Steadman Family

Lily was born this afternoon at 2:39, tipping the scales at 9 lbs. 7.8 oz and 21 inches long. Both she and Melinda are doing fine. Melinda had to have a c-section as Lily decided to come in face up and just wouldn’t wiggle around the pelvis.

Lily had me wrapped around her little finger as soon as I laid my hand upon her heart to celebrate her joining our family. She’s the perfect addition to the Steadman clan.

Madie is officially a baby-hog and insists on holding her little sister and shushing everyone. She was so happy to get to go to school today and still make it to the hospital in time to be the first to welcome Lily.

Feeling Lily’s new little heart brought me back to the moments I spent feeling the last beats of Ben’s heart. I’m sorry that they weren’t able to be here at the same time, but I’m certain that he’s been with us since we checked in.

We’re all resting together as a family. Just like we’re supposed to be.

All I can say is that it’s been a busy month.

Just putting up a quick post to say that we’re heading out to the hospital to have labor induced. Melinda and Pineapple are both fine. The baby is just a little on the big side and our doctor starts her vacation on Saturday so she wants to clear her schedule.

Oh yeah, Pineapples name will be Lilyanna Kay Steadman.

GHX just wasn’t my style and I was feeling a fair amount of stress with my decision to work there. So I quit and got on board at Medium, the small startup in Boulder. I’ve been there a few days already and feel much better. It’ll be a challenge dealing with the commitment required for a startup, but it’s so nice being busy doing something you love.

Medium is building a web application to enable interaction and collaboration between people while working on-line. My experiences in writing this blog and interacting on-line with other families dealing with pediatric cancers were tremendous assets for me in landing this position. I never imagined that I’d be detailing my experiences in dealing with Ben’s cancer during a job interview. I was also amazed at how well the folks at Medium responded to it. They asked all the right questions and didn’t offer any offending platitudes. I’ve been very lucky to work with quality folks in the past and this job is off on the right foot.

Yes, I know we haven’t posted in two weeks. It’s been a little too busy and there’s no time for excuses as we have several updates.

DGP Family Meeting in Las Vegas

Melinda and I had an amazing trip to Vegas to meet with several other families who’ve lost a child to diffuse pontine glioma. We were both concerned that the trip would turn into a non-stop cry fest and that we would come home feeling worse than ever. Thankfully we were wrong.

We were greeted with cries of “there’s Pineapple” as we walked into the opening evening of the event. Melinda and I both felt instantly at ease and loved meeting the families that we’ve followed through their blog’s and Caring Bridge sites. We cried, we laughed and we shared our experiences with people who are walking our same path.

Our guest speaker, Tom Zuba, pointed out how poor our society is at allowing people to mourn and that we all need to tell and retell our stories in order to process them. He’s made me take another look at how I’ve been mourning Ben and treating my own health lately. His site is a great resource for anyone grieving and I’m curious to see what direction his book will take.

We spent a good deal of time discussing non-profit foundations and got a peek into three of the projects underway at JTHF.org:

• The Family Link Network has just gone live and allows family’s to add their website as a resource for other families.
• Tumor Tracker is under development still and will allow parents to input their child’s age, basic medical history, type of tumor, treatment plans and overall condition. The goal is to create a on-line database giving visibility to all of the treatment options for each type of tumor.
• Their third project will allow families to connect on-line with doctors for second opinions and allow doctors to collaborate on diagnosis.

The entire event was truly amazing and we can’t wait for next year.

How’s that new job going?

Not too good to be honest. I’ve been there for three weeks without being able to tell anyone why I was hired or what my job is. Not the best way to meet people and begin earning the trust of a new team. We’ll see how things shape up over the next few weeks. Or something.

Madie Started Kindergarten

And she couldn’t more excited

Small change in the whole new job thing. I interviewed with several companies before accepting the position I was offered at Medium. GHX, the first runner-up in the ‘employ Dean contest’, came back to me last week and put a new spin on their job offer. So I’m starting there tomorrow instead of at Medium. It should be a much more stable company to work for and wont require the amount of dedication a start-up would have.

I’m very excited and a little apprehensive to start as I haven’t put in an honest days worth of work in several months. Oh well, the vacation couldn’t last forever.  

 Here’s the map to the Frederick High School for those of you unfamilar with the area. 

See you there.  

 

 

Todd Morin and Dave Brown, two of my colleagues from the Requisite days, have formed a team to ride in the Livestrong Challenge this August 20th. I’m honored to have such great friends riding in Bens memory.

You can support them in reaching their goal of $2,000 and track their progress on their team site (click on one of their names to donate).

Thanks

Melinda and I are getting ready for the Carbon Valley Relay For Life this Friday. They’re planning on honoring Ben during the Luminaria Ceremony and having the Sleepness Knights play Ben’s Song. We’ve been asked to say a few words at the start of the ceremony which has me facing that old problem of describing my emotions right now. On one hand I miss my son and want to crawl into a hole. On the other I want to start fighting this cancer again. I’m sure I’ll figure something out before Friday.

Here’s the agenda for those wishing to attend:

Friday, August 4, 1006:
3:00 pm - Onsite Registration begins
3:00 pm - Campsite set up begins
6:00 pm - Survivor Reception
7:00 pm - Opening Ceremony and Survivor Lap
9:00 pm - Luminaria Ceremony

Melinda and I can always use your support. Thanks

Yes, my time at Requisite/Click Commerce has finally come to an end. It’s been a good six plus years, but it’s clearly time to move along.

I’ve accepted a position at a startup company in Boulder called Medium as the Director of Community Relations. I’m still a little fuzzy on exactly what that entails, but it boils down to enabling online communities to communicate using a new browser extension that we’re developing. It looks like a great company and I’m excited about the possibilities that this opens up for me.