Meet London

Saturday, October 13th at 6:10 AM- I was done unwinding after hanging out with the guys and was about to go to bed when the phone rang.  Jessi woke to contractions that weren't stopping, so Mom headed to Kris & Jessi's house to watch Matthew, who was still sleeping, while they went to the hospital.

7:11 AM- Mom called to let me know Kris called with an update and Jessi was at 6 centimeters.

8:03 AM- Mom called again.  Jessi was about to get an epidural, it was time to get ready to go up to the hospital.

8:30 AM- Mom brought Matthew over, I woke my brain up, got ready, and we headed up to the hospital.

We made our way up to the 5th floor and got settled in the waiting area as flashbacks of that night nearly five years ago began  to hit me.  I sat there with Mom, Dad, and Matthew and prepared for the wait.

Over the next little while, Matthew and Mom both took a couple turns each going back and visiting Jessi.  We watched Dora (en Espanol) on the waiting room TV while Matthew was there, The Walking Dead when he he wasn't, and then Justice League Unlimited.  It was an Amazo episode (the one where he returns from deep space and hunts down Lex Luthor), very awesome.  Eventually, Hanna and Kari came from the birthing room and joined us, as Jessi was in the home stretch.

Ten, maybe twenty minutes at most, had passed before Kari looked at her phone and simply said "she's here."  Thinking she meant someone in the family had arrived at the hospital, we questioned her, but no, at 10:43 AM, after only two pushes, London Ann Drake was born.

I was shocked.  I was ready to wait the 12+ hours we spent waiting to meet Matthew, but no, Little Miss London had a schedule to keep.

We waited.  Bobby, Jessi's father arrived, and before long, we started to got called back to meet her.  Hanna, Kari, Bobby, then Mom, Dad, and me.

Matthew came to hold the door for us and we went through the familiar halls into to the birthing room.  We were met with little cries and then we saw her.  Little London.  So tiny, so cute, and with such big feet and long toes.  If she were mine, her name would contain some kind of reference to hobbits or Hank McCoy.  Nerdiness aside, she was adorable, beautiful, and perfect.

We all just sat there and waited for our turns to see and hold the baby, as all in birthing rooms do.

Before too long, I got my turn.  And here is where the written-word format of this blog fails, as it would take a far better writer than myself to describe the feelings and emotions that rush through you as you hold a newborn baby.

In that moment, she, and everything in the world, was perfect.

In the following hours, we mostly just sat there, absorbing it all.  I loved watching Matthew, in many ways (in my mind, but surely not his), still a baby, switch into big brother mode.

Matthew was hesitant to hold London at first, but eventually found his bravery.

After that, he took charge.

"How's your pain?" he'd ask Jessi.

"How much pressure is she getting?" he asked the nurse, checking on London as she lay under the heat lamp.

He's going to be a great, caring, protective big brother.

For a while, we all just sat, soaking in the moment, being there and welcoming London into our lives.

Time passed.  Hanna and Kari left to get ready for the homecoming dance.  Jessi's parents left.  Then we all kissed the baby and left with Matthew, who was spending the night at our house.

We went down the elevator and the lobby, where Matthew casually told the receptionists "I got a new baby sister.  You should go up and see her."

The rest of the night consisted of pizza and video games back at home.  It was a crazy day, but a good day.

Welcome to the craziness, London.

2010: Time to Catch Up

It's been over two months already?

Oops.

I've never claimed to be a punctual (or good) blogger, but I'll always keep coming back and updating. The main problem for me with blogging is that when nothing's happening, there's nothing to write, but when things are happening, there's no time to sit and collect my thoughts into a semi-decent entry.

I'm pretty busy these days, but I want to get an update out before it gets too out of control.

Let's do this.

Christmas was a great time. Lots of long-running traditions failed to come together, which was a bummer, but Christmas Day made up for that. Kris, Jessi, Hanna, and Matthew came over on Christmas morning and we did presents here. I loved watching Matthew have the whole experience, that was the highlight for me.

