Best Friends

1. Nobody touches The Boy on my watch!













2. Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...














3. Don't you go anywhere, Ezekiel.













4. Zeke has the best toys.

 

Ezekiel One Month

May 4, 2006

We're Not In Kansas Anymore, Toto

Our first visitors to the UK! Ezekiel was so excited to meet Grandma and Grandpa Hoard.

Meeting Great Granny was a special treat.

We went to Bolsover Castsle. It was built by the Cavendish family not for defense like most castles, but for entertainment and pleasure. Granny is standing in the Venus Garden.

One cold afternoon we went to the North Sea. These crazy girls wanted a photo in the ocean. I was afraid they were going to catch pneumonia and blame it on me. I haven't heard any pneumonia talk yet, so I think I'm in the clear.

This is Zeke's first visit to the beach. He slept through it all. For all of you who know my father and secretely have doubts as to if he actually made it all the way to England, here's proof.

We also took a tour of Beverley Minster where Abe and I go to church. It was built in 3 stages, ranging from 1240-1440. Granny's sitting in a rather large chair built for a rather large church member in the 1600s.

One afternoon we took a tour of Skidby Mill. Yorkshire is the heart of the farmland of England. There used to be a lot of windmills, but now Skidby is the only working one left. Granny is grinding the grain between 2 stones.

As you can see, Ezekiel was sad when Grandma, Grandpa and Granny left.

P.S. Zeke is looking forward to meeting everybody and wanted me to tell you that everyone is welcome to come visit.

Ezekiel: God Strengthens

Things were getting pretty cramped inside my one room suite my Mommy likes to refer to as 'The Belly.' So I decided to come out a few days early. I started my decent and kicked the hormones into gear at 12:45 am, April 3rd. She got contractions and by 3:30 am they were 3 minutes apart, so Mommy and Daddy drove to hospital (the Brits leave off the article 'the'). I was trying to keep dropping into position, but my head was getting stuck on her pelvis bone. Mommy was dilated to 1. Contractions stopped since I stopped moving down south, so midwife sent us all home around noon on Monday. As soon as we got home the hormones took over and Mommy got contractions about 8 minutes apart beginning at 12:30 pm. They continued all afternoon without cease, increasing (or decreasing?) to 7 minutes apart, then 6. At 9:00 pm they were 5 minutes apart and had never stopped since noon-thirty. Mommy called hospital and they said wait until they were 3 minutes apart. Momma was in such pain by that time I felt bad for her so I kicked that bag around me that the Brits refer to as 'waters.' Success! Hospital said we could come in then. We arrived at hospital around 10:00 pm and midwife was busy in 'theatre' (surgery) till about 10:30 or so. Momma was dilated to 4; Mom and Dad decided an epidural was needed, so we waited for the doctors to come at 11:30 to administer it. The first time it hit a blood vessel, so they had to take it out and insert it a 2nd time. Boy, was it worth it for Mommy!! After about 10 minutes she felt no more pain. Around 3:00 am Tuesday morning midwife Catherine became concerned that I was not moving. Can you blame me--I had been trying to drop for the past 27 hours, but I just kept bumping my head and getting stuck. These doctors came in and started reaching up trying to poke me in the head. Yikes! They took 2 samples of my blood to make sure I had enough oxygen. Since I did but I was still resting, midwife stuck this probe thing in my head to monitor me that stayed in there until birth. When she was doing that she told Mommy I was upside down. How was I supposed to know--I thought head down was good enough; I didn't know I also had to be face down. I guess that's why I kept bumping my head on Mommy's pelvis bone. Midwife said I had tried so hard that my head was oblong. By this time Mom was dilated to 6 and she had a fever. The doctors were worried because she had the fever for such a long time. They gave her medicine for that and put something in her drip (petocin or something like that) to speed up her dilation. By 10:00 Momma was dilated to 10 and our new midwife Lorraine called the doctors in because she was sure that a big boy like me couldn't make it out of that tiny little crawl space; plus my head was all swollen since I had been trying so hard. The doctor told Mom to push for a bit and see if anything happened. Lorraine was so sweet that every time she told Mom what a great job she was doing and keep pushing, just a little more, great work, etc. Nothing. I'll tell you what did happen--she literally pushed the crap out of me! When I didn't move at all, they decided we needed an emergency C-section because I couldn't budge any more. They rushed us off, including Daddy, down to theatre. Momma got some morphine so she wouldn't feel a thing and Papa got to watch it all. Once they were ready, they found merconium. I told you Mommy pushed the crap out of me. This was kind of serious, because if I swallowed any I could get brain damage. I held my breath as long as possible and they were very skilled, so all was well. Clearly I couldn't be typing this if I wasn't well in the head. Anyway, I came out at 11:24 am on Tuesday, April 4th, weighing 8 pounds 3.5 ounces and 49.5 centimeters (19.5 inches). Mommy began consistent contractions just 23 hours earlier. The morphine did quite a trick on my Mom. She couldn't form words, let alone sentences. The doctors and team were speaking English with an Indian accent and Mom was speaking English with an American accent, so once she got slurred no one except Daddy could understand her, so he had to translate everything she tried to say for awhile. I came out quickly and began bonding with my folks while they were putting Mom back together. There was another problem with soft tissue not stitching together or something, but I know some of you may squirm at all the details. Dad got an action photo of me coming straight out of The Belly if anyone wants to see some drama. They eventually got everything put back in right, but the extra medicine made Momma get sick right there in theatre. The 3 of us and Lorraine went to post-op for about 7 hours or so. They said Mommy's blood pressure went up pretty high, so they watched it closely as it slowly came back down. We went to the post-delivery ward that evening. They kept me and my Mom in hospital until Friday. We got a little restless in there, but Mommy's cut was quite tender. First thing I did when I got home was meet my big sister Etrigan. She's real nice. A little curious, but mostly keeps to herself. It's good to be home. My Mommy and Daddy love me lots and lots.

