Daddy

So this is my (Jaynah's) first entry to The Morgan Mantra. Andrew has been on me for awhile to contribute to our blog and I have resisted mainly because I am neither the writer or communicator that my husband is. However, I felt that this was an appropriate time to make an appearance due to subject matter and the fact that Andrew is about to become very busy but that will not stop our many fans (ie, our mothers ;) from wanting the blog updated. With that warning out of the way....here we go:

The term "daddy" has always held special meaning for me. I don't know at what point a father or "dad" becomes "daddy" and most likely this is entirely a southern term, but in my family it is just what dads are called. From the earliest age of remembrance there was a saying that stuck out to me regarding fathers. It was printed on a frame that sat in our living room. It was a wooden frame that had a picture of me and my dad on one side and the other stated: "Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy." Now as a little girl I didn't understand that not everyone had fathers like mine, but I was smart enough to know that mine was special enough to be called daddy. My daddy was one of those men that you could only know a small part of him from looking at him. He was a big man, strong and quiet to most that approached him. However, to those of us who were lucky enought to be close to him...he was so much more. I was the firstborn and I was his little girl from day 1. My mom laughingly tells the story of how up until the day I was born, my dad would say..."Hamby's don't have girls" and how surprised he was when I arrived on that day. It didn't take him long to adjust....I was "Daddy's little girl from that day on." I remember so many things about my daddy that I could share (and take up hours of your time to read) but I will simply say that my daddy loved me in a way that gave me confidence. He never let a day go by without telling me he loved me at least once (usually many more). He never let even the simpliest right decision made by me go by without telling me he was proud of me, and he told me often that I could do or be whatever I wanted.  I always remember the worst part of being punished by my daddy was the dissapointment in his eyes. Don't think my dad did all these things himself....my mom is an amazing woman who has taught me more than I can ever say, but there is something about a daddy/daughter relationship that defines how a girl sees herself. For me, he made sure that I saw myself as beautiful, confident, and unstoppable. For that, I will always be grateful.

April 3, 2005, I lost my dadddy. Many of you know the story, many I'm sure don't, but the main point is that it was sudden, completely unexpected, and devastating to my entire family. It was a month before my wedding day and a time that was supposed to be the happiest of my life suddenly became the hardest I could ever imagine. I don't bring this up to talk about the sad things, but to say that it defined another major relationship in my life...the one with my future husband. Andrew and I started dating in high school and we went through the typical struggles that any two people together that long go through....trouble with friends, jealousy of other girls/guys, communication difficulties, the transition to college, etc. I never imagined spending my life with anyone but Andrew and when he asked me to marry him, I couldn't have been happier. Neither of us imagined the loss of my daddy or how it would affect us, but it showed me a side of my husband that I will forever be thankful for. I often wonder what those first few months of marriage would have been like without the loss hanging over us. Andrew was given a huge duty of being there for me; there were many days that I would burst into tears at the smallest things and he often found me crouched in some part of our house crying my eyes out. He never once got mad, he never once gave me a look that said get over it, he always just held me and told me he was there for me. Never have I been so sure of our relationship that during those times.

If you read this blog, you know our pregnancy story; We wanted kids, we had a plan, our plan didn't work. If you are a woman wanting a baby and it doesn't happen it's not easy. It feels unfair every time you hear of someone becoming pregnant and every baby you see brings you to the brink of tears. It wasn't easy for me but once again, my husband was up to the challenge. He never made me feel it was my fault and he never let me believe we wouldn't end up with a baby. Once again, you know the story....it finally happened for us and we began the best journey of our life. He was there for me during the early weeks of sickness, he was there when we were faced with our baby having a genetic disease, he was there when every visit to the specialist presented another "slight problem." I went to the doctor at least once a week almost the entire pregancy and even though he was still finishing up med school, Andrew was at every one. I love being a mom; it is a joy I could have never imagined but my favorite part is watching my husband become a daddy. Every time I look at my daughter I am so thankful for her father. I smile when I catch them both asleep with little smiles on their faces and when nothing else will calm her down, laying on daddy's chest will. I can't wait for Andrew to experience all the things that daddies and daughters do and I am so thankful that he was in my life long enough to see my relationship with my dad and realize how much a father defines a daughter's life. I have no doubt he will be a hands-on dad; he already is. He doesn't blink an eye when a diaper needs changing, a bottle needs to be given, or a heavy carseat needs to be lifted. He has walked Peyton at night more times than I can count and when we are both exhausted, he sends me to bed saying "I'll take this shift." He's about to become very busy but I have complete confidence in knowing every free moment will be spent loving his little girl (and the dog, with hopefully a little left over for mom!) I can't wait to see what the future holds for our family and I pray that Peyton will realize what a treasure she has in her daddy. I pray that the two of them will share all the things I missed sharing with my daddy....walking down the aisle, college graduation, the birth of her own children, and the birth of her children's children. 

