Random thoughts from the weekend

1. Any weekend in which I wear my pajamas over 80% of the time is a good weekend. There is no other way to put it.
2. Say what you want about Tiger Woods but he is the greatest pressure putter of all time. It is unreal. If he has to make a putt to win, there is a 100% chance of going in. It is just unreal.
3. Michelle's parents left Sunday which means it is down to just Michelle and I. Yikes.
4. Not even a snow storm could stop us from taking Samantha to a bar for lunch on Sunday. Parents of the year? Maybe!
5. I believe at 9 days old, Samantha is the youngest person ever to be in the Purple Otter. Way to go Samantha!
6. In the morning, watching snow pile up on the ground was a huge blow to morale. Watching it melt away in the afternoon was a big boost to morale. Go away winter!
7. Pete's pizza is really good. We have had it twice in one week. Yeah!
8. Baby doc appointment on Wednesday. Hopefully she has gotten back to her baby weight. That was her homework for the week.
9. Have a great week everyone!

Back to work

Well, I am back to work for the most part. I will probably take a day here and there for doctor appointments and what not. Since I won't be around as much, Michelle will be in charge of pics and videos. I will post probably one or two more and maybe some from weekends. I do have a few random thoughts from the first week.

1. Receiving blankets. I had no idea what these were for and why we needed so many. Within three days of being home, we had used all of them. Basically a newborn loves to be wrapped up and that is what these little blankets are for.

2. I really can not get over the fact that Sam sneezes in threes or fours. Who else does this besides me and her? What a crazy trait to get passed on!

3. I talked to Samantha last night and we agreed that she would start dating after she gets her draft card. I think that is fair.

4. Last night was by far our best night with her. She was a little sleeper for us. I can see this being a roller coaster for awhile.

Happy Friday!

Samantha with family

Here are some pics from family that stopped by the hospital.

All four Grandparents...

Great Aunt Mary

Great Uncle Tom

My bro, God father to be, and his wife (my sis!)

New cousins Jackson and Jeremy

And finally, great grandmother holding her great grandchild.

Samantha with new friends.

Here are some of the friends that stopped by and visited Samantha.

Two of the Holmes sisters.

Bryan and Mary (technically family and friends here...)

Lee and Lauren (you're up!).

April and Mike.

and Ploth's fiance, Stacia.

Pics and Video from Sunday and Monday

Here are my nephews hanging with their new cousin on Sunday.

Michelle and I putting Sam in her going home outfit.

Walking out of the hospital with an extra person.

The new family...

Here is the final video at the hospital. Sam likes to pound bottles. I think I mispoke in my video. I think that is more of a trait of her mom than her dad...or both...uh oh. :)

Back home!

So we got released from the hospital on Monday morning, well monday afternoon around 11 am. Let me back up though. Sunday was good. Saturday night was as good as Friday night. Sunday during the day, my parents, my brother and sister-in-law and the nephews all came in to visit with Samantha. It was a good time by all and Samantha as usual slept most of the day. After my parents left, the Knowles stopped by for a visit and brought cupcakes.

Again, Thursday through Sunday, we had many visitors and it was great to see everyone. We appreciate so much seeing everyone and it really helped the days go by. So, one last time...THANK YOU!

Samantha has a bit of a habit of sleeping soundly between meals during the day. However after 7 pm, after eating she is pretty awake especially around midnight. It reminds of Neyer's days in college where he would sleep until 4 pm and then be awake until 6 am.

We decided to keep her the entire night Sunday in the room. It was not too bad. We had two feedings at 1:30 am and 5:30 am. All in all it was a good dry run.

I was itching to come home. I made the mistake of coming home Sunday afternoon and it made me miss my bed!

Well, monday morning was good and Samantha had passed all her tests so they let us come home. It has been quiet here all day and not much to report. I will post some pictures and a video in the next post.

Pics and Videos from Day one and two

We had professional pics done. Here are a couple. You can look at them online but I don't have the info in front of me. I will post it in a different blog. Sorry.

