Just love those visits!

Here it is - the end of another fabulous weekend (not that it's relevant to us.... builders and Realtors don't get weekends). We had a great time, I showed mountain property all day Saturday while George rode dirt bikes with Dane and Forrest. No doubt they had more fun than I did, but mine may be more productive.

I think we were supposed to go on a motorcycle ride this morning, but I didn't want to go because I had other plans for the afternoon. Once I got the laundry started and well underway, and the basic cleaning done, I got ready to go visit that beautiful baby!

Here are the pics, in no particular order, for your viewing pleasure!

Crystal and her new little princess, with Auntie Amanda looking on...

Here's the proud mama and her

I waited a long time for little miss sleepy head to wake up for pictures!

Auntie Amanda didn't want to wait, she'll take a sleeping baby too!

Back to little sleepy princess again

and look who woke up! Crystal was just getting ready to feed her before she and Joe went to a barbeque (Joe missed all the pictures today, he was out working in the yard with a power washer so I didn't want to get wet.

Day One for Austin

This is day one in the life of Austin DiFabio. It was eventful for her, but still wonderful. Remember that she was born shortly after midnight, so until right after midnight of Friday, it's still day one. I'm adding Friday too, just because.

I went home Thursday after the birth, it was about 4 when I posted the original pictures, then I went to bed. I woke up at the normal time (kids at home still) and went through the morning, drinking coffee and watching the news. I got a call from Joe at about 9 wondering when I would be down because he wanted to get some stuff done. After I got whatever small work related stuff done that I could, I ran right down and hung out. I took pictures then, but Crystal still wasn't in much of a picture mood. I had forgotten that its only been 12 hours or less since she went through the birth process, so not wanting to be in pictures wasn't a surprise. I took some great pictures of Austin, but no Crystal pics. The Crystal pics were on Friday, also on this post.

Here you go! This is Joe, day one, after he got back from taking a shower at home! Doesn't he look bright eyed and bushy tailed,after what he went through a few hours earlier?

Here is Uncle Dane holding his new niece. He's a good Uncle, even if he will make her irritable and mean.....lol.....

Aawwww...... Here's me and my baby! This is the most beautiful baby ever. I am an expert witness and have no bias or prejudice whatsoever.....lol.....

Here is our precious girl, in her little 'bin'.

This just saves me from writing everything down.

Here is Crystal and J, in the mood for photos! woo hoo!

Crystal, in a much better mood today! Must have gotten some rest! yay!

and here is Princess Austin, in her little malibu tanning bed, (Crystal said it looked like an aquarium at night) with her hip and cool baby Ray-Bans on! Talk to Crystal or Joe about the bilirubin issues. I think that all babies have an issue, but it needed dealt with.

and here is an amazing picture of mommy and baby. Kindly disregard the velcro stuck to her head. It's to hold the totally hip and cool baby Ray-Ban bililight glasses on!

...and just before I came down yesterday, I got a text message from Joe that said (and I'm paraphrasing here) ....wow, my moms here!

I guess the story behind this visit, from what I've heard (and you girls probably know better) is that late Thursday night, after watching Crystal pass out after getting up, and watching baby Austin turn blue and need the nurse, Joe was a bit overwhelmed with the responsibility for all of this. I guess he called his mom and 'vented' a bit, and next morning - here she is! When I talked to Crystal about it she said that according to Murph, don't underestimate a German woman, she will do things like this (paraphrased). I told Crystal that I disagreed with that explanation and pointed out that 30 years ago, more or less, she was in the same position that you are right now, giving birth to her 'baby boy' that just coached you through your labor, and now her baby is in pain, and really scared. You may not get this right now, but you'll come running too. I get it. Carol gets it. Anne and Laura get it already, and Crystal may by now ..... Nothing will separate a mom from her cubs. I'm pretty sure that is a 'forever' thing too.

Yay moms!

Welcome to the world Miss Austin!

It's been a while since I've posted so this might get long, but it's not like I haven't been posting at all. I post to the new construction site like every night, and I just get tired doing it.

The big news of the year,though, is the arrival of little Miss Austin! Austin Mackenzie Di Fabio was born bright and early (actually still the middle of the night) Thursday, May 28th. 12:43 was the actual time she showed up, but Crystal had been laboring since midnight the night before. She endured 6+ hours of what they now call 'active labor' and in my day it was called 'hard labor' I think for a good reason.

This is where it all happened. Memorial Hospital North, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This is Crystal, early in the day, still pretty darned happy, with her day nurse Brandi. I guess her water broke (sortof) late Tuesday night, but they didn't go into the hospital until 7ish in the morning.

The nurses thought that walking around might help speed things up, so that's what we did!

The view from the windows in the hospital went right out over the Air Force Academy and it was graduation day! We got a show from the Thunderbirds who did their fly-by after VP Biden gave the commencement address. Little Miss Austin chose an exciting day to come into the world!

