Welcome Baby Hank!

Yesterday our nephew Albert Henry “Hank” was born.  He is the 5th Albert Henry so he is named after his father “Albert”, his grandfather “Al”,  his great-grandfather “Deck”, and his great-great grandfather “Papi.”  So he’s born into quite a tradition! 

Hank was born the afternoon of September 28th, 2010 at Georgetown Hospital by way of c-section.  He weighs 6 pounds 14 ounces and is 19 inches long.  He was born healthy and perfect, with dark hair and he looks just like his daddy.  Erin, his mommy, is also doing well though they are still trying to manage her pain from the c-section.

We are very excited about this new addition to our family! Congratulations to Albert and Erin!

Welcome to the world baby Hank!

Hank with his parents, Albert and Erin:

Hank with his grandmother, Pam:

Hank with his daddy:

Anniversary Football Game

Today we attended the Texans versus Cowboys football game.  Unfortunately for Charles, the Cowboys pretty much dominated the game.  I really like both teams so I didn’t really root for either team.  It was fun though and an anniversary present to each other that we won’t soon forget. 

I guess due to all the walking and sitting, my hands and feet are very swollen tonight.  I’m also pretty tired but otherwise I still feel fine and enjoy getting out and doing things.  Another thing is that our little one has had the hiccups four times today.  She gets the hiccups so often…. 3-5 times every single day!  I was concerned about it but everything I’ve read online said it’s normal.  I wonder if others notice when I’m sitting there with my stomach twitching for 20 minutes?

We’re really looking forward to this week when our nephew, Hank, is expected to be born.  Albert’s fiancée, Erin, is being induced on Tuesday.  I wish I could be there to see him and hold him, but we don’t think this late into things that I should be so far from home.  Plus car rides right now are a bit torturous for me.  But we can’t wait to see pictures and eventually meet him!

Here are a few pictures from the game today:  

4 Weeks Left

Well, here we are with exactly 4 weeks left until our little girl is due.  I'm trying to get in as much football as I can before she arrives.  So we're headed to Pearland to watch Santa Fe play Pearland Dawson tonight and then Sunday we're going to the Texans versus Cowboy game at Reliant Stadium.  Should be fun!

Go Santa Fe!

Dixie is looking forward to having a little sister to play with.

Nursery Tour

The nursery is finally finished and ready for our baby to arrive, though we're not sure if we're ready yet!  Here's a short video tour of how our little girl's room looks.

The video is kind of small so you might want to view it full screen.  Also turn on your sound because it's narrated by Charles.

Hurricane Ike: 2 Years Later

I know this is a blog primarily about the arrival of our little girl, but on this 2 year anniversary of Hurricane Ike, I’d like to take a minute to reflect on that.  It’s hard to believe it’s been 2 years since Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston.  Much has changed but much remains the same.  

I go swimming every morning in Texas City and this morning as I was driving back onto the island, I realized how different things looked from when I first drove back onto the island two weeks after Ike hit.  Oleanders and palm trees have been replanted and look beautiful.  There are no boats and debris in the roadway.  Businesses have reopened.  And many houses have been repaired and are livable once again.  But there are parts of town that still look as they did after Ike.  Our next-door-neighbor still has a tarp on her roof as her landlord continues to wait for a settlement with the insurance company.  Our old neighbor moved out because he couldn’t handle two years of a leaking roof.  While in UTMB the other day, I saw that the lower level was still primarily gutted, though the cafeteria was rebuilt and serving all kinds of delicious foods.

When we first returned after Ike we said, “It will take 10 years to rebuild Galveston!”  and in truth, it probably will.  But despite the devastation, the island is as beautiful as ever.  This summer the beaches were packed with people.  If you needed to be somewhere you didn’t dare drive down Seawall because of the traffic.  It may not be the same as it was prior to Hurricane Ike, but the people of Galveston are resilient.  

All you have to do is look at what happened after the 1900 Hurricane.  The 1900 Hurricane killed an estimated 10,000 people and is still the deadliest natural disaster to have hit the United States.  Instead of leaving, the survivors not only rebuilt their homes and their lives, they decided to build a 17 foot high seawall and to raise the island behind the seawall.  Thousands of buildings were elevated on stilts while mud from the Gulf was dredges in to raise the land.  This took years to accomplish and the people lived with the stink of mud and dead fish.  And they walked on elevated boards to get from their homes to town.   

Thanks to the hard work and sacrifices made by the survivors of the 1900 Hurricane, our house received minimal damage from Hurricane Ike.  Galveston is not a “dead city” as a recent article claims:  http://247wallst.com/2010/08/23/americas-ten-dead-cities-from-detroit-to-new-orleans/#ixzz0xWpN6cpe  but rather a city that continues to work hard to both preserve the past and built towards the future. Galveston is an amazing city and I’m proud to live here.  

Marmalade: our hurricane surviving cat.  Picture taken the April after the hurricane.

Ultrasound Pictures

Here are the ultrasound pictures we had taken at 18 weeks and 27 weeks.  Our doctor says unless there are issues, we won't be having any more ultrasounds.  So we just have to wait until late October to see our little girl again.  Can't wait!

18 week ultrasound:

27 week ultrasound:

Pictures of the pregnancy

16 weeks and I felt I was huge!

19 weeks, at the baby shower that the teachers had for me at school.

31 weeks at the Ashyln Would Go surf contest.  (Picture provided by GScott Imaging http://www.gscottimaging.com   Great photographer out of Corpus!)

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32 weeks, dressed up for Lindy's wedding.  

Welcome to our blog!

Howdy!  Charles and I decided that a blog would be an excellent way to share pictures, video, and stories of the exciting things happening in our lives these days.  We are awaiting the birth of our daughter, whose due date is October 22nd.  That means that as of tomorrow I will be 34 weeks pregnant.  We're getting really excited as our time to meet our little girls grows closer.  Only 6 weeks left to go!

I have been blessed with a good pregnancy so far.  The first trimester was a little rough, as I felt sick to my stomach for weeks.  But now that I'm in my 3rd trimester, I'm feeling great!  Knock on wood; I hope I can continue to say that.  Every check-up and ultrasound has gone well.  Our baby girl seems to be growing strong and healthy.

Last weekend was an exciting time for us as it was our 6 year anniversary.  We celebrated it by attending the Aggies first home football game. What could be better?!  Our anniversary present to each other are tickets to the Texans vs. Cowboys game at the end of this month, so we're really looking forward to that.  Can you tell we really like football? 

We will be attending the Aggie game this Saturday against Louisiana Tech.  Looking forward to it, although I have heard the weather is supposed to be hot.  At least the game doesn't start until 6:00 p.m. so the sun will be setting.  

That's about all I have for right now.  I'm going to try to figure out how to post pictures on this blog to share with everyone.  

Becky