Making Room!

We're about to enter week 21! Which means we are more than half-way! In just over 4 months, the little one will be here, and my nesting instincts have started to kick in. Well, I will pretend that it was nesting, and not procrastination for a final exam. Which is in about 4 hours....

So new babies need space, and while Chris and I still are not sure what the future holds I can still pretend that this room right next to ours will be hers, and give it to the time and attention that she deserves! Of course, her bedroom was once the spare room. Which means her closet.....was a disaster as many spare room closets are full of things that are rarely touched and mostly forgotten. It is times like these where I truly miss having a basement! These are also times when I wonder....we could do some damage if we went shopping...in New Zealand. And we could have one hell of a poker tournament with our three different sets of poker chips. Oh, and if anyone likes cigars, can you give some to us, because an empty humidor is pointless!

After many hours of work, and frequent requests that Chris lift something heavy...she has her own space! Her closet is pretty bare except for some books, a few outfits, her mommy and daddy's stuffed bear and monkey (the bear was my grandpa's and the monkey was his grandma's). And of course the intimidating emotionless lamb from Uncle Erik and Aunt Heather (which by the way, I'm not sure if your brother has sent you the message, but thank you so much for our package!)

You can also see that Nana took me to IKEA and we got a very spiffy door organizer! Right now it is full of little toys, but if you look closely, you can get a glimpse of the bump in the mirror! It also has a detachable hamper and so many pockets which will come in handy as it will be right next to the changing table :)

Oh and just so you have a close-up of the lovely frame that was sent by Uncle Erik and Aunt Heather.....
And if you do not get the skeletor or alien reference, you have no been paying attention to the blog. Question though...which one of us is big foot?...I wear a size 6 and so does Chris....I think.

The baby is doing well. She's been kicking and dancing and I'm constantly hungry! In the next week or two she should hit the 1 pound mark, if you can believe it! She'll just be packing on the pounds for the next couples months. Right now she's the size of a cantaloupe. And now I want cantaloupe....yup, I'm hungry again. Grazing on fruit is one of my favorite past times. Ask Chris. Really, constant watermelon and grapes. Thank goodness this is summer-time!

Oh, and I will leave you with one final image...a warning to Uncle Erik. Apparently just the scent of you on the box was enough to send Caden into a violent rage. I caught the box's destruction on video. Warning: All materials were actually harmed during the making of this video.

Week 18: When We Dance, Our Stomachs Touch

Eighteen weeks down. This parent thing is EASY.

I fully understand everything that's wrong with that statement. At this point, I have it easy. No back pain (except as the result of falling while playing hockey), no changing body (well, i think my voice is finally changing), no random medical mysteries (what is this lump??). There's no standard parenting stuff yet, either. I do have it pretty good.

Poor Julia. Before someone tells you that I've been calling her "Shuffles the Slow-Moving Clown" or "Gimps McGee", I want you to realize that I feel downright awful for her. This back pain thing is just awful. She's doing a really great job keeping a positive attitude and doing a lot of the things she's always done (except for that side job as a piano mover). It's pretty amazing what a woman signs up for when she has a baby.

The good news, though, is that she felt well enough to spend two hours walking around Babies R Us putting together the start of a registry. Somehow, picking out all the stuff you'll need for the baby makes two hours of walking seem like nothing.

Julia mentioned that she can feel little Skeletor moving and grappling around in there - how awesome is that? I'm pretty sure she's getting into the playoff hockey spirit and celebrating every Sabres goal. That, or rock climbing.

The last thing: I was looking back through some of the ultrasound pictures from last week, and thought this one was just awesome:

Fingers! Just...awesome.

Week 18: Dog years?

Week 18 has come and gone!

Baby girl has been very active, which causes me to giggle at random times...including but not limited to: meetings, classes, and a therapy session. Luckily, the therapy session was with an 8-year-old who did not seem to notice. That was just about the only time that an ADHD symptom was helpful and functional.
At some points I imagine this is how an anteater feels as the ants crawl around in the stomach and tickle the evil anteater from within! The best torture ever...

