Let’s try this again…

I have been absent from updating my blog for quite some time…a year and a half to be exact. Since my last post, I got a job in sales management, I have become a lot more involved in my church, and I still watch Lilah on my days off, amongst other things. Though I never was able to fulfill my Resolution in the allotted time, I still write whenever I can and have completed a first draft of my short story I was working on a while back.

I can also say that there is a collaborative ‘project’ that just started up a few months ago that I will be ‘working on’ (cue the Dr. Evil air quotes) indefinitely. Perhaps this video will better explain it:

Photos: A Day Out With Thomas & Backyard Sprinkler Fun

Swan Lake At Midnight

I tried putting Lilah down around 11 since she had taken a nap that was a lot longer than usual, earlier in the day. I usually read to her before bed, but tonight was different.

“Princess music on,” she stated as we walked into her bedroom.

She was referring to her music box with a tiny ballerina inside that dances to the ‘Swan Lake’ theme. I wound it up, sat her on my lap in the glider chair and rocked with her as we both listened in silence. I thought about a lot in those moments while I studied her tiny face and hands; her intelligence, her beauty, her innocence, what her future hopes and dreams might be, and simply how much I love and adore her. I can only imagine what was going through her mind as she looked calmly and wide-eyed around her bedroom.

Each time the music stopped, she would look up at me and say, “Again.”

She said this each time the music stopped, and each time I obliged. As we gently rocked back and forth, I found myself wondering when her brain will begin to form memories. I thought it a shame that she would most likely never remember this moment, yet it would be one that I will be sure to treasure for years to come.

About forty-five minutes in, she finally fell asleep on my lap. The music stopped and I sat rocking her in silence for about ten more minutes, not wanting her to wake up, not wanting to let the moment go. I then placed her in her bed, covered her up with a blanket and shut the light off. I closed the door softly behind me as I left.

It’s little things like these that make me love being a father.

Halloween in February

I’ve been pretty busy lately and have not been finding much time to post. Lilah is nearly two years old now and I just transferred a bunch pictures from my camera onto my computer. This latest post is a glimpse of our trip up to Connecticut in late October of 2013. The first set is our trip up Talcott Mountain with my parents.

The second set includes our trip to Brown’s Harvest in Windsor, CT, where I grew up. Here LIlah got to pick out a pumpkin, walk in a small corn maze (not pictured) and take a ride in a wagon.

Next on the list of pictures was Halloween. For Lilah’s first Halloween, we dressed her as a duck and it was one of the cutest things ever. This year we wanted to do something completely different. My wife came up with the brilliant idea of not dressing her up at all, but just to have her walking around with an Alien bursting our of her tiny chest. Of course, I was on board with this 100%. With help from my mother and sister, the Alien body was constructed completely out of styrofoam. It was painted and decorated with some kind of nails or pins for the teeth and eyes.

Even Lilah was impressed with the finished product.

We had to keep her busy with food so she wouldn’t keep messing with it.

This was her first time trick or treating so she was a little apprehensive at first and stayed in her stroller.

But pretty soon she was out walking around and knocking on doors herself.

She wasn’t scared, as her uncles were there to protect her from the few ghosts and goblins wandering the streets in search of a sugar fix.

Though it was a short night of trick or treating since it was raining slightly, it will be a memorable one for me and my family. One day when Lilah is old enough, she will be able to look at all the pictures and laugh at them alongside us. And then there is always the alternative; the costume has scarred her for life and she will be able to use the pictures in emancipation proceedings. At least I can always say that it was all Mommy’s idea.

Incredible Hulk…has a daughter

The Incredible Hulk (TV Series 1978-1982) may have ended its run, but what is not widely known is that producers were toying with the idea of continuing the series with new characters. In one offshoot, it is revealed that David Banner/the Hulk has a daughter named Lilah who has inherited the same unmanageable condition as her father.

