Yes I know this is not the best image, but I am going to start taking most of the photos in the hospital with my Blackberry. It is decent, not my D50 quality but it is ok. I am just tired as it is, and to lug my gear in the hospital is getting pretty tiring. That is not to say I won't take it in, just not for a few days or so. Plus, we hope she will get out soon. Once she gets home, the only images coming from my BB are ones when I do not have my camera, and that will be very scarce.
Gillian had another good day. She is almost 100% breastfeeding now, I think Heather did all the feedings today, without a bottle. When she did try and give her a bottle, she wouldn't take it.
So off to veg on the couch, and hope to watch Lost from 9-11, but I don't think I will make it all the way through.
I almost forgot, Gillian's Aunt Karlee got her a very cool wolf shirt from Cafepress. It came in the mail today. (I will tell you why wolves are important to this family on Feb 25th)
And she got this wonderful handmade bow from Hog and Mrs. Hog (Will and Su)
Mrs. Hog makes bows and has a really cool website you can order from Ribbons and Pearls Boutique
So if you have a little girl, or know a little girl, I can tell you these are nice. Course it could be she made Gillian a Red, Blue and Silver bow....yeah for the Patriots :)
(will post a pic of the bow when she can put it in her hair. She has more them me, but not much more)
1-31-08
1-30-08
Just a small update today, I promise to have more soon. I have some things to write and am working on them, but I don't want to write it when I am half asleep....hold on have to get dog.....
Ok, back. So the update. Gillian had a wonderful day as of this writing. She only had one episode today, and has been feeding great! The nurse practitioner put her on Prevacid to help with her reflux. They are not sure if she has reflux but the way she acts sometimes after feedings leaves them to believe that she does. If she does have reflux, it is not that bad as she is not screaming or crying after feedings. So they said it may take a couple of days to see if it works, guess we shall have to wait and see. So let's hope tomorrow is another good day. I am kind of taking a Belichick approach to this, and take it one day at a time. We get through today, you move on to tomorrow, not the next day or the day after that. I think that will help me out and try to not count days. She will be home soon, I know it.
Now onto the pics, yes I have two today :)
The Gavette's (minus the other 4 legged girls)
"Dad...I think I have to much pink...:)"
On another note, a friend at work told me about a contest MSNBC is running to show off pictures of your Fandom for the Pats or the Giants. I submitted one of me and Gillie and it got picked as an Editor's Pick. Thanks again Jonathan for the link.
SUPER BOWL FANDOM
One more note, I got this email from Ian last night about Teddy Bruschi, if you don't know who Teddy is, read this, heck even if you do read this. He is a linebacker for the Patriots who suffered a stroke in Feb 2005, and thought he would never play again. 8 months later, he came back on the field and recorded 10 tackles. He is a remarkable individual athlete, and I proudly wear my Patriots jersey with his name and number every Sunday during football season. (also from Ian)
Three years after a stroke, Bruschi's back for his fifth Super Bowl
Ian said just this in the email, "Everyone who does something great works through crap first. I can't wait to see what Gillie will do..."
He is going to be such a great uncle to Gillie :)
1-29-08 Part 1
Heather just called and she spoke with the doctor. He said if he was to guess when she could come home it will be another 4-5 days, but it may be 2-3 weeks. Which really Sucks....... She is doing much better, but she is still desatting when feeding and they can not let her go until she does not do that anymore.
Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers. She will be ok, but we just want her home. I will try and post again tonight, but if not, please understand.
Casey, Heather and Gillian.
P.S-I think I fixed all the pics, but if not let me know.
1-28-08
Gillian is 1+ day free of any spells. That is very good news. She also had four feedings of almost only breastfeeding, also very good news. She had a chest X-Ray and is having an echo tomorrow. The doctor just wants to rule out any and all possibilities other then prematurity. That is pretty much it for the day. I am pretty tired and so is Heather. Think I am going to relax on the couch and call it a night.
Don't you just want to know what she is thinking?
BTW if y'all want me to stop posting pictures of Gillie,(apparently I was spelling her nickname wrong previously) you just let me know ;)
O and guess who Gillie loves best??
