Round 2!

Round 2 has begun!

Shepard Nocona Lewis Neel was welcomed to this world at 9:12 AM on April 17, 2009! At 8 lbs 8 oz, he wasn't nearly the size of his older sister when she was born (9 lb 4 oz). However, Samara was 10 days past her due date and Shepard was born 11 days before his due date! Shepard (Shep) was 22 inches long, which is longer than Samara's length when she was born.

Shepard and Shana are doing well! We arrived at the hospital at about 6:40 AM on the 17th...Shana was a bit aggravated, to say the least, that we were 10 minutes late arriving! Everything went well and by 10 Am, we were showing him off to our families!

To say the least, the 1st 24 hours with Shep was definitely easier than with Samara. There have been no latching problems and we actually were able to sleep somewhat last night!

Samara has been a great big sister! We couldn't be more proud of how well she has adjusted (so far). She always wants to hold Shepard and make sure he's ok when he cries. Once, when the nurse came in to get a blood sample for a glucose test...Samara has just woken up...Shep started crying after the nurse "stuck" him with the needle. Samara instantly started crying and reaching for him (although she was about 10 feet away)...yelling "my baby (brother)"!

So, some may wonder how we came up with Shepard. Well, we (I) wanted to stick with the same basic format that we used on Samara. Yes, I am that much of a nerd! So, a space-related name, a comanche name, and a family name.

Shepard was about the only space-related male name Shana and I both liked. Shepard being the last name of the 1st American astronaut in space; Alan Shepard.

Nocona is a variant of the Comanche Chief Quanah Parker's father, Peta Nocona. As with Quanah, Peta Nocona was a great leader for the Comanche's whose name means "he who travels alone and returns." Nocona simply means, "wanderer".

Lewis was taken from both Shana's and my grandfathers. Shana's grandfather is Lewis Albert Adama and my grandfather was Frank Lewis Palmer. We didn't hit on this name until a couple of weeks ago; we had Shepard and Nocona nailed for the last several months...

There's the story! I'm sure I'll be subjecting you to more spam in the future. I hope all is well. As always, photos:

Sounds like a Gremlin!!

The last week and a half have been interesting. It all started with a coworker asking if I liked knowing the birth date. I thought about it for awhile before I came up with an answer: I do not! The logic: when you don't know the date, you wake up every morning with a taste of excitement and thinking, "this could be the day!" I can now say that knowing the date takes that excitement away. Even though labor can happen at any time, the perception of knowing the date changes everything. Now, and over the last week or so, there has been a steady, constant climb to the apex. Coasting. Last week I was very anxious...tough to concentrate at work...maybe a result of knowing the date..but who knows?

Preparing for the arrival of our families, we cleaned the house last weekend...spotless. Shana bought enough food to feed an army (and subsequently stuffed it into her new freezer)...and that may not be enough after thinking how much my nephew and brother will eat. And, we have enough space this time around to house our own cult, if need be. Speaking of a cult, we may have to subdue my father...or as my niece calls him, "Crazy Grandpa".

Shana is doing ok...a lot of Braxton-Hicks...consistently! The baby has been moving around, causing pain every once in awhile. She's "pretty quickly irritated"...in her own words. Oh, Shana got a pedicure last week...pretty red toe nails!! If I say anymore, I may end up sterile.

We have 99.9% decided on a name for our son. Interesting story about that, for posterity's sake: Over the course of the last 8 months, the naming game consisted of me finding names and Shana shooting them down (for the most part). So, when our doctor was late for our last appointment, Shana and I were able to nail out a name within the several precious moments that passed.

And the name is:

You'll have to tune in! But I can tell you initials: NLS (or some variant).

Speaking of our last appointment with the doctor, we were talking with her (our doctor) about when to show up at the hospital. "Show up a couple hours early." Which, by the way, means: show up at 6:30 AM for an 8:30 AM procedure!! She then added, "No food after midnight." To which my reply was, "Sounds like a Gremlin!"

"Bright light, bright light!"

And, these are a bit overdue, but here are some ultrasound scans. Unfortunately, the quality of the images are not as good the ultrasound(s) with Samara. The 1st image shows the baby looking straight at the "camera". The second image shows a profile view. It's been interesting to experience the differences between the doctor in Colorado and the doctor this time around. Our current doctor doesn't do the "extra" ultrasound that the doctor in Colorado preformed.

Some images from the last month:

A nice shot of Shana...of course, she'll probably do bodily damage as soon as she finds out I posted this one!

These last three are of Samara at the local park.

Samara holding up an Easter egg she found at school...

Samara during her egg hunt at home!

Samara was playing one day after work and I was able to catch the sun illuminating her...great shot.

Samara and Shana leaving school...

And the ultimate 1st date photo!!

An old Samara story before I go: We were driving home one evening from Best Buy and Samara asked if we were going home. We both replied "yes" and continued to talk. A few minutes later (while Shana and I were still talking), Samara intruded again and asked, "Are we going home?" To which an annoyed Shana halfway shouts, "YES!!! How many times do I have to say it?" Samara promptly shouted, "TWO!!"

Take care all! We'll post some pictures of the baby this weekend!