Turner is home!

Today was check-out day at the hospital and there was a lot to do. I woke up early to pick-up a 'Thank You' card and small gift for the nurses who've been beyond helpful with Turner and Tori.  We took the advice of our friend Kathy and picked up breakfast pastries for the nurses from Panera Bread.  We also got them a 'Thank You' card to express our appreciation for everything.

While Tori and Turner were getting cleared by the doctors to head home, I was picking-up our cousin Ondrea from the airport.  We arrived at the hospital and Ondrea got to hold her new nephew for the first time.  They got along great from the start.  Ondrea kept Turner busy while Tori and I packed up the items in our room.

We placed Turner in our Chicco Keyfit 30 infant carrier and we were on our way.  It was cold out but we didn't want to bundle Turner up too much.  The last thing you want is to overheat him.  One of the nurses escorted us out and I pulled up the car to the entrance while everyone waited.  Luckily it didn't take long to get from the parking lot to the main entrance.  In retrospect, I should have driven around first and then called up and told them to come down stairs.

Turner is now home and has been getting accustomed to his new surroundings.  The dogs are curious, cautious and eager to play with Turner.

Turner Alexander Moore is here!

Today is a great day.  After several hours of labor, my wife and I were blessed to welcome out first child into the world; Turner Alexander Moore.  Turner was born at 3:17pm and weighed in at 6lbs and 14oz.  He is 20inches tall.  Both Turner and his mom are doing fine.  I am beyond excited and still amazed by it all. 

Here are a few photos from the day.  Fair warning, I will be one of those fathers who takes  a lot of pictures and videos of my son.

New Poll - Guess the arrival date!

The count-down has officially started.  The due date we were working towards was December 30th but you can never tell.  Turner might decide to make an early appearance OR he may opt to stay in the warm cozy belly of his mom.  When do you think he'll arrive?  Start voting!

The Nursery is done!

We might have started out slow but we really picked-up steam and got the nursery prepared for Turner.  With just under 12 days left until his expected arrival, I think we did a pretty good job.  I don’t have much to say about it.  I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves. 



A closet full of clothing!! I think he has more clothing than I do.



Wait a minute, I just did the math.  Enjoy that room son, apparently it wasn’t cheap.

My Office 'Man-shower'

On Wednesday, my coworkers threw me a mantastic man-shower.  I was treated to a nice lunch, had some jokes made at my expense, got some great gifts and saw some old friends.  Overall, it was a great day.   Kathy took some great photos and put together a nice video of the event.  Thank you to all who attended and to those who were not able to attend but contributed towards the gifts. 

The friendship demonstrated that day and contributions to my growing family are truly appreciated.  It’s always been one thing to work with great people but to have those same people become close friends is another.  I’m grateful.  We are officially counting down to Turner’s arrival!!

A Saturday trip to Target and Babies-R-Us

Over the past few days, Tori and I have been kicking this baby preparation into full drive.  We’ve order several items from Amazon.com including decorations, a dresser and a changing table.   We also used some of our gift cards to purchase a few items that were only available online.  Feeling pretty good about ourselves and pumped up, we ventured out to Babies-R-Us and Target to pick-up a few more items that we were missing.   We spent about 4 hours between the two stores, stopping to eat and sitting in holiday traffic.   This is what we managed to fit into my car and drive home with.  Thank goodness I don’t have a larger car or else who knows what we might have purchased that day. 

Note, this is the majority of items we purchased with gift cards.  I left some items out of the photo.  The other items from Amazon hadn't arrived yet.  Thank you everyone who provided us with gift cards!  As you can see, they have been put to use along with several couponsJ.

Tori at 36 weeks

This is the most recent and probably the last picture we’ll take before Turner is born.  Tori is at about 36 weeks.   As you can see, Tori hasn’t gained much weight, it’s pretty much all Turner there. 

As an FYI, both Tori and I were in the high 8lbs / low 9lbs.  I think Jr. will be keeping that tradition going.

Aunt Suron has gone above and beyond

I am lucky to work with some great people.  I am twice as lucky to have developed great friendships with some of my coworkers.   This post is about a friend and coworker named Suron.  Suron has two sons; Jacob who is now 3 and Zack who is 2.  Almost every morning, Suron comes into work with funny, slightly scary, weird, and occasionally gross stories about the things children do and new experiences she and her husband have with her boys.  When I told Suron that Tori and I were expecting our first child, she was excited because I’d finally be ‘joining the club’.  When she found out that we were also having a boy I think she became very excited because now I’d be able to show up to work with my own amazing stories.

Suron knows how excited I am about having a son and like my other coworkers teases me about most of the things I’ve been doing to prepare for his arrival.  Along with her teasing, she provides some valuable advice and most recently, she provided me with hand-me-downs and toys for my son.  I came into work on Tuesday and Suron told me she had a FEW items that she could give me.  I’m lucky I drove Tori’s SUV that day as I ended up filling the back of it with clothing, toys, and other baby items for a little boy. 

In short, Suron is awesome.  There, I said it.  She’s a great coworker.  She keeps those of us who sit near her laughing throughout the day.  The clothing and toys she gave us will come in very handy.  I am beyond confident that as soon as my son is able to play and do fun stuff we’ll be over to her house for play dates with her boys.  I am also confident that when we have another son, we will have plenty of clothing for him to wear thanks to his cousins Zack and Jacob. 

Thank you Suron for all that you have done.  I’m lucky to have a friend like you. Please don’t read this at work, as I don’t tolerate crying in the office.

Baby Shower Pt 2: A Thanksgiving Road trip

And we’re back.  Tori and I just returned from a Thanksgiving road trip and baby shower with our family in Jackson, MS.  We left Philadelphia on Sunday, November 21^st and drove to Norfolk, VA to visit / stay with two of our close friends; Jesse and Tan.  It was good catching-up with them.  Tan is one of Tori’s friends from college and they are both expecting.  Tan is also having her first child, McKenzie Rae Grant.  Turner and McKenzie got to ‘meet’ as Tori and Tan bumped bellies for a photo.  [Side note, McKenzie was born on Saturday, November 27^th!  Congrats Tan and Jessie!]

 Anyway, we then drove down to Atlanta and stayed with my mom for two days.  We picked up Tori’s cousin and drove down to Jackson, MS on Wednesday.  Thanksgiving was great.  Tons of family and friends and a bunch of kids whose names I do not remember.   I don’t know where to begin with describing the food.  Let’s just say I went for thirds.   On Friday, Tori, my mom and I drove around Jackson visiting some of the antique markets and giving my mom a tour of Jackson as this was her first time in the city. 

Saturday was the big day; the baby shower!  We had a great time.  Tori’s sister created a really fun game called, “Who knows the couple best?”  Our cousin, Ondrea was the winner – she calls us regularly and is clearly looking forward to Turner’s arrival.  There were several other winners for each of the other games.  We received a variety of gifts ranging from items on our registry to gift cards and personalized gifts.  My mother made artwork for Turner’s room, which everyone admired.  We’ll be hanging that up this weekend along with other artwork and Turner’s decorations. 

Thank you everyone who attended and thank you for all of the great gifts.  We are lucky to have Turner born into such a great and loving family.  Tori’s grandmother also attended the shower.  We will be flying down to Jackson, MS next year so that Turner and meet his great grandmother and help her celebrate her birthday in July.