I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend.  We went for our first walk as a family over the weekend.  We also went to the Brandywine park for a picnic.  Mason and daddy flew his new kite and played some baseball with “pop-pop” (Jenn’s dad).  Last night I went with her dad to the master locator’s night at the ball park.  We got to see the Phillies beat up the Rockies again.  We gained a game on the marlins and braves (I think).

Tonight my mom and dad come to town for a week.  Dad and I will be going to the Dover Nascar race this weekend which will be a a lot of fun.  Call me a redneck if you want, but I love me some Nascar.  When we lived in North Carolina everyone had flags that went up all over town every Sunday.  It was crazy.  I need to get me one of those.

Hudson is doing better at sleeping during the night.  I think he woke me up once, not sure how many times he woke Jenn up.  But he is doing better.  Thanks for all your prayers and notes! It means a lot!

Mason was such a great baby. Eat…sleep….eat…sleep. He never cried, he never kept us up, then all the sudden baby number two is here. Hudson is NOT starting off like Mason. Last night was our first night home. Since Jenn had a c-section we picked up a small bassinet so that Hudson could be next to the bed and she wouldn’t have to get up and go to his room.

Well for some reason, Hudson ate, then cried as if he were still hungry. That was the pattern all night. No sleep. Finally around 4:30am I asked Jenn if she would be hurt if I went down stairs and slept on the futon in our office. She said to go ahead. So I was able to sleep from 4:30 to about 8:15am or so. Poor Jenn. She didn’t sleep until 8:30 when her mom took care of Hudson. I called the house earlier today and she was asleep again. Her mom is taking care of him and bringing him into the bedroom when he needs to eat so Jenn can get some much needed sleep.

Today is my first day back at work and I am officially tired and dragging as well. I am excited to be back at church Sunday. Thanks for covering our family with your prayers! See you Sunday.

Well, it’s been a good week but a tiring week for Jenn.  We are so excited that her and Hudson will be home this afternoon sometime.  I am at the office just getting things ready for the weekend and then am heading back out to the hospital.  Hudson is doing great and has started sleeping well when he is not eating.  That has given Jennifer a chance to get some much needed rest the last couple days.  I will post some more pictures when we get home.  I can’t wait for you to meet him!  He’s awesome!

I have posted Hudson’s pictures in an online album.  Click here to see the album.

It has been a very long two days.  After the VIP night at Fellowship Church, Jennifer began labor.  Tonight at 7:30 Hudson came into the world via emergency cesarean.  Jennifer was such a warrior and never even took an epidural.  Hudson Robert Ream weighs 7 lbs 3 ounces.  He is 20 inches long and is absolutely beautiful.  He looks so much like Mason did when he was born.  He doesn’t have quite as much hair as Mason did.  Jenns mom flew up this afternoon so her mom and dad could be there to see him.  Many, many thanks to Ali B. for coming over tonight to stay with Mason.  What would we do without you?  I wish I could post some pictures but I forgot the wire to transfer them to my laptop.  I will try to post some tomorrow.  What a day…God is truly great!!  I can’t wait for you all to meet him!  Better get to bed, it’s now almost 1:30am Monday morning.  Look for pictures to be up soon.

I am writing this from our hotel room down the street from the Chestnut Hill Hospital. Jenn and I were up all night with her contractions. This morning they became very strong and about four minutes apart. Because Jenn is doing the all natural thing we are not going to the hospital until she is about a minute or two apart. Which right now they are two minutes apart. We are working with a midwife and are getting ready to head to the hospital to deliver. Please pray. As soon as I have news and a few free minutes, I will let you all know. Many thanks to Ben Jones our media pastor for stepping up to the plate to lead worship today. I have heard from my father in law that worship and the whole service was great! Thanks bro! More news to come.

This is going to be the title of the entry when he actually is born…gotchya. Nothing yet. And that is not a picture of anyone I know.  Just googled baby and put it there.   Looks like for now God has orchestrated this baby to be born after our VIP gathering tonight.  The band and I are really excited to get to do a little more music tonight.  We love to play and sing…and we love to worship our God!  Hope to see you all there!

Well, we just left Jennifer’s midwife appointment. (she’s trying the natural thing) The midwife said she was not able to do a sweeping of the membrane because she is not effaced enough. (Google it, I am not explaining) She said the baby has dropped and it could be anytime now. Please Lord not Saturday! I am so pumped about VIP! I don’t want to miss it. But as John reminded me yesterday. Hudson’s birth and being a good husband is the most important thing I will do this week/weekend. So I get to be at VIP band practice tonight, which is a very good thing. I will let you know as soon as anything happens. Keep us in your prayers.

No baby yet.  We go this afternoon to visit her midwife and they will do something that usually encourages the birth.  I’m a guy and don’t want to describe the thing they do.  So suffice it to say that it maybe tonight!

Well, we made it through the weekend and still no baby. We really thought that it was going to happen Saturday night but then everything subsided. Oh well.

I decided to come in today (it’s our day off) to work on the VIP night. I don’t know what my schedule is going to look like this week. I did get some good quality time with Mason however. The only thing Mason loves more than the disney cars movie is playing baseball with daddy. Last week I went to Dick’s Sporting Good’s and bought a set of bases, some plastic baseballs, and a phillies plastic batting helmet. So we loaded up the car and headed out to the park Saturday morning to play some baseball. The baseball field was too muddy so we went in the outfield and set up the bases. He put his batting helmet on and I began pitching the ball to him. He does pretty good at hitting the ball. But if given the choice between hitting the ball and pitching it to daddy, he will choose pitching the ball.

So after a while of me pitching I let him pitch to me. You should have seen me in the park full of people. My three year old on the pitching mound pitching to me and me just smashing the ball a mile away. I was very impressive. Actually I was doing it because I love Mason’s reactions to how far they go. There was something I noticed about his pitching that relates to life really well. When we first started he was just picking up the ball and throwing strikes. (He really does) But then as we played longer he began to try to imitate pitchers he sees on tv. He would try to do a wind-up. He would lift his leg and try to pitch like the pro’s. But for some reason as soon as he started trying to pitch like the pro’s the ball began to hit me, or bounce, or even roll to me. He had lost his focus on just throwing it over the plate and began to focus on how he could be like everyone else. As I was waiting for a strike so I could crush the ball again, this parallel just spoke to me. So many times I focus on how other guys are doing worship. You know, the real pro’s. And I want to be them. I want to be as good as them. I want to emulate everything they do. And that in itself is a good thing. But if I forget to simply throw the ball over the plate, then I have sorely failed as a worship pastor. That applies to what John talked to us about yesterday. Don’t be so intent on being perfect! Don’t judge yourself by how the pro’s do it or how someone else does it. Just throw the ball. Just be the best you, you can be. That’s when you are most affective. So PLAY BALL!