Gabriel Paul Madison

Gabriel was born at 11:22 PM on March 3, 2009 (a square root day, as it was affectionately called). He weighs 8 lbs. 5 oz. and is 20" long. Mom is doing beautifully, and was (once again) a champ through delivery. The nurses kicked visitors out around 11:10 and Gabriel was born a mere 12 minutes later. Quick indeed.

Pictures to follow...

Things are a-happenin!

Just to let everyone know that Michelle is in labor and she is currently dilated to a 6. she is progressing nicely. Our nurse, Stacy has told us that new baby has a little bit of hair. We were coincidentally at the hospital today for a post-date NST (stress test for the baby), and Michelle just happened to start contracting and go into labor while the baby was hooked up to the fetal heart monitor. Conveniently Dr. Sarah told us we could stay put. (No chicken tacos for us for dinner tonight!).

I will keep this updated along with Facebook, so please keep checking!

Big "Bah" Theory

Big Bang Theory is one of our favorite shows (it airs on Mondays at 7:00 on CBS), and so we thought we would check it out tonight(it was a rerun, bummer -- yes, I know I can set my DVR to record first run only, but I like it this way). Anyway, we push play on the show and for those that don't know, the theme music is rather catchy. Gillian apparently thought so too.....the evidence:

Time is drawing near

We went to the 37 week appointment on Monday morning of this week, and at this point the baby is considered term. Everything still looks and seems to be normal, the only difference is that if Michelle were to go into labor now, Dr. Sarah wouldn't stop it from happening. eek. I'm not sure if it's defiance or me being stubborn, but I've been a little more lax about this baby. That's not to say that I am less excited, but definitely not as tense with everything as I was with Gillian. It's hard for me to speak for Michelle, but for the most part, she has been about the same with her approach--which is to say she is prepared for everything. Of course (here's a news flash) - she's the one carrying the baby, so it's pretty expected that she is infinitely more ready mentally than I.

Some Gillian updates: her new favorite thing is taking her baby dolls for a walk. She saunters around the living room with them and then gives us a firm and persistent (she won't stop saying it until we reciprocate) "bye-bye", then heads off for a trip around the island in the kitchen. Seconds later she's back to do it all over again. Rinse and repeat. Last night we also witnessed her playing Mommy to her babies as she was preparing them to eat by putting bibs on them. She also was seen sharing her beloved blankie with Laurie (her cabbage patch kid). I think one of my favorite things she is doing now is when she "talks" to her baby; the tone of her voice, the inflection, and her conversational skills are all hysterical. We can't make out of a word of what she is saying, but we're pretty sure her babies all speak baby-ese, so as long as they understand her, we have nothing to worry about :)

Gillian and Mommy in mid-January

Gillian and Daddy having a little fun with the mixers from butter pound cake

6 weeks to go

Since we all know it's been 2 months since I posted, no need to reiterate it here. I'll just move forward and pretend that it hasn't been that long :)

So.....Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. We hope you all had a blessed holiday season. Ours was great. We were able to visit with a lot of people and spend time with family and friends.

There is only 6 weeks separating today and Michelle's due date. This week Gillian marked her 18-month birthday. She talks more every day and repeating what we say. It's remarkable when she repeats what she thinks is the right word, when it's not at all close :) One of her favorite things to do is to "kiss the baby". She walks over to Michelle, lifts Michelle's shirt so she can kiss her bare belly and smooches away. She also loves to blow kisses, and does so especially when we say I love you.

Here's a video of Gillian at the dinner table one night a week or so ago when she would repeat what we said. Notice the similarities in several of the words.....

Susan Shaughnessy 1978-2008

It is with a very heavy heart that I post today.

Our very dear friend, Susan Shaughnessy, passed from this life on November 17, 2008. She died peacefully in her sleep surrounded by family and friends on Monday evening.

Funeral arrangements are currently being decided upon. Services will most likely be held at the end of this week in St. Louis, and we have been told that a memorial mass will be offered for Susan in Washington D.C. sometime in December.

Susan's family wishes to extend their thanks for all thoughts and prayers that have come their way in this time of need. Your outpouring of support and love is greatly appreciated.

We have a few photos from our wedding that we will be putting together tonight sometime, and hopefully we will have it up on our site tomorrow. Check back again later.

If anyone is ready for life eternal, it is Susan. God is getting quite the angel.

You will be missed, Susan.

Exciting news

As some of you know and for those of you that do not know yet, we are pleased to announce that we are expecting our 2nd child on March 2, 2009. Sorry for the delay, it's amazing how much attention Gillian takes away from informing people of important developments like this (yeah, that's right, I'm blaming it on an innocent little girl). We will post sonogram pictures just as soon as we can (hopefully tonight). But....no promises since it took us 4 months to post that Michelle is pregnant :)

Halloween Costume

No one saw this coming did they? Gillian was a dog for Halloween. Her very first trick-or-treating experience is captured on film below....Shaun and (Dr.) Lisa (note the shirt...) were first on our list. We also visited Jason and Sara, Margie and Dan, and Megan.

Pre-game photo opportunity with Mommy.
All fired up for candy!!!

Mom? Dad? Are you SURE this is gonna work?You tell me, who's more excited?

Pumpkin carving

In the happenings of last week, I fell a little behind in posting pictures, so here are some from our pumpkin carving endeavor. In the beginning Gillian didn't quite know what to think...then she decided she would help...
Uh, Gillian....why don't you pull the seeds out not put them back in.
Finally got it figured out but quite obviously Gillian thinks the inside of a pumpkin feels precisely the way that I do -- disgusting.

The latest on Susan

We received this email on Friday, so I apologize for the latency. Please continue to keep Susan in your prayers. The email...

Mr. and Mrs. Shaughnessy had a family meeting with two of Susan's doctors yesterday (a critical care doctor and a neurologist), who went over some more details about Susan's condition.

The doctors showed them the MRI and explained that there is extensive inflammation in the brain and the brain stem. The intravenous delivery of steroids will be discontinued after seven days, then steroids will be given in decreasing oral doses for two weeks.

Susan had another MRI late last night. The doctors did not see any increase in brain swelling. They did see some new areas of inflammation, but these could have appeared before the steroid treatment was initiated. She also started her second round of plasmaphoresis today and will receive her third round on Sunday.

Susan's brothers are now in town to visit.

One of Susan's doctors walked into her room and said she felt something special happening in the room, that she could feel God's presence and had gotten goosebumps when she walked in. The nurse accompanying her pointed out all the holy images friends have brought to keep in Susan's room. It turns out the doctor is Catholic and had offered her prayers for Susan today!

As you can tell by the email, all of the prayers and good vibes are making their way to Washington D.C. -- so keep it up!