twodoebs

OK, I KNOW I promised not to turn into THAT guy. And I know I AM, in fact, quickly BECOMING that guy . . . but--well, I don't have any "but". Maybe it'll subside.

In the MEANTIME, enjoy some pictures from Libby's first bath.

There's been clamoring--CLAMORING, I tell you!--for more pictures of little Libby. It's not that I haven't TAKEN 1 billion of them, it's just that: 1) I haven't had the time to process them the way I want to and b) I'm TRYING not to turn into *that* guy.

SO here's a modest addendum featuring Paula & Bob's introduction to their granddaughter.

Wow! Everything’s going just great. We’re so glad to have Libby home safe and healthy!

Kati’s doing a great job as a new mommy. You’d think she’s been doing this forever!

Of course, it’s been great to have my mother-in-law, Jan living with us and teaching us everything we don’t know (come to find out it’s apparently a BAD idea to use bleach cleaners around a baby . . . who would’ve known?). She’s REALLY been a life-saver.

A couple of programming notes for twodoebs readers:

1) We are NOT--contrary to public demand--changing the name of our website. You can keep lobbying us, but at this point it’s going to remain twodoebs indefinitely.
2) If you’re committed enough to WANT e-mail alerts when new content (pictures, Tweets, whathave you) has been posted, shoot me an e-mail with the e-mail address you want them to come to. I’ll get it set up so that you can ALWAYS be the first to know when there’s new Libby material available.
3) If YOU have pictures of Libby, we'd like to see THEM, too (T-Diggity, Yak . . . I'm KINDA lookin' your way, here).

Thanks to everybody for your thoughts, prayers, and love. In the immortal words of our esteemed Secretary of State, "it takes a village."

We are TAKING Libby home! Right now!

Our daughter's name is Elizabeth, or Libby for short. Her middle name is Reese. And you all already KNOW what her last name is!

Little Libby is doing great this morning!

I'm exhausted. It feels like FOREVER since Kati's water broke YESTERDAY morning.

But at the end of the day, we have a BEAUTIFUL daughter! I'm SO proud of Kati and SO excited about fatherhood.

I wish I could write out all of my emotions. I wish I could draft cutesy captions. But--for now--I'll have to settle for just posting my first slideshow of our little baby girl. Hope it's enough to appease Paula, Yak, and John!

Not sure how big this picture'll be, but there are MUCH better pictures, ALREADY--I'll just have to upload them.

It's a GIRL. Born on 6/20/09 at 6:06 AM. Kati and the unnamed baby both did GREAT and we're ALL doing well.

I WISH I had something new to say. But we're just trying to get SOMETHING productive going on.

No news.

Still nothing to say as day turns into night. Slow goin'.

Thanks to everybody for good thoughts, well wishes, and lots of love. Stay tuned.

Not much to report from the labor and delivery room. All's quiet (and slow). Kati's doing SUPER awesome!

She's ALSO now winning at cards.

So we're at the hospital. They're helping Kati's contractions along and anticipate delivery after midnight.

I'm beating Kati at cards.

Many thanks to Kati's colleague Tony for comin' by and giving me a lesson in lighting and sharing all his cool toys with me!

Twodoebs fans are undoubtedly aware that we’re in the process of buying a house. It doesn’t look as if we’re going to end up in the Mt. Lebanon area of Pittsburgh, but that was one of the places that we seriously considered.

AND when we were looking in Mt. Lebanon, we worked with a FAN-tastic real estate agent from out there. I want to sing her praises so that if any of our readers are trying to find an agent in the South Hills, you’ll know EXACTLY where to go.

Nancy Russell McKenna of Howard Hanna is, truly, a consummate professional. She was SO patient with Kati and me in all our peculiarities. She responded promptly to our innumerable e-mails and always kept us informed of where we stood.

While this may sound strange, we really appreciated the fact that she understood the use of “REPLY ALL”. It’s 2009, baby--working with somebody who understands these things makes life SO much easier!

Her strong suits, obviously, extended well beyond technical acumen, though, and into the fundamental skills of a real estate agent. Her knowledge of the area was outstanding. Her instincts with respect to what we would like were right-on. And her honesty was simply second-to-none.

Most of all, though, she had a great personality. And that turns out to be pretty important when you’re spending this amount of very stressful time with somebody. Nancy knew when to stand back and leave us alone and when we needed help keeping our conversation moving. She was supportive and ultimately just fun to be around.

We live in an era where you can’t always expect such great service from the people you work with. And that’s why working with Nancy was so refreshing--she took great care of us and made us feel really comfortable with the process.

I can’t thank Jane V. enough for the referral and hope that I can “pay it forward” by putting anybody ELSE who needs a real estate agent in touch with Nancy. I know she’ll make anybody who works with her really happy!