Nick's First Plane Ride

In late August, we took our first family vacation up to visit Grandma & Grandpa T. in Spokane. It was Nick's first foray into air travel and thankfully, he did great. We bought him his own seat so that we wouldn't have to hold him on our laps the whole flight. We were a bit delayed leaving Oakland, but not too bad. We fed Nick as we were taxi-ing and he promptly fell asleep after his bottle. He slept for nearly all the two hour flight - the white noise of the engine kept him happily in dreamland. He didn't mind the descent or landing in Spokane, so overall, it was a very easy journey - much to the relief of Mom & Dad!!

Grandma & Grandpa were kind enough to watch Nick for a few nights while Kevin & I escaped to Yaak, MT. It was great. Nick was well-behaved (for the most part) for his Grandparents and Kevin & I were able to enjoy ourselves hiking, sightseeing and - probably most importantly - catching up on some sleep!! We were greeted on the Yaak River Road by a moose cow. She was one of two that we saw that trip.

After Kevin & I returned to Spokane, we were able to join in the celebration of Grandma & Grandpa T's 50 year anniversary. Cousin Todd and his wife, Grace, were able to stop by too on their way over to Yaak. Uncle Jerry & Aunt LouAnn hired a singing telegram to come serenade Grandma & Grandpa - it was great. Nick got into the party too.

The day before we left, Grandpa, Nick, Kevin & I went to downtown Spokane where they had a food festival - "Pig Out in the Park". We wandered around for a bit to see all the booths. Nick tried to stay awake for the festivities, but just couldn't do it and promptly fell asleep with his moose in his stroller.

The flight home was uneventful - Nick fussed a bit when we started our descent, but got the giggles when we started playing Peak-A-Boo with him. A great vacation for all of us!!

Barry Bonds' 756th Home Run

We were lucky enough to be at the game when Barry hit #756. It was pretty cool. Nick witnessed history - he didn't even cry when all the loud fireworks went off. He was a veteran baseball watcher by that time!

Nick also went to a couple of All Star Events too. He went to the Fan Fest, the Celebrity Softball Game and the Home Run Derby. He's quite the baseball fan!!

Nick's First Giants Game - 5-9-07

Well, it wasn't really his first. He went to a number of games while he was still baking, but this was the first one in person. Nick went with Mom, Grandma & Grandpa T. It was a day game against the Mets. Nick sat in the seats for a while and then 'toured' Pac Bell Park with Grandpa. (Note: the cup holders on the stroller are good for holding beer cups!)

Unfortunately, the Giants lost in the ninth inning - Nick didn't mind, he was asleep.

At home finally!

Nick decided that sleeping on Mom or Dad was much better than sleeping in his bassinet. So for the first week, Kevin & I shared "mattress duty" and slept either on the couch or in the reclining chair.

We found a helpful website that sold the Amby Baby hammock - we bought it and waited anxiously for it to be delivered. It proved to live up to the hype and we were finally able to sleep in our own bed. The hammock helped Nick feel 'cuddled' and also helped keep his head up, which seemed to help with his gassy tummy.

The hammock was a great investment for us - sadly it didn't help with his colicky bouts, but was helpful nonetheless.

And so it begins...

Nicholas Thomas Desotell made his appearance on April 18, 2007. During his incubation, he decided that he liked hanging out sideways (I think it's because that gave him more room to kick his Mommy in the ribs...) Because of his position preference, I had a c-section. Thankfully, the surgery went very smoothly, well, aside from Nick's head.

Nick's head was a big one at birth. It was the last part of his body to be pulled out. They had two doctors tending to me for the birth - the pediatrician was waiting for Nick over at the warming table. Once they got Nick's body out, the last part to come was his big head. As Kevin was watching, the doctors tending to me called the pediatrician over to help pull Nick's head out. They did this all very calmly so I didn't know what was going on. With the third doctor they were finally able to pull his head out and little (OK, big) Nick made us a family of three.

We didn't know that Nick was a boy until he popped out, so the doctor was able to announce that we had a baby boy. He started crying pretty much immediately (it was cold in that operating room, so I don't blame him!!) He scored perfectly on his Apgar screening and was able to come see me quickly before they took him off to measure, poke, prod, etc.

Here are some picture from his first few minutes of life and a few hours after (notice that the little hat doesn't stay on his big head very well!!)

Finally, we're ready to go home. The doctors and nurses (well, except for one weird nurse) were all great at Kaiser. But we were definitely ready for our own bed (little did we know we wouldn't sleep in it until a number of days later!!) Here is Nick as we waited for Kevin to get the car.