It's late, and an 8:30 AM appt. will be quite painful, but I had to share these photos of Ryan's bath. He was fast asleep amid two newly-delivered and very vocal babies when we were allowed in to see him. His numbers are great, down to the barest push from his nasal canulla, and weighing in at an astronomical 1820 grams. That's right, all you in cyberville... our boy is now 4 lbs, almost 1 oz!!

Anyway, we rolled in and helped with his care. He was not amused. Here are the photos to prove it:

Cryin' Ryan

This Sux!

Talk to the hand

What's with the camera?

Is this necessary?

I need a moment

Lawd have mercy!

Had about enough

Again with the camera?!

Oyyyy!

and some sentimental favorites:

Mommy and Nurse Robin

Feeling better

That's more like it

Wide Awake

and the classic:

You talkin' to me?


Great evening, just had to share it with you all.

Nitey nite!

Posted by: Paul @ 1:03 AM

Hey, look... I'm blogging during a reasonable hour! Laura and our wonderfully supportive friend Agnes went to the hospital today, but I had a bit of business to tidy. While waiting for responses to offers made on behalf of clients, I thought it best to freshen the 'blog before my fledgling readership begins to think I've run off and joined the circus.

To update on the travails of the young couple with whom I've been working, the home highlighted in the previous post was still available, but they didn't like it enough to make an offer. The next morning, a home became available in Trails West, so I alerted the couple to the listing, and we met at the property on Friday afternoon. One hour later, I was submitting a full-price offer to the listing agent. As of this entry, we have not received a response. I understand the dilemma, however. The seller is a widow who still feels the presence of her husband in every aspect of the home. She is sentimental, and there is no countering emotion when it comes to the home-buying or selling process. So we'll just give her the time she needs to come to a decision. Hopefully, it will occur sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, I've had some productive conversations with a rather impressive local nursery/fernery owner, and have looked over his entire portfolio. There are some very choice parcels which should fetch a strong response from speculators and prospects who desire custom home sites. The area in which interest seems to be accelerating is Deleon Springs. The "explosion" of this area north of DeLand is about 3 years in the future. Beautiful land can be scooped up for around $10-15k/acre, and the land use restrictions will fall by the wayside when pressure is applied. This parcel just became available, and there are others very similar in the area for this price or less. Definitely worth exploring, from a strictly speculative point of view.

I may be getting an offer from a couple in Orlando who loved the home on Pressly Circle. I'm a bit nervous about the offer, as the agent has indicated that she is having trouble finding comparable sales to justify our price of $114/sq ft. Coming from a different market makes it difficult to put into perspective the trends occurring in and around Southwest Volusia county. Oh, well... they either like it enough to buy it or they keep looking. There certainly isn't a lot of inventory on that side of town, so maybe we can make it work.

Enough about real estate already, I'm ready to gab about the boy. We went and splurged on a digital camera, and WOOOOOWWWW, does it make a difference. Looking at previous pics of Ryan Walker Long, through the iris of a disposable camera, makes the purchase of this awesome technology quite justifiable.

There have been so many moments in the past few days, much less the entirety of Ryan's life outside of mommy, that we have been too awestruck to capture. Just being present for the countless miracles of his budding life has enriched us beyond the limits of our paltry windows of perception. He has vaulted past bourgeois labels like "cute," or "precious." He is becoming magnificent before our very eyes. Laura and I have had some surreal sessions of late with him. He sacks out nicely in the crook of mommy's arm, and seems a bit more curious at the general lumpiness and rough-n-tumble approach of his father.

Shoot me an email and put this controversy to rest. Does my boy have my nose, or not? This pic is me right after delivery, February 18, 1967. Here's Ryan a day or two ago, at approximately the same angle. Laura is convinced that it's her nose. I think she's nuts.

Here she is, sans makeup, late in the evening, after an exhausting day of work and worry. Absolutely radiant, and yes... I know how lucky I am.

Lots of pictures have captured our fancy, so I'll edit through to just the most vivid. Battling with the Isolette can be vexing, but laying hands on the boy is still thrilling. Daddy's doting can be tedious, but he always loves it when mommy sweeps him into her arms.

A different look, with a cap handmade by Gloria Holloway's mom (along with about TEN other caps for the NICU babies... such a gesture!!) Gloria is the office manager at Swann & Associates. She is gruff, unyielding, and has a heart as big as all outdoors. She also gave birth prematurely, and her daughter is a walking 30+ year-old miracle.

One of our favorites. He is inspiring.

You can tell when he's had about enough. It's that "wrap it up" look.

I'm sure you all have "had enough" of this extended post, but indulge me for just a moment more. The staff at the NICU is so over-the-top incredible, I had to immortalize them on the 'net. Faces can come and go, but the level of expertise and professionalism is stunningly consistent. Well, with the new camera in hand, I had to get some of our boy's protectors to let their hair down a bit.

Here is Amy, Ryan's nurse on many occasions, lamenting about giving up her career as a stand-in for Zena-Warrior Princess. Ginger, on the other hand, rues the day that she ever had to utter inane phrases like "please keep your seatbelts fastened during takeoff" or "this way to first class."

This classic will make its way into many a malpractice suit. Who's runnin' this joint, already?!

I was getting a bit crazy, preserving the moment in pictures, and made one harmless little request of the desk personnel. Geez, nice sense of humor! How long would it take for them to snap a photo of me in a Speedo, being fed grapes by the Nurse Practitioners? It ended badly, and let me tell you... I feared for my safety. No worries. If it turned ugly, I was already at a hospital!

Good night, all.

I love you, son.

Posted by: Paul @ 10:22 PM