Quick note

I started a DeviantArt page go check it out!! it is at Stygiansatyrcarlyle.deviantart.com

Christmastime!

Tis' the season and it's time to write up some memories hehe. Uncle Dan came by to see his nephew before he left for Boston to have Christmas with Candace and her family. I'm hoping that she is upgraded to Aunt Candace sooner than later after this trip. I could tell that he would miss Alastor, we miss him too. We have those two over almost every night so it's been rather boring without those two around, but we've been managing.

Alastor has been getting better with his baths and seems to enjoy them more once he realizes what we are doing to him. He has been smiling and gurgling so much! Grandma and Grandpa Workman got him some really cute stuff for Christmas. He especially likes this little Glow worm-esque Seahorse thing that glows and plays music when he squeezes it. I wasn't sure if he would like it but he was smiling and kicking the whole time. We haven't made a name for this one yet, but he also really likes his little Octopus we named Otto.

Meghan got me a travel Etch-a-sketch for Christmas, i've always enjoyed those things and I wanted one for when I am stuck in church or something without paper to draw on. I got her this DVD of the movie The Christmas Toy. It's her favorite Christmas movie but she didn't ask for it so she wasn't expecting it at all. It was her favorite gift, she tackled me and everything.

We spent a little time in Springville with the family. Granda took out some old home movies and Dan and Me when I was about four years old. It was pretty intense to see footage that was almost twenty years old of me. We also saw my cousins who are all married and have kids now when they were little. Ryan was doing some bit about nudity and how we're all naked under our clothing, it was the funniest thing ever.

On December 19th Jason and Ellen had their little boy Gavin. He is so cute! Alastor has two little future playmates in the family. Beth is a few months older and now he has Gavin who is 2 months younger than him. It'll be fun when they all get older and play together. It was really fun having Alastor's first Christmas. We dressed him in the only holiday-ish onesie he had and some cute pants that he finally fits. He keeps getting heavier and longer, it's very exciting. I can't wait for him to fit in his overalls! Anywho, the holiday was wonderful and we all enjoyed it.

Long awaited update

Well it has been a long time since I wrote anything on here, and people have been very noisy about me not writing (Zack I'm looking in your direction). I have just been avoiding writing on this thing because there have been a few woes in the last few weeks. I did this on my mission journals too, I tried not to write anything too sad because I knew people would be reading them most likely. But not writing about something does not make it go away. Also I have been working in a ten page final paper that almost killed me, really really.

Thanksgiving was really fun. My folks came up around Wednesday before the holiday to visit. Brad was stuck at work, but it was nice to have most of the clan together. Dad and Ben got to see Alastor for the first time and it was really fun to see the both of them smile, which doesn't happen too often. Ben became very attached once he warmed up to the little guy. It was fun to have another gamer to talk to, what with Niels gone and all.

I'm not big on the traditional foods of Thanksgiving, other than stuffing oooh stuffing, but this year was pretty good, I had my fill. My folks took us out a few times, which I consider better than the big meal.

We've been looking for an apartment ever since we found out that we have been keeping our neighbors up at night with our constant walking. I was a little upset that they didn't tell us directly, but I'm over it. I figure if they don't tell us then I won't personally worry about it and we won't dive into a bad apartment just to get out. That said, I hope the tennants who move in after us are both very overweight and snore loud like a plan taking off.

Looking for an apartment has been hard though since work has been cutting back on hours and my checks have become very small like last winter. This was easier when Meghan could work, but it's different now. Some nice people gave us money in order to have a real Christmas this year and help on some of our more pressing bills. You know who you are, thank you so much.

Meghan's folks also joined us the weekend after Thanksgiving for Alastor's blessing. We did it in the Alleman home in Springville surrounded by family, rather than strangers in a ward we probably won't be in for much longer. It was a really good time.

I am currently working in a new department in Costco selling TVs, computers, cameras etc. It's been real nice to not have to push carts and come home exhausted. Now I can help out more with the baby. It's just a seasonal posistion but who knows it might stick.

Alastor seems to be getting bigger now and we hope he has been gaining weight. We'll find out today at our WIC meeting. He seems to eat a whole lot more than he used to and it looking rather chubby in the cheeks and legs, so hopefully we'll get some good news this time around when he's on the scale.

Otherwise, things have been getting better. We put in an application on a rather nice looking apartment so perhaps that will work out, but it's not too stressful. Work is going well. Meghan seems to be happy and so does Alastor. I figure i'd better load a few pictures before I end this since i've been so lax in writing.

Oh! and I start a Deviantart page. It is Stygiansatyrcarlyle.deviantart.com check it out and show it to anyone who is looking for an artist please please!!!

