Arrival: Terminal L&D Gate 14 - Part 1

Flight Information:

Airline: Little Miracle Airlines
Flight: Jett Aubrey McGowan
Departure Airport: HVN
Arrival Airport: JAG
Arrival Time: 11/5/09 1:31 PM
Terminal: L&D
Gate: 14

Yes! He is here! The Jett-man has arrived and we are so excited to meet him!

I can't believe that he's already over a week, but it's been full of many cool moments. I'm just now getting a chance to sit and write this down, but I didn't want to wait any longer because I tend to be a tad forgetful where details are concerned anyway. But, in consideration of our faithful readers' time, I've chosen to split this into two different posts. So hang tight! This flight is about to take off!


Why Nov 5th?
When we began this journey with Jett, we made a decision to switch lady doctors because Jen felt she wanted someone who was more encouraging and natural friendly. The hospital where Grady was born sees about 2% of women deliver naturally so we were looking for a more suitable climate for our plans. We found our midwife, Aliza, through some friends who had used her and sung her praises. She was able to deliver at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Allen, otherwise known as Allen Presby. It just so happened that this hospital is the best in North Texas for people choosing to deliver like us. Wahoo!! Aliza was so awesome during the whole pregnancy and we knew that we had made the right decision. There was only one problem. She had to go out of town on November 8th.... Jett's due date was November 10th.... Uh-oh! But we did not want to have this baby without her. Thankfully, Jen was progressing very quickly toward an early delivery anyway. By the time of our last appointment on October 29th, Jen was already dilated (I just realized that "dilated" is not "dialated"... wow! thanks spell checker) to a 4 and Aliza felt confident that if she broke her water that Jen's body would pick up the cue that it was go time! So our "Rupture Induction" was scheduled for November 5th at 6:30 AM! It was kind of crazy to know that no matter what Jett would be here by November 5th.

The birds

The day before we had Grady while taking a "get this baby out" walk, Jen and I spotted a Blue jay and a Cardinal. We took it as a sign that he was coming soon and indeed he did. As we drew closer to Jett's arrival, we joked that if we saw those two birds again, then we'd know he was coming. Well low and behold, while out on Wednesday 11/4 on just such a walk, Jen saw a Blue jay wisp by as she was pushing Grady in his famous Red Car. Crazy, yes, but uncanny, no! All we needed though was a Cardinal sighting to seal the superstitious deal. And as crazy as it sounds, while Jen was feeding Grady lunch, he began pointing and grunting loudly. This was nothing unusual of course because his language skills remain at the intelligible only on occasion stage. On this day though, he insisted even more than on most days that mommy turn in the direction of his singular appendaged indication. And what to her wondering eyes did appear? Why, it was a cardinal sitting on our counter staring back at them with its beady eyes. Albeit its eyes were ceramic and the bird itself was a small candle holder. What's so crazy though, is that neither of us had even noticed it being on the counter until he pointed it out! I'm sure I put it there, but just forgot about it even though it was in plain sight. Anyway, we took this as proof that Jett was coming and a sign from the Lord Himself. You know that always feels good.

The Night Before Jett-mas

And all through the house, the world has never seen such hurried nesting! Instead of having to tackle huge projects though, we were only putting the final touches on a number of things thanks to Jen's thoughtful planning. Somehow she knew this day was coming... I don't know what tipped her off. Anyway, we were finishing up our focal point board and getting ready for Gigi and Aunt Kim's arrival. By midnight all was quiet at the McGowan house awaiting our 5:15 wake up call. Jett's birthday was finally here!

To Be Continued...

~A

Grady Meets Jett!

I am working on a post to tell you the whole story, but we've been a little busy the past few days. We are so excited that Jett has arrived and so is his big brother, Grady!



What a pair they're gonna be!

~A

Tour de Jett

Ready for Jett's final approach!

Tour de Jett from AUBREY MCGOWAN on Vimeo.

Getting ready for Jett's arrival. We're preparing a place for him!

trick or treat & 38 weeks!!!

We had our 38 week appt. on Thursday and I'm dilated to 4 and little Jett man has dropped even more! My mid-wife is going out of town on the 8th (2 days before my due date!!!), so if I haven't gone into labor by Thursday she wants to break my water, which she thinks will send me straight into labor!? So...it looks like by Thursday, little Jett man will make his grand entrance!!! CRAZY!

We have been nesting, cleaning, walking, eating spicy food...you name it! No luck yet! This little man is comfy cozy where he's at!:-) Instead of sitting around, waiting on him...we decided to go to a halloween party tonight & then trick or treating w/ Grady man! He was absolutely adorable in his monkey costume...seriously the cutest kid I saw!:-) He would walk straight up to the door, take some candy out of the bowl and then try to walk into the house!:-) SO cute! After about 7 or 8 houses and some scary cat lady...he was done! He's never had candy and didn't seem too interested, so I didn't push it! Soon enough he'll understand!!! Here are a few pics...

the fam...

the monkey & the deviled egg!

