He's Here!

Welcome to the world Thomas Jackson Mhire!!

Monday, November 16th, 2009 - 3:07pm
6 pounds, 12 ounces, 20 inches long

Tommy and I are so in love already! (Max and Albert are still making up their minds)

Our birth story is fairly uneventful, but I think that's a good thing.  I started having contractions about 3:30am on Monday morning.  Tommy started timing them at around 5:30 and they were about 4 minutes apart when we arrived at the hospital around 8:30am.  I got an epidural at about 12:30pm and little Jack was born kicking and screaming after about 35 minutes of pushing.

Here are some of the first pictures from the Labor and Delivery room:

Meeting Grandma for the first time:

My dad arrived on Tuesday afternoon.  Here is one of the first pictures of Grandpa and Jack:

We arrived home from the hospital early Wednesday afternoon and have just been settling in since then.

(heading home from hospital)

We have been so thankful to have Grandma and Grandpa here.  They have been such a help making yummy meals, keeping up with laundry and helping out with Jack while Tommy and I try to figure out our new roles as parents.

We had our first pediatrician appointment yesterday and I think everyone fared better than poor Mom.  Jack had lost a little more weight since we left the hospital and I immediately felt like the most horrible mother on the planet.  Fortunately for me, I think Dr. Berkun knew how I was feeling even before I did.  He assured us that Jack was healthy, alert and progressing just as he should be.  Thanks to a few helpful hints from Dr. Berkun, Jack is eating better than ever this morning!

Here are a few photos from Jack's first few days:

Aunt Katy and cousin Evan arrive today for the Thanksgiving holiday and Uncle Ian and Ripple will be coming later in the week.  It will be a busy house, but we have so much to be thankful for this year!

Waiting for Baby Jack

I know it's been a while since I last updated the blog, what else is new? We're down to 2 short weeks before Jack's eagerly anticipated arrival - can you believe it? What have we been doing over the past month? Lots of waiting, some preparing, and a few other random things. Here's what's been keeping us busy as we wait for baby Jack's arrival (in no particular order):

1) Preparation and more preparation

I know we'll never be completely and totally prepared for the life changes that await us, but we're trying to do as much as we can. We've made multiple trips to Babies 'R Us, only one of which resulted in a pregnancy hormone-induced breakdown because the right color of pack and play had been discontinued. We've attended classes at our local hospital - a day long childbirth class, a "basics of infant care" class and a breastfeeding class. I'm sure we now know absolutely everything we need to be perfect parents (Yeah, right!). Tommy has put together a pack and play and a baby rocker and installed a car seat base, I've packed a hospital bag and washed some tiny baby clothes, and we've both watched the Happiest Baby on the Block. We still have a few more things on the list - hopefully Mom can help out when she arrives next week - but I think we're getting as close to being as prepared as we'll ever be. Now all we need is Jack!

2) Girls Night, the Musical

One Saturday night in October, Mindy, Shannon and I set off to Torrington, Connecticut to the Warner Theatre to see Girls Night, the Musical. I must say I was not too impressed by the musical, and I think we were the youngest people there by 5-10 years. Nonetheless, we had fun together, as always. The highlight of the night was definitely dinner. We ate at a restaurant called "At the Corner" in Litchfield, CT. The menu was seasonal, fresh, and delicious. We split 3 entrees - butternut squash ravioli, lobster risotto and halibut over mixed greens with candied walnuts and dried cranberries, and 3 desserts - pumpkin cheesecake, carrot cake, and molten chocolate cake - all delicious!!

3) Brunch in Astoria

I think she's crazy, but one of the newest members of our SEC Services group, AJ, commutes all the way to Wilton from Astoria, Queens, where she lives in an apartment with her husband, Vojtek and adorable 10 month old daughter, Julia. They were nice enough to invite Tommy and I and Shawn and his wife Priscilla (also pregnant and due in December) to brunch a few Sundays ago. Their apartment is large, I'm sure, by New York standards - 2 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. It is right on the Hudson and one whole wall of the living room is windows looking straight out onto the Manhattan skyline - pretty cool! After some snacks at the apartment, we all walked to a small neighborhood restaurant for brunch - a nice afternoon!

