Likewise, I am impressed with Obama’s ability to reach people who you might not expect him to reach.  Just this evening, I asked Cindy if she was disappointed, and she said “not in the least, I’m fine with the results.”  I know those words seem lacking in enthusiasm, but I promise you those words shine a lot brighter than you might expect coming from a generally strong conservative like Cindy.

While it’s way too early to label Obama the savior of our nation, and he is not without his flaws, he has certainly inspired me, and seemingly a nation to be able to look towards a future that in a day’s time seems a lot brighter than it did just a short time ago.  I’m so proud that my son gets to start his life off in a history-making period in our nation’s lifetime.

Edit: I also feel it is my obligation to say that while I’m glad he lost, McCain would have been an improvement over the scum that has infested our nation for the past 8 years.  He has give so much to this country, and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude.

One more thing…I’ve always been in search of a neat tag-line for my blog, and tonight I’ve decided upon “The cool side of the pillow.” It’s in reference to this phenomenon that my dad and I have experienced for years where you constantly flip your pillow over throughout the night so that your head is resting comfortably on the cool side.  My mom vehemently denies this phenomenon exists, but I beg to differ. If you practice the simple act of pillow flipping, post in the comments below. My dad and I can’t be the only ones!

It’s crazy to think that Colton is 10 months old already! As requested, there are some recent photos below, and the link to all of our photos is over there to the right. I’ve also uploaded some videos of him. If you want to see them, shoot me an email. Enjoy!

Deb “The People Pleaser” Jansen has been my mom for the past 29 years. She’s wiped my ass, carted me from one important event in my childhood to another, supplied me with food in my poorer college days, supported me emotionally in some of the most difficult times in my life…in short, she’s always been there for me. I cannot ever remember a time she has deserted me, whether I needed her help or not. I’ve realized over the years that one of the things she’s provided me was never-ending support. If there was ever a time I needed some advice in which I already knew the answer but doubted myself, all I had to do was call her up and she’d nudge me in the right direction. She represents the true epitome of unconditional love. She takes more pride in and gives more dedication to her family than I have ever seen displayed by another person. She loves her new grandson, and seeing her face light up when she sees him gives me total and complete joy. She’s never divulged this to me, but she quit smoking for Colton, I’d bet the farm on that, and to have my mom healthy, happy, and hopefully with us for lot longer, I am grateful. For all these reasons, she is the best mom I could have asked for.

Carol “The Hip Nana” Hillmann has been my mother-in-law for the past 3.5 years. She’s wiped my…plate when I pick the onions out of her amazing food, carted herself to and from her house two days a week to watch her grandson out of the kindness of her heart, supplied me with some pretty awesome meals during my time with Cindy, and has also accepted me 100% for who I am, even though I come from a different place in some of my beliefs. Most people would be satisfied with being able to tolerate their mother-in-law. I simply adore mine. She’s definitely hip, that’s no joke. She’s got a wonderful sense of humor, is a fantastic mother to her children, whom I feel she has also dedicated her life to. She makes the effort to come to TurdFest every year because she knows it’s important to me (plus, let’s face it, she likes to drink and get silly with my friends and family). I owe the best of my wardrobe to her (I can’t blame the “I Have Gas” t-shirt on her) as she has a knack for picking out some pimpin’ work clothes for me. And, even though she’s a registered republican, she can still speak rationally and candidly about politics, and we even agree on some things. For all these things, I’m glad to have her in my life.

Cindy “The Trophy Wife” Jansen has been my wife for the past 3.5 years. She’s dealt with my messy habits, my addiction to all things geeky, put up with my sometimes shocking sense of humor and/or gaseous emissions, and has given me more laughs and good times than I’ve had with anyone. She’s 100% dedicated to our marriage, and works her tail off to do her part to make our marriage work. She’s a wonderful mom to our son, does more than her fair share to keep our house in order, and deserves my utmost appreciation for all that she does. We come from such different family backgrounds politically, spiritually, and otherwise, yet we connect so well. She balances me out, and makes me feel like a king. She’s dealt with my obsession to Tecmo Super Bowl and other video games, and even hopped in on some of the video game action herself. I’d say I married my perfect match, and I’m lucky to have such a great person to spend my life with.

So, I know it’s a little late, but happy mother’s day to my three moms!

Love,

Travis and Colton

Fast-forward a month or so later to present day, and things are going as well as can be. He’s up to 11 pounds 6 ounces, will not be requiring ear tubes, and has grown into the cutest little dude you could ever imagine. I know as his father, I’m quite biased, and nobody wants to hear another parent go on to talk about how great their kids are, (See this article in “The Onion” for more on that), but he sure is a good lookin’ little man. He’s starting to make faces and laugh out loud, and generally seems like a happy baby. On average he sleeps from about 11pm to 7am with an occasional middle of the night dookie/feeding wakeup.

