The Prelude

We could tell you were going to be quite the little gentleman even before you were born, because you came at such an opportune time!

You were scheduled to arrive on November 24, 2010, the day before Thanksgiving. Thankfully, you did not come on your due date, as Seattle got hit with a tremendous snowstorm on Monday 11/22. We were actually on our way from the hospital (where we were doing a checkup with the doctors) to downtown Seattle (to pick up your Aunt Anneliese who had arrived from St. Louis) when the snow really started coming down. It took us 2 hours to drive the mile or so to our apartment! Luckily, the roads were cleared up by the end of the week, but it would have been quite a mess if we’d had to try to get to the hospital during that snowstorm period.

You were even courteous enough to allow us to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal. For the record, we cooked up a 13.9 pound turkey (which ended up being only slightly bigger than you), some pretty basic stuffing, cranberry sauce, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and leek mashed potatoes, and 2 pumpkin pies. Also, green bean casserole, which while excellently delicious and something I look forward to feeding you on a daily basis, may not necessarily qualify as cooking (although you do use the oven for it!). Daddy also had some red wine in an effort to max out his tryptophan intake, although not so much red wine that he couldn’t in good faith tell Mommy that he might theoretically be able to drive her to the hospital. In addition to Mom and Aunt Anneliese, your grandma Jane was also part of our Thanksgiving feast, as she came in from Kansas City on Tuesday 11/23.

After a slight false alarm early Sunday morning, a little after 4am, you even let me enjoy some Sunday football (for the record, your Daddy is a fantasy savant, a talent I expect you’ve inherited; remember, son, part of being a champion is talking lots of trash, even when you’ve lost). Sunday evening, we went out for dinner with your mom's cousins Jenny and Betsy, and of course Anneliese and Jane Sr., where your mom got in a good Neapolitan style pizza for her last meal.

The contractions started that night around 8:30pm, and by 11pm we were at the hospital, and that’s when the fun began.