Fun with Family from Utah

I am so grateful for all the help my parents and Karen and Tara have been. During their visits the Grandmas were happy to get up with Ladd every night and they sure made the first weeks a lot easier for me. Now I am trying to adjust to the sleepless nights and to a baby that had it a little too good and now thinks he needs to be held all the time. Oh well, he is so dang sweet I don't mind. We sure miss you guys and if there are any volunteers that would like to take the night shift or just come down and visit you are all welcome.

Abuse

The other day my sister was commenting that Ladd is so good a calming himself by sucking on his hands or fist. Unfortunately his suck is a little too hard and he has given himself several hickeys on his arms that look like big bruises.

Happy Father's Day!!

Ladd was so cute this morning! He surprised Doug with this little sign pinned to him. What a thoughtful little tyke. He sure loves his dad and I am so grateful that he has such a good dad. Doug has been so helpful and patient these last 9 months and has been a great father the last two weeks.

Hopefully Ladd will grow-up to be just like his dad, so far he has his dad's feet and lips.

Ladd also wanted to say happy Father's Day to his two grandpas. We sure love you Dads!!

One more night!

Ladd was bummed when he found out that he has to stay under his "light blanket" again tonight. He's got jaundice and we're hoping he can get over it soon so that we can hold him.

Until then he's still the most content little boy I've ever seen.

What's a Circumcision?

He's a Keeper!

We can't tell you how excited we are to finally get this little guy here. Here are a few more pictures. We'll bring him home on Monday once his beautiful Mom is ready. Darci is doing great, she just wasn't ready for such a big baby. Honestly, if I were the one delivering babies around here there's no way we'd be having any more.

Just hanging out with Mom!

Weston Ladd is here!

Here are a few pictures of Ladd's first day. I'm glad to say that both he and Darci are doing well, despite a long and sleepless few days. We couldn't be happier!

Here he is a few minutes after birth

Taking his first bath

First shampoo, Darci loves the dark hair

Mom finally gets to hold him after a few hours of recovery

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's day to both of our Mom's. We are so grateful for everything you have done for us. We love you both!!

Just a couple more days....or weeks according to the doctor until we will officially be parents. Friday, at my last doctor appointment, the doctor said I wasn't dilated, but what does he know he's only been doing this for twenty years!! Tomorrow I will only have 4 weeks until my due date, but Ladd sure seems to want to come out sooner. I know I am probably kidding myself, but I've been having a lot of contractions for 10 weeks now and that has to account for something, right? I know I am as impatient as they come (thanks to my father), but I can't hardly stand the anticipation.

Work has been a good distraction and starting next week it looks like I'm going to have a carpool buddy. Doug starts his internship tomorrow and will be spending several days downtown. I'm looking forward to having someone to share the hour commute with everyday.

We spent last weekend up in Utah with family and our mom's threw us a great baby shower. It was so fun to see all of our family and friends in the short amount of time we were able to spend in Utah. After two fun showers it looks like we have just about everything we need for Ladd's arrival. I can't wait to be a mother!! Hopefully our next post will include an exciting announcement. Keep your finger's crossed!!

Red Serrano Chilies

For those asking why I have such a big smile in this picture there's a good reason. Right before the flash went off I realized that these peppers will be here before my next trimester of school is over and I had a great idea. I'm going to grind up these peppers into a really fine powder and rub it into my eyes about three weeks before my first exam. Then, every night I'll continue to torture myself with a little more until the day after finals, that way I won't have to go through them again. My professors are very understanding people and would never make someone with an "unknown" disease take a final.
Now you're asking why I'd start three weeks early? Well, here at Thunderbird we like to do all our work in the last three weeks. At least that's been the theme this trimester. It seems as though all of my professor's "forgot" to give us our assignments until two weeks ago and then suddenly realized that they promised us a few projects and would feel awful if we didn't get to do them. I was the first one in line volunteering to forgoe any missed work but my professor's wouldn't have it. Needless to say, I've really been enjoying the last few weeks of school.

Darci and I are excited to head up to Utah for a few days in May. It will be great to see our families and friends. Once we get back to AZ we'll only have a few short weeks until Ladd gets here. Luckily, I'll be off of school for a while and can get everything ready. Darci is convinced that she should take a couple of days off before the baby comes, but I think I can manage. She keeps on saying that she's "uncomfortable". That's a little too vague for me, I need a Dr.'s note or a real diagnosis if she's going to take any time off:) Actually, Darci has been a trooper the last several months. She'll soon get her wish of being able to stay home.

Hope all is well with everyone.

A week of pics

Doug and I playing Foosball like a bunch of sissies at a T-Bird BBQ.

The highlight of our week was our Doctors visit on Friday where they did 4-D pictures of Ladd. The two below were the least alien-looking pictures, but I do have to say that I see a hint of the Timothy side already. 10 more weeks!!