Lots of people came to greet Austin into the world, but as all of the moms reading this will attest, the baby doesn't just show up, there's a lot of pain between now and then. THis is the fun part. Soon-to-be dad, Joe, being a dork and using the bed well.....

This is Adam, Dane and Tadd playing with Morgan on the floor. Here is Amanda, George, Dane and Adam just waiting with everybody else.

This is Crystal and Morgan. He didn't quite know what to think of the hospital stuff, having just gotten out of the hospital a few weeks ago with the rotavirus. A bit scary I think.

Morgan tried really hard to wait for his new cousin to be born but couldn't make it much past 4. They eventually packed it in around 6 and went home. No baby yet.

The picture you just looked at with Morgan in it is the same time as this one was taken. I just turned my head. Crystal is getting to be more 'uncomfortable' by now, but not awful yet.

It was heartbreaking to watch your child endure such a nightmare, but knowing the end result helped. Those of us who have had kids know that 'this too shall pass...' but that's small consolation when you can see that agonizing pain in her eyes for hours on end. As heartbreaking as it was to watch Crystal, though, watching Joe was nearly as bad. He was soooo helpless to fix her pain, and it got to him a few times. I worried in the beginning of the labor process that he wouldn't be up to the task of coaching. I'm pretty sure that when he looks at Crystal he sees somebody so capable, and so strong, that for him to tell her how to do this very basic and very fundamental thing would be almost insulting to her. When she was heavily into the throes of hard labor, and her eyes were rolling back in her head with an out of her mind look, he somehow realized how much she needed him and stepped up to the plate. He was a real trooper through it all, because he had to keep coaching her even though it was tearing him up inside to watch.

I didn't post any pictures of the labor or delivery, for obvious reasons, but these are the ones taken right after the birth. Mom is getting finished with the docs, so baby Austin got passed around the room a bit.

Here is J, hold baby Austin. Quite a traumatic evening for J, which is a whole other blog!

Here is the (clearly) proud papa, holding his new baby girl.

This is right after they got done working on Crystal, and Joe gave baby Austin back to her. Not her best picture maybe, but possibly her best moment..... :-)

... and before everybody left for the evening, one parting shot with the doctor, Crystal, and Joe. I tried to get baby Austin in the picture, but through clenched teeth, Crystal said "just take the *^#@ picture....." I think someody was a bit exhausted???

and this is what I watched just before I left at approximately 3. Joe is snoozing, Crystal is snoozing, the doc is gone, the nurse is about to save Austin from rolling off of her sleepy dad, but she is wide awake and taking in her new world! What a little doll she is!Quite an evening.......

Friday night, and all's well.

It's hard to believe another week has come and gone! Wow.... where does it go? It was a crazy busy week for me. I had an article to finish for the magazine, work on new contracts for the office, take care of the usual stuff, and my back really hurt. We did take Wednesday and drive to Grand Junction, but that involved sitting in the car all day so it wasn't really like a 'treat'. The company was great, and we accomplished what we set out to do, so mission accomplished.

Last night while Dane was at karate, we went to the Ute and played trivia for an hour. Thursday night is trivia night, and lot of our friends are there. It was a lot of fun.

Dane is over at Tate's house for his 13th birthday party. A sleepover for a bunch of 13 year old boys. Oh boy, how fun! We took that opportunity to go to a movie. If you haven't seen 'Knowing' yet, go see it. It was an awesome movie. I don't want to go into it in case any of you plan to see it, but after it's not on any more, I will share my opinions. Count on it.

More to come later, but I spend so much time blogging about the construction project that I am pooped by the time I get to this blog - which sadly is my favorite. I should do this one first.

yeah - its been a while!

It's Saturday night in Woodland Park, and all is well. It's snowing still, and we were supposed to go to a benefit auction tonight but I just couldn't bring myself to go. I've not felt terrific all day, mostly because of my back, but sometimes it just gets so bad I want to just sit....

We're working hard on the new house project (see: http://www.uppertwinrockshome.blogspot.com/)

and it's coming along well.

Dane is doing well in school, and getting ready for baseball season to start. Overall, he's 12, that should be enough said......

My business is picking up, but it's picking up from so far down that it still has a while to go to become 'good'. It'll come though, I'm confident. If not, the construction keeps us going. George has another 'looker' (that's somebody who stops by a work in progress, admires it, and says they'll call ...... yeah, sure you will......) that called and wants him to build their home. I guess when you build a better mousetrap.....

My back issue is about the same. It seems to show signs of improvement, then I have days like today. It's been going on for so long that I was thinking I would have to learn to live with it. Then it got so back that I didn't think I could. I went to the doc (Crystal was the prodding for that one) who took x-rays and showed me my smushed disc - which is no doubt the technical term. (see below - the one right above my hip bone) We don't know if it's ruptured or otherwise damaged without an expensive MRI, but the 'smushed' part is pretty obvious. It's also obvious what my pain is from. He suggested an inversion table, which is probably the coolest thing since disposable diapers. I hang upside down for less than a minute and I can feel this little 'pop' in my lower back, and then I can walk upright for a few hours without pain. Yay.

