Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Virtual baby tour

What a crazy, incredible week this has been. Holy smokes! I put together to little virtual tour for your viewing pleasure of the baby and family. Click on the link or paste in your address bar.
http://www.realestateshows.com/145821

Been back at work this week trying to catch up on business, quite busy thank God. Despite a deal that blew up in the final hours prior to closing all is well. For those of you in the "business" please note the following; a modular home on a steel undercarriage may be nice, pretty, two story, and has the ability to withstand 120 mile per hour winds. But the key word is "steel undercarriage", lumps together with the good old mobile, or manufactured home, good luck selling that on the secondary market.

When I have some time later I will give you the details of our day at in the delivery room. Pettus, if you are reading, please pay attention to the upcoming post. This will be you soon, and just so you know...when the baby comes into this world, they are purple! No one bothered to let me in on that little tidbit of info.

We have family coming in this weekend, Terri's niece Melanie and her family. I am looking forward to a little guy time with her husband Jeff; the kids can't wait to play with their children Meghan, Brenden, and Carson. Wow, six kids in one house at the same time...You will be able to find Jeff and I at the neighborhood Tavern.

Thanks for reading, y'all tune in again soon.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Never ceases to amaze me...

Alright, this is going to be a sappy post. So if you have to, log out now. As I sit here in the Nesting room with my wife and my newborn son, many things race through my mind. Now it could be that I have only slept for about four hours in the last two days or maybe it is the champagne that I snuck in the hospital for a celebratory Mimosa with Terri. Whatever it is, this is how I feel right now about my wife, Terri Inmon.

There comes a time in ones life when they have the big “Wow”. It can come in many different forms, fashion, or just dumb luck. Mine started with just dumb luck the day that I had just enough liquid courage as I looked across TGI Friday’s and saw this absolutely hot chick. Yes, it was Terri. I asked if I may call her and she said “yes, call me soon”.

Fast forward to April of 2005. I thought I had experienced the most incredible thing in the world when I looked over my left shoulder and saw this beautiful woman walking out of the light from the afternoon sun that shone through the Church doors. Wearing a smile that could melt the Northern ice cap, she melted my heart.

Fast forward to March of 2007. She one upped herself. Two years ago I thought that life could not get any better, my how I was wrong. Yesterday I experienced the most incredible thing I have ever been a part of; standing next to my wife watching the birth of our son. Later that day was the icing on the cake when we shared him with Tanner and Charlee Ann.

Thank you Terri for making my dreams come true. I love you Belle!

Pictures are worth more than words










The three pics at the tops are from today. The others were taken yesterday. You gotta love the before picture of Terri in the delivery room in her flip flops...Delivery day, Carolina style!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Happy Birthday Jackson Patrick Inmon

March 22, 2007 Jackson came into this world at 12:05 Cola Time. He weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and is 20.75 inches long. Both baby and Mom are doing well. And you will be happy to know that I did not need the bicycle helmet, no crashes for me. More details and pics later.
Thanks for all the well wishes and positive thoughts.

Thanks for reading, y'all tune in again soon.

Showtime!!!!!

Contractions started this morning at 4:00 a.m. Cola time...We are headed to the hospital soon.
Remember people, the power of positive thinking! Get on board now, we need all the positive thoughts we can headed our way. Easy, smooth, safe delivery. Heatlthy Mom, healthy baby!
Gotta run!
Thanks for reading, y'all tune in again soon!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Saddle Time

Headed Northeast to the old Homestead a little early last night to get out and enjoy the 78 degree temp and no wind. Discovered a few things of interest:

1) The old team kit still fits despite my Clydesdale weight class

2) There is a bike under all that dust

3) My new white bar tape looks really cool

4) My computer does not work except for speed (which was very slow)

5) Would love to have an SRM but would be embarrassed to post the results at this time

6) Shane, I am not sure I could keep up with you

7) Still feels great to work up a sweat and clear the mind

I did take my phone with me just in case I get the call from Terri that "It is time"and therefore did not leave the neighborhood. But the cool thing is that the subdivision has great streets, and a nice combination of hills, curves, flats, and scenery. I can do a ride for just over and hour and not leave Lake Carolina.

