Grandpa Landry's 60th Birthday Party

Connor enjoyed meeting family and friends in Vermont

Easter Weekend in Vermont

Connor had his first plane ride to Vermont over Easter weekend. We made it through airport security without much incident. There was some concern from TSA about whether Connor was transporting explosives in his bottle, but we were eventually cleared. We were prepared to feed him during takeoff and landing, but he slept the entire way. When we landed in Vermont, we were greeted by his Uncle Marc (also known as Uncle Muscles) and Aunt Evy. He loved listening to the sound of Aunt Evy's voice the entire weekend. He will probably start speaking perfect German in no time!

One Month Old - Happy St. Patrick's Day

Where does the time go? Connor is already a month old and celebrating his first St. Patrick's day. It's a gorgeous day in Richmond, perfect for taking pictures with his beautiful mother.

Updates from a New Mom

Photo updates from a new mom.......






"I was screaming bloody murder 30 seconds ago." - email from Erin at 12:05 PM, after hanging up on a call with me because Connor was making too much noise. I am almost certain Connor was the one screaming, and not his mom. I think he might have been upset about the hat he was wearing.



"Time for mom to read a book and catch some ZZZs." - email from Erin at 2:40 PM when the aforementioned screaming had subsided. I guess he wore himself out. He kept his mom up a lot last night, so she definitely deserves a few minutes of sleep.

Dinosaur PJs

Here is Connor Strunk, eleven days old, test driving his new set of dinosaur pajamas. Wish they made those in my size.

Happy Birthday Daniel

Today is the birthday of a very special nephew (to us) and cousin (to Connor - his first). I hear that the birthday boy was not feeling well today which is a shame. Here is wishing a very happy birthday to Daniel from his Uncle Hedgie, Aunt Erin, Connor, Annabelle and Winston. We hope to see you soon to celebrate together.

Photo Diary of Week One

Hard to believe it's already been a week since Connor got here. Obviously we could not be happier with the way he turned out and we tell him that all the time.

We are learning a lot in these first few days and he has been very patient with us. We often get things wrong and he never seems to mind. For example, it is not always best to immediately change a dirty diaper. More than once he has filled a second diaper while still on the changing table. Or a third, as he did last night.

Connor gets lots of attention these days. It's actually difficult to put him down, simply because we want to hold him. We certainly do not want to spoil him but we also want him to know that he is appreciated. I think he gets the point.

Here Grandma Landry (2.0) and Uncle Kevin take their turns.

He seems to keep his grandfather well entertained.

Connor has been remarkably laid back since coming home from the hospital. He has been about as low maintenance as a newborn baby can be. And even though he did not ask, his grandparents took him for a walk on Sunday, which Anna really appreciated.

All Systems Down

Like any good father, I decided that the best thing to do the day after we brought Connor home from the hospital was to crash our computer. After three trips to the Apple store and the installation of a new hard drive, we are now back online. I have a lot of photos and updates to post (quite a few considering the adventure we have had since we gave up the comfort one gets from having a small army of nurses handle every aspect of your child's care). We continue to learn a lot about this parenting thing, and mostly through trial and error. Everything seems to be going very well. Of course, in writing that I do so on Connor's behalf. I can only assume that he enjoys sleeping 22 hours a day and waking up to eat anytime he feels like it.

Pictures of Connor

Additional photos of Connor can be seen here:

www.bellababyphotography.com/baby/login

password: 0217connor

Some of them are pretty good shots.

Connor Strunk - Day Three

Friday morning Connor was looking even better than he did the day before. So far, he has been incredibly patient with us. He rarely cries and gives us plenty of time to fix anything that is bothering him. I guess it will get much harder when we are not supported by dozens of nurses. So far, we would not change anything.

Connor's Birthday

Yesterday at 6:20, Connor was born. He is doing really well and so is Erin. I will post more information soon, but wanted to get these photos out first.

D-Day Plus One

Still no baby yet. This is a photo of Erin on February 16, 2010. Still looking great and not complaining. I guess we will see when he decides to arrive.

Baby Strunk Countdown

Never to pass up an opportunity for a gamble or a game, some of my coworkers set up the attached pool to see when the baby would be born. They are also guessing how much he will weigh, what his name will be, future professions, pets - really all sorts of things. Some of these are good suggestions. According to this, he might be called Ralph or Terrence. Nothing wrong with those names.

But my coworkers are also very funny. As an additional treat, they decided to start a pool about how much sympathy weight I had gained in the pregnancy. Frankly, some of these estimates are insulting. Luckily they were honest enough to put their names next to their guesses. At least now I know who I can turn to when I need an empty compliment or a healthy dose of cold, hard truth. That piece of paper you see taped to the board is a receipt from a lunch I ate one day which was included, I guess, to prove a point.