Tax season is winding down, and I've put together my extension list, finished up most of the ones underway, and will give the late folks a few more days before they get an automatic extension. Do you suppose sitting in my chair in front of the computer screen all day helps my back..? ha ha ha ha ha

George and I are planning a trip to the western slope next week to look at a different boat. We love our cabin cruiser, but are looking for one just a little bit newer and maybe a foot or so bigger. If we get too big we can't drag it down the road. The shopping process is quite lengthy, and we're just starting, but we thought we'd start with the close-by boats, and save the ones in Minnesota, Missouri, and Texas for later. We searched for one that met our description within 500 miles of our home, and there was one. One. Can you believe it? Anyway... that's the one we will go to see. I'll keep you posted on that one.

Otherwise, our number one grandson is doing fabulous, and our number one granddaughter is nearly done cooking! Yay! Here is Morgan at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo last week. The hippos were his favorite part!

and here's Crystal and Joe with our number one granddaughter last week at their house (so far she is: Baby One - an interesting, yet unique name). Joe still has her on the run belly-wise, but I'll bet she catches him real soon!

I am so excited for Crystal and Joe! I caught part of 'Cheaper by the Dozen - Part 2' this afternoon, when the daughter had her baby, and I just sat and bawled. I can only imagine... I'll try not to embarrass anybody, but no promises. It's just such a big deal.

Well, I will sign off for now. Talk to you later!

Am I troubled?

Well another day has come and gone. It's late, and I just got my e-mail responding nearly done (I'll finish the rest tomorrow). Morgan went back to his house. Heather is well enough to chase him around. It's sad not to have him here, I can put away the potty chair, and the cat can come out of hiding, but it's still sad. On a positive note, I can get work done now! :)

George and I went out to a Chamber function tonight. Hundreds of people go to these, they have them every month, and we rarely miss them. We were talking to a friend of ours while we were there, which isn't unusual, we really know everybody there (I love small town life). Anyway..... I got into a conversation with him about some trivial thing, and mentioned that I thought about his wife when I did this thing. (I used her name of course, but in case you know them.....) He said 'oh, I guess you haven't heard', then a long pause....... (not typically good news)

It seems that they split up a few months ago. Sad.... Really sad because I liked these guys. They have been together since college, and raised 3 grown kids. They're our age. Of course it's none of my business, but you know I had to ask. He said it was mostly his idea, but really pretty mutual. They just grew apart. I guess it happens. I have no moral high ground to stand on, but I did question his decision. 'Really?.......' I said, 'after all this time?.......' wasn't there anything that you could do? He said he had been thinking about it for a while, and just didn't want to spend the rest of his life like that. I mentioned that they seemed so happy when we spent days at the lake (which we did often), and he said that was one of his big reasons for the split. He said he wanted what we have. wow...

He said that he never realized his bad his relationship was until one by one, his kids moved away and it was just the two of them, and they realized that they had nothing left. He wanted to be married to his best friend too. Somebody to play with, and travel with, and work with, and grow old with. Well, you get it....

So I sit here contemplating the whole issue (sort of watching SciFi, too) and try to decide if I feel bad because in a weird sort of way I feel like we caused his breakup, or do I feel sad because my friends are hurting, or do I feel happy that we're kind of a role model?.......

I lived in a relationship that would have had to improve immensely to be considered 'hell'. I endured pain that I'd never felt before, pain I thought I could not survive, and pain I prayed to God to never feel again, (see future blogs.....) and somehow in that mess learned what I wanted in a relationship - and now I have it.

I think I'll just feel lucky.

Just a quick update

Wow, has it really been over a month since I've written? It's hard to believe, but I do. I read the blog entries every morning, and I tell myself that I will take a minute to write what's up, but then I get busy..... Later on in the evening, I get carried away working and promise myself that I will take a minute, then I get busy.....

I see a pattern...


So, the quick update for you. Dane's basketball season is over. They weren't on the top or the bottom of the heap, but he really improved this season and we look forward to next. Baseball is signing up next week, which we really love. Dad plays too, so twice a week, every week, I sit in the bleachers and cheer. Sometimes Morgan comes with Grandma to cheer for 'Uncle Dane' and 'Grandpa'. Pics to follow, no doubt.


I got to hang out with the best part of my life (my family) last week, for Tadd's birthday. That's always fun. Here's a couple of the photos for you to enjoy....

and here's Crystal and Joe, obviously sitting right next to me with the camera - oh well, it's a great picture anyway.

It was really cute watching Uncle Tadd and Morgan coloring. Morgan was so engrossed in his efforts.

I'll write more soon, and I'll include more pictures.