Has anyone seen the new Garmin bike computer, any thoughts or opinions? I also signed up for a disease ride yesterday (American Diabetes Assoc), a two day cruise from Cola to St. John's Island outside of Charleston. Supposed to be a great ride (roads, scenery, and we finish at the beach). So now I am officially in training, have too much pride to get dropped on a charity ride!

Still no baby, Terri said last night it felt like he was coming out, but apparently just doing calisthenics. Unless he comes sooner, Monday is the big day. That is all for now.

Thanks for reading, y'all tune in again soon.

Monday, March 19, 2007

St. Patrick's weekend wrap


Wow, another weekend in the books, my how time flies. That is unless you are my pregnant wife and each minute seems to drag on in anticipation of the arrival of Jackson Patrick. The good thing is that both are healthy but at times really uncomfortable. I can only imagine how she must feel. It is probably like after you eat at the ol' Mexican Villa, say five times in one day, without the ability to use the restroom...all day long.

Friday night Terri and I were without children and had a little date night. We went to a place called "Let's Dish". The concept is pretty cool, you get online and sign up for whatever meals suit your fancy, show up and start dishing out the meal. It is basically a prep kitchen set up with 10 stations that has all the ingredients and the recipe for your meal. You dish it into the Zip lock bags, and in about an hour you have your meals ready to head home to put in the freezer. We thought this would be great when the baby arrives to make meal time easier. Sorry kids...looks like mac and cheese and hot dogs for you! Mom and I get the good stuff! But the cool thing is they have food for you to munch on while there and they clean everything up for you. Nothing like having a good dish dog to keep you out of the weeds. Restaurant lingo for those not in the loop. Afterwards we headed to one of our new favorites http://www.solsticekitchen.com/, Solstice for crab cakes and a cold beer (well for me anyway). If you have not had the opportunity to sample the fresh low country sea food in South Carolina it is a must! More than worth the travel alone for fresh sea food.

Saturday brought Leonard the Leprechaun to our house with some goodies for the kids. We still can't figure out how they get into the house and are able to leave the kids treats without being detected. Magical little guy's!
The big St. Pat's festival in Cola is downtown in an area called Five Points. http://www.stpatsinfivepoints.com/ It is a St. Pat's Day rich in tradition that has gone on for almost a quarter of a Century. The day begins with a 5k run, followed by a parade, kids carnival, games, Strongman competition, food vendors of any cuisine, live bands on five different stages, and all the beer vendors in town serving their finest green. Sounds like a blast, have to check it out next year. We decided that mingling among 30,000 of Cola's finest residents in all their beer induced splendor might not be too suitable for us being so far along with the baby. So we stayed in the neighborhood at the Town Center where they had a very cool celebration complete with green beer, three live bands, and good food. Big fun was had by all with no entry fee, no wrist bands, no parking issues, and were not five minutes from home. Can't wait for you all to come check out Cola. Especially the Arts...Charlee Ann is now an official artist with her first public display of her rendition of a cat and the house it resides in on display in the Columbia Mall. Had camera issues, no pic...so use your imagination. She is really good! Proud dad I am!

Met with the Doc today and we are still in a holding pattern. Unless he is ready to make his debut in the world earlier, we are still set for next Monday for inducement. Can't wait, the kids are really excited. They keep putting their faces to Terri's belly and telling Jackson to come on out...now.

This is the picture of our day in the Town Center for St. Pat's. This weekend we have an "Oyster Roast" at the Town Center, again with live music less the green beer.
Thanks for reading...Y'all tune is again soon!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Kidde...

