Steven met Santa Claus tonight - and he was amazed at all the things going on around Santa.
Once he was in Santa's lap, he sat there motionless taking in the scene. A few moments after getting his picture taken, he was desperate to get his paws on Santa's beard.
We had a great time with Santa and it was fun to get some time together before Thanksgiving.
It didn't take long for Grandma Donna and Steven to get down in the floor for a good time!
For those of you who care, and if you're reading this you probably do, here's a look at my schedule the next two weeks (starting with this Friday):
Friday, Nov. 20 – Drive to Dunn, N.C. for football season finale
Saturday, Nov. 21 – Football game at 1 p.m., drive back to Jax – expected arrival around 1 a.m.
Sunday, Nov. 22 – short stint in the office
Monday, Nov. 23 – Fly to California
Tuesday, Nov. 24 – Basketball game at 10:30 p.m. (Eastern time), red eye flight after the game
Wednesday, Nov. 25 – get back to Jax in the morning around 9 or 10, finish packing the house, work on prepping for Friday night basketball game
Thursday, Nov. 26 – THANKSGIVING! A short stint in the office to get ready for Friday road trip
Friday, Nov. 27 – Up and back to Columbia, S.C. – basketball game at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 – MOVING DAY!
Sunday, Nov. 29 – UNPACKING DAY! Plus, prep for Monday basketball game
Monday, Nov. 30 – Leave for Atlanta in the morning, basketball game at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 31 – Arrive in Jax at some point – not sure when yet
Friday, Dec. 4 – Basketball home opener vs. Florida, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 5 – FAMILY DAY! Our first full day to spend together in almost a month. I'm really looking forward to this.
It's been way too long since I've posted here, so let's get you caught up on the goings on in the Lamp house.
The first major item of news is that we're moving. No, we're not leaving Jacksonville, just changing addresses to a different part of town. We've found a nice little house to rent – putting us in a better neighborhood that we can feel a lot better about taking Steven around in. Bonnie did a lot of work finding the right spot and we're really excited about the new house.
Kudos to Bonnie's mom, Vicki, for coming to town to help Bon when I had my coast-to-coast road trips last month. I know that was huge for her and I imagine that Vicki didn't mind spend some quality time with Steven.
Speaking of moms…Donna is making her first Thanksgiving trip down to Jax on Sunday and spending this week with us. She's going to be in for a surprise when she sees him.
Our little man has quickly turned into not so little. He's a chunk – boosting his weight up to 22 pounds. I'm glad I've got an appointment with the chiropractor in the morning to get my back adjusted, something that has become a weekly staple, to help cope with toting the youngster.
Steven is starting to show more and more personality each day. He's really interacting more with us – showing facial expressions (which he has inherited from Bonnie), changes in his tone when talking and wanting us to pay attention to him more. Scooting around is still his mode of transportation and he's developed the "hover" until the light finally clicks for him to start crawling forward.
By the way, if you're ever in San Diego for only 22 hours, I've got the blueprint for how to do it.
It's been awhile since I've posted anything - it's been a little hectic around the old Lamp house. With my upcoming trip to San Diego, I'll probably write a little while in the air so be prepared for some new stuff in the coming weeks.
The video above is us playing with him on our bed. He has taken to being tossed (gently I might add) onto the pillow. His laugh has become contagious. He can just lay on his back and start laughing for no reason at all.
I'm constantly amazed at how awesome our little man is.
As Steven turned three months old yesterday, we had a major breakthrough as he has captured the highly elusive Mr. Frog!
Everyone says that children grow up fast.
They weren't lying – especially when it comes to lil' Steven.
On Monday, Steven went in for his two month checkup. Our little boy is starting to not be little anymore – coming in at a whopping 14 pounds. That's a six-pound increase in the last month.
He's eating us out of house and home!
The new developments are that he's starting to smile – a lot. As long as he isn't hungry and you're talking to him, he's going to grin and give you a big smile.
It's a lot of fun to come home every day and see that little smiling face looking at you.
We all grew up learning about the 10 commandments, but unfortunately, the 11th commandment is often overlooked and not abided (which probably goes the same with the first 10).
That 11th commandment is clearly stated – "Thou shalt not touch the cheek of the baby, especially when he's feeding."
Well, Steven's great-grandmother, Clara, violated that 11th commandment on his second day on Earth. As we all know, hell hath no fury than for violating one of the commandments.
So, upon touching Steven's cheek while Bonnie was feeding him, Donna (my mom) slaps the crap out of her hand – chastising her for touching Steven's cheek and for violating the 11th commandment.
The moment scared the crap out of me, startled Bonnie and stunned Clara. We were dumbfounded upon learning that there was an 11th commandment. I will give you that I wasn't the best student at Sunday school, but I got the gist of the 10 commandments…but that's where I thought it stopped.