Hilarious, aren't they?

Overdue

Today is the due date. It is February 15th, the day that this baby was supposed to arrive. A friend of mine told me that 95% of all babies are not born on their due date. That means that of all the days in the next week or so, this is the one to least expect that trip to the hospital. Not surprisingly, we have no baby yet. Honestly, if he was on time I would have to wonder if he and I were related.

Erin looks great and seems not to be bothered at all by the fact that she is now more than 9 months pregnant. This kid is really lucky with who his mother is (going to be).

We ended up seeing the doctor today anyway, if only for the regular check up. Each nurse we met had a happy comment when they found out today was the due date, which made the atmosphere kind of fun. The appointment started with an ultrasound where they took measurements to make sure he is a healthy baby. We confirmed that the baby is well developed, probably about 8 pounds and definitely a boy. We even got some pictures of his face, though neither of us thought he was immediately cute. I guess its hard to look good in a two dimensional black and white image when you are running out of room.

Next the doctor performed a non-stress test which gave us additional assurance that this kid was doing well. Instead of the required 2 spikes in heart rate (apparently an increased heart rate indicates fetal activity) he had 7 in the ten minute test. It was nice to hear his heart beat for that amount of time. To this point that is the only communication I have had with him. After reviewing the test results, the doctor decided that he was comfortable and safe in his current position. What a relief it was to witness positive results in a small but thorough battery of tests. In the end, the doctor decided that if the baby does not make an appearance before Friday, she is going in to get him. I guess he has been warned.

When we got home Erin's mom compared the ultrasound photos to a picture of me the day after I was born. Unfortunately, there was a striking similarity. Those ultrasound images which gave us parents some pause were carbon copies of my admittedly disturbing newborn baby photo. Here is hoping that the extra time inside does the baby some good.

The Many Phases of Play

Meghann, Marc and Evy in Richmond

This weekend we got a particularly nice holiday bonus - Marc and Evy stayed with us for the weekend and Meghann officially moved to Richmond. Saturday and Sunday were both great days with lots of family time. The weekend was punctuated on Sunday night when Evy made what had to be the best lasagna we have ever had.

I don't know the next time all five of us will be together, but it won't be soon enough. We're posting these pictures in case there are any interested parties in Vermont.

The Video Camera

For Christmas, Erin's parents bought us an extremely expensive video camera. The idea was that we would record compelling videos of their first grandchild and make them available through this blog. I was pretty excited about this and wanted to use the camera right away. A few of us had decided to go to Go-Kart track (where all the 32 year-old men hang out with their in-laws) so I decided to bring the camera with me.

I recorded some pre-race activity, including the introductions of my opponents (my brother-in-law Marc and his cousin John-Luc) and the second-hand account of a racer who had apparently died on the very same race track (the girl at the check-in assured us that the cars were not the cause). After strapping in I recorded the other racers taking off and put the camera safely in my zipped jacket pocket.

The race started well and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the cars had good pick-up. The goal was to run the fastest lap and not necessarily to pass the other drivers. In the middle of my fourth lap I spun out momentarily to the left. As the cart accelerated back to full speed I felt it hesitate, spin its back wheels and wheeze. After a moment, the problem resolved itself and I was back in the race. Three laps later I felt for the camera and noticed that it was not in my pocket. I searched the cart as much as possible when wearing a helmet and a neck restraint and traveling 40 mph. Nothing. As I pulled over to look for the camera, the track monitor approached to ask me what was wrong.

"I can't find my video camera."

"You brought a video camera on the cart?

"Yeah, and now I can't find it."

"I don't see it anywhere . . wait . . no, you're dragging it."

I'd never seen a half a video camera before, much less one that was still smoldering. The camera had freed itself from my pocket (which evidently was not zipped), fallen to the track and wedged underneath the cart. I had dragged it for at least three laps, sheering off half of the beautiful device as I drove.

We had the camera for 26 hours before I drove over it. After agonizing about how to tell my in-laws that I had destroyed their thoughtful gift, we found out that the camera was covered by a 90 day insurance policy for the full purchase price. It would be an understatement to say that they were understanding. As they laughed it off, I got the impression that they have somewhat less confidence in the father of their future grandson. I have learned an important lesson, one that everybody else already knew. Go-Karts and expensive electronics do not mix. As for the results of the race, I lost to Marc by .04 seconds in a lap where I had been dragging 2/3 of a video camera underneath my Go-Kart.

Christmas Morning

Anna asks for the same thing every year for Christmas (beef jerky and tennis balls). This year she got an industrial sized bucket of tennis balls. She was surprisingly calm at first but after a few minutes we realized that she had removed each tennis ball from the bucket, one by one.

After watching for a while, even Winston got in on the action.