Back to School

Wow - I can't believe summer is already over. Tyler started first grade last week. He is very excited about going to school for the whole day. With the birth of Andrew, I think this is perfect opportunity to put a little more structure back in Tyler's day.

Lots of other firsts also. Andrew had his first bath at home. He screamed bloody murder through the whole thing, but snuggled up nice once he got the towel around him.

Tyler and Eliana continue to be wonderful helpers and great big brother / big sister for Drew. Eliana insists on helping us change Drew, usually by singing him songs and holding his 'bink' to help keep him calm. Both kids are always asking to hold Andrew and rock him to sleep.

Melissa is recovering very well. All the help we have received from our extremely generous neighbors, friends and family has made it easier for all of us. From bringing over meals to driving the kids to events or offering play dates, we are extremely blessed and can't thank you enough.

We even got a visit from 'Auntie Ceil' who flew all the way out from DC area. I am not sure who was more excited - Ellie to have someone to play with, Tyler for having someone to kick the soccer ball around with, Melissa for having one of her best friends to talk with, or Dave, who got to go mountain biking with Ceil. Always good to catch up with good friends.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The Good - We celebrated Andrew's one week birthday by taking him to Children's Mercy for a follow up on his PAC. They performed a second EKG and a chest X-ray. The cardiologist said everything looks okay, and definitively ruled out PVC, and Long Q T syndrome , both of which would have been cause for concern. That leaves PAC, which is just something we will have to watch, but is not cause for extra concern.

The Bad (relatively speaking) - Little Drew is doing his best to follow in his brother's footsteps, so to speak. For those who can remember, Tyler's nickname when he was an infant was 'Sir Whizalot'. Well let's just say Drew is no slouch when it comes to peeing all over the place. We try not to laugh, but when he gets himself all wet and then gets upset about it (dare I say.. p!ssed off?), it is pretty funny.

The Ugly - No, I am not going to subject you to a picture of me in the morning. This is worse - we have officially embraced suburbia by giving in and buying a mini-van. After much research, we chose to go with the Hyundai Entourage. Not as cool as the HBO series by the same name, but a great car. The kids absolutely love it. Melissa and I find have found we actually like it too. Like our neighbor said, mini-vans are the car you want to hate, but can't.

Next post - Ty's starts back to school

We have finally decided on a Name

It is official - we submitted the birth certificate today. Baby John Doe French is now.........

Andrew Richard French.
Melissa always favored that name. My hang-up was Andrew has been a top 10 name for at least the last 5 years. I am a little sensitive to that, having a somewhat common name myself (Seems when ever I am in a group of more than 5 guys, at least one other is named David). Turns out that Drew is not nearly as common. While his name is Andrew, we will call him Drew.

Melissa has been doing great - she is recovering well from her c-section. She started walking around yesterday, and was up for a shower and solid food today. Drew has a slightly irregular heart-beat, called premature atrial contractions. However it is pretty common and almost always corrects itself. If all goes well, we will be going home tomorrow (Thursday). As you can see, Tyler and Eliana are very excited to have their little brother come home.

Pics from the kids

We bought the kids digital cameras. We figured we'd need assistant photographers to help us keep up with all of the recent changes in our family. Plus some pictures from kids' point of view should be interesting.

Tyler's camera is a Polaroid i531. Very kid friendly, easy to use and hold, with 5.1 MP camera and video. Tyler has learned pretty quickly how to use it.

Ellie's camera is Fisher - Price Kids Tough camera. While the resolution is not nearly as crisp (640 x 480), the camera is great for 2 - 4 year olds. Easy to hold, both LED and view finder, it is a great camera for her. The last photo gives you an idea of the range of output.

New baby is here!

No name yet, but Tyler and Ellie now have a new baby brother! 7lbs, 13 onces and 19 inches long. Melissa and baby are both doing great. The little monkey has already learned how to roll over on his side and is grabbing everything in sight.

Now if we can just settle on a boys name.