We'll Always Have Paris

The city of lovers. Paris in the spring. Gay Pair-ee. City of Romance.
Can you think of any other colloquialisms for Paris? We decided to take one last quick trip with just the 2 of us. Whilst Baby is still hands-free and cry-free, it didn't take me long to realize at 7 1/2 months that I was still carrying him around and it was hardly just the 2 of us.

With the Napoleonic spirit of adventure and liberty, we tackled the city of Paris. One of the brochures claims France as the birthplace of America. According to all I've heard about the haughty French attitude they definitely act like older siblings. We actually had pleasant interactions with the Parisians. Anyway, this building is the inspiration for our White House. You'll notice the top is green, much like our Statue we received from the French. They love gold. Take notice in the pictures how much gold is on the buildings, statues, bridges, etc.

We opted for a city tour on the bus where they show you everything and give you a brief audio commentary about the history and significance. It was rainy that day so it was a great way to see things regardless of the weather. Plus it was a good mixture of standing and walking/sitting; if you have never been pregnant this is a concept that has not crossed your mind, but it becomes important at this stage. I had to go to the Moulin Rouge for a show. It's very festive and colorful. They gave a "complimentary" bottle of champagne with our tickets, but no green fairies (if you haven't seen the movie, ignore that). We also went to The Louvre. It's a wonderful museum, but too much to take in. We did see some famous works like The Monalisa and Venus de Milo. Construction began in 1204 and the building was used as many different things before a museum, including a palace for the kings of France. Part of Napoleon's apartment is still inside. Very lavish and over the top. The dining room seated 42 people.

A trip to Paris woudn't be complete without a visit to the top of the Eiffel Tower. That's neat to see in person because it's such an icon for Paris. Hitler visited once and the elevator "accidentally" didn't work so he had to take the stairs. After he was up some guy easily fixed the problem with a screwdriver. Hmmm...

We went to the Orsay Museum. This is much like the Louvre; amazing things to see, but too much. This museum has many impressionnist works. We saw several original paintings by Monet and Renoir.
Notre Dame is a beautiful church right in the middle of everything. Contruction began in 1163. The bell weighs 13 tons and rings throughout the day. More than 9,000 people can fit in there. You can see from my lovely assistant that there is a gold plate on the ground in front that all distances in Paris are measured from. We also checked out the Arc de Triumph. Napoleon built it to commorate his victories. It's in the middle of the steet and quite impressive. This is Champs-Elysees Street, which is the last leg of the Tour de France. Notice the traffic; it's always busy and lanes aren't properly marked. The metro worked much better for us. It's easy to use and felt quite safe. The scariest time was going to the airport Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. It was quite obvious who was up for the day and who was still up from the night before.

We also took a boat tour on the Sienne. The Landlover took a hit for the team since I enjoy the water so much. There are a couple small islands right in the middle of everything, so there are bridges everywhere. Thirty as a matter of fact. This guy is called "le zouave" on the Alma Bridge. He helps show the water level of the Sienne. During the floods of 1910 the water was up to his neck.

One of the last things we did was see the Basilliqua Sacre Coure. It's a pretty church located on a hill with a wonderful view of the city. We were bombarded by guys making cheeky bracelets which you don't want but feel obigated to buy. For the first time in 34 weeks a stranger commented on my pregnancy. It was one of these guys who Abe said smelled of pot when you got close to him; regardless, he was the first stranger to say something. Everyone else either thinks I have quite a beer belly going on or they can't be bothered to mention anything.