A word from dad to anybody who reads this...

Well, two words.

Thank you.

Two words, eight letters (if you don't count the space and the period) and they cannot even begin to touch on how I feel for everybody who has been part of our great adventure called life and especially the last two and a half weeks.

Thank you to our doctor, Dr. Heimburger, of DuPage Medical Group. He delivered Makenna and we've been working with him for the past four years or thereabouts and we followed him to Central DuPage Hospital to deliver Rylan because he's that good and we're that comfortable with him.

Thanks to the nurses in Labor & Delivery, Recovery and on the Mother / Baby unit at CDH. You love your work, you love your patients and it shows. This was our "second time around," not to imply it makes it any easier in the surgical post-op, but your attentiveness to Kelly and Rylan and insuring their care was top notch is greatly appreciated.

Thanks to the members of the Mom's Club who have been providing us meals for the past two weeks and continuing through this week. It has been a wonderful parade of people sharing food from their kitchens and hearts and making the bringing-the-new-baby-home pandelerium a little less hectic. Plus, the leftovers have meant that we've really not been lacking food at any time and that's one less thing to have to think about.

Thanks to all of our friends and friends of friends and family who have been so generous to Rylan and Makenna. The youngster is outfitted for at least the next six months or so, and that's assuming that he reaches Diva status pretty quickly and has multiple costume changes daily. Given his pooping frequency and strange means by which his clothes seem to be attracted to said poop, we'll give the wardrobe a workout.

Thanks to my family who have been so kind and generous with your time and gifts and love for us and Makenna and, unsurprisingly, with the addition of Rylan. Whether Ga-Ga and Pop-Pop and Auntie Kellie taking Makenna for an overnight, or "Unclebraddechantel" [Makenna runs it together] taking her to Chuck E. Cheese for an afternoon, or Nana watching the little guy so Kelly and I could have a grown-up night out on Saturday at Francesca's, or the wonderful decorations we came home to find after four days in that nice but still tiny box of a hospital room, my eternal thanks and love.

To Makenna, who I knew would be my personal project for these two weeks and the first couple of days home was a foreign hellion unknown to any of us, but quickly adapted to Rylan, I love you. Daddy and Makenna have had two great weeks together with all kinds of adventures and outings and trips and fun...daddy's got to go back to work tomorrow, so Mommy's in charge of nap time again. And I leave Saturday for Washington for five days, so be good to her at bedtime too, okay? You're an awesome big sister, you're a great daughter and laugher and the light of your daddy's eye.

And to the most important person in the world...my lovely bride. For the gift of you. For the nine months you nutured and cared for and watched out for that little guy inside of you (and you knew it was a boy...why didn't I listen after Makenna?) who made his grand appearance on the 20th of August forever changing our lives again for the better, my heartfelt and eternal love. The new chapters we write for the book of us are always full of exciting twists and turns and I could think of nobody better than you to walk that path with. To the moon and back...

So tomorrow, back to work. But certainly not now (nor ever) back to the way it was before I left.

Dancer? Gymnast? Gymnast.

Well, tomorrow is back to work day for me. It has been a magnificent few weeks at home with Kelly, Rylan and Makenna. The first week, Makenna and I spent a lot of time trying to get out and about giving Kelly and Rylan some time together as well as giving Kelly time to rest and recover from her surgery.

So there's a place near the house that had open gymnastics on Friday mornings. Makenna and I went and she was a natural. She bounced, she jumped, she ran...we were about 50/50 on the "swing on the trapeze into the pit of blocks", but couldn't get it on camera.

Enjoy a child's pure joy with an hour and a half of playtime.

And yes, unsurprisingly, she slept well that afternoon.

Train date with daddy

I realize that the photos of our family are going to be a little out of sequence, especially as I'm posting THIS now with pictures of Rylan Thomas taken previously to follow (as well as video), but the truth be told, it's been a full time job splitting duty.

Kelly has been Rylan's full time partner and job. This means that daddy and Makenna are having a LOT of quality time together over these two weeks that I am home, Kelly is recovering and we're adjusting. It also means that most of the action has to happen late at night (as everybody is snuggled in their beds).

Today, I took Makenna for her first train ride. She's been fascinated with them, even though she has less than zero use for Thomas the Train on television. They capture her attention when we're at the French Market in Wheaton and when she and we have dinner with Gaga and Pop-Pop along the tracks in Westmont and LaGrange, she wants to watch them all go by.

So we woke up and headed to the Metra station in Naperville, took a half-hour ride to LaGrange which she adored tremendously and walked around a while. We had lunch at Knead Market and then caught the train back and were home in time for a four hour nap. She's been on the go pretty hard the last four days or so, it was an overdue extended nap (she woke up around 6:30).

We're all doing well and you'll continue to see pictures of the family and Rylan in the days and weeks to come. It's all about finding the time.

Welcome Rylan Thomas!!

Our little baby boy made his entrance into the world yesterday, August 20 at 10:34 am.

Rylan weighed 9 pounds and 4 ounces and is 21 inches long. He is doing great and we are enjoying every precious moment with him. Makenna Claire already loves him so much and has eagerly adapted to the big sister role to "baby Rylan". Many, many more pictures to come but here is a glimpse of our sweet little boy.

And here is the video of the announcement made to our family. It's great.

Video from the car with Makenna

Mommy and the peanut had a few conversations about the new baby. As toddlers can be, she's just stupid cute.

Baby Eve!!!

Baby Case will be making his or her debut tomorrow morning!!! Stay tuned for the exciting news..we can't wait to meet our new child and for Makenna Claire to become a BIG SISTER! Scott will be dispatching pictures from the hospital! xoxo

WE ARE SOOO PROUD!!!!!!!

SCOTT FINISHED HIS FIRST OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRIATHOLON YESTERDAY AND DID WONDERFULLY DESPITE THE HOT, HOT HUMID DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Way to go!!! And the thing is, he looked awesome doing it! After months of hard work, lots of time and dedication, Scott's training paid off and we couldn't be more proud of him!

Here is a few pictures to highlight his success.

MC waiting on Nana's shoulders to catch a glimpse of Daddy transitioning from the water to the bike. Having been to a few events before, she knew exactly what to do. Chanting, "go, Daddy, go"..she even had the crowd smiling at her adorableness!
Scott coming in from the water...
And quickly transitioning to the bike...
Here we are waiting for Scott to circle around in his bike with MC holding her sign she helped create.
And now Scott is coming in from the bike, to transition to his running shoes....
And with ease, and very very hot, coming to the finish line after running the very hilly terrain.

Here's his official results.. Congratulations Honey!! YOU are one amazing person and thank you for being a great example on being healthy and continually challenging yourself! You ROCK!!!!!