Fall is FINALLY here!

Hey gang,

Yea, 5 days..new record.. but hey, I missed out on alot of stuff over the last month. The weather FINALLY changed, and not subtitle like either.. it went from a 90s with 80% humidity to 60s and windy rain just like THAT..(yea, like that..). The next 5 day forecast:
67/40, 64/40, 69/40s, 69/40s.. go figure..

Christopher is doing well.. 2.5 weeks and getting bigger! He seems to have gotten a small sniffle, and I'm sure its from the weather change and A/C last week.. so least to say he isn't a happy camper right now. He wants to sleep in a chair position (upright) and wakes when he goes horizontal... so its a learning curve for us now. 3oz is standard feeding every 3-4 hours.. once he took 4oz and slept for 4-5 straight.. so Id like to get back on that curve :)

Now for the other stuff:

XBOX: Yep - HALO 3 made its way to my birthday presents and its been alot of fun; We got it for Eric, so he and I have had a few chances to get on and play together. We are trying to finish the game together in normal to get thru the game, then will restart it on Legendary..hardest setting. Multiplayer is almost the same, except the weapons have been modified and a few new ones added. COD 4 beta ended in September and it was alot of fun; the 3 maps were getting old, but the gameplay was alot of fun. The perk system is excellent and the weapons are todays army stuff, so its good. I still miss the R6 Vegas matches and will find myself going back to it occasion.. its too much fun not to. See, Halo3 is good, but lacks the realism of COD or Vegas.. so each are different games.

The other game is Orange Box, or rather, Team Fortress 2. This is the 10 years waiting game that was released back in '98 with Half life. Team Fortress Classic was the game du jour for a long time for me, and to have it come out now is awesome.. So many games, so little time...

My xbox also got the RED RING O DEATH!!! Yep! October 2nd (got figure) we went to watch a movie and the ring came on in the corner.. NOOOOOOO!! After a 20 minute call to XBOX, the RMA was set and the return box was mailed to me. With some considering (I did not get the PSP at Joe buy cause I bought it at Toys R Us), the only thing I could do was go get a new one, and sell the old one to someone else, ebay or Craigslist it. So, I took my $250 and a small loan from Mr credit card and my loving Wife's blessing, I went to Joe buy and got the Halo 3 Xbox; After hearing that the new boxes had the Falcon chipset in them (Changing the Moboard and shipset to the newer and cooler ones) was the main selling point. So, My original is off to be repaired and when it returns, Wayne expressed interest in it - Figure $150 is a good starting point, plus any games I might have that I want to sell...

GAMING: This weekend we will be starting up the Palladium RPG game - Wayne and the guys, Amy and maybe Dave will be over to start up a new RPG adventure; I figure once a month is the first goal, and take it from there. I hope that some of the other players will vounteer thier house to host it every now and then - I know nicole and I love having company, but lack good lighting and gaming area that might be needed to do this right. I will be busting out my D20s, D10s and the other assorted shaped dice tomorrow as we start up new characters: Wayne made a priest; Tyler made a wizard, Trever made a Ranger, Amy made a Longbowman(Wo-man..), and Nicole made a Paladin. I also made an NPC Dwarf Mecr and an NPC Thief, just incase we get more players.. should be alot of fun.

Paintball: Im done for the season and will clean up my gear in the next week - When we all goto CA next year, I will probably bring it, but i think between now and April it will be on hold. I think I have an air leek, so that will be something to fix too... great..

HOME: Everything is going well - I have to fix up the bathroom and re-clay the drain in the bathtub - i think its leaking.. Otherwise, all is fine - the carpets need to be seriously cleaned and the next big project will be the kitchen/dining room. we want to re due the floor, paint the walls and possibly re due the cabinets in the kitchen.

