Jack got his first bath at home the other day. He sure like getting his hair shampoo'd. Maybe he though he was at Hair M...

I think he is going to have the Bunch affinity for getting backrubs and head-scratches and massages.

Day 3 at home with Jack! Christmas Eve was wonderful with the Bunches and Tompkins, and then a great (and snowy) Christmas with the Jaggers and Thompsons.

Becky and I are actually feeling pretty rested today. We had our fist checkup today and everything continues to go well with mom and baby. It was a new experience getting everything ready to go out the door with a kid...I'm sure all you parents can attest to that! But we made it on time...although I think I forgot to brush my teeth...better take care of that when I'm done here.

Thanks for all your prayers and blog comments! Jack has quite a supportive crew, we know we can call on any of you for help whenever we need it! Even those who live far away...

One of our favorite features on Jack is his long eyelashes. Without fail, every nurse and doctor said these two comments when they saw Jack for the first time. "Whoah, he IS big......look at those eyelashes!" You need to view the full size for the real effect!

Our happy little boy under the tree. The best Christmas present we could think up!

The new Bunch family...

Here's another pic of my little man! Jack is doing great. He's healthy and hungry and acing all of his tests. Can't wait to get him home tomorrow for Christmas Eve and Christmas will his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. It's going to be the best Christmas ever.

Just another quick pic...me and Jack.

Things are going well! Becky is up and about a little today, and Jack is behaving beautifully. We are, of course, a little tired, but so wonderfully happy and blessed by our little Christmas gift.

He's here!!

Okay, Brad was right. I'm making use of my wi-fi.

Our son was born at 1:34pm today. He was 10lbs and 5oz. He's 20.5 inches long.

His name is Jack Hayes Bunch. Here's my little boy!!!

Check out Eric's blog for more pics...

It's 11:30pm on December 19, 2007, and tomorrow my son will be born!! I should be sleeping rather than blogging, since I have a feeling tomorrow will be a little bit draining...

Because my wife is petite, and our baby, apparently is not, Becky will be delivering via C-section, and we're scheduled for tomorrow at 2pm! The estimation was 9lbs 6oz on Tuesday...we'll see what the "little" guy actually weighs once on the outside. Whatever his weight, it will be a great day!

I will, of course, try to update the blog for those of you who are not close enough to come to the hospital, but it might take a few days...so be patient!

PB

...so...still here.

Jim and I invented a new head-to-head betting card game last night. We still don't have a name for it, and we are taking suggestions. Be prepared for this response, "That's ONE idea...". Jim hands that one out quite a bit. (by the way, we've trademarked this game, so don't even think about trying to sell it to the Nevada Gaming Commission).

Anyway! Here's how it goes...The object of the game is to turn cards one by one until the sum of all cards shown reaches 31. The person who turns the card that makes 31 gets the pot. If you flip a card that pushes the total past 31, your opponent gets the pot. To begin, each player antes, and the dealer places 1 card face up and 8 cards face down as shown:

The player opposite the dealer then pays (a predetermined amount) into the pot to buy a card of his choice, and flips it over, increasing the community sum. The players alternate by paying (their bet) and flipping until 31 is reached, a player busts, or neither player is willing to flip another card. If the current player does not wish to flip a card (for fear of busting and giving the pot to his opponent), the opposite player has the same opportunity to flip or pass. If neither player wishes to flip, the hand is a push and the pot stays remains for the next hand.

In any given hand, once the sum of the cards is equal to or greater than 25 (ie 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, or 30), any flipped card that does not bust wins the pot. If the current player passes, the opposite player again has the opportunity to flip or pass.

Side notes: Aces are worth 11 until the sum reaches 25. At that point, any Ace flipped is worth 1 point.

T + 4 days...as if Becky was birthing a rocket ship.

Today is Monday, and I'm at work. I did not expect to be here today, but apparently, our son is just too comfy to leave his current home. We're looking at the positives...a full weekend with no dirty diapers and no midnight feedings. However, we are just too excited to meet our son for that positive thinking to hold much ground. We have an appointment with the doctor this afternoon, and we are hopeful that she will give us some great news. But really, I hope to get a call from Becky before that, so I can rush home and take her to the hospital! That would be neat.

Anyway, thanks to all for checking in on us, and I will keep you posted on our "progress."

...and a special hello to my aunt Marilyn, who, until today, I did not know was reading my blog! We miss you guys! Can't wait to introduce our son to you!

PB

It's D-Day...AND NO BABY!

I hope you will all join us in WAITING!

Just wanted to add one more picture to the great memories of Sunny!

Well...

