For his many admirers, more pictures of Samuel:

Sam Kind of Wonderful

(Yes, he is...)

Here are some more pictures of Samuel. He's a little yellow, but cute as can be!

"Sam-Hawk" (lovingly dedicated to Candice and Craig)

Dan's version of the events

Kristen has been too busy lately resting up and taking care of Sam, so I've decided that I'll give a quick summary of the events leading up to the birth of our baby boy.

Last Saturday we got up early and went to the temple in Washington, D.C., with Kristen's parents. We ate at Baja Fresh, which is basically a tradition for us when we go to the temple, then came home in the early afternoon. We had some ice cream back in Charlottesville, and went shopping for a while for some baby stuff. We ended up going to bed about 10:30pm. Everything seemed pretty normal.

At 12:15am I wake up, Kristen is not in bed, and the living room light is on. After a couple minutes, she comes in the room and says to me, "I think I'm having contractions." I say, "how far apart are they?" She says they're pretty quick, and has been busy setting up contractionmaster.com so we can keep track more easily.

We keep track of Kristen's contractions for an hour, and are surprised to see they are lasting close to a minute, and are coming quickly, between 2 and 4 minutes apart. I call the hospital at 1am and ask them what to do. They say to hang tight at home to see if they'll go away in an hour or two, and if not, to come to the hospital. For 2.5 hours, we keep track on contractionmaster.com, I rub Kristen's back, and we pack our bags for the hospital, since we weren't ready for this at all. At 3:30am we go to the hospital. Kristen's feeling uncomfortable. VERY uncomfortable.

At the hospital they tell Kristen she's dilated to a 4-5, so we can stay. They put us in a delivery room. Kristen is even more uncomfortable. She's demanding an epidural. The nurse is unsympathetic. My thumbs are sort of getting tired from 5 hours of back-rubbing. Around 6am they tell her she's dilated to 6.

Kristen gets an epidural. I almost pass out, but she's loving the relief. At 7:45 I decide I need to get some food in my system to make it through the delivery without keeling over, so I go to the cafeteria for breakfast. I come back to the delivery room at 8:15, and Kristen says, "a doctor came, and they told me that I'm dilated to 10 and stage 2." I don't know what stage 2 means, but I understand 10.

Kristen's body ends up doing most of the pushing work, until around 9:15 when about 6 doctors and nurses come in, and they tell Kristen she's got to start pushing for real. She pushes, but the baby's heart rate is dropping too low for the doctors' comfort, so they decide to use forceps to help him along. With the help of the forceps, and only after a couple more good sets of pushes, baby Durst emerges at 9:33am. He's all whitish-grey, slimy, and all head. He lets out a good cry until the doctors put him down on the warming table in the delivery room to clean him up and check him out. He shakes like he's doing the African Anteater Ritual, like in the movie Can't Buy Me Love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMA5KIgQ54E

Kristen is fixed up and baby Durst is measured in at 7 lbs 12 ounces. He's a real cute kid, with a head kind of like the people from Indiana Jones' Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I'll have to get more details later. Right now I need to stick him in the sun to get rid of a little jaundice.

Baby Durst is now officially Samuel Jorgen Durst. Here's a good picture of his awesome hairline.

MORE PICTURES OF BABY DURST'S FIRST DAY

WELCOME BABY DURST!!!

Baby Durst, who still doesn't have a name, was born this morning at 9:30. He's a real adorable kid, with lots of hair. I think that means his name should be Bear, but, since it's not my decision alone, it probably won't be. Mom and son are both doing great.

Well, he did it! After three years of classes, studying, and exams, Dan graduated from UVA Law! The week before graduation, Dan's parents came into town and wore Dan out. The first day, Dan took them up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and bowling. The second day, I took the day off and we went to Montpelier (President Madison's home).

This is my big 38-week belly.


We also went out to eat to celebrate at Sakura, a good tepanyaki restaurant in Charlottesville. Here are some funny pictures of people trying to catch the food in their mouths that they cook was throwing at them.




Saturday we went to Ash Lawn (President Monroe's home).

Sunday was the actual graduation day. First up was the lawn ceremony where every graduate from all of UVA walks down the historic lawn. It was raining so right after Dan walked down, his parents, my parents, and I decided to leave and snag good seats for the law school ceremony that had been moved to a gym due to the rain. It was so stinkin' hot in there!!



I am very proud of Dan and grateful for all of his hard work!

THE TABLES HAVE TURNED

Back in the day, I was obsessed with Saved by the Bell. And I mean OBSESSED! Forget cartoons, forget Sesame Street, forget The Elephant Show (although I did like the Elephant Show). If Saved by the Bell was on, I was right there in front of the TV, soaking it all in. And if I wasn't, I was crying because my mom was making me do something else. Like eat.


