It’s unavoidable that people just meeting Patrick will take sides in determining which parent he best resembles. We in the Preddy household support these evaluations. We do it ourselves. You may be surprised to learn Jordan thinks Patrick resembles her, and I tend to think he favors me.
These disagreements amongst friends and family have not yet come to violent blows. But it is only a matter of time. In the interest of peace and stability, we have decided to release a few baby photos of our younger selves, which you may now compare with our superior offspring. With the aid of this objective evidence, the answer should become quite clear. Perhaps we might even end the uneasy debate once and for all.
Patrick
First, here are a few reference photos taken this Saturday, as Patrick enjoyed his first Texas Longhorns telecast.
Jordan
Now, here’s a few of Jordan.
That’s her on the left with her Grandma Jean and her cousin Wallis.
Marshall
Now here are two of me. I hope you’ll forgive my immodesty in this first pic.
Me as a very young newborn.
Now that you’ve had a chance to view the evidence, ladies and gentlemen, I think the answer is self-evident.
Note:Thanks to our Moms Linda and Sharyn for sharing the photos.
Here at the Preddy household, we don’t really watch Saturday Night "Live" anymore. We catch it on our Uverse DVR the next morning. And that’s what we’re doing this morning. I mention this because Jordan and I are now both of the opinion that Lady Gaga was pretty awesome last night on SNL.
Here she is “performing” with her spiritual predecessor, Madonna.
Goofy? Yes.
Fun? Absolutely. We dig it.
And although I don’t have a sanctioned clip, her musical performances from last night were what really impressed. Kids these days could do much worse as far as pop stars go.
Now, you probably weren’t expecting a short review of SNL when you fired up our blog. And we’re not here to disappoint. We know who you want. You want this guy right here:
He’s 5 1/2 weeks today, and as the title suggests, we’re gaga over this kid.
I know you’re probably thinking, “is he old enough to sit in one of those things? He can’t even hold his neck up yet, right?” Yes, you’re right. It was only for a moment. But these Bumbo things actually provide a bit more neck support than you remember. And his neck is crazy strong. In fact, at 12 lbs 4 oz, he seems to be extra healthy and strong. Able to hold his neck up for long stretches and use his powerful legs to push away from my belly.
Anyhow, not much has been happening. We’ve had a fairly uneventful time since Patrick’s birth. Which is a good thing. We’ve not been getting much sleep. Sometimes he sleeps well during the night. Sometimes not so much. Jordan has been a champ about doing what it takes during the difficult nights and letting me get some sleep.
She’s still breastfeeding almost exclusively. And Patrick’s only had breastmilk from a bottle a few times. Once was on my birthday when Jordan’s folks came over and babysat so that we could have sushi at Osaka (OMG, best sushi in town).
The next day we had all the grandparents over for Patrick’s 1-month birthday party (and my 35th birthday, I guess). That was a great time. My Mom made spaghetti for everyone and my dad and step-mom forgot the dessert they made, and got stuck in two hours of traffic on the way over to our house. On their detour through the Heights, they ended up driving by Dacapo’s Pastry Cafe and getting a Pecan Brownie Pie that was the best pecan anything I’ve ever had. Holy moly that was amazing.
Aside from that, we’ve had a pretty quiet time.
We still walk Hank twice a day.
We’ve been watching a ton of football on our lazy weekends.
And I got a new iPod touch for my birthday (thanks Grandmama and Granddaddy). It’s basically an iPhone except it doesn’t have a phone or a camera. But it’s great for checking my email or Facebook when I’m on the couch. It’s particularly useful because I only need one hand.
The other one is holding a much bigger miracle than any thing Apple could dream up.
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If you want the latest photos of Patrick, you should totally keep up with our Flickr account. We’re adding photos all the time. All Patrick-related photos are available here. You can check out his new Greatest Hits set here.
A few days ago, I promised you more photos, and here they are. Well, some of them. There are more. These are, in fact, just the shots from Jordan’s sister, Jessica. She took more than 400 photos, and we’ve whittled them down to 81 of our faves. Jordan’s sister is kind of a semi-pro photographer, so we we’re lucky and extremely grateful that she was able to capture the entire birth with her fancy Nikon. And although I’ve said “entire birth”, be assured that the following photos are all safe for work.
We’re very close now. Jordan is due at the end of next week, but she’s officially full term, so the baby could come any time. A review of the facts as we know them:
We don’t know the sex.
We do know the baby seems very healthy in all regards, and for now it appears we’re in for a relatively normal birth.
Jordan is ready to get this kid on the outside.
To provide some incentive for the baby to get here sooner, we have tried to communicate to him or her that he / she has a very nice room all ready. We’ve only recently finished it all up (thanks to generous amounts of help from the grandparents). We think it looks fantastic.
Here are some pics:
The color is a soft yellow; I picked it out. Booyah.
The wall hangings and crib bedding are all from a set we found at Babies R Us.
The furniture is also from Babies R Us. The crib is one of those convertible lifetime beds.
Jordan was surprised she liked the white furniture so much, but it turned out pretty well.
Jordan and her dad found these great shelves at the container store.
That A-B-C thingy is another part of the bedding theme. It’s actually a rug.
It looks better on the wall. Where it can’t trip us up in the middle of the night.
The bed is the only piece of furniture left over from what was my office.
It actually came with the house and was in this room when we moved in.
Yes, Yoda was on our Target registry. Three people purchased us three Yodas.
This is my grandmother’s rocking chair. It should come in pretty handy.
Pillow came from Pottery Barn. Because Pottery Barn is way into The Force.
Cute, huh?
This magazine rack had also been installed by the home’s previous owners.
