You, my friend, require some energy. I call out the specific time that you have been alive because it feels as if we have been running a marathon since day 1 with you and we are no where near the finish line. I will say this, and probably repeat it as time goes – it is a good thing you are really cute.

You had a few more firsts these last six months:

• First new house
• First time to San Diego
• First real words

Your first column is significantly shorter than your sister’s was at this age – thank her someday for being older and allowing you to experience things at a younger age.

We did move though into our new house! Your mom was not as big of a fan of North End as I, and wanted to idyllic childhood home – so we bought it. We moved about 5 miles east to the home we are in now. It has a big driveway, big backyard and is on a cul-de-sac. As much as I wanted to stay put, it really is an incredible home in an incredible neighborhood. We love it, and I hope that I am writing these posts from it for a number of years.

We also took a trip to San Diego – your first time there. We stayed in Encinitas which is where we lived before moving to Boise. We went for 5 days and spent a lot of it at the beach and riding bikes around the neighborhood. We also took you to the San Diego zoo – which blew your mind. Unfortunately I think it will cause you to be disappointed by the one in Boise. Although it was nice being back in SD, and don’t ever tell your mom this, moving to Boise was the right thing for us. 

This was also the trip that convinced us you are not in a state where we wish to travel with you anytime soon. Following the trip back on the planes with a layover in SF, we both agreed we would wait until you were older before we travel again. You were a monster.

Christmas this year you didn’t fully understand but had a better idea at least. Still not ripping open presents or anything – but at least the concept is beginning to resonate. 

You are also starting to talk like crazy, and not all words are gibberish. Many, actually most, still are, but not all. You talk all the time and are becoming more clear each day. You are also the smiliest baby of all time.

That said, you still DO NOT SLEEP! We have tried everything and at this point have resolved to just live on little to no sleep. You just talk to yourself or scream and wake up multiple times throughout the night. Good thing you are cute.

New Job

I left Balihoo at the end of the year and began a new job with a company called Vacasa in January. I came on as the Vice President of Digital, and oversee everything about the website, vacasa.com. The site currently produces just under $100 million per year – and I have a team I am growing. The company is over 2,000 people, and I am one of 9 execs. It is a much bigger role than the one I had at Balihoo – much more stress but also more opportunity. Currently, my plan is to see it through to an exit (either IPO or acquisition) and then take it from there. Would like to take a month off after so hopefully that will happen,

You have a big summer coming up and we will be heading to SV quite a bit. The travel ban due to your behavior on planes has made it harder to get away but we will continue to try. You are so loved, by us of course – but Harper more than anyone. She plays with you constantly, hold you all the time, and helps you with things. She is even protective of you when in public or around other kids. You guys have a pretty amazing bond which is incredible.

I know this one is a little short but I will come back next time around with more details and more stories. 

I love you more than you will ever know.

Love, Dad

Ethan Charles Donegan was born at 7:28 am at St. Luke’s Hospital Downtown Boise, delivered by Dr. Timothy West. 7 lbs 1 oz, 18.75″ long, 14.25″ head.

You are here, you are real, and you are pretty fucking awesome.

So let’s start at the beginning. You were due on the 10th, and just like your mom had been saying all along (that she would be late) the day came and went. November 14th Mia came over from SV as we figured things were getting close and we needed someone to watch Harper. Perhaps it was because your mom knew at that point it was ok because Harper was covered (your mom’s body is incredible, always seems to know when it is ok for things to go crazy), but that night your mom’s contractions started picking up and got close enough to where we decided it was time to head in. This happened around 7pm, just after dinner.

When we got there your mom was four centimeters dilated, and needed to be closer to five before they could admit us. We went through this with Harper as well, and the nurse suggested we go for a walk to move things along. That night we walked through downtown Boise around the hospital. Currently there is not much in that area, other than an old park and a gas station, so we had the sidewalks to ourselves. We just walked and talked, trying our best to prepare for what we knew was ahead…a long few days.

When we returned from our walk an hour later, your mom was more than five dilated and we were admitted to the labor unit. Once established our nurse, Phoebe, came in to greet us and make your mom comfortable. While a bit quirky, Phoebe was incredible throughout the entire night. In fact, her shift ended before you came and she stayed around to help anyway just because she wanted to meet you.

After a few hours we got your mom an epidural, which let both her and I sleep a little bit. It was about 2am at this point so we were both pretty tired. Around 6am we were all up and preparing as your mom was much further along at this point. Dr. West began coming in and checking on progress as well, and let us know it wouldn’t be long.

