The Best Day Ever... or Not?

It's been a a big 24 hours in Brechtopia. On Thursday night he slept for two- 4 hour stretches. It was like mom and dad almost got 8 hours of sleep! Glorious! Then Uncle Cal and Dad noticed that the washing machine as making a "click-click-click" sound rather than a "swoosh-woosh..vruuuummmmmmm" sound like normal. That can't be good. "It sounds like a belt," said Uncle Cal. "I guess we should take a look at it," said dad.

So... we took the entire back panel and top controls off. Then we realized that we didn't need to do that, we only had to tip it over on it's front. So we put it BACK together, tipped it over... And sure enough, the Motor and isolation coupling was broken. You might ask yourself, "what the heck is a motor and isolation coupling?" We didn't know either. But we could see what was broken, and after several websites, phone calls, and high hopes... we found the issue and found a local place that had the replacement part. My phone calls:
"Hi this is whirlpool, can I help you?"
Yeah, I have a broken washer. Need a new motor coupling put in. What would it cost to have someone come out?
"It is a minimum of $70 to have someone look at it. If they fix anything, parts and labor is extra."

So I call AC Carlson Appliances:
"Hi, can I help you?"
Yeah, do you have a motor coupling for a whirlpool?
"Yes, it's $18"
I'll be there.

So $20 and 2 hours later... Cal and Josh fixed the washer! We have conquered the universe!

So things were good. Elijah slept A LOT during the day. Which meant... that LAST night he slept for two hours... was up for three hours... slept for 1 hour... was up for an hour...

Elijah felt like this, this morning:

Mom and Dad felt more like this:

And we still love him with all of our hearts!
He's the only guy I know that can wake you up all night long, scream at you, poop on you, rearrange your entire schedule to conform with his, and you still look at him like he is the greatest gift in the world.

Big Day on the Road!

Yesterday we all took our first big day out as a family. Elijah had a Doctor's appointment and then we stopped at Target to get a few things. He did great! The doctor said he was in perfect health, and he slept the whole time he was in target. What a good boy!

Mom and dad watched another episode of "The Office" on the laptop while he ate at 3 am this morning. It was good family time.

Here is a picture of his first big car ride home from the hospital! He didn't like his car seat very well, but he did much better on his way to the Doctor!

Easter is here!

Elijah had his first big Easter celebration yesterday! Grandpa and Grandma Brecht were here in the morning, and some friends came over in the evening. That means he got to wear his stylin' Easter outfit TWICE. We thought it was a lot of fun... he may have been traumatized for life... you be the judge!

Here are more pictures that will be continually updated if you'd like the cuteness to go on and on and on: http://picasaweb.google.com/gailbrecht

Man, it was a big day for this little guy!

Mom and Elijah Like to take naps together...

He got weighed again today... and he's growing! What a good boy!

What's the deal dad?

We tried to wake the little guy up to eat a bit more. He said, "Are you serious dad? Can't you see I'm sleeping here?"

Thoughts from the hospital room...

Gail is recovering well and feeling good, but very tired. I can't imagine why. With the way things shook down yesterday, I ended up getting to hold him for nearly the entire first hour of his life. I talked to him, he looked at me... it was the most incredible experience of my life (and maybe I'm being presumptive here, but I think at the time, it was the most incredible moment of his life, too!).

He was either peacefully awake or peacefully sleeping for the whole day. I got to hold him as I walked around the room and I sang him Derek Webb, Dan Wilson, and U2 songs. It was absolutely wonderful. He woke up to have a snack around 1:15 a.m. We expected an eat-and-go-back-to-sleep moment... but he had other plans. He decided that he'd had enough of this sleeping and it was time to meet the world... so he stayed up until 6 a.m.! That's our son, the night owl.

Friday. 7:55 a.m. My wife and my son are lying together fast asleep. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

It is Good Friday today,. As I tried to read the story in Luke's Gospel, I think that in this room, Jesus is more in a turn-water-into-wine-lets-celebrate kind of a mood.

Some more ADORABLE pictures!

Here is the happy family!

Mom and Elijah are looking pretty awesome...


Mom and Elijah sleeping together... beauty lives here.

















Here is a picture of Grandpa Brecht holding
his very first grandchild...
I think they are both pretty
excited!

Elijah is Born!

It is Thursday, 8:07 a.m. and I'm on my second day of being a daddy. Our son, Elijah Robert Brecht, was born yesterday at 12:15 p.m. and weighed a whopping 8 lbs, 5 oz. We love him very much.

The Week Before Baby

I guess that the very title of this post implies something and makes certain assumptions. Dependance on certainty and assuming are two habits that we are going to have to quickly abandon. Gail and I are expecting the arrival of baby B one week from tomorrow. From what I know of childbirth (which is virtually nothing) that means that I could become a father anytime from now until two weeks from now. So... we have decided to blog about our kid.

The news today? The kid is kicking. The kid has hiccups. The kid listened to the entire Once Soundtrack today. I'm not sure if that will turn out the way we hope. With music like that I figure our child has two options for the future. 1. Write brilliant songs filled with passion and hope. or 2. Write whiny songs like his dad.

We'll let you know the results of the experiment in a few days (there I go, assuming again...).



J-