Being the nice guy that I am, I promptly touched Steven's cheeks and allowed for Clara to touch them as well. I think at that point she was afraid to touch him because Donna might have tackled her for not holding him properly, as shown in the instruction manual that the hospital gives with every newborn.
Topping the event off was Donna not even remembering the slap she gave Clara – and denying that it even happened.
The truth Donna shall set you free.
This is Steven "enjoying" a bath. These are always an adventure and its truly priceless some of the faces he makes.
This is Steven getting ready for his first night in the crib. He squirms a lot in his sleep - so his first night in the crib shouldn't be any different. Last night, we put him in the bed with his head in the same position as in the video. When he awoke this morning, he had spun all the way around and his head was where his feet were.
Steven taking a poo is always an adventure, so we decided to share the looks of contentment after he has unleashed the beast into his diaper. His poo runneth over - filling the diaper and then some.
On any given episode of ER, there is a hospital bed that flies into the picture with six to seven people hovering about it doing some odd job or another. There are yelling for 10 ccs of this, or run some drip, intubating somebody or some other thing that makes you extremely fearful of ever going near an emergency room.
As Bonnie was laying on the bed, the midwife said these few words "We're going to be doing an emergency C-section. There are going to be a lot of people coming into the room, but just be calm as we're going to have him out in a few minutes."
Moments later, an army of nurses and doctors had stormed the room like the Marines did at Omaha Beach in World War II. People were flying around, hooking up IVs, drips and who knows what else. Before I could figure out what was going on, Bonnie was rolled out with the doctor on the bed towards the operating room with one of the nurses throwing me a set of scrubs to change in to.
Standing next to my mother-in-law, only one of us could go in there. I had been scared of the actual birth since Bonnie told me she was pregnant. It was a decision that called for quick action. Do I avoid watching all the blood, guts and gore (which would send my stomach upside down)? Do I go in there, freaking out because my whole world rests in the hands of a doctor? Bonnie is going to be awake, what do I say to her? How the heck am I supposed to be calm for her when I don't know what the heck is going on?
With all of those thoughts racing through my head and In front of my mother-in-law, I quickly traded out of T-shirts and shorts for the scrubs, hair net and facial mask. I headed out of the room, lost looking for my wife and the hole inside her belly that my son was going to be going coming out of shortly.
I got the nurse's station, found one of the nurses who let me into the OR (doctor talk for an operating room). I took a moment before I stepped in to collect my thoughts. This was helluva lot bigger than me and Bonnie – our kid was on the line and I needed to do whatever I could to support the efforts to make sure he came out safely and healthy.
The scene was eerie when I entered the room. There were two doctors hacking away at Bonnie, with four to five nurses hovering around doing various task, none of which I could figure out in the 0.2 seconds that I tried to. Instead, I focused on Bonnie, who was doped up to the gills. She was shaking because of all the narcotics in her system, which was to help offset the fact that there was no time to put her under anesthesia.
How much narcotics was in her system? If she had been walking the streets and got arrested, they would have thrown the book at her for felony drug possession.
Back to Bonnie, who had a shield below her breasts and up high enough so that she couldn't see the activities happening in her mid-section. There was a ton of action as parts were flying out and two women had their hands deep inside Bonnie trying to procure young Steven from the depths of her belly.
I've seen a lot of Bonnie in our relationship. That day, I saw more of her than I ever wanted.
About five minutes after they began the surgery, Steven was out safely – whisked away to the incubation station where he was checked out by the on-call pediatrician doctor. I went over to check on my son, but kept an eye on Bonnie to make sure that she was OK. I had been a wreck for quite awhile, now it was taking on even greater proportions as Steven was finally here.
The moment we had been waiting nine months had come…Steven's arrival, but Bonnie couldn't celebrate much as she was laying prostrate on the operating table with her insides sitting on her belly (trust me, this is an image that I won't forget for a long time).
Once Steven was checked out, I got to hold him and show him to his mother. He was bright eyed and bushy tailed. His flashed those big blue eyes and melted her heart right then and there. He gazed at his mother lovingly, which brought tears to my eyes as we were now a full-fledged family (not that we weren't before, but this stamped official on it).
While the doctor's were working on Bonnie after the delivery, I noted that all the king's horses and all the king's men were putting Bonnie back together again. Bonnie looked at me and asked "What am I? Humpty Dumpty?"
We looked at each other and started laughing, with the doctor who operating on Bonnie looking perplexed as it was the first time she had ever seen anyone laugh in this situation. We needed something to break the tension and that was the perfect tonic for the moment.
Upon the doctor's stapling her back up, I went with Steven to the nursery for his check in. He went on the scale squirming, weighing in at 8 pounds, 0.5 ounces. Then he went to the bed to be measured, coming in at a length 21.5 inches (1 foot, 9.5 inches).