We also took our little monkey to the fall festival at church last Sunday which was a-ma-zing! Here are a few pics...

~jen

Photographs

Here are some recent shots taken of our growing family. Thanks to our good friend/photographer Kevin Hail for his time and talent! To see the rest of our pictures and some other cool pics that Kevin has taken, visit his Flickr Page.

~A and J

Up up and away!

It is perhaps one of the cheesiest and/or trippiest songs played on oldies stations across the universe, but yet it is so catchy. "Up up and away in my beautiful balloon." While it is unfit as a theme song for life, it is quite fitting as a theme song for a balloon festival. Needless to say, it was definitely bouncing around in my head a couple of weekends ago when we visited the Plano Balloon Festival. We didn't know what to expect, but we had heard from friends that it was pretty cool.

It was a beautiful day and the people were out in droves. Of course, Mrs. McGowan in her pregnate state and I in my sympathetic nature fell victim to the Super-sized Corndog stand right off the bat. I mean... uhh... good! Seriously, doesn't everybody like corndogs? Grady and I tag-teamed one. I ate the dog while he had the corn. He then proceeded to mooch some off of Mommy too. I was proud. It was a team effort. Go Team McGowan!

A little word of advice when visiting festivals, carnivals, and other -ivals of the like. Please do yourself a favor and bring your most off-road ready stroller. I decided to bring the cheapy umbrella stroller whose wheels were so small that it made it almost impossible to roll it through grassy areas. There were a couple of times that the tiny wheel dug into the turf and I nearly vaulted over the stroller or suffered a cheap shot to the gut by the poorly padded handle. Next time I'm bringin the sidecar!

Anyway, Grady loved the balloon "glow" as they called it. After dark, the balloons all burned their torches in unison which resulted in an amazing display. Little man was clapping and cheering them on as they counted down to each glow.

Here are some pics from our adventure!

~A

A boy by any other name would smell as stinky.

The pressures of parent life are too many to number. Worries about what on earth we'll feed this kid, he's a trash compactor... or about how many close calls he will have between the fire place and the face before our first ER visit... or about how long before your child has one of those meltdowns in a restaurant that is completely uncharacteristic of him and you are completely surprised ;) (you know the ones where everyone looks over at you with this "you and your child are the bane of our existence" glare.) But all of these pressures are preceded, superseded, yea anteceded by this: the responsibility of choosing a name.

With such a weighty decision at hand, we at the McGowan Consortium have chosen not to leave it to the powers of chance, Aquarius, or the 5th dimension. Neither have we chosen the flip and point in the baby book, the casting lots, or drawing straws method. No, in fact we have come up with a three step process for selecting the perfect name for any child.

1. Forsake all baby name books and websites. Yes, you must resist the urge to purchase 10,000 Obscure Baby Names That No One In Your Neighborhood Has Considered. You must also avoid the temptation of staying up 'til the wee hours of the mornin' scouring every baby website for that perfect name. **The only baby name book you may purchase is The Baby Name Wizard, which is an intriguing statistical analysis rather than a compilation of meaningless fabricated mashed-up monikers. ***If you do not heed this warning, you may end up in a mental institution.

2. When you find a name that has potential, use it. Call the baby that name. Moms talk to your baby saying things like, "Gertrude, wouldn't you love to have some ice cream? I know mommy would." And dads, listen carefully! Talk to mommy's belly in the best baby talk you can muster saying things like, "Hey little Gawain, I can't wait to change your first poopy!" **Additional note to dads: If you feel like the bless-ed child is not hearing you, feel free to use your wife's belly button as a microphone therefore increasing the vocal resonance in the uterus. ***The "use it" method will tell you very quickly if the name "Quincy" is the right name for your child or for a late 70's detective television series.

3. When you find a name that works, stick with it. Get ready for people to love it or hate it. It's inevitable that Aunt Maude will feel the need to point out that, in her opinion, "that's not even a name", but stay strong and stick to your guns. After all, it's your child anyway, right?

That having been said, after employing this method judiciously over the past few months, we have finally come up with a name for our little man-to-be. In just a few short weeks or maybe tomorrow, little Jett Aubrey McGowan will make his grand entrance into our world. We are so excited to meet him. The journey to his name has been longer than expected, but well worth it. One of our late favorites was Landry, but after step 2, it was clear that this wasn't a fit. Jett kind of came out of nowhere as a surprise winner, but after step 2, it was the clear choice. This kid is surely a Jett. Sometimes we stop and think, "Are we crazy naming our little boy Jett? He's probably going to be wild already, but now he's guaranteed to be over the top." But hey, the method is tried and true. As for his middle name, that was Mommy's idea, not mine. But I can't say that I don't like it! :) We can't wait to meet him!

~A

P.S. It also bears mentioning that his initials will be JAM! Ha!