No baby yet! Becky had a check-up with her doctor today, and there are no signs that this baby is coming any time soon. 3 days till due date, and it looks like he might be late. All we really care about is a healthy baby, so he can come whenever he wants...but this is the husband talking, not the 9-month-pregnant-momma.

Just for fun...Becky and I went to REI yesterday and I made her try on this jacket.

10 DAYS and counting...

Hard to believe that Becky and I could be mom and dad at any moment. Just refelcting on a few thoughts while I'm awake enough to have them!

-When I was a little over a year old, my dad started writing letters to me. From my first moments till my 18th birthday, every few months he would express what he was feeling about my life, our relationship, my accomplishments, my failures, his successes, his failures, great family moments, etc. in these letters and then file them all away in a notebook for me. I recently had a chance to read through them again, and I was overcome by their significance throughout the notebook. I think they took new meaning for me now that I'm actually getting ready to be a dad. I would encourage any of you fathers out there to do the same for your kids. I certainly intend to do it for mine. Dad - I know I've told you in person, but thanks again for these letters. They are precious...in a very manly way.

-I'm in love with my wife...and I like her too. There are so many famlies in this world that start because the partents made a "mistake" or they are trying to fix a failing marriage by having kids. I'm so blessed to be married to my best friend, and to have the chance to welcome our son into the world together as a team. I know she'll have the hard part of actually bringing him into the world, but I cannot wait to experience the joys and heartaches of parenting with her. I am overjoyed that God chose to unite our hearts in love, in ministry, in frienship, and in the decision to raise children. Baby - I love you! I can't wait to see you holding our son.

-Last week at church, we had a baby-dedication service. Parents who want to commit to raising their children in a God-centered household, came up on stage and made that commitment publicly to the church. I've been a part of these services before...as a member of the congregation and as an uncle. But, once again, now that I'm about to be a dad, it took a new meaning for me. I can't wait till the next one, when Becky and I get to hold up our son, and proudly commit to behaving biblically in our household, and passing on the knowledge of our Savior on to him. Early on in our pregnancy, I read the story of Samuel again. I was impressed more than ever, that even though Samuel had to make a choice for himself whether or not he would serve God, his mother made the decision to dedicate him to the Lord, and made the effort and sacrifice to place him in a position to succeed. That's my goal as a father...among other things...to set up my son for spiritual success.

Okay...this was longer than I expected. Maybe this will by my first letter to...What's-his-name.

PB

Up a little early this morning. But instead of driving to work, I'm driving to the mountain with Eric. We're off for a little climb and ski in the new snow!

I'm enthused, and I wanted to share that with you :-) Thanks for allowing me.

Jim - I'm sure were going to have a terrible time.

PB

At the request of Michelle, here is a Becky + Baby update:

23 - number of days till baby boy is due.
23 - number of croissanwiches Becky has eaten during her pregnancy
2 - number of weeks early which Becky believes he will be born (which equals next Thursday...)
5 - number of ultrasounds we have had for baby boy
14 - number of letters in his full name
3 - number of golf clubs he already owns
1 - number of bedding sets that becky has bought and then resold on craigslist
15 - number of times we giggled in birthing classes
6 - approximate number of pounds that baby weighs right now
15 - age in months by which I expect baby to perfect parrallel turns

PB

I found the window resize function of my blog template to be a little obnoxious. So I fixed it. I hope you are less annoyed now (as am I). I hope this relieves you of some extra clicking to get your browser back to full screen.

...and since I took the live feed off my sidebar, here you go:

My Baby and my baby...

As I mentioned, I had my first "Senior Session" scheduled for yesterday. Not sure If I really want to get into that branch of photography, but for now, it will help me buy new gear! What do you think?

Just Kidding! Here are a couple shots from my afternoon with Garrett. I think they look pretty "seniory".

I've got a lot of image processing to do in the next week. I did a session with Sarah, Eric, and Ethan (and Makayla) Thompson on Tuesday, I have my first Senior Portrait session tomorrow, and another family session on Saturday! I'm going to be looking at the monitor for a good chunk of time...

I haven't gotten to all of the Thompson's pics, but this was one of my favorites, and I couldn't wait to post it...

Hello blog-readers,

I'm in Memphis! Crazy, I know. Just a quick update on my evening on Beale Street last night. It was so much fun. You walk down the street and turn in to whichever place sounds the best to you. They've all got live blues bands playing. My buddy Ed and I stopped in to hear this band, Delta Highway. They were hot! (musically...not physically).

This is me in the alleyway that leads to the Rendezvous rib joint - where we had dinner. it's off the main drag, so you have to know where it is. You walk down the alley and turn into a little doorway that leads you downstairs into the place. Thanks to Eric for the tip...