Alastor's fun time

Well life has become fun for Alastor. At least we think so. He eats a lot, poops a lot and gets to hang out with Mom a lot. Dad on the other hand has to go to school and work a lot. Not so exciting. School is almost over, just one more ten page paper and I'll be done at least until spring. The neighbors below complained about us being up and walking through all hours of the night, which was stressful because we thought we were going to have to move. But we figured that if you move into a downstairs apartment you need to understand that there will be noise, reguardless of anything. So we don't worry about that anymore, we'll move when we can.

We gave Alastor his first bath a few days ago, it was wild. He really liked being wrapped up in the towel and having warm water poured over his head, but as soon as he was exposed and in the water he was terrified! AAAAAAAAA! What are you doing!? But we hope that he will get used to them soon. he needs to be clean!

Meghan has been doing pretty good with Alastor and keeping up on sleep. We got into the WIC program so that should help while work is slow and I'm in school. My family is coming up next week for Thanksgiving and blessing the baby, that should be rather fun! Yay!

Another Grandma Visit!!

This week my Mom (Grandma Workman) came by to help and make life easier. She arrived on Sunday and went home today, it was a good week. We ended up going needing Mom around a lot more than we initially thought.

We took Alastor to his two week appointment to have him check out. We were excited to see how much weight he had gained and all the other things. It turned out that Alastor had actually lost weight. He was down to 6lbs 6oz as compared to his birth weight of 7lbs 3oz. The Doctor seemed very concerned and wanted us to make sure that Meghan was producing milk and nursing right. It wasn't very fun to find out that most likely we were doing something wrong! Meghan took it pretty hard, but Mom was able to help her out while I was stuck at work. We have doubled-up on feedings and started giving him some formula also. He gets weighed in tomorrow, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Mom bought us a rocking chair (pictured above) for Meghan to nurse in, rather than running off to the bedroom whenever Alastor gets hungry. It has been wonderful , and i turns out the chair we got was one that Meghan had been eyeing for a long time.

Work has become very short, with not many hours worked in the week. I worry that my paychecks won't be able to cover a lot of what is needed for the baby and for us. We have an appointment with the WIC program so hopefully they take pity on us and help us out.

On the other side of the fence, things are still going very well. Alastor seems to be happier and more content with his need feeding schedule, and we feel more secure as parents. He keeps getting cuter everyday and we sure do love him. He was even quiet through all of sacrament meeting! We can only hope things continue to get better.

Well the second week has come and gone rather quickly. As I sit in front of my computer just minutes away from the time my son was born two Sundays ago I can't help but feel a little sad at how quickly the time goes by and how fast we have gone back to the way things were, plus a baby. My son does something new and cute everyday. He peed on me two days ago, I had to laugh.

It was amazing having Grandma Bunn over for the week to help out and keep us sane when Alastor was being a problem child. She really helped out Meghan when things seemed to be closing in on her. I was so happy to have her around. Now this next week will be my Mom's week. Sure we're confident enough to do this on our own, but we want to see her and she wants to see Alastor!

Halloween was a hit at work and at home. I was able to enjoy the holiday with family and watch some scary movies. Monster House is a big favorite in our home. Dan and Candace dressed up as the main characters in Grease and Alastor had his skeleton onesie on (pictures coming soon).

Alastor has his second checkup this week, which we are looking forward to. I wonder if he will have gained any weight? We hope that his jaundice is just minor and that nothing too serious will be needed to be done. I can't tell if he is yellow, it's too subtle for my colorblindness to pick up, how sad is that?

Anywho, this is kind of a short post, but I have been busy this week with Grandparents and other visitors so I'll try to keep up.

Precious...

Well, things are getting very fun. I finished my paper and everything is going well with school, as far as I know. Alastor has been eating and sleeping really well lately. He pretty much slept the whole night already! Any Moms I mention that to just freak out "What!? That's not supposed to happen till at least 4 months!" hehe.

This pregnancy was so simple and easy with no morning sickness and no weird complications, so I figure the baby would come out just as simple. No pushing required to get this one out. Now that he is home and settled he has gotten very good at sleeping in his crib and eating when he is hungry. He lets us know when his diaper is dirty but not immediately, so he's a good kid.

The more time I spend with my son the more I find he belongs to this family. He loves to burp and pass gas like his Daddy and he is a very sound sleeper like his Mom. I was singing to him the other day and since I didn't know any baby songs I sang some Mindless Self Indulgence to him. He must have been confused because his little eyes went cross and we nearly died laughing. he is so darn cute!Grandma Bunn will be joining us soon and I hope she is impressed with how the little guy behaves. He already is starting to fill out in his little face and get some meat on him. I'm so excited to see how he continues to grow and surprise us with his little quirks.

Next week I start work again. It'll be sad to have to leave Alastor for work, but then I will be able to come home to him and see him after a few hours! Yay!

First Day Home...

