At Long Last: Pictures of baby James!!!

I firstly just want to apologize for the lack of post since we had our baby.  It's been very time consuming to fawn over the cutest baby boy in the entire freakin' universe!  So I'll just give you a run down of how it happened, and then post some pics of our boy, James!

Sunday, October 30th, 2011 at 1:30 PM - Candy and I are in the chapel for our ward's 5th sunday lesson.  Candy began to complain that she felt "queasy."  About 5 minutes later she asked to go home early.  If you know Candy, then you know that's just weird.  She does NOT leave church early!  Anyhow, we left early.

4:00 PM - Candy made Kurt go run our ward choir rehearsal (we're the directors), and Kurt was very mad that he had to leave!  But he went, and when he got to rehearsal he informed the members that Candy, who had stayed home, was having contractions every 10 minutes or so.  To that they nearly all replied in unison "WHY ARE YOU HERE?!?!?!?!"  To which I replied "Candy made me!"

5:15 PM - Candy and I start keeping a log of her contractions.  By 6:00 they average a minute long, and about 6 minutes apart.  It's at that point that a few phone calls are made, and we think it's about to happen for real.

From this point, that particular evening is a little foggy, but we packed our stuff for the hospital, and prepared ourselves.  Then about 1:00 AM, Kurt got a little sleep (like, an hour and a half)

Monday, October 31st, 2011, 3:00 AM - Candy wakes up Kurt and says she thinks she's ready to go.  I then called the admitting desk at the maternity center to ask if they thought it would be good to come in.  To them, everything sounded right, so we got ready and drove to Fountain Valley.

The drive down was dark, with empty roads, and VERY dense fog!  It was no fun wanting to be in a hurry without being able to.

4:15 AM - Candy is officially admitted into the hospital.  Her contractions are very strong, a bit painful, and happening about every 3 minutes, lasting a minute each.  Shortly thereafter, the midwife, DeAnne, came in a checked how things were going.  Candy was, at that point, 4 centimeters dilated.  They figured that it usually takes an average of one centimeter per hour from that point, with most of the dilation happening in the last hour.  It was also at this point that we asked who the attending midwife would be for the day, and we were informed that Pat Evans, Candy and I's FAVORITE midwife would be there that day... BLESSINGS FROM HEAVEN!!!!!!!

3:00 PM (Yeah... not six hours) - By this point, Candy was 8 cm dilated and had been progressing decently, but her water refused to break!  So, Candy did the only un-natural thing that day: she had her water broken for her, Because she wanted that baby OUT!!!

3:40-ish PM - Candy was finally ready to push, and the midwife gave her the thumbs up.  So Myself, two nurses and Pat all began helping her push.  I held her head and one of her legs, the nurses held the legs as well, and Pat did the "pulling."  The midwife and nurses were amazed at how well Candy was doing.  She was pushing very well, and the baby was crowning nicely.  I just want to emphasize (because I'm SUPER proud of my wife) how amazed the nurses were.  They thought she'd done this before, and all of them couldn't believe she stuck it out with no pain killers!

4:17 PM - James Elliott Reeder was welcomed into the world!  He was immediately put on Candy's chest, and I just BAWLED like you wouldn't believe!  I was heaving and crying so hard!  And we thought Candy would be the one to cry like that.  So after half an hour pushing, Candy finally "got 'er done," and out came James.  He was given a '9' on the APGAR scale (in other words... really freakin' good looking and healthy), and the nurses couldn't get enough of James and Candy.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 7 lbs 7 oz

Length: 20 inches

And just so you know... Halloween WAS James' due date!  Way to be punctual, James!!!!

Candy really was amazing throughout the process, and my respect for women has increased 200 fold.  I feel that birth truly is a woman's "Gethsemane," and that the travail of birth is a parallel to the atonement of Christ.  Where would men be without women?  Well... not here on earth, that's for sure!  The human female body is incredible, and the birth experience just confirms for me the reality of a God who gave us these bodies as part of a testing mortal experience.  Thank you Candy, and Mom, and Grandma, and Great-Grandma, and etc...  I wouldn't be here without you.