Keeping with tradition, the afternoon and evening were spent over Grandma's, just hanging out with the family.

Matthew spent the night on New Year's Eve, so I hung out with him and Mom all night. Ate some cheese and crackers, had a little drinky drink, it was nice.

The highlight of that night was the pudding episode. Matthew was sitting next to me as I putzed around on my laptop. He was eating pudding, so I asked "Is that good?"

He looked at me, gave it some thought, and said "Have some."

He then grabbed his spoon and stretched, trying to get it to my mouth. Half of it smeared across my cheek, the rest across my teeth. He said "uh oh", grabbed his napkin, climbed up, and started wiping my face. I was laughing too hard to make a sound. When he started wiping my teeth, I closed my mouth to avoid getting a mouthful of paper napkin. He then proceeded to grab my beard and pull down, trying to open my mouth.

The kid's a trip.

2009 got off to a rough start and never really seemed to recover. There were highlights and bright spots, but the overall tone of the year wasn't all that great, so I was happy to see '09 go so 2010 could get a shot at not sucking.

So far? I suppose it's been okay. The winter weather's been pretty rough, so I haven't been able to get out much. Honestly, I've pretty much gone stir-crazy at this point.

I've been using my indoor-time to catch up on some of the movies I missed last year. I've recently watched The Hangover, 9, District 9, and Zombieland. All were good, but my favorite movie I've seen recently was easily Moon. Blew me away. See it.

I also saw Avatar in 3D. I can't say I fell in love with it, but I definitely liked it.

I've mostly been spending my time working to finish animating The Girl and the Ghost. It's been a big test, trying to push myself without burning out on the process more than I already am. But I'm moving forward. I wouldn't say I'm in the home stretch just yet, but it is in sight. This movie's almost done.

Want something to watch now? Dolly Oxem's Traveling Video Circus premiered a few weeks ago! Check it out!

DOLLY OXEM'S TRAVELING VIDEO CIRCUS!
Uploaded by Bullcrank. - See more comedy videos.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbvvtu_dolly-oxem-s-traveling-video-circus_fun

Production for Four Tanks and a Healer begins next month. Craziness, I tell ye.

I better get back to work.

Tech Troubles, Movie Musings, and the Wee One

I hate those moments when I realize how much I rely on the internet. Our service has been wonky for the past three weeks. My high speed is slower than dial-up (when it even works) and only reaches close-to-normal speeds when someone's using the phone. We've called AT&T for help several times, obviously without any success as of yet. I'm pretty much fed up with them.
It's surprisingly frustrating to not be able to check your email or peruse YouTube whenever I feel like it. It does have its advantages though, as I've been getting loads of work done.

I've used the internet downtime to really hit the animation hard and finished the scene from The Greatest Fan Film of All Time that I've been dreading since the start. It was my first all out action/chase scene and I really questioned my capability to pull it off. Amazingly, I finished the minute-and-a-half long sequence and I love it. Progress is nice.
Speaking of progress, we had a recording session for Fan Film on Saturday night. Larry, Derby, Clint, and Ian came up and we got most of the remaining dialogue recorded. Jeff even pitched in and voiced the Atom. Everything went well, we had fun and got a lot done.

When I'm not making movies, I have been going to see a few. Iron Man was excellent and really impressed me. It seemed like they really went the extra mile to make it more than the average superhero movie.
I also saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which I loved. I remember I wasn't sure what I thought after I first saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was so soon after The Lord of the Rings, it seemed to me like they were trying to make a kid-friendly version to ride the wave. I liked it, but that was it. Then, every time I watched it, my appreciation for it increased, I saw new sides to it and kept getting more from it, I grew to love it. Prince Caspian was a great follow-up that really felt like it moved the story and the characters forward. For such an action packed movie, it surprised me how the whole thing seemed to have a sad undertone to it.
I still want to check out Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. I can't say I'm a huge Indy fan and I've heard very mixed reviews from friends, but I'd still like to give it a go.
It's looking to be a good summer for movies, my biggies are definitely The Dark Knight and Wall-E. I admit, I already caved and got myself a Wall-E figure, which is too cool for words, so here's a picture.

