Happy 1 month Birthday!

Wow its amazing how fast a month goes by!

Sean is growing like a weed, we think he is between 9.5 and 10 lbs already, but will find out exactly on Friday at his one month pediatricians appointment.

We have enjoyed all of the visits from all of our various family members, and we are planning our first flight down to Charlotte, NC for Thanksgiving, and long car ride to Bloomsburg, PA for Christmas to spend both with family.

Lets see... milestones.
*Sean has been able to lift his head on his own since he was only a couple days old, and he has gotten much more adept at it ever since.
*Sean has graduated from sponge baths to a baby bath tub, and he loves sitting in the warm water.
*Sean actually has a bedtime routine, which is such a relief for Brian and I.
*Sean has outgrown his newborn size clothes, and is now permanently in 0-3month size.
*Sean has outgrown newborn diapers, and is now firmly in size 1.
*Sean is able to recognize Mom and Dads voices, and follow us across the room with his eyes.

We are completely in love with him, and can't believe how quickly he is growing up, the time goes by far too fast. In the mean time, here are some of our favorite pictures from the month.

Happy 1 Week Birthday Sean

The baby ticker is down.
The hospital has billed the insurance.
I have changed diapers.
I know the true meaning of sleep deprived.

This can only mean 1 thing...

Last Sunday at 3:57 pm, Sean was born. He surprised us by deciding he wanted out a week early. He was 7 lbs 15 oz at birth and 19 inches long. Helene had a relatively quick labor and is an amazing and very proud mommy and I, well I am just beaming with pride. Over the last week the three of us have gotten to know each other better, we are settling into a nice schedule, and getting more and more sleep and rest.

Thank you to everyone for your love and support. I present, Sean Patrick McLaughlin...

Maternity Pictures

Belly Side Shot
Originally uploaded by bjmclaughlin

There are some new pictures of Helene up on Flickr. There has been some demand for maternity pictures so Helene and I are working on getting some pictures. We took these today outside and we are going to do some studio shots later this week. Click through to my Flickr site to see all 4 that I have posted.

A Small Update (On our not so small son)

We had two appointments today, the OB and the special case OB with an ultrasound. No new pictures as he wasn't in the best position to get a 3D picture but they got all of the measurements they needed. Sean is measuring at 35 weeks but is only 33 weeks in, which means he is a big boy. He is estimated to be around 5 lbs and is the picture of health. One of the more amazing things at this stage is being able to see all 4 chambers of the heart on the ultrasound. Really just incredible. He is head down in what the ultrasound tech called the "launch position" and kicking Helene with some real strength.

All is well and we are counting down the days.

A Little Heartbeat

I know, it has been a while since I posted. Many things kind of happened at once after we were in the hospital. Baby stuff started happening faster, a trip to Charlotte, basement was still flooding, had basement waterproofing done (which consisted of them jacking hammering the whole of the perimeter of our foundation and putting in a new drain system), etc...

Finally starting to see the light. The nursery is coming together (big thanks to Helene's family for the phenomenal paint job) and I will get pictures of that up soon. The drywall and framing that had to be pulled apart for the waterproofing job is getting fixed right now. New carpet for the basement should go in sometime in the next 2 weeks. Once we get there, we will rapidly get back to starting to feel like we have a normal life, which, within about 8 weeks, will include our brand new son.

Speaking of Sean. Wanted to post his latest ultrasound picture and a clip of his heartbeat. Both in the embedded YouTube video below. Enjoy!

Thats No Moon...It's A Kidney Stone

For anyone who hasn't heard, it has been an interesting week for Helene and I. Helene was admitted to the hospital on Monday night with bad back pains and some other nastiness. The good news..the baby is fine. The bad news...Helene has a 2 centimeter kidney stone and they don't want to remove it till after the baby is here. Any procedures to take it out are risky for the baby. So that leaves Helene on percocet for the rest of the pregnancy. This also means no driving, for some reason they don't really like people driving on narcotics, and work is an unknown. She is, at least, not on bed rest.

Thanks to everyone who has given us love and support over the last week. Oh, one other thing you may not have heard...

The baby's name is Sean Patrick McLaughlin.

Too Bloody Hot...

This is just not right for early June. It is currently 104 dgF at the weather reporting station closest to our house, heat index of 119 dgF....

Don't believe me, see the screen snap from Weather Underground...

The People Have Spoken

Well, the votes have been tallied, the sonogram has occurred and apparently our little one likes to go with the popular vote. It's a boy!

Everything went very well today. Both Helene and the baby are healthy. They checked all of the vital organs, counted 10 fingers and 10 toes, and the baby measured right where it should be for timing, 20 weeks, 3 days. We are extremely excited. His name is classified and under tight wraps until he is born. Enjoy the pictures below!

The Great Backyard Upgrade: Stage 4 Complete

So the inevitable stage 4 has followed the completion of the patio. Rapidly after the patio actually. The grill is up and has been broken in with a cheeseburger dinner and a beer. Well, I had a beer, Helene had water. I enjoyed it for both of us. I am really happy with the picture of the beer on the grill that is here and I have posted that to my flickr account. I realized when I did that and was looking at pictures of Germany and Austria that I really need to get out shooting again. Hope to have some more photography up soon. Enjoy the pictures and if you come by the house, you can enjoy a cheeseburger yourself!

The Great Backyard Upgrade: Stage 3 Complete

Hello there loyal readers. After some delays due to various schedule and rain issues, stage three has been completed in the backyard. We are getting closer to completion of the backyard and hope to be completely done by the end of next weekend. That will depend on if I can go with sod or not.

Stage 3 was the installation of the new patio. The back is now more patio than soil/clay/grass, but that is exactly what we were looking for. A little green and a lot of usable area that we don't have to mow :-) These guys did a great job and I can practically taste the burgers already.

