Just a few thoughts: Dear Uncle Fred

So, forever ago, when I asked you for your address I had every intention of sending you a package of pictures and letters from me and from my family. I kept thinking about doing it, but, going to Walmart to get pictures developed and writing a thoughtful handwritten letter takes a lot of time. It's crazy how having a baby keeps us at home... yet, there really isn't an opportunity to get things done. Right now she's asleep, so I'm watching The Office, which I have memorized, and that allows me to write while I listen.

I don't know how much you know about what's been going on in our lives, but, Beth and Schon had their baby in January 22nd, the same day as my dad's birthday. Her name is Addison. She's the second cutest baby I know. We had our daughter on June 1st. So she shares a birthday with Beth. We were actually due on May 31st, however, Aleece went over. We had an appointment on June 1st to make sure the baby was alright. The doctor stripped her membranes to see if that would help get things going. We went home and Aleece began having super constant contractions. They went from 10 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart within a half an hour. Since we had never had a baby before we were both not sure if this was the real deal or if they were the "braxton hicks" contractions. We called the doctors office and asked what was going on. They told us to go on a little walk, and if she was still having them during the walk, then they were legit. When we were about two blocks away from our house Aleece's water broke. Her contractions became more intense and she could no longer walk through them. I had no idea what to do, I felt bad that she had to keep walking, but I didn't dare leave her to go get our car. I just imagined driving down the block and seeing my wife on the sidewalk by herself giving birth. haha Sheesh.

We arrived at the hospital at 3 o'clock...ish. And then...we waited. The wait wasn't bad for me at all! They give the husbands free sandwiches, snacks and soda. At 10:50 p.m. Aleece started pushing, by 11:21 our baby was born...but not breathing. When she came out she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. She had also pooped right before coming out and it went in her mouth, blocking her airway. She was limp, grey and silent. As soon as the doctor had her he said something to the nurse and she got on her communicator and said a bunch of numbers, then seven nurses came running in. One was working on cleaning out her mouth, others were attaching IV's and two were scrubbing her down. I kept hearing stuff like, "her breath is faint" and "I can't find her heartbeat." We didn't hear her cry for like five minutes.I can honestly say that I've never prayed so hard in my entire life. Then, we heard a tiny little whimper, and a nurse said, "there she goes, she's turning pink." The intensity of the room suddenly went down, the nurses started smiling and the doctor told me to go take pictures.

We got to spend a little time with her, but they also found out she had a really bad infection. I don't remember what it was exactly, but I remember they said her levels were supposed to be at .6, but they were at 4.8, eight times higher than they were supposed to be at. So, we made the NICU our home for five days. They said to expect to be there for a couple weeks, but after the first day her levels had dropped by half. We were so happy that she was okay.

Bringing her home was one of the scariest days ever. Oh my gosh, just knowing that this little girl was 100% dependent on us was an intimidating thought. But, we survived. I'm not going to lie, though. Having her is amazing and challenging at the same time. See, it doesn't really bother me when she cries a lot or poops her pants. I don't mind being a dad. It's just, I've kind of always lived my life on a whim, without a plan. I've always been sporadic, but that has changed... and some days I have cabin fever so bad! And I'm not even with her all day!! I work all day long, come home and it's just knowing that we won't be able to go fishing, see a movie or just even sit quietly on the couch and watch Netflix -- it makes me crazy. I've had to really just try and appreciate all the little wonderful things about it, rather than dwell on the negative. I was talking to Beth the other day, we were talking about how tough it is to have a baby, she said, "but, it's all worth it, I can't even imagine what I'd be doing if I didn't have her {Addison}. Is that how you feel?" I said, "nope, not at all. I know exactly what I'd be doing. We would have gone to the Decemberists concert on May 31st, I would have gone fishing yesterday and I'd be sleeping more than four hours every night." haha It's just such a big change. But, I do love her! I just wasn't prepared for this drastic of a change. It's so fun to have Addison and Avery so close in age. They're both so darn cute.

"Grandma said what!?"

Granted, these pictures are about a month old. They have both changed so much.

Aleece and I were finally able to do something this summer. We went to Boise and stayed with her sister and her family. We went to the Decemberists concert, which was awesome, and the next day we floated the river with her sisters family.

It was great! Well, until the end. We weren't that far from where we were going to get out of the river, when we all decided jump out of our little inflatable boat. Aleece and I jumped out first, followed by Dylan (12) and then Hailey (11). Savana, (7) stayed in the boat. About a minute away from where we were going to get out we attempted to climb back in the boat.The water was up to my waist and so I held onto the boat while Aleece tried to lift Hailey in. But, when she lifted her, she slipped and fell under the water. I had to let go of the boat and I grabbed Hailey before she could be swept away. Aleece came up and swam over to the boat so Savana wouldn't be alone. She couldn't stop the boat, so there I stood, in the middle of a fast flowing river with an eleven-year-old girl in my arms.

All I could think was, what the H-E- DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS am I going to do? A few boats passed, but they couldn't slow down enough for me to place Hailey in one of them. I was in quite the kerfuffle, I was close to the shore on one side, but the water got really swift and probably went over my head. I was far away from the other side and I didn't dare walk across the entire river with this girl in my arms. I did not want to slip and let her fall. She had a life jacket on, but the water was going pretty fast. But, after five minutes of standing there, I realized I had no other options. So, like my pioneer ancestors before me, I began my trek across the freezing river with this girl in my arms. It was crazy, I didn't even stumble while walking across. And I'm the guy who fell into the river four times last year when I went up to the Wind Rivers with my buddies. haha

Thankfully, Hailey was laughing the entire time, and thought it was hilarious. That kind of helped me keep my cool. The old lady on the shore that was screaming and whistling at other boats to come save us, on the other hand, was kinda freakin' me out a little bit. I kept thinking, our situation must be more dire than I realize. Thank goodness it all ended well.

We also went to the Boise Penitentiary... which was... depressing. It was funny to walk around and try to answer questions that 7 and 11 year old girls had about life in a late 1800's early 1900's prison. Especially, when we went into the gallows room and they asked us what the rope and trap door were for. haha


Not gonna lie, driving five hours with an infant				is stressful.

And that's pretty much been our summer. The rest has been spent taking care of our cute little girl.

I know my mom really appreciated your input with the Grandpa situation. The poor guy needs to stop being so darn stubborn. He comes to dinner on Sundays and he is in such bad shape. It takes him three minutes to walk from the driveway to the door at my parents house. I hope they can get everything worked out for him. I hope HE can get everything worked out for himself, actually. He's been a great Grandpa, and it sucks to see him deteriorating due to his stubbornness and lack of care he seems to have for himself.

Well, I need to start getting ready for scout camp, I'm the Scout Master and I'll be gone all next week... I'm excited, but I'm dreading it at the same time. I love the young men in my troop, however, I hate organized scout activities. The skits, cheers and silly games they make us do is a waste of time. Just let us get the merit badges done, and then we can get the heck outta there!

I hope this has been of interest to you. I figured this would be a good way of keeping you up to speed with what is going on. I would have done email, but uploading pictures is a pain. If you care to respond, you can email me at chaz.a.ricks@hotmail.com. I'd love to hear what you've been up to and how everything is going.

P.S. I didn't have time to go through and proof read this... so it is what it is. ha Don't judge me.