Diamond Backs Exhibition Game against the San Diego Padres. Awesome seats we were on the 12th row directly behind home base, not that you can tell in this picture. Hopefully we can score tickets like these during the regular season.

Like Father, Like Son...

Raise your hand if you've ever been nervous while going through something that you've never done before, like having a baby. Well, I'm in that boat right now.

The only real experience I've had with pregnant women is when my mom was pregnant with my little sister, Tara. Mom was on bed rest for the last three months of her pregnancy, she literally didn't get up. The doctors left a permanent I.V. in her with something in it to keep Tara from getting here too soon. At least, this is what I remember from when I was 12 years old.
I'm now 27 and know less about pregnancy than I did when I was 12, for some reason Darci doesn't have any weird cravings. I'm wondering if women make up the craving thing in order to justify eating things like dirt (my sister in-law), or exuberant amounts of ice cream. My mom had my two brothers and I bring her ice water every 10 minutes while she was in bed. This wasn't just any ice water either, we had to rinse off the ice three times before we filled up the glass. If we didn't rinse the ice my mom could tell and wouldn't drink the water. It was like her taste buds reached X-Men levels. I'm not sure why women don't like being pregnant, you get unbelievably cool powers.

Anyways, back to me being nervous. Darci has had a lot of contractions lately, a lot being around every three minutes in some cases. Luckily, we have a Dr. that told us that's not good and that if the contractions come more often than every 10 minutes she needs to get to the hospital.
Last week just before I left for school Darci mentioned that her contractions were coming on quite a bit. She didn't seem too worried so I went to school and she left for work. About five minutes into my first class my phone rings, it was Darci. I got up and stepped out of class to call her back. Darci tells me that she's having a lot of contractions, she's called the nurse, and the nurse has told her to get to the hospital. I hung up and walked back into class with the understanding that Darci would call me a) when she got the hospital and knew more about what was going to happen or b) if there was an emergency. With about 20 minutes left in my first class my phone rings and I see that it's Darci. I step out of class thinking, wow that was too quick for her to have made it to the hostipal and found out what's going on, this must be a phone call for reason b), an emergency. My blood pressure drops and I start sweating as I dial her number. She anwsers and I wait to hear what's going on, this is what she says, and I quote, "you're not going to believe what just happened", I gulp, "the fire alarm went off for our yearly fire drill and I'm just leaving to go to the hospital." I wait five seconds for the emergency part.....

"oh, are you in class right now?" "Yep, stepped out to make sure you were OK." Thankfully, it was only a drill and Darci made it to the hospital. The Dr. gave her a shot and increased her prescription, the contractions have leveled off and things look great.

We shouldn't be surprised that Ladd's trying to get here early. Darci doesn't have much more room for him in her little stomach and I came about six weeks early. Our Dr. doesn't seem to think getting Ladd here early is a bad idea, he says a 6 - 6 1/2 lb baby is a good size for Darci to deliver.

We can't wait to get him here and see if he's "cute". Well, here's the latest picture of my pregnant wife.

IT'S A GIRL!!

Brooke/Daisy/Caleksta Timothy has finally made it here!! Unfortunately, this Timothy baby belongs to a different set of parents. On February 26th Shauna and Adam Timothy made Doug and I very jealous parents-to-be. Isn't she beautiful?!?! I can't tell you how anxious and impatient Brooke's debut has made me. Regardless of my excitement, hopefully Ladd won't be making his big appearance for another 3 months.

We had another great week. Saturday we had the opportunity to attend the temple marriage of Doug's cousin Ben. We've been looking forward to this for weeks. The ceremony and marital advice were great. And it was even better to be in the Temple with all the Timothy's. We sure do miss all of you up in Utah!! We also made sure after the temple to make our ritual stop at Bahama Bucks in Mesa to experience the best shaved ice on earth. We've both been craving it since the last time we went to the temple.

Friday we went to an Elder's Quorum Family dutch oven cookout/auction and I had to laugh at the little indicators that led me to believe that the wives of the Elder's were not involved in the least. The most obvious was the economy size salt and pepper dispensers, that you had to pour into your hand and then try to sprinkle over your food. I also thought the salad was classic; a huge bag of lettuce from Costco ripped open. Why would you use a bowl when you can just rip the bag open and grab the lettuce out with your bare hands? No use dirtying a bowl. Although the visual presentation was less than desired, the evening was a success. We ended up winning four free rounds of golf in the auction. I can't wait to use those ;)

Spring Training!

OK, now picture this...it's a beautiful sunny day, 68 degrees with no breeze and no clouds. Darci's sitting on a grassy hill and feeling the warmth of the sun as little kids play just behind the right field fence of the Seattle Mariners batting practice. The batter hits a line drive to right field and the outfielder slowly jogs over to where the ball hits the wall. Within seconds there are 20 eight to ten year old kids hovered around the wall asking the outfielder to toss them the ball. The outfielder throws the ball behind him to where the kids are standing. These energetic little buggers jump up to try and grab the ball but they only reach to about my belt as I tower over them, I barely even had to jump, and snatch the ball at its high point. Those kids didn't have a chance. I turn around smiling, looking toward my wife to see how proud she is of her husband. She just shakes her head and smiles back. She knew I had no mercy towards little kids before she married me. That's why she married me. Since my 17th birthday, I've never lost to anyone under the age of 11, ever, at anything. That's why you'll never see me in a spelling bee, those little 10 year olds are sharp.

