The Boy Grows

Two weeks ago yesterday Bri and I celebrated what we agree is the best day of our lives when we brought Brendan into the world.

He came in at 7lbs 6oz, and left the hospital 3oz lighter. Well that was two weeks ago, yesterday he weighed in at 8lbs 2.5oz, and added just under an inch to his height.

We've been told that he is perfect by our pediatrician and that we can't return him.



So far he's been to a couple of youth soccer games, his first trip to the mall, and multiple visits to the hospital...to visit.

More and more he's been flashing a smile, usually in his sleep. He's also been caught chuckling in his sleep a couple of instances. He's also earning himself the reputation as a snorter.

The reality of his being continued this week when the first piece of mail addressed to him showed up yesterday in the form of his Social Security Card. Which we put into good use in getting credit to buy a new boat......

.....Kidding :p

He's also set for his first Halloween. After much debate we finally decided to go ahead and him a costume. He'll be going as a tiger, and he'll put those cute looks to good use when we take him trick or treating at the hospital.

As for the past two weeks and our entrance into parenthood we would be lying if we said it's been a piece of cake. Certainly we've had our frustrating moments with him, as I'm sure every parent has had with their newborn. But the kid is so cute it's easy to let go of that frustration instantly.



Tonight Bri and I did get a chance to go out and leave Brendan with Grandma for a couple of hours. It gave us a chance to look back on his birth for the first time. One thing that needs to be said is how she handled the whole situation.

It had been thought by some that she would be a nightmare during labor. If how she was is a nightmare, I'll take it!!! Bri was incredible throughout, and I'm not just talking about labor. From the first day we knew she was pregnant to the end she handled herself better than could have been expected. She was strong throughout the labor process, and really showed her drive during a marathon four hour stretch of pushing.

If anyone wants to doubt my wife don't forget she's Canadian, and like any Canadian hockey player she sucked it up and held tough, and I love her, and respect her for what she went through. Not to mention she did it going on about 20 hours without sleep.

Oh yeah, that picture above is Brendan in an Avalanche jersey, we put it on him just prior to his one week birthday, the Avalanche got their first win of the season, and haven't lost since.

Would you Like to Shed a Tear?

Among the people that we had in the delivery room was Kari Crowe who has known Bri pretty much since Methodist Mansfield opened. Kari worked with Corr Images which had a contract to photograph the post delivery for the hospital. Unfortunately the contract between the two was allowed to expire at the end of September.

Maybe one of the greatest gestures we had was both Kari and Cherie Strader offered to be in the room anyway, on their own time, to give us this same deal.

Kari was at the hospital for a majority of the marathon that was Bri's active labor. Which was VERY early in the morning.

Below is a link to Kari's blog site. If you scroll down past the first batch of pictures, you'll find a slide show of Kari's work just past 9:25am October 10th. It gives you an EXTREMELY good sense of the early moments of Brendan's life.

Please don't hesitate to check it out.

Also to Kari, thank you very very much for being there, offering your time to put together an unbelievable piece of art.

Not only look at what she did for us, but some of her other work. She is an amazing photographer that is now on her own trying to start her own photography buisness.
http://www.karicrowephotography.com/

First Few Days Home

The running joke during our time at the hospital was the fact Bri's scheduled appointment was still going. Well she went in to see Dr. Diggs at 11:00am Thursday, and it didn't end until about 2:30pm Sunday.

In with her purse, and out with a diaper bag and this little guy below.



Home in time for his first Broncos game, which he slept through...the ENTIRE game. We all figured at some point he would awake hungry...guess not.

The last day or so he has continued to eat more and more. He's up to plowing through an entire 4oz ready made bottle.



This is the basic gist of the pictures on my camera right now. Brendan sleeping away the day and night. Here he's in his lamb swing just hanging out.

We've had one unfortunate incident so far in our first trip out of the house. We didn't see a single person look at him. WHAT THE !@#$!!! How can no one at least take a glance at him. Maybe the felt like not intruding on our privacy, yeah we'll go with that.

As it goes, Brendan gets his first trip to the pediatrition's office today for a weight check. His first obligatory visit to Babies R Us, and who knows what else is in store.

Also contratulations to one of the guys in my fab shop at work, Robert and his wife Angela who gave birth to their first child yesterday afternoon.

In the Words of AC/DC....ARE YOU READY!!!

Friday - Oct. 10th, 2008 - 9:25am cdt
Please welcome...from Mansfield Texas, weighing in at 7lbs, 6oz...BRENDAN THOMAS HALL!!!



After 4 hours of pushing, and a pubic bone complicating matters, Brendan finally arrived kicking and screaming into the world. Dad has about an hour and a half of sleep in the last 24 hours, Mom out did him by staying awake the entire time.

Did dad cry? YES.

One hour later the room is full with guests, all but one grandparent (NORM, learn to fly!!!) Chris and Pryia, and of course the nursing staff at Mansfield Methodist.

Thank You to Dr. Diggs who was awesome throughout the entire process from the initial doctors office.
Also to Tonya Thompson who was there nearly every step of the way in the delivery room.

