2 Week Checkup

"Yesterday we took Jayden in for his 2 week checkup and everything looks okay. He gained his birth weight back and then some as he now weighs in at 8 lbs. He also grew an inch so he now is 20 1/2 inches long. We've been fortunate as he's been waking up 2 times a night (around 1:30 AM and again around 4-5) for his snack time. We've also found out his whiny time is between 8:00 and 9:30, give or take a an hour.

Sunday we had a Baby Shower for him with a lot of Kim's family there and some of her friends. Jayden like all his presents and can't wait to start playing with everything. He was pretty tired after it after being ""groped"" by all the ladies. LOL We took some more pictures and they can be found in the Week 2 gallery. One of the pictures that I took was his hand around my finger. Amazing is all I can say.

Saturday, Jayden was all dressed up in his Cyclone uniform so he could help support ISU as they attempted another success over Iowa. Unfortunately, his cheering didn't help with a win."

Face Lift

Well, I decided to give my site a face lift. Bear with me as I work out the bugs. The gallery shows some weird formatting, but I couldn't wait any longer to release it. Hopefully you like it...I don't care if you don't like it. :)

99+ Balloons

"Yesterday I went back to work after taking the week off to bond with Jayden and help Kim out. My co-workers decided to have some fun with my office cube so they decorated it with a ton of balloons. It was fun reading the balloons as some had stuff written on them.

Last night Jayden slept like a charm. Monday night he was ""master of the house"" and cried until 12:30 AM, Tuesday morning. He wasn't eating very well and we had no clue what was going on in his world. We made it through it though. I am definitely glad when he does decide to sleep when it's the right time to sleep (actually, he sleeps a lot as it is...what the life! :) )."

Five Days Old

Well, we've had little Jayden home for 3 1/2 days now and he's almost 5 days old. We've had to treat some jaundice with a bili-blanket. We had to take him to the Doctor on Wednesday and yesterday and his levels were back down so we didn't have to use the blanket last night. He's been sleeping rather well except for the start of last night we were trying to put him to bed and he just kept fussing and appeared to be hungry yet, but wouldn't eat. We switched to the formula that we got because the hospital supplied stock ran out. That may also have been a contributing factor to his unpleasantness at the time. Kim thought maybe we do need to try the pacifier, even though we don't want him hooked on it. It turns out that's all the little guy needed and he fell asleep. He slept until 4:30 this morning so we got up and fed him. Then after feeding he went to sleep while sucking on his pacifier.

Yesterday and the day before Kim and Grandma Wagner went shopping for some boy baby clothes at a couple of the consignment stores that we often frequent. They bought quite a few clothes some of which even had the price tag on. Kim had saved the cash that we got from our early summer garage sale specifically for baby Jayden. She had a ball. :)

Kim's doing very well considering what she went through. She's healing up and is continuing to be active. (Notice that I said continues...she never really became inactive even after giving birth.)

It's a boy!!!

Join with me in welcoming Jayden Lee Minnis into our world. After Mom went through a long excruciating 27 hours of labor (40 minutes of which were pushing), Jayden was born on August 29th at 3:51 PM. Jayden was a hefty 7 lbs 8 oz (which is quite big for how Kim looked) and was 19.5 inches long. Kim started labor at around 2 on Saturday when we were painting the picnic table. Kim knew it was happening, but she decided that we should go and get some ice cream...after all it might be our "last meal". So we went and had ice cream and came back to our place. Around 5:30 the contractions really picked up. The minutes between and lengths of contractions were such that we called the Doc. She informed us to go to the hospital to so they could check out Kim and the baby. We got to the hospital around 6 and they hooked her up to all the machines. Unfortunately, she was only dilated to 2 cm so they decided to send us home. We stayed at home till around 11:59:59 PM on Saturday. We called the doc up again because at this point the contractions were really coming on and Kim had the shakes bad.