I'm curious about Hancock and hesitant about The Incredible Hulk. I'm in the minority in that I liked the 2003 Hulk movie and while the whole cast and so much about the movie tells me it should be great, the previews have left me cold.

I've gotten to hang with Cathy a bit lately, which has been really fun. She's getting married this weekend and moving to Seattle shortly thereafter. I'm so happy for her, though it'll be sad to see her go. I'm sure she and Ben will love it out there.

Matthew, me, and Hanna

Baby Matthew turned 6 months old last week. That went by really fast and yet it feels like he's always been here. The kids a bruiser and a ham, but an adorable one. His interests include drooling, eating, blowing raspberries, trying to eat things that aren't meant to be eaten, pulling his uncle's hair, hitting tables and various other surfaces, and did I mention he's a cowboy?

It's crazy to watch how fast he grows, you can see changes from day to day. He's already got a few teeth, he's very vocal, and he'll be crawling within days (right now he just rolls over and spins in circles on his belly). I discovered a few weeks ago that the Dixie Chicks song Lullaby has a powerful enchantment on him and will make him fall asleep nine times out of ten, it's hilarious.

I'm definitely keeping busy, but it's hot and I'm antsy. I want to go to Niagara Falls.

And Many a Hall Was Decked

This Christmas was a goody.

Our morning tradition had a bigger attendance this year, being our first one with Jessi and Hanna joining us, not to mention it was Matthew's very first Christmas.


They arrived around 2:00 (our equivalent of morning) and Hanna took on the duty of passing out the presents.

I love a good hat.

Santa did great this year, I got some new speakers I had been hoping for, an excellent Superman statue, a whole bunch of DVDs including Once and the collector's edition of the soundtrack. I also got a really nice hat, just like my old Superman hat (minus the S emblem) which I lost that fateful night at the wine bar so long ago. I even got a lightsaber.

Add that to the DVDs Mikey got me, the awesome books Corey gave me, and the Festivus greeting from Eric, and I'd say I received quite the haul.

Giving gifts just gets more and more enjoyable each year. It was my pleasure to perform my unclely duty and give Matthew his first CD. I decided to meet our worlds halfway and give him For the Kids, a CD full of modern artists signing kids songs. It even has Raine and Chantal doing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.


Keeping to tradition, we loaded up and headed over to Grandma's, where Matthew met all of his crazy (in a good way) relatives.

Kayla holds Matthew
Erin takes a turn
Maude's in her element
My grandma and her great grandson

It was a nice and laid back time just eating, drinking, and visiting with everyone. At one point, I busted out one of the DVDs I got that morning. It wasn't just any DVD, it was a magical flashback DVD of epic proportions. Never did I think I'd find myself at the age of 25, sitting with Brendan, Jacqui, Jeff, and Ronnie as we watched Fraggle Rock.

Classic.


Later on, we all opened a couple more books. Mine were a beautiful hardcover edition of Justice, Volume 1 and a great looking 12" figure of the Cyborg Superman.

Photo by Brendan

As the night went on, everyone slowly filed out. We were the last to leave and got home at 10:30 after a long day.

Despite the total lack of snow, this Christmas really felt like Christmas, which I remember wasn't quite the case last year. It was really nice. And I'm glad.

Now I'll spend the days leading up to New Year's playing with my new toys. Ralphie better grab his Red Ryder BB gun and scram. This is how the big boys play.


Oh, and I got a pony too. His name is Bill.

"Ever Since I Met You On a Cloudy Monday...'

As the sun rose yesterday, I sat listening to the humming of air conditioning and the rhythmic thumping of a heartbeat belonging to someone I had not yet met. Everyone around me drifted in and out of sleep, but I sat awake, staring out of the fifth floor window of the delivery room.

