1000 Words

Someone once said, "A picture is worth a thousand words", so here you go...

About 5 hours before Yegi went into labor we had dinner with friends at Litton's(nice face Sarah Beth)


T-minus 3 hrs and everyone came over to the house to hang out for a little while. The preggo's wanted a picture together.


Yegi's water broke and we got to the hospital at 2am. The all-star team showed up at 3am and didn't leave until it was over.


My family made it in later that morning. This isn't all of them...just the prettiest of all.


Yegi feeling good after the epidural. Just before starting to push.


After about 3 hrs of pushing the doctor was afraid of her head bleed and we went back to the O.R. for a C-section where the nurses determined he was "sunny side up" and twisted which was keeping him from being birthed.


Introducing...River Cameron Cole. 7lbs 7oz, 20-inches long. Just after congratulating the doctor on a successful birth.


Meeting mom for the first time.


Dad and his size small full body Tyvek suit.


Meeting Grand-Lad for the first time.


Family coming to meet River.


Multiple generations of grandmothers. I love this picture.


Cousins Julie & Chris.


Family photo.


G-mother, Great-Aunt Sonya, and Nana.


Great-aunt Betsy, G-mother, and Madar-Joon.


Aunt Anna.


Aunt Jenny.


Taking a nap.


The women on mom's side.


More visitors. Soon to be in this situation.


Heading home.


Found out River had high Bili-Rubin levels and needed phototherapy. Children's Hospital set us up with a home unit that River stayed in for 24 hrs. Not fun but it did work. He's doing well now and no longer has Jaundice.


It was super bright in our house which made it difficult to walk around without sunglasses on.


We were so tired the second night at home so Yegi's mom came and stayed up all night with River while we slept. She held his hand all night so he knew she was there since he had to wear a blind fold.


Got my first bath at home.


Happy at home with my mom and dad. Thanks to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers and for all the support. We are enjoying every minute with the River man and look forward to having him grow up with all of you in his life.

- Chris, Yegi, River, Daisy, Chaco

Stacking Glasses

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Finishing Strong

Its coming down to the wire. We have entered the final trimester (cue Rocky IV themesong Final Countdown) and my thoughts have finally changed from nervous to excitement. I used to be scared to death that a kid would walk up to me and call me "Dad", but now I look forward to it (jk-ing here folks, sorry honey, I know you're shaking your head right now). Everyone told us that these 9 months would fly by. I'm sure here in a year or two I will say the same thing to my friends that are in this same situation but for me time has moved much the same as it always has.

We have done a lot during the past few months: one family beach vaca, one with friends, one trip to DC, one room overhaul, another trip to a Young Life camp as "adult guests", two multi-day backpacking trips (me only of course), a summer on the lake (albeit not enough times out), a full UT football season, the beginning of a basketball season (go Blue Devils & Vols), Yegi gained tenure (Congratulations!), I didn't get laid-off (Wa-hoo!), 7 baby showers (yes, SEVEN), 22 pounds gained by Yegi (thus far), 15 by me (thus far!), 10 hormonal temper-tantrums (and Yegi wasn't happy when I screamed either...), a major budget change (good luck Nama, see you in 5-10), 5 trips to the hospital with 8 overnight stays (sorry Cigna Insurance), 1.5 months of bedrest(thank you friends for all the meals, visits, TV show season dvd's), 3 weeks of Labor & Delivery classes(which included more video of lady business than I ever wanted to see), Thanksgiving and hopefully Christmas with our families.

We are heading into the Christmas 09 weekend and Yegi is doing her best to keep River swimming. Although I'm a little worried she might try and have him early just for the sake of entertainment. Her bed rest has been unenjoyable for the both of us (more for her). Being able to do nothing for yourself is not as fun as it sounds especially when your "helper" does not do things the way you want them too. I have been trying to mimic Yegi's procedure for each task she normally performs but realized early on that my college habit of not paying attention until it matters has carried on into my married life. Needless to say, we are both excited about her coming off bed rest and I am especially looking forward to have someone to play with...

Inappropriate Comments

I work for an engineering/construction company. Most of my time (up until the last 6 months) has been spent in the "field" working on a job site. I don't know how many of you have worked in the construction industry or know much about it but it has the reputation of being a somewhat rough environment. The work itself is rough in nature but more than that the people who perform this work are a crotchety group. When I started I fit in pretty well with the work part of the job, but my personality was not up to par with my coworkers (I know, many of you might be surprised). Over the years I have picked up some unwanted habits and personality traits from my surrounds. One of these traits that I had before hand but was sharpened in the field was that of making inappropriate comments. I'm not proud of this skill set, but I am good at it. This whole intro leads into a story...

One of the superintendents (we'll call him "Umberto") that I started my career with is a younger married guy. His wife also started working for the company as a project controller a year or so ago. I developed a friendly relationship with both of them because they remind me a lot of my family (sense of humor, personality, even their physical appearance is somewhat similar).

A few months ago the woman (we'll call her "Sally") was getting ready to have her second child. Her first child, a boy, was a 10+ pound baby. This was not a surprise because the both of them are big people and from what I've been told come from big families. Now when I say "big" I do not mean "FAT", I mean they are both tall and are not small boned(the husband was a college football player, if that makes it easier to envision). Well, when the second child came due "Sally" looked like she was either having twins or having the worlds largest baby. I, along with others in the office joked with her about this because she had a good sense of humor and told us about the doctors visits where they would tell her the child was on his way to being a 12 lb baby at birth. They scheduled a C-section and she went on maternity leave the day before the procedure.

That same day the company put a card up front for everyone to sign that congratulated her on the birth of her new son. Me being the person that I am, I hate writing "Congratulations" or "Happy Birthday!" and then just signing my name below it in the card. I try and make every comment memorable so that people don't read it and think "Thanks jackass's for the generic card" (at least that's what I think about those cards just before they hit the bottom of the trash can). So in "Sally's" card I wrote, "You know what else weighs 12 lbs? A Thanksgiving turkey. Congratulations, Chris." Knowing "Sally" & "Umberto" I could see them laughing when they read the card and I myself laughed out loud (or LOL for you kids) as I finished the comment.

Fast forward to today: Sally walked in to my office (its more like a work area that I share (unimportant)) and said, "I just wanted to tell you I would not have though your comments were "inappropriate" and I'm sorry you were reprimanded for them." Thouroughly confused, I asked her what the heck she was talking about? She then told me the story about the card getting confiscated/destroyed and how a new one was sent around the office secretly to be signed by everyone but me and that I was supposed to of been set down with the OM to talk about my "inappropriate comments". I told her that I did not know of any of this and that I was now very embarrassed. She reassured me that when she found out about the first card she LMAO or I guess, LHerAO and when she told "Umberto" he did the same. I guess it all worked out in the end and in the best way possible. I never knew there was a problem.

On a final thought...I'm not so much embarassed of my comments but more the fact that I'm "that guy". I'm the one who makes the inappropriate comments!?... Oh well, I guess you've got to be known for something.