And I had the best dry ribs ever!

The tables are owned by the servers, so they serve you quick! We ordered our apetizers and literally he brought them out in about 30 seconds. Then for dinner, the ribs were off the grill and on our table in about 1 minute...no joke. And they were tasty!

Fun night...

TTFN

Okay...just so I don't have to post everytime there's a great shot of snow on the mountain webcams, I added the image permanently to my sidebar.

--------------------------------------->

So now, you will all know what the conditions are like on Mt. Hood, just by checking my blog! And if you click the picture, it takes you to the US Forest Service Page with a larger image!

My blog is not nearly as "tricked out" as the Bjournal, but it's a start!

PB

I know, I know. I gotta stop. But seriously??? Look at this!

As soon as the first flakes started falling on the mountain last week, my brain started transitioning to skiing mode...as you can see from my previous post and my new avitar.

So, in preparation for the quad-burn that is powder skiing and run-after-run down the canyon at the Bowl, I started working out again today. I arrived a few minutes before Jim, so I stairmastered for about 10 minutes before doing a light circuit on the weights. We were both hesitant to really hit it hard, so we stopped early, but felt like we needed to do something more. So Jim said, "lap around the burm?" Why not! So we did a leisurely two mile loop around campus. I was tired by then end...mainly becuase it has been months since the last time I ran...but my motivation was the deep snow...and this:

This is December 16, 2006. For the second season in a row, Jim and I had hiked (cross-country skied this time) into White River Canyon, found a powder covered hill, climbed to the top, and skied down. It's been one of the greatest days each year for me. Jim blogged about it last year and you can see pics of the decent here.

So as I'm struggling through a run, or the last few minutes on the stair climber, this is my motivation.

I can't wait to clip in.

PB

YES!

Becky had another ultrasound today. Halfway through, the tech pulled another ultrasound thingamagiggy out of it's holster and put it against Becky's tummy. To our surprise, we could immediately see these 3-D images! She said they normally only do them for diagnostics, but sometimes its just too much fun to resist.

We were so surprised and so blessed to see such life-like pics of our little man. We got to see him yawn and stick out his tongue. She captured the tongue in the last picture here...just as he was pulling it back into his mouth.

Ocassionally, I revisit a vague recollection of a story in my past. I've never been quite certain if it was actually something that I read, or just a dream that I had at some point in my life.

In the story, I'm in the middle of an Amazonian flood plain in a little shack. The river is nearby, and a large clearing surrounds the little building. At some point in the story, I see a massive storm of marching ants coming toward me. BILLIONS of ants. The whole dream is bathed in orange light because there are huge flames engulfing the entire jungle.

Sometimes I try to remember more details...did I actually read this story, or was it purely a dream? I think it was both. Today, I stumbled across a reference to Leningen Versus the Ants. Immediately, I knew what it was! We read the short story in 3rd or 4th grade. I must have had some pretty vibrant dreams about it afterward becuase it always seems so real when I think back.

Anyway...a little mystery of my life solved today.

EDIT: I just found and re-read this story. It's just as creepy as I remember. You should check it out.

Here's a picture of Becky from today. Isn't she cute! Little boy is growing fast, and we only have 12 weeks left! Holy cow! That's seems really soon all of a sudden.

Becky and I were blessed with a great deal on a car. We've been searching for a while now, trying to find something reliable and in decent shape to replace the aging Honda (since we've had it since high-school, and you've all seen the smoke). We've gone to see 4 cars now and nothing felt right, or was in the right price range.

On tuesday, I got a car dealer mass email...which normally goes directly into the deleted items folder. They were advertising up to 50% off. Which usually means 50% off on a few cars and 2% off on the rest. I decided to look anyway, and saw that one of the actual 50% off cars was something I was interested in. So I drove to Vancouver that night (thanks Eets - ROAD TRIP), and took a look. They wouldn't let me drive it because they had to have it for the sale on Friday (false-advertising otherwise). But I liked it and decided that I was going to get that 50% off. With a little determination, I managed to get to Vancouver at 5:45 am this morning, "fight" off 3 interested parties and get the car! 50% off KBB!!! We got spoiled.

I've since driven home, to Hillsboro for DEQ, back to Vancouver to pick up the Pathfinder and back home again. A lot of time in the new car...which I love!

Here it is for those who don't live close...2000 Acura RL.

It's been a while since I posted, and I didn't have anything clever to say today. So....

Here's a couple pics from when we went to the coast with the Posenjaks. Brad and I were attempting to long-jump. Current world record for men's long jump is 29.36 feet. I think we made it about 12.

...and I pulled a muscle in my abdomen.

