We're home!!!

I am proud to e-announce the arrival of Adeline Emma into our lives. This was quite an adventure. One that I will need to forget somewhat by the time we consider our second child. Adeline didn't come easy. We avoided a c-section, but we had almost every other complication available. Before the little girl came out she decided (with no consult from mom or dad) that it would be good to wrap her umbilical cord around her neck and then head toward the birth canal sideways. I think if she had the chance to reconsider this choice, she would. She did ponder the options for quite some time, since she had about 26 hours after Sarah's water broke to think about it before she was born. As a result we utilized every tool imaginable to get the gorgeous little one into this world. Needless to say there were some red flags during delivery that caused Dela to stay the first few days of here life in the intensive care unit. After that she was given a clean bill of health. Bo and Cindy came early, since it was their first grandchild and their only princess, and got to see Adeline right after delivery. Look how proud the new grandparents are.

Grandma and grandpa Mulder came the next day and reveled in the amazing beauty that is Adeline. As you can see, Dela was well liked by all, and it didn't take long before she was rolling with peeps of her own. She does know, however, that peeps are peeps but there is nothing like family. Yesterday the whole family came home and dad proved that he could take a sleeping baby and put her in a 5 point harness car seat with out even waking her. Dad is quickly developing a new skill set.















Today is Friday and all the grandparents are gone... having filled themselves on grandparental love. Now it's just the immediate loons left and the papa loon is left taking care of his two girls. They are using up some well earned nap times.

The Weekend

Well here we are. Nearly a week late and no sign of Adeline yet. For having very punctual parents this girl is taking her sweet time!

To pass the time yesterday Joel and I picked up where we had left off in our quest for a new car worthy enough to replace the Trusty, Rusty Taurus. (I only say trusty because I don't want to hurt the old girl's feelings, she was liable to call it quits for good at any moment.)
We had been looking at several hybrid cars and had wanted to check out the Ford Escape Hybrid. The only problem with that was that they don't make a lot of them and on the off chance that they show up at dealerships they disappear quickly for prices well above MSRP. I don't know about you all but I kind of wanted to drive one before committing to buying one and waiting 6 months on a list for one to show up didn't exactly appeal to me.

So yesterday we did some calling around and found a dealership that happened to have a 2008 on the lot. The only catch was that it was used. Some Dude bought it about 2 months ago put 800 miles on it and decided he wanted something with a little more power so he traded it in a few days ago. His loss... long story short Joel and I now own a slightly used 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. It's a ton of fun to drive. When you pull to a stop you hear nothing. It sounds like you've stalled out. It's got more umph than we were expecting and certainly more than either car we owned before and you can't beat 34 mpg for an SUV.



So here are a few interesting points worth mentioning.

1. Somewhere along the line my Taurus dropped in value to $400 in the Kelly Blue Book. They gave us $500 for her because last Christmas my wonderful husband put a new stereo with a CD player in it for me. That means that a full 20% of my car's value was in the $99 sound system.

2. Why are American car companies shutting down factories and laying people off yet they have a highly advertised model SUV that they can't keep in stock? Can't they convert some of those plants to produce a car in high demand?

3. In all of our research we found a pretty cool website you should check out if your ADD has kicked in. Its www.fueleconomy.gov and you can go there and figure out the carbon footprint and actual fuel economy of any vehicle you are thinking about buying or may own already.



4. Joel is not a negotiator. I think he was a little scared that I was going to call someone a thief and walk away. (A trick that works great if you are ever trying to buy something in a market on Zanzibar) He negotiated keyless entry for us. I got us 10% off the asking price.

5. Some of you may remember the first Ford Escape that Joel and I drove. It was a rental on our honeymoon and we sunk it in a swamp in the middle of a crocadile reserve in Belize. The Pic below is from when
A. the vehicle was still upright and not filled with swamp water and
B. I still thought it was funny.





Needless to say we got over our deep seeded fear of the smallest of the Ford SUVs and welcome the newest member of the family with excitement and a little saddness for the loss of a close, blue, rusted out, friend. At least until the baby comes........



Sarah

OK so its been quite some time since the last blog. We've been a little busy. It's been nine months of get ready get ready, and now we're ready and all we have to do is wait. Today is the official due date. But there is still no sign of Dela. Sarah is still carrying around this belly. And as you can see, I put up the traditional block wooden letters to spell Dela's name. We're very happy how the nursery turned out. It's a warm cozy little place for our little one. I also have another picture of Dela around here somewhere... lemme see... its from an ultrasound about a month ago... here it is. Isn't she cute. Its hard to believe that in just a few days I'm going to be a dad. I guess I'm still in a little bit of denial. I still feel too young to be a dad, but we went to a birthday party a few nights back and there were a lot of parents there. Most of which were younger than me. In fact there was only one older than me. So maybe its time. I mean after all, I have put together a woodshop, a backyard fire pit, and now a nursery. I've developed a mountain's worth of patience (high school teacher), an off beat sense of humor and a taste for beer. I now have the ability to annoy my wife with out even trying, embarrass her with a single comment and make her laugh with just a look, which I can only imaging will transfer to the daughter. What more does a dad need? This is not a rhetorical question. You dad's out there... please comment. What more does a dad need? We'll keep you all posted for when the little one makes her appearance. Love to you all.

-Loons