What we're thankful for...

This guy:


He's just so special and did that ginger bread house all by himself. Here's the end result:

...and then party all night! Woo!

She's in that kind of mode lately. It's not the funnest for Mom and Dad. But she's still a shweetie. Here are some cute pictures for your silent, daytime viewing pleasure.

Sleep, sleep, sleep all day long...

There has been a demand for more pictures of this little girl. She actually hasn't changed much since the last post. But, I'll comply. Again, clicking on a picture will send you to a picasa album and you can see even more.

Like most babies, Tess enjoys her sleep. Whether she's being swallowed alive by blankets...


Or held by her Mama. She just loves sleep. And she dreams about one thing...


FOOTBALL!!! It's really rather disappointing since I hate that sport. I've started to indoctrinate her early with soccer and made her watch a couple of matches with me this weekend. She slept through most of it, but that's pretty normal with soccer.

Baby Photos

Things have settled down a little bit, and I can finally put up some pictures for everyone. The delivery went fine, although Tess was very uncooperative. Jaime had to push for a couple of hours, and finally the doctor just went in with forceps to get her out.

We got to the hospital around 8:15pm a little anxious that Jaime hadn't really started labor and would be turned away. She had been having contractions all day long. Luckily, she was in labor. She also didn't have to wait long for her epidural which was a huge relief. After the epidural, we basically just had to sit there for hours waiting until it was time to push. I kicked her trash in Blokus. The baby was posterior and pushing went very slow. It didn't help that the umbilical cord was also wrapped around the baby's throat, which caused her heart rate to drop every time Jaime had a contraction. Still, the doctor was able to get her out safe and sound. And Tess looks just like her mother. It's as if Jaime found a way to asexually reproduce.

Here are a few pictures, and if you click on them, they'll take you to a web album with some more. Enjoy!



Jaime is doing great as a mom and is loving all the time with her little girl.







And the hospital setup this website for us as well with a professionally taken picture: click here

SHE'S HERE!!!

Arrived: 1:56am
Weight: 6 pounds 11 ounces
Height: 19.5 inches

Beautiful face. Scary long legs. I'll put up pictures as soon as possible.

My favorite parts of election night...

1. Obama had the lead in Utah...for like 5 minutes...when less than 1% of the results were in.



2. This is when I knew it was all over for McCain:


Wow! Nearly 80% in Maverick County.

3. Missouri didn't pick the winner. I love seeing long-standing winning streaks come to an end. It's the only state I was cheering for McCain to win.

Yeah Maine...

I just found this on Yahoo's political coverage. I don't think they're quite ready to call it a win for Obama since it's such a close race up there. I'm actually hoping these numbers don't change.

"Baby, Come Out!"

This post should be announcing the birth of our dear little Tessa Qudarth, but she already takes too much after her mother. If any of you have spent any time with Jaime, then you know how punctual she is...

Anyhow, on Halloween we spent the evening with the Kecks, which involved some amazing egg nog and cookies. While there, Tiffany shared a childrens book with us called, Baby, Come Out! Jaime got a big kick out of it because certain parts of it are similar to how things have been at our home. Particularly this page:

I play the role of Laura, which hasn't worked at all. That baby, like most people, does not understand that when I yell, things should happen! In the book, the dad is able to coax the baby out by giving everyone in the family a kiss except the baby...for obvious reasons. Ever since then, Jaime has incessantly tried to get me to kiss her stomach to set some sort of voodoo magic trance on the baby to get her to come out. I finally did it a few hours ago, and still not even a little contraction.