Daddy, I miss you more than words can describe and I wish more than anything you were here to hold your sweet granddaughter. I know you would be a better grandfather than you were a father which is hard to imagine :)

Andrew, you are the love of my life and I have only fallen deeper in love with you over the past few weeks. You are an amazing father and I look forward to experiencing the joys of raising this little girl with you. Happy First Father's Day. I love you.

Videos Pt. II

K, so I'm having fun with these videos, enjoy.

MILK COMA, or at least the transition toward a milk coma.

Peyton hates getting dressed, HATES IT.  I am hoping deep down that this means she will hate shopping for clothes, shoes and the dreaded PURSES.  I'll probably have no such luck, but this is a funny thing she has done a few times.  We put a little blanket around her while we are changing diapers and getting her clothes ready to put on.  This seems to keep her from going ballistic, but not always.  One thing that has worked everytime is when she hooks her little arms under the blanket and pulls it over her head.  Then its lights out, and so is the crying until we're done.

Don't worry folks, we are always standing right there and when we put her to bed or nap, we make sure that she can't do this and possibly suffocate.  Just a weird little thing she does.

Have a great day.

Andrew

Video extravaganza

Well, Peyton is one week old today and we've had a great week at that.  We've been home about 4 days and every night has gotten a little bit better.  Peyton is feeding really well (breast) and now that she is getting good meals, she sleeps really well between feeds.  

I'm gonna post some pictures soon, but I wanted to share these two videos which I really enjoyed this week.

The first is a clip I shot about 5 minutes after Peyton was born.  Jaynah had the C-section and after the baby was born, I had to accompany the nurse to the recovery room so that she could get the baby all cleaned up, put a tag on the baby, a tag on me so there would be no switch-a-roo, as well as get the baby's weight and measurements, etc.    The cool thing was that someone had taken all the stuff the nurse needed out of the recovery room and so while she went and gathered everything, Peyton and I had several minutes, just to ourselves, to get introduced.

*I had been up for over 36 hours straight and so my days were confused.  Peyton was born on 5/20/09.

Next, my brother had been following Twitter since we'd gotten to the hospital, and decided that I needed some support since we hadn't made it to the "birthing class" prior to Peyton's arrival.  He put together 3 videos of tips for a successful delivery and sent them to my phone.  Probably the funniest thing I've ever seen besides SNL's DIAB, and ML.

Thanks brother.  He and his wife also totally surprised us showing up to the hospital right after the baby was born.  He'd originally fed me lies about he had to work yada, yada, which was totally fine, however we were so excited to see them.

More to come, hope everyone is well, and thank you again for all of your love, gifts, support, prayers, and encouragement, not only during the birth, but throughout the whole pregnancy.

THANK YOU!

Loving it.

Andrew

Always Count to 10...

I was in the tenth grade, finally not a freshman any more, thank goodness, and it was football season.  I had decided not to play football after ninth grade because the football program and soccer program hated each other at Upson-Lee.  The football coach told me I would not be allowed to play both because of Spring football practice (two weeks in the middle of Soccer season, mandatory) and so I had to choose.  I said, "That's fine, soccer it is," and steam began to rise from the little mustached man's ears.  Don't worry, he'd get his revenge, but that's another story entirely.

I mention the above story because that was the beginning.  That decision put me on a path of good fortune that I still reap the bounty of daily.

So, yes, football season.  I found myself in the stands with my buddies to help cheer on our Black Knights.  I was having a great time, wishing perhaps an iota that I was down on the field, but okay with the fact that all my friends were there and we were having a blast.  Halftime rolled around and out comes the marching band.  We, think nothing of it and decided to take a trip to the concession stand, but I realized how crowded it would be up there, and I'd never seen my brother perform (clarinet), so I decided to stick around.  I find my brother, looking good, looking good, flag corps, dance-line, majore........