WOW!!!!

Friday - Oct. 10th, 2008 - 2:28am cdt

The progression continues, Bri has moved from a 4 at last check to a 6, and she is fully effaced.

A nice 15 minute nap kinda rejuvinated me, along with the lastest progression.

Bri's hanging in there perfectly with co-workers visiting.

Friday - Oct. 10th, 2008 - 1:18am cdt

Basic labor continues. Bri's water has been broken, and four of five in the room remain awake, except for sleepy to my left<<<<, which brought up the discussion that I resemble my dad when I sleep....alrighty then.

The epidural has been administered, after a bout with heavy contractions. The water was broken prior to that, which means she is and remains at a 4. We'll get an update on that in about an hour.

As the night has progressed, and Bri's need for a cool room comenced, it became apparant that shorts would not to the trick. Thus a run home for long jeans, and a couple of other things. However the all important cell phone was left at the house...DAMN!!!

In reality the boy missed out on the opening of the NHL season, specifically an Avalanche loss to the Bruins, and a mandatory ass whoopin' of the Flames by Alex Burrows, and the Canucks.

Thursday - Oct. 9th, 2008 - 9:28pm cdt

We are currently hanging out at Mansfield Methodist Hospital, Labor and Delivery room #1. Grandma Pam was a half an hour late and got a good surprise when instead of Bri and I, it was Grandpa Don and I...Why, cause Bri has been admitted to the hospital, and instead of inducing Monday as planned, hows about the opening night of the hockey season (0-0 Avs/Bruins 19:00 left in the 1st).



There you go...PROOF!!!

So any and all plans with Monday's scheduled induction have now been tossed out of the window since we are going today.

Bri's current state, we'll go with pretty damn happy with mom here. She's dialated at a 3, and working towards a 4 at which point the doctor will come in and break her water. She's feeling a lot of pressure, especially in her back. With that I should probably give her a hand, and ease her pain.

I'll try to keep blogging until the time comes to worry about other things.

As Promised

We have for the most part finished Brendan's room, and yes we have pictures...



The obvious theme in his room is the "Peek-a-boo" Winnie the Pooh. You can see the wall hangings above his crib around his name. We were originally going to use letters from Babies 'R' Us, but when we went to get them they were clean out of "R"s. So we found a company on the Internet that could give you letters any size, thickness, and font.

If you look towards the bottom right, you'll see a football. It's in his room and one day it will actually be his. But that is a Superbowl XII football when the Broncos lost to the Cowboys. It is signed by a number of Denver Broncos. It was given to me from my dad, and will continue to be passed down to Brendan when he is old enough.



Here is a good look at his crib all dressed up thanks to Chris and Pryia's gift. This is also a good look at the new paint job with the border. Yeah, needless to say the boy may have nightmares of Winnie the Pooh characters staring at him :).



It's strange in one sense to think this was my old Sports Room, however there are still remnants of it remaining as apparent by the Canadiens rug, which sits next to the Avalanche rug.



Other remains from the sports room are the panoramic framed picture of Mile High Stadium, which when the boy is tired of looking at Winnie the Pooh and friends, there's John Elway and friends. Toward the left is the baseball collection with a Colorado Rockies collectible bat from the 1998 All-Star game, along with three baseball's, one thrown to me by former Rockie Ellis Burks, and two we got in one game in Houston. One came from, soon to be former Rock Brian Fuentes which he tossed to me, and the other is one handed to Bri from fellow North Delta grad Jeff Francis.

Again we would like to thank everybody who has gotten us something for Brendan. Every gift will be put to good use. It is also starting to hit home more that in just over a week the occupant of that room will be here.

Mark a calender, any calender

Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Wooden, Ralph Lauren, Usher, and Brendan Hall. What do they or will they all have in common?

All born on October 14th.

Officially Bri will go in October 13th at 5:30pm and we believe the magic will happen sometime after Tuesday morning.

The new and probable date has a couple of funny coincidences. First and foremost while the boy's room is decked out in Winnie the Pooh, it so happens that the original book debuted on October 14th, 1926.

Grandpa Norm's favorite musician, Elvis had his "Jailhouse Rock" released on that same date in 1957.

The great Wayne Gretzky scored his first official NHL goal against....the Vancouver Canucks in a 4-4 tie at the Pacific Coliseum on October 14th, 1979, mmm, Brendan's mom was a mere 7 months old at the time.

Oh yeah, let's get one in for daddy...the Colorado Rockies won game 3 of the NLCS over Arizona 4-1 on the 14th. If the kid wants to hold out another day, he'll be born on the one year anniversary of Colorado's first and only National League Championship.

Now obviously induction doesn't necessarily mean the date is a done deal. The boy may decide he can't wait, and put mom into labor over the weekend. Obviously we'll let you know if that happens.

So again to recap, we'll be watching "Chuck", and "Heroes" on the second floor of Methodist Mansfield Hospital Monday Oct. 13th.

Yes pictures of Brendan's room are still to come, we're almost done.