Sorry Family

We have been having some lazy days at the Culin House. It is getting cold and I am a little worried about taking a new baby out, so we have been chillin' at home.
Incha, my mother-in-law, is an amazing cook and she shared her talents with us tonight.

Auntie Cheryl is working hard to finish a blanket for Jude.

A self portrait, these are my favorite.

Thanks Heaven for little boys. They love their Mommies (and I wouldn't have it any other way)

The Milk Coma

By far breastfeeding is the hardest part of this whole process for me. My labor, I have to say, was easy! But the feeding has been a lot more challenging. We are working on it, but I wanted to share my favorite part. James calls it the "Milk Coma." This is the before picture:

And here is Jude's after picture. He is so precious.

And the old saying, "everyone thinks they have the cutest baby" it's really true! I think God designed it that way, so they are still cute at 4 am when he keeps me up.

He is a first child

So today I realized that every day I have the camera out to document everything that is happening to Judah. He is a first child!
I am already feeling sorry for our next child, so I am going to try to make extra effort with the next one.

Today was our first walk outside in the stroller


Don't worry it was in the low 60's out here and he was well bundled.

Jude is 10 days old

Everyone is so helpful! Auntie C loves her baby Judah!

Just some "baby laying on the bed" pictures.

The Culin's are here

We are so blessed that our family is here for the holidays to come and see us!
They might even be here to see the baby.
James' Mom, brother and sister-in-law (who happens to be my best friend)
are here for a whole week.
I just continue to thank the Lord for all of the blessings that He has given me!

Merry Christmas

Christmas this year is so different for us. Just a quiet day at home with the three of us. James is such an adoring father he wants to get a picture of every face that Jude makes. This one we call the pirate face. This is his "my first Christmas" outfit. His Auntie Evie got him a cute Christmas outfit with a hat, but the outfit didn't fit, so we made due with the hat. Overall it was a great day!!

Family time on Christmas Eve

My Brother Eddie is so amazing. Our family is a family of MAC users. Not that I am selling the product, but they are really cool. Eddie and Cheryl (top Left) are in California and Mike and Amanda (top right) are in Hawaii. That is a 5 hour time difference between all of us, but we were able to spend time together on Christmas Eve. I love my family!
Merry Christmas Eve all.

The cutest guy ever!

So our wonderful family left today to go back to the warmer climates of southern California. (what is 30 degrees really THAT cold?) We are both so thankful for their support and the fact that they spent time and money to fly all the way out here to see us and their nephew.



It's funny that he's wide awake and I'm the one crashed. Aren't newborns supposed to be the ones that sleep all the time? My usual light sleeping nights have gotten worse. I can hear when he moves his head, so I wake up to make sure he's okay. I've got to find a way to tune out my super hearing...




Here he is waiting for his parents to pick him up. He was just laying there so patiently...and wrapped up so warmly...did I mention it's 30...on the way to 20!!!! What....? What happened to Hotlanta?

Visitors for Jude

Our little man is so loved! Not only are there tons of people that have been praying for us, but that are supporting us. But there are a few that have stopped by to say "hi."

Heather Pinkerton brought flowers from the girls at my work (they are so amazing!) Everyone should be so lucky to have co-workers like mine. I am so blessed. The Whittakers stopped by to see Jude....

and Auntie Ev and uncle Jeff flew all the way from California to visit.

We are home, all 5 of us!

Today we came home from the hospital and I don't feel like writing so here are a few photos from our day.

This picture is for Auntie Cheryl.... these are my asian eyes.

This is Auntie Ev, my sister, I am so loved! She and my brother (in-law) came out for a few days to hang out with us and meet the new baby.

Before we left the hospital... I had to get shot up :). This is us leaving the hospital.

We had a little drama getting the baby in the car seat! He is so small. He actually lost weight before we left the hospital, so he now weighs only 5 lbs and 13oz. He is so small.

So today isn't a very fun day for my son. He was poked and prodded with shots, needles etc. Then to top it off...circumcision...by our doctor who is also a rabbi certified to do moyles. (How some people do it in their adult years...I'll never know. It looks very sore and painful and super red. I still stand by our decision to do this for him. It's more sanitary and we don't run the risk of paraphimosis. (trapped foreskin for the laymens) But as a father and a male...man did I feel bad for the poor guy. But luckily mom is a great comforter. He calms down as soon as she holds him. He's getting a few more shots today for vaccines then...we might go home tonight. Alyssa is doing great. She walked around the hospital today and is a trooper.



Jeff and Evalie (Alyssa's sister and brother in law) flew in at 1am last night so they came in and held their new nephew. And brought me lunch from chick fil a.

Little pooper!

One hour of being born and he decides to use the bathroom. That black stuff was the stickest crap i've ever seen. This is why dad's used to wait in waiting rooms and hand out cigars rather then change the first poop, which was like roofing tar. It didn't smell but I had to use like 5 giant hospital wipey's...plus he kicked his own poop, so his leg had it everywhere. He's a little pooper.