Weddings: Michelle and David finally got married this weekend! It was a very nice wedding and all the Maiz clan was there - my sister, dad, aunt and both my uncles. Everyone seemed to have gotten sick afterwards, and we think its because of the AC - very cold inside the rooms. Everyone seemed cold - even use guys in suits. It was alot of fun - Mom Pezzetti watched Chris for us and Nicole and I made the trip up the NJTP. After the ceremony, the reception started right away and everyone at the table made a 'when the 1st Madonna song would play' pool [Michelle is a Madonna freak!]. My cousin Kay won it with #12.. it was alot of fun :)

OK - thats good for now - Look for more stuff in the next week and lots more pictures in the Gallery.
-JS

ITS A BOY!!

Yes, this is the 'Better late than never' post of our first child, so I will backdate it to the right time..


IT'S A BOY! Christopher was born September 21st, 1:23pm, 7 lbs 14oz, and 20" long. Mom nicknamed him a linebacker, and so far, its true.... so without waiting, here is the story of our first Child and the hospital stuff..

Thursday 20th - 5pm - Nicole's mom came over the house Thursday afternoon with Nicole and went shopping, then took Nicole back to philly for dinner. I left work at 4 and headed home to check on the cat, get a few things, and left for philly. at 5pm, I arrived and we sat down for dinner.

6pm -during dinner, Nicole started telling me that her tummy was hurting a bit, then a few minutes later said it again... that got a few eye brows raised. I started to time them to see how far apart they were.. close to 10 minutes on average.

8:30pm- We left for home, Nicole still hurting every so often. I told her that if things continue, that we should call the Dr and consider going in if things got worse just to be safe for the baby. We arrived at 9

9pm- Beauty and the geek started (Nicole's show) and as soon as she sat down, things really amped up. More pain and closer together. I started to write them down - 7 minutes apart!.. wow.. somehting is going on. I called Dr Levine and left a message. 5 minutes later, he called us back and said to keep the breathing going on and to call back if it continues or gets closer.

10:00pm- Show was over, and things were still going strong. Nicole had the breathing thing going well now and the contractions were now lasting longer - close to 70 seconds long. She wanted this to end.. and there was nothing I could do... So we called back to the Dr. He told us 'Look, things are happening and it looks like it will only get closer.. so bring your things and come on down..I have the night watch here, so we will see whats up..." So we got the bag (which was finished packing the day before), got a pillow, locked the house and left... the whole time doing the breathing thing.

10:30pm- arrived at the ER; Nicole took a wheelchair ride to the 2nd floor and I parked the xterra. We did the triage check in and got one of the last rooms there - room 11. IT was a single bed room, so that was good.. On the way I called her parents to let them know we were going to the hospital..

11:30pm- Her parents arrive. Nicole was still going thru the contractions and now there are starting to get more intense. 7-6 minutes apart now..

midnight - Dr Levine pops his head in to see whats up - 1 CM dilated, but agrees to let us stay instead of sending us home. He knows Nicole has a low tolerance for this kind of pain, so he orders the Epidural.

2am Friday morning - The Epidural Dr shows up to put it in. It was the worse part of the process (to this point). They had Nicole sit up, head down and arms together to get the thing in - during which time the Dr took her stuff out, placed things down...etc. Keep in mind that the contractions are still going on... and even took one when she was being held in this acquard position... I was crying when the amount of pain she was being put thru and almost wanted to jump up and tell this woman to do her job..but knew it would only lead me to jail....

2:30- epidural in.. Nicole was feeling better.. After the 30 minutes of making sure she was fine, the nurses check her again - 2cm dilated.. They then told us that it would be sometime tomorrow that the baby would come out. Her dad left at 2am, so her mom took my suv and went to our house to sleep - I got the lounger chair.. Nicole was asleep by 3am, riding her contractions without feeling much at all...

5am- I woke to the nurse checking her - 3cm...

Friday 12st, 7am- I woke to my stomach growling.. so I called the house to let mom know that we were at 3cm and that the best time to come down was either before 8 or after 9:30..she said she would come down after cleaning up and feeding the cat.