So the other day, Dan and I were over at my parents' house and hanging out watching Jeopardy with Mom while our laundry was going. During the commercial, I scanned the channels and saw that Saved by the Bell was on. (It was the episode where Kelly starts working at the Max and she thinks her boss is a hunk and ends up dropping Zack like it's hot.) So I turned it there for a few minutes to relieve us of such lame commercials as Head-On.


I turned it back in time for Jeopardy but Dan and my mom had a fit. "Turn it back to Saved by the Bell!! What happens? We must know!!"

Oh, how the tables have turned. Eventually Dan wiped away his tears just in time for Final Jeopardy.

Congratulations!

Yesterday Dan finished his last law school exam ever. Other than a paper, he's DONE! I'm so proud of him for all of his hard work over the last three years. He's the best! Time has really flown by. We're definitely going to miss Charlottesville when we leave in August.

And I'm sorry, but I just had to add these pictures. Dan is so cute!

B-day Celebrations

I had a great birthday! I went to work and during the day my boss took me out for a chocolate shake at Hoos Brews - SOOO good! In the evening, Dan took me to Red Robin to redeem my free gourmet burger. I got the Bacon Guacamole burger which was fantastic. And Dan got a burger and a chocolate shake which he shared with me. I know, I'm an addict. Then we went over to our friends' place to eat guess what? That's right, ice cream. And to celebrate the fact that Sarah and I were born on the exact same day. It was fabulous!

My favorite part of the day, however, was opening the presents that Dan got for me. In addition to some scrapbooking stickers and a really pretty necklace, Dan got me something that I LOVE! A coupon book - complete with illustrations. Some of my favorite coupons include one complete week of him doing all of the dishes, and one gallon of Moose Tracks Ice Cream. It's pretty much the best thing ever.

Here are some sweet pictures that Dan created in my coupon book:

I must preface this first one by saying that Dan thinks I don't like his back rubs...

And I would like to comment that my feet do not smell. Dan is just dramatic.

Either way, I love it! He's the best. And he's done with law school classes FOREVER! Very exciting. Here he is on his last day of school. I'm very proud of him for all of his hard work! (Don't mind our messy apartment...)

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is Kristen's birthday. She's telling me that she's over the hill. But to me, she's the best looking 34 year old around. Happy B-day, sweetheart! You're the bomb-dot-com.

Sorry for the lack in posts. We've been pretty busy! Our second birthing class was SOOOO much better than the first! The normal instructor was back and she was so practical and down-to-earth. A night and day difference. And FAR less into random acts of nudity. At least so far. We toured the labor and delivery section of the hospital and it looks pretty nice, so that's eased some fears as well. The only thing that concerns me is that there are only 10 rooms. Good thing out of the 7 girls in the class, I have the second earliest due date. I've got to stake out my territory. The third (and penultimate) class is tonight. I think we're supposed to learn more about delivery itself. That should be fun, right?

Saturday morning Dan and I went around for about 20 minutes while he took some maternity shots of me and my large belly. Here's one. I'm sure we'll put up some more soon.


Until our little bundle is born, if you would like to see pictures of one of the cutest new editions to the world, take a look at this guy - our newest nephew. He's now 8 days old.

Childbirth Class - Part 1

For those of you not interested in hearing about our first childbirth class, sorry. This post is not for you. For the rest, here's how it all went down.

We arrived at the hospital and went up to the room. There were 7 couples there (one left halfway through - perhaps they had the gift of foresight)... The instructor was a nice woman from Slovakia. We began by introducing ourselves and answering the question, "What do you hope to get out of this class?" which I thought was kind of pointless because I'm sure we all just want to know more about the birthing process. I mean, that's what the class is for! It's called "Preparing for Childbirth."

Anyway, so we do that, then she has this huge PowerPoint with all of this interesting and helpful looking information like how to get rid of back pain and good positions for taking stress off of your hips, etc. but then she cruises by all of the promising slides and stops on slides of miniature babies formed out of marzipan (which, until this point, I thought was just the female character in Homestar Runner. I've never had marzipan). Think I'm kidding? Take a look.


Then she keeps halfway telling us about things and then says, "But we'll talk about that later." Did we? No.

Right before our five-minute break, she shows us a video called "Michelle's Story" and promises us that it has a lot of relevance and we'll all be able to fully relate to the story of this woman. Who gives birth in Guatamala. In a hot tub. With her father videotaping. While she and her whole family are naked. And she sucks on the fingers of her newborn right after she pulls her out of the womb. What the heck! And let's not forget when her Dad zooms out of the birth and focuses on a pair of dragonflies mating.