No not the baby, but the fire extinguisher brand (Kidde). I highly recommend everyone out there to purchase one for your home, they are easy to use, lightweight, affordable, pack a powerful punch and readily available at any Lowe's home improvement store. Everything you look for in a fire extinguisher, right? Well it turns out that Sunday night after enjoying our peaceful night out back on the deck writing this blog that we had a little issue. After putting the caps on all the tiki torches to extinguish them we headed on in the house to get ready for bed. Suddenly Terri saw a bright glow appear out our living room window to the back yard. Hmmm, what could that be I thought? After a quick investigation peering over the deck I see that the dead flora and grass in our landscape garden are flaming up about four to five feet. At this time Terri meets me trying to come outside as I am headed in. Not wanting her to get upset and pop out Jackson in an untimely fashion on the kitchen floor I hold her by the shoulders and tell her to just sit down and breathe deeply. I have it under control. My first response was to grab one of our Rita buckets fill it with water and douse the fire, but quickly realized it will take all day to fill the five gallon bucket in the sink. But what did I purchase when we moved in? A fire extinguisher! I grab it out of the pantry, pull the red pin, walk quickly out the door and onto the deck where I pull the trigger, BAM! That stuff really comes out fast and furious! Fire is gone!
Whoo Hooo! Damn, now that will get your blood pumping.
Apparently the cause of the fire was one of the torches left by the previous owner had really long wicks and when I put on the cap part of the wick fell to the ground and simmered for a bit before raging into a five alarm Inmon fire. Terri took it really well actually. She said that she was glad to see me handle the situation with such calmness, (must have been the Rita's I drank).
Now at least I don't have to cut out that dead part of the garden.
I will post a pic later tonight. Just glad that the vinyl siding or the deck did not catch on fire!

Met the baby doc again yesterday, still at two centimeters and 75% effaced. Both Mom and baby are well. We will keep you posted. Headed home to get a ride in tonight, hope to maybe get in about 500 meters with Charlee Ann, she does not yet get into the hills (neither do I). That whole hand brake thing still spooks her a bit.

Glad to read all the great comments from the previous post. Good to hear from you all. Any of you Springburg bikers that would be interested in coming down for the Pro Road and TT championships in Greenville August 31-Sept. 2 let me know. Have space, may load up the motor home. Only about an hour and a half from Cola.

Thanks for reading, y'all (local verbiage) tune in again soon.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Great News....

Okay not baby news, but Charlee Ann has learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! This is so cool, she can now tear up the neighborhood with Tanner. Tan likes to head up to the Town Center to this restaurant called Groucho's, a great sandwich place with really good food. He takes his backpack and loads it full of food and heads on back home. Now the sandwich may be a bit squished due to the packaging, but still tastes great and gives him such a feeling of freedom and confidence. Charlee Ann is so proud of herself as we are of her. They will be two to watch out for on the neighborhood trails.

Had a great weekend...again. It is now Sunday night at 7:42 Cola time. Terri and I are setting out on our deck with the tiki torches lit all around, ambient lighting shooting up on our Crape Myrtle's throughout our back yard and the temp now is a cool 72 degrees! Terri and Jackson are feeling very well, no mad dash to the hospital quite yet. We believe it will be next Saturday and it will be a nice, easy, healthy. smooth delivery. You all should too! The power of positive thinking everyone. Get on board! I told the neighbors that if they see me running out of the house wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, flip flops, and hopefully my wife in tow that the time is here! Otherwise I am just heading out for milk, bread, or probably beer.

Had a few comments that we did not have enough things picked out on our registry at Babies R Us, so we headed out to the actual store in Cola Saturday. Let me tell you, this Internet thing is really cool, but when you don't know a damn thing about baby stuff, you really need to see it in person. Do you have any idea how much baby stuff there is at this place? Holy smokes! I have never seen such a display of baby, Mom, and Dad stuff. We spent, I kid you not, two plus hours in the store. If it were not for the pangs of hunger and a cold beer, we could have spent at least another hour. We put everything under the sun on our registry. I was in charge of the fun gun to shoot everything we wanted. When Terri was not looking I tried to put on hemorrhoid creme, gas tablets, and a size 38 DDD nursing bra (thought it was funny!) but she quickly pointed out that everyone would think it was for me anyway and wishful thinking. Damn busted, but now we have some cool stuff on the list.

The HBA Home and Garden participant preparty Thursday night with Rita at our booth was a huge hit...we went through six mixes! Rita, needless to say was a huge hit. For you Nascar fans, I saw Jimmy Johnson's Daytona car and the new Car of Tomorrow on display. The Car of Tomorrow is pretty interesting looking to say the least, but not as bad in person as the pictures that I have seen online. Should be interesting to see how they perform on the track at Bristol.