So we got the hospital for the second time and this time they kept us as Kim had dilated to 3 cm. And that's pretty much were she stayed until around 8:00 AM, Sunday. Kim couldn't hardly take the pain any longer so she decided to get an epidural. They broke the water at around 8:30. Then I think it was around 9:30 they started administrating Pitosin to see if they could get the contractions to be more frequent and harder as Kim had still not dilated that much...probably around 4 cm at that point. The Pitosin was working so by 12:00 Kim was having major contractions (probably a minute apart) and she could feel her right leg and the contractions again so they had to up her epidural and gave her another shot of some other miracle drug. She was feeling more comfortable by 12:30 and had dilated to 6 cm. Then she dilated by 2 cm for each hour so by 3:15 she was fully dilated (10 cm) and the nurse gave her the go ahead to start pushing. Kim was a true sport and pushed like she was pissed. I'd coach her along and tell her to just get pissed and it apparently helped as by 3:40 or so, the Doctors and the ICU were on site ready to prep the Jayden as he came out. He had a bowl movement while inside Kim so they had to be sure to suck everything out of his lungs and stomach. After Kim had Jayden they moved him over to the warming bed to clean him off and check his vitals. He was having some difficulty breathing so they had him on oxygen for a little while, then gave him to Kim to hold. After about a minute Jayden started breathing hard again so they took him back to the oxygen. They took him back to the nursery for the rest of the time until 1:00 PM yesterday (the 30th). He had been on oxygen until 3:00 AM yesterday morning. We weren't sure if he was going to have to go to the ICU to get more diagnostics done. It was a very trying time and we were so elated when we finally got him back yesterday. We could visit him in the nursery, but it just wasn't the same.

About a half an hour ago we got to step into our home for the first time as Mom and Dad. It's pretty cool having Jayden here and to hear him cry a little bit...at least for now. I'm sure we'll have those nights that we would like him to not cry. :)

Thanks for all your visits and prayers along the way. It's been a true miracle of God to watch everything that's happened and the gift of life. I could see God had his hands right around Jayden as he was transitioning into breathing on his own. But, it was still hard to watch Jayden fighting to breath on his own.

As for all you guys out there who haven't experienced birth...Women are tough!!! They deserve every bouquet of flowers that you get them! :)

Visit the gallery to see Jayden's Photos.

Start The Clock

Start the countdown!!!

And We Wait

Well, we went to the doctor today for our weekly visit and we didn't get to stay in the hospital to have that baby. Kim was, to say the least, a little upset in the whole thing. She even had her bags packed just in case they decide to induce her. But, no luck. Kim had the non-stress test done to find out the stats on the baby and the results of that were in good order. The clinic also setup an ultrasound to make sure everything was still okay and from what we gathered, the insides look great and are normal. So, the doctor said that we can come back on Monday for another checkup and then if all goes as planned and we haven't had the baby by then we'll be in on Wednesday to get things actually started. Hopefully things will happen before Wednesday and we won't even have to worry about kick starting things.

Almost Here

Well, It's been a while since I've given a baby update. The counter at the top of the page indicates that the baby's supposed to be here already, but so far, noth'n. We visited the Doc yesterday and things are starting to take shape, if you will. It looked promising that things will start to happen here within the next week (Maybe even this weekend???). We've been doing a walk every night in hopes that things will happen faster, but I think the baby is being stubborn. :) Following the Doctor's orders, we went to the Fair on Sunday. But, that didn't seem to help any as Kim felt horrible on Monday and went home from work early. Kim's ready to have it. She's getting sick of parents at work coming in to pick up their kids and asking/telling her, "You still haven't had it yet?" Well, she wouldn't be there if she did now would she. At any rate, Kim's doing pretty well. She hasn't been on bed rest. She's been able to continue working. She hasn't thrown up once during pregnancy (but, felt like it at times). She's gained the right amount of weight. And, she really likes ice cream so I get to treat myself too. :)

Clueless Stew Hansen's Dodge

I usually don't like to complain about things but this is just something I have to get off my chest. Tuesday Kim and I went to test drive vehicles at Stew Hansen's Dodge City in West Des Moines. After our sales rep, Michael, finally let us drive the vehicles (it seemed like we were living that commercial where the sales rep didn't even let the potential buyers drive the vehicle), we test drove a Ford Escape and then a Dodge minivan (you know in preparations for that new little one that's due any time now). We thought we were interested in seeing what they would offer for our 2002 Dodge Dakota and how much they would move on the minivan. They first had to appraise the truck before they could give us any numbers. So, Mike finally makes it to us with some numbers. The minivan they didn't change any on price and the truck they valued at $2000 under the Kelly Blue Book trade in value. I about laughed when he told us the prices. So, I told him what I was thinking on prices. After a bit he came back and they thought they could offer $305 under the Kelly Blue Book trade in value and they didn't move on the price for the minivan. Kim was tired, hot, and hungry and I knew the way things were going with Mike that we weren't ever going to get anywhere so Kim and I left. I did receive a call yesterday (2 days later) and a letter in the mail from him. As far as I'm concerned it's too late. You lost the sale.

