*** Nick entry ***

Jeff and Kay (Mandy's uncle and aunt in Dallas) sent us (and by "us" I mean "me") a container of russian tea cakes. They are fantasically good and a personal favorite of mine. I techinally supposed to share them with Mandy but for some reason I always seem to eat far more of them than she does...

Tomorrow is Mandy's first time of celebrating Mother's Day. We went up to the Polaris area last night to this kids' store called Carters and bought him a few new outfits including one for tomorrow. We're going to go to Mom's church tomorrow instead of Shepherd so since this is Mom's first Grandmother's Day we thought we'd have Grady look nice. Hopefully Grady can make it through service without getting fussy...Reynoldsburg tends to run much longer than our church...

I've got to go to Florida for four nights next week for work. I'm not looking forward to it at all. It'll be hard on me because I'll miss Grady and Mandy so much while it'll be hard on Mandy because she'll have to take care of all of his needs on her own. I'm doing more of the late night stuff this weekend. Last night I was able to help Mandy get 9 - 10 hours of sleep including 7 in a row while I got about 5-1/2 and it was chopped up. I'll do the same thing tonight and Sunday night...I can sleep on the plane for two hours on my way to Orlando. Mandy has been doing the majority of the late night stuff during the week since I'm working and I'm only too happy to return the favor so she can get rested especially since I'll be out-of-town for a few days.

Mandy is a fantastic mother. I never had any doubts about her mothering abilities but she is absolutely the best mother a child could hope for. Grady and I are lucky to have her.

We've been getting Grady out of the house a bit. We've gone to Scramblers for brunch the past two Saturdays around 11:15am and he's pretty much slept through both meals. Provided we keep his diaper clean (the amount of diapers an 8lbs child can go through in a 24-hour period is nothing short of amazing), feed him every 2-4 hours (or less...he is a Hague baby after all), burp him and hold him some, he's a really good baby. We've taken him on a half dozen or so walks so far around our neighborhood. We have a really nice neighborhood for walking. Typically Mandy pushes the stroller while I walk Lola (our black and very unattractive dog...but she's really good and great with Grady). Grady usually sleeps during the walk. Car rides also knock him out.

So my Dad is in the middle of a 215-mile bicycle ride today and tomorrow. There is a group of people that rides down route 23 from Columbus to Portsmouth, OH. It's about 105 miles each way. So while he's getting exercise and buring 3,000 calories, I'm eating russian tea cakes by the truckload and hanging out at the house. Eh, I wouldn't trade my life for any other...I've got it good.

I'll probably try to see 'Iron Man' while I'm in Florida. There's not much else for me to do at night while I'm on the road. 9 nights out of 10 I just get Subway and eat it in my hotel room at night and occasionally go see a movie. I saw 'Superbad' and 'Semi-Pro' during my last few trips to Jacksonville. I'm also super-psyched to see the new 'Indiana Jones' movie. Now if only I can get my communist wife to at least watch I and III before we go see the new one so she at least has a clue what they're about. Although I did get her to watch 'Real Genius' with me a few weeks ago. It's an '80's movie with Val Kilmer in it. Kind of a cult classic - usually people remember the popcorn blowing up the house scene at the end of the movie.

I'll stop writing now before Mandy accuses me of ruining "her" blog. It's a good thing she's the mother of my son....

Nick's 1st entry

So a few months ago I asked Mandy for the password to this blog. What I got for a response was something closer to the Spanish Inquisition..."what do you want the password for?", "what are you going to say?", "nobody wants to hear what you have to say...".

Well she cracked today...

As Mandy mentioned, Grady was born 12 days ago. There's a myth out there that all babies are cute. Not true. Some babies are very unattractive. However, my son isn't one of them. We have lots more pictures to post, but he is seriously a very attractive child. The "problem" is that I don't think he looks very much like me. He has blue eyes (mine are brown), a Lindemann nose ("Lindemann" meaning short and slightly pointed upwards...unlike mine which is disproportionately big on my face" and long feet (mine are shaped like horseshoes...). But I don't really care...he's healthy and doing great and we're super psyched to have him around. He can be really alert when he's awake. I haven't a clue what he's thinking but there's definitely something going on between his ears. I love him. He is easily the best thing Mandy and I have done together.

Mandy was champ at the hospital. I'll spare everyone the intimate details, but her total labor time was right at four hours. She got hooked up to the pitosin around noon and Grady came out at 4:14 on April 21st. He weighed 7 lbs, 15 ounces and was 20 inches long. Somehow I watched the entire birth process. You know all those medical shows on TV? I can't watch the surgery stuff, I have to cover it with my hand...yes, just like a 12 year old. But I've seen Grady since the first second he came out of Mandy and even cut the umbilical cord.

In an odd coincidence, my birthday is April 12th, my Dad's is April 16th, and now we have Grady on April 21st. Not sure what that means but we're all April babies. The only bad news for me is that April's birthstone is the diamond....so if Mandy wants some new jewelry she can always pull the "it reminds me of Grady" card....

For those of you who actually read this blog, you'll notice that there is only one picture of me on it...and even then I'm covered in winter clothing while sawing a branch in my backyard during a snow shower. Unfortunately I don't know how to post pictures on the blog so I'm at Mandy's mercy to have my face make a 2nd appearance on our blog. We'll also post more pictures of Grady. For those of you who haven't seen him yet, I can't you for you all to meet him. He really is awesome.

OK, so I'll leave on a light-hearted note. Mandy has never seen any of the Indiana Jones movies. Do you know why she hasn't seen any of them? Because she's a communist. Seriously, what could be less American than never having seen even one of the Indiana Jones movies? Her good looks, intelligence, and the fact that she's the mother of my son can't be used as an excuse forever, right?

Grady Scott Hague

Grady Scott is 12 days old, and doing great! He only cries when he wants something (usually it's food...like his dad...), and he does like to keep us up some nights, but not every night, so I can't complain. He'll wake up in the middle of the night for his usual diaper change & feeding, but sometimes instead of falling back to sleep, he'll spend alot of time just staring. He looks like he's thinking about something, but I'm not sure what that is...baby stuff I guess...

Nick is taking to being a dad very well, and hopefully I'm keeping up too...we've had lots of visitors & food coming our way (thank you everyone!), so we aren't bored too often. They say you should sleep when the baby does, but I've been finding that to be kinda hard...I personally prefer showering, catching up on missed phone calls & emails, and all the other odds & ends around the house than to sleeping...to each his own...

Grady had his visit to the doctor this past Monday, and he's thriving, so no more doctor visits until June!