Okay, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything.  The last month has been pretty darn busy.  The Wagaman Clan migrated from Orlando, FL to Lewis Center, OH (in the Columbus, OH area).  We bought a house and I have started as a full-time freelance web developer.  Currently I am working on a Ruby on Rails project full time until at least half-way through September.  I just started on another short term contract today as well.

Thus far things have been going pretty well in the freelance arena.  I’ve been used to working in the “enterprise” arena, so it’s a little change of pace, but I like it.  To maintain my work records I am over half-way through developing a TimeTracker application in Ruby on Rails.  It keeps records for my work sessions, contracts, invoices, customers, and more.  It’s really cool developing custom software that you can use as well.  It’s teaching me a lot about Agile Web Development.

Well, that’s about all for tonight.  Tune in again, sometime…

The April 2006 newsletter is now out. Come check out the sleepy little man and witness the launch of a website. We’ll put a new batch of photos up here in the next couple of days.

As you know, March was the 9th month of our pregnancy. Kelly kept getting bigger and we wondered if James would ever come. Kelly was induced at 12PM on the 3rd of April. During the UCLA-Florida game were some of the hardest hours of Kelly’s labor, but it was worth it because as of 11:45am on the 4th, we had our handsome little man, James.

We are so happy to debut our James on the wagaman web. Here’s our photo gallery from his birth. If you click on the thumbnail, you can view a larger version of the picture. When you’re done, hit the back button on your browser to view the next picture. Enjoy.

James Benjamin Wagaman came into this world on April 4, 2006 at 11:45am. He weighed 7 lbs and was 21 inches long. We brought him home from the hospital today. We are all getting used to having a new Wagaman in our house, but we love our little man. We will soon have some pictures up here, but until then enjoy this one picture and a video. We promise we’ll have pictures up here in the next day or so.

James first video

We’re still waiting for our little J-Moose. Kelly’s due date was on March 29th; if James doesn’t arrive by Monday at 11AM, she is going to be induced. We’ll put some pics up here of the little man as soon as we can.

Waiting for James to be born is so exciting and scary. We have no idea what he will look like. We don’t know anything about him, but he is so close to us. Oh, the joys and anxieties of pre-fatherhood.

It’s surreal that in 19 days (give or take…but hopefully take…whichever means earlier!) all of our planning and talking and wondering will come to fulfillment. “What will he look like?” “Which outfit should I dress him in? (we have so many to choose from!) “Will Pippin like the baby?” And on and on it goes.

Luckily I feel like I’ve had plenty of time to prepare and rest. The nursery is just waiting on a baby…and so are we! This weekend we’re going out to some fun places together. An art museum, a french restaurant that has live jazz music, the beach. People tell us that we should do everything now, but call me naive, is it really that hard to still be together, alone, once kids come? I’m kind of bothered by this fatalistic attitude of “go on dates now because they’ll be your last”. Certainly there will be a period of time where things will feel on hold, but why do people act as if this baby will be a wedge between us?

The Lord spoke to me through someone the other day. “Have you ever thought that this baby might actually draw you and Ben CLOSER? You will share some sweet times with each other because of this baby, he will be a blessing and not a curse to your marriage.” I rest in those words from our sweet Lord and breathe a sigh of relief that there are good things coming. Different, but good.