Love you honey :)
1-27-08
See I do have eyes. :) Gillian had a very good day today, as of this writing. No episodes and was awake and looking at us for the 5 o'clock feeding. I have to work tomorrow but I am meeting Heather and Gillian for an 11 o'clock lunch date. Even though I have not been in the hospital as much as Heather has been, I am sad to go back to work and leave her. Good thing I work down the street :) So I am going to go to bed soon and then get up at 5am to go in. Everyone have a good night, and will post more tomorrow.
POTD: Blackberry Pearl
I have had a Motorola Q for about 18 months, and for the most part it has been a wonderful phone/PDA. In fact I would be lost without my phone. My calender, my contacts and pretty much everything else I do is on that phone. So you can image my dismay when about a month ago, it started acting up. Almost once a day it would lock up on me so much, I had to remove the battery to restart it. Needless to say, I was a little upset. I went into Verizon a couple of weeks ago to ask them what they thought was wrong. They said it could be the battery and they could order me a new one, if I wanted. I declined and thought I could tough it out until my contract was up in March and then I would be able to get a new phone.
Since Gillian was born, I have pretty much been on my phone all day. Phone calls, texting, posting to twitter, pretty much trying to keep everyone updated. Today it locked up again and I lost it. After Gillian's 8am feeding I told Heather I was going to down to Verizon and see if I could get an early out of my contract to get my $100 credit on a new phone, and sign a new contract. I honestly was not expecting them to do anything, but once again Verizon came though and made us realize why we use their cell service. Apparently it is 20 months now and they can do and early out, and mine was about 18 months. They said they would be happy to help me out since I have had problems with it over the last month and asked my what I wanted. I really love my Q but I hate the new ones they have, so I decided to get away from Windows and try a Blackberry. I was torn between the Blackberry 8830 and the Blackberry 8130 Pearl.
I decided to go with the Pearl. I was a little bit cheaper, (they gave it to my for $50 after a mail in rebate) and it had a camera, where the 8830 did not. I was a little concerned about the keypad it has, but after about 5 min texting, I got used to it and it is a really nice phone. I am pretty happy with my decision on this.
Here is Gillian's pic of the day from my new Blackberry:
Not a bad little camera phone, but certainly not like my dSLR.
Basically I wanted to write this post to talk about customer service. This is not the first time Verizon has gone out of there way to help us. Heather had a phone giving her the frits awhile ago and they let her do an early out to get a new one. I don't know how their plans compared to other company's but I don't care. If I have to pay a little more to know, that is I walk in there with an issue, they are going to make it right, and that is awesome and something you don't see very often anymore. People doing nice things for their customers.
Ok, Gillian updated. She desated a couple of times today and one really scared the hell out of me. She was drinking her bottle and started choking. She went way down on her O2 levels, but Heather was very calm and helped her get her O2 back up. Me, I freaked out...... I don't deal well with things like that, cause it scars me. I really think I am going to try and get my infant CPR certification soon. I think they will help me build confidence when Gilly comes home, and if I am alone with her and something happens. I hope it doesn't but it may.
Ok, off to bed, hope to get a better pic tomorrow :)
Casey
POTD- Go Pats!
Today Gillian's first Patriots hat came in....the first of many :) It is a little big, but she will grow into it.
Gillian is doing well, she has had a rough couple of days, but she is doing better. She will probably stay in the hospital all next week, but that is where she needs to be. Mom and Dad are doing well too, I know a lot of people are worried about us, and we are fine. Anyone with kids understands how we feel. It sucks to see her in there, but we know she will come home soon, and she will not remember any of this. Today I got a lot of needed sleep, and I really felt bad because I did. I know I have not been at the hospital as much as Heather, and she understands why. I want to be with her and Gillian, but I just can not stay there all the time. I hate to see her all wired up, and I think if I spent all day there seeing her like that, I would not be able to control myself. I love that little girl more then life itself, and it kills me that I can not trade places with her. I guess this really is what it is like being a parent now. I would give up anything for her from when she is born, until I am gone, and if we have more children it will be the same.
When I have had surgery two times in the last 4 years and my Mom was here here for both of them. I knew she wanted to be here because she loves me an she worried about me, it was not until 4 days ago, that I understood why she had to be here and how my Dad was feeling that he couldn't be here. I love you both, and I really want to say thanks for always being here for me and Heather.