I just wanted to test out this "oven" Michelle has been using for 9 months. Lets just say she works better than some furnaces out there. This first one was from Friday afternoon and the 2nd was from Saturday morning.

Samantha doing two of her favorite things...well two of all of our favorite things to do.

Another family pic. I think Michelle was in heaven putting on normal clothes.

So, Samantha sneezes in threes and fours. Who knew that was hereditary? I tried to catch it but only got two of them.

Michelle shows Sam facebook.

Sam gets interviewed by dad.

Updates from parenthood..Sam is still alive.

So, we are almost through day 2 (day zero was her birthday). It was a bit of a roller coaster at first but we have found a little grove with the help of 1,500 nurses, 400 doctors, and a whole bunch of visitors!

In all seriousness, Thursday was obviously very emotional day for everyone and an even more physical wearing day for Michelle. We got settled into our room (1188, if you are visiting), around 4. The first night was pretty rough. I do not think either of us slept more than an hour without being interrupted by nurses coming in checking Michelle, the IV, etc. Plus, getting the baby to eat at first was a little time consuming. I think the first stretch of sleep we got was from 4 am to 7 am. I kept thinking "What did we do?". Combined from the lack of sleep on Wednesday, come Friday morning, we were on fumes. In my head I was thinking "Yikes, we are just starting!"

Well, all the commotion was a lot for Sam as well. Friday day was wonderful. We spent it lying around getting naps. Sam would wake to eat and be changed and that is it. Michelle's mom and Aunt Mary were with us most of the day helping out. By 5 pm on Friday, I felt better than I had in three days.

Our nurse for Friday night shift is named Tiffany and she calls Sam "puddin'". She is easily our favorite. Today, I was anticipating her again thinking she worked the weekend and I was right. Lets just say I am happy. Anyway, Michelle fed Sam at 9 pm on Friday. Both of them went to sleep and I stayed up and watched the OT games (with no sound). THEY WERE AWESOME!

At midnight, we had another feeding with Sam and then at 12:30 I strolled her over to the nursery. I told them if she fusses, give her a bottle. Both Michelle and I crashed and at 5:30 Tiffany strolled her back into the room and said they fed her around 4 am and she has a clean diaper on. Michelle and I instantly went back to sleep (Sam was already sleeping) and the pediatrician woke us up at 7 am to check on Sam. She has lost about 5-6 oz of weight which is normal and everything looked good. After he left, the three of us went back to sleep until 8-8:30 am. It was a much different night than Thursday. No machines in the room making noises and some good sleep!

Saturday day has been similar to Friday day when it comes to Sam's routine. A lot of sleeping in between meals. I am fine with that. Lets hope that Sat night is similar to Friday's!

Sam has been great. She sleeps a lot and hardly cries. We have a hard time getting through a feeding since she falls asleep about 5 min in. I don't blame her. I would do the same if I could. She does not like it when you take her shirt off. I am hoping that is a habit she will keep well...forever.

Anyway, we have had a lot of guests so far and that has been great so keep coming. It makes the time here go by so much faster and thank you to all that have showed up so far!

Operation EVAC was a success!

Samantha Bell Reuter enter this world (not without a fight...i don't blame her) at 1:29 pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs 8 oz and was 19 inches long. Both her and Michelle are doing fine. Here are a few pics from yesterday or today and a couple videos. Really, these hours and days are blending together right now. I can not wait for the next few months.....

Editor's note: Bell was chosen because it is Michelle's mother's maiden name.

The new fam...

SBR chilling...

Who says blackberrys and babies don't mix?





Now here are a couple videos.

Welcome to the party pal and boooo Butler.

A little R&R.

Past a diving Jeter...shocking...

Fubar - don't read this on your birthday.

