4 years and a blessing

Thursday Dan and I celebrated our four-year anniversary. He studied all day but when he got home, we wanted to take a picnic up the Blue Ridge. We packed up Sam and away we went. First, we had to stop at the gas station. No problem, right? Well, Sam was SCREAMING in the backseat the entire time, the pumps were WAY backed up due to rush hour and low pump pressure, not to mention only 1/2 the pumps were open.

So after a 30 minute delay there, we went to get food through the drive-thru. That took 10 minutes. Sam was still screaming. We wanted to take 64 up to the BR Parkway but thanks to one lane being closed due to construction, we decided to just have a picnic on the Monticello Trail. Sam screamed the entire drive, but finally fell asleep while we ate dinner and Dan got attacked by bugs. Happy 4 years!!

Saturday we went to the temple. A big thanks to my parents for switching with us so that we could go while they watched Samuel.


Today Dan blessed Sam in church. Sam wore the same blessing outfit that my brother Ryan wore 28 years ago. He looked quite dapper. The blessing was beautiful and we're grateful for such a sweet little boy!

For some reason, unapparent to the rest of us, for the last year or so, Dan has been on the hunt for a shirt. Not just any shirt, the ultimate wolf shirt. He was very particular in his quest. It had to be a wolf shirt with one wolf standing on a ledge howling at a larger-than-life full moon with an image of a wolf's face on the other side of the shirt.



Since Dan had begun his quest, I also began the quest hoping that I could find one to give to him for his birthday this past December or for Christmas. Or really, if I ever came across one, I decided I was going to buy it simply because I was having such a hard time finding one anyway. Around his birthday, I scoured our local thrift stores hoping for something remotely close to his ideal. No luck.



A few weeks ago, we got a package from my brother who had recently driven from Connecticut down through Texas and had stopped in his old mission areas of Tennessee. Dan opened the package to find it. His dream shirt. I present to you THE WOLF SHIRT.



Dan loves it. And I'm sure Candice hates it. Thanks, Kirk and Gretchen! I think it's hilarious.

My New Favorite Picture of Sam

The Many Faces of Samuel Durst

More pictures of Sam from this week, including his first bath time and his favorite muscle man sleeping pose:

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!