Life as a parent is definitely draining both mentally and physically. It’s very frustrating when he cries and we can’t figure out what’s bothering him. But, when I’m holding him and I look at that little face and realize just how much he depends on Cindy and I to take care of him and how vulnerable and amazing he really is, I can’t help but feel he’s worth every minute of missed sleep or bit of stress-induced hypertension caused by caring for him.

I’ve uploaded a ton more photos of Super Colton Bear (you scrubs fans will get that reference), and you can check out some samples below, or visit our photo page for the full lot!

Remember all of those videos that show the dad massaging mom’s back, spouting off encouraging phrases? Yeah, well, our “video” went slightly different than that. I was basically placed on silent observer duty, where I was not allowed to touch, talk to, or breath heavily around my laboring wife. This went on for several hours, until finally the epidural was placed, and I got my wife back. Originally, we thought we’d be in for a long night because stuff was progressing slowly, but all of a sudden it was kicked into high gear, and at 4:04 AM on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007, our son Colton Randall Jansen was born.

He was 7 lb 6 oz, 19 3/4 inches long at birth, and absolutely perfect. Mom and Colton are doing extremely well, and all three of us are functioning on very little sleep. But that’s ok, every missed minute of sleep is worth it when he looks at you with those tiny little eyes (see below). Already he is developing his own personality, and we can’t wait to see what kind of man he turns out to be. Thanks to everyone who visited or sent us well wishes…see below for photos of the whole experience!

Links:
-Our photos of Colton
-Hospital photo page

It has been noted by several people that since I’m such a “picture” type guy, it’s strange that I haven’t posted any photos of Raisins and her surprisingly non-stretchmarked belly. The woman drinks water like it’s in short supply, and thus her hydrated skin has been able to handle a kid who doctors claim is in the 88th percentile in size.

Anywho, our digital camera broke, so we haven’t been able to take pictures of much at all, but since my sister recently requested a pic of the lovely preggo, I’ve taken one with my phone. For those of you who saw Cindy not a month or two ago, her belly looks a lot different, and has finally surpassed mine! 18 days and counting…

I’ve included the clip from Friends for your enjoyment…I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving…in one full month I’ll be a father. Holy crap.

P.S. If you subscribed to my blog but weren’t able to confirm, resulting in not getting notified when I post, I upgraded my blog software today, and it should have fixed it. Sorry about that!

It’s a really nice house with a large window section that has a view of Lambeau field, the top of the garage is a party deck, it has a “G” etched in the cement, and it has a urinal with a TV above it. It’s a bit extravagent, but when you have money, why not treat yourself a little bit?

Click the link below to read about it and see a few pictures. (hint, click the small pictures to see a bigger version…

Packer House Article

You basically share a large room with about 5 other preggos in a semi-private setup (no one sees your naughty bits, it’s just a lot of round bellies. Six round bellies, in fact, if you count Cindy and myself. They were very professional, and it was a very interesting experience. We went in with low expectations because a friend of ours had the same thing done, but her photos didn’t turn out very well. As I looked around the room, there were a lot of good results from all of the women. Now, it’s not perfect, and at times, our child’s image on-screen resembled that of Jigsaw’s clown from the movie Saw. But, after all is said and done, it’s amazing what technology can do. In some photos, you can see clear, distinct facial features, and can even tell that he’s got my nose. When we were done, they gave us a CD with photos and 4 videos (one of which I’ll email to my family and friends separately (and upon request by email, if you so desire). I’ve included a few of the best photos below, and a link to the full photoset for the rest of them. Check it out!

View all photos at my Flickr Photo Page…

First and foremost, I know it’s cliche, but we were hoping for a healthy baby above all. Never has a cliche been so true. Everything looked good thus far, but being a new parent diving into a world I know next to nothing about, I was a bit scared that we would be one of the unlucky minority and have some sort of complication. The ultrasound was both a gender-revealing exercise as well as an event to quell our fears and give us that happy news we were so longing for. Once we got the good news we were hoping for, the rest was just gravy. Although, we had leaned more towards having a boy first. All of our friends had girls, and there’s just something about having a son that made me want to smile the biggest smile I had ever smiled in my entire life. Yet, I think the tears I shed when I saw that ultrasound would have been the same no matter what the sex, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that was a boy. I mean, the little nubby he’s got thus far is just big enough to make Troy jealous, but nonetheless, it’s clearly and distinctly a penis.

If the old adage is true that the dropping doesn’t roll far from the pile, then this kid is sure to be a handful. But that’s ok, we’re as ready as we’ll ever be to start our family. Plus, I’m sure my parents are waiting for the day that kid turns into a little terror, completing their patient wait for sweet revenge for all the crap I pulled when I was a kid. That’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and check out the pictures below!