Below are excerpts from newly pilfered documents, which were released this morning by an unnamed source:

 “…in times of extreme anger, she transforms into a colossal green creature that has very little control over her own actions. Having no recollection of the fits of rage when she comes to, she can only hope that no one is injured – or killed – during these highly unpredictable moments.”

 “Since there is the ever-present risk that her rampages will bring unwanted scrutiny of her from the local authorities, she is forced to go into hiding while trying to find a cure for her condition. She endlessly drifts from place to place, working odd jobs just to survive.”

 “…she(sic) is on a quest to desperately discover a cure that will bring her peace, an end to her running, and the ability to reclaim a normal life.”

The unnamed source tells us that most of the materials he came across were badly burned in what looked like an attempt to wipe any trace of these ideas off the face of the earth. Lucky for us not only were these documents found, but the pièce de résistance was a reel of film that was also discovered in the cache. Though the fire destroyed most of the film, part of it has been restored.

From what we can tell, it looks like the ending scene of a never released (or never heard of until this moment) pilot episode…

Baby Naming/Guide Parent Ceremony

For those who may not know, I consider myself to be areligious. My wife Charlotte, on the other hand, is on her way to becoming a minister in the Unitarian Universalist (UU) movement. While Baptism is a Christian rite of admission, Unitarian Universalism celebrates the birth of a child with a Baby Dedication or Baby Naming ceremony. The purpose of this ceremony is to welcome our child into the family and circle of friends. Charlotte and I also included a ceremony of naming our daughter’s Guide Parents. A Guide Parent, much like a God Parent, is an adult mentor that helps to nurture the child’s spiritual, emotional, and moral upbringing. We named two of our closest friends, Brendan and Stephanie, who joined us from Charlotte, NC.

Over the Labor Day weekend, Charlotte and I decided (kind of last minute) to have Lilah’s Baby Naming and Guide Parent ceremony. With a small group of friends and family and a ceremony that my wife helped to create, we held the event on the bank of the Chattahoochee River in North Georgia. The temperature was perfect and the sun was shining brightly overhead – ideal conditions for the occasion. Best of all, we brought my video camera to capture the moment for those who were unable to be there with us.

Below is the transcript of the ceremony (some wording was changed the day of).

Photoshoot for Lilah

Since we have a lot of friends and family that live so far away, my wife and I like to do small photo shoots with Lilah so that they are able to see her. Here are some of the most recent pictures that we took:

A New Chapter: The Birth of Lilah (Part 2)

Not knowing how things were going to play out with my wife’s labor, I felt a rush of emotions. I felt excited that our daughter was going to be born shortly, worried that the birth plan was falling apart, awful for Charlotte because things were not going as she had hoped (also because she was in pain) and extremely grateful that my mother in law was present. I forgot to add too that Charlotte was given pitocin, the night before she had her water broken, in order to intensify her contractions. She was given the least amount possible at the start of the pitocin drip and by the time her water was broken the next morning, the dosage was maxed out.

Once Charlotte’s water was broken, at around 10AM, the contractions started to get much stronger and closer together. At around 1PM, 24 hours after arriving at the hospital, the pain became too much to bear and Charlotte wisely opted for and received an epidural. Right after receiving the epidural, a staff member came in and joked with us saying that she could accurately guess the time of birth just by looking at the mother. I challenged her and she thought for a second, saying that our baby would be born at 6:21PM. Charlotte and I chuckled about it and wondered how close she would come to the actual time.

A little while after she received the epidural, Charlotte started shivering uncontrollably. This worried us, but the doctors assured us that this was typical. Extra blankets were brought in to keep her warm and though her contractions were getting even stronger, Charlotte took a nap. This is when I left to get some lunch for myself and a much needed caffeine fix. I also went out to our car to get some last minute things.

When heading back into the hospital from the car, I remembered thinking that the next time I left the hospital that it would be with our daughter. I could not believe it took this long to finally hit me. Once I got to the lobby, I phoned my parents to give them an update of the days events. In the middle of this I received a missed call or two, as well as a text message, from Charlotte’s step dad. It was time for Charlotte to start pushing. I rushed upstairs to be with my wife.