I didn't think the weekend could get any better until Darci suggested we go eat lunch at Fountain Hills on Sunday. After Stake conference we packed up a cooler and headed off to the highest water fountain in the world. We decided to take the route that our dad's would take if they were going, in other words, the long way. We passed several retirement communities with golf courses and signs for new homes "in the low $1,000,000's". We arrived at the fountain around 2:30 in the afternoon and ate lunch. We took a little walk and watched the "frisbee golf" guys launch their "drivers" toward the "hole". Apparently you get to switch to the "putter" frisbee once you get close enough to the "hole". Darci wants to invest in a bunch of frisbee golf stuff now, she's so impulsive! Anyway, they looked like they were having fun.

We're really enjoying this Phoenix weather right now. We might as well, we'll be here this summer and know our options for going outside will be different, as in we won't go outside.

We hope everyone is doing well.

Who looks more pregnant????

Sadly after last weeks picture I came to the realization that I don't look as pregnant as I feel. 24 weeks along and I still get weird looks in elevators from people trying to decide if I'm pregnant or just letting it all hang out. Supposedly Ladd is over a foot long and weighs nearly 2 pounds now. Apparently instead of portruding outward he has decided to nestle in among my overly crowded organs.

Nothing much new around the Timothy household. We enjoyed a nice Valentine's at home. This year was Doug's turn to plan Valentine's and he made a yummy mexican salad for dinner and splurged and bought Haagen Daaz Ice Cream Bars for dessert. Unfortunately the marketer's of Haagen Daaz are geniouses and put three ice cream bars in one box. So the question a couple must ask themselves is "who deserves the third treat?" The hard-working pregnant wife who should probably be a little more concerned with her calorie intake? Or, the thoughtful hard-working husband who went through the trouble of buying the dessert? We both silently wrestled with the answer and decided to do the only logical thing and buy another box. Unforseen by either of us, the following night we had a visitor over for dinner. Doug's roommate from USU, Les. And of course, we being the hospitable guests we are, decided to share a ice cream with Les leaving us in the horrible predicament of having only one ice cream bar left again. It is a viscious cycle that needed to be broken so we bought one more box and today we are Haagen Daaz free!!! (Only 2500 calories later).

Last night we enjoyed a nice bbq with about 8 other couples in our ward. We love the friends we've made here and can't complain about having a bbq outside in the middle of February. It has been a beautiful weekend here. If anyone wants to visit, our spare bedroom will be available for another 16 weeks or less!! Take care everyone.

78 degrees and not complaining!!!

And, we're off! Our family is just about to get a little bigger. Darci isn't due until the middle of June, so we still have a while before Weston Ladd gets here, but we can't wait to see him. I had a good friend call me yesterday and say that he thinks our kids will either look like aliens or they'll be very, very cute. Darci is hoping for the latter, I'm a little interested now to see what type of alien kids Darci and I could come up with!

Darci's stomach is finally getting to the point that people recognize that she's pregnant. Unfortunately, that means that she has "nothing to wear." I guess she just puts on clothes (that don't fit) so that people at work don't get mad at her:) Now that our new crib is up we just have to wait four months to do anything with it. Having it set up only makes time go by more slowly. Ladd just started kicking, which apperantly doesn't feel very good. So, I'm counting up the times he kicks my beautiful wife and I'll make sure he gets an equal number of spankings the second he gets here. The good news is that our doctor never says anything about Darci or Ladd's health other than, "textbook, everything looks textbook". We choose to take that as if everything is normal rather than that Ladd has some crazy disease our Dr. once read about in a textbook. Our Dr. really is a great guy and we take comfort in the fact that he is good friends with some of the Racker's neighbor's up in Farmington.

Yesterday I participated in the semi-annual dodge ball tournament on Thunderbird's campus. I joined the team that had won the tournament in the fall and they were eager to defend the title. Our first three games lasted a total of about 3o seconds, but there was no satisfaction in any of the wins. One team had two guys and three girls - of course we all know I have no problem beating girls at anything!!!! Our team cruised through the semi-finals and finals with no real competition. I'm already planning on flying back to Phoenix from where ever we are next fall to help defend the title, as an alumni.
School is great, I really enjoy my classes and the great experience. It's too bad Darci doesn't feel the same way about driving two hours to and from work every day. She's been the best wife in the world and she can't wait to be the best wife in the world that stays home and plays with Ladd all day.

Well, hopefully this is the first of many posts. If you're reading this it's probably because we love you, always remember that!

PS - it's been in the high 70's all week and we're loving it!