Baby Makes Three

My Little Man

2007-02-13T14:45:00.000-05:00

My little man is the absolute, unqualified greatest. He is smiley and alert and curious and playful and giggly and in love with anything he can put in his mouth.When I come home from work, he always greets me with the biggest, drooliest grin. I never knew that saliva could be so appealing.

He rolls over now like a pro. Front to back, back to front, over and over, he can do it all. We can't keep him on his back anymore. We lay him down on his back, and he flips himself over with nonchalance that says, "I used to like being on my back when I was little, but I'd rather be on my stomach now."

One day last week, I came into the bedroom where he was taking a nap and knelt down next to the bed. He stirred a little, then opened his eyes and looked at me. A sleepy smile spread across his little pillow-creased face, and he reached out his hand to touch my cheek, as if to say, "Hey Dad, how's it going? I'm cute. Change my diaper now?" I'm such a softie.

He smells so great for about half an hour after his bath, so sweet and clean and fresh. Johnson & Johnson baby soap smells really good!

His favorite toys are his teething rings. He had about 50 of them. They link together, and he holds them, waves them around, pulls on them, and tries to put them in his mouth vertically. We try to keep them in very short chains, two or three, so they can't possibly get wrapped around his neck and so that when he tosses them on the floor where the bunnies are, we have extra links we can give him and don't have to run and immediate wash the ones he dropped. His other favorite toy is his Mom's hair. Boy, he loves grabbing and tugging on her hair. Not that I blame him. It is long and luscious and silky and beautiful. Plus, he hasn't learned yet that pulling a girl's hair is not an effective way of getting her to like you. I'll have to have that talk with him.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T13:42:00.000-05:00

Ben is 4 months old today, and it’s been nearly as long since I last wrote a post. I actually started writing one on August 31 detailing how we had gone to the hospital with contractions only to be sent home because it was too early. But then the real thing happened, and I never finished that post. Oh well, let's move on.

Ben is almost ready to roll over from back to front! When we lay him on his back, he nearly always turns onto his side. He seems pretty comfortable on his side because he stays there quite happily for several minutes at a stretch. But he hasn’t yet made it past that point. He seems to stall just before gravity is able to help him complete the roll. We keep rooting for him though.

He is also a big bucket of drool at the moment. Poor kid is teething, so the drool is everywhere. Unfortunately, he hasn’t quite yet learned how to swallow. And he cries sometimes because his gums hurt. We feel so bad for him! Mostly, though, he just puts anything and everything into his mouth and chews, including fingers (his and ours), cardboard boxes, drool towels, and whatever else he can get his hands on. Size is unimportant to him. He hasn’t yet learned that he cannot fit objects larger than his head into his mouth.

But the upside of the drool is that he has learned to blow raspberries … sort of. He does this thing where he sticks his tongue out and blows spit bubbles, which then proceed down his chin. This is his favorite activity at the moment. We had a complete raspberry conversation yesterday while I changed his diaper in the bathroom at Target.

He is such a cute, happy baby. Some of his cutest, happiest times are when we change his diaper. He coos and smiles and laughs and blows raspberries and waves his arms and kicks his feet and rolls onto his side. As you can imagine, changing his diaper is not an easy task. We have to hold onto his feet throughout the process, which leaves only one hand for the actually diapering.

He smiles all the time now. He has a great smile! We’re working to get some smile pictures up so you all can see. It’s such a joy to smile at him and have him smile back! Maybe it’s just my imagination, but he does show some preference for Jen and me, probably because of familiarity. But he is still at that stage where he likes everybody, and everybody likes him.

On Christmas Eve, we took him to church dressed in the Santa Claus outfit Russell and Gayle bought for him. He was such a big hit! Jen says he spread so much Christmas joy. Several people asked him if he was coming to visit them that evening. He just gave them a coy smile, as if to say, wait and see.

He loves to stand (with help) and dance by bouncing up and down and is starting to sit up almost on his own. He can pull himself up into a sitting position if we hold his hands and keep his legs down.

He’s even sleeping a little better. We’ve been trying to get him to sleep through the night in his crib. He has slept through the night (defined as 11pm to 5am) in my arms, but we really want him to learn to sleep in the crib. He’s been really good about falling asleep on his own, most nights at least, but he still wakes up several times and has to be coaxed back to sleep. It’s not strictly linear progress, but it’s progress nonetheless.

Just now as I was typing, Jen was reading a book with Ben (a very cute board book called “That’s Not My Truck” which has tactile pictures of trucks), and he was running his hand over the pages. When she put the book down, he let out a big cry, fussing and fussing. So she opened the book again, and he was quiet. We both got a good laugh out of that.

Ok, I’ll wrap up with that story. There’s only so much gushing I’m comfortable forcing on you at once. We really are starting to turn into the type of parents who talk constantly about their child. I haven’t yet attempted to show anyone the pictures I have in my wallet, but I’m afraid I can only hold out for so long.

Drop us a note to let us know how you are, or how great you think Ben is. We’d love to hear from you!
Sean

It's like this

2006-08-09T13:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, brief follow-up. No real news, just some things that we found amusing and wanted to share.

At this point, it should be fairly obvious, even without having seen the latest photos, that the baby belly is considerably larger than it was only a few short months ago. In that time, it has become more difficult for Jen to do those little things we often take for granted--rolling over in bed, for instance.

The other morning, as we were getting up, Jen was lying on her left side (the preferred position for maximum blood flow to the baby) facing away from the edge of the bed. In order to get up and out of bed, she had to roll over. Unfortunately, she's somewhat weighted down by a not-so-small infant, and a task such as rolling over in bed requires a little more effort than normal. So, being the clever mother-to-be, she tried to enlist the help of our son, hoping that his cooperation would make the transition much smoother. The conversation, or what I was privy to, went something like this:

"Okay, little guy," she said, "on the count of three, we're going to roll over, okay? One, two, three ... ugh!"

The attempt was unsucessful. So she tried to find out what happened. "What happened, guy? You were supposed to roll over on the count of three! What do you mean you don't know how to count? I was counting, you don't have to!" With some help from me, she was able to roll over and get up, but when that boy comes out, we're going to have a talk!

In addition to our discussion about obeying his mother, we're going to have to talk about being respectful to people in the medical profession. We went to have a final sonogram last week (I think it was last week. I'm pretty sure. Or maybe it was this week. No, but it could have been the week before. What's today? The 9th? Okay, then I'm positive, 100% it wasn't next week), and everything looked good. His left cerebral ventricle, which previously had been on the large side of normal, is now well within the normal range and no longer a concern, which is quite reassuring. However, he spent the whole time with his back to the technician, refusing to turn around and say hello. It was very impolite. And this wasn't the first time he's done that. At several OB visits, as the doctor has checked his heart rate, he has pