Welcome Home Bethel Style

We are back in Bethel. When one of the flight attendants checked our tickets and saw our final destination she said, “Do you live there? You must. No other reason to go there.” It wasn’t the most welcoming homecoming. It got me thinking about how according to a lot of people we probably live in one of the most undesirable places in the country. In many ways I can understand where they are coming from. I see the same rundown houses and the dust blown potholed streets. I cringed when the flight attendant called out, “Last call for Bethel”, on the plane because two passengers are on the verge of being passed out and have not stirred from their seats despite the fact that everyone else has exited the plane.

When we came here with Jamie it was with a sense of adventure. The first few days we hiked all around town and marveled at the uniqueness of this place. Jamie was as excited as we were walking on the river bank or gawking at the price of chips in the grocery store. Bringing William here has felt very different. He is tiny and helpless. He doesn’t appreciate that this place is like living in a different country, he doesn’t know what it is like to live anywhere. We have kind of hunkered down in our apartment. We are tired and cautious, trying to figure out life with two children, one a newborn in this town out on the tundra.

That being said, all has not been dreary. We got to ride home from the airport in the party limo, which Jamie has always wanted to do. You can rent the limo for an hour for something like a hundred dollars, but when they are busy it will also do regular pick ups. Since we had so much luggage they sent it to pick us up. The cab driver was optimistic and cheerful, and assured us that our nine totes could fit inside, which they did. Then as we pulled away from the airport he turned on the music and the strobe lights. Red and green designs danced around the interior of the limousine Jamie’s jet lagged face smiled goofily into the colored lights. It was a welcome home William party.

Three Weeks Old

Here are some pictures of William at three weeks old.

More pictures

William Paul

Wiliam Paul is here and he is wonderful. He is cuddly and he smiles all the time. His older brother is delighted with him and has not shown any signs of jealousy. He has dark hair that might turn out to be curly. He weighed 7 ibs 1 oz and looks a lot like Jamie.

I am enjoying him immensely despite the physical recovery. We are all still trying to process the circumstances of his delivery, and all I can say is we feel extremely lucky but that doesn't begin to capture the feelings of gratitude and thankfulness and relief.

Baby update (no baby yet)

No baby, yet. I have another appointment on Wednesday. As long as everything looks good the Dr. will not induce labor until two weeks after my due date, which is the 18th. As hard as it is to wait, this seems to be the best choice. The practice we are at is at the hospital and they seem really good, so we feel very comfortable following their advice. On the other hand, it is really hard to wait. The baby will be closely monitored until then to make sure everything is going well. Below is a link to an article that made me feel a lot better about waiting.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2007754,00.html#ixzz0vSZikCgr

Baby Update- Due Date

I think there is almost a 100% chance that the baby will not be born today. Very few babies are born on their due date, only 30% come before their due date. Which doesn't mean that I wasn't hoping, but oh well. The baby still seems to be moving around a lot and changing positions. Hopefully, he will settle down and get in the right position and get the show on the road. Until then we wait.

Lemonade Stand

James and his cousin Michael had a lemonade stand a few weeks back. James has wanted to do something like this for years, so it was great that he was able to do it.