Updates on me: Well, I had 5 doctors appointments in 5 days and then got a break! For one whole day! I was referred to a wondrous place called "Total Body Work" which mixes massage, stretching, and chiropractic and helps me not only to relax, but eases my pain! Thanks be to Jebus. Of course, in true chiropractic nature, they gave me a plan of 15 visits over 5 weeks. Luckily, my insurance covers much of it. So while I'm not completely pain free, I am able to function now, which is beyond appreciated. I am very grateful for the place that gives me a massage, adjustment, and stretch three times a week, despite their goofy ways (goofy meaning making me take a class on health and claiming to have a chiropractic cure for autism).

More importantly Chris had his birthday this week!!! Yay!! Of course, he had to work, but then he had hockey championships! Wait...did he win? Did he score? Did they go down in flames and ruin his day? I will let him tell you that in his blog!

While he got gifts from me, I felt he also should get a baby gift that he would truly appreciate. Girls' outfits are cute and all, but they don't typically humor the dads.... but I found the solution!



Yeah, I found these. But hey, the rocket scientist one is pink! Clearly for a girl!

Dream Update:
I have to explain the "dog years" title of the blog. Just last night I had a dream about our baby girl. We had just taken her home, she was tiny and cute and perfect. I put her down for a nap and when she woke up she could walk. She was not even 5 days old, and she could walk! And then I put her in her car seat to meet some friends for lunch, and she was repeating some of the words that I would say. She was already a toddler by dinner, and by the time we were heading home to see daddy, well, let's just say I should have started planning for kindergarten earlier.

It was a crazy dream, but I guess many parents out there would say there is some truth behind it. I could not tell if it was a nightmare or not. Regardless, it felt like the baby was aging in dog years or something. Quite strange. When do the normal dreams return?


Hope everyone is doing well! We love and miss you!
LOVE!

Week 17: Flutterby and bed rest?

It's a GIRL!

With any luck, she will have her father's intelligence, sense of humor, and sensitivity. But with our luck....it looks like she'll inherit her father's cranial enormity!! While I joke about our poor luck, I know we are actually quite blessed. All of our test results came back negative for genetic disorders which allows us to take another sigh of relief. And our little one seems healthy and well, a good sleeper. Any attempts to get her to wake up were futile as she would just lift her arms up to her face as if to cover herself from the ultrasound.

Chris gave you the pictures and most of the news from today's doctor's appointment. So I'll give you some updates on me, and the baby.

Bed Rest: Yes, 17 weeks and I'm already ordered to rest! Apparently I had too much fun and activity in New Orleans and now have a pinched nerve or herniated disc...not sure which one yet. The pain started with intermittent pangs when I would tie my shoes or bend over to pick something up. With time, it became anytime I would go from a sitting to standing position, and for the past 48 hours it has been with each step. Imagine, if you will, a light saber (because the pain is too sharp and precise to be any other nonfictional weapon) thrust into your bum and then making a 90 degree turn up the spine where the laser is then engulfed in barbed wire, does a dance in your cerebellum, just in time to shoot back down the spine and shoot out your toes. And all of this happens in an embarrassing half of a second where you make a yelp/gasping sound that scares others. Yes, this is overly dramatic, but it would not be entertaining if I just said "it hurts." Each step is now excruciating and apparently there is very little I can do but rest it. We actually have another doctor's appointment (3 in 3 days) tomorrow to see if I can go to a prenatal chiropractor, the term seems paradoxical, but we'll see what they say. The important thing: it's not effecting the baby with the exception of the chemicals my brain sends out in response to pain.

On a more positive note - I felt the baby move!! Don't get me wrong, the little tyke isn't tapping morse code onto my ribs just yet, but I can still feel movement. Flutters, as they call them as she adjusts and decides that she no longer wants to stick her butt up. Interestingly, I feel her most when I'm physically active, so when I'm going for a walk or working around the house. The past 48 hours have been less active and she's been resting with me. It is really not a feeling you can describe. While I'm sure later, when she kicks my bladder in the middle of the night, I will be less thrilled...right now, I cannot help but have this huge smile across my face when I can feel her. I love the idea of creating this comfortable and secure home for her, even if she does kick me around a bit.

Our baby is about 8 oz. according to the doctor. She's got 144 heart beats/minute, and she's stubborn. I couldn't be happier.

