Last night I was checking out Jonathon's and my picture and I realized that right now, Jonathon is over 3 pounds heavier than I was when I was born. I think I weighed in at 5 pounds and some odd ounces. He's a BIG one.

Our thoughts and prayers go to the families affected by Hurricane Katrina. The news seems to only get worse. Here is a lighthearted story I came across today while reading some of the hurricane news.

Couple flees trouble

We have some good news. Heather had her weekly checkup today and the doctor asked her how long till her next ultrasound. Heather told her that it would be on September 7th. The doctor then told her that she doubts very seriously that Heather will make it till next Wednesday. So here we are, keeping our fingers crossed that we might be having a baby in the next week or so! Heather is definitely ready to have him and after seeing this picture I'm ready too.

My sister Rebecca sent me this picture today. When I looked at it, I immediately saw Jonathon. It put the biggest smile on my face. Actually, I believe I'm still wearing the smile. Every ultrasound we've seen (12 or so), he has his hands around his face and looking so content. Hopefully Jonathon will get mummy's brains and some of her features but it is so funny how he looks a lot like me.


Here is a photo of Jonathon at 24 weeks. Can you see any comparisons? I think I can pick out some of Heather's features too. I think he is going to have Heather's eyes...and from the angle of this picture maybe her jaw profile. That one might be a little hard to tell still. It sure is exciting thinking about it though.

Well, which outfit are you wanting to see Jonathon coming home in? If you'd say the duckie outfit, you'd be correct. The duck outfit won by a landslide! Selection two (my selection) was close for awhile, but couldn't keep up with the popularity of selection #3. So, as long as he can still fit into it, he will be looking like a duck on the way home. Thank you all for voting. I know I had a lot of fun checking and voting.

We have just over two weeks left until Heather's due date! Checking out the vote for the coming home outfit, we have 85 votes! WOW! We either had a lot of people voting or some people voting many times. With Heather being so close to having him, I'm going announce the winner tomorrow. It was fun but I think the outfit I was voting for is going to lose.

There will be no sappy videos tonight, no cool 4D pictures of Jonathon and there isn't going to be any pictures of penises tonight from me! Just a good, old fashioned picture of the most beautiful woman in the world, 37 weeks pregnant, with the most beautiful baby boy in the world. And yes...I am the proudest dad in the world. Funny thing is that he isn't even here yet. We're just a couple weeks away!!! Hold on tight...

I guess there's one good thing about being on bedrest... I can actually use the computer while Russ is at work! He is having too much fun with the pictures and videos, which means he's hogging the computer. Oh well, I'd rather have him in front of the computer all night instead of lost in the woods... Just wanted to share some of our pictures from yesterday's ultrasound.

Isn't he cute??? The quality isn't as good as the 4D pictures, but it is amazing how much you can see on this traditional scan. His little face has really filled out since our 4D ultrasound. Those cheeks are chubby, but what do you expect from a boy that's already almost 8 pounds?!




Now, for all of you doubters that keep saying, "What if it comes out a girl?!?!?!" - we provide this proof. The tech told us that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY this baby is a girl - and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! So, rest assured, it is safe to buy blue! The tech was REALLY impressed - even asked Russ if it looked familiar!


Well, time for me to go. Russ is home and I'm ready to find out what yummy thing he's making me for dinner!

After the response from yesterday's video, I scrambled to get some pictures from my sister, Rachel. I found a new program on our new computer and it really aids in throwing these videos together. As fast as I go through pictures, there won't be any more videos till I can get my photo stock pile up again. However, I did start the Video corner today so you can go back and watch all videos that have been created in the past.

Heather had her ultrasound today. The visit went well. Jonathon is weighing in at a whopping 7lbs 12oz! The doctors are still keeping a close eye on him so he is scheduled to have another ultrasound the 7th of September. The ultrasound tech gave us some good pictures this time so I will try to get those up in the next couple of days. Boy...is he looking handsome! We can't wait till he is here.

One thing that is so hard for some people to do is to relate to others how much someone really means to them. One thing I am so proud of is to be part of an extended family (both the Bushes and Skows) that truly loves and cares for Heather, me and of course Jonathon! I know it is hard for some of us (especially the guys) to articulate exactly how we feel about our loved ones and how much they truly mean to us. This is just a little token of the love for all the family in our lives.

One thing I love about this song is how it expresses the love everyone of us have for our children. With life, work and teenagers some of it might sway a little, but too often, it goes left unsaid. It goes unsaid to the spouse or partner even though you are constantly thinking of them while you are at work. It goes left unsaid to the young son or daughter who would give anything RIGHT NOW just to hear how much you really do care about them. It is left unsaid to the grandparent or grandchild of how much you thank God that they are a part (or have been) of your lives. We all get so busy that we really do forget what really is important. Relationships with the people you really love. The ones that are the closest, we push the farthest. May today be the day that we tell the people closest to us how much they truly mean to us and how much we value them. No one EVER gets tired of hearing how much they are loved and how important they are in their loved ones lives.

