I take it back!

After a working for a few hours today, I quickly came home to be with my two favorite people (my favorite mother-in-law, and my favorite dog...no funny jokes, those are two different people).

Josh was asleep in Shannon's arms. We got him to wake up and I started kissing him all over. At one point, I was kissing his belly and then looking at his face. I told him "I can't wait to be able to make you laugh and smile!" I quickly caught myself and took it back. I told him, "Josh, I CAN wait. I can wait because in the blink of an eye, you'll be 27 and holding your own son. I can wait. I'm just going to enjoy you right where you are and soak in every little bit about you. You'll be older before I'm want you to."

By the way, Joshua is 1 week old today.

First things first

Josh's dad, uncle and pops are all dorks. That's why Josh already has his first email address: joshua_dot_ott_at_gmail_dot_com; and his first websites: joshott.com and joshuaott.com. He probably won't check his email or do anything with his websites for at least a week, but at least he has them.

25 Pictures of Josh

Uncle Mark put this together...it's wonderful. Check it out here.

You'll need flash player to really enjoy it.

He's here!

Born into the world at 4:41a on Monday, December 19th, 2005...

A 1' 10" power forward, hailing from Amarillo, Texas; weighing in at 9 lbs. 6 oz...

JOSHUA NIKOLAUS OTT!













Mom and baby are doing GREAT. Dad's doing good, too. More details and pics to come...

Week no. 40

According to all best estimates, today is the day. Shannon's feeling it, too. The contractions are getting tougher. They're irregular at about 12 minutes apart. Bless her heart. It is hard to sit and watch her hurt. She's on the couch right now watching the Colts take a beating from the Chargers.

It's this kind of day out:



It was way foggy last night and then became very cold. This morning, the pretty fog from the night before became a frosty glaze over everything--the trees, the roads: everything.

Add that to our special bonus. Sometime yesterday afternoon, our heat went out. We haven't had central heat since that time. We've been running the heater in the bathroom. We've borrowed a radiator. We've kept a fire going during the waking hours and we just called the HVAC folks. We're staying warm but the nursery is COLD (45 degrees or so). We're praying for a quick fix. At least we have a home warranty.

Is this the day when the duet becomes a trio?

Just Kidding - Again!

Well, I ended up having contractions until about 1:00 a.m....well, we went to bed and I guess they stopped. We were watching last season's episodes of "LOST" and every 5 minutes I would write down on the paper the time and how long the contraction lasted...John would immediately pick up the piece of paper and read it. I told him he had to stop because it was stressing me out. He was just so excited and I continued to get more and more scared. We called the doctor at about 11:30p.m. and he said that it wasn't time yet...because they were not as hard as they should be - even though they were on schedule. So I took a long shower to cry it out and relax and then went to bed. The full moon didn't work....this little guy is coming when he wants to. Good news though - we went to the doctor the next day - Wednesday - and he said that I was almost starting to "open up". We go back on Monday to see if there has been any progression...he knows we want to have it next week before Christmas so inducing might be on the agenda! Meanwhile, both of our families being at least 10 hours away are in limbo waiting for the call...should they go ahead and come or should they wait? I have elders and friends from church calling and checking on me every day...we will have a lot of excited people when this little guy gets here! I have run out of things to organize and get ready so I guess I will be cleaning every day until he comes...at least he will come home to a clean house! Eddy has become very attached to me...he wants to be by my side and in my face constantly. Do you think he knows something?
By the way, we have a name for sure this time....hehe

Coincidence?

It's a full moon tonight. Shannon tells me that I shouldn't get my hopes up. I can't help it. I'm pumped.

Have we rounded the final turn??

Shannon has been having contractions every 10 minutes since 2:45p today. It is now 8:45. Stay tuned.

Week 38: You make the call

Rick says the baby is going to come on Thursday.























Keith says the baby is not allowed to come before Saturday.
















What drama! What tension!