Winning names thus far:
Taylin
Elisa
Kaila

Those always seem to be our top three, so let me know what you think of them! I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I know I cannot stop looking at them!

Love you all!!

Week...what? : Skeletor Licked My Eyeball

We had another ultrasound today. The good news? Everything is looking AWESOME. Like, this baby is totally kicking ass. A head, a spine, a heart, 2 legs, 2 arms, somewhere around 10 fingers and 10 toes. Seriously, it's hard to count those things - the baby is eight ounces, so each finger is absolutely tiny, blending together with the others. The bad news? They measure various parts of the baby's bone structure to get an idea as to how far developed the baby is. Based on previous exams, we're sitting at 17 weeks. Based the measurements of the arms and legs, 18 weeks. Based on the measurement of the head? A whopping 19 weeks. Why is that bad news? That giant head has to come out of somewhere. I'll have Jules comment on that later.

I have to head off to work shortly, but here are the highlights from today's trip:

1) Everything points to a really, really healthy baby. Based on the testing they did, we're looking at about a 1 in 10,000 chance for the heavy hitters, like Down's Syndrome.

2) Pretty interesting development: this is no alien baby. As it turns out, Julia must've had a winter fling with none other than He-man antagonist, Skeletor.





3) Apparently, you can take 60% to the bank. Little baby is showing "hamburger," as our friendly ultrasound tech pointed out. No, it doesn't mean that baby is a red-meat hungry carnivore, it means that she's a girl. A beautiful, healthy, wonderful, skeletal evil villain. I'm feeling pretty good about this. I was a little nervous that if it was a boy, he'd be mighty confused with all the "baby girl" talk from the past five weeks.

4) One of my favorite pictures from today:



Check out that heartbeat.

5) Apparently, little baby girl wasn't up for showing her face much today. She stayed firmly planted, face pressed down. Not a morning baby. I can relate. But this picture is pretty cute, nonetheless:



6) Figure I need to explain the title of this post. I think the due date is in flux - Julia might be a week further along than the doctors had been thinking. It makes some sense; the first due date they told us was in late August. No matter, anytime works for me.

As far as the eyeball thing, Julia mentioned she's been having some weird dreams, but she wanted me to pass on one that I had. To keep it short, Julia brought the baby home from the hospital (pretty sure I made her drive herself home). I picked up the baby, at which point she proceeded to stick her tongue out into my eyeball. Being the man I am, I screamed like a girl, flapped my arms, and made sure to stay away from that eyeball-licking baby.

Hopefully, Julia will post some more details from today later. It was a great day. I can't get enough of those ultrasounds.

Week 16: Bumpity

Today's blog is brought to you by the letter "B!" This week was full of bachelorette prep, blood draws, barbecue sauce, and bumps!



My sincere apologies for the delay in my post, but New Orleans was quite a busy weekend! Chris and I have been quite excited as my bump seems to grow more and more each day.



Despite my alcohol-free bachelorette weekend in New Orleans, I had a blast and was very happy to be nausea-free and enjoy some good creole! Tadpole has now tasted jambalaya, gumbo, and alligator! Baby also listened to some sweet Jazz, despite the fact that most stores and restaurants counter intuitively play pop music. Given a town known for voodoo and witchcraft, we decided to cover the bump and go to a fortune teller. According to her tarot cards, I was student who was concerned about money and jobs in the near future, though my long-term future included health, family, and friends. She informed me that I work too hard, and I need to take more time for myself (surprise?). She also had two separate cards that suggested childbirth/pregnancy. She warned me to be careful -- ha! I guess it's a little late for that. She also said that my first born would be a boy...I guess we'll find out soon enough!


Oh, and apparently I had my first awkward craving. Pickles dipped in barbecue sauce. Yup. I'm weird, apparently. They taste....GOOOOOD. And I didn't even like pickles until recently.


Blood work was done this past Wednesday, and the upcoming Wednesday is ultrasound and results! So keep your eye on the blog Thursday/Friday for pictures and news!!!


Enjoy the picture of bump...though that was pre-New Orleans and the ladies said that they thought I grew just in that one weekend. More to come!

Love you all!

BABY FACTS:

Nearly 5 inches long and growing toenails/fingernails. She can hear now, mostly my voice. The baby is also growing hair! :)