Works great for baby books, too.
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So, that’s the whole tour.
Hopefully, the next post you see will introduce you to a brand new Preddy. I will post the news here as soon as I can.
Until then, we appreciate all your well wishes and prayers.
Last night was our regularly scheduled game night with pals, only my pal Deb and our game night friends conspired to transform it into a fantastic surprise baby shower. Having already had a couple of great baby showers that nearly wiped out our registry, it was decided that this one would be a little different. All the guests were given generic white Gerber onesies with which to create their own fashion-forward creations.
The results speak for themselves:
Naturally, there were also some delicious baked goods. Our pal Michelle made some great looking iced cookies.
And because Jordan was unaware this Game Night would be something different, she made a batch of Reeses inspired mini-cupcakes (chocolate, with peanut butter icing, topped with a Reeses candy piece).
I urge you to check out the entire set on Flickr. There are some, uh, inspirational designs there. Some of which would be difficult to explain in this context. Or, really, at all.
Thanks a ton to Deb for organizing a great evening and to our pals for creating such impressive designs.
A few weeks ago the New York Times had an article on the proliferation of YouTube videos showing home recordings of the labor and birth processes:
Mom-and-pop directors like Ms. Griffith think of their home movies as a way to demystify childbirth by showing other women — and their weak-kneed husbands — candid images they might not otherwise see until their contractions begin. If YouTube can illustrate how to solve a Rubik’s Cube, pick a lock and poach an egg, maybe it can also demonstrate how to give birth. Recently, a British couple became tabloid fodder after the woman gave birth, assisted only by her husband using a YouTube birthing video as tutorial.
Inevitably most childbirth videos are graphic, challenging not just YouTube’s rules but also societal conventions on propriety.
“Nudity is generally prohibited on YouTube,” said Victoria Grand, the site’s head of policy. “But we make exceptions for videos that are educational, documentary or scientific.” YouTube employees regularly review graphic videos and, depending on the content, may decide to leave a video up, restrict access to those 18 and older or remove the video altogether. Explicit medical videos are among the exceptions, allowing cyberpatients and other viewers 18 and over to watch videos of colonoscopies, appendectomies and open-heart surgery. Most childbirth videos are age restricted.
Around 2001, I finally learned to tie a tie using the internet as my guide, but I’m not sure I could go to YouTube, like this guy did, and feel confident about performing an emergency delivery. Nor was I very eager to check out the videos on YouTube even for “educational” purposes. For real, I got grossed out watching the birth movie they made us watch in 9th grade.
Today, I was surprised to discover that educational systems in other countries may start with the birth tutorials much earlier than 9th grade. Here’s a children’s book from Germany that takes the reader from beginning to end; from when Mommy decides she kinda likes Daddy, to the point where the baby is delivered at the Hospital.
Click the link, and then click the images to read the rest of the book. WARNING: It’s gets very, uh, specific.
The doctor’s creepy smile makes me exceedingly glad that Jordan’s OB is a woman.
One member of our family is not doing very well at all right now. Our poor dog Hank has a nasty “hot spot” on his face, and we’re trying our best to nurse him back to health. It probably began as an insect bite or rash but it has progressed into a gnarly bit of exposed bloody flesh. It’s been made worse because Hank can’t stop scratching it.
We noticed it yesterday morning on our walk. We immediately took him to the Westbury Animal Hospital, where 12:30 appointment was luckily and immediately available. Even better, my old pal and former EduNeering coworker, Dr. Kristy Kyle, was a vet-on-duty and able to help Hank out with tender, expert care.
She shaved away some of Hank’s fur and cleaned up the wound, then she gave us some spray medicine to use four times a day. Kristy also said it might be necessary to put a “cone” on Hank if he continued to shred his own face.
Unfortunately, he can’t seem to help it. He kept Jordan up all night with his intermittent scratching fits. In this morning’s light we could see blood on the carpet and walls.
Now, following a trip to PetSmart, we’ve made our dog into a Hank-cone and he seems to be handling it quite well. He’s not scratching or trying to get it off. Mostly, he’s just moping around like the saddest dog in the world. See for yourself.
This past week has seen an embarrassment of baking-related riches at our house. Obviously, Jordan is damn near a professional, so her baked awesomeness no longer surprises me. But this week, rather than her signature, over-the-top incredible cupcakes, I got to enjoy a couple of simpler treats. Definitely more my style.
First there was the bread pudding, which Jordan made using a slightly modified version of this recipe (note: I have no idea what chahhah or brioche is).
Apple Bourbon Bread Pudding 1 tbsp butter 2 large baking apples (I used Fuji) 4 cups cubed white bread (sandwich bread or chahhah/brioche) 2 cups milk (low fat is ok) 3 tbsp bourbon 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg 1/4 cup raisins or pecans
Jordan cut down a bit on the bourbon and she chose pecans over the raisins. We both agreed that more bourbon and raisins would have been the better choice. Still, the bread pudding came out very well. As you can see.
Jordan had never made or consumed bread pudding before, and she was worried it wouldn’t taste like real bread pudding. But I’ve had authentic bread pudding a billion times. This was a worthy effort, with the same moist, delicious consistency discerning Texans would expect.
On Saturday Jordan decided we would have some banana muffins for dinner. She used her own custom recipe, and the coup de grace would have to be the sweet oatmeal crumblies on top. Oh man, were they good. Stay tuned for the macro close-up of the crumblies.
You can’t see in this second group of photos, but I enjoyed both desserts with healthy portions of No-Sugar-Added Blue Bell Country Vanilla. Yeah, it’s low fat, but it has become the best ice cream in my country.
Me as a very young newborn. 