So Dan and I passed a good 10 minutes awkwardly staring at the ground and being thoroughly
weirded out. Goodness!

The second half of class wasn't as bad. We talked about signs that accompany different stages of labor and she had a fake pelvis and baby doll that each of the men had to pass through the birth canal. As if they'll be doing that in real life, too. We ended class by dimming the lights and "relaxing" while she said such things as "Imagine your mind is a lake. Without any ripples. With cool, crystal clear water." At this point, I was thinking, "What kind of ice cream should I have when I get home?" And Dan was thinking, "Is there any way we can get our money back?"

Can I handle it?

Tonight Dan and I take the first of four classes entitled "Preparation for Childbirth" at the local hospital. Many of you who know me well might consider me a little prudish - I like to think of it as modest. How am I going to handle a childbirth video?? Yikes! I about died when watching a nature video in which it showed fish mating (gross! Thanks, Katy) so we'll see how this all goes down.

I'll just have to practice some of the breathing techniques that I'm sure they'll be teaching us as well.

In other news, I signed up for the Wilton Cake Decorating Class Part I at Michael's beginning May 6th if anyone is interested in signing up!

Yay for General Conference!

That's all I've got to say this week. That and buying things for a baby is stressful.

What I would sing

So after watching American Idol on Tuesday (yes, I watch American Idol), I was thinking about what I would sing if I had to pick a song from my birth year. I went online and found the too 100 songs of 1984 and man, let me tell you, 1984 was a rockin' year for music! Some of my favorite groups had big hits that year - The Cars, Huey Lewis & the News, Genesis (Well, I like Phil Collins. You know you do, too!) to name a few.

Anyway, after perusing the list, here are the top 4 that I would sing if given the chance and given the range that these singers have:

4. Let's Hear It for the Boy - Deniece Williams
A total feel-good song.

3. Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
I really like a lot of Pat Benatar's songs. They just cut to the soul. Major power ballads. I mean, have you seen 13 Going on 30?

2. Jump (For my Love) - the Pointer Sisters

and

1. I'm So Excited - the Pointer Sisters

So after looking at the top 100 list, I realized that I really like a lot of the Pointer Sisters songs, too. Can you blame me?

I also like that song because it's in the National Lampoon's Vacation with Chevy Chase. And you may also remember it from the episode of Saved by the Bell when Jessie Spano has a serious caffeine-pill-induced meltdown before she, Kelly, and Lisa are about to get a record deal.

Way to blow it for the team, Jessie!

So, if you had to sing a song from your birth year, what would you pick?

Happy Easter!

It's nice to be back from my business trip to New Orleans. I think that's going to be my last business trip for a LONG time! Dan and I have been enjoying the arrival of spring and the pretty blossoms that are popping up everywhere. Not much else is going on. Here are our Easter pictures. In a few minutes, it will be time for my Easter egg hunt by Dan. Then he'll have to come hide in the bedroom while I put eggs around the living room. We hope everyone has a great Easter Sunday!

For those of you who like the belly pictures, this is me at almost 30 weeks! (29 w, 5 days.)

HELP!

So Dan and I are trying to figure out all of this baby gear nonsense. We need your opinions and suggestions. What strollers do you recommend? Or which do you NOT recommend? There are way too many options and Dan thinks that most of them look like spaceships with all of their gadgets and gizmos aplenty.

Let us know your thoughts.

Our Trip to Costa Rica

After flying into San Jose, we went and stayed in a hotel near an active volcano, a lake, and some rain forests. During the day, you could see dust trails rising off the volcano from the falling rocks. At night, you could occasionally see rivulets of lava streaming down the volcano. And, a few times, it rumbled like crazy.

So we hung out at the pool a fair amount and watched all the different kind of birds that flew all around, especially lots of hummingbirds that liked the flowers next to the pool. In that same area, we went on a gondola ride up a mountain, where we got to go on a tour of the "transition forest" (the area between a rain forest and a cloud forest, elevation-wise), and I got to zip-line down the mountain. That's why I'm all geared up like a doofus.

Here's me going down a zip line. We were actually instructed to position ourselves like this, so don't blame me for the goofiness of the photo.

Then, after spending a couple days in that area, we drove to the pacific coast and stayed there for a couple days. We went to a couple really gorgeous beaches, and to another beach where the waves were good, but the riptide was too strong.

Next to this beach, we went on a hike and saw a few sloths, monkeys, coatis, and agoutis; these last two things are basically day-time raccoons and long-legged guinea pigs.
So, it was a lot of fun. Here's a video of our tour guide going down the zip line at our first destination. He took our camera down with him, to get a video of what it's like. It was more fun than it looks. When he looks down, it's probably 500 feet to the ground (this one got up to 200 meters off the ground).