Well, we made it. We arrived home around 6:15 Saturday evening, a little over 72 hours after Noah was born. Lacey is doing very well, getting around great. Noah is doing well too, but having a touch of trouble feeding. Pray that it gets easier for both mother and son, as it can get frustrating. And pray that we get some sleep. We absolutely adore our new son, and are happy to be home, as a family. Mrs. Rockett, Lisa, and Jenn and Bryce should be here soon for a few days, and we are looking forward to having them. Thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes. We covet them, and are happy to have such wonderful friends and family. For pics of the little baby and visitors, go see Lacey's website (I can't figure out how to do them on here): xanga.com/mrsmelton
Noah was born June 20th at 2:06 PM. He weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce and was 21 and a half inches long. He looks like a Rockett, with a full head of dark, dark hair. Mom is doing great, but pray for her C-section recovery. Noah is doing great as well, pray for his feeding and health. We love him very much, and everyone who sees him is excited!!
I'm here at the hospital, and Lacey's in labor. We got here about 9 AM Eastern, and she's had the epidural, so now we're just waiting to see little Noah! The next post should have good news, please pray for Lacey and the baby!!!!!
One week left until the due date. Noah is coming soon, and we are on pins and needles waiting! Lacey is already at 3cm and having contractions almost daily. But we are patient, and he will come when it's time. The baby bag is packed, as is the suitcase. I'm going to be a Dad any day! Scary!
In other news, we saw Ocean's 13 on Friday. Good, but forgettable, kind of like this scattered post. Had some funny moments. That's about it.
My CD of choice for the last couple of weeks has been The Fray. I've been listening to it about every other day. It's great throughout and I can't get tired of it! Lacey thinks the lead singer whines and doesn't pronounce all of his words, but that's a rock star for you. Excellent stuff.
I thought I was back in high school the other day. On the radio they announced the newest concert coming to Indy in August: Collective Soul, Live, and Counting Crows. All I could think was "Class of '95, YEAH!!" Anyway, it would be a cool show, but not for 50 a ticket plus service charges and parking.
I'm back to being apathetic about renting movies. Lacey and I cycled through The O.C. season 1, and are in the midst of Scrubs season 1, and I can't bring myself to pop in a flick for us. I watched Letters from Iwo Jima by myself, and really liked it, but I'm just blah on everything else. I really want to see Breach, so we'll see if I can get my sorry butt to the video store to pick it up, and then actually devote 2 hours of my life to it.
Ok, that's enough.
Did I mention I've now been married for 3 whole years? Lacey and I's 3rd anniversary was Tuesday, and it was great. We went out to eat, and she got me Seinfeld season 7, Scrubs season 1 (we have all the others already) and Stranger than Fiction. I'm pumped! But I've been reminiscing lately about the last three years...quite a lot has happened! Anyway, we looked at the wedding pictures and were conjuring up some old memories of that day, especially since we have a wedding on Saturday, and I'm doing the music for the reception, just like I did for mine. The only difference is, I worked on mine for like 10 months, and I was given about 6 days for this one. Oh well, I digress. In the spirit of reminiscence (not a word, I'm sure) I went digging into the archives of Christin's blog. Here's what she had to say about the festivities (while we were off galavanting in Mexico...ahhhhhh, Mexico, how I miss you...sorry):
What a weekend: President Reagan passed away, J. Lo got married again, Smarty Jones sealed his fate as a gluestick, and Josh and Lacey got married.
I really enjoyed the wedding festivities. It all started Thursday night at the bachelorette party...I won't devulge any details because, you know, what happens at the bacholette party, stays at the bachelorette party. (I really hate that word "bachelorette".)
Friday was the rehearsal, and I was the official wedding coordinator, a job I have never really done before. I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do in case I end up coordinating for any other weddings. The rehearsal dinner was delicious. Aaron and Amy cooked for it and did a great job. Then of course, we had all the toasts. I really wanted to give a toast, since I've known them both for a long time and had lots of memories I could have shared, but as I didn't think about it before hand, I decided not to give a toast. Since I find that toasts are almost always better when they are written (or planned) ahead of time, I didn't want to stand up and babble on or *more likely* get all weepy and not be able to finish. Maybe I should start planning a toast now for Rachel and Andrew's wedding.