LIGHTNING BOLT...LIGHT-BULB

Who is that???  The beginning....

Fast forward a few weeks and I had found out her name, she was a freshman, and she had been dating a good friend of mine. He was a guy I'd played soccer with since I was 8 years old and things seemed good with them.  Oh well, I thought.

A few months later, she and soccer boy had broken up, Joy!, but quickly she had started dating another of my best friends that I'd been in school with since kindergarten. I still hadn't even met her, blast!!

A bit later, my friend dating mystery girl gave me a call and said he wanted to hang out, go over to someone's house, eat, watch a movie or something.  I said it sounded good, but I'd have to drive (since we were going out of the county, Dad's rules).  He said that was fine, but that he was bringing mystery girl, so I could just follow them.   I should have known something was fishy at that point, but I was excited I was going to meet mystery girl.  We went out to her house, where my friend was greeted by mystery mother, and her dog, Bear.  I should have known when her mother kept squinting, pointing, and asking, "Who is that out there, who else drove up with you, what kind of car is that, do I know him?" but again, I was just excited to meet mystery girl, finally so my judgement was clouded.

We got to our destination, and it was just four of us, not a group of people like had been alluded to  earlier.  We had some food and some laughs, then we turned on the movie: '8 Seconds'....seen it, he dies in the end.  Then finally everything came together:  this was a SET-UP!  Mystery girl and kindergarten friend were trying to set me up with mystery girl's best friend!  I played along, but knew that I was there because I had gotten to meet mystery girl, and she was funny, good looking, smart, and sarcastic...oh the humanity!

I didn't see mystery girl, or mystery girl's best friend again for a while, winter was changing into spring and that meant soccer was in full swing.  I had heard through the grapevine that kindergarten friend and mystery girl had broken up, Joy! Unfortunately, another of my best friends, the hopeless romantic, was head over heels for her, and they had been hanging out some, blast!  Soccer became my focus, and it felt good to be out there again (having missed most of my freshman year with a fractured vertabrae in my low back, now healed up). 

Turns out, that since I'd decided not to play football that year, mustached man, in a moment of evil wouldn't allow me to take weightlifting (which had previously been marked in ink on my schedule for my 9-12 years by the athletic dept.)  I was told to leave, that I was now in regular PE, and to go enjoy my badminton and tiddliwinks.  This was fine by me, I had a buddy in PE right then, we'd have some fun, destroy the volleyball competition, it was no big deal. 

A few days into my PE exile, I saw a beam of light walk and sit in the bleachers.  It was Mystery girl!  She had her 'health' class (actually a classroom class taught by PE coaches) at the same time that I had PE and whenever they finished assignments early, they were allowed to go hang out in the gym until the bell rang.  I got excited, but I was generally a shy guy, especially around girls, and especially moreso around girls I liked.  So I took my time, pulled the 'accidental throw of the frisbee near her' and her friends so that I'd have an excuse to interact.  Gradually (over weeks) I worked up to a, "Hey girls, how's it going?", then to a, "Man I'm tired, I need to rest. What are you girls doing in health class right now?"

This went on for weeks and weeks and finally, I was comfortable saying I was friends with mystery girl.  We then began to chat every so often on ICQ (I-seek-you).  Anyone remember that?  During one of these chats, she invited me to a pool party at her house she was having to kick off the beginning of summer.  I went, and it was fun, but still no definite sparks.  I had to finally work up the courage to ask her out, something casual, I thought.

She said yes, and it was set, after her spring dance recital, we would go and grab a bite to eat with some friends, then I'd take her home, it was a school-night after all.  Finally, we were in the car, alone, together, riding around our small town and I was dreaming the whole time of what could be.  We ate, I took her home, met her folks, said hey to Bear and then went home. We chatted that night on ICQ until our parents kicked us off.  Before we had to turn off the dial-up 56K, we settled that we would go out again, our first real date.