I also wanted to thank everyone else for doing things for us. Heather, Gillian and I are very lucky to have friends like all of you, and we can't wait for all of you to meet her. I might be taking decent pictures of her, but they do her no justice when you actually see her ;)
POTD: "Look Ma, I have real clothes on!"
Tired......this is all you get tonight.:) Gillian is doing ok, she will get better, and be able to come home soon. I will post more tomorrow.
Casey
My Little Girl
I got home from the hospital and was downloading my pictures for the day, and I decided to listen to some of my music. I opened up my Zune player and put it on random. First song to come up was, "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw......I about lost it. I had always loved that song, but now it really has meaning to me, cause I have a little girl. Gillian had another spell tonight, so there is another 5 days added to her stay. We know and keep telling ourselves that she is in the right place, and the people at Wake Med are taking great care of her. But it still sucks that she has to go through this. She is a trooper though. Today she sat wide awake while I held her and she and I just stared at each other for while. I must say that was one of the best times of my life. I talked to her about Hockey and The Patriots, o yeah, her little pink Patriots beanie will be here Friday :), how much her mom and I loved her, and things about life. How Daddy has stayed in this hospital two times and I came out much better, how all these people here who don't know her, love her and take care of her. I foresee many of those talks in my future. We really just want her to come home so we can start our lives here. It is hard on all of us to see her like this. I am not a religious person, I have had some things in my life happen to me that never made sense, and I guess I just have not gotten over that. I am not against religion, it is just not for me at this point in my life. I know people are praying for my family, and I truly deeply grateful for that.
Ok, enough about that, let's see another pic :)
Also, here is the You Tube Video for My Little Girl by Tim McGraw. If you have never heard it, please listen.
Post of the Day-"I wanna hold your hand...."
Gillian is doing well today. She is feeding very well, and really lets us know when she is pissed...getting more and more like her dad everyday :) Heather is being discharged around 6pm. We were going to move to a family room after we got discharged but the room is not ready, so we are going to go home. Heather is going to come back around 8 and then again at 11. We both will be back around 8am tomorrow and hopefully be back for the whole day. Pretty tired so, that is all for today.
Gillian Marie Gavette
Yep, that is her name. It is funny because Heather and I decided to use this name since a little after we found out she was pregnant.
Gillian had a couple of spells today, but she is doing well. She has been eating very well and loves to let us know when she is unhappy :) Heather tested positive for Strep B and was given antibiotics during labor, but they think possibly her apnea might have been caused by an infection. They are going to give Gillain antibiotics and see how it goes. Cross your fingers.
More Baby Girl
Here are a few more pics from tonight. "Bean" will not be coming home with us just yet. She had a few episodes of Apnea. The nurses told us it was normal for 35 week old babies to go through this. Other then that, she is strong, great heartbeat, great pulse, great O2 levels, and man can she fuss....she is her father's daughter you know :)
Both Heather and I a little sad she will not come home with us, but we are also very confident in the nursing staff at Western Wake. They are wonderful people who truly care for the children they have there. Only knowing them for a few our and I could tell. I know they will take care of my little girl.....hmmmm I like how that sounded, "My little girl....."
Baby Girl!!!!
Well here she is, we don't know her name yet (we thought we had another 5 weeks)
12:16pm, 7.2 lbs, and 19 inches.
She is gorgeous :)
Baby Post 2
Heather is doing well. Contractions are 3-4 min apart and are about 30 sec to 1 min.
Going to use Twitter on the top to update. Seems easier.
Baby-post 1
Well it looks like Bean wanted to see the superbowl afterall.....
Heathers water broke about 2 am. I am going home soon to get some things. We were not expexting this today, but are so very happy.
Casey
Post of the Day-Bean's Room
Here are some pictures of Bean's Room. It is pretty much all finished.
This Crib my Grandfather made when my niece was born. She used it, my nephew used it, and Bean will use it. It is very special to Heather and I that we are able to use this. It means so much more to us then a store bought crib, and I think is much nicer then anything you can buy in the store. We also have a cradle that my Grandfather made for my sister. This cradle is almost 34 years old, and has seen a lot of babies. I will have to ask my Mom how many exactly but it has been a few.
This is grand central changing area.....I really don't want to spend a lot of time here, but I know I am going to :)
There is something strange about this room now. When I go in, I just feel happy. I think i could spend all day in this room now. Maybe it is because I know in a few short weeks my son or daughter will be here, maybe because it is just a peaceful room. Whatever reason, I am glad the room is set up the way we want it, and that is one less thing we have to worry about until Bean is here.