Finally around 6:30 we had the whole crew in the room and were ready to rock. Your mom was such a champ, if there is any physical strength you end up having it comes from her. I got exhausted just watching her push with so little rest in between. After about an hour you popped your huge head out, then shoulders, and then Dr. West pulled an audible and asked your mom “would you like to pull him out?” I about shit myself. Your mom didn’t even hesitate and reached down for you. Next thing I know she is pulling you out and onto her chest. After I recovered from the scene I has just witnessed, I got my first look at you. And all I could think at that moment, looking at you for the first time, realizing I now had a son and likely my last child…was how you looked like a drowned rat. I mean just covered in everything disgusting. THEN I saw your face and instantly fell in love. 🙂

After all this everything seemed just fine. They cleaned up the room and moved us up to the maternity ward. When we got up there I was holding you and noticed your breathing was quite fast and a bit labored. They has taken your vitals after the delivery and your breathing was fast, but they assumed it was just due to the stress you had endured. But it was still really fast a few hours later and I got concerned, so we asked the nurses to come back in and check it out. They agreed, and brought up some specialists from the NICU. They also agreed, and then took you down to the NICU to run some tests.

Your mom had this connection with you from the second you were on earth (maybe cause she delivered you). She obviously loves Harper and was in love immediately as well, but there was something about the connection you guys had. Just the way she looked at you was different, and when you had to go down she, as always, held it together but I could see the incredible pain in her eyes. When Harper was born she came out not breathing and was immediately sent to the NICU, but she was out 45 minutes later. You were now on your way down and we didn’t know what would happen.

I went down with you and stayed while they began running tests. A normal newborn takes between about 40-60 breaths per minute, and at that time you were well above 100. They eventually diagnosed you with something called transient tachypnea, which is basically rapid breathing caused by fluids in the lungs. It is something that normally works itself out with a day or so, but because of how high your breathing rate was they were concerned it might be more. You would end up spending nearly 2 days in the NICU, until finally your breathing slowed to normal range. It was a frightening two days, but after we were able to head home. Your days in the hospital were over, now it was time to meet your sister.

Due to the circumstances we didn’t want Harper to meet you until you were better. So when we got home that was the first time she got to meet her new baby brother. Have to tell you, she loved you from the moment she saw you. All she wanted to do was hug you, kiss you and help mom with you. She held you for the first time and just smiled the entire time. I have no idea how things will be when you read this, but having worried about introducing a new child to a home where an established one already existed, this was the best case scenario.

So that is it, the story of your birth. Now you are home, happy and healthy.

You might be wondering about how we came up with your name, but it is pretty simple. I love the name Ethan, and always have since I saw Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise where his character was Ethan Hunt. I have also never met an Ethan that I didn’t like and that wasn’t good looking and successful. I am sure you can come up with a more sentimental or interesting story about your name, but I will leave that to you.

Your middle name was also easy, as I believe that middle names she be reserved to honor those in your life that mean the most. The nice thing about Charles is that it has meaning and it used in both my family and your mom’s. Since this is your story told from my side, I will talk about why I wanted that as your middle name.

Charles is my dad’s middle name. My dad is the most supportive, loving, thoughtful, cool person I have ever known. He was the greatest role model any son could ask for, and he always put my sister and I first. I genuinely knew that when he was with us that there was nowhere else he would rather be, it was not just for face time or for show. He came to nearly every single baseball game I ever played in, taught me how to fly fish and camp, was there when I got in trouble, hugged me when I got dumped for the first time, gave me advice when I asked for it, was an extremely hard worker, provided for us and never once judged me. He was firm but sympathetic. He taught me so much but never forced his opinions on me. I am not kidding when I say that without him I would be lost. I don’t know who I will be when you read this, what my job will be, what kind of money I will be making or where I will be living, but I do know that if I am not an incredible father I do not have an excuse in the world. I feel like I have terribly large shoes to fill, and honestly believe that if I can be a fraction as good of a dad to you that he was to me you will turn out just fine. So when you think of your middle name, please know that it was well thought through, and I gave it to you as an homage to a man I hold in the highest of regards.

You are our last child, our family is now complete. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have you and what lies ahead for us. I just want to thank you for choosing us, and I promise to do any and every thing to be as good of a parent to you as possible. I will fuck it up along the way, but I will give it everything I can. Please know that.

I love you more than you will ever know.

Love, Dad