I do apologize for not getting everyone in the picture. Everyone was thought of when putting this together. The only drawback is I don't have pictures of everyone. I will be working on that. We love everyone and thank you so much for your love and prayers.

Finally! The computer is up and running again. It has been down since Wednsday and as you can tell I am finally able to post once again. We had to do some major upgrades to the computer and router (I think the milk did more damage than was first anticipated).

We are nearing 1,000 hits on Jonathon's site. It is great to see his site gaining popularity and we anticipate even more with his birth soon approching.

Let's see...what has happened since last Tuesday? Well, for starters, we found out that the daycare provider we chose is moving to North Carolina. Of course it is very short notice and we feel that everything happens for a reason. We already interviewed a couple last Wednsday and what a God-send! We talked with them for about two hours and it was great just talking to another couple. We had several interviews before we settled on our last provider and BAM! we come across this couple and they seem 1,000 times better! Just goes to show, no need to worry. That is still a HUGH lesson I need to learn.

It's great to be back on and sharing with everyone and I will be back tomorrow.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a big Miami Dolphins fan. I came across Dan Marino's Hall of Fame acceptance speech today from an email I had received (daddyconection.com). While the transcript is quite long, both his son and he eloquently speak of how important family really is.

Heather's appointment went well yesterday. Jonathon's heartbeat was strong and Heather's blood pressure was unchanged. Being the glass is half full type person, I would say that is a good thing since her blood pressure hasn't gone any higher! Unfortunatly, still bedrest.

We took our CPR/First Aid course tonight. We learned CPR for infants and children up to eight years old. It was interesting but we were glad it ended early. As hard as I tried, no humorous stories to tell.

I'm still figuring what you can and can't do with this webcam. I made some brownies last night and got some milk for Heather and me. I hooked up to the webcame to talk with Lori, Roger and Bronson and Lori was very impressed with my box brownie skills. She asked, "Hey Russ, can I have a brownie and some milk?" So I walked over to the webcam, acted like I was giving her the brownie then went to pour her some milk. Stupid, stupid me...I poured a half of glass of milk all over my laptop. Needless to say, EVERYONE thought it was so hilarious! I thought it was pretty funny too until I went to get on the computer this morning and half my buttons didn't work! Well, time for a trip to Best Buy. This was the one time since we've been married that we got the extended warranty. Thank God! Heather has told me of some of her "preggo brain" stories. I swear... I'm having a few myself:)

Heather's weekly check-up is tomorrow. Everything should go okay and as always, we will keep you posted.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Aren't we all looking foward to another work week?

I wanted to get some footage of the Quechee Gorge this week so I could use it in some video footage. I hiked about 2 1/2 miles and all I came up with is about three pictures. They call the Quechee Gorge the "little Grand Canyon". It is absolutely gorgeous in the fall. The link on the right has some professional pictures of the gorge and truly does it justice.

Heather and I went out to eat today and realized that this was the weekend, one year ago, that we came up here to interview for this job. WOW!!! What a difference a year makes. This year has gone by so fast. We know it is going to go by even faster when our little Jonathon arrives. We never would have thought that we would be up here and having our first child before our one year anniversary of moving to New England. We have been so blessed.

Well, now we've done it! I've just got the house all set up to watch us via web-cam and to be able to talk to us over the internet. The ultimate way for everyone to be able to see Jonathon when he arrives and see us in total exhaustion, with no sleep. All you need is Yahoo Messenger and a microphone. Messenger is free and improved and most computers have a built in microphone. We will have a wireless network in the hospital so all can see (if they wish) Jonathon right after he is born!!! If not, no need to worry, we will get regular pictures up as soon as possible. Just check on the right column under the archives and see if I'm online or not. Feel free to IM and check out the webcam or leave a comment.

31 days left till Jonathon's due date. We can't wait. The time is closing in and Heather is READY. If you need Yahoo Messenger, you can get it here.

Thank Heaven it's the weekend. I might be able to post several times. Maybe show you some cool places around New England.

Until tomorrow...

I will try to post an inspirational video blog once a week for the next few weeks. Just another one of my ideas. I'll see how it goes and whether it will work out or not. I got a kick out of this today and wanted to share it with others.

Also, I came across this website for all baby names and how popular they are and were 100 years ago. The site is great to jar your brain if you are still looking for a baby name.

Alrighty then! This outfit is in first place. We have a total of 36 voters, up double from about two weeks ago. Selection #3 has a rating of 4.13 and selection #2 has a rating of 4.00. It is a very close race so lets see who wins at the wire! I did find out yesterday that we will be able to have a wireless network in the birthing room so hopefully you will be able to see pictures of Jonathon right after he is born. You will also be able to verify that he is wearing the winning outfit home too.

