At Last

For the past several weeks I've been using every bit of free time available to finish the project of building/remodeling my man cave. It began as a garage with some clutter in it, no drywall and insulation all around the bottom 2 ft of the walls, and an empty closet. A 10x10 storage shed, drywall, insulation, paint on walls/floor/doors, base boards, door frames, heating and air unit, new bar, furniture, and ALOT of decoration later the man cave was complete and cleaned up by about 5 pm Sat May 2nd (my self imposed deadline).
Some bar construction..

I've had to do much of this on my own, but several individuals played a key role in this journey. Gran came over whenever she could to watch Henry for us. Uncle Michael helped do some heavy lifting in the construction of the shed. Pa showed me several helpful things while he was in town. Grandpa Ed did all necessary electrical work and more. Ted (Grace Community) roughed in and installed plumbing (all works great) for a toilet and sink in the bathroom, and a utility sink in the bar area for a very low cost. Bill Heath spent about a weeks total time with me installing the mini-split heating and air unit, the results of his work were excellent! Dan used plenty of time and patience with me in locating/cropping/printing/cutting images I wanted to use for decoration (there were alot of them). David Floyd helped measure and throw up a few pieces of drywall. Ryan donated his Ping Pong table. Jeremiah Hix (wood worker by trade) gave me much needed guidance for building my bar.
Besides myself, the individual with the most skin in this game has surely been Uncle James. He has invested much time and effort in building the storage shed, some drywall, 2nd coat of paint, helping unload anything heavy I brought home, hanging shelves, building/staining the bar, pouring the bar top, moving in furniture, hanging posters, reassembling the ping pong table, and cleaning up. He was particularly clutch during the 48 hours prior to deadline.
Henry likes our new man cave

I will make an effort to blog more now that I can breathe again. We were also at Uncle Mike and Aunt Erin's house recently for some birthday celebration. Erin is really excited about holding (and changing) Henry

 since her boys are like full grown men now

    

Super Helium

Any time I'm not with Henry I've been in the garage working on the completion of my man cave. It has been a big project, and it it finally nearing completion, just in time for my self imposed May 2nd deadline. Sharon and Henry came out and helped me recently. Henry was in the Ergo baby carrier (front backpack) and his vibrating seat some. Sharon thoroughly cleaned one of the windows prior to painting, one of the last steps before moving in furniture and decor.
When Gran brought Griffin and Sam to visit Henry in the hospital, the boys had balloons for us, Star Wars and Captain America. Griffin explained "We had to pay for them". Well, let me just say that Gran and the boys got their moneys worth. 3 weeks later here are the balloons at our house

  
finally starting to lose some form but still floating with confidence.
Last Saturday Uncle James and Aunt Chelsea came over to watch boxing. Henry enjoyed the fights

but he eventually had to go eat.
Other than that, Henry got to meet several of my friends at Ryan's birthday. And he still hangs out with his mom alot.

^He's not as excited about playing on the floor.

"A Chubster"

Breast feeding has continued to be very painful for Sharon. We're optimistic and hopeful that the help we're getting (insert medical info about toungue/lip ties) will make the process much more tolerable, but if not there's always bottle feeding. Sharon has become more vocal about her discomfort. I was holding Henry as she explained "...it would be like me jamming an ice pick into my..." I carried Henry into the next room cause I didn't think he needed to hear that.
Despite the pain Henry is getting plenty to eat (his mom is a soldier!) He's gained a pound since last week and the lactation consultant said he drank 4 oz while feeding at their appointment. Sharon said he's gonna be quite the chubster. If he's like his 2 cousins, he will be.

Henry made his first trip to a restaurant when we met Pappy & KK at Famous Dave's. He didn't eat any ribs, but I think it's cause he slept the whole time.
Our Uncle Chris and Aunt Bev (Beverly) are in town visiting from OH. They stopped in for the afternoon and got to see their newest family member.

Henry enjoyed being held by them both, and was especially fond of Bev. I think he appreciated her sense of humor (understanding my dry sarcasm that is) as much as I do.

Jinks

GOINGS ON! *Stomp Stomp*

Henry is past 2 weeks and doing all kinds of fun activities. They mostly are sleeping, aggressively feeding, and dumping his pants. He enjoys other things too though, like watching Monday night Raw

 He is a big Randy Orton fan. I think his favorite tag team is the Prime Time Players, but he likes Cesaro and Kidd too. He has developed a signature move of his own, the Drop Kick. Since drop kicking Griffin during his exit at Easter, he has landed one on his Mom and Uncle James. He hasn't drop kicked me, which is smart cause I'd prob reverse it. Uncle James still wanted to hold Henry though...

