This whole pregnancy thing is starting to seem more real every day. What makes you say this you ponder? Well there are many things; here are some that come to mind quickly as I try to finally put a post together as SC sits at the piano at a late hour. Tomorrow want to guess what we are doing? We are going to look at some daycares in our neighborhood. You heard correctly, we are visiting daycares. She that must be obeyed is almost 17 weeks along, check the counter at the top of the page for yourself, yet we have to go look at daycares since many of them often have long waits.
The other reality is that daycare is going to cost more per month than our house. Now don’t get me wrong I am not complaining about the price, they have a large responsibility and there is a huge trust factor that goes into this decision, so price is what it is as long as they take care of Area 51 baby. Not sure if we have mentioned that yet or not. We refer to this as the process, and the kid as it, and the Area 51 baby because at this juncture the pictures we have of it resemble an alien life form, I hope that changes. Where was I, I don’t know what I expect to find out tomorrow. I don’t think I am going to walk in to any place and see them abusing the children at all, I am sure they keep the roughneck workers in the back and abused kids out of sight from people like us.
I also imagine if we ask questions, the answers would be like asking a waiter what’s good on the menu. Our next door neighbor is going through the same process as we are and its due any day now, we are fortunate that we can learn from them and they have already chosen a daycare close to the homestead. Is it bad if we just rely on them? They are awesome people surely made rationale decisions on this choice of day care. UPDATE: baby C has entered the world; I cannot wait to meet her.
The baby bump is slowly but surely beginning to take shape. We were in Tennessee this past weekend spending time with family. A good time was had by all, our house was a blast but I think at the next trip we will be moved into the kid house. Such is life. On the way out of town, we stopped at the outlet stores for some shopping. I decided to buy yet another pair of golf shoes; I own more golf shoes than some people on shoes. The most important thing to come out the trip was some clothes for the ever changing body of SC. What a concept that they have a store dedicated to pregnant women. She picked up some nice things that look great on her. The jeans are her favorite and she got some real nice tops that look great on her.
A little over a week and half away we hopefully will know more about the sex of the child. All along, we have said that we want healthy and done. I think there are some things of each sex that make them uniquely special. I know I have already been looking at the cool clothing options out there, I see little cheerleading outfits that rock and little football uniforms that are special as well. This whole process is still mind boggling to me, not a day goes by that I don’t think about it. I am still very apprehensive about being a father; I hope I don’t blow it. I apologize that it has been so long between posts, hopefully that will get better. I imagine that there will be one next Friday worse case scenario. And for the love of God and all things holy feel free to share any advice you may have, it would be appreciated.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
My new love
So, I have been avoiding the buying of new clothes for "my condition." Not that I don't like shopping, but spending money on clothes that can be worn for a limited time only is not exactly my idea of fun. That said, I did recognize the need to invest in a pair of pregnant lady jeans, seeing as how my current clothes, although still fitting, are not all that comfortable any more. I received an email from Motherhood Maternity stating that jeans were on sale and I decided to stop by and see. The lady at the store was eager to help me and sell me things - she told me about nursing bras (which I don't think I need yet), she tried to sell me a summer dress (I will be pregnant big in the winter) and I repeatedly and nicely told her that I was just here to buy the jeans. And I did. Coincidentally, I also purchased a brown sweater jacket that looked good on me now (during a less pregnant state) so I figure I will get some use out of it after the fact.
I got home and immediately showed Dan my new "secret fit" maternity jeans. Secret fit refers to the giant panel of seamless spandex that goes around the top of them to hide giant and growing pregnant bellies. Dan took one look at the jeans and said "those aren't jeans, that's a dress...." Oh, Dan - there is so much you don't know. So I put my new pregnant lady jeans on and proceeded to marvel at two things: 1) How comfortable these new pants were and 2) the amazing stretch ability in the secret fit spandex. So stretchy in fact that I could fit an entire pillow in my pants!!! This is amazing! I have found what I have always been looking for - a pair of pants to wear at the Thanksgiving table! So my new pants are my new love. So much so that I nearly slept in them on Monday evening. I must go buy another pair because this pair is sure to wear out soon!
So, while much of this pregnant business has not been wonderful (I may hit the next person who says, "Oh, I loved being pregnant"), I am starting to find the joy in the small things that will come with being sick, being tired and gaining weight. I already found joy in guilt-free trips to McDonald's for chocolate shakes and a large fry.
