I finally found the bike! First and foremost I want to thank Gwen going out with me Thursday. We hiked for about three hours and came up empty handed. If it wasn't for her expertise in map reading (ok, I'm just that bad), either the bike would of stayed, or it would of have taken another couple of weeks to sort through all the trails we hiked together.

With her help explaining the trails, I went out this morning, hiked for about 40 minutes, found the site where I stayed for the incredibly bad evening, and walked about 350 feet off the trail, right onto my bike! I could barely believe it. I did a little "skeeter beater" dance and picked up the bike. With adrenaline pumping, I hurried out, then boom! Before I knew it the bike was on top of me and I was laying on the ground. I guess I had stepped on a rotten log and went right down. I had a couple marks on my face but I didn't care. I HAD THE BIKE! I started to think that Lance was full of it when he said, "It's not about the bike". It IS about the bike Lance! Hopefully this is the last chapter of this book. We'll see:) I have some pictures of the trails from today. Check em out.

Yesterday, our department had a baby shower for Heather and I. My team conspired together and gave me a fanny pack with some survival gear in case I were to ever get lost in the woods again. Oh, how sweet they are! Then they got me a card with a baby on the front cover with a blank look and on the inside was, "Where's my dad?" We did have a great laugh over it.

Heather was very happy to be able to be out and really did enjoy the baby shower too. We got some gorgeous outfits for Jonathon and some really nice play things. He is definitely going to be the best dressed boy in New England. Check out the few pictures that turned out from the shower. I apologize for the blurriness. I'm trying to get the bugs worked out with the camera before Jonathon gets here.

First off, Heather had her appointment today and for the most part, it went good. She has continued to lose weight while being on limited activity (meaning that swelling is going down-yea!!) and doctors estimate that if Jonathon goes to term, he will be around 10 lbs. A plus is the blood pressure is remaining stable. As you can read by the last post, it has been hard for her being on bedrest, but it looks like it is starting to pay off.

Our department threw a baby shower for us today and we had a fun time with it. I will post some pictures from the shower and share some of the funny stories this weekend.

If Jonathon comes to term, we have only 47 days till the DAY! The time is really flying by and he isn't even here yet. BTY...everyone's doing a great job voting on the coming home outfits. Last count, we had 20 votes in. As they said in the last Presidential Election, "Every vote counts". Continue on!!!

Okay - time for mommy to post! Being on bedrest is NO FUN, but at least it gives me time to play on here. With the delivery getting closer by the minute, I'm frantically trying to get everything in order. Or rather, I'm providing loving direction for Russell to get everything ready!

So, we need your help. Since you all can't be here to shop and plan with us, we wanted to post photos of our top three "Coming Home" outfit selections for you to vote on. Mommy has her favorite, and Daddy has his - so now we need to know yours! (but we aren't telling ours yet!) So, CLICK HERE to head on over to the photos and VOTE for your favorite outfit. If you don't vote, you can't complain if he looks sissy on his first trip out into the real world! And don't worry, I decided against the outfit that says, " Are these REALLY my relatives?!?!? "

If you have comments, post those here!

Wow! What a difference a couple days make. Who would of thought that after posting Sunday, Heather would be put on bedrest (high blood pressure), I would be stranded in the woods overnight and I would make local headlines in the newspaper. Here is the clip from the Valley News:

Lebanon - A Quechee man spent several hours lost in woods around Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center early yesterday before he was found by a search party, Lebanon Police said.

Russell Skow, 27, was uninjured after he got lost in the dark and decided to stay put instead of trying to find his way out of the woods.
Skow went mountain biking near DHMC around 6 p.m. Monday, police said. His wife, Heather Skow, became concerned when he did not return.

Lebanon police were contacted around 12:15 a.m. and found Russell Skow's vehicle in a hospital parking lot near numerous trails, but found no traces of him during an initial search.

Around 3 a.m., they organized a larger search, involving a police K-9 unit, two officers on ATVs and an officer from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Police Lieutenant Scott Rathburn said.

Skow was located at 5:22 a.m., about 1.5 miles from the DHMC parking lot.

