Welcome to the World Michael Duncan Sieber

After a long awaited 9 months, Michael Duncan Sieber has finally arrived! He was born at 3:04 PM on Saturday, October 25th weighing 8lbs 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. Our beautiful baby boy is such a trooper, he didn't have any problems during labor! We are still getting the hang of things like feeding, burping, changing diapers, and all of that other good stuff. Its funny how you consider yourself a fairly intelligent person, but then when you get this little person that you have to take care of you seem to become the biggest moron.


Michael had so many visitors his first few hours in this world that the evening nurse finally had to finally kick everyone out so he could feed. We are all feeling very loved and appreciate all of the support, phone calls, and well wishers that we have had over the past 24 hours.

Currently, besides being really sore and losing a ton of sleep, Christopher and I are both doing pretty well. We're still learning and I'm sure still have 18 more years of learning to do!

Check out the rest of our pictures under photos. We will keep updating them as we fill up the camera memory card!

Baby Sieber Arrival Date Poll...

Lets get your vote!

These are the votes I have so far, please submit yours when you get a chance. You can either e-mail myself or Chris, or post here and I will edit as we go. I'm bored.

Thursday	2
Friday	4
Saturday	6
Sunday	9
Monday	1
Tuesday	8
Friday 31st	1

Here are some comments that went along with the votes today...

Thursday:

• 11:59
• I vote for today!! Since I know you want him here!! Yeah!

Friday:

• all of the Sieber boys were born on Fridays
• he will share a birthday with his Grumpa
• Friday is my pick for Little Hurt Day.
• I say Friday during lunch………………..

Saturday:

• I will take Saturday. I think that he might want to watch some college football.
  
• Saturday, during the game. It would only be right seeing as he will be "gifted" for all games UT wins for the rest of the season
• My vote is for Saturday, and I'll take it one step further -- you're going to have your baby in the AM
• Add me to the Saturday votes - I think you may be headed to the hospital Friday evening, and he'll arrive in the wee hours of the morning.
• My vote is Saturday. Children always demand your needs when you have something planned.

Sunday:

• I am going to guess Saturday evening (after eating Mexican food and [other things]) you will go into labor and deliver Sunday morning!!!
• I’ve thought from the very beginning he was going to be born on the 26^th
• {My husband} and I both say Sunday!! No real reason, just gut feeling.
• Grampy votes Sunday the 26th
• I vote for Sunday...maybe Little Hurt will be good juju for the Cowboys like Moose has been for the Longhorns.

Monday:

• New Zealand celebrates Labor Day on the fourth Monday in October. So will Little Hurt.

Tuesday:

• I really hate to rain on your parade, but first babies tend to be very obstinate. I'll have to go with the "pessimistic almost Dad" and vote for induction date Tuesday. I've just seen that happen way too many times! I think he's going to let his Daddy have his UT weekend!
• I’m with the pessimistic friend that baby will wait until Tuesday. It will be the best birthday present a mom could ever hope for. (plus, it’s just another way the baby will make sure nothing is about you again, ever).
• I'm going to go with induction day, but I think you'll go into labor before they induce.
• It's Mummy's b.day!, It's Diwali-the Hindu New Year!
• It will be the 28th says the awaiting uncle!!!!
• It will be Tuesday the 28th (Shannon's B-day also). Mark it down. Labor is something that only happens to other people.
• Tuesday. I am in kind of a worst case mood.

Friday: October 31st

• One week from Friday, sorry

Thanks to everyone who partook in the poll! It has made my day a little bit more interesting!

Correction to last entry....

Christopher and I talked to Chris Floyd about the plethora of gifts Baby Sieber should be getting in the near future with all of this UT football winning that has been going on recently, and we found out that we were mistaken about some particular details on the present distribution. According to Chris, Little Hurt will be receiving a Longhorn present for each game that UT wins from the time he is born until the end of the season, not from the time of the Rice game until he is born. Knowing this complicates things more and puts a lot more pressure on Colt in the upcoming weeks. Hook 'em!

I took a picture of the baby's mooses!

Now that I have a little free time on my hands, I thought I would share some of the things that others have thought about Little Hurt coming into this world.

Our future Longhorn Kicker has already started his famous endeavor by having an article written about him in the Cedar Valley Middle School Newspaper. The newspaper hasn't come out yet, as it generally takes a few weeks, but I'm sure it will be an interesting addition to Baby Sieber's scrapbook. The article is mainly about, "how much of a Longhorn will Mrs. Sieber's baby be." I had some great quotes from Christopher like, "we are already teaching him about the dangers of becoming an Aggie," but I'm not quite sure if my former student turned reporter really wrote any of that stuff down!