Anyway, the wedding was Saturday evening. I ran around before hand making sure the little details were taken care of. Lacey looked absolutely lovely and the whole style of the wedding suited her very well. We got started on time, no attendants were chewing gum, no one passed out, and they are now officially married, so I figure I did alright with the coordinating.
The reception was super fun. They did a great job picking out music. I think I danced for 4 or 5 hours straight (I only sat out one or two "couple skate" songs.) I was exhausted by the end of the night, but the fun was well worth the exhaustion. I can't believe it, but I'm kind of sad I won't be going to any more weddings this summer.
It's Monday again and I'm tanked up on benedryl and coffee. Should be an interesting day.
No, it's not just a song from Grease. I read a post today about how summers are nothing special, and I didn't like it. But I was trying to figure out why, and not just because my frame of reference is different, being a teacher.
The point was made that once you become an adult, summer is just another season, and that is a sad part of growing up. Now, because of my job, I obviously look forward to the summer more than most. I get like 10 weeks off, I can stay up late, sleep in, go on vacations, laze around if I want to, spend more time with my family, see movies, read for pleasure, etc. It's like being a kid again. Now, I do work in the summer, so that puts somewhat of a damper on things, but for the most part summers are freaking awesome. But I think even if I had a regular 9-5er, I would still look forward to the summer. For one thing, most people take their vacations in the summer, so there's that to look forward to. For another, especially up here, the weather is warmer, the sun shines more, and people are in general in a better mood. The days are also longer, which leaves more daylight to do things outside after work, and even on the weekends. Things like amusement parks are open during the spring/summer months, so there are more options to have fun with. I'm sure there are other reasons that are not springing to mind right off. All that to say that even for "regular" adults who don't teach, summer = fun. It's not just another season...it is THE season. Please excuse my stream of consciousness post. This has been a public service announcement from your fake Uncle Josh.
I've been thinking lately about why I enjoyed the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie so much more than these last two. I mean, it's the same characters, same settings, much of the same humour...and it's not like the plot of the first one WASN'T outlandish, so that's not really a fair critique of the last two. Then I figured it out. You see, the first one, while it does have great special effects, a lot of action, etc., is character driven more than anything else. All the other great stuff in it is superflous, and serves to advance the characters. You grow attached to Will, Jack, Elizabeth...heck, even Geoffrey Rush. The one-liners flow, and they are earned, because the characters are so well-drawn. What happened with the last two chapters is that they fell in love with topping themselves, going overboard with crazy plots, exotic locations, insane characters, and massive special effects/action sequences. And that took over, while the characters themselves (especially the core 3) suffered from lack of use. Lacey brought up a good point that they really changed Captain Sparrow in the third, not giving him much of a chance to be funny...but in reality, they did that to ALL the characters, and didn't give them much of a chance to do anything at all, except advance the plot. So I guess what I'm saying is that in the first one, the plot/special effects advanced the characters and their stories, and in the last 2, the characters served only to advance the plot/special effects. And while I enjoyed both, they just don't hold up ultimately to the "good movie" test, and will be forgotten. I still hold out hope for the fourth, even though Kiera Knightley has said she wouldn't do another. We'll see.
Since my whiny first post back about not seeing any movies or buying any CD's, I've done both this past week. I'm just in a better mood all around, not having to get up at 5:30 in the morning to teach the monsters. 7:30 is much better, thank you very much. Anyways, here's a short review of each.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: A lot of fun. To me, the first 2 were still better, but this one was definitely entertaining. It just seemed like the filmmakers were always trying to top themselves, and it got a little old after a while. But still, a very enjoyable movie.
Knocked Up: Hilarious. Same director as The 40 Year Old Virgin (one of Lacey and I's faves), and he hit another out of the park. Touching at times, funny throughout, and oh yeah, VERY R-rated, so beware. But sheesh, some of the married/baby humor hit the nail right on the head. I really thought it was a quality movie, not just a funny one, and I really had a great time. Now onto the CD's:
The Fray - How to Save a Life: Excellent throughout. Has a number of good tracks on top of the radio hits. Very well crafted, and some great songs.
Plain White T's - Every Second Counts: More "punk"-ish than I thought it would be, but it's got some good songs on there. I'm fairly pleased, although it's not my first choice of style. Has kind of a Weezer feel to it at times.
Carrie Underwood - Some Hearts: This was for Lacey. Oh, who am I kidding? That song about cheating is downright catchy! I haven't listened to hardly any of the album, but Lacey likes it and that's all that matters.