Mr. (Baby) Universe, circa 1963

Baby Holden, Day 5, getting stronger, flexing more and generally loving life.

Some Black + Whites

Some bathtime photos of Holden (first time in 4 days, or well, since birth) and one multi-tasking mother who is boggling, feeding, and modeling her good looks my way.  Enjoy- Ron

I'm Like a Stepping Razor...

...Don't you watch my size, I'm Dangerous...Dangerous....(hahahaha)


Holden relaxing (and watching you) on day four....

Holden Porter Renspie is Here

We had our little beautiful baby boy born to us on Sunday, July 10th at 5:58pm.  Its funny and coincidental but it turns out I was also born at 5:58pm, and it says so on my certificate of birth as well.  But back to the story of how it began: I went to work that Sunday morning for only 20 minutes before I got the text from Laura saying Ready? and I knew what she meant.  She had been writing down her time with each contraction that morning and was almost about to go start her last day of work before the plan changed.  So I went and picked her up at the house and we loaded all our packed overnight bags, ourselves and Laura's mom into the car and drove past the Yosemite traffic out of the park to Fresno.  By 1:30pm we had checked ourselves into the hospital and by 2:00 they said we were staying and Laura was dilated to a 5/6.  In another hour she at a 7.  In another hour, they broke her water and she was at an 8 or so and had the epideral.  By 5pm we were starting to push the little one out, and by 6:00pm we were done.  All nine months full of speculation and gossip and advice and guesses and surpirise- its a boy!  A beautiful boy.  We left the hospital and returned home on Tuesday.  And now we will post a picture of him each day.  Today he turns 3 days old, so I will start with 3 pictures.  Enjoy.- Ron

Well again it has been a while and so much is going on. The last few weeks have been great! We are in the last month and are growing more and more excited daily! On top of that I am growing more and more daily. We have been doing some good stuff around the house trying to get ready for our little one. So Ron and Jason painted the baby's room. Now I have pictures of what it looked like when we pulled the tape off of the wall.

As you can see we were left with this great boarder or stripe between the the land and the sky and we decided that we love it and left as is. Next is to add some decals and some clouds to spruce it up a little bit.
However, before I can do that I have the pleasure of taking a little bit of time off. Mom and Dad came up to the park for a visit and to kick it off my amazing girlfriends in Yosemite have planned a wonderful baby shower for me. I had a wonderful day and it was a great afternoon. Pictures to come soon. Thank you to Carlee, Summer and Erin!
I then took the opportunity to get a ride from Mom and Dad to Upland. We even took the boys on the ride with us. Ron got to meet up with us just a couple of days later.
The baby has been moving a lot more and I can tell that baby is getting bigger and looking for some more space. It is a trip now because I can see my belly moving or when the baby is pushing against one side. It is just unbelievable some times.
So while we were at home we had two big things planned for our visit. First was an over night camping trip to Doheny Beach for Meg's Birthday camping weekend. It was a wonderful time! It was baby's first trip to the beach and first time camping. We did great! The only thing that I did not think of was getting baby and I up from the ground at night. I was ready to get up multiple times during the night as usual just not from the ground up. We made a good time of it and all worked out well. It was just wonderful to be able to see everyone while we were there and spend some time with the Birthday girl and our friends and families. I had a wonderful time seeing all the kids have such a great time. Thank you all!

Baby's first trip to the beach!

The next big event on the agenda was getting back to Mom and Dad's and then on the way to San Dimas Canyon Park for a family get together for a baby shower. What a wonderful afternoon. Thank you so much to all who came it was great to see you all and spend the afternoon together. I know that Ron and I had a wonderful time and were so thankful. It was wonderful to be in the park again as this was the place to have a get together growing up and I have missed it for the past many years being in Yosemite. Pictures to come from this to come soon too.

Then before I knew it we were on the way home to Yosemite again. The car ride was good just a few more stops and the boys don't know what to do anymore. Usually the get to sit with me in comfort and they just don't know what is going on with me growing and making it a little bit tough for them to get comfortable. But soon we were home and back to our routine.
I still had a couple of days off to finish my week and I was able to start working in the baby's room again. Here is with the decals...

As everything is coming together we just love it and are so excited that we live in such and amazing place and have the space for baby to have a such and adorable little room. We are on the countdown now with visits to Renee every week for our check ups and maybe just 3 1/2 weeks to go. We will see.
We are trying to get some pictures next to the waterfalls since they are just huge right now. However, since they are so big it is hard to get close without getting drenched. We got one next to cascade just the other day with all of us.

I hope to get another post in before we get to see the child. But now someone is pushing against me saying they might need a little snack.
Have a great day we love you all. L

Eight months and counting...