8am- Mom arrived and we took turns hitting the cafeteria - I got a bad egg n sausage breakfast and made a breakfast sandwich from it.. the eggs were runny, but it was something to have.

9am- 5 cm dilated. The Morning nurse, Marie Claire, was very nice and really seemed to care about Nicole and the baby. Her contractions were still going on since 2am and they were now getting closer together..

10am- My mom called me to let me know she was going to come down for the weekend, Thanks to my uncle Richie.. I gave them directions and said that we were expecting around noon to 3pm..

11:30am- 8cm dilated. Marie Clair told us it was only a short amount of time before the baby arrived. I called dad to let him know what was going on. He told me he was stuck in center city and would get there ASAP.

Noon - 9.5 cm and close. Marie Clair suggested to roll on one side to get the baby's head to help open things up.. as soon as she did that, Nicole told us that she felt some higher pressure and no sooner that Marie Clair took 2 steps away, she went back to check Nicole - 10cm!! Baby Time!!

12:15- Nicole started to feel more pressure so we started to do a few pushes.. 10 seconds long and 3 times in a row.. After 2 sets of these, Nicole said to me she felt like she had to goto the bathroom... I told the nurse and she said it was suppose to feel like that..

12:30- Dr Levine was called as we continue to push - Nicoles dad arrived and was asked to wait outside... I'm sure he didn't like that..

12:50- Dr Levine came to the room - more pushing.. the baby was doing excellent - Nurse told us that the baby was coming out naturally and doing excellent. When Dr L checked her out, he said - its all on you.. no C section now.. Alot of pain but Nicole was doing SOO WELL

1pm- The babys head started to show now and I started to get REALLY excited. Nicole was upset and in pain... but holding it together.

1:22- baby's head is out and in the Drs hands..one more push....

1:23pm - We have a BOY!!! WOW! I was soo happy!! I would have been just as happy with a girl.. so to me it was awesome either way... BUT no C section and a healthy boy! They took him to the baby table, cleaned him up, wrapped him, and gave him to me.. wow! My son!!! I took him to mom and she held him close as the Dr started to clean up the aftermath of the birth process (Thats the placenta and stuff..ewww). We got wrist bands put on his feet, my arm and Nicole's arm.

1:30- all done with the stitches and cleanup, Her Dad came in the room - we took a few pictures and Nicole was put on the 1 hr watch before being moved to her room. By 2:30, We were being moved to the 3rd floor to room 307. I then escorted the Nurse to the nursery for the official weight and measurements.. etc. What a big kid! 20 inches, 7lb 14oz and all baby... Good size too..

That afternoon, we stayed in the room when my mom and uncle arrived. We took more pictures and got some lunch. Richie went home afterwards and mom and I went back to the room.

For the rest of the weekend we were at the hospital for the most part. Alot of family came to visit Nicole and Christopher in the hospital, and at one point there were close to 8 people in the room. Sunday was going home day- the in house Dr gave us the OK and we took Christopher and Nicole down, loaded into the car and went home. Nicole was still in alot of pain, so it was a bed rest for her. Christopher was still a very sleepy baby to this point, only waking for a feeding and the occasional diaper change.

Some things to note:
a) When Nicole is in the hospital resting, I should visit, but also go back home to do the dishes, laundry, clean and get the house ready. I felt so overwhelmed when getting back from what felt like a 4-day trip to a messy house that needed attention.
b) I really DISLIKE Unos pizza now - not only does it not take-out well, but its loaded with grease.
c) I felt so happy Friday afternoon.. the best feeling ever and was as good a feeling as when I saw Nicole walk down the aisle.
d) Everyone likes the name.. Nicole picked it.. at first I was a bit Skeptical and wanted Anakin Fett Skywalker Maiz, but was promply shot down.. I still got the Padawan nickname :P


Yes, I will post another for the other stuff going on - Birthday, Michelles wedding, so on, BUT will do so later - My son deserves his own post..

OH- His email: Christophermaiz@gmail.com :)

-JS