Here's James at birth on Candy's chest, and on the scale:

Candy stayed in the hospital for two nights following the birth.  She nursed James, and once again, elicited a reaction of "wow! you're a pro!" from the nurses.  James did very well in the hospital. He ate well, and was circumcised, and all that fun stuff.  Now... my family might not know, but Candy's sure does, that the week before James' birth, Candy's uncle Randy (Liz's brother) was admitted to the hospital in very serious condition.  He passed away from liver cancer on Friday, the 29th of October, and his funeral was on Monday afternoon, and James was born two hours later.  It was a great blessing to have the timing of these two events so in line, and Liz was able to come down and spend time with Candy and I, and feel very blessed to have had her help.  But we seriously feel that James and Randy were able to "tag out" as they passed each other.  Heavenly Father has been very mindful of us, and our families.

My mom is down here right now helping out, and she too has been a great blessing to us.  I would now like to post a few pics that were taken by Candy's aunt Suzy.  She's a great photographer who also photographed our wedding.  ENJOY!

Mommy and Baby... I know... awwwww!!! 

 Our little pumpkin!!!!

 Fresh from Heaven!

We think he looks a lot like cousin Jude in this picture.

Well HELLOOOOOOOOOOO there!

Well, hey everybody!  This has been a good week.  I (Kurt) was extremely busy, I played a concert for the Jazz Combos on campus on Tuesday, then accompanied the Jazz portion of a recital on wednesday, as well as playing a choral festival for the high school I accompany that morning, then Thursday had rehearsals in the morning and a concert in the evening with the Katella High School choirs.  For little to no preparation, those kids did marvelously!  And Candy turned pages for me at the concert.  She's such a good sport.  Candy and I had our third ward choir rehearsal today, as well as a hymnbook choir for sacrament meeting.  We sang "All Creatures of Our God and King," and we and the choir received MANY compliments from the congregation.  I always feel so unprepared going into rehearsals, but today a sister told us how well she thought we were doing, and it made me feel much much better.

BABY NEWS:

don't worry, nothing too exciting, just that Candy is more than ready for the baby to come out!  At her appointment on Friday the midwife informed Candy that all looked good and that everything that has happened up to now is lining up perfectly to give birth.  He's head down and ready to go!  We just want it to happen soon, so everybody pray that this is the week!  We appreciate all of your prayers on our behalf.

Speaking of baby, and our ward:  our ward ROCKS!!!!!  We have great attendance at choir, the talks are always great, the sunday school classes are VERY interesting, and the ward members have been such a help to Candy and I already.  We feel obscenely blessed.

We also had Candy's cousin Kimmie and her family down for the weekend at Disneyland, and we had three of their girls (they have 6 kids) with us for two nights.  Candy made them Mickey Mouse pumpkin pancakes and such.  We were so glad to have them, and to be able to help the Jacksons out with lodging.  We also went with them to Disneyland for a few hours on Saturday!  Got them free parking and got to witness a miracle in action: keeping track of 6 kids 10 and under at a very busy Disneyland after two days of already partying at Disneyland.  We had a lot of fun!  Here is a pic of that:

We had this taken with Candy's cellphone, so we're sorry that it's not bigger.

Candy also entered a contest for Better Homes and Gardens where she had to make something "cute" for a Halloween treat.  She settled on a "Gingerbread" spook-house.  It turned out pretty well, so here are a couple pictures of that, along with Candy and her belly (here you go Rachel and Kohleen ;)  )

Well... we hope all goes well for everyone!  We love you and appreciate your prayers.

Love, 

Kurt and Candy Reeder

Howdy, folks!!!!  Who's Your Fav'rite Po-ssum??   *LESTER!!*

Anyhow... I just want you all to know that I love us!  Candy is awesome, and the way she puts up with the discomfort of the last few weeks of pregnancy is LIKE A CHAMP!!  She's doing well, but can NOT wait to get this baby out of her belly!  The due date (Halloween) is fast approaching and she's doing the weekly visits to the doctors now.  All looks well, and the baby has apparently received the command to "move to position."  (Captain Cutie, reporting for duty, says a onesie he'll wear)  But, all in all... WE'RE STOKED!

