Tess Awaketh

Amy has already bemoaned that her status as "#1 girl in our house" has been relinquished. I told her that at least she's #2 instead of #3, which mine has been for the past three years!

Forgive a new Dad for gushing over his baby girl -- this is new territory. Here Baby T awakes, and then lets Dad know that he doesn't have the food she's looking for.

Cheers!

Tessa Lane

Every family has its own birth story etched in memory as every child's birth is unique from another. Like all parents Amy & I will always remember the circumstances surrounding the birth of our children. With the boys, Amy began having pre-term contractions and was on bed rest for months. When we went to the hospital at 33 weeks the doctors were trying to hold off labor for as long as possible. After 30 long hours the boys were born early but healthy.

With Amy's second pregnancy the pre-term contractions once again emerged very early. So all along we prepared ourselves for another early birth. Week after week passed though, and today marked the 39 week mark -- quite a feat for Amy B or as I like to call her, my miracle woman.

So when Amy woke me up at 4am this morning to tell me that she thought it was time, our own unique journey began. We gathered our things and left the house around 5am as our wonderful neighbor Mary came over to stay with the boys when they eventually woke up. When we arrived at the hospital, the nurses checked Amy and were not convinced that she was truly going into labor yet. So they told Amy to wait out the contractions either in the jacuzzi tub or by walking the halls. We tried both, but neither helped the pains that were really coming on.

After an hour of contracting and a shift change at the nurse's station, Amy was requesting pain medication as she was ready for her epidural. (By the way, "requesting" is Amy's word -- my words would be "unequivocally demanding.")

As the new nurse checked on Amy's progress, she spoke bluntly, "I'm going to be completely up front with you. I'm going to try to give you everything you want, but you are 7-8 cm's right now."

No more than 15-20 minutes later and still not officially admitted into the hospital Amy delivered a healthy baby girl, all natural with no pain medication whatsoever. Tessa Lane Rutledge was 6 lbs. 9 oz., 19.5 inches long and born at 7:46a.m.

My miracle woman delivered a daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, great-granddaugher and cousin as well as another unique birth story of our own.

Cheers!


Baby Tess, eyes wide open

Baby Tess, un-burritoed and unhappy about it.

Amy B. with her Baby T.


Proud Mama....

....beaming Proud Papa.

Four-Letter Word Friday

Today is a definite T.G.I.F. day after a long week. It is a relief that the weekend is about here. And although outwardly I may complain that the sunny 60-degree weather we're about to get here over the next few days is unwanted because I want winter weather, in reality I'll be a happy camper to get outside this weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

On the Amy front, her doctor appointment this week went very well. For the last few visits she has been in and out like a trip to a fast-food restaurant.

"Baby still in there?" Check.
"Not currently in labor?" Check.
"See you next week. Do you want fries?"

Amy actually took exception to my comment in an earlier post that she is at the "incredibly uncomfortable" stage of pregnancy. On the contrary, she says, she is not uncomfortable. She just gets tired easily. I stand corrected. Maybe I just look at that huge protruding belly and think, "Wow, that must really be uncomfortable trying to stay upright" and transfer my impression to her.

One thing for sure is that Amy is a very light sleeper at this stage. Maybe it's the mother's body gearing up for the light sleeping that inevitably accompanies a new baby. Amy lets me know on occasional nights that I am snoring and thus keeping her awake. I blame it on Tucker and then fall back asleep. One night this week she even tried to make conversation in the middle of the night when I got up.

"Oh, you're up too? I've been up since 2:00a.m. What do you want to talk about?"

I could only utter a sympathetic grunt as I walked into the wall on the way to the bathroom. Overall though Amy is doing really, really well at this stage and is playing the waiting game like a pro.

Then there are the boys. Next week Owen & Gus start attending preschool five days a week from the three-day schedule they have been on since August. This will undoubtedly be a change for them. But we feel that it will be a positive thing for them to get the increased learning experience and for us to have a little more time to devote to the coming life change.

Lately the boys have picked up an undesirable piece of speech. Apparently we parents -- more likely yours truly -- have not been as careful around them with the vocabulary as we should have been. The boys have taken note. Playing at their train table recently, one of the trains fell off the track crashing into the floor and made a mess.

"Oh dammit!" barked Owen.
Gus immediately followed suit, "Dammit!"

The boys then tried to outdo each other, repeating their new word over and over again as loud as they could. Amy looked at each other with wide eyes in shock. Then immediately we turned away from them and tried with all our might to contain our laughter. Laughing is of course the worst thing we could do. If the boys saw us laughing we would be guaranteed that their new word would be in constant repetition and they would keep it up until they got that positive reaction.

Another time this week Amy was cleaning Gus up after he had an accident in his pants. Owen walked in to the bathroom and surveyed the scene.

"What happened Mom?"
"Gus pooped in his pants, Owen."
"Ahhhhh, dammit Gus!"