I got home and immediately showed Dan my new "secret fit" maternity jeans. Secret fit refers to the giant panel of seamless spandex that goes around the top of them to hide giant and growing pregnant bellies. Dan took one look at the jeans and said "those aren't jeans, that's a dress...." Oh, Dan - there is so much you don't know. So I put my new pregnant lady jeans on and proceeded to marvel at two things: 1) How comfortable these new pants were and 2) the amazing stretch ability in the secret fit spandex. So stretchy in fact that I could fit an entire pillow in my pants!!! This is amazing! I have found what I have always been looking for - a pair of pants to wear at the Thanksgiving table! So my new pants are my new love. So much so that I nearly slept in them on Monday evening. I must go buy another pair because this pair is sure to wear out soon!
So, while much of this pregnant business has not been wonderful (I may hit the next person who says, "Oh, I loved being pregnant"), I am starting to find the joy in the small things that will come with being sick, being tired and gaining weight. I already found joy in guilt-free trips to McDonald's for chocolate shakes and a large fry.
Friday, October 10, 2008
25 Weeks to Go...
Whew - It has been a while since we posted. I am sure our readers are getting anxious to see what we will write next. So we went in for week 15 drs visit yesterday and all still looks good. I was hoping for another ultrasound, but didn't get one - despite my telling the doctor that I had a little fall in the shower earlier that morning. No, I wasn't just trying to con my way into seeing the baby again, I really did slip, but just kindda slid down the side of the shower and didn't really fall.
We did hear the heart beat though - that was cool. 147 BPM, which the doctor politely reminded us that despite the wives tales, this is not a gender predictor. I did google it anyway and I found a study that said there is a 50% chance I am having a girl if the BPM are above 140.
Other things - we are finishing off the room above the garage. And when I say we, I mean my dad. He's a trooper. Has been over several nights per week putting in boards, putting in walls, etc..etc... Says we'll be done by Christmas. Which is good - it means we will have 3 months to get everything else in place, whatever that means.
We are finally sharing the news more publicly these days. In fact, I informed Dan that there are no longer any rules to who we can and cannot tell. I asked him today who has he told and he said "no one." I called him a liar. He said, "I wanted to make sure you didn't change your mind about telling." He knows me well. He also knows that once the enthusiasm from yesterday's drs visit wears off, I will be back to not telling people just in case. Yes, I am crazy. It's fine with me.
The dogs are starting to realize that something is up. They can't understand why we now make them sit when we enter the house whereas before it was insanity with jumping up on us. They cannot understand why they can no longer jump from the arm of the couch onto me while I am sitting in the chair. Boy, are they in for a rude awakening? We have pretty much figured out that Keeper won't care, Wrigley will drown the baby with her kisses and Fly may eat it.
That's about it for now. We are going to a pumpkin patch tonight to pick pumpkins, eat candied apples and drink apple cider. A tradition I hope to continue once there are little ones in our lives.
We did hear the heart beat though - that was cool. 147 BPM, which the doctor politely reminded us that despite the wives tales, this is not a gender predictor. I did google it anyway and I found a study that said there is a 50% chance I am having a girl if the BPM are above 140.
Other things - we are finishing off the room above the garage. And when I say we, I mean my dad. He's a trooper. Has been over several nights per week putting in boards, putting in walls, etc..etc... Says we'll be done by Christmas. Which is good - it means we will have 3 months to get everything else in place, whatever that means.
We are finally sharing the news more publicly these days. In fact, I informed Dan that there are no longer any rules to who we can and cannot tell. I asked him today who has he told and he said "no one." I called him a liar. He said, "I wanted to make sure you didn't change your mind about telling." He knows me well. He also knows that once the enthusiasm from yesterday's drs visit wears off, I will be back to not telling people just in case. Yes, I am crazy. It's fine with me.
The dogs are starting to realize that something is up. They can't understand why we now make them sit when we enter the house whereas before it was insanity with jumping up on us. They cannot understand why they can no longer jump from the arm of the couch onto me while I am sitting in the chair. Boy, are they in for a rude awakening? We have pretty much figured out that Keeper won't care, Wrigley will drown the baby with her kisses and Fly may eat it.
That's about it for now. We are going to a pumpkin patch tonight to pick pumpkins, eat candied apples and drink apple cider. A tradition I hope to continue once there are little ones in our lives.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Under Construction!!!!!
