th grade won 11-7.

5. My top 5 radio stations are: Alternative Rock, News / Conservative Talk Radio, Hip-Hop, Top 40 of the past few decades, and Sports Talk Radio. It's kind of eclectic, but so are my tastes.

6. Teri and I have been married for three years come December 16th. Teri has been pregnant for half of our marriage.

7. When I graduated from BYU in 2003 and decided to go to Arizona State for law school I was heartbroken about leaving BYU right before the glory days of football began. Back then everyone was excited about the prospects of Ben Olson and Ofa Mohetau returning the Y to its prime form. Of course, now we know that the 2003, 2004, and 2005 seasons weren't that great; Ben Olson went to UCLA; and Ofa Mohetau transferred to Texas Tech and then disappeared.

As it turns out, ASU didn't work out too bad for me and I really didn't miss good BYU football because of law school. Now I just miss BYU football because the mtn. has adopted the Copper Hills High School motto. "We aspire to mediocrity...someday."

Tag You're It:
Andrea (Frost Yourself), Dallas, Scott and/or Heather, Matt, Jeremy & Brittaney, and Kristen.

Headed to Hospital (Updated)

I've been working on my tag response for a few days now but I can't seem to break away from Teri for 10 minutes to finish it. We are now heading to the hospital. Looks like I won't finish it tonight either.

More details to follow.

UPDATE:

Teri was having contractions about 4 minutes apart from 5:30-ishish until 7:30-ish but they weren't that severe. Then from 7:30 until 8:30 she started having contractions 3 minutes apart but still not too severe. So we went to the hospital. Although Teri had contractions in the wheelchair up to triage, once she got into the hospital bed they stopped - on a dime. Teri had one contraction in 20 minutes, but she had dialated to a 2. They took her off the monitor (so of course she immediately had a contraction) and sent us home. Teri's now had contractions all night, but they are inconsistent still.

We'll see how things go.