Xavier Week 1

Xavier Week 1, a set on Flickr.A few shots of Xavier from his first week.

An Early Christmas Present

Our little bundle of joy arrived earlier than expected.  Xavier James Doudt was born on 12/24/12, at 10:46am.  He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

The night before Xavier's birth, Mom started to feel some pain but wasn't sure if it was cramping or early labor.  Dad was already asleep at this point, so Mom drank water and started to walk around to see if it was truly labor pains.  The pains diminished while Mom was walking around but as soon as she sat down they would start again.  At about 5am on the 24th, the pains started again so Mom decided to walk around again, but as soon as she stood up her water broke.  It was at this point Mom was sure labor was here.  Dad remembers it was exactly 5:23am when Mom woke him.  Dad then called the doctor to see what our next step should be while Mom took a shower.  The doctor confirmed Mom should come into the hospital.  By 6:30am Mom was checked into Northwestern Prentice Women's Hospital in downtown Chicago.

Immediately, the nurses hooked Mom up to the monitors so all the vital information could be tracked: Xavier's and Mom's heart rates.  At first Mom was laying on her right side which Xavier did not seem to like as his heart rate quickly dropped.  The nurses moved Mom into different positions, finally having her lay on her left side which was not a surprise to Mom and Dad as this was the position she had slept in for the entire pregnancy.  This is probably as good a time as any to note that our delivery nurse, Catherine, was an Iowa Hawkeye just like Mom.  We felt this was a good omen.  Dr Bolger soon arrived and was concerned with Xavier's heart rate dropping because Mom was still in the early stages of labor and she was still not dilated.  Dr Bolger recommended Mom get an epidural soon just in case something quick had to happen later on (like a c-section).  Getting an epidural was not high on Mom's wish list but she went with the doctor's recommendation.  Since the epidural is a "procedure", Dad had to step out of the room while it was done.  Dad paced in the adjacent general waiting room anxiously.

After the epidural, Mom felt more relaxed for sure.  Dr Bolger said we would wait now to see if Mom's contractions would intensify and if Xavier's heart rate would stabilize.  It was at this point that Dad asked if he could run down to the cafeteria to get something to eat.  Everyone said it was a waiting game right then so sure, go for it.  Big mistake!!  As soon as Dad got down to the cafeteria he noticed a new voice message.  It was Mom telling me to get his butt back upstairs because in those few minutes Xavier's heart rate had dropped a couple more times and Dr Bolger said she needed a c-section as soon as possible.

When Dad got back to the room, Mom was already being prepped and wheeled to the operating room.  Dad could here Mom say, "Let's do this" to the doctors and the doctors laughing as she was wheeled out the door.  Dad quickly made calls to family to bring them up to speed on what was happening and then changed into the scrubs he was given.  A few minutes later, Dad was brought into the operating room and sat near Mom's head.  There was a large sheet that blocked us from seeing the operation.  As this was Mom's first operation in her life, it was a little scary.  Dad tried to soothe Mom by telling her she was doing great, that everything was going to be alright, and that we were just a few minutes away from meeting Xavier.  About a half hour later, the doctor said we were getting close to "baby time."  Mom and Dad anxiously waited.  After a few minutes more, we then heard a tiny squeak, a pause, then a louder cry.  It was the most beautiful thing we had ever heard...tears were in our eyes.  Dad was then taken to a small side room to finally meet Xavier while he was being checked out and cleaned up.  Xavier looked long, skinny, and beautiful.  Dad was then given Xavier to hold for the first time and bring to Mom so she could see him.

After recovery, Mom, Dad, and Xavier were brought to our postpartum room (1368) on the 13th floor.  This was more than your typical room though...this was a suite with a view!  It was a corner room lined with windows and a view of Lake Michigan and the surrounding skyscrapers including the Hancock building.  We were recovering in style.

With his birth date, his favorite number has got to be 12, right?  Which would be the inverse of his Mom's favorite number (21) and one more than his Dad's (11).

Here are photos of the first few hours and days of Xavier's life:

As We Wait...

As we wait for our little Christmas present to arrive, I've been uploading a lot of "old" photos to Fine Art America making them available for sale. When I first started using the site I only uploaded a few photos, but I've since gone back into my archives and found more that I feel are worth making available.  Please share with friends if you think anything would peak their interest.

I've also updated a few more on my Flickr site as well just for fun.  I've tried my hand at some Tilt-Shift editing to make it seem like the photo is of miniatures.  Here is one of the St. Louis streets and cars taken from the Arch as an example:

On a Roll

I had another one sell yesterday - a greeting card this time!  Hopefully this is just a start of what's to come.