4) New Restaurants

I've been really wimpy and tired lately, but we've still managed to hit a few new restaurants before Jack arrives - nothing fancy for sure. A few weeks ago, we headed east down I-95 a few miles to Westport, CT to try out a restaurant I'd seen on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the Black Duck Cafe. It was definitely a dive, but our food was good - I had clam chowder, salad and sweet potato fries and Tommy had one of their famous stuffed burgers,with the cheese on the inside. Last week, a new pizza place opened right down the street from us, Coalhouse Pizza. We sat at the bar and watched the pizzas come out of the coal-fired oven. Our meal started with an antipasto plate - mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, kalamata olives, proscuitto, and roasted red peppers, followed by a mozzarella and basil pizza. Actually, due to some glitches in their new ordering system, we got the pizza first, followed by the appetizer. Either way, the food was delicious, and we're glad to have a yummy, casual pizza place so close to our house.

Other than that, we really haven't done much. We've both worked a lot (yes, even Tommy), watched every UT football game that we've been able to get here in CT (Hook 'Em Horns!), and actually found ourselves rooting for the evil Yankees in the World Series. I have 4 days of work left before maternity leave, 7 days before Mom arrives, and 14 days until Jack's estimated arrival - I am both really excited and really terrified at the same time. I'll keep everyone updated!

Finally, since this has been a picture-free blog entry so far, I am going to add, by popular demand, my most recent belly picture - 37 weeks and 5 days - enjoy!

U2 360 Tour

Last Thursday, Tommy and I headed into New Jersey to Giants Stadium for the U2 concert. They are one of my favorite bands and I'm so glad I finally got the chance to see them live. The show was amazing and, even with so many songs from which to choose, they played my favorite song, Beautiful Day. This song holds special meaning for Tommy and I because it was played every morning to get us ready for the day on our bus trip across Europe the summer we started dating. It was also the very last song played at our wedding reception! Maybe now Jack will grow up to be a U2 fan!

Here are a couple of pictures from the night:

Muse opened the night:

Followed by U2, of course:

Baby Jack's Nursery

By popular demand, I've finally taken some pictures of baby Jack's new nursery. Tommy put together the model airplanes all by himself! I'm sure there are a few finishing touches that we need to do, and I know there are still some things we need to buy (and no doubt few we're forgetting), but I really like how its turning out. I can't wait until the little guy is here to stay in the room! I've had quite a few friends who have had babies over the past few weeks and I find myself wanting more and more to meet little Thomas Jackson, to see how he looks like Tommy and how he looks like me, and of course to finally hold him, hear his little cry and kiss his tiny forehead. Only 56 days to go!

More of Tom and Greta's Visit

On Sunday, after spending a couple days getting to know Manhattan, we decided to venture east and head to Newport, Rhode Island for the day. Tommy and I visited the city last fall and thought Tom and Greta would really enjoy it.

Given that it was a beautiful day on a long weekend, traffic was pretty atrocious in and around Newport, but once we got out of the car, we definitely didnt' feel overwhelmed by crowds. We started out with a trip to the Breakers, Cornelius Vanderbilt's fabulous home and the most famous of the Newport mansions. Since Tommy and I had already taken the tour, we soaked up some sun on the back lawn while Tom and Greta toured the inside.

Next, we took a tour of Marble House. Marble house was constructed for Alva Vanderbilt, wife of one of the grandson's of Cornelius. After hearing the stories of her getting the house built for her then promptly divorcing her husband, or forcing her daughter to wear rods up her back hoping to marry her off to royalty, we decided that we didn't think we'd like Mrs. Vanderbilt very much, but Marble House was definitely a beautiful place!

