Did I mention "awwww"?

At Shannon's house with Shan, PJ and 4-day-old Logan. AWWW!

Awwwwwwwwwwww:

(Full image here.)

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Following up on yesterday’s post, I finally have some more information on the 300 millionth American*, the unbearably adorable Logan. His full name is Logan Denis Wanecski (middle name is for Shannon’s dad), he was born at 5:10 PM yesterday, he weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces, and he’s 20.5 inches long/tall.

*Demographers be damned! They say “toe-MAY-toh,” I say “toe-MAH-toh” … they say “mid-October,” I say “Wanecski”! Bottom line, Logan is far too cute not to be a landmark, history-making baby of some sort. And if I can declare a punter the player of the week, then gosh darn it, I can declare Logan to be Baby #300,000,000! :)

Here’s a picture of Logan and his proud papa, PJ:

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AWWWW!!!

No pics yet of Logan and his proud mama, but you can bet I’ll take some when I’m in Buffalo this weekend. :)

Anyway, two more cute Logan pictures (a redundant phrase, really) after the jump.

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Logan Wanecski has entered the world!!

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YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shannon just sent that picture out via cell phone. I’ll post more when I have more details.

P.S. AWWWWW!!!! Look how cute he is! AWWWWW!!!!!

UPDATE, 11:21 PM: Still no details yet about weight, time of birth, middle name, etc. Like I said, I’ll post ‘em when I get ‘em.

I did write back and ask (saying “YAAAAY!!!!” several times in the process), but I’m guessing Shannon, or maybe P.J. using Shannon’s phone, sent out the above picture to a flurry of people (I say “flurry” because I got it at 9:14 PM and Becky got it at 9:19 PM, so I suspect there were a number of others on the distribution list as well) and then probably put the cell phone away for the night. Certainly, my earlier joke notwithstanding, they have plenty of more important things to do right now than sending multiple text messages to friends in faraway states. :)

Anyway, the message contained only the above picture and the caption “Hello Baby Logan!” So, y’all know literally everything I know at the moment. (Speaking of which, in case anyone is wondering, Shannon has basically given me carte blanche to blog about this. Hence all the updates.)

I can’t wait to see Logan!! Becky and I will be in Buffalo on Friday night (for Marissa and Keith’s Saturday wedding), and so we will probably meet Logan sometime on Saturday. He’ll be just four days old! The adorableness meter promises to be off the charts!

Incidentally, since Logan has finally been born, I just removed the “Shannon’s due date” countdown (er, countup) from the “upcoming events” box at left. But, for posterity, here’s what it looked like just before it was removed. It got all the way to -7!

We haven’t heard any news from Shannon, so presumably that means Logan hasn’t been born yet. If so, then if all went as planned, the doctors made the initial preparations for an induced labor this afternoon, and will induce Shannon bright and early tomorrow morning — starting at 8:30 AM, if I remember correctly. Methinks poor Shan isn’t going to get much sleep tonight… after all, she’s having a baby tomorrow!! That’s just a wee bit exciting, nerve-wracking, terrifying, etc.

Anyway, this final delay gives me just enough time to ask the question: Will Logan Middle-Name-To-Be-Determined Wanecski be the 300,000,000th American? Reuters reports: “Some time this month, the number of Americans will surpass 300 million.” Hey, forget “some time this month,” how about “some time tomorrow”? :)

P.S. Yeah, so the Census Bureau “predicts the 300 million mark will be reached in mid-October.” So what? The Census Bureau has been wrong before! We just need a whole lot of babies to be born in the next 12 hours, so that Logan can claim the honor of being #300,000,000. C’mon, pregnant women of America, PUSH!!! ;)

Just talked to Shannon again. They’ve set October 3 as the date to induce labor, if she hasn’t had the baby by then. The doctor, after examining her today, said Shannon probably won’t go into labor before then, but there is of course a chance. Shannon is hoping for that chance: “I don’t want to be pregnant anymore … I want to hold our baby. I really, really do.” Aww. Plus, the girl is obviously exhausted (she yawned three or four times in the course of a 10-minute conversation, and I don’t think it was because of my poor conversational skills, hehe) and physically uncomfortable. It’s time to have the darn baby!

If October 3 is indeed the big day, it would mean that Logan Middle-Name-Still-To-Be-Determined Wanecski would share a birthday with Bea, and with Toni’s son Connor and her co-worker Dom, according to comments on this post from October 3 last year. October 3 is also the 16th anniversary of the reunification of Germany and the 11th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson verdict — those ones I know off the top of my head, because October 3 also happens to be the date of the first time I ever told a girl I had a crush on her, in eighth grade, precisely one year before the O.J. verdict, a correlation which I noted with disapproval when the latter event occurred. :) More October 3 events here. The establishment of the Kingdom of Korea (in 2333 B.C.) is a nifty one. In addition to Bea, Connor and Dom, Logan would share a birthday with Ashlee Simpson, Seann William Scott, Neve Campbell, Gwen Stefani, Tommy Lee, Fred Couples, Al Sharpton, and David Letterman’s stage manager, Biff Henderson, among others.