So, listen up Mike at Stew Hansen's here are a few tips in sales techniques to better improve your chances of me even coming to look at another vehicle at your dealership:

1. Give potential drivers the first opportunity to drive the vehicle. If they wanted someone else to drive they would have gotten a taxi.


2. Don't waste my time coming up with numbers that aren't realistic. A truck the same year with 15,000 miles less is worth more than a minivan. Oh, and the truck was actually worth more than the minivan new.


3. When a salesperson does drive please drive like you're driving your 80 year old mother around. There were a few times that I thought Kim was going to either upchuck her lunch on the back of Mike or back hand him to let him know he was driving like a mad man.

There I feel much better now. I've been to Stew Hansen's before this episode and they've done a great job. The usual sales rep was busy with another set of customers so I got pawned off to Mike. Mike's a good person from what I could tell, but was a little to greedy the day we visited (although, it probably wasn't his fault for the numbers that he came back with).

Still Waiting

Well, yesterday Kim and I went for our now weekly Doctor's visit. The Doc said everything was A-Okay and Kim could go ahead and have the baby any time as we're at full term. So we sit and wait. The Doc also thought it would be around 6 lbs or so when born. So, for those of you who are wagering on the stats, that little bit of info might increase your odds. Kim's certainly ready to have it and wants to get back to a somewhat normal life. Yeah, we'll have the baby coming up here, but she can't wait to be able to go bike and do stuff that she used to do before being pregnant. :)

Summer Fun

Okay, so it's been a while since I last wrote...which seems like the norm so far. Today Kim had her baby checkup and things are looking good. She gained the one pound that she lost two weeks ago so the Doctor was happy and didn't give her a hard time for losing weight. The Doctor was also pleased that all her numbers look good and the baby shows all signs of being healthy and energetic like his/her mom. :)

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning my Sister and her family were in town to visit since we aren't traveling very far from Ankeny. We all had a great time showing them around the Metro area, as well as, the Iowa State campus. We even managed to get up to Ledges State Park.

Last Friday we had .8" of rain and then had 1" of rain on Saturday so we had a little bit of urban flooding. The grass is really lush and green so I had to mow yesterday. I'd much rather mow then have it dry and brown.

Baby School

This weekend was pretty busy. Friday night Kim and I went and registered at Target for the Baby Registry. I like registering for stuff. :) Hard telling if we get much from the list, but it's still fun to make a wish list.

Saturday was filled with sitting in a class at our hospital learning all the various breathing techniques, focus procedures and other techniques to help in the labor process. It was quite informative. But, sitting there in a classroom on Saturday was not fun. I'm glad that I'm not pursuing any further education at this time as I'm not sure if I'd be able to sit through classes while on my "free" time. Learning on the job is much more fulfilling. Anyway, back to the baby school...during the class the "support partners" and the women split up and discussed what things we liked/disliked about pregnancy. It was cool to see that complete strangers had similar experiences with pregnancy.

Wolbrink Wedding

Man, what a busy time it has been. Last Friday (6-11-2004) Kim and I started our way towards Door County, WI to attend one of my friend's wedding (Dan & Rose Wolbrink). The wedding took place on Rock Island State Park which required about a 45 minute ride on the Washington Island, Island Clipper. We all weren't sure if we'd be having the wedding outdoors or if we would be indoors on the island, but the weather cooperated and the wedding was held outside. It was quite the adventure and I'm glad that Kim and I were included. There were quite a few people from the church that I attended while living in Mason City that I got to see while out there which was fun. Some of them I haven't seen for about 8 years.

The weather along the lake was quite different than here in warm muggy Iowa. It was around the 50's and 60's on the way out to the island and got warmer inland, but not like it would have been here. Kim and I stayed at Bailey's Harbor Yacht Club Resort which was a very nice place and I would highly recommend staying there if you ever went out that way. The thing that was the hardest on the trip was returning home going across Wisconsin on Highway 21. The roads were OK, but the slowing down for all these little towns left much to be desired. Luckily we didn't find any closed roads going out or returning. While traveling, areas of Wisconsin received heavy amounts of rain and caused a few road closures.