 (I didn't just put Henry in his lap for this picture)

Baby Henry also slept on Aunt Chelsea for a while. The next day Henry saw WWE 2k15 and wanted to give it a shot. He developed quickly, dishing out moderate to critical damage in no time. He also told me that he would beast his cousin if Griffin ever came over to challenge him (I hope you read this Griffin).

I changed Henry towards the end of the night. As I was walking back to the couch, Uncle James got to witness the sheer volume (sound level) of the activity which takes place in Henry's diaper. Henry very loudly relieved himself as mine and James' eyes widened before laughing.
In related news, Henry and I both ripped one at the same time yesterday and it was kinda hilarious.  

I'm Batman

GOINGS ON! *Stomp Stomp*

Henry had his newborn pictures scheduled for 1 week after his birth. In preparation for this event Henry had his first bath. He seemed to enjoy it, pretty sure he slept through some of it.

Pictures went great. Henry slept right through the majority of it, which is what the photographer wanted. She had all kinds of outfits and props...

But the best by far was the Batman and Batmobile

And I of course brought a prop of my own...

I'm sure they'll turn out excellent.

Bricks Without Straw

GOINGS ON! *Stomp! Stomp!*

Sharon and I have been getting a decent amount of sleep for the most part. I'm not currently working so I can stay up with Henry when Sharon needs me to. I can not however, nurse Henry, because my milk still hasn't come in for some reason. Recently she's had alot of pain and soreness from feeding Henry, and a couple times Henry has wanted to eat when Sharon was out of milk. Nursing without milk is like making bricks without straw (referenced in the spirit of Easter weekend). We've started pumping and bottle feeding on occasion and it has been very helpful for Sharon.

There are a couple reasons Henry is causing some pain. We've received professional counsel for them and have seen some improvement. 
6 days after delivery Sharon felt up to bringing Henry to Uncle Michael and Aunt Erin's house for Easter Sunday. Gran, Pa, Uncle James, Aunt Chelsea, Grandma, Grandpa, and Dave and Eve were also there. Henry got there after the Easter egg hunt.

Henry drop kicked Griffin on his way out; Griffin was impressed. Henry's oldest cousin also found the 20 dollar golden egg (courtesy of Pa)! We headed home and some bad guys were trying to get Henry, but Abbie was on watch.

Pa's in town.

GOINGS ON! *Stomp Stomp*
For Easter weekend Pa (my Dad) is off work Fri-Sun. He left Missouri Fri morning after their meeting and arrived in Goodlettsville around 3:30. After he and Gran had lunch they came by so Pa could meet his newest grandson for the first time; Grandma had been visiting for a bit when they arrived.
Pa was more than a little excited to see Henry

He did have to contend with Gran to hold him, cause she's always excited to see him. Henry was wearing his Batman outfit,  his voice was deeper when we put it on.
That evening I was changing Henry's diaper while Sharon was in the bathroom. It was business as usual; I took off the dirty, wiped him clean, prepared the Vaseline pad, and was going to place the pad when a solid stream of whiz shot out from the pad's intended destination. I was like "oh!" and pulled my hand back, only to observe that Henry was now peeing all over the changing station so I stuck my hand back out to block the stream with the gauze pad.
I brushed it off, collected myself and said "Oh well, that happens", made another vaseline pad, put it on Henry and was going for the new diaper. That's when I heard *insert sound of Henry sheeting everywhere!* My eyes grew wide and I said "Oh no!" followed by a short burst of laughing to the verge of tears. I took some deep breaths and Sharon came in. I told her about the adventure and we were able to contain the situation. 

Guard Dog

GOINGS ON! *Stomp Stomp*
Wed was Henry's first appointment with the pediatrician. We had gotten ample sleep the night before, and I loaded Henry's manly diaper bag with contents according to Sharon's instruction. He had only lost 1 oz of birth weight, and he checked out perfect in every category. Henry does well with his car seat, and it's super easy to load and unload.

Abbie (our dog) has turned the corner from being stand offish to being concerned for Henry's every movement and sound.

Abbie is somewhat socially awkward (possible understatement) around children, so it's funny to see her so attached.

 Henry seems very aware. He has his eyes open fairly often, and he even lifted his head very briefly to look at Sharon. He loves skin to skin with Sharon and I. His arms and legs are very active. I'm starting to feel like we're for sure gonna keep him. It's so funny how much mine and Sharon's conversations are about bowel movements these days, a dramatic story about Henry's will follow...