So, our lives... well, we have a calling in our ward: we are (once again) co-Ward Choir directors.  YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!  We are suuuuper excited about that.  Especially 'cuz we get to do the Christmas program!  I've worked on arranging a song written by one of the brothers in the ward.  It's a good tune with good lyrics about the Savior, and the melody is catchy, so I've put it into an arrangement with four part harmonies, and a key change and everything.  Thus far he really likes it, and I'm being really careful not to tread on his "artistic ground," per sé.

One thing I failed to mention in one of our recent posts, was that Candy's sister Holly came and stayed with us for the general conference weekend.  We had loads of fun!  We watched the fireworks at Downtown Disney, we watched "A Goofy Movie," and hung out.  Oh, and Candy made some good food.  We are really glad that Holly could hang with us, and it is a blessing for Candy to have her a close by as she is.  We LOVE her!

About Kurt: I now have two jobs!  It's not much money, but not too many hours either.  I work as the choir accompanist at Katella High School in Anaheim (about a 10 minute drive), and I have a weekly gig at a restaurant in downtown Santa Ana on Wednesday evenings.  It's a cool joint called "Chapter One: The Modern Local."  It's got good eats (kinda pricey, but a tab is included in my pay so it's free when I work), like a skirt steak chimmichuri with yucca fries and mashed potatoes.  Suuuper yummy!!!  I also had my first concert on Thursday with the Fullerton Jazz Orchestra (the big band on campus).  And posted below are some videos from the concert.  (Candy asks that you please excuse her unsteady hand, she did have to sneak the vids since they asked that no filming happen in the concert hall).  I'm glad we got the videos, and Candy DESERVES to have videos of her husband playing music.

This is me on vibes during the Steely Dan tune "Aja."

This video is of me playing piano (including the melody on the second time) on the Steely Dan tune "Do It Again."  Cool arrangement done by our director, grammy-winning arranger Bill Cunliffe.

I had a video of "'Round Midnight" with the full tune that's beautiful, and has me playing a solo, but it's too big to post here, so if you want to see it let me know.  The easiest way to go about getting to see it would be for me to put in on dropbox for you to see.  Just email me or call or text or something.

Well... we're super excited to have our baby, and to see Candy's Mom when she comes down to help out for the first bit of our lives with baby.  We're also SUUUPER excited to have both of our family's down for our baby blessing over Thanksgiving weekend.  

Love, and Hugs,  Kurt and Candy

Better Late Than Never!

So... news of the week: After much consideration, and realizing that a haircut here is freakin' EXPENSIVE, Candy and I finally invested in a hair clipper, and Candy gave her first haircut EVER!  So, The Kurt and Candy Reeder family proudly present ...................... >>Drum Roll<<..................................

THE HAIRCUT!!!!!!

Now... understand that this is at the end of the day, and Kurt is greasy and nasty, and tends to play with his hair a lot.  But I'd say that Candy did a WONDERFUL job!!!  I love her SO much, and am grateful that she's willing to experiment in order to help us scrimp and save... especially since President Monson says there's no shame in that! :D

Well... ta tat for now!

Kurt 'n Candy

I forgot...

Yesterday Candy and I went to an all-day birthing class.  It was fun!  Seriously... we enjoyed it.  The teacher was a certified doula from L.A. and was very good and unbiased in her presentation.  Candy and I also got some good one on one time during the lunch break and had some questions receive some very good answers.  We're feeling more and more confident with the Baby's arrival.  We are more excited than we can express.  Oh, and James is hiccuping again.

much love
us

FHE at the Big 'D', and learning the "HEE HEE HOO"

Well folks... I've decided that this should be a weekly Sunday night ritual.  Hopefully I can keep up with that.  I'm gonna go kind of picture crazy with this post, so I hope you'll all bear with me.  So on Monday, we went to Disneyland for FHE, and it was FUN!!  We went on the rocket ride at Tomorrowland, and went on the Buzz Lightyear Blaster ride... I wasn't terribly good at it.  But here are a few pics of the parade, and of some Halloween decorations.

