rad rad ruby

ruby is such a great little kid. she has been doing great with her new little brother in the family. very sweet to him, protective or as she says... "I'll pretect him." she is a great helper for me and amy with sawyer... she always has been a good helper.. we encourage and ask her to do things with us and i think that has made for a good transition.. it'll be interesting to see how things develop and to see behaviors change and grow.. the other day ruby and i went to the park together.. i gave her a ride in the backpack carrier... today, ruby & i went to mia gelato together for an outing... i'm super super happy that she is ready to go do things just with daddy... i myself have had to and continue to adjust and get a grip of my emotions that are swirling inside my head with a new child to go along with my first child... it is an adjustment that i am handling and enjoying very much.. i didn't think it was possible to love my little girl any more than i did or to have a love for my wife any greater than before... but since sawyer has arrived... it has at least doubled and continues to expand in my heart. i am a lucky man. man. :-)

BrandNewBaby

and so not long after my previous posting on sunday.... sunday night, amy's water broke at 1020 and we were to the hospital by 1130pm... on baby's due date... once we arrived amy's contractions slowed down and we were able to rest for the night. monday morning was a nice blue sky sunny day... amy was given a couple things to help get her contractions moving along,...,, once they started it was a quick 4 hr labor!... Sawyer Samuel David Locken arrived at 1227pm, Decemeber 18th,. 2006! he is doing great, amy is doing great.. big sister ruby is doing great and i .. daddy Locken am doing great... i should be in bed with the rest of the crew but i could not resist typing a few paragraphs and uploading some photos of little sawyer and his big sister... we came home today, wednesday the 20th. paige and ken scuilli stopped by with ava and nicholas with a fantastic dinner! thank you guys so much... amy's parents don and sammy are staying with us for a spell... so great to have the help... gramma inez will be here from N.E. oregon the 29th of december as long as all the mountain passes and gorge are clear driving... we are so very thankful for our little boy... and his big sister ruby... we realize that we will be more busy now but it is worth it. a new baby in the family changes everyone and as far as i can see, in nothing but very positive ways! i will be off from work for 3 weeks, amy will be off for a few months... ruby is off from preschool for a couple weeks for the holidays so we will be spending some great quality time as a new family and with friends as the days pass us by in these winter months... happy winter solstice to all and to all a good night.

baby's due date....

but no baby at the time of this posting... little baby boy is due today but he is not showing signs of making an appearance... amy is ready for the little guy to be out of the womb and i am ready for the little guy and so is big sister ruby... amy has a dr. appt monday afternoon so we'll go to that and if still no baby we will head in tuesday morning to the hospital and have labor induced at 7am... so hopefully we will have a new member in the locken family sometime by tuesday at the latest.. here are some photos from the past couple weeks... the gatchet family made a trip up from noCal to see shylo's family and then came to visit with friends in the portland metro area.. we met them and dwight & caiden & gannon and ben & steph and ella at the laurelwood brewpub for a sunday lunch... good stuff. amy and ruby and i had some slices at the mississippi pizza pub one night and then we had lunch with ken, paige, ava & nicholas at the chapel pub... amy's parents are up today and it is papa don's birthday so we are going to have dinner and cake and ice cream... gramma inez plans on making a trip from ne oregon if weather permits to see the new baby so hopefully the roads will stay clear for that. ..