Voices

GOINGS ON! *Stomp Stomp*
Henry was a good baby his first night. We decided not to put him in the nursery overnight and instead kept him in our room. I took a 2 hour shift with Henry so Sharon could sleep, and I slept a couple hours after Henry nursed.
While I held Henry from 3:30-5:30 am I wanted to soothe Henry and connect with him, so I gently sang "Voices", Randy Orton's theme/intro song, to him. I think he really enjoyed it. After getting some breakfast from the cafeteria visitors trickled in throughout the day.
Sarah Foster and Mimi visited, Mimi happened to stop in when the photographer was there so she participated in a couple pictures.

Uncle James met his new nephew and was coerced into holding him.

 Gran stopped in with Griffin and Sam.

And Griffin was a big boy, holding his baby cousin for a picture.

Pappy and KK came by with the Lambs children (though Ellie is nearly as tall as me now) and Branch. They got to see Henry after he was done with his circumcision, and he wasn't fussy at all. Sharon and I busted out of the hospital around 6:30 and brought our baby home for the first time.

Grandma (Lydia) had cooked a big dinner for us and was able to spend some time with her first grandchild.  Uncle James and Aunt Chelsea also came over

and that night I was finally able to finish Wrestlemania 31 while Sharon got some sleep and Chelsea held Henry. 

There are more pictures on Sharon's camera that we'll try to upload for everyone.

Wrestlemania 31

On Sunday 3-29-15 the WWE's Super Bowl had finally arrived. I finished painting the bathroom in my man cave (under construction) and Sharon trimmed the bushes out front (not like she's past her due date or anything). James, Chelsea, Mom, Michael, Erin, Griffin and Sam were coming over to watch Wrestlemania that evening. Around 5 oclock Sharon said she might go into labor tonight because she'd had a few stronger contractions. I said just let me know if we needed to cancel or cut short our plans for the evening. James and my mom were there earlier and Sharon was taking a warm bath around that time. Once Michael, Erin and the boys arrived Sharon came out and ate some pizza, her contractions were definitely not going away but rather picking up the pace and intensity a bit.
My mom went home around 9, and about an hour later, after John Cena (Sam's favorite) defeated Rusev for the US Championship, I thought it best to tell Michael and James we should call it an early evening so Sharon could get as comfortable as possible and we could start getting our game faces on. Griffin was very understanding despite his level of excitement (even greater than mine) and anticipation for the main event with his favorite WWE Superstar Roman Reigns. I gave Michael my WWE Network login so they could at least watch it later.
Sharon's best friend Amanda came over around 10:30 and I was able to sleep a couple hours until Sharon woke me up around 1 am to tell me our Doula (profesional child birth helper) was on her way to our house. After another hour or so of laboring at home we headed to Vanderbilt because Sharon's contractions were becoming more and more "grunty". We arrived at the ER, Sharon was being checked for how far along she was when Angie (my mom's lifelong best friend, and former/current VIP/Boss/HOF Midwife) walked in our room. It was insane how revered and respected Angie still is at Vanderbilt Hospital even though she currently resides in Seattle.
Over the next 13 hours Sharon labored naturally, only using medical assistance in the form of nitrous, and spending time in a warm bath twice over the course of the day. I videotaped several times over the course of the day. The whole thing was an incredible experience. Our support staff was phenomenal, our moms (now Gran and Grandma) kept us fed throughout the day.  The last 3+ hours Sharon pushed, very strong and patient, fighting through exhaustion.

Henry was delivered at 3:30 pm on 3-30-15, at 7 lbs 10 oz. It's hard to explain how proud I was of Sharon, she worked so hard and it was such a reward to see her receive our baby on her chest. I wasn't too surprised with myself when I was overcome with emotion at the sight of him. I shed some tears, but kept the hardcore crying in check so as to avoid breaking down in a room full of women who I had been laid back and sarcastic with all day. 
After an hour of highly painful post-delivery maintenance. We brought in Grandma and Grandpa (Sharon's parents) and Gran (my mom) to see Charles Henry Begley. They were predictably excited and proud, and all said how beautiful baby Henry was. Pa (my Dad) called to tell how happy he was for us, he said how when he had us it was so neat to know "you always have somebody on your side".
That evening Uncle Michael, Aunt Erin, and Griffin and Sam came to visit. Griffin first said Henry sounded like a duck, but then warmed up to him and waved at Henry a bunch of times. Sam was a little intimidated (not by Sharon's potty though, Lol) and was content to keep a little distance between himself and the baby. I of course had my WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt with me so Griffin and Sam were excited about that. Sharon and I each got 2 solid hours of sleep that night/morning.