Grangerland

So, can you believe it...Chari has turned 30!  Yeah!  No more "you are so freakin' old you are in your 30's" jokes.  I need to savor the next 6 years.....ok.....5 years....dang.   We had a great time for Chari's birthday.  Her work friends gathered for a little surprise party at Miro's Spanish Grille (one of our new favorite restaurants here in Charlotte -- it's practically walking distance from the new homestead).  Fun was had by all.

 

The other big event so far this summer was the Grangers finally doing a family vacation.  Since Chari and I have been married we haven't been able to pull one off, but alas, we conquered the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We had talked about getting my family there for years but finally did it.  Nothing cures a long year of work and changing diapers like seven days in the Outer Banks.  Check out the pictures....it really is a special place with too many memories to count...add a thousand more.

 

Tim

Here's some pics of Jake's first birthday.  Thank you everyone who came out to help make this a special day for him! 

Yet again, we find ourselves apologizing for taking so long to update our site.  Here's a snapshot of the Grangers since Christmas: we spent the holiday's with family in Virginia, then moved into a house in January, started unpacking our boxes, had a few visitors, unpacked boxes, made a trip up to NoVa for Christa's (Chari's sis) baby shower, unpacked more boxes, spent Easter in Raleigh with our family, and are now getting ready to celebrate Jacob's first birthday tomorrow and this weekend with family! More pictures to come, we promise!  Still unpacking boxes...

 

 

 

 

 

Here are our latest pictures....the Nextel Cup 500, halloween, and swimming lessons...

 

 

Dang, I'm so sorry...it's been over two months since I've updated the site.  I'm wondering if there are any of you out there in the blogosphere world that are even still checking our site.  Hmmm.  Anyway.  So much has been happening in Grangerland...

 

Soon I will post some pics from the last two months...I have some good ones.  But for now I am posting pics from our OBX, NC trip last week.  Some friends of ours, The Cassadas, had the brillant idea to hit the Banks in September.  Six couples, half with kids, none old enough for school, low house price rentals, warm water, blue skies, and lots o good food....perfect.  As you might notice Dad took about three thousand pictures of his boy...we're only posting a fraction of them.  What can I say?

Congratulations to our friends, Alan and Allison!  They put together a beautiful wedding on a steamy Charlotte weekend.  Sorry I don't have better pictures of the bride and groom.

 

This was Jacob's first wedding and he did really good (ok, ok...I mean "well"...he did "well"...sorry Dad).  I know, I know...give him a year or two.

 

Speaking of the J man...he's 3 months old today!  Happy 1/4 of a year, little man!

 

 

 

 

Sorry it's taken us so long to update everyone.  We've been so busy the last month or so.  As you can see from the pictures, Jacob is growing.  He's about 13.5 lbs now.  He's basically doubled his weight since his birth.  He is doing great and loves to shower mom and dad with smiles and attempts at giggles.  This stage is such a delight.  We just love to watch him grow and develop. 

 

Since we updated the blog a lot has happened.  Chari's mom and her sister's family (Christa, Brad, and Brayden) came to visit, my mom came for a week to help out, Chari went back to work full time (Yes, Jacob has day care...it's called "Dad Care"...just call me Jack Butler), I continue to finish up this semester's classes and look for a job,  and we traveled up to Staten Island for Chari's grandfather's funeral...Alexander Posnak.  We were terribly saddened by his death, but had a great time with all Chari's family as we remembered Grandpa Posnak and all that he meant to all of us.  He was a great man and will be greatly missed.

 

Stay tuned for more pictures as our boy grows!!!!

Up until Jacob was born, I had been working a lot on a research study that was about to open.  It was 6:30 on a friday night, and I was sitting at work with my friend and coworker Tara busily trying to figure out the last minute details of the study (knowing that i could have him at any time since his due date was saturday).  I started feeling something vague and uncomfortable at my desk.  Tara noticed I was shifting around a lot and making funny noises while we were talking and finally she said to me, "Hey, I think you are in labor!"  "Shut up, I'm not ready" I said jokingly, "Lets keep working."  I was in a bit of denial and as usual wanted to finish a million things at work and home before he came.  So, I went home that night and busily started cleaning and organizing while having mild contractions that I thought would soon intensify any minute.  Well, they didn't.