 Where's Rapunzel???

 Princess Tiana and her magical floating... bayou!

 We just liked the ginormous trombone.

 Mickey and his best friend Pluto

Mickey with the Goofster and Donald

We also went to Disneyland later in the week just to hang around and get some better pics, so here they are.

 THERE she is!!!

 Kurt looooooves firetrucks!!

 Be careful!  It rides in excess of 4 miles per hour (actually 5)!!!

 "Hey... look at that Mickey!  Ice cream!!"

 Okay, charades:  Who am I?

 Candy's summer home

 We decided to leave SoCal and hike the Swiss Alps.

Candy and her little pumpkin, hangin' with Pumpkin Mickey.

And now, by popular request... we are posting pictures of Candy's enlarging belly!  SHOUT FOR JOY!!!!!  She is, by the way, the CUTEST pregnant lady in the universe!

 "I had to lean way over to see my toes." -Candy

 Strike a pose, preggers!!

He's in there... kicking.... and stuff.

We also figured we would share our pics from our lovely labor day trip to Newport Beach, so here you go!!!

 I know SHE'S cute, but who's that dude?  He needs to do his hair.

 At the wedge.

 Sandpipers are just SO cute.

 Oh, Newport.

 Again with that dude!  Why?

 Aren't sailboats fascinating?

 It's got TWO surfboards on top!

 And there was even a ukulele in the car!!  Isn't it beautiful?

And our last bit of news... we have california plates!!!! :(  I miss delicate arch.  But at least we have a "TIE" on our new plates.

Hope you all have a splendid week!

Much love,

Candy and Kurt

Our Apartment

********IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:  I (like the fool I am sometimes) decided that it would be cool to flip the camera sideways so as to get a better view of things.  So the video goes sideways sometimes, and you'll need to tilt your neck like a cute, begging puppy dog in order to view it correctly.  Happy viewing!!!

So we're FINALLY updating our blog... only a month later!!!  We moved in and it took us about a week to get all of the boxes unpacked and all the furniture set up where we like it.  And after some purchases of some organizing gear and other such things, Candy feels like the place is pretty much in order.

Kurt Is taking 9 credits in graduate school this semester (6 is full-time), and those include: Intro to Graduate Studies in Music; Jazz Ensemble; Jazz Combo; Private Jazz Piano Lessons; and Independent Research/T.A. and Curriculum Development.  It's a pretty full schedule, but man... a breath of fresh air to be able to take only the classes I WANT to take.  The ensembles here are pretty good, and I'm getting a lot of opportunity to lead in the ensembles: Bill Cunliffe (the director) had me direct rehearsal last tuesday because he was late getting into town, and I direct combo rehearsals on Mondays.  I also will be contributing arrangements and compositions to the groups.  I have four on campus performances this semester and four next semester, plus a performance at the Long Beach Center for the Arts.  We have guest artists at every show!  Hooray for living in SoCal!!

Candy is moving along in the pregnancy.  There are only about 6 weeks left until baby comes.  The midwife put the official due date back at October 31st, so we're hopeful that we'll have a Halloween baby!  We're suuuuuper excited for it to all go down!  Candy has had a basic tour of the facilities where she'll be giving birth, but will have a more comprehensive tour of the facilities after her appointment on Tuesday.  Next Saturday, we'll have a condensed birthing class that is 7 hours long!!  We're excited!

We have also enrolled in institute here in Fullerton, and are loving it.  We have a wonderful teacher for the Old Testament Class we're taking, and we are also taking a once-a-month Marriage Class that includes dinner and a wonderful lesson on how to improve our marriages and improve ourselves.  Our ward is also AMAZING!!!!!

We love it here, but we reeeeeeaaaallllly miss and love everyone in Utah!  We can't wait for Thanksgiving when most will come to see us, and we especially can't wait for Christmas when we'll get to spend some good time with our dear ones in Utah, and let them all get to know our baby better.

Will love and respect,

Kurt and Candy (and James)