It was off to another station, where his grandparents and his great-grandmother were able to gawk in amazement from the window – taking a TON of pictures. He is quite the cute young lad, even if he is my kid.
After Steven was in good hands, I raced down to the recovery room to check in on Bonnie. She was resting well, the shakes coming to an end as she slowly detoxed from the meds that fed to her in the surgery. She was at ease knowing that he was healthy and safe, while finally completing the most vicious 10 months of her life.
A few hours later, she was finally able to meet her son and hold young Steven for the first time. It was a touching moment as the three of us huddled around each other to share in the special moment. For me, it brought me back down to Earth as the excitement and anxiety of the past four hours finally had built to this Hallmark moment.
It was the perfect end to what had been far from a perfect day.
It was a normal Saturday night, or least as normal as any other one since Bonnie became pregnant.
Over the past nine months, I had become convinced that Steven was a big fan of Robert Frost and taking the road less traveled. He had a tendency to kick, all hours of the day, as well as slide from side-to-side, driving his mother nuts.
As we were watching movies at the house, it became clear that Steven was fired up this evening. His kicks were CLEARLY visible from the other side of the room – i.e. his father was able to make out his foot trying to bust through his mother's stomach. Steven wanted to take it a step further though. He started shifting side-to-side so violently that you could see him sliding across her belly.
It was a touching moment to know that he would soon be out, but it also scared the living crap out of me knowing that he would be out soon.
While that moment was scary enough, later that night it went to another level.
As were wrapping up a movie, Bonnie was having contractions. Now, I'm no doctor (and I have the grades to prove it), but that word can put the fear into any man – especially with the faces Bonnie was making at the time. She was in pain, that was pretty evident, but fortunately they were only just bursts of pain that quickly subsided.
At this point, the two rocket scientist weren't sure if Mrs. Lamp was in labor or not. Her contractions were between 7 to 10 minutes, not very long and she was able to talk very quickly after them. So, in fear of looking like of idiots and going to the hospital for a false alarm, we decided to make a call to the OBGYN doctor in an effort to see where we were at in the birthing process.
So, it was a call to the doctor's office answering service. Five minutes later, the doctor called back and put us at ease by letting us know that Bonnie would officially be in labor when her contractions were coming every five minutes and she couldn't breathe between them.
I this point, I think I became faint at the idea that Bonnie would be having contractions like that at home really put me off kilter. It was then that I decided that if Bonnie got to having contractions five minutes apart that I would be bolting with her to the hospital faster than Jeff Gordon in a NASCAR race.
With the threat of a weekend birth over, paving the way to Bonnie's doctor appointment on Monday, we were able to go to bed. Or at least attempt it.
During my two month exile to the couch, I have become accustomed to going to sleep with the TV on an old movie. While Bonnie was sacked out in the bed, I was on the couch battling a panic attack as I realized how close I was to becoming a father. Fortunately, John McClain was battling the former Marines in Diehard 2, so I was able to relax after the attack and slowly fall asleep.
With sleep mode achieved, it doesn't take much to rustle me awake. About five minutes after I had fallen asleep, the doctor's answering service called back to see if the doctor had called us – waking me to talk to the young lady and confirm that we had talked to the doctor.
Steven wasn't coming any sooner than Monday, that much was confirmed.
Labor…that's a great use of a word to describe giving birth.
It takes a LOT of work to give birth to a kid. Think about it. The woman has to carry this kid around with her for nine-plus months. She has to eat like a fat kid that had just come back from Somalia. The woman goes through more mood swings than you ever could have imagined (and trust me, all women go through mood swings, it just takes on a life of its own when they are pregnant). Then, they balloon from that perfect vision that you married into the lady in Shallow Hal.
And that's just the pregnancy part. We haven't even TOUCHED on the birthing part.
That's where our story begins…labor.
On Monday, Bonnie went to the doctor and it was decided that at 5 p.m. she would be checking in to the hospital and that Steven's planned arrival would be on Tuesday.
After checking into the Baptist Medical Center Downtown hotel (better known as the birthing rooms), Bonnie assumed her position in the bed and began taking some medicine to help her dilate more. I'm not a doctor (although some people could confuse me as one), so I'll leave all the medical terminology out of fairness, accuracy and quite frankly, good taste.
To say that Bonnie was uncomfortable was an understatement. She had not felt good for awhile and Steven wasn't making things any easier.
After taking the medicine and 10 mg of Ambien, it would seem like Bonnie would sack out quickly. Instead, she couldn't sleep – even through Escape From Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood, which I thought was a sure fire way to put her out (a side note – no offense, but how the heck the warden didn't keep a better eye on Morris when he knew that the guy was the smartest person on the island is beyond me. Also, is the movie better than Shawshank or worse? I'm torn at this point.).
