It never gets old.

No matter how old I get or what happens in my life, having a child will always amaze me. The idea that this little human, who I helped make, will depend on me to help him become an adult. In a lot of ways it is like helping write the most amazing story ever. It is the story of their life. 

My children inspire me almost daily and I am very grateful to be a part of their lives. This was a picture that was taken in the hospital by their photo people and I just couldn't help sharing it with you all.

BLOGGER PAIN

Also on an unrelated note. Blogger/Google has been giving some people problems when they try to join someone's blog. This has recently become my problem as well. The worst thing about this is A-Z is coming up and more and more people keep falling prey to this. 

There is a common "We're sorry, we are unable to handle your request. Please try again or return later." message when you try to join a blog. If anyone has advice, beyond reloading the gadget or reloading Chrome...or that something is blocking it, please say so in the comments. Hopefully they get this fixed soon as it has been going on for about two weeks now for most people. 

Anyway, hope I can join some new blogs soon. As always, have fun and keep writing. 

Editor wanted. Editor found!

It is interesting for me to look back on my journey so far. I have always wanted to be a writer. For as long as I have known how stories were made I have been trying to make them. It is particularly interesting though that my first series was the Light Bringer. I have my wife to thank for that. She believed in these books before anyone else knew of them. It was her that pushed me to publish in the first place. 

I had always assumed I would write one of my "old world" fantasies and query them until I found a publisher. Well, as most of you in the book world know, things are changing. Most people advise now, that even if you want to traditionally publish you should self pub. to start getting your brand out there. 

These books have always been sort of an experiment for me. A test of the waters if you will. Interestingly, at least to me, is that people seem to really enjoy them. I am glad they do and have had so much fun writing them. If I have had one complaint it was that the editing needed some work. 

As I move into the third book I aim to fix this issue and retroactively fix the first two as well. I was lucky enough in my blogging time to meet a wonderful person. You know her as Janie Junebug. I, luckily, now know her as my editor. I will be releasing a second edition of the first books that she is in the process of editing now and then she will take on the project of editing the third book in the series for me. 

I am extremely happy to have her working with me and can't wait to see what we produce together. 

A - Z

Quickly I want to mention this. New baby and all I was not sure if I could keep my commitment to do A-Z for the first time this year. I was lucky to find some free time to work on my post so thankfully it is a go. 

As to what I am doing, I wanted to keep it simple. I love animals and I love writing so I am combining the two. I will A to Z my way through 26 unique animals and give a short writing prompt to go with each. If I finish them in time I will also draw a picture for each post. 

Last, is a quick update on my wife. She goes back to the doctor on the 11th. So far she seem to be in good health and we are very positive. 

Anyway, this is what is going on in my life, can't wait to see you all in April as we celebrate the alphabet. As always, have fun and keep writing. 

It's a BOY am I tired.

Well I tell you, it has been a week. Well truly over a week, but week just sounds better than, "Boy is has been a 12 day period of time." My last blog while ending with good news was sort of heavy. This one will have some of that, but also some great news. I have missed going to blogs and has also missed my IWSG this month. This sucks as I really enjoy those post, writing and reading them. Now is the part I explain why.

As you can see in the picture above, life has gotten more interesting in the Ax household and for an amazing reason. It is sort of funny how this came about this time.

Maybe two weeks ago I remember having a conversation with my wife. I was commenting on what it would be like if her water broke in the middle of Target. She informed me that this was something that only happened in movies and that most women's water never actually breaks until she goes in to the hospital.

It was true of our first two. My daughter refused to come out, she was almost two weeks late. My son came two days after his due date. We fully expected our new bundle of joy to at least make it to his induction date. We even ignored the contractions she was having last Saturday the 1st. We had been dealing with contractions for a month now and they did not phase us.

So 11 o'clock at night I lay my head down on the pillow and close my eyes. I maybe slept for 30 minutes when I was shaken awake by an unreasonably calm wife who was saying, "Baby wake up, my water just broke."  Well this could not be. I was not a character in a movie and clearly this was the sort of thing only Hollywood could manufacture.

After a few blinks to remind myself this was real I jumped out of bed. All former experience from two previous children flew from my brain and I became the comedic stooge to my wife's straight man. Oh what a comedy duo we made. Me running around spouting witty phrases such as, "What do I do, who should I call and and what should I do?" Her responding with, "Maybe you should put some pants on."

After a trip to the hospital. 19 hours of labor 30 minutes of delivery, our new son came into the world. He was 6 lbs 13 ounces, with a full head of hair. It was just as great as the two times before it. I don't think I have stopped taking pictures since.

I did mention at the beginning that I had some bad news here. We got home last Tuesday the 4th grateful to be in our own bed, if not sleeping in it. We got four days home. Saturday my wife started having chest pains and shortness of breath. We ended up back in the hospital after they checked her they decided to admit her. We ended up staying for two nights. Dorian was really calm the whole time. They think they caught early heart failure, but she is having more test done. 

Obviously we are somewhat worried, but staying positive. For now we are back home with our baby boy and our other babies. He had his first check up today and he has gone past his original birth weight and has grown an inch. Life is up and down, ebb and flow. We are enjoying the flow, but ready to be strong and take on the ebb. (or opposite if you like the ebb of life, lol)

Anyway I will leave you with a meme worthy picture of our new son. Dorian Alexander Ax. As always, have fun and keep writing.