Well, I think that I have proven I am not so good at keeping the blog up to date. So, I have a few weeks worth of pictures to share. A lot has been going on here with this little nugget we have. Not only am I getting bigger and bigger but the little one seems to getting a little more pushy or maybe just likes to move around a lot and almost signal to me if it is getting hungry or if the space it too tight in there and let me know to make some room.

May has been an interesting month with more weather that felt like winter than weather that felt like spring. However, we have been lucky and going out for walks on the good days. This baby and momma have been in need of some good walks for exercise and general well being. This is from the first week of May so about week 30.

These two are from May 19th, so about week 32. Crazy to think that there is only 8 weeks left! How does it go so fast? Well the Dogwoods are in bloom in the park and it is just beautiful! I had to get a picture in front of the pink Dogwood tree with our little baby to be. This was the start of a great walking day. We went over to Curry and picked up Jason, then off to Mirror Lake. The only issue? Making sure I would have a bathroom close enough when needed. 

Here we are at the top of Mirror Lake. As I was posing for pictures a passer by said it was great that we were starting out little one early. If he only knew how lucky this little one and parents are to live here. I also realized that I should start walking more if the hill getting up here took the energy that it did. I guess that's what an additional 25 pounds will do for you. 

In the last week or two it has been crazy to see how the baby has grown. I can now see my belly move as the baby does. The other night I could see the baby move to one side of my belly and there was this mound on the right side of my belly that gradually sloped down to the left side. It was so funny and the right side of me was so hard to the touch due to baby being there. I can also see it moving and kicking much more. What a trip! I also am amazed at how entertaining I find this. 

Well just this Thursday we started the room. I guess I should say Ron started the room. Jason was nice enough to come over and help and they were able to get the room painted in just a couple of hours. Here are some pictures from that day and over the next week or two we should be doing some touch ups and adding the final details. I think the two fellas did a wonderful job and we are going to have an adorable room for the little nugget. We thought we would bring the outside in. Next is clouds and trees. Keep an eye out for them. With 7 weeks left in this adventure we are on a move now.

  22 Weeks

23 Weeks - break from the snow storm

24 Weeks - getting ready for a CRB show in Visalia 

27 Weeks

  28 Weeks - Downtown Merced before the Grateful Dead Movie

Well, once again I have fallen behind with this. The last few weeks have just flown by and feel like I need to catch my breath. Not only have a neglected to do a post each week, I also realized that Ron and I need to get better at taking pictures. Luckily I have a few and I am happy to share and wow do I feel like this house is getting bigger. What does the next couple months have in store for me? I am starting to get nervous.
The first is at about 22nd weeks. Ron and I got out for a nice walk on the sunny side of town.

The second and third is the 23rd week and boy was it crazy. We had a huge storm to bring in spring. We got a ton of snow and lost power. We made it through the first three nights at our house but we ended up staying in the lodge because I could not take the cold in our dark house any longer. Thank goodness for generator power. I was so happy to have a nice warm shower and warm room after leaving our house and seeing my breath. At least we will have some good stories for years to come. we were lucky enough to get out on one of the days and take a nice walk. It was so nice and whole lot of fun. There were some places where the snow was up to my knees. 
Pictures 4 and 5 are at 24 weeks. After the big storm we got out of the park and got some sunshine in good old Visalia. We went to go see some live music and eat some good food. We went to see the Chris Robison Brotherhood. Since the Black Crows he has put together a new band and they are touring California the next three months. This was one of the first shows and it was baby's first concert! The music was great and Ron and I had a nice time. Unfortunately my stamina is nothing like it used to be. By the time the second set started I was ready for bed, I hung in there with the help of a two song power nap on one of the sofas and I was able to make it to the end.
The next picture is at 27 weeks out on a walk. We went to take the train behind the Ahwahnee and as we started we found it to be a little too water logged to cross. So as we walked back we stopped to take a picture.
Last is from this week which is week 28 now almost 29. We went to Merced for the Grateful Dead Movie. It was playing for one night only across the country. We got Jason and Bryan to go with us. We got tacos in downtown got to catch up with friends before the show, Ron even got to drink a few. It was great to get out and do something fun considering that morning I got to drive to Oakhurst to have a glucose test. However, the movie popcorn gave me some wicked indigestion. You win some and lose some.
During this last week Ron also got a new job. He is now the Lodge Store Manager. I am so happy for him and now I will get to have lunch with him some days. He has been working a fair amount between the Village and the Lodge. But it is well worth it. 
Also, the last few weeks baby has been very active. It is getting so fun feeling our little nugget moving around. Baby seems to know when its feeding time and when I have waited to long. I am hoping to try and figure out the little ones room in the next few weeks also. Maybe if we do I will get some of those pictures up as well. 
I guess I will try again and challenge myself once again to do a better job at this. And who knows maybe I will even get a post up next week.
L