After a late afternoon snack at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Tom and Greta took a quick walk on the Cliff Walk (I didn't think I could make it at this point!) and we headed back to Connecticut.

Neither Tommy nor I had to work on Labor Day, so we all headed to Yankee Stadium to catch the Yankees take on Tampa Bay. We were excited about how easy it was to get to the stadium - on game days there is a direct train from Stamford to Yankee Stadium! It was fun to get to see the new stadium in its inaugural season and even though I've never been a huge Yankees fan before, you can't help but cheer for them when you're there. We bought a cute Yankee onesie for Jack, ate cheese fries, and cheered Yankees on to victory!

Tom and Greta tour Manhattan

We're so excited that Tom and Greta (Tommy's dad and stepmom for those of you who don't know) were able to come spend a week with us around Labor Day. We had a wonderful time and a week of the most beautiful weather of the year!

They arrived on Thursday night before Labor Day and Tommy and I took Friday off of work and we all headed into NYC. Tom and Greta wanted to get a feel for the city, so we decided that the best way to do that was to take a double-decker bus tour of midtown and downtown. Tommy and I have never taken one and I think the consensus was that it turned out to be a great way to get an overview of the city and appreciate the interesting and varied architecture that you may miss walking down the street.


We finished the night with some pizza at Colony Grill back in Stamford - Yummy!

I was completely worn out on Saturday after Thursday at the US Open and Friday touring the City, so Tommy took his Dad and Greta to Stew Leonard's where they picked up some lobster rolls and steak to have later in the week. Early Saturday afternoon, we headed back into the NYC for dinner. Before dinner, we stopped by Central Park for a carriage ride. Our carriage driver was definitely a character, who spewed all kinds of facts and jokes almost faster than we could comprehend! Here are a couple of photos:

We had 8pm reservations at Bar Americain, Bobby Flay's second restaurant in NYC. We had to wait 10 minutes or so for our table - not a big deal, but they made up for it for the rest of the night - free appetizer, free dessert. While everything was absolutely delicious, I feel inclined to mention by drink. So far in my pregnancy, I have been very disappointed in the selection of non-alcoholic beverages. To most restaurants, a non-alcoholic drink seems to mean fruit juice put in some sort of pretty glass, but fruit juice nonetheless. Bar Americain made me a "faux-jito" - a delicious mojito without the alcohol (and I don't usually even like mojitos!).

After dinner, we walked back to Grand Central through Times Square and took the obligatory photos:

What a fun night!

US Open

Many of you know that I was pretty disappointed that I, once again, didn't manage to buy tickets for the US Open tennis tournament this year until they were all sold out. When we moved up to Connecticut, someone who had previously done an MDP rotation told me that was one of the best things she did while she lived here. Fortunately for me, my co-worker, Glen had some extra tickets at the last minute, so Tommy and I got to go after all! We went on the Thursday of opening week, on an absolutely gorgeous day. Before we arrived, all of us were a little disappointed because none of the "big names" were scheduled to play that day. As it turns out, we shouldn't have been disappointed - we got to see some really close matches, and some great upsets!

Here we are in Arthur Ashe stadium:

Glen and Shawn:

The first match we watched was Dementieva/Oudin. Elena Dementieva was the 4th seed and Melanie Oudin was an unranked 17 year-old American, so I think everyone thought the match would be over pretty quickly. By now, everyone knows they were wrong! Oudin won in a long 3 set match and wound up being the surprise of the tournament, making it all the way to the 4th round!

The next match turned out to be just as good. Unranked Yaroslava Shvedova defeated the no. 5 seed Jelena Jankovic also in 5 sets.

Because the first 2 matches lasted so long, Tommy and I unfortunately didn't get to see James Blake play in the 3rd match of the day on Arthur Ashe stadium because we had to pick up Tom and Greta at the airport. Here are a few other photos from the day. I'm so glad we we got to go - thanks, Glen!