Might take tomorrow off with the Blog since I put up three images today ;)
Think I am going to go see Cloverfield and go skating tomorrow on my day off.
Well off to get ready for the Pats game, yes I know it is 11:30.....I have to get psyched up you know. :)
Have a wonderful day.
Casey
Post of the Day-Snoot(y)
So today after helping Heather a little with the baby's room, I got online and started reading more Strobist. I started looking at this site soon after I got my SB-800. Basic premise of this site is: "Learning how to use off-camera flash with your dSLR to take your photos to the next level." - David
I have been reading this a lot lately, an just ordered some wireless flash triggers called Cactus V2s. Very cheap and very cool when you think of it. Right now I can set my SB-800 to become a wireless trigger by using my pop up flash. Problem is, I have to use my pop up flash. This is not what you want in most cases, because usually you want to have the light coming from a different direction then the front. So with the triggers coming in a week or so, I should be able to have more creative control on my flash, and move it off camera. I am excited....can't you tell?
So while I was reading I discovered how to make a Snoot. Now a Snoot basically directs the light of your flash to go in one direction and not flash the whole subject. If you see an image with the subjects eyes really lit up, it was probably snooted. So I decided to make one, and this was one of the image I got. 
Now this is not a prefect example, but I think you get the idea. This was taken with my flash on my camera, which is fine, but the snoot extends from the camera, and when it is on top, it does not line up with the lens. In this case it is a little higher. When the triggers get here, I can move it anywhere I want and get a nice tight pattern around objects. Hope you enjoy.
Heather was working all day in Beans room, and just about has everything where it should. (tomorrow POTD, Baby Room :)) We have pretty much all we need now, and if Bean came today, he/she would be all set. Although we want Bean to come.....we don't want he/she to come today ;)
So pictures of Bean's room tomorrow, and maybe some snow.
Casey
Post of the Day-Heather's New Phone
While I was in the hospital around this time last year.....man it has been a whole year??? Wow...more on that, maybe later. Anyways, while I was in the hospital Heather was using my Motorola Q, (I have the silver one)all the time. She would send texts to friends, a lot to Sal and Scott, check my email for me, and other things. Since then she had wanted a phone with a keyboard. She had mentioned it throughout the year on and off. One of the neighbor friends got a LG enV for their daughter, and then she bought one for herself. It has a full QWERTY keyboard and makes for very easy texting, which as Sal can attest to, I do A LOT. I think she kind of felt left out and wanted to be one of the cool kids again, so we picked up the Samsung SCH-u740 Black for her today. 
As you can see it has a full QWERTY keyboard and a pretty nice dual flip design that lets you go from a clamshell type phone to a full on texting machine! From reviews I have seen, this is a good phone, and I think this is probably one of the techiest things Heather has ever had. So her new phone is the subject of my POTD. Wonder what tomorrow will bring...
Casey
Post of the Day-Books
When it comes to books, I really don't read a lot. I used to read more when I was in school, and it really helped with my mild dyslexia. It was very hard for me to retain data and I did not get tested for a learning disability until I was a junior in high school. My Brother in Law got me turned on to fantasy novels soon after I was tested. The first book I read probably took me three weeks to read. There was a lot of going back and trying to remember who was who and what was going on. After about a month I was going through books in 3 days. One book I stated at about 7pm and finished around 4am. I just couldn't put it down. Now a days I read Photography books. I am like a sponge. I get a book and I try to learn all I can from it. I want to learn everything I can as fast as I can. Currently this is my Photography Library: (I do have a few more scattered downstaris)
Most of these books are photoshop related and most of them are written by Scott Kelby. A lot of people love his books, and a lot of people don't. As you can see, I am one of those who love his books. I like his writing style, and his jokes. He seems like he would be a great guy to go on a shoot with. Maybe someday I can attend one of his seminars.
The books not so much in focus on the right are Ansel Adams books. He is the biggest reason I love doing landscape photography, and why I use photoshop. He spent so much time in the darkroom perfecting his images, and making great prints. I saw an exhibit of his in Rochester NY when I was home for the summer. A lot of the images they had there were lesser known images, but awesome just the same. He to would be a person I would love to have met, and loved to go on a shoot.