Originally, Charlotte and I agreed that I would stand up by her head so I could hold her hand and give her words of encouragement. In the moment though, I stood by her side and held Charlotte’s left leg as she pushed. Her mother held her other leg on the other side of the bed. It was one of the best experiences of my life, as I watched the first sight of Lilah – a long curly tuft of hair, then her little swollen face and misshaped head. Her shoulders came out and then the rest quickly after. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice and once around her body, but the doctor was not worried because she had been monitoring the baby’s stats throughout the delivery. I cut the cord when I was instructed and the doctor handed me my daughter, still slippery and squirming. I was afraid I was going to drop her but I managed to pass her off to her mother.

From the time Charlotte started pushing to the time Lilah was born, was only around 45 minutes. Lilah Arsenault was born on Tuesday May 8th, 2012. She weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 19 inches long. She was born at 6:31PM, exactly 10 minutes after the prediction (pretty impressive). I was the happiest I could ever remember being, watching my wife hold our newborn daughter.

Needless to say, there were plenty of photo ops in the hospital room and afterwards.

A New Chapter: The Birth of Lilah (Part 1)

On Sunday May 6, my wife complained of some strong contractions and we headed down to Emory University Hospital Midtown. Though our baby’s due date was May 23rd, my wife was already dilated three centimeters. The doctor had her walk around the maternity wing for an hour to see if that would get things going. It didn’t and we were cleared to go home. We left the hospital after being told that it should only be a few days before our baby would make her way into this world. We were excited, to say the least.

That Sunday night we walked all over our neighborhood, right up until a thunderstorm popped up and we had to head back to the cover of the house. On Monday morning, May 7, my wife advised me that again she was having strong contractions that were even closer together. I showered, we grabbed our already packed suitcase and headed back down to the hospital. At this point, I was figuring that this trip was going to be like the one the day before and we wouldd be back home in a matter of hours – maybe because the trip down to the hospital was nothing like the ones portrayed on television. I always pictured myself flying down the highway at breakneck speeds while Charlotte screams uncontrollably in pain with a sense of urgency that the baby will be arriving literally at any moment. Our trip, was the opposite of that.

(Since the dry erase board in the room was missing a goal, I decided to add one.)

We (Charlotte, her mom and I) arrived at the hospital around 1PM and for the second time in as many days. Frustratingly enough, we find out that Charlotte is still sitting at “three to three and a half centimeters.” This time however, there would be no going home after only a few short hours. Charlotte’s extremely high blood pressure would keep us at the hospital (legally, they could not let her leave.) At this point, I was thinking that her blood pressure would return to a safe level and we would be returning home…still pregnant as ever. So we stayed at the hospital overnight, both of us not getting much sleep. I slept a few hours on the couch, while Charlotte’s mom retreated to the waiting room to snooze for a bit.

(Charlotte, with her Mom anxiously staring at the clock.)

The next morning, the doctor came in to check on my wife only to find out that labor was still not progressing the way it should have been. Charlotte’s blood pressure was still high and she was barely dilated any more than she was the day before. This news was given to us around 6AM, and this is also when the doctor blurted out that dreaded ‘C’ word. I immediately felt saddened and helpless, since my wife had a specific birth plan and it seemed to be going quickly out the window. All I wanted was the experience to be perfect for her, or at least as close to perfect as it could have been. Charlotte wanted a natural birth – no pain medication and to deliver vaginally. A c-section would eliminate both of those options from the plan (obviously) and there was nothing either one of us could do about it.

(The dress we wanted to bring Lilah home in, served as a focal point for Charlotte during labor.)

At around 10AM when things still were not progressing (about 4cm dilated), the decision was made to break Charlotte’s water in order to facilitate the birthing process. This meant that the baby had to be pushed out fairly soon so not to risk infection, or a c-section would have to be performed. At this point we (I) started to really worry…

TO BE CONTINUED