I picked her up, visited with her family, we went and grabbed a bite to eat at the local drive-in, rented a movie and headed back to my place.  (Our town has a one-screen, roaring '20's era theatre that at that point in time was at risk of collapsing mid-show).  The movie we rented: The Faculty, absolutely the worst movie I've seen, ever, and we both chuckled about how bad it actually was.  

At some point during the movie, toward the end, I gathered the courage and said, 

"Hey, what are we doing right now?"

"Uhh...watching a movie.." (characteristically sarcastic while knowing exactly what I'm asking)

"You know, I mean, are we 'friends', are we 'talking', are we 'dating'?"

"I don't know, what do you think we are doing?"  (again avoiding the obvious, driving me nuts)

"Well, I hope we are dating."

"Well, you haven't asked me..."

"Well, then, will you go out with me?"

"Sure, I'm having a pretty good time."

That was May 21, 1999, 10 years ago today, and since that time it has been the single best thing that I've done.  If I only knew then what I'd be writing today, I wouldn't have believed it and I have the little red-faced mustached man to thank for it.  Thank you, Senor Mustache.

Thank you mystery girl, Jaynah Hamby Morgan, for the best 10 years of my life.

Love,

Andrew

*The photo at the top is the first photo taken of Jaynah and I together at some point during that Spring of '99 while hanging out in the gym bleachers.  

Click here to browse my Flickr albums that I put together before our wedding of our adventures together to that point.

A Blessed Day

Our little girl is here! Had C section but mom and baby are great. 7 lbs. 14 oz. Much more to come.

Thanlk you to all for prayers and Praise the Lord for this miracle!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Just add baby and stir.....

It has been a labor of pure love, and one that Jaynah and I have really enjoyed doing together. I don't like to think of myself as a girly man, but I guess if there is a little girl on the way, I'd better find some in there quick. Honestly it has been fun working together with Jaynah to design, shop, install and arrange all of the things needed to properly welcome a baby into our home.

I realize, even if Jaynah doesn't, that by the time the blessed child is old enough to realize how awesome her room is, she is going to want to plaster the walls with purple sequined feather boas of 'Hello Kitty' or something of the sort. This is for us more than for the baby, and for the past several weeks if we can't find one another, or Daisy, for that matter, we just take a stroll back to the nursery.

Daisy is either lying on the new, soft, rug, or under the crib. Jaynah can usually be found opening and rearranging drawers incessantly until she gets them just so. I prefer to just go, stand, twirl, smirk, and nod in approval and excitement.

The last piece finally arrived and the nursery is officially complete. The chair and ottoman will certainly be a favorite place for us at all hours over the next several months.

Daisy, not sure if she is allowed on the new furniture. She is. Until baby arrives.

Also new is artwork on the walls, all made as gifts. We told my mom of our monkey ambitions and she said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

These turned out awesome.

My mom had been planning to paint this picture for years for a grandchild. She was like a kid in a candy store with her painting studio all set up.

This was a total surprise for Jaynah, my mom made this name sign as well. I got to help with this one, cutting to size and routing the edges of the white board. Cool thing is the monkeys and trees are removable when the little one wants to be a bit more sophisticated.

Clothes hamper. For completeness' sake.

I definitely saw this at the store and threw it in the buggy while Jaynah wasn't looking. She didn't put up much of a fight but made some smart comment about being wrapped already or something.

I hate to admit publicly, but I wore a dress home from the hospital. And it's hanging on that door-knob in the picture. The bib was a gift from Jaynah's mom and has Peyton's initials on it.

The pMa picture over the dresser was painted for us by an old high school classmate of mine who works with Jaynah's mom.

Almost here. If you are reading this, then we are probably at the hospital, maybe pushing, because I am speaking to you from the past. I had to give you something to read while we are busy.

Work Hard, Play Hard. PUSH HARD!

Ready for the Little Lady

We just got here and got all checked in, answered a million questions and saw the Dr. Started the cervical softening meds tonight and will start contraction induction meds tomorrow about 5:30 a.m. and so hopefully tomorrow will be the big day. (Depending on how much of the Hamby 'stubborn' genes she gets.) ;)

Updates will be posted to FB and Twitter and will hopefully post some pictures here pretty quickly after.

Thank you everyone for all your love, support and well wishes. Keep Jaynah and the wee bairn in your prayers over the next few days.

Andrew
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry