Although I know we’ve got a lot going on with Cai these days, I don’t want to leave Charis out. I found this awesome picture that Joy took of Charis when I was cleaning off the memory card from her camera the night before Cai was born. I love this picture! I’m going to get a print for my desk at work.

Carrie sent me an email pointing out that Charis and Cai look remarkably similar in some of their first pictures. Check out the first comparison she sent me, which is a picture of each of them from the recovery room after surgery:


Do you know who is who? This next one is a little easier, but they still look pretty similar. This is each of them under the warmer shortly after they were born:



Short story: Micaiah Daniel is here, he’s awesome, and Joy and I are thrilled!
Medium story: Born May 30, 7:46 AM. 8 pounds, 5 ounces. 21.5 inches.
Longer story: The c-section went well and Joy is recovering pretty well considering. Cai is way more mellow than Charis was (at least so far). Charis came to the hospital and was the first family member to meet the new baby. She was a little tentative at first, but quickly warmed up to him, eventually becoming very concerned whenever Cai’s little hat would start to slip off even the tiniest bit.
You still want more? Go here for more pictures.
Why it took me so long to post this: With Charis the hospital had just remodeled and their public internet access was not working yet. This time, two years later, I had digital cameras, memory cards, memory card reader, cables, and a laptop with wi-fi and a fully charged battery all ready to go. I thought I had everything set. Only one problem: I could connect to the hospital’s access point, but access was “local only” according to Vista – no internet access and no DNS server supplied by DHCP. I asked around and no one had a clue what the deal was, but I didn’t see anyone else successfully connected online either, so I don’t think it was just me.
Here I am posting at four in the morning, so that can only me one thing: we’re on the way to the hospital for Cai’s big arrival! Stay tuned for pictures and details later today!
Last week I got down some of our baby stuff from the attic in preparation for Micaiah’s arrival. We needed the baby carrier, the stroller for the baby carrier, the playpen, and our box of bottles and other newborn stuff. It was kind of fun to see all of those things again and to realize that Cai will be here so soon. It’s hard to believe that Charis used to fit in the baby carrier! She sure has grown up fast!
Then:

Now:

Charis turns two on May 3, and we had her birthday party today to celebrate. I can’t believe that she is already two years old. The time passes by so quickly!
We mostly had family over and then also a couple of Charis’s friends. Joy did a great job with all kinds of dog themed decorations and stuff. Charis loves dogs (well, all animals really, but both of her grandparents have dogs, so she gets to see dogs more often than other kinds of animals). Unfortunately, the weather did not hold out for us to have the party in our backyard as planned, but we all had a good time inside all the same. Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate Charis!





Charis loves to play kaboom. She likes me to pick her up and then drop her onto the cushions on the couch. For a long time I would have to count to three and then kaboom her, but lately she has started counting to three all by herself, which is pretty cute. The other day when we were playing, she started counting “one, two, five” and then laughing because she knows that three comes next. I kept holding onto her until she counted “one, two, three” and then she got her kaboom. Crazy kid.
We’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and I think we finally picked a middle name for Cai. His name will be Micaiah Daniel. Just a few more months until he arrives!
I felt Micaiah kick for the first time tonight! I still think it’s a little bit creepy, but it’s fun to know that he really is in there! This pregnancy seems to be going on longer than Charis’s, but I’m sure he will be here before I know it.
My wife just relaunched her blog site with a great new domain name and title: Oy With The Poodles Already. You can check out her freshly updated site to see where the crazy name comes from.