And I realized that I never put a name down...we named our first child Judah Jeffrey Culin. We wanted a biblical name without sounding...amish and I was just thinking of old testament names when Judah popped in my head. So I went home and looked it up. It means the praised one in hebrew and it also is the line of Jesus. We just liked that it's associated with someone that we both follow and want desperately for our son to know Him the way we do.
Jefferey was my father's name and is also alyssa's father's name (so that was pretty easy)...and our brother in law is also Jeffrey. Pretty cool.



sorry its sideways. i got lazy

Happy Labor Day

My son is here! Everything went fine. We got to the hospital at 730am, waited for our Doc to come...waited...then at 9:31 she came in, broke Alysaa's water...which was on it's way already. The Dr. said she barely touched it. Then the good ole' standby the epideral (twice because of a missed epideral pocket). Then at 11:52 am he came out. 2 1/2 hours of labor, two pushes...I'm not sure I'm supposed to share that with marathon laborer's out there. But he came out. 6 lb 6 oz, 19 inches. Tiny baby. He's healthy and squirmy. And he looks like an old man who just got beat up. Good times.

And so it begins...

James here:

And so it is...we are here at Piedmont hospital awaiting the arrival of our first born son...I'm very excited and tired already. My body thought it would be a good idea to get sick the day before we got here so I'm still a little loopy from the medicine I took to sleep last night. Nothing in comparison to what the wife is gonna go through, so we'll keep this between us. All the beeping and clinking is already driving me nuts. I'll keep you posted!!!

Patience vs. Modern Medicine

James here:

So I've been struggling with this the last few weeks. Our son is due pretty much any day now. He's been due "any day now" for about two weeks. So Alyssa's mom flew in to see if she can witness the birth of her first grandchild. So time went and went. We walked, jumped, and jumped and jumped. Ate eggplant and Korean Stew (extra spicy). Castor oil...which is the worst idea ever. Castor oil would work better for oiling up the perineum rather than making the baby come. Sex...did it...many times. Took one for the team on that one. Walking on a curb...nope. I blew in her nose...you know to reverse the pressure south...nothing. Then my wife asked me for something that got me thinking...pray that the baby comes out now....

So as a former minister I believe in the power of prayer. I have seen and heard many miracles in reference to it. I prayed for snow once before a winter retreat...we got snowed in and trapped on the mountain...I prayed and asked God to let me know if I should stay at my church and to let me know in the clearest way possible...I get fired from my job at church...that was pretty clear...God works. So my struggle was praying the baby out. And to a very disgruntled wife/mother I said no. I wasn't going to pray for something that I wasn't sure God wanted to do right then. But do I keep a pregnant woman happy or follow my internal leading...tough call. I'm pretty sure with all the extra hormones and frustration she could pretty much destroy me. Not in a I love you way...but in the Godzilla destroying NY city kind of way.

Then I start to hear random people say things like "when the baby is ready he'll come out." "He just needs a few more days to be ready" and my personal favorite..."when the fruit is ripe, it will drop from the tree." That one was from the SBC pope. I want to see my son too. I want to be sleep deprived and have a good reason for it. I want my wife to be able to sleep on her back again. I'm ready to pass on my boyhood experiences and live vicariously through him. (plus I'm pretty sure I'll have more fun with his toys then he will) Power wheels here we come!

All that to say...where do I draw the line between modern medicine helping and the natural cycle working? (I'm hearing Circle of Life music in my head right now) When do I allow modern medicine to step in and provide relief? Is all natural really the best medicine? Is it wrong to want my baby out now...for valid and selfish reasons?

We really did try everything!

So I have to admit that I was a little desperate this last weekend to get this baby out of me. We really did everything that we were told...... and I mean everything (hint hint). I went for long walks, jumped up and down, ate spicy food, jumped on one leg, walked on curb, bear down to try to break my water, ate egg plant and when all of that didn't work I turned to my little bottle.
James had been reading online how horrible all of the women felt when they did it, but Mom was here so I wanted to try it.

NEVER DO THIS! It tasted so horrible. The Castor oil tastes like make-up and it is so thick it coats your mouth. I felt like throwing up for about an hour..... then the hot fury (as James calls it) began. I had 3 rounds of diarrhea and not one contraction. I do not recommend this method.

Still no baby. The Lord again is working on my patience. I have decided to pray for a healthy baby and a healthy delivery whenever the baby is ready and the Lord decides.

Ready for Christmas

We are getting ready for Christmas, because we are hoping for a baby to come soon and keep us busy!
My mom hand made our stockings when we were little and it made me cry when she made one for James and gave it to me on our wedding day. So of course I was expecting a stocking for the baby when she came out to visit.... and I was not disappointed!



We are keeping you in suspense, but I promise we will announce his name as soon as we see what he looks like!