Becky and I will be arriving in Buffalo on October 6 for Marissa and Keith’s wedding on the 7th, so we may end up getting to see a very young baby Logan. :) Anyway, stay tuned!

Previous Logan-related posts can be found in the newly created “Shannon & PJ’s baby” category (which is a subcategory of Friends & Family).

Becky and I talked to Shannon on the phone Monday evening, and I can confirm that she’s very anxious to actually have this baby. :) She has a doctor’s appointment later today (Tuesday), and as mentioned earlier, if she hasn’t gone into labor by then, they’re going to set a date to induce. Shannon clarified that said inducement date would probably be in about a week. So the latest possible birth date for Logan Middle-Name-To-Be-Determined Wanecski is sometime in the first few days of October. (Hey, October is a good month to have a birthday!)

The countdown thingy in the “upcoming events” box at left now says “Shannon’s due date: 0 days.” Normally, I delete countdowns once the date passes, but I’m leaving this one up until the baby is actually born, however long that takes. Hopefully, for the sake of Shannon’s comfort, it won’t say “Shannon’s due date: -6 days” next Monday… :)


Shannon and her belly, exactly one month ago.

As those who pay attention to the countdown thingy at left are already aware, Shannon’s baby is due tomorrow! When I texted her a few minutes ago to ask if Logan has been born yet, she wrote back, “Not yet! God I wish!” She said that if she hasn’t gone into labor by tomorrow, the doctors will set a date to induce. (She also said it was OK for me to blog all this.)

It’s mildly surprising that Logan hasn’t been born yet, considering Shannon was already having Braxton Hicks contractions back in August when we visited her (and when the above picture was taken). But then again, as Shannon’s mom said, it would have been a cosmic oddity if the baby was born early, considering Shannon is always late for everything. Hehe.

Anyway, stay tuned!

Considering that Shannon’s baby could be born any day now (the due date is next Tuesday), I figured I’d better get those baby shower photos, which I promised last month, online now, before they become obsolete! :)

The full photo gallery is two pages long: Page 1, Page 2. (In addition to baby-shower pics, it also features pictures of our visit to Casey and his sweet pad in lovely Rochester.) Here are a few highlights…

Shannon and P.J. (and baby Logan — he’s the bump :) in front of their apartment in North Tonawanda, NY.

Shannon models a “rockstar” shirt as she tries to decide what to wear to P.J.’s metal band’s concert at the bar where she worked.

Shannon with the “fertility bear” at her baby shower at her parents’ house.

Me & Shannon, Becky & Shannon. Aww!

More after the jump.

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Ernesto is a tropical storm again, as of 11:25 PM. Mark Sudduth still thinks it may regain hurricane strength before all is said and done; the official forecast calls for strengthening, but only to 60 mph. The official forecast track predicts a second landfall near the SC/NC border this evening, and then an inland track taking Ernesto straight toward… Buffalo! If the timing is just right, maybe Shannon will give her baby the middle name “Ernesto”? :) No, but seriously: Ernesto’s biggest impact may be inland flooding particularly in the mid-Atlantic states.

Meanwhile, Margie Kieper has an excellent post about Supertyphoon Ioke, which is about to make an improbable direct hit on tiny Wake Island. SciGuy says of Ioke: “The worst may be yet to come. Some models, such as the GFS, forecast Ioke to become ridiculously strong. A recent model run had the storm reaching 210 mph winds with a central pressure of 865 millibars. Such a storm would easily eclipse Typhoon Tip as the most intense ever to form.”

Here’s a picture of Becky and me with Shannon and baby Logan, who is due in exactly 30 days (see newly added countdown at left), on September 26:

There are lots more cute photos where this one came from (today’s baby shower). Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Full baby-shower photo album now online!

Ernesto is up to 60 mph, the center has re-formed closer to the convection, and the models are now pointing more toward Florida. On an unrelated note, the photo is of Shannon and PJ, and Logan (in
Shannon's belly), who is due in mid-late September. Aww! :)

UPDATE: More pics of Shannon (and Logan) after the jump.

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Heading to the kennel to board Robbie (who, admittedly, isn't actually a puppy -- but I call all dogs puppies), then we're off to Buffalo for the weekend for Shannon's baby shower.

Becky, Kristy and Vikki have stopped for the night in Terre Haute, Indiana — where, it seems, K and V are making friends at IHOP. Heh.

Anyway, thanks to the free Wi-Fi at their motel, I can share with you these pictures, which Becky sent me via e-mail, of 7-months-pregnant Shannon and her (rather large) baby bump!

Aww! So cute!

Those were taken last night in Buffalo. Here’s a pair taken this morning, also in Buffalo, of Vikki and Kristy loading up their Penske for the move to Denver:

They made it 576 miles today; they’ve got 1,008 miles to go to Denver. Hey — Bob Dole’s hometown of Russell, Kansas would make a perfect stopping point for tomorrow night! :)

Anyway, they’re travelling in three separate vehicles — Kristy’s car, Vikki’s car, and the Penske — which explains the relative dearth of cell-phone photo posts while on the road; notwithstanding Kristy’s efforts, blogging-while-driving is not generally recommended. :)