Today has been amazing and exhausting! Just yesterday we brought home Kaden and Keegan from the hospital. You will want to hang on to the end of this entry to see the pics and videos of Kaden and Keegan!

I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who helped Shannon out last night (Brook and Lauren who assisted with the feeding - as well as Will and John who helped with the baby logistics during the night). This was SO helpful!!! It gave me a chance to get some rest, so that I could do a bunch of cooking today for Thanksgiving.

Pictures

We snapped a few pictures of Kaden and Keegan in their Thanksgiving outfits. You can check out the slideshow here:

Video

While we were snapping the pictures of the boys in their outfits, we also shot some video (you can click the fullscreen button in the bottom right of the video to see it larger):

Kaden and Keegan’s First Thanksgiving from David Tucker on Vimeo.

God has truly blessed us. At 2:14 and 2:16 Eastern time this afternoon (November 24, 2008) Kaden Josiah Tucker and Keegan Matthew Tucker became a part of our family. In reality they had been a part of our family for months, but now we get to enjoy all of the blessings that newborns bring.

The Day

This morning started early. Knowing that there was a chance Shannon might have a Cesarean today (because of the increased contractions and other symptoms) we awoke early for breakfast (so Shannon could get some protein before heading to the hospital. After this, we all went back to bed for a little bit. Finally, at around 8am, Shannon called Dr. Robinson’s office to explain the discomfort she was having

When we arrived at Labor and Delivery, they placed us in a room. The nurses took time to hook up each of the babies to fetal heart monitors (with some big straps that were wrapped tightly around Shannon’s belly). After many nurses came in and asked Shannon some questions, Dr. Robinson came for an initial check. He thought that Shannon was in early labor because of the contractions, and he stated that we might be taking the babies out this afternoon.

On Dr. Robinson’s second visit, that assumption was confirmed. He went ahead with scheduling the operation, and we passed time by watching Thanksgiving recipes from Paula Dean on the television. Next, the nurse assisting with the anesthesia came and asked Shannon some questions, and she informed her that she would be going to the OR in 20 minutes! We quickly made final preparations, and then they came to retrieve Shannon. After 20 minutes, they came and retrieved me.

The operating room was a flurry of activity. There were probably 12 nurses, doctors, and residents mulling around. Initially, this was a bit overwhelming for both Shannon and I. After the initial chaos, the operation was underway, and within a few minutes Kaden was crying and the nurses were holding him for us to see (I cannot emphasize how amazing this was - God’s blessings have never been more real than at this point). Just two minutes later, Keegan joined him.

After each of the babies were weighed, measured, and examined I walked them down to the newborn nursery. I quickly called Lauren, Brook, my Mom, and my Dad (who were all waiting in the waiting room). They got there just in time and got to see the boys before they were wheeled into the nursery for more examinations.

Shannon was soon placed in recovery, and I brought the babies and joined her there. We had a good time just talking about this amazing blessing that God had given to us. Finally, after Shannon had completed her time in recovery we moved into our room, and the rest of the family joined us.

Today has truly been a bit of blur, but it has certainly had some defined moments that neither of us will ever forget. It is wonderful to see how much our lives have changes in just one day!

Last year Shannon and I setup our wish lists on Amazon.com. Several people asked me to do a tutorial on how to create such a list. I decided to record a short screencast - and make it available so that anyone who would like to create a list could do so.

Notes on the Video: First, the video is HD and will take a while to download. Second, the best thing to do is to click the button in the bottom right that takes the video fullscreen (otherwise you won’t be able to see where I am clicking).

Vimeo: Amazon Wishlist Tutorial

We knew we were in trouble when our car seats wouldn’t fit in Shannon’s car without moving the front seats all the way up (because when they are used with infants, the car seats have to be turned to face the back). With that being the case, we decided to investigate the minivan market.

Many family members bemoaned this transition, calling Shannon such names as ’soccer mom’. Many people thought we would lose our ‘cool’ and ‘young’ status the moment that we purchased such a vehicle. However, I am excited to inform you that we are still ‘cool’, ‘young’, and now owners of a new minivan (although we didn’t get to take it home right away….).

On Wednesday, we went down to the Dodge dealership (and let me say that this is a GREAT time to buy a car) - and had one that we were looking at specifically (we test drove one on Monday to be sure we liked the model). Everything went well, and we purchased it. However, there was a slight rattle in the roof - which meant that they had to tighten the bracket on one of the DVD screens. This meant we had to leave it overnight - and we will be going to pick it up later today (Thursday).

You can see some pictures from the dealership’s website below:

I started talking with someone at O’Reilly back in February about the AIR Cookbook. Shortly after this initial meeting, I was named the lead author for this project. Next, I found a great group of co-authors. It took several months of organizing, and then many many months of writing. Shannon can testify that it took many long nights. However, it all seems worth it now that I have finally received my copies of the book (which will be in most every bookstore in the US next week).

For Family: As I am sure you realize - this is not a book you want to buy if you don’t enjoy reading about programming (although it might be a good sleep aid).

Here is Shannon in the nursery at 36 weeks. We are only a week or two away from the delivery - and we both are so excited!