Tomorrow we head back the the baby Doc's to see how my lovely wife and Jackson are doing. Will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Hope all our friends and family are well, we miss you all and look forward to you coming down to visit. Our door is always open, (I keep telling the kids to shut the door) you are always welcome. Bring your beach towels, sun screen, and flip flops!

Thanks for reading, y'all (local term for you all) tune in again soon!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Getting Closer...

Another doctor appointment yesterday, we are now dilated at two centimeters and 75% effaced. Labor usually begins at three centimeters. So who knows could be any day or could go to the scheduled inducement for natural (no C-section) delivery on the 26th. If it appears that we will have to wait until the 26th look for Terri to be in the neighbor's back yard jumping on the trampoline around St. Patrick's day to speed things up a bit. A St. Patrick's day delivery would be cool, just have to monitor my intake of green beer, would hate to have to ask Terri to drive us to the hospital!

Today has been very hectic yet productive. I had a presentation this morning on FHA/VA guidelines to our C-21 Offices, (went great, I really nailed it) headed to the credit union that I work with, then off to the State Fairgrounds to help set up for the HBA Home and Garden show for tonight's participant party before the show starts tomorrow. Guess who will be present? Rita Baby! Whoo Hooo, our booth will be rocking, complete with sombreros, maracas, and even little Mexican stress balls wearing sombreros. Should be a good time.
Terri is taking the kids to meet up with Mark's parents for a four day weekend in Surfside, so we plan on just taking it easy doing stuff around the house to get ready for the baby. Terri is packed and ready and I actually know where the hell to go now!
Gotta run.
Thanks for reading, y'all tune in again soon.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Family Photo Time

So what do you get when you have two wound up kids just home from school that have absolutely no desire to cooperate, a very pregnant wife, and a husband who just got off of a great (catch the sarcasm?) Monday at work? Family photo time! Yes we have wanted to do this for a while and hooked up with the girl that did my head shots for work. The timing was not too great but hopefully the outcome will be. And actually once we all got there and were settled in had a pretty good time. I think that both Tanner and Charlee Ann would like to be the photographer's assistant (her name is Jee Jee, easy now Stegall). As goofy as they were they could make anyone smile for the camera! The theme for the shoot was black and white nude pictures of my pregnant wife....just kidding, but now maybe I have your attention. We did all wear black outfits for the b/w photo's and have what looked to be some really cool pictures. She took a variety of poses of the family; Tan and Charlee, Tan and I, Charlee and I, Terri and Charlee...well you get the idea. But then the real fun started when Jee Jee took Terri to change her out fit. Terri then comes out in her black pants and nothing but a long, flowing, black sheet wrapped around her chest. Whoo hooo, naked belly pics here we come! We all liked the way Terri looked except for Tanner, he has an issue with her belly button, which is no longer an innie, but a big outie. Tan was sitting back in his chair moaning "no I can't stand to see the belly button, it looks like it is talking to me and I have to eat soon, ahhh!" He is pretty funny and quite dramatic these days. Terri and I go back the the photographers studio next week to see the proofs and will get some on the blog soon.

Well we have had many people ask us if we are registered anywhere, thank you for your kindness. And after much contemplation we have finally registered. You can go online and get me some really cool stuff at Lowes, Outspokin Cycles, Fresh Market, Golf Discount, and Green's liquor warehouse. That should about cover all I need....Okay fine! If you would like, we registered at Babies "R" Us. You can go to their website and look under Baby Registry, search find a registry, put in Terri Inmon, South Carolina and you will find the info.

Stegall, because you can't figure out this whole web/technology thing I will try to help you out.
To leave a comment, click on the comment button. Type your comment, slowly with two fingers, include your name. Scroll down and type in the letter/word verification and click anonymous user if you wish, then publish your comment. You can also click on the pictures to enlarge them. I know you eyesight is going!
Hope everyone is doing well.

Thanks for reading, y'all tune in again soon!

Sunday, March 4, 2007

What a great weekend!