Things have been hectic the last few days so I haven't been able to post any video. I know that it doesn't really matter now about the video. All that matters is that there are plenty videos when he smiles, crawls, walks and talks. I just hope I have enough energy to push the play button on the camcorder or camera.

Jonathon has been flipping end for end the last couple weeks. Heather thinks he is ready to settle in then all of a sudden, whoop, there he goes!

Thanks for the comments and keep on the lookout for the video.

We had our birthing class today. It was a marathon session of eight hours. The time ended up going faster than expected for both of us. No gross pictures (I think I might be getting use to all of it finally) and a lot of valuable information for both Heather and I. We took a tour of the hospital to familiarize ourselves for when the big day comes. I have to say that we are very lucky to be able to have our baby at such a great facility with so many great doctors and nurses. We found out today that there is one nurse for each woman in active labor. Another great thing is that the room you "check" into is also the room you deliver in. If for any reason there needs to be any surgery, the OR is literally right around the corner. There is a pull-out couch for the partner, shower and even a hot tub for the mother to be more comfortable. This philosophy statement sums up the class today.

Next class is CPR/First Aid. Play around on the "Where Jonathon will be born" link and see all about the hospital.

Wanting to make this the best blog possible in order to keep everyone up to date, I have now added a video feature. As you can see, this is Jonathon's little bedroom. I also have a new countdown on the bottom of the page for everyone to anticipate his soon arrival.

Time for a new poll. I wish the site had a way to take bets, but since it doesn't, we'll do this one just for fun. Check over to the right and VOTE for the date range you think Jonathon will arrive. All bets are off if it is a scheduled delivery. Sorry!

Saturday, Heather and I will be doing our birthing class. We tried to have it spread out over several weeks, but unfortunately, the class was too small. That means we will have about eight hours of breathing, pushing, sweating and passing out. Of course we will keep you posted and I hope to get an amusing story or two.

Give your feedback in the comment section on other videos you would like to see. I'm still working out the bugs. The videos will get better with time. Don't bother asking for the delivery - Heather still says, "Absolutely no way!"

Well, I'm back from today's appointment, and beating Russ to the punch to get the Blog posted for the day. Everything looks good. Jonathon currently weighs 5 lbs, 8 ozs. Typical weight at this time is about 4 1/2 pounds, so he's on the big side, but not too bad. Still, he is well on his way to the 10+ pound estimate at my last appointment. His head measurements were off today as he was settled WAY down there and they couldn't get a good shot, so - that's right - ANOTHER ultrasound! This one will be in 3 weeks. My next regular appointment will be on Monday afternoon. The MD I saw today said that once they have that measurement they will be better able to determine if there is indication for a C-Section or not. My blood pressure was a bit high for me, but within normal limits for the average person. I've been given the green light to do a LITTLE bit more activity - but still not much, and no work. I'm just lucky that I can do quite a bit of my job from home - otherwise, I'd be going CRAZY by now!

We didn't really get a good ultrasound picture to add, but we did get a "Wow - this kid has a lot of hair!" comment from the tech. You can see the halo around his head of hair. They say that the "a lot of heartburn means a lot of hair" thing is an old wive's tale, but I'm not so sure about that now! I am just so excited to see if the hair is RED!!!

I have the COOLEST cousin in the world! Heather told me today of a trailer I HAD to see. Click on Bronson's picture or go here. dreamworks.com Click on "movies", then on the "Dreamer" trailer and watch really close. Right when the movie opens, there is a red headed boy right behind the starlet, writing. That's our Bronson!!! It cuts to him four times. What is so cool is this is the trailer. We can't wait till the movie comes out October 21, 2005. Rumor has it, Kurt Russell has a speaking part with him. We'll see.

Heather has another ultrasound tomorrow. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will check out ok with Jonathon. We'll try to get the ultrasound on tomorrow for all to see. I don't know who is going to be more photogenic, Bronson or Jonathon.

Congratulations Bronson! This is GINORMOUS!!!)

I'm not posting this just because it is Wade Boggs being inducted to the Hall of Fame. He had a great piece about what his family meant to him. Take a look. We are coming down to the wire of Jonathon's arrival and it is hitting home the resposiblities of parenthood. There is always fear, doubt, hope and anticipation with anything new and the arrival of Jonathon heightens it even more.

Fathers are mentioned less often in parent magazines and websites, but I found a website that is a good resource for fathers of all stages. Also, I've added a resource link for parenting. Check it out. It's under the "Sites of Interest" on the right. Hopefully there is something for everyone.

A new baby is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities. - Eda J Leshan