Instead of being able to sleep, Bonnie can't get comfortable which leads to her not getting any rest. She can't take a lot of pain meds because she's due to get an epidural in the morning when the inducing process truly begins. So, instead, she and Nurse Mindy have a running dialogue of how to get her comfortable and asleep – in the end, the only person that wins is me as I'm able to find a weirdly comfortable position on the sofa that allows me to stay warm enough in the frozen tundra that has become our room (a side note – you may think I'm embellishing the room temperature, but I'm not. It was somewhere around 60 degrees in there at one point).
The sun rises, as do I, awaking to see that Bonnie is up and Nurse Mindy is trying to alleviate some pressure on Bonnie. A few hours later, Bonnie gets her first dose of the medicine that is to purge Steven from the womb and into the world. She also gets her epidural and officially goes off the reservation at that point as she is jacked up where she can't feel a thing.
This all happens around 10 a.m. Bonnie has dilated 2 cm…that's a FAR, FAR cry from where she needs to be for Steven to make his way through the escape hatch.
Around 2, the doctor comes back to take a look to see how far we've come and if we're ready to really go into labor (I thought we had done that awhile back, obviously I was wrong). They broke her water – and literally broke it – sending out a gusher of fluid that looked like something straight out of a movie.
Alas, it didn't produce the wanted result – an instant rush to labor and Steven's arrival. Back to work on the IVs – depositing some fluid and meds to push Bonnie's dilation.
So, the doctor leaves with a planned return later in the afternoon. Coming back at 6, a different doctor took a look and shoves her hand in a place that is revered. What she found, sent the room into a tizzy and turned our world upside down quickly.
As we enter the final weeks of pregnancy, I have grown a much deeper respect and love for my sweet wife, Bonnie.
It's weird because I've been in love with her since the time we met on a dark dance floor in Birmingham. But the past 8+ months have given me an all new and greater love and respect for her.
She's a trooper – working five days a week and carrying around a little growing human inside her. It's been funny the past few weeks as her ankles have swollen and the jokes we make about how nasty it looks.
I was watching a movie the other night and remembered an old Hootie and the Blowfish song titled "I Can't Find The Time to Tell You."
There's a line in the song – "So many things to say, I couldn't fit it in a book of 1,000 pages." I think that fits what I'm feeling right now…which is a very weird feeling for me as most of you know. I'm pretty good at expressing things and what's on my mind without mincing words, but words can't do what I'm feeling justice.
Before Steven gets here, I want her to know how much I love her and how appreciative I am of her being so brave, while not nearly as bitchy as I was afraid of her being. She has endured a lot to get us to this point and I know there's more where that came from – which we both know is going to be worth it in the end.
The one thing I've learned during this process is that it is much like going to school and completing the education process. You just have to battle through it and put as much or little effort into it – knowing that is the amount that you are going to get out of it.
Bonnie has put everything into bringing this young lad into this world and I feel ready for him to get here. To say that Bonnie has been by far the greatest thing to ever happen to me is an understatement and I know that Steven is going to be the greatest thing to ever happen to us.
There are many things that fall into the role of father, but not a lot of those occur during the pregnancy. In fact, I'm now pretty sure that my only job is to make sure that Mama isn't pissed off.
Well, in church two weeks ago, Steven went into his semi-daily ritual of kicking the living hell out of Bonnie. (On a side note, how she hasn't had a rib broken yet is somewhat amazing and I'm somewhat disappointed that the youngster has not come through on that one…there's still seven weeks, so anything's possible). His kicks were pretty violent, so violent that you could send them bouncing through her dress.
At this point, I decided it was time for Dad to come to the rescue – placing my hand on Bonnie's belly and VOILA! The kicking stopped.
We have now determined that I have a calming influence on the lil Stevie. I can only hope that stays the same over the next 40 years (that would mean I would be 70, which would be a major upset) as a calming factor in his life.
Seven weeks til his arrival…I guess it only gets more interesting from here.
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| Bonnie isn't happy with Joel at this moment. |
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| This guy is not a happy camper. |
For everyone, there are moments that define your life.
On Monday, one of those came in my golf game at the TPC at Sawgrass on the world-famous Island Hole - No. 17.
The first player to boldly take the tee in front of a small crowd of about 10 people on the tee had knocked it stiff, putting it to within in 5 feet.
Now, this was no normal hole location. The hole locations on #16, 17 and 18 were all in the Sunday locations.
So, coming off of a disastrous quadruple-bogey on the 16th, I took the tee box with several friends around the tee - putting me in the eye of the storm on the hardest par-3 in the world of golf.
With that as the background, enjoy the drama unfold as our forecaddie Andy tapes the action.
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