On another note, our Longhorn Mobile, from one of Christopher's college friends, got some pretty funny attention by his adopted little brother. JJ recently got a spiderman digital camera and was taking pictures of all sorts of things around the house from Bella to the baby's room. He was just hanging out with us and said, "I took a picture of the baby's mooses!" He was very proud of this statement, but it sort of perplexed Christopher and I as we didn't recall putting any sort of moose decoration in the baby's room. We asked JJ to show us the picture on his tiny digital screen, and we both started cracking up. JJ had taken a picture of Little Hurt's Longhorn Mobile. I guess since he's from Montana, it is natural for him to think of a moose before a Longhorn!

The baby has already brought on some wonderful things for the UT football team. We have made sure he watches all of the big games, and I think Colt plays better when he's awake! Chris Floyd has generously promised a different Longhorn gift for every game that UT wins between the Rice game and his birth. I'm beginning to wonder if he regrets this decision considering that they are currently ranked #1, and Little Hurt seems pretty content in his current housing situation.

The Waiting Begins

Little Hurt is now 24 hours past his due date. We are hoping with a little coaxing from long walks, lack of stress from quiting work, and lifting heavy boxes might make him come on his own. Just in case he doesn't, we do have our induction scheduled for October 28th at 5:00 in the morning. I'm not looking forward to that at all, but it is also nice to know that there is an end in sight!

Ironically, I have really started to induldge in the fact that I'm 9 months pregnant, and I have come to the conclusion that I can eat anything I want (including dessert at every meal!) The funny thing is, I've actually started losing weight since I've been on my new meal plan! If I only knew this from the very beginning, this pregnancy would have been that much more enjoyable.

The only other thing that I'm very concerned about is that my license is up for renewal in the next week. I would normally wait until my face didn't look like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man and let it expire, but if I do that, I won't be able to vote this year. Although it would be a multi-year reminder of just one of the wonderful gifts that Little Sieber has given me over the last 9 months, I'm not sure its the kind of gift I want to have!

We will keep everyone posted during the next week!

Parenting Classes

We attended a lovely 3-hour breastfeeding class the other night. It was an interesting experience. The following post is excerpted from an email sent to Sarah and Shannon about the evening:

The class will go into my list of essays about this experience. Some working titles:

"The Indignities of Parenthood: Insipid Classes or
Learning to Parent with The Lowest Common Denominator or

For the LOVE OF ALL THE PREGNANT LADIES WHO ARE UNCOMFORTABLE DO YOU HAVE TO EXTEND THE CLASS BY ASKING YET ANOTHER QUESTION THAT 3.6 SECONDS OF THOUGHT OR INTERNET SEARCHING WOULD SOLVE? CAN'T YOU SEE THE FEET THAT ARE STARTING TO LOOK LIKE DOUGHY MACY'S THANKSGIVING BALLOONS?

Or, perhaps, An Open Letter to the Tattooed Guy in the Darfur Shirt who Made a Five Minute Question About the Insanity of Our Society Drinking Cow's Milk While He Drinks Soy Milk Because He is Accustomed to Having Something On His Cereal. Dude.

Finally, this one might make a good off-off Broadway show: Yes, I Realize That you are an authorized Medela Dealer, and I would like to club myself unconcsious using your fantastic array of fine Medela products to avoid hearing another minute of sales pitch in the midst of a class that we paid for: The Musical.

ARRRRRRUUUGHHHHHHHH!! /robert dean off.

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Soon, this room will be filled with crying and diapers

Here are a couple of nursery shots. We have top secret "name letters" that will go up soon to help round out the decor. Thanks again to everyone who has given gifts and support!

How do you like me now? Las Vegas update...

As posted before, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Las Vegas with Carl to celebrate Olie-O's bachelor party. Special thanks to Shannon for giving the budgetary approval for this trip.

Of all the famous landmarks, grand hotels, and shows there was one place we had to visit. Carl and I wandered through the opulent Harrah's Casino to find our destination. Suddenly there it was, a red, white, and blue beacon of freedom shining in the gloom. My pulse quickened and my hand unconsciously moved to my heart. We had arrived at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill.

Let this be a warning to anyone who hates my freedom:

We didn't eat there or buy anything. We just had to go. The rest of Vegas was nice as well.

This was the view from our hotel room:Las Vegas is a glamorous city full of 5-star restaurants and the showpieces for celebrity chefs. Here Todd and Dan enjoy a gourmet meal at one such restaurant.

I had dreams of paying for the trip by crushing the house at blackjack. That definitely didn't happen, but I didn't lose my retirement account or anything. Little did I know what would happen just days later on Wall Street and in the Capitol. That, however, is a story for a different blog and day.