I imagine when Bean comes, I will be reading different kinds of books most of the time. But that is fine with me.
So not the greatest image, but it is my picture of the day.
(bonus points for anyone who can name the hat on the Adams books :) )
Casey
POTD, Wed Jan 16th, 2008
Wow, two posts in as many days. Sal and Kellie have really influenced me :)
Here is a new Night Light we just got for Bean's Room
In case anyone was wondering, we call the baby Bean because Heather and I do not know the sex, so instead of calling it "it" we call him/her Bean.
Bean's room is done in Zanzibar, no Sal not because of the Halo2 map. ;) We liked this one the best because of the animals. Heather and I was big animal fans. We love the Zoo and Aquariums, so this was a good fit, and Heather would not let me do a Patriots, Red Sox, Hurricanes room....maybe later. :) The plan is for us to go to the Zoo and take some picture of the animals on the design and I will print and frame them to put in the baby room. I was going to go on Monday, but some of the exhibits are closed. Maybe after Bean is born....
I shot this with my new Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. It is truly a remarkable lens. I shoot everything in RAW then post process with Lightroom and CS3. I like working with RAW because I decide what I like, and I make the image look the way I want it, and not the way the camera sees it. It may take me a longer time to get the results I want, but sometimes it is worth it.
Took my 3rd injection of Humira today. I feel ok, but it does slow me down for the night. So off to do some reading, and then to bed.
Until next time.....
Casey
Post of the Day
So not much really going on, but I thought it had been a week since I last wrote, I would put something in here. The Patriots are playing the Chargers this weekend in the AFC Championship game, and I have not heard from Sal all week. I think Morgan told him not to talk to me :) I have some State friends at work giving me a hard time, but it is all in good fun. I think it will be a great game, but I think it is going to be a Green Bay vs New England Superbowl, and that should be awesome.
I have been reading this great book called Scott Kelby's 7-Point System and it is a wonderful book for CS3. I have read a ton of Photoshop books and this by far is the best one I have read and used in the last few years. After one chapter I was blown away by some of it. These are some before and after shots. I still think I can make the after a little better, but not bad for a first time attempt after using his system.
Before: 
After: 
Like I said, not the greatest, but not to shabby for me, (I think the trees can be a bit greener, but it is very close)
Heather had her baby show this weekend and her Mom came down from NY. It was nice she was able to come down, and I know Heather really enjoyed having her here.
We have pretty much everything we need right now for the baby to come home. Only about 5 more weeks and that will be a reality. I am very excited for this baby to come into this world. For all the problems this world has, it still has some wonderful things, and I hope I can show them to my son or daughter.
Heather and I wonder what "Bean" will look like, her or me. God I hope he/she has Heather's looks. :)
Well that is all for now, until next week.
Casey
Happy New Year!
So after reading Sal's Blog pretty much everyday, I have decided this new year to try and update this Blog a little bit more then before, so here goes....
Last night I had my second round of Humira. I let the meds warm up to room temperature, and it still stung a bit going in, but not as bad as before. A lot of people who are going to respond to these meds see a big improvement in the next two weeks, so hopefully it will happen that way for me too.
Heather is doing well, and we are both getting nervous and excited about little "Bean" coming into our lives in the next couple of months. I am still so excited about being a Dad, but at the same time I am nervous as hell. Since there is no instruction manual that comes with the baby, I think we will try to just make sure the values that our parents have taught us are taught to this child, and raise him/her right. Respect your parents and everyone else. To many kids today I see just don't care about anything. I see that as a problem. I never talked back to my parents and I listened to them. Sure I had a "phase" but it did not last very long. I think based on how my parents raised me and my sister, if I can teach 1/10 of that to my child, he/she will be alright.
We had a wonderful time with my family over the holidays. It is so nice to see them, since we don't get to very often. My sister and I got my Mom and Dad a digital picture frame. Now we can email pictures to them and Mom can put them on the frame the same day. They both loved that. We also got Heather's Mom a digital camera, her brother went in on it with us. She loved it. We had a great Christmas, and next year will be even better.
My Patriots are 16-0. This is the first time a team has gone undefeated in the regular season in a long time, but it means nothing if they don't go 19-0.
Well I guess that is all I can think about for today. Maybe some more later one.
Casey