We had a great weekend at the Inmon household! Friday night ended up being a boys only night at our house. Terri went to one of neighbors for girls Bunko night and actually won five bucks! The funny thing is that a couple of the girls had gone to see Mama Mia, the musical at the Koger Center, and decided it would be cool to get an Abba cd to play during the evening...the whole evening, listened to it four times...Nothing like getting your entire life fix of Abba in one night. Charlee Ann had a birthday party sleep over with one of her classmates. And Tanner and I hung out and did guy stuff; played video games, well Tanner played video games...I tried my best to participate...It is amazing how incredibly stupid kids video games can make you feel. Needless to say he kicked my butt. But lookout Tan...I am getting better at the Nascar racing game!

Can I say that I am the luckiest guy in the entire world! Charlee Ann and I talked before she left to spend the night about what I would do without being able to tuck her in at bed time. We always tuck the kids in, sing them songs, give kisses, and usually do something fun to get them in bed. For instance surfboard Steve, where Charlee gets on my back standing up while I move on my hands and knees and surf her into bed. Well I told her that she would have to leave one of her animals for me to tuck in so that I would not be sad without her. Below is a picture of what she left me, wow, talk about making your heart swell with pride. She is the best daughter in the world!

Moving on to Saturday. We hosted our neighborhood game night Saturday evening, we have a great group of neighbors that we have made friends with since moving in. Four families that are close to our age that all have kids Tanner and Charlee's age. It seems like we have all known each other forever. The kids all get along great. Game night consists of adults down stairs and kids upstairs. The hosts provide a main dish and the others bring the sides. We did a brisket last night and had some great sides. Chicken wings, salsa dishes, wraps, potato salad, great desserts, Terri made potato boats for the kids, and Rita...you all remember Rita don't you. She is so good, now with a Southern flair! We played Mad Gab which is a pretty fun game especially when you have a few cocktails in your system, but the really cool thing is that all our guests stopped the game and said that it is time to pull out the baby gifts. How friggin cool! Could not believe it, what a great bunch of friends! Now Jackson has some really great looking outfits to wear, a Boyton chicken stuffed animal, book and cd, home made blanket, rattle socks, Soothe and Play Bouncer, (I need one of these) just absolutely unbelievable. I was really amazed at the thoughtfulness! Hopefully the pics show off the gift for Jackson for you to see. I especially like the outfit that says "Party in my crib, 2:00 a.m."

Sunday has been a lazy day spent with the family reading the paper, working on the computer, Terri and Charlee playing Pollies, and making jewelery.

Tomorrow we are having family pictures taken at a studio, so now the question will be answered...How big is Terri?


Thanks for reading, y'all tune in again soon!

Friday, March 2, 2007

Baby Update and pics










Well we met with the good Doc yesterday morning for our weekly appointment to check on Terri and Jackson's progress and everything looks good. I was able to feel his head which was pretty cool, the Doc placed my hand on her lower abdomen and had me squeeze my thumb and middle fingers together to feel what he described as a softball. So Jackson is not even out of the womb and the Doc is inferring he has a softball for a head....hmmm, have to keep my eye on the Doc. His heart rate is great and size seems to be where we need to be just a little on the small size. Terri is dilated at 1 centimeter and 50% effaced at 36 weeks. Once we are past the 38 week mark he says that she will be good to go if we go into labor. We are hoping for a St. Patrick's Day delivery but Terri said this morning she does not know if she will make it that long. Looks like things could progress sooner than later...Took a tour of the hospital while at the Doc's office to see where we have to go and what to do on the big day. After walking for what seemed like a country mile we finally found where we have to be on the Fourth floor delivery. Note to self...find a wheel chair (for Terri), will be much easier! Nice big delivery rooms with cable TV, jacuzzi tubs, rocking chairs, so all should be good, easy for me to say right. We finished painting Jackson's room, check it out! And also, for those of you who think I am not that mechanically inclined (Mom). Check out the loft I built over the garage doors. Yep pretty proud of myself, did it in only one weekend, no major injuries, and just about a 12 pack of beer plus. Pardon the picture placement...need some work on that...
Thank for reading, y'all tune in again soon!