Jeter got bailed out last night. Jeter has always been terrible going to his left. Many times you will hear the announcer go past a diving Jeter when a ball is hit up the middle. His range is terrible and it has gotten worse with time. So lets go to last night. The US come back to beat Puerto Rico to reach the semi-finals. Well, they should have not been down in the first place. With the game tied 3-3, a slow ball hit up the middle goes by a diving Jeter, a run scores. Then in the 9th, Jeter misplays a ball up the middle and another run scores. Check out the highlights.

I had trouble embedding the video so here is a link. The highlights run at the top of the article.

Now, what is really upseting is that Jimmy Rollins is DH. WHAT?!?!?!?! Jimmy Rollins should be playing SS. That is a travesty. Just because Jeter is a likeable guy does not mean he should be playing. I would be good for the clubhouse. Sign me to the team!

Furthermore, he never has had good range. Forget about Bonds giving back his MVP trophies. Jeter needs to give back all of his gold gloves. What a joke those are!

ARGH! Play Jimmy Rollins and put Jeter on the bench! What a JOKE!

Kurt Russell vs. Patrick Swayze

I was having a discussion at lunch about it being Kurt Russell's birthday and I accidentally confused him with Patrick Swayze. Now, this is really unforgiveable but in my defense, I did watch Roadhouse this weekend so Swayze was on the mind.



After thinking about it more, Swayze and Russell have had similar career paths. So I am putting this to my readers. Who, in your opinion, do you like more? Whose movies are you a bigger fan of?



Let me give you a little list of highlights of movies for these guys.



Swayze - Outsiders, Youngblood, Red Dawn, Dirty Dancing, Road House, Point Break, Donnie Darko

Russell - Used Cars, Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, Overboard, Tombstone, Tango & Cash, Stargate.

I left any movies made after 2000. Just the way I am playing this game.

So who do you like more???? Please post your answer in my comment section. I think I will have another post about this based on answers.

Russell is my answer!

Random thoughts

1. First and foremost, happy st. patricks day to everyone.
2. Last Saturday morning was a success. Not only was it fun having people over for breakfast but Liverpool beat Man U 4-1. YESSS!
3. Speaking of Liverpool, they had an amazing week. They play two of the best teams in the world with Real Madrid and Man U and outscore them 8-1. WOW!
4. We are about 49 hours away from operation EVAC. It is going to be a long 49 hours. I must stay busy.
5. St. Louis was fun yesterday and my walk at lunch down to the Arch was good but I was very disappointed that the bowling hall of fame is already gone even though they are not opening in Texas until 2010. I mean PwC's office is next door. It was the perfect lunch plan.
6. One day trips for work wear me out. I slept a good 8 hours last night and was still struggling to get up for work today. Yikes.
7. I feel like I am getting a little sick. Lets hope I am wrong. That is the last thing operation EVAC needs.
8. The timing of this baby has worked out for Michelle when you look at it from a presents point of view: Christmas (12/25), Anniversary (1/27), Operation EVAC (3/19), Birthday (4/30), Mother's day (5/10). Luckily we don't celebrate Valentine's day! ha!
9. I have a physical on Thursday morning. Looking back I am not sure that was the best idea. My blood pressure maybe a little higher than normal.
10. Go Horizon in the NCAA. I would love to see Butler upset North Carolina in the 2nd round.
11. Cheers!

Down comes the countdown!

Yikes. We are getting close and I would have kept it up but we know the date! There are pros and cons to c-sections and natural births. A pro to a c-section is knowing the date. PBR will be joining our family on March 19 (first day of March Madness) . The c-section is scheduled for 1 pm.

If I had to make a prediction, I think my work might be a little lacking next week as we get closer.

Cheers!

Biggest Loser Thoughts

Last night's episode was awesome and I have some opinions on what happened. So, the black team is dominating everything right now. It was the perfect time to bring out the 24 hours of leisure reward. See, when a team is winning both challenges and weigh-ins, BL will give 24 hours of pampering to the winner of a challenge. By doing this, they are tempted with bad food, partying, massages, not working out for a whole day. Since the team is getting cocky, they almost always fall into the trap. I mean it is all free too!