I also bought a cheap macro/fisheye lens attachment recently.  I'm not sure I want to spend the large amounts of money on these types of specific lenses so I bought an inexpensive attachment to play around with.  Here is the set of macro (extreme close up) shots of a raspberry in water.  One of the shots below:

First Print Sold!!

I got an email last night letting me know that I sold my first print off the Fine Art America site.  I am so excited!  Here is the photo and more info on what sold:  Stairs to the Chicago L 

ajdoudt's photostream

ajdoudt's photostream on Flickr.  Took some shots of the Stranger's Home Church near Clybourn and Larrabee yesterday late afternoon.

Apple Picking

Apple Picking, a set on Flickr.These photos are from last weekend but I wasn't able to post them until just now due to MacBook issues (a big thanks to my neighbor, Francis, for fixing it up!).

Sara and I picked up our friend Rachel and we headed to La Porte, IN to visit the Burdens and go apple picking. It was a gorgeous day and the apples taste amazing.

MA and ME

MA and ME, a set on Flickr.I took a trip out to the East Coast for work this past week and managed to hit four different states in three days - RI, MA, ME, and NH. It was so beautiful!

Corn Cobs and Bridges

Corn Cobs and Bridges, a set on Flickr.I haven't gone on too many photo-walks in a while so I took some time this past week to head downtown.

Lincoln Square Photos

Photos around Lincoln Square and the Davis Theatre...

It's A....

B-O-Y!!!!

I guess mothers do know best! For the last 21 weeks, I have been saying that we will have a boy, but this past Thursday we found out that I (as always) was right. :) Here are a few shots of our handsome little dude - spine, profile and tiny feet.

Andersonville

We love to walk around Andersonville. It's got great restaurants, pubs, antique shops, lighting stores, furniture stores, etc...We do this so often that we wanted some photos of our favorite places.

One of our favorite brunch places


Anthony dreams of George's Ice Cream...this is a shot of their chalkboard

A New Addition to the Family

We are pregnant!!  Sara is 12 weeks along and her due date is somewhere between December 30th and January 4th.  As you can imagine we are very excited.  So far Sara has been very very tired, but luckily she's had very little sickness.

We will find out the gender in our 20 week check-up which will be in August.  We've included a couple shots of the little one below.

This is at about week 8.  Sara sees a smiling whale while Anthony's first thought was a duck swimming to the left (with a tiny beak).  If this were an ink blot test what would our guesses say about us?  What do you see?

This is at about week 10.  This is less animal and more human like.  Whew.  

The Fire Win!

Our neighbor, Francis, his little girl, Madeline, Sara and I all went to the Chicago Fire vs. New York Red Bulls MLS match this afternoon.  It was great fun!  And while the video below may suggest otherwise, Madeline was really into the match and cheering (and dancing) along with the crowd for most of the time.  The Fire won 3-1. This was the celebration of the third goal:

(Sara wouldn't allow me to get her on video - you may notice an abrupt stop as I started panning to the right).  :)

Here are some photos from the match.

Taking Off and Landing

Spent some time around O'Hare last night.  Here is the whole set.  It was a beautiful night for a flight.

I tried some post processing by layering multiple photos on top of each other...

Taking the L to Navy Pier

I took some photos on the L and then around Navy Pier early Sunday morning.  I'm not sure if any of these are good enough to post to FineArtAmerica to try and sell so for now they are just on Flickr.

The L photos


The Navy Pier photos

More Wrigley

I took some more shots of Wrigley Field yesterday...you can check them out on my FineArtAmerica page.

Here's one of them:

Night Game

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary Chicago style by enjoying nachos at the Cubby Bear and then taking in a Cubs night game.  We took part in the time honored tradition of buying tickets off a scalper taking the 50/50 chance they were legit tickets...which they were and they only cost us $10 per ticket!  It was a beautiful night.  You can check out Anthony's pictures on his Flickr page.

Vegas...For Work?

We went to Las Vegas last week Monday through Wednesday for work...we swear!  Sara had a conference and Anthony went to visit a client.  It was a hectic trip and we really didn't get to see each other much even though we were staying in the same hotel room but it was still fun to travel together.

Sara got up by 5am Tuesday and Wednesday to make sure all the lyonscg conference stuff was ready to go for the day and then had dinners/events late into the night.  Meanwhile, Anthony worked on Eastern time which meant he was up by 5am but it also meant he had some free time in the afternoon to play a little poker (won $23!) and take some photos of the Vegas Strip.