Well, we have begun construction on renovating the unfinished room above the garage. I think the ultimate goal is for it be finished and usable when we are complete. By we, I do not mean a collective we. It is SR’s dad, MR doing all the work. Since I have as much technical skills as you can cram into a thimble, I am more than happy for him to take on this project. I think the current plan is to finish that room and make it into the new office/playroom and turn the current office into the kid room. We will see. I had an idea today that we could finish off that room, knock the wall out and make a large multiuse room that served as office and guest room while making the current guest room the kid room. At this juncture just about all options have been floated and I am sure we will wind up going with the first one mentioned.
We are also the proud new owners of a diaper genie. For all of you with kids you know exactly what this is, for those without, its basically a high tech trash can that you can put diapers of questionable smell into and lock away said smell and germs. A shout out to JT and TT for picking that up for us. It was great visiting with them yesterday, we miss them not living in the area in more.
SR continues to be in great spirits and good health, knock on wood. We will confirm that in a week or so with a visit to the doctor. That’s about all I have for now. Peace. DC
We are also the proud new owners of a diaper genie. For all of you with kids you know exactly what this is, for those without, its basically a high tech trash can that you can put diapers of questionable smell into and lock away said smell and germs. A shout out to JT and TT for picking that up for us. It was great visiting with them yesterday, we miss them not living in the area in more.
SR continues to be in great spirits and good health, knock on wood. We will confirm that in a week or so with a visit to the doctor. That’s about all I have for now. Peace. DC
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Dan says that I need to post ... so here I am, after an evening at water aerobics, hair still damp from the pool, posting.
Many changes have taken place since the first days of this pregnancy. I am certain that a total of about 25 people now know, not including the strangers that my mother-in-law has likely told in the past two weeks. Baby Crawford is now about two and a half inches long and from what I have read, most of its systems are fully formed. Hmmm...that's kindda cool.
Other changes - I don't like meat. I am hopeful that this will change sometime by week 14. Because I am a carnivore. And lately, I have been choking down chicken just to make sure I get the nutrients that I need. I am now the proud owner of a maternity swimsuit.
Our doctor's visit on Sept 12 was an exciting one. Our baby was bouncing around like crazy and the doc was extremely pleased with its movement. This made us excited and allowed us to open up a little more. Dan still played Mr. Funny and when the doctor asked if we had any questions, Dan piped up and said "Yeah...is my wife gonna be stupid for the rest of this?" That's right folks...he was referring to Pregnancy Brain - yes there is a term for it. So, I have been a little preoccupied lately and have lost my keys, been mostly unfocused, and I am sure there is other stuff. But seriously ... "is my wife gonna be stupid...." Oh dear. Nonetheless, it made the doc laugh, which I suppose is good. And luckily for Dan, I found the humor in it as well.
So here we are - at about 12.5 weeks. 6.5 months to go, or so. We have an attic space to finish off before baby comes or else I am not quite sure where we will fit all the extra gear. I have been having nightmares that we have to move ourselves, our dogs and all of our stuff into one room in my parent's house...and then I realize "we are having a baby....we have to find a place for all of that stuff, too." Could this nightmare, and my OCD anxiety be causing the headaches ... it's a possibility.
Many changes have taken place since the first days of this pregnancy. I am certain that a total of about 25 people now know, not including the strangers that my mother-in-law has likely told in the past two weeks. Baby Crawford is now about two and a half inches long and from what I have read, most of its systems are fully formed. Hmmm...that's kindda cool.
Other changes - I don't like meat. I am hopeful that this will change sometime by week 14. Because I am a carnivore. And lately, I have been choking down chicken just to make sure I get the nutrients that I need. I am now the proud owner of a maternity swimsuit.
Our doctor's visit on Sept 12 was an exciting one. Our baby was bouncing around like crazy and the doc was extremely pleased with its movement. This made us excited and allowed us to open up a little more. Dan still played Mr. Funny and when the doctor asked if we had any questions, Dan piped up and said "Yeah...is my wife gonna be stupid for the rest of this?" That's right folks...he was referring to Pregnancy Brain - yes there is a term for it. So, I have been a little preoccupied lately and have lost my keys, been mostly unfocused, and I am sure there is other stuff. But seriously ... "is my wife gonna be stupid...." Oh dear. Nonetheless, it made the doc laugh, which I suppose is good. And luckily for Dan, I found the humor in it as well.
So here we are - at about 12.5 weeks. 6.5 months to go, or so. We have an attic space to finish off before baby comes or else I am not quite sure where we will fit all the extra gear. I have been having nightmares that we have to move ourselves, our dogs and all of our stuff into one room in my parent's house...and then I realize "we are having a baby....we have to find a place for all of that stuff, too." Could this nightmare, and my OCD anxiety be causing the headaches ... it's a possibility.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Another visit to the Doc
We went to the doctor and Friday. Things appear to be progressing well. We got some more pictures and hopefully one day we will actually open the brand new printer/copier/scanner combination we bought, hook it up, and use it to send out some pictures of the Area 51 baby.