Mom and I arrived at 3:30 AM Sunday night/Monday morning, a couple hours after Jessi was scheduled for her labor to be induced. Her mom and Kris were there and I was shocked by the laid back atmosphere as they sat and watched Cartoon Network and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

I've never been present while anyone was in labor before. I know there would be a hefty amount of waiting involved, but I figured it wouldn't be too long of a wait since the labor was induced. I was a little off the mark with my figuring.

The morning went on without a hitch. Dad and Jessi's dad swung through on the way to work to see how things were going.

Mom sipped on tea and I sipped on hot chocolate, staring out into the foggy morning.

After 7 AM, Jessi's daughter, Hanna, and her sister, Kari, joined us. A short while later, things began to pick up.

A little before 11:00, Jessi asked us to leave the room so the doctor could check and make sure everything was going smoothly. We grabbed our stuff and Hanna, Kari, Mom, and I headed to the waiting room.

The girls played their Nintendo DS games, I played around on my computer, and time passed. At 12:30, Kris slid through the doors to tell us "it's go time." Mom kissed him and wished him luck and he disappeared behind the doors.

We waited, all of us nervous and excited. Hanna spoke of the butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach since the night before.

Just before 1:00 PM, Jessi's mom, Tina, burst into the waiting room, digital camera in hand, and showed us the first picture of baby Matthew. He arrived at 12:54 PM on November 26th, 2007. It had happened, everything went well, and he was here.
The girls bounced off the walls, talking about how cute he is. Mom smiled through teary eyes. I looked at the photo in disbelief. I was an uncle.
Tina ran back in, promising to come get us a soon as everything was cleaned up.
We packed our things and waited for the word.

Moments later, Lullaby and Goodnight echoed throughout the halls of the hospital, a signal to everyone there that a baby had just been born.
I've heard that song countless times before, but it never made me feel the way I did in that moment. Hanna and Kari listened in the hall with enormous smiles.

Jessi's dad, Bob, returned bearing cheeseburgers, knowing nobody had eaten. The girls wolfed some down, but Mom and I were too anxious.

Not much time had passed and Tina returned to bring us back. We followed the winding halls and entered the room to the sound of a tiny cry. I turned the corner in the doorway and saw the little pink source of the cry. There was my nephew. Matthew Robert Drake. All seven pound and seven ounces of him wrapped up in a nineteen and a half inch package.

Everyone took their turn greeting and snuggling the little guy in the order we came into the room. I looked on and before I knew it, it was my turn.

Kris brought him down in front of me and I softly said my first words to him, "Hey, buddy."
He reached his tiny, long-fingered hand up out of his swaddling clothes and gave me what looked like a little wave before briefly opening his eyes. He was just beautiful. I've never seen such a peaceful and content little baby.

Grandma & Grandson

Brother, Sister, and Grandma

Nephew & Aunt

"O-tay!"

Jessi looked great and seemed serene. Kris was overjoyed and swimming in pure happiness.

We all hung around for a few hours, everyone snapping pictures and taking turns cuddling Matthew. People slowly started trickling out and heading home. Before we left, Dad, Grandma, and Maude arrived to see the munchkin.

They took their turns snuggling and saying hello.

Now a Great Aunt


Grandpa & Grandson

Great Grandma

As it approached 6:00 PM, we headed home, but not before we each got one more snuggle in.

We made our way home through the slick, rainy evening. I picked at some dinner and tried to write this blog entry, but only made it halfway through, as I kept dozing off for a few seconds as I typed. I gave up just after midnight, at which point I had been awake for thirty five hours straight. I then slept for thirteen.

I still can't quite believe what happened in one small room yesterday. Parents became grandparents, grandparents became great grandparents, a little girl became a big sister, I became an uncle, my brother became a father, and a new person came to be.

Little Matthew, I'm so happy and honored I was able to be near when you came into the world. I'm glad I was there to welcome you along with the rest of your family. I know your namesake was there with us too.

Welcome to the world, Matthew (and to our hearts.)