I suppose we just have to cross our fingers that the newfound joy the boys get in repeating curse words is short-lived and hope that it happens at home instead of at school or church. And we have to keep the kids away from me while I'm watching the UK games on television.

I do have to hand it to them though for using the word in the right context.

Finally, a big congratulatory cheers goes out to our friends Dave O and Julie who are expecting baby #1 in June. It will be the first girl to be born into an Orthober family full of sons and grandsons. And good luck to Dave in persuading a reluctant Julie to name their daughter Wesley Woodyard Orthober in honor of the Kentucky football player. This UK fan is pulling for you.

Have a great weekend -- cheers!

Week 38

Florida is voting again today. Hopefully they have gotten rid of the old butterfly ballots. We've all been down that path before. The GOP vote is really the only one that matters today. Tonight should be interesting to see if McCain can emerge as the frontrunner heading into Super Tuesday next week or if Mitt Romney and his immaculate hair will lead the pack. If you believe polls, they seem to suggest that this is a two-man race.

The Democratic side shouldn't matter since there are theoretically no delegates at stake. The Clinton campaign will surely hype Hillary's win, if nothing more than to shift the focus from Obama's South Carolina momentum and from Bill's latest zipper trouble (courtesy of Tom Toles):

On the home front, Amy is starting to hit that "I am incredibly uncomfortable" stage where she doesn't sleep. Gus decided to take it easy on her one day last week by only having five (!) accidents in his pants while she had the boys. Ugh. Gotta love potty training. Owen then got in on the act and boycotted coming home from school yesterday, throwing a fit in the classroom when Amy arrived to pick them up. I chuckle that the boys have a rude awakening coming when Amy is no longer pregnant -- while she cannot pick up the boys and physically impose a mother's will on her two year-old right now, those days will very soon be coming to an end. On the bright side, the boys do seem to be in a pattern of 2-3 steps forward and then a step back with the potty training. So we feel we are on our way and heading in the right direction to having only one child in diapers by the time baby #3 arrives.

Amy has a doctor's appointment on Wednesday where we hope to continue to get good reports. It could be two hours or two weeks from now. We are just playing the waiting game for the time being.

Finally, on an indulgent note, Amy & I have partaken in season two of Bret Michaels' Rock of Love on VH1. It is tacky, cheesy, and completely low-brow. But it is shamefully one of our favorite hours of television each week. Twenty bachelorettes vying (for the second season, mind you) for the affections of a washed-up, has-been rock star where the race to the bottom wins -- entertaining indeed!

Cheers!

The Great Day After

Every now & then a day comes along where you just feel awesome. No matter the hurdles that are thrown at you, it's still a great day. Today is that day at the Rutledge house.

So when Owen misses the toilet and pees all over me first thing in the morning, I shrug it off. When the boys' school calls telling us that Owen has fallen and banged his nose up and that he is pretty shaken up, we take it in stride. When I hear on NPR that the Clintons are gearing up their attack machine against my guy Barack Obama, it doesn't faze me.

The reason?

Because Kentucky beat 3rd-ranked Tennessee last night in a gutty, gritty performance on national TV in front of a hyped-up Rupp Arena crowd.

And while it may be silly to let my mood be dictated by a basketball game -- the outcome of which I have no control over if I listen to my beloved wife -- I just can't help but feel tremendous excitement over last night's game. The Cats hustled, battled, scratched and clawed to get that win and are finally showing signs of progress adapting to their new coach Billy Gillispie. The feeling after the win was part jubilation over beating a very talented Tennessee team and part sigh of relief that there is still hope that this team can have a respectable season after horrendous losses to Gardener-Webb and San Diego.

So to celebrate the feel-good vibe, Amy & I picked Gus & Bruiser up from school, went out to lunch, and all attended Amy's 37-week doctor's appointment. The boys were mesmerized when they got to hear the baby's heartbeat, and Amy got a great report. We are now just playing the waiting game -- it could be 3 hours from now or 3 weeks from now when the baby comes.

So in reality the news from the doctor is probably a better reason to have a great day than a basketball game. But it's still sweet when a big win gets the Big Blue blood pumping through my veins a little faster.

Cheers!



This man finally had a smile on his face after his Cats battled back from double digits to upset the 3rd-ranked Vols. And he wears a nicer suit than his orange counterpart....

"Bruiser" Rutledge shows his evil eyes and his roughed-up nose after losing a battle with a plastic dog at Montessori school.

Sister Act

Amy had her 18-week ultrasound today, and we learned (as sure as technology can tell you anyway) that there is a little girl on the way. At an earlier ultrasound a few weeks back the doctor told us he had a pretty good idea it was a girl, but today was much more conclusive. Baby #3 held up a sign that her brothers were already picking on her and told us to tell them there was about to be a new sheriff in town. Oh my.

Any name suggestions?

Three's Company

February 14, 2008....10 weeks....baby brother or baby sister....wooohooo it's only one!

Cheers!