1st Weekend

We brought Eliana home on Thursday afternoon after 24 hours in the hospital. The ride home was fun, as my car lead a family caravan from the hospital to the church. Becca's mom and and brother (with his wife and two kids in tow) joined us at the house for pizza, laughs and stories as we got Ellie used to her new digs. It was fun to have Chris and Marianne over as they were so kind and helpful to Becca and I. That night, we got our first taste of parenthood as we made shifts throughout the night to deal with the crying, diapers and whatnot. I must admit that I broke down at one point as she cried, looking at Becca with a face that said, 'I don't know what I'm doing'. Becca asked me point blankly to be strong for her and so I did by getting some rest and then taking over the morning duties.

The coolest thing ever was falling asleep on my couch at 6 AM till 7:30 AM with my daughter on my chest. She slept as I slept. It was a cool bonding experience. Throughout the day, I did whatever I could to help Becca as she got used to feeding every 3 hours, walking on swollen feet and other post-pregnancy stuff. So i was on cleaning/laundry/everything else duties. Becca's mom was with us too, so when we needed a nap to get ourselves all together figured out and rested, she stepped up for us!

My folks came up Friday night and cooked up a storm for us. It was cool to have two grandmothers (Nan and Gran) and one grandfather (affectionately known as Pop Pop) here to see their granddaughter, get to know her and to see us in action as parents. Even cooler was showing them we know what we're doing...sort of.

It's Sunday night, 11:33 PM and the house is empty besides the 3 of us. The ladies are sleeping while I'm waiting for the baby's clothes to be done in the dryer. The baby monitor is beside me in case I need to rush up to the rescue. But right now, the sounds of both of them sleeping is good enough for me.

Thanks God for another reason to know you're real, you love me and you love us.

Eliana

Wednesday March 25th at 12:36 AM , Becca's water broke.

This led us to 12 hours of intense labour, teamwork, tears and prayer. She was a trooper, Becca was. For 6 hours she went through pain i wouldn't wish on my enemies, only complaining at the end that it was too much for her. The baby was in a different position than we would have wanted, making it harder on her mom but mommy was tougher than nails.

The original doctor never really came to see us so that was hard on us, especially when the pain got too tough but Becca held on through the entire time. She was tougher than me (I had to leave the room to compose myself, admittedly) and tougher than most.

When she finally got her drugs, she made sure to sleep as much as she could to prepare for the pushing. By the time we awoke, we had a new doctor who was much nicer and who gave us great attention. When Becca had to push, she was great...the nurse cried out 'She has black hair...keep on pushing!!'

Wednesday March 25th at 12:36 PM, Eliana Dorothy Chase was born. She cried out once and then laughed as if to say 'hee hee...here I am, world and I'm naked!' She stared around with intense blue eyes at everything, hold on to my finger the whole time. It was and is something I will never forget. She is tiny but strong, loud and quiet, funny and serious, needy and independent...and she's mine.

And I wouldn't have her any other way.

Sundays

Each Sunday is similar to the last.

I try to sleep in as long as I can before throwing on some clothes and jumping out the door (Though always making sure I look fresh). I speed down the 401, passing three Starbucks' on the way due to my lateness and make it just in time for our pastor's meeting.

Then I sit in my office, walk around, catch a worship tune or three, work on some upcoming stuff, chat with my uths and then go home.

Our main day is pretty basic for me...sad. I wake up excited but not EXCITED like this is going to be an awesome day. It's much more pessimistic or 'let's see how this plays out' in terms of attitude and I don't know why. Maybe as I've gotten older, I've simply become more jaded at life (which doesn't bode well for the person who is going to take care of me in the old folks home soon) which isn't a great attitude to have so hopefully that changes drastically over time. Hopefully, I'll wake up expecting a miracle, a life change or even a cup of coffee on my way to the office, i mean church...

Tooth Ache

This morning I woke up to a splitting headache. Never a good feeling. I went to the washroom to get ready and couldn't concentrate because of my pain. The pain was also in my jaw. It literally felt as if I was punched in the face. Now my wife isn't the sucker punch type (she'd rather punch me while I was looking) so I knew it wasn't from her. I remember while standing in front of the mirror that I had busted my tooth last week and now my body was hurting me to let me know this broken tooth had to go! Weird how the body communicates its needs. It's never done pleasantly.
I tried putting oral gel on my tooth but that didn't help at all. I took two Tylenol and felt better but tired. Drove in to work high and had to put ice on my face to comfort myself! The staff got me to call a dentist and now I'll probably have to get this tooth out to take the pain away.
I hate nagging things but I'm lazy. Last Monday when it broke, i should have called my...a dentist but i didn't. It would have been better but to pick up the phone would have 'taken forever'. God speaks to me about things I should change and I do the same thing all the time. I wait till 'crisis moment', then bring it to God as if I just heard about it, trying to pull a fast one on him:)
He's not dumb so that's frustrating.
I'm a lazy bum. I need to change that...tomorrow...after the dentist...
...maybe tomorrow...

Mass Communication

Blogs.
Facebook.
MSN.
Twitter.
Txt message.

Remember ICQ?? With the funky sound effects?

Good times!

Ben

Last night, Becca and I went out to celebrate the birthday of our good friend Rachel (So good a friend she is, she didn't get offended when we were the ONLY people who didn't get her a gift...we suck) when Ben, her husband and my friend reminded me of how long it's been since I last blogged. We had a good laugh about it and I promised to write something of insight and value when I got home.

I didn't.

But that's because I was calling my students so I couldn't get to the computer.

I went to bed drugged on Neo Citrin (spelling anyone?) thinking about why I don't blog as frequently as I should and I came up with a few reasons.

1) Sometimes life isn't as interesting as I'd hope so there's nothing to report.

2) Once you miss a day it's easy to miss the next one...kinda like spiritual disciplines (by no means, however am I comparing prayer to blogging...)

3) I forget

4) I spent too much time reading '25 Things' on Facebook

Those are just some of my reasons...but none good enough. I think I need an alarm to remind me:)

This weekend, I hosted our 4th youth retreat. I say 4th because it's the 4th one I've ever done. It was really impactful. It was bittersweet because it was the first time Becca and I weren't together for it. We both cried when I left home on the Friday. The kids were great though and seeing them experience God genuinely was a thrill. Memories are made on these types of things and I trust that it continues forward for us.

That's about it, blog world.

Thanks Ben for the reminder. Let's do some music recording soon!