The Great Backyard Upgrade: Stage 2 Complete

Stage 2 of the work was completed today. Took almost all day, but we are very pleased with the results. When all of this is done the backyard will really be an extension of our living space when the weather is nice. It is also nice to be able to step out the door and not feel like you are just going to fall. Including a before picture as a reminder and a picture of the lovely Helene.

The Great Backyard Upgrade: Stage 1 Complete

So, the first stage was completed this morning. We have a brand new fence in now. Honestly, this is a project I could have done myself with some help, but it would have been a few days, at the least, probably a couple weekends in reality. However, as I have a number of other household jobs I am going to be doing in the coming months to prepare for Us v2.0, the backyard is being contracted out. Oh please note the lack of rope holding up any of the fence.

Enjoy the pictures of the new fence. New pictures should be up by tomorrow night with the new deck (more like a nice landing just off the door) and new steps going in tomorrow.

Oh, and if you missed it, check out the post below with the before pictures.

The Great Backyard Upgrade

Hi Everyone!

Our backyard is undergoing a major renovation. What follows will be a series of posts documenting the changes. Let us start with the baseline. The backyard as it currently exists. Well, as it existed at 8:00 this morning.

Please note the gate that has practically fallen off its hinges. Ok, I will be honest here, as I opened it for the last time yesterday, it actually did fall off its hinges. Also, you will notice that there is a section actually being held up with rope. Boy Scout skills to the rescue!


















Look for the next post (ok, posting it immediately after this one) with stage 1 completed, the new fence.

A Little Starstruck

I must admit, I am a little starstruck. For those of you who are fans of Toad The Wet Sprocket (well, lets face it, even if you aren't a devote follower, you have enjoyed at least some of their music) and are familiar with their frontman, Glen Phillips, you will know that he is a great musician/songwriter. Well I had the pleasure of meeting him personally last week. Even helped give him a tour of Goddard. He is a really nice guy and I must say I was really impressed with his knolwedge of space and engineering. He held a concert at the Goddard cafeteria and it was great seeing a room of engineers rocking out. I highly recommend his latest solo album! (you can sample it on his website and buy it there).

Picture is of me with Glen in front of a model of JWST, credit is Glen Phillips and from his website. He has a post up on his blog about the visit (and mentions me by name :-))!

Baby Update

So we had another ultrasound today. Always great to get another chance to see the baby and hear that wonderful little heartbeat. The baby is very healthy. The scan today was to check a risk factor for a number of potential developmental defects and the baby did wonderfully and we are in the low risk group.

The baby was also active and showing off for us, bouncing and jumping around in there. We have also scheduled our next ultrasound for May 28, which is now the close date for the gender poll. Get your votes in!

The picture from today isn't as clear as some of them have been as we are now using the standard ultrasound so we are on the lower resolution end right now, but in 7 weeks the baby should be getting pretty big!

BIG Announcement

Well, we have some BIG news. I think most people that read this blog know this now as we have been getting the word out but just in case we missed you (sorry if we did)...

We Are Having A Baby!

We have been working on this for some time now and we couldn't be more excited. Our due date is October 12.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support and care!

Of course, now this blog will take on a bit of a new life! First up is of course the picture here. First baby picture post! This is our little one at 8 weeks. We could clearly see the spine (although you can't see it here) and even saw the baby move! The heartbeat was very strong.

Also, if you look on the bar on the right --->
you will see a survey, first of many, to take a guess at the baby's gender. We are going to find out and announce once we know. I will close the poll just before we put up the announcement!

Definitely exciting times!

I Can't Allow That To Happen Dave

Rest In Peace Sir Arthur C Clarke (1917-2008)

Personal Beliefs Do Not Change Scientific Fact

This kind of thing drives me completely insane.

Oklahoma: One Step From Doom

The Lost Viewing Center

Oh yes, dear readers, another post. This is a celebratory post. We just upgraded our home to HDTV. I just felt the need to share. No words...no words can describe...should have sent a poet....

(Bonus points to anyone other than Helene that gets that...)

Old School Gaming Tunes

I know what you're thinking...2 days in a row, is he serious...what can I say, maybe I am a little update happy...

I don't know how many people that check this blog knew me in high school and college when I used to be a singer, but I was in a couple of the choral groups at Charlotte Catholic and at NC State, so I have an affinity for college singing groups. Like any good geek, I also love me some old school video gaming. What happens when these worlds collide?

Muppet Fun

You know, when I think back on the Muppets, I think of the lovable mop/puppet characters. As an adult (I do find it difficult to call myself that), I am getting a better appreciation for the guests they had on that show. Expect to see a few more gems like this on here. This is Johnny Cash performing Ghost Riders In The Sky, which is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Totally a Brian Entry

So, I dumped Comcast as soon as I could when the Verizon Fiber service became available here at the house. Really had lots of frustrations with them. They have, however, done something wonderful. In keeping in line with some other services, however, they have provided some free TV content with a little advertising thrown in. Not just new shows either, there are some great old-school shows. For example the A-Team pilot, or the Airwolf pilot. The service is called Fancast, and I must say, I am enjoying...

Back on the Air

Hello everyone!

As part of the New Year, I am going to make a real effort at keeping the blog up again. It has been a long several months for Helene and I with ups and downs and for those of you out there that know about the downs and have kept us in your thoughts, thank you so much.

To get this kicked off, check out the Flickr site and see the blast of new images I posted today. Among the pictures are some pictures from our trip to the beach back in September, my trip to Germany in October (Salzburg and Nuremberg were really neat places), our holidays, and some other pictures.

Also, my darling Helene gave me an iPhone for Christmas, so there might be some on the fly posts complete with pictures.

Hope everyone is doing well!