The doc visit was cool except for the part of waiting over an hour to be seen by the doctor. He gave us some sage advice; avoid Friday and Monday appointments like the plague. On Friday, crazy concerned women rush to the doctor because they are about to go out of town and want to make sure everything is ok before they leave. Mondays are bad because crazy concerned women experienced something over the weekend and need to rush to the doctor to make sure all is ok. I can make comments now because we are not that far along and the crazies have not set in too much.
At the doctors office they make you visit with all the doctors in the practice since more times than not, Mother Nature does not cooperate and women go into labor when their doctor is not on call. Therefore, it’s a good idea to meet all the doctors so you will be somewhat familiar with them if they are the one brining your bundle of joy into the world. The guy we met this time is awesome. So awesome in fact that SC would consider switching to him as her regular doctor. This guy was over the top nice and before the exam sat us down in his office and chatted with for a while before we got down to the nitty gritty. Because of the earlier miscarriage he wanted to do an ultrasound so we were lucky to get another done, apparently they are not always done at this visit.
Watching the ultrasound is incredible. The only bad thing I can think about them is that before they were invented families could not see this miracle in action like we can today. On Friday, the kid was up and moving around like crazy. Even the doctor kept commenting on how active he/she was being. We could see it moving around, you could see arms, legs, and although I joked about a paternity test earlier, it appears to be mine because it looks like the kid may have no ass. The doctor said that he could stay in and watch this little guy/gal move around all day. SC commented on how miraculous this all was and unfathomable how things work. The doctor wholeheartedly agreed which was of some concern, but his excitement and exuberance was much appreciated.
The appointment went so well we have started to leak the news out a little more. Don’t get me wrong we have not taken out an ad in the paper, but we made a few calls to our families to let them in on the big secret. We are still a little nervous, but we will keep praying things progress as they are suppose to do and hopefully in early April we will have a new addition to the family. I think the dogs know something is up as well. You can tell from the picture that Wrigley is doing her homework to make sure everything is ready.
I apologize for the long delay in posts, but we both have been wicked busy. I guess that’s about all for now. Peace out! DC
The doc visit was cool except for the part of waiting over an hour to be seen by the doctor. He gave us some sage advice; avoid Friday and Monday appointments like the plague. On Friday, crazy concerned women rush to the doctor because they are about to go out of town and want to make sure everything is ok before they leave. Mondays are bad because crazy concerned women experienced something over the weekend and need to rush to the doctor to make sure all is ok. I can make comments now because we are not that far along and the crazies have not set in too much.
At the doctors office they make you visit with all the doctors in the practice since more times than not, Mother Nature does not cooperate and women go into labor when their doctor is not on call. Therefore, it’s a good idea to meet all the doctors so you will be somewhat familiar with them if they are the one brining your bundle of joy into the world. The guy we met this time is awesome. So awesome in fact that SC would consider switching to him as her regular doctor. This guy was over the top nice and before the exam sat us down in his office and chatted with for a while before we got down to the nitty gritty. Because of the earlier miscarriage he wanted to do an ultrasound so we were lucky to get another done, apparently they are not always done at this visit.
Watching the ultrasound is incredible. The only bad thing I can think about them is that before they were invented families could not see this miracle in action like we can today. On Friday, the kid was up and moving around like crazy. Even the doctor kept commenting on how active he/she was being. We could see it moving around, you could see arms, legs, and although I joked about a paternity test earlier, it appears to be mine because it looks like the kid may have no ass. The doctor said that he could stay in and watch this little guy/gal move around all day. SC commented on how miraculous this all was and unfathomable how things work. The doctor wholeheartedly agreed which was of some concern, but his excitement and exuberance was much appreciated.
The appointment went so well we have started to leak the news out a little more. Don’t get me wrong we have not taken out an ad in the paper, but we made a few calls to our families to let them in on the big secret. We are still a little nervous, but we will keep praying things progress as they are suppose to do and hopefully in early April we will have a new addition to the family. I think the dogs know something is up as well. You can tell from the picture that Wrigley is doing her homework to make sure everything is ready.
I apologize for the long delay in posts, but we both have been wicked busy. I guess that’s about all for now. Peace out! DC
Monday, September 8, 2008
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