I think we were using the high-kick technique...

sail technique:

hang technique:

high-kick technique:

I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE sunburns.

I hate them so much! In 2005, I burned my thighs on a trail run with Jim. That was annoying, but before that, the last bad sunburn I had was the summer after my Freshman year in college. I drove up to Wenatchee to visit Brad and go to the Creation Festival at the Gorge Amphitheater...and to meet Lindsey for the first time! Well I was a vain college guy and wanted to work on my tan, so I rocked a wife-beater and shorts all day long. 8 hours in 90+ heat, thin air, and absolutely no sun-screen. BAD MOVE! I was crispy. That night, Brad's mom gave me some solarcaine spray that is supposed to help the burn not itch. Well, I'm not quite sure becuase when I got up in the middle of the night to use it, I put so much on that the aerosol fumes in the enclosed bathroom knocked me out. I literally fell flat as I attempted to return to my bed. The 6 hour drive home the next day was miserable. Constant prickling and stinging all over my arms, legs, face, neck, and hands. My feet and ankles were okay! Luckily I was still into scrunching up socks with my shoes...instead of the no-shows of today. (Brad's tan started about halfway up his calves!).

Since then I've been very good at applying sunscreen. Not so much because of the skin cancer in my family (of which my mother would remind me), but simply because I HATE that feeling. And also because Becky will not leave me even if I have a really bad farmer tan!

Well on monday, I played golf in Southern Cal with some fellas on a work trip. I even packed sunscreen, but forgot to put it on before we started. When I remembered, we were already playing and I didn't want to look like a dork slathering on the white goop and holding everyone up! I'm an idiot. I would gladly look like a dork to avoid the pain I'm feeling right now.

PB

Jen tagged me with a blog chain, soon, you too may be tagged.

The Meme Rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/stories about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

And we're off...


1. I have a specific pattern for drying off after I take a shower. It's ALWAYS the same, and I don't feel dry unless I follow the pattern. Generally speaking it starts with my hair and ends with my feet...but it's much more specific than that.

2. When I was three, I told Mr. Rogers that I loved him.

3. I'm a reality TV junkie.

4. As of now, I've been dating my wife longer than I've been married to her. We dated for 6 years and 26 days, and we've been married for 6 years and 5 days. This will flip-flop in 21 days. Our first kiss was in the chapel at our church, and we've never broken up.

5. I am a huge golf fan. I love watching it on TV and I love playing it. (I even play fantasy golf). I'm also a dedicated Tiger fan. His skill and determination are mesmerizing. When he makes a charge up the leaderboard or sinks a big putt, I get goosebumps. I especially love how demonstrative he is. You know the famous fist pump, right? Well I always hoped I would be that cool when I made a great shot on the course. Well it turns out that when I do make a great shot, I kinda scream like a little girl and jump around a bit...not cool at all.

6. I'm addicted to q-tipping my ears. I swab every day and sometimes twice a day just because I like the way it feels. Yesterday afternoon, I stood at the sink for a moment because I couldn't decide if I wanted a cold water or hot water swab. Cold is fun because it gives me chills, but hot is very soothing.

7. My first child is growing inside my wife's belly right now. He's weighs just over a pound, but he kicks like Adam Vinatieri.

8. If I had an unlimited supply of money, I would move my entire family to Bend, ski all winter and golf all summer.

That's all folks!

I am tagging Eric, Michelle, Traci, Kelly, Julie, Kristen, Becky (Pilgrim), and Brad or Lindsey (whichever one wasn't tagged by Jen).

This is my friend Jim Marr. If you just looked at these pictures, you'd think he only knew how to make one face...kinda like Zoolander.

...but the rest of them aren't really that hard to find, you just have to know where to look.

We had a great weekend with the Posenjaks! We did all the things you need to do to make a camping trip great: roasted hot dogs, sat around the campfire, hiked in the woods, played in the mountain lake, stayed up late talking, slept in late...wait that was just me...

The fire was a little warm for Elliott, but he was a trooper, and got in close enough for a picture of him roasting the hot dogs.

Instead of "cheese," the boys like to say..."I'll show YOU the bacon!" this is Elliott mid-stream in the catch phrase.

Spencer is a happy baby. I asked Becky if she was ready for ours, and she said, "if he's like this, then yes!"

...I'm a Posenjak, and I'm okay! I sleep all night, and I work all day! I cut down trees, I eat my lunch, I go to the lavat'ry!

As mentioned on the Bjournal, the girls also enjoyed the canoe...as you can see it was a glorious day to be out on the lake.

I can't resist the artsy-fartsy shot when I see it.

Elliott found some giant "pinchers" and was very pleased about it.