I want to take this time and let everyone know how much we appreciate both your thoughts and prayers through this very trying time. One moment, we find ourselves laughing at how wild and crazy the whole experience was, the next minute, we're both crying and thanking God that we're back together and that nothing really serious happened.

When you're stranded all night long and can't sleep a wink, you have every bit of that time to think. All I could think about is how much I love Heather and how worried and sick I made her and how much I want to be there for Jonathon, be there to help with him, be there to take care of him. Well, I can't be doing that and being lost in the woods at the same time, huh? That is an easy call to make. No mountain biking for awhile. Definitely, lesson learned!

I found out today that my best friend in the whole world, Darren and his beautiful wife, Amy, are having a baby boy! His name is going to be Jackson. They are expecting him right at a month after we're expecting Jonathon to get here. We haven't seen Darren and Amy in about two years, but it so amazing that even though we are so far away from each other and even though we haven't been in touch for those two years, we are going through the same joys, the same adjustments, at this very same moment.

It's so exciting to find out that they're going to be parents. Our love and thoughts go out to them in this wonderful time.

Babies and television

An intriguing article about the effects of TV on young children.

We had our baby class tonight. We reviewed different things such as changing diapers to putting a car seat in properly. It was going good until the instructor brought this picture up.



How can that come out of a little baby? YUCK! At least this class is giving me a little time to be prepared to change that yucky thing.

Mom and baby home 12 minutes after birth

I couldn't believe this after I read it. They must do things differently in New Zealand or wherever it was. Maybe their drinking water is better there.

Going through all of this, being new parents, everything freaks us (well me) out. Things like Heather getting an epidural, c-section vs. vaginal, breast feeding vs. formula, circumcised vs. Uncircumcised, co-sleeper vs. seperate room, delivery taking 48hours vs. 45 minutes, etc. Then I come across this site making you stressed about stress.

Relax! Your Baby Will Thank You!

Well, no matter how stressed out I am about all these different decisions and events, I come away with one thing. No matter how stressed out I am, as long as I am calm, reassuring and supportive of Heather, her stress level goes down. And that is good for everyone!

Here is the picture of Jonathon's dresser.

Dave and ML (Heather's dad and wife) visited this weekend. We had a great time with them just hanging out and talking. Dave and I played college basketball on the Xbox, and let me tell you, he's a fierce competitor. Alright, I just stink at that game.

There will be another album posted of the pictures we took this weekend. Have some cute ones of Heather of course and also some of Jonathon's room.

Check this story out!

Hospital sued over Man's deadly faint

Man, when you thought all the bases covered, they bring you this. I'm horrible with needles already. I've told Heather that I'm not going to be very much help with her when I'm passed out on the floor. That actually happened about five years ago. We were newly married and Heather had to go to the emergency room for dehydration, I believe. The nurse was trying to put an IV in her and she looked up at me and sobbed, "Please honey, make them STOP!". I started stroking her face and telling her that everything would be okay soon, then BOOM!

The nurse started yelling, "We have one down! We have the husband down!". As I saw the nurse coming toward me, I tried to help myself up. Big mistake. Huge. What I didn't see right above me was a metal tray with my foreheads' name on it. Needless to say, right back down I went. At least this time I was knocked out instead of passed out.

I lost my consoling privileges that day. The nurse sent me to the chair so fast, it would make your head spin...Well, mine at least.

Everyone lived happily ever after (so far...story pending:)

We want to give everyone a chance to be able to share in this incredible experience with us. We will put up new pictures at least twice a week. Check out the different links to the right. We will be changing those from time to time .

Heather had another ultrasound today. Jonathon is already measuring BIG. Ahead about 3-4 weeks. She gets another ultrasound in about a month.

Please feel free to add comments and give suggestions on what you would like to see on this page.

Who know's what you're going to be like? It's so exciting already that you have my lips and mommy's eyes. I wonder what activities you will enjoy. Will you like the

Red Sox?

What about

biking?

Will you like

music?

We'll worry about that later. For now, all we want to do is hold you, love you and care for your every need.

One of my favorites of Jonathon