Jillian handled everything poorly.

First, yes, these guys ate a lot of bad food, drank, smoked and did not workout. Guess what - it is one day and they were blowing off steam. They work hard and guess what they played hard. For her to sit there and berate them was ridiculous. You know what... The scale at the end of the week will punish them. You don't have to. You should have moved on from it. It is not the end of the world to have a cheat day or cheat meal or to let loose on occasion. Sometimes you need to shake things up. If you follow a diet 90% of the time, you will be successful.

Second, Jillian is a professional trainer. Your job is to train people. You do not have to like them. You get paid to work them out. It is ridiculous that you even started talking about "I either like you or I don't". Well, guess what, even if you don't, you still need to do your job. So what if they like Bob more. That does not give you a reason not to train them for the entire day. I do think Felipe handled his side poorly too but Jillian lost any trust she had by not training him. It is not his job to speak up either. It is her job and I do not care if you like the people or not.

Third, the biggest thing we saw last night was the power of stress on weight loss and your body in general. This was complete glossed over. Your body doesn't know the difference between stress of a bear running at you and you trying to make a deadline at work. The body releases the same things.

Stress releases cortisol into your body. Excess cortisol stimulates glucose production. This excess glucose then typically is converted into fat, ending up as stored fat. Mandi was all stressed all week about going up against Seone at the weigh in. Her body shut down on her, plain and simple. As much as I have issues with Yoga, I really think this is why Bob shows his team this every year. He wants them to have a way to release that stress from their body and give them a way to RELAX.

Of course this is my take on what I saw on a two hour show that was tapped over 168 hours of material.

Lost, ECV, Random thoughts

1. I know Michelle wrote about this but it really freaked me out that Lost mentioned "External Cephalic Version" the night before Michelle went to the hospital to have it done.
2. It was good to do a dry run at the hospital. I am totally taking a cooler with me for the real things. Keep that thing loaded with bottles of water.
3. This weekend was great. I watched many movies, read a book, and as Michelle has said, we finished the baby's room.
4. I rolled a 509 last night. I did not get anything going until the last game. I missed 5 single pin spares last night and none of them were the 10 pin. That is quite the contrast from Tuesday night. We were in 3rd place but got swept. Oops.
5. This week will be my last full week of work for the next few weeks. Yikes.
6. March 19, first day of March madness, the birth has been scheduled.
7. I heart John Elway.

Cheers!

28 out of 30

After my first game last night, I thought I had a chance at 30 clean, something I have never done. Of course, I fell short. Actually every 13 frames, I had an open. Two open frames for the whole night is A-OK with me. I missed a 600 series because my last game was not too great. I needed another double and it never came. The whole night I could not string more than two strikes together. My games were 209-198-179. I had a 586 or 195 average for the night and we won all three games. In general, I felt good last night and I will take a 586 any day of the week.

Biggest Loser

OK. If a trainer ever called me out like Jillian called out Laura, they would need a stretcher to carry me out of the gym. I would have snapped and pushed myself until I had a heart attack. The fact that Laura just walked away is... well, the reason she is on the show. Suck it up and step up.

Car Wash

So there is a hand car wash by where we park everyday during the week. I have taken our vehicles there before but it was never crowded. It is cheap and very good. I really do love the place. Saturday I pulled in there with the explorer but I could see it was going to be a little while. So after I paid, I checked out their video games. They have two there. Here they are (the pic is with my phone and the lighting was bad).






Yes, it was Galaga and WrestleMania. I was so fired up! I immediately called Bryan because I am not sure the last time I have seen WrestleMania. We agreed I should play that game just because Galaga is a classic that you can find other places.

I played with Yokozuna and won my first three matches. In the fourth match, I faced the Undertaker and met my match.

Lets just say I had a great time at the car wash!

Happy Square Root Day!

3/3/09 - YES! Square root day is celebrated on dates where the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits in the current year.

We will not celebrate this extraordinary holiday again until 4/4/16 so live it up!

Cheers!