More pictures of Owen

More pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Announcing - Owen Thomas Fuller

So apparently this little guy, in addition to inheriting stubbornness from both his Cate and Fuller lineages, is also impatient. Saturday started out fine. We had some errands we wanted to run before the big day this coming Thursday. We got some grocery shopping done, we got some things at Walmart and Joann's, and then we got some take-out dinner from O'Charley's prior to our friends the Bevans dropping their daughter off for us to watch. Leigh Ann felt a little uncomfortable, but chalked it up to having done a bit too much walking. But then (I'll spare you the details, which I'm sure Leigh Ann appreciates) the situation was such that Leigh Ann decided to call her doctor. Next thing we know, the Bevans are picking up not only their daughter, but our son as well, and we are off to the hospital for observation.

Well, turns out that Leigh Ann's water has broken and she was having some minor contractions. So in we go. We got to the hospital around 10pm. Her initial contractions subsided, so they went ahead and induced her. Things were pretty slow from midnight until around 5am, when they picked up just a little, but not a lot. The nurse decided that maybe having Leigh Ann sit up would encourage the little guy to get a move on - and boy did it. In the space of about 15 minutes, she went from not even halfway there to not being able to not push. Before the doctor could even get there, the moment had arrived, and so, at 6:19am, Owen Thomas Fuller was delivered after only 2 strong pushes by a 2nd year resident. He weighed in at 7 pounds 10.3 ounces, with a healthy set of lungs.

Leigh Ann and I are dead tired. We'll keep you posted.

Friday Musings

So I have come to realize that a lot of others will post random musings on their blogs, not just the latest family happenings. I decided I would attempt it as well, to add some variety to this blog.

I thought I would take some space here to post some thoughts on something I am quite fond of . . . food. I am especially fond of it since my being diagnosed with diabetes and my diet that I have been on for several months now (absence does make the heart grow fonder).

These are some things I very much enjoy.

Barbecue. Alright all you non-Southerners, I'm not talking about anything that is cooked on a grill, I mean barbecue, which is pork - or pulled pork. I have my favorites, but I will try anything. Give me my choice, and I will ask for Dreamland (their ribs are fantastic as well). I got hooked on this stuff while living in Birmingham, AL, and swore that I would die with a rib lodged in an artery.

Ice cream. Thank heavens there have been major advances in the no sugar added variety lately, because I would die if I could no longer enjoy the stuff.

Chocolate. I've always liked chocolate, but my time in Switzerland on my mission brought me to new levels. The Lindt brand (especially the Pistachio) still is my favorite, but I also liked a Swiss brand called Frey. In a pinch, a good Rittersport or Milka bar was also good. Milka is a German brand, and the first place I served on my mission, Loerrach, was a small town in southwestern Germany that had a Milka factory. When the wind blew just right, the whole town smelled like brownies. This was absolute torture on Fast Sundays.

Cheese. While on my mission, one of my companions and I went on a quest to try the stinkiest cheeses we could find - anything with the word "mountain (Berg)" in the name was always a pretty good bet. I suppose I am partial to the Swiss varieties (Emmental, Appenzell, Gruyere), but I am also fond of some others, including Mozarella, Cheddar, Tilsiter, Edam, Gouda, and Parmesan.

Fondue. Another love I developed in Switzerland. While I have never actually had a dessert fondue (I made one disastrous attempt at some diabetic-friendly chocolate fondue once that looked and tasted like mud - just ask Leigh Ann, or our friends Andy and Rheanna Stevens), I have tried several others. I am particularly fond of cheese fondue - primarily a good Gruyere and Emmental blend, or an Appenzell fondue - but I also like meat fondues, especially Fondue Bourguignonne and Fondue Chinoise. Similarly, I also was introduced to, and love, Raclette, a dish where you melt slices of a special cheese (Raclette cheese) in a special oven, then scrape it over foods, particularly potatoes.

Seafood. My favorite freshwater fish is Rainbow Trout. I love it. But I also like most seafood. I prefer fresh, but I also like the fish and chips that I can get at our local Bag of Nails pub-style restaurant. Scoma's on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco remains a favorite.

German food. Luckily Columbus has a German village, which contains a nice restaurant called Schmidt's Sausage Haus. They make their own Bratwurst and Garlic Knockwurst, and they are excellent. I usually just take advantage of their all-you-can-eat buffet, which features all their sausages, a great sausage stew, as well as German potato salad, Sauerkraut, and Rotkohl (red cabbage). For some reason, though, my son hates the place, and become hysterical everytime he goes there. Needless to say, it has been some time since I have eaten there. One of these days maybe we'll figure out what his problem is there.

Those are the highlights.

Time is running out

Well, we are now in the final stretch. Leigh Ann's doctor has scheduled her to be admitted to the hospital a week from today to be induced. We are supposed to arrive at 8pm. Why so late? Who knows. My own personal theory is that it may take some time, and going in at 8pm means that it is less likely that this kid will be born in the middle of the night - which is nice for the doctor. We went into the hospital at 4pm for Jacob, and he wasn't born until 4am - the doctor showed up around 3:30am. So I'm guessing our doctor would rather not have to show up at such an early hour. I don't completely blame her - she is also pregnant, and due the week after, so what pregnant woman at the end of her third trimester would want to trudge out in the dead of night?