On Tuesday Anthony drove the 45 minutes to check out Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.  It was impressive.

Taking the Next Step in my Photography

After all the travel Sara and I have done over the past several years, not to mention living in beautiful Chicago, I've accumulated an inventory of decent photos, and I think it's time to see if people are willing to buy my stuff.  So, I've made my photos available for purchase on Fine Art America.

I have my own Artist Website as well as a profile page on Fine Art America.  Either site can be used to purchase a print along with any additional items you may want (frame, matting, paper, etc).  Fine Art America has an impressive selection of all sorts of artwork, so if you prefer other mediums (painting, sculptures, etc) you'll still enjoy this site.

Please share with anyone you feel may be interested.


My profile page (you'll notice this button on the right side of our blog page as well):





My Artist Website:

Zipline Videos

One of our guides took two videos for us (using Amber's camera).  If we would have tried this the camera would have been shaking all over the place and you might have heard some screaming (and possibly cursing). It felt much faster in real life.

The first video shows a great view of Jaco.  This was also the highest zipline we went on...several hundred feet from the ground.

The second video shows Anthony zipping by on the same zipline that was shown in the first video.

More Costa Rica Photos

Lots and lots of photos posted to my Flickr account.

Costa Rica - Pura Vida!

We recently got back from a great vacation to Jaco, Costa Rica with seven of our friends.  We rented a house on the beach and enjoyed great weather, great views, and great food.  We thought the best way to share our adventures with everyone would be through our pictures...




Here is a quick video of Anthony ziplining (if you can't view the video below try here):

Skyline

Trying some different editing and color ideas with this skyline photo (check out others on my Flickr account):

Dressed Up for the Auto Show

Sara's company, Lyons Consulting Group, gave us tickets to the black tie charity event that is held the night before the Chicago Auto Show officially starts.  It was great fun to dress up and be fancy for a night.  The food was good and it was fun to see the all the cars we can't afford...plus, Blues Traveler played a concert!  What more could you ask for?!

At home before the event...It looks like we're going to the Prom

  

At the event

With Matt and Kathleen

No hands!!

Awwwww

Sweet ride

Sara's heels didn't last long...the Cadillac of slippers

The Skate Park

Some more photos from yesterday (prior to the Super Bowl - go Giants!), this time at the skate park.

Waves Crashing

Took some shots of a rough Lake Michigan and posted them to my Flickr account.

Busy Weekend

We've been busy busy.  We stayed with Katie and Jay Kyte (and the kids) last Friday night and had a fun night of ice cream, hide-and-seek, card games (this was with just the adults) and then had a sleep over - Sara slept with the girls in their bedroom while Aidan and Anthony slept out in the family room.  We then had a great breakfast and played with the kids some more Saturday morning before heading back to Chicago. Thanks for a great time, Kyte family!!

Saturday night we went to a DeVotchKa concert that Sara had bought us as a Christmas present. DeVotchKa has a cool sound, kind of like a mix of Spanish and Greek wedding music (they play a tuba and accordion for some of their songs!).  Here is one of the songs that we both love, unfortunately they didn't play this at the concert - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Aso0_gnMoA (little known fact: this is the song Sara loves to listen to while on airplanes as it calms her down).  But, even without playing our favorite song, they were amazing and we had a great time. Here is a video Anthony took of them covering one of his favorite songs, "House of the Rising Sun"

So after a late Saturday night, we then had an early Sunday morning (up at 5:45am) to head down to the Aon building for a charity event that Sara's company had sponsored. There was nobody on the streets and it took us only 10 minutes to drive from our condo to Michigan Ave.  Sweet!  Sara and 6 or 7 of her fellow lyonscg coworkers climbed 80 stories for the Children's Hospital. Not everyone made it to the top but Sara did...and she beat several of her coworkers. Nice!  There were thousands of people there supporting the charity and doing the climb. Anthony did not make the climb but held another important role instead...watching over every one's stuff while they climbed the stairs.  :)  Anthony also took some time to take photos of and around the Aon building (you'll also find some additional iPhone photos of the concert there). We then came back home and both took naps...we were exhausted.

One of the shots of the Aon building:

Iron, Glass, Steel, and Concrete

I took a trip downtown to take some photos inside the Rookery building but unfortunately it's closed to visitors.  So instead I just walked around and took a few other shots.  I've uploaded them to my Flickr Account.

Christmas 2011

From Iowa to Philly, Christmas was filled with family, food, and fun.  Here is a small sample of the pictures:



To see all the pictures you can go to my Flickr account...let me know if you want any specific pictures and I can send you the original file.