First Bath

So begins what will likely be a long line of posts with "first" in the title. Here is a picture of Thomas's first bath in his "Save the Whales" bathtub. He's probably too young to understand the importance of whales, but he sure liked the warm water and Burt's Bees shampoo!

P.S. Notice his very sexy case of baby acne. He looks like a hormone happy teenage boy!

It's cold!

Everybody kept asking for a picture of Thomas and Dad together. Well, here you go. This is from this morning when it was 16 degrees outside. He liked it!

The hat is Bolivian and a gift from my friend and Spanish tutor. He looks like a little wolf!

Lance

Thomas Meets the Grandparents!

Enjoy these photos from visits with the grandparents


Papaw JD


Mamaw Brenda and Poppy Bob


Grandma and Grandpa Klosterman

Pics

A few more pictures of my family. Sorry, I can't help myself. -Lance

First days

So many of you want to see pictures of little Thomas so I thought I would add a few more.


Mamaw Brenda and her new grandbaby



Thomas the Gnome



There are stars in his crown



First day back to the farm with Mike and Jamie

He's finally here!

Thomas Jefferson Klosterman arrived 5:36 pm on Wednesday, November 4th weighing 8 lb 13 oz and 22 inches long. He was 2 and a half weeks over due.

We had been waiting quite a long time for the little dude to arrive, knowing that the further along longer he stayed in, the less chance that he would be delivered at home. I decided to go to work Tuesday morning since Heather's exam on Monday with the midwife suggested she had quite a bit further to go before labor. I arrived at work at 6:30 am and was hard at it when the phone call came in at 6:45 that her water broke but she wasn't having contractions. After numerous maneuvers to bring contractions, the midwife advised going to the hospital for induction/augmentation.

In the hosptial Pitocin was administered and she went into strong labor eventually requiring an epidural about 1 am on Wednesday. She weathered active labor for 24 hours but little Thomas's head was just not moving down. Absolutely exhausted she tried to push him out late Wednesday afternoon, but he wouldn't budge.

Heather went to c-section about 5 pm on Wednesday and they popped him out a few minutes later.

Take a look at the pictures. Sorry, but he is definitely the cutest baby my eyes have ever seen.

Thanks for everyone's thought and prayers,
Lance

Happy Independence Day, Thomas Jefferson!

Sorry to all of you who have been waiting patiently and have gently reminded us to update our blog.

Much has happened in the past few months. Interestingly enough, the least has been the continued work on the farm. One of the cabins is finished inside and out and we are in the process of finishing the larger and older cabin that will contain the master bedroom and sitting room (family room). It looks like we are on target to finish by the end of 2009. Only 2 years behind schedule!

And none too soon . . . the biggest news is that Heather is with child! We are expecting our first born son in mid October. Thomas Jefferson Klosterman will hopefully be delivered here at Walnut Grove, barring any complications. So far, pregnancy has been a tough row to hoe with Heather suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness and vomiting requiring continual anti-emetics). She lost about 15 pounds during the first trimester, but she is slowly improving.

Needless to say, we are both excited!

Posted are a few pictures from the farm this Summer. We will certainly try to be more diligent in updating the blog. I hope to update a few more times before Thomas arrives. But given my track record, the next post may actually have a picture of us holding him.

Lance

Dr. Mudd

The time has finally come to chink and daub the cabin. Here is a picture of Mike (aka "Dr. Mudd," though he assures me he his not harboring any assassins) performing his craft. Historically, cabins were chinked with stones or wood shingles (probably left over from the roof) and daubed, or mudded, with a combination of sand, lime, and sometimes horsehair. Daubing would have to be repaired quite frequently, sometimes completely replaced every year; and it provided little insulation from the cold. Though Lance and I enforce accurate preservation in this project, we made an exception in this case, allowing Mike to use his modernized technique of using wire and fiber insulation as the chinking and adding a bit of latex to the daubing so that it will contract and expand more easily with the logs. In one wall, however, we are going to use the original chinking (wood shingles) saved when the cabin was dismantled. This wall borders the kitchen and will not be exposed to the outside elements.

Other pictures show the progress on the porch and Jamie working on the porch roof.

"A New Era of Responsibility": Inauguration 2009

In response to requests to comment upon the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, practically on his deathbed, wrote this about "The Declaration of Independence" in 1826: "May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government... All eyes are opened or opening to the rights of men. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others; for ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."

Nearly two-hundred years later, on January 20, 2009, we heeded Jefferson's advice to "burst the chains of monkish ignorance" (and arrogance) that have recently bound us and to "assume the blessings of self-government" under a truly brilliant and inspiring leader. On that day, we again broadened our definition of equality and came one step closer to realizing the "self-evident" truths espoused in our most famous founding document. We have much work to do as a country--and a global community--but for now, we can pat ourselves on the back and hope that we made Mr. Jefferson proud.

Tuesday, January 20 was truly an historic day for our country and Heather and I got to experience it first hand. As the last entry explained, a friend from work knew we were excited about our new president and gave us two tickets to the inauguration. We were already planning on going but what a great opportunity to see history being made up close. Well, we were certainly there to see history, but not really up close. As the news has reported, we were two of the 10,000 who had tickets but could not get inside. We made the best of it and walked a mile to the closest jumbo-tron to watch President Obama's inspiring speech.

The inaugural speech was perfect in every way. Without a doubt, it is the craft of a constitutional scholar and a social activist. His oration will be regarded as one of the finest speeches and moments in American history. If any of you have not read it or want to hear it masterfully delivered again, you can do so at this CNN site. It is heartening to have a leader who wants to inspire people to take ownership of their country in "a new era of responsibility."

Just as inspiring were the throngs of people there to participate in the occasion. Everyone was extremely polite and pleasant despite being turned away and the bitter cold. It is amazing how much warmer it is when you are shoulder to shoulder with 2 million other people.

Getting back out of DC was easy and we were only stuck in about an hour of traffic. The best part is we are like local celebrities (among our group of hippy friends) because we were there.

Lance

Photos attached are: 1) crowds at the Washington Monument, 2) self portrait at the spot where we watched the speech, and 3) someone not so happy that Barack Obama is the new commander in chief.