 

We were up all night friday with contractions that were 5 minutes apart,  but not very intense.  We tried going to bed, but that was a joke and we stayed awake all night staring at the ceiling.  Saturday day came and went and I was still having contractions 5 minutes apart and slightly more intense.  I was so tired and started thinking irrationally that I was going to stay in this state of prelabor for weeks.  So i thought, 'we should go to a party and try and have some fun.'  Tim thought I was crazy (which I was), but I convinced him to go to my friend Allison's engagement party uptown.  So we drove the 30 minutes, all the while having contractions and doing my 'sh, sh, sh' breathing.  Tim was a little nervous about the party scene, but I assured him that I would blend right in.  And for the most part I did.  I made small talk and had a good time meeting Allison's friends all the while doing my funny breathing, but a little quieter.  I ate a good meal and went to the bathroom and all of a sudden my contractions picked up.  I promptly pulled Tim aside and we made our exit thinking that things were finally going to happen and this baby would be born that night. 

 

Well, after calling the doctor, we realized we still needed more intense contractions and we stayed up all night again this time in the living room watching movies and breathing, breathing, breathing.  By sunday morning, I was delirious from lack of sleep and really wanting to be in labor.  We had contractions all day and my parents decided to drive down from Fredericksburg.  I was happy that they would be there for the birth and almost wondered if they would have to wait a few days before it really happened.  But, a little while after they arrived, we went for our umpteenth walk of the weekend and decided we should call the doctor again.  This time we went in, around 11:30 pm on Sunday night.  We were 5 cm dilated and knew our baby boy would arrive finally.  We went a 3rd night without sleep (so much for getting rested before the baby is born) and the contractions slowly and steadily became 2-3 minutes apart and were very painful.  At that point the doctor broke my water, around 4:30 am and I went into a zone of prayer, reflection, and total loss of control over my body as the pain was so strong that all I could do was breathe.  Tim was by my side the entire time, encouraging me and praying for me constantly.  I could not have made it through the pain without him.  He ended up being really active in the birth and saw everything and then some, but he did wonderful and wasn't phased by anything.  I also had an awesome nurse who encouraged me to have him naturally when I started to doubt myself.  It was so neat how God used everyone involved to help us have the labor we had hoped for.  I started to push at 6 am and Jacob was born at 7:18 am.  There was no doctor there, so our wonderful nurses delivered him and did an amazing job.  I was able to cuddle with him before they took him away and felt so much emotion in that short time than I ever have experienced. 

 

It was such a feeling of joy and wholeness to finally bond with our son and see his beautiful face.  Daddy was able to hold him for a long time after they checked him out and we will always remember that special and first time that we felt like a family together.  Jacob was very alert from the beginning and quietly scanned the room with his big eyes.  We could tell he was going to be a deep thinker just like Tim from those first few moments.  Gigi and Pa Granger had driven through the night and came shortly after he was born to meet him.  It was such a blessing and a gift to have both of our parents there to love on us all and share in our happiness!  These last 4 weeks with Jacob have been awesome and I look back on his birth everyday and realize how miraculous and God-inspiring it was.  Praise be to God for His sweet creation!

 

 

He's finally here!

 

Jacob Timothy Granger entered the world on Monday, April 24th at 7:18 a.m. at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C.

 

Chari and I are so thrilled to be blessed with such a beautiful, wonderful, and healthy little boy.  We've gone through the pregnancy and labor pains and now we are entering the world of sleepless nights and breastfeeding woes, but we just feel so blessed by God that it overwhelms us with joy.  We can't believe we made him!  Now we understand the spiritual dimension to the birth of a child.  Thoroughly amazing!

 

We will tell more of his birth story soon, but for now enjoy the pictures!

 

Love,

Tim, Chari, & Jacob