More pictures can be seen in the Wolbrink Wedding Gallery

Five Years

Man, time has been flying by. Monday (June 1) was my 5th year of service at Pioneer. It really doesn't seem like it's been that long. Here's a list of some things that have happened since I graduated and started working for Pioneer.

1. Pioneer was purchased by DuPont.


2. I survived an apartment fire in the building I was living in.


3. I have purchased two different houses (a townhouse and then a regular house).


4. I got married a year and about 2 months ago.


5. Kim and I are expecting a baby in August.


6. I've gained about 5 lbs since graduating.


7. I don't have as much hair on the top of my head.

Yesterday I went and picked up my birthday present from Kim. It's early, but I couldn't wait any longer. For her birthday I got her ISU license plates (KM4ISU). So she got me some for my b-day. Check them out.

Finally Finished Floor

Well, I'm finally done finishing the floor. I started out thinking I'd sand the whole floor which included removing all the old finish with a hand held orbital sander last Thursday. It looked as though it would take a week to finish at the rate I was going so I rented a finishing sander from Menards last Friday and had the floor sanded down by Saturday Morning. It's a time consuming process, but well worth it in the end. Here's what the floor looked like be fore (Old Floor 1) and (Old Floor 2) and here's what it looks like now (New Floor 1) and (New Floor 2). I one coat of finish on Saturday and put two down on Sunday. It's good to be done making a mess.

Lots of Rain

We got pounded with about 2 inches of rain yesterday in about a half an hour. Man, talk about crazy. We drove around to see what else we could find, but didn't really come across any life threatening events. So that was uneventful.

Wood floors can be expensive to refinish. I'm in the process of getting everything around to refinish our Great Room" and dining area. Let's just say that by the time it's done we could have gone to some exotic island. Okay, so maybe not that expensive, but it's still takes a few Benjamins to get the job done.

Kim had another baby-2-be checkup on Monday. Everything's looking and sounding "A-OK". She gained an additional 6 ponds in a month and a week so she's right on schedule.

Chad's Last Day

So, today is Chad Kraus's last day at Pioneer. He's going to join up with his Dad's family business (Dairy Queen). We decided yesterday to give him one last hurrah before today so we filled his cube with some moving stuff to help him out. Here're some pictures of the results. His desk is usually the most organized of those I work with. We'll miss ya, Chad. Good luck and stop in and see us sometime when you're in town.

Steam Power Rules

So, Kim's Dad, Dale, has a steam powered toy tractor that's been passed down through the family. We got to watch it running yesterday while at her parents place. It runs on solid fuel that looks like paraffin wax. He's running out of the "true" fuel so Kim's brothers put some sterno in it to see if that would work. It worked and was hotter as the steam engine ran faster. The name of the tractor is the 1313 Mamod Steam Tractor and here's a picture. I can't believe that you can actually buy these things yet. They're made in England and it lists for around $150.

Fun Weekend and a Half

Well, it's been a very busy and fun weekend. Friday I took the day off to do some odds and ends around the house and built and sealed a picnic table. Friday night Kim's parents, niece and nephew came up to stay the night and then we all went to a bunch of garage sales around Ankeny on Saturday. We found a lot more baby clothes. Then in the afternoon I got 2 more sides of the deck sealed. This morning I applied a weed and feed mix for the lawn before we headed off to church. It was cool going to church today as I met one of my classmates from the ISU Iowa State Singers. Then this afternoon we drove to Creston to surprise Kim's Mom for Mother's Day. All of her brothers and sister were there. Her Mom and Dad were pleased and surprised to see us all there...mission accomplished.

What a Krausburger

Well, the guys at work and I were talking about Google's page ranking and how to get it higher. We also were talking about how some pages don't seem to be showing up in the Google search results. So, we're all going to try this on our sites (Derek Brooks and Nick Leeper) and see what happens. Here's a link to a Krausburger. It's really just a fictitious name of a burger named after one of our co-workers Kraus (who we're sad to see leaving Pioneer). Now all that's left is for Google to index our sites.