Of course, Leigh Ann will be up all night. She is really hoping that what they say is true, that the second birth goes quicker than the first, and that she won't have to go 12 hours again. We will also be sure and get her a big meal before we show up. We didn't think ahead last time, and she hadn't eaten since noon the day of, so she went almost 24 hours before getting anything decent to eat - ice chips don't really cut it, especially when your diabetic husband, who has to eat, is munching on something over in the corner (speaking hypothetically of course).

Leigh Ann has a different doctor this time around, so we don't get to go to the more convenient St. Ann's hospital that is closer, rather we have to drive downtown to OSU hospital. I've heard it is a nice facility, but the idea of having to go downtown doesn't appeal to me.

3 Years and Counting!

So we have reached another birthday with Jacob! Actually, this one came almost a week late. I was in San Antonio, Texas, for an international HCV conference from last Sunday until Thursday, so I wasn't actually in town for his birthday on Monday the 6th. We decided to wait until Saturday to celebrate. Leigh Ann's mom came into town to stay with Leigh Ann while I was gone, in case munchkin number 2 decided to make an early entrance into the world, and her dad took the opportunity to pay a visit to his company's office in northern Ohio. I got back on Thursday night, and Leigh Ann's father arrived Friday night, so we had the party Saturday morning.

Jacob was excited when he came downstairs. We had his presents set up on the table, along with some balloons. What did Jacob love? The balloons. His Grandma Rice sent him lots of tractors and a couple of tractor books, which he loves. His Grandma Cate and Daddy Cate (these are all his names for them) brought him a Backyardigan's DVD and music CD (Jake still loves Pablo) and some more Thomas trains. We bought him a little Thomas the Tank Engine tent to play in. He proceeded to pile all of his toys into the tent to play with. But at the end of the day, what did he love the most? That's right, the decorations - the balloons. Helium-filled balloons are just about the coolest things a little boy could get.




This last month has been a doozy in terms of sickness. The week before I had to leave, Jake came down with pink eye. Leigh Ann and I were frantic to not catch it - me because I had to go to a conference and present a talk, Leigh Ann because she had to work her last weekend before her maternity leave, and didn't want to expend any more PTO.

Neither of us got pink eye. However, on my flight down to San Antonio, I came down with a killer cold, and spent most of my time in San Antonio in my hotel room nursing a fever. When I returned, I found Leigh Ann also was starting to come down with it. We now both look very pathetic and have nagging coughs that we are trying to get rid of. We're hoping that everybody will be back in good health shortly, as we are less than 2 weeks from the due date for our second energetic little boy.

Jacob continues to increase his vocabulary. More and more he is sounding intelligible - although he still clings to certain false words, even though he can say the right thing. Specifically, the work that he uses to replace both look and work is "merk." Oh well, one step at a time.

A message to Amama Cate, Daddy Cate, and Amama Rice

We shot this video a while back on our video camera (my birthday gift the year Jacob was born), but I have only recently downloaded it onto my computer. I was compiling all the videos for the last year, and seeing this clip, we thought the grandparents might like to see it!

So our family took a trip at the end of last month to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. We spent half a week there with Leigh Ann's family, staying in a cabin in Pigeon Forge. We lucked out with beautiful weather, and had a great time. Being in the mountains was a great feeling - although it made the flatness of central Ohio all the more stark. One day we took a drive up to Clingman's Dome. This first picture is of the 3 of us sitting on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line at Newfound Gap, not far from the Dome.
We then drove further up to Clingman's Dome, where we had a picnic lunch.
Finally, this picture was taken off of our back balcony at the cabin - giving you a pretty good idea why they call them the Smoky Mountains - this was early one morning.
Jacob behaved perhaps the best he has ever done on a long trip. We enjoyed eating at Bubba Gump's in Gatlinburg on our first night - Leigh Ann has been craving their stuffed shrimp ever since she had it while visiting San Francisco during our honeymoon.

We also took a tram ride up to Ober Gatlinburg. Jacob enjoyed the long tram ride up and back. He was also excited to see that they had real bears up at the top. Ober Gatlinburg has a series of amusement park-style rides. Leigh Ann's brother Brian and I took the opportunity to ride the alpine slide they had there. We bought Jacob a stuffed black bear, which he loves, and after helping him realize it was not a cat (when he first got it, he kept making meowing sounds), he now affectionately calls it "Smokyabear."

We were all sad to leave, but Leigh Ann and I were grateful to not have to share a room any longer with a little boy that enjoys getting up earlier than we do. Unfortunately, several of us seem to have picked up something in the air up there, and we then spent much of the next week with intestinal flus (I'll spare you all the grisly details - suffice it to say it was no picnic).