Oh my stars, the first night. Meghan and I think that perhaps the nurses were spoiling Alastor while he was in the nursery or something, because he was so nice to us in the hospital. Apparently we didn't do the same things because he was up a lot. We fed him several times and changed his diapers twice. I'm surprised how much I don't mind changing his diapers really. We eventually got some sleep in 1 or 2 hour intervals, but it was enough to retain our sanity. Mostly I worry about the downstairs neighbors more than anything. I don't mind waking up to coo the child to sleep or change a diaper, I signed up for that. But the poor folks downstairs did not. I hope they can understand I have no control over the little tyke.

Morning was good though. We had our breakfast while taking turns holding Alastor's sleeping little body. I ran some errands and turned in a letter of intent for a new position at work. I'm not sure if I need it right now, I am making some good money over at the Front End (at Costco).

I have also been working on my paper for English, golly it is tough to work on homework while my baby is at home and needing me. I really enjoy being with him rather than anything else. We even had some time to watch an X-Files episode while he slept in the crib next to us. I sure do love the little guy.

Lots of people have been sending their congrats to us and we really appreciate it. I never knew how many people were waiting for our son to be born. Lots of people at work were excited to hear the news. My Mom is stuck in California and can't see her first grandchild's first weeks, so she has commissioned my brother Dan to come over and take lots of pictures, even weird ones like his feet. But then again, if I were away and couldn't see him I would want a lot of pictures too!!

I have one week off of work so I intend to get as much as I can done for Meghan in the week I have. Luckily her Mom is coming over for a week once I am back to school. So there will still be help around when I am stuck pushing and loading carts at work. My only other worries at the moment are money issues. Hospital bills always have horror stories to go along with them, so I am a little reluctant to see what they turn out to be. Work next week is 6 days instead of 5, so I will have a little bit of overtime to build up the funds, I just hope it will be enough.

Aside all that, life is good. We have a healthy son home and entertaining us when he can, I still have my beautiful wife around, and I have a job that can continue to support my family!!!

Besides, it's almost Halloween!!!!!

A new age has begun...

Alastor Dane Workman came crashing into our lives at about 12:49 AM October 19, 2008. Meghan started feeling contractions about 9:30 Saturday morning. It was the first sort of contractions she had ever had, so we didn't think much of it, nevertheless it was exciting for me. i told my son (through the belly) that if he could get me off of work about an hour early, it would be greatly appreciated.

Meghan kept me up to date with everything through texts while I pushed carts at work, and through my phone calls on breaks. On my last break (about 5:30) she told me she would call me if anything happened and she needed to go. Almost 10 minutes later she called and I was off to the rescue (about an hour before work ended I might add.)

Next Dan and I worked on getting the carseat into the car. The strap that was supposed to tighten the darn thing in became stuck and we had quite a time of cursing and swearing to get it un-stuck. Eventually it worked and we were ready to go.

Once we arrived at the hospital we checked in and labor was underway. Meghan had quite a bit of trouble with the contractions until the "magic man" as I called him came in and gave her the epidural. Then things went smoothly, she slept through a lot of the contractions and became fully dialated in about 4 hours. Even the nurses were shocked at how fast she was.

The time for pushing came, and there was no pushing. In fact the little guy practically flew out! It was amazing, and absolute miracle. He rated a 9/10 on his APGARS or whatever, basically he was in tip top shape.

Holding my newborn son and having him look into my eyes was incredible. I must have said "you're so cute" like a thousand times! I don't care how stupid I sound, I love my son!

Patience

Well, another interesting day. Lot's of people at work have been asking if my baby has been born yet. I guess if i'm at work that would be a no. Our current plan is to induce if he hasn't come by Thursday, so we'll have to see.

I really don't want to work on my paper for English, but I know I should just in case my son comes early. It's funny how I spent so much time bragging to Meghan about writing papers, and now I don't want to work on one, even though it should be pretty easy.

For the most part I would have to say I have been thinking a lot about how my life is going to change once I do have a baby in the house. I'll have to devote my time to another person and have all of my plans revolve around him. I'm not too sad about it, more excited. Other than being married I really haven't had something that I am terribly accountable to. School and work still feel like extras. I look forward to having another person to love.

Spending time with my cousin and his family today made me see that I am making a good decision here. While i'm still working on school and a larger career, I feel very happy with what I have. A family means more to me than some big job. While I still want a career, I want one to support my loved ones.

Well I am getting a little verbose and it is late. Off to bed!

It Begins....

Well, I have never done anything like this, so here goes... It is 11 days until my wifes due date and our son will be coming rather soon, or so I hope. Meghan's doctor thinks the baby will be a little late, like the 30th or something like that. I'd rather he come on time, so I have been taking Meghan out on walks to get that little baby moving lower and lower to bring him out on time.
The Idea of being a Dad is still pretty new to me, but I am excited for it all to start. I can;t help but think about my own parents when they were waiting for me, their first child, to be born. They never had an ultrasound so I was still a surprise waiting to happen. I bet they were excited and a little scared, like I am right now.
Anywho, it feels good to get my thoughs out like this and have a place to look back on them. I've grown rather lax on my journal writing so this is the next best thing!!