Bottoms Up!

Des really likes to eat and he hates any interruptions during feedings even if he has to burp. He always has his hands up by his face which gets in the way of getting the food to his mouth, but he's also managed to hold hos own bottle a few times. Here he is with his big gulp... (4 oz)

The Many Faces of Desmond

Desmond has many cute expressions and I've managed to capture a few of them over the last couple days.

Still not so sure about the whole bath thing.

Step away from the diaper!

Just about ready to start "talking."

In the zone...

You know I'm cute. Full tummy... yeah...

Falling asleep makes me happy!

Settling In

Just thought I'd let everyone know that we're getting settled in with Desmond. He's finally gaining weight now that we're supplementing with formula. We discovered my milk supply wasn't high enough. A full baby is a much happier baby! We're doing a combination of nursing, formula, and pumping and hoping that my supply will catch up. We'll see. Desmond is a good baby and we love watching his little expressions. I can totally see Davin in him! He's also surprisingly strong and has been able to lift his head since he was a few hours old. It can be hard to wrestle him when we're trying to burp or swaddle him and he has other ideas. My mom is staying with me during the week since Davin has gone back to work. Babies are definitely a full time job! I can hardly get anything else done in my day. I'm not looking forward to going back to work mid-September. Even though I work from home and it's the perfect set up, it's not going to be easy. We'll see how that goes. Everyone asks us how we're sleeping. Well, as Davin says, "We're sleeping like a baby," which means we basically only get naps. Right now Desmond's up once in the middle of the night and we sometimes manage to get 3-4 hours of sleep on either end. I'm trying to sleep during the day when he sleeps, but when else am I supposed to get anything done?

After my first bath at home. Didn't like the bath... loved the towel.

Check out my big feet!

Ah, full tummy!

Snuggled up in the sling. This reminds me of being inside mommy.

Cute as can be!

Introducing Desmond Eadric Danger Studer.

We are so happy and proud to have our new baby boy. He was born July 22nd at 9:44 PM. He was 9 pounds 6.1 ounces. Here are some pictures of him. If you want the birth story visit Melissa's pregnancy blog. The address is http://thestuderbaker.blogspot.com.

No insurance for you!

So, I applied online for insurance the other day through Kaiser. I thought one of the questions that they had was kinda weird. It was, "Are you responsible for a current pregnancy?" So, I marked yes. Well, I got my letter from them and they denied me for two reasons. The first reason was because of "Expectant parent." What!? The second was for "Minor height/weight variation." I'm not sure what either of those are really talking about. First of all my wife is pregnant, not me. So, I'm not sure why her pregnancy would affect my application for insurance. She is not the one applying. She is already covered and so is the baby. So, I'm not sure why that would have anything to do with my health. The second part I just don't quite know what it means. My height and weight haven't varied in a long time, and I don't think I'm over weight for my height. Anyway, apparently Kaiser doesn't want to take money from a healthy guy.

My Half-Black Test ... Half-Black? Is that like gray?

I had my half-black belt test today. I know you're probably thinking what is half-black? No, it's not gray. It is a belt with a black stripe and a red stripe. It is the belt in between red and black. It was a very long test ... at least it seemed that way to me. Although it is only a fraction of the length of my next test though. I was pretty tried after this test. But in the end I passed. My next test will be about an hour of just me doing every kick I've learned, every basic (punching & kicking routines) from every belt, and some stuff that I have to make up myself. The stuff that I will have to make up is three different routines of 20 hand strikes/blocks in 5 seconds and three different routines of 10 kicks in 5 seconds. There is no way I could do it all yet, but I'll try to get there over the summer. I'm surprised that I have come as far as I have. It feels good to know that I am getting better at Tae Soo Do.

Surprise Gettaway

I surprised Davin last weekend with a little early anniversary/happy father's day/babymoon gettaway. Since baby's due within days of our 4 year anniversary, going out of town like we normally do is out of the question. So I booked a room at the hotel where we spent our first night together on our honeymoon. I packed our bags and checked in early to get the room set up with some roses, pictures, candles, and sparkling cider. I also ordered pizza to be delivered for dinner. Then I picked Davin up from the MAX station after work and surprised him by driving straight to the hotel. We had a relaxing evening, and it felt so good to sleep in! (Only about 3 more times to sleep in on the weekend!) Happy Un-Iversary!

Camping the Studer Way

About a week ago the forecast for Memorial Day weekend was sunny and mid-70s. Perfect! Once we realized we both had a three day weekend and that it would be our last three day weekend before we have a newborn, we decided to go camping. Well... the Studer way of camping, as Davin informed me last time, is that it always rains! (Unless we join a group of other people in which case the curse of rain seems to be overruled.) A few years ago we camped out at Beacon Rock and nearly called it quits in the middle of the night because it was raining so hard that our drenched tent was starting to leak. I told him next time we need to camp my way... in the sun! As soon as we planned to go camping this weekend, the weatherman started changing his story. What? Now the forecast is for rain and upper-60s! Unfortunately, I too, am a Studer and I guess that means I cannot escape the camping curse of rain. If we cancel our trip I'm sure the forecast will change back to sun, but if we're going it's going to rain. Sorry, guys, we're going! So if you're joining us in the great outdoors this weekend, be sure to bring a tarp!

Pics from our trip:

Conservation

I've been on a conservation kick, and I must admit it's not for the environment as much as it is for our budget. The bills are just so expensive! Our house is on oil heat, and for a partial winter in 06 we spent $1000 just to run the heat in the evenings. I was worried that this winter would cost close to $2000 since we lived in this house for the whole winter and the cost of oil is getting ridiculous. We bought space heaters and hung curtains to close in our living room area. It worked! With our recent oil fill we found out that we only used half as much oil in 07 as we did in 06. Our bill was under $500. With that big 600 gallon tank, we have enough oil to get us through a couple winters! I've also recently added gallon jugs in the toilet tanks to displace some water. That's the next huge bill we have. Water at our condo only cost $20/month, but here it's more like $80. Good grief! Every time I flush I think, "One gallon of water saved." I'm curious to see if we notice any change in the next bill.

Birthday Season

Birthday season is nearly over. Grammy started it off with her 80th birthday on February 26th, then Dad's 60th was on March 1st followed by Grandpa's 84th on March 4th. Daniel turned 25 on March 6th, Davin's sister was 33 on March 14th, and my 28th birthday was on March 15th. Aunt Marcia's birthday was April 4th, and Davin's dad's birthday was April 8th. Jeremy wraps it up with his 18th birthday this Saturday, April 12th. Whew!

I invited Nathan and Daniel to my party and they both came. This is the first family event we've all been at since my brother's left the family nearly 6 years ago. It was a bit weird, but it went really well, and hopefully it won't be so long before our next family thing. Strange how complicated relationships can get.

Jeremy, Daniel, Dad, Mom, Me, Nathan