Pregnancy is nothing new but for first time parents, like my wife and me, it feels like it. Last summer we returned home from a late night viewing of Despicable Me 2 when Jessie began complaining of nausea. I quickly diagnosed it as a classic case of "bucket-o-popcorn for dinner" and settled into my nightly domestic routine (television, ice cream, pants optional, etc…) It was only minutes later when I heard my name called from the upstairs bathroom in that unmistakable, uncertain and slightly terrified tone… "ummm, Charlie?" followed by those two unforgettable words: "we're pregnant!" It was at that moment, well realistically several weeks prior, our lives changed forever. It sounds dramatic but really the change took time. Nine months to be exact. There were new things in our life like weekly neonatal classes, countless trips to baby consignment stores and several in-depth discussions about the use of the word "preggers." Despite these changes we continued to do the things we love. We still went on long meandering walks with our dog, we still made regular trips to the cabin, we slept in often, ate at our favorite restaurants and made time for our work. Yes work. As "D-Day" approached our anxiety excitement manifested in different ways. Jessie learned to sew and became a regular at the Des Moines Public Library, while I explored daring new flavors of ice cream and started saying things like "this could be the last time…" before nearly every daily activity. After thinking about, planning for and stressing over the delivery it came and went as smoothly as we had prayed it would (although Jessie might have a different opinion). After nearly a full day of laboring at home and in the hospital our daughter, Jameson Lucia, was born at 2:19AM on Sunday, March 2. The experience was unforgettable. Something you picture in your mind's eye for months but when it happens it is way more than you could have ever dreamed. We're so happy.