Goofy-looking dog

Goofy-looking dog, originally uploaded by the Tucson Gardners.

We took the dog to the groomer and made a hasty decision as to how close to cut his hair. It was the wrong one.

My new toy

My Canon 500D/Rebel T1i, originally uploaded by iklash/.

All I want to do is stay at home all day and take photos with this.

Mother and child

Teabaggers are taking this well.

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UPDATE:
I just read this one.
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Glad to see that opponents of Health Care Reform are acting responsibly:

The window smashing at Giffords' Tucson office occurred a few hours after she voted in favor of health care reform.

-Rep. Giffords' Tucson office vandalized after health care vote (Arizona Daily Star)

"A brick was thrown through a window at Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter's district office in Niagara Falls early Friday.

Slaughter's district stretches from Rochester to the Buffalo area. She has been a key supporter of the health care reform bill passed Sunday by the House."

-Authorities investigate vandalism at Democratic offices in western NY over the weekend (Los Angeles Times)

Protesters outside the Capitol hurled epithets at Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) as they left the building after President Obama delivered an 11th-hour speech on behalf of the health care bill. Carson told reporters that protesters yelled "kill the bill," then used a racial epithet to describe Carson and Lewis, who is a revered figure on both sides of the aisle.

According to observers, Frank was confronted by about 100 protesters inside the Longworth House Office Building, where Democrats were huddling for another meeting about the legislation. Some targeted Frank with anti-gay epithets and urged him to vote against the bill.

-'Tea party' protesters accused of spitting on lawmaker, using slurs (Washington Post)

Ending a mystery that has kept the political blogosphere busy all day, Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, acknowledged today that it was he who yelled out "baby killer" during Sunday's historic floor debate on health care.

The outburst -- reminiscent of South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson's decision to yell "You lie!" during an address by President Obama to Congress last year -- came as Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., explained why he was switching his support to back the health care bill after initially leading a group of anti-abortion Democrats in opposition.

-Rep. Neugebauer says he shouted 'baby killer' during health debate (USA Today)

...but when [Barney] Frank joined Democratic leadership for a walk across the Capitol grounds at midday, he was called the same epithet from the previous day, according to reports.

Capitol Police arrested two Massachusetts men yesterday, William Gunn and David Sanders, on suspicion of disrupting Congress after police said the men yelled out in the House gallery.

As ushers tried to escort them out of the gallery, several Republicans stood up on the House floor and cheered.

-Health care protesters back in force (Boston Globe)

Though it's not fair to characterize an entire political movement with this kind of immature/racist/homophobic/sexist behavior, it is indicative of the vitriol from commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck who stoke the fires and legislators like Michele Bachmann and John Boehner who do nothing to civilize debate.

Our first walk

Went substantially better than our attempt from a very windy other day. I couldn't even leave the camera on the wall to set the timer:

The arrival of baby Max

A couple of nights ago, Kerri and I (with the invaluable assistance from Megan) welcomed our baby boy into the world. It was an unforgettable experience, and we thought we'd share it with you as best we can.

"My water broke"
At a little after 1pm, I got a call at work from Kerri - she told me not to rush home, but that her water had broken. Many of you know already that Kerri and I had been attending Bradley Method classes. The Bradley Method stresses the role of the husband in keeping the mother calm and helping to progress labor, so I knew I should get home soon. About three minutes later I arrived home and called our coach, Lauren Pool. Lauren told me to get Kerri up and walking (it helps to stimulate contractions) to avoid forced intervention later on.

Time for hard work
After about 3 hours of medium contractions and lots of walking, Kerri really got down to business. Her contractions got closer and more intense, and lasted for longer periods of time. Her attitude never changed from the excited Kerri we all know and love, although she was a bit more serious.

A scary change
At about 7:45pm, things got serious in a hurry. Kerri's attitude changed and she vomited twice. While Megan coached Kerri through some contractions, I snuck out to call Lauren and give her an update (and, of course, get some advice). When I returned to the bedroom, Megan told me that Kerri had begun bleeding rather heavily, and we decided that it was time to get her to the hospital. Until this moment I was the picture of composure - excited, but down-to-business and confident. When I found out about the bleeding, I'm pretty sure that my wide eyes and hyperventilation belied my icy cool appearance. I cannot stress this enough - I thought something was seriously wrong. With the worst kinds of thoughts running through my head, we rushed to Tucson Medical Center. When Kerri closed her eyes I made eye contact with Megan, whose self-control and reassurance was of great comfort to me.

To the hospital
Panicked, I walked Kerri into the hospital while Megan parked the car. When we entered the room, a huge contraction brought Kerri to her knees. As I knelt down and coached her through it, a clerk at the front desk asked, "are you here to be seen by a doctor?" and I couldn't help but laugh. As Kerri was being admitted, it was obvious that they were not used to seeing women who don't rush to the hospital the minute that they start labor - when we were making our way in, they kept asking if she needed emergency assistance!

It wasn't long before we were in a triage room to check Kerri's dilation. My worries and fears were immediately assuaged when the nurse hurriedly demanded the phone that was near Megan to exclaim, "I need a doctor - I have a patient at full dilation!". It turns out that the blood was from the cervix dilating fully, something that I thought was hours away. Kerri was wheeled into the delivery room and after a few hours of work, gave birth to Max.

Ultimately we achieved our goal of an unmedicated birth. Although the OB performed a sneak-attack episiotomy, there were very few complications. Kerri did this all with no pitocin, no epidural and no chemical intervention - and no complaint! She was truly amazing, and I'm lucky to have her.

Introducing Maxwell Edward Gardner

Maxwell Edward Gardner
born on Saturday, March 13 2010 at 10:33pm
Tucson Medical Center - Tucson, Arizona
6 lbs, 13 oz | 19.5 inches long

I will post more about our birth story later (as our birth story is not yet complete), but here's an introduction to Max. You may notice some changes to our site and Flickr feed, but you can still access it the same way. Thanks for all of you who care enough to come by, call, text, video chat or just to read about our new addition. We hope you'll all meet him in person soon.

The New Stroller

I bought this stroller a couple weekends ago:



Jeff saw it in the garage the other night and said "I don't understand why we have this stroller too" because we already have this stroller:



I explained to him that it's for trips, like going to Disneyland. In disbelief, he replied, "you bought a stroller... just to go to Disneyland?"

Men. They just don't get it.

Grandpa Mundle

My Grandpa passed away yesterday, after suffering from failing health for a while now. He is survived by his wife of over 50 years, 4 children, 6 grandchildren, 1 great-granddaughter, and a great-grandson on the way. We will all miss him greatly.

I Love My Work

One of the moms in my class (Lia) gave me these cute gifts yesterday (all homemade!). The little pants are so soft, I just want to snuggle with them! And I will always remember who gave me these onsies, because Lia's oldest daughter (who was in my first class 4 years ago) LOVES dinosaurs, and her youngest daughter likes blue (and she told me she picked out the blue dinosaur just for baby, who she thinks we should name Champ). The giraffe rattle is darling and I can't wait to put it to use! Lia blogged about the gifts at her blog.

Lia is so sweet; I have really lucked out with families this year in class. One mom is a labor and delivery nurse at TMC (where we'll be delivering) and she has been a wealth of information. Another mom has given me everything a baby could need, from toys and books to booster seats and a breast pump. And yet another mom gave me maternity clothes. They've all offered advice and stories. The entire school has shown interest in my health and well-being. It's my own little support group!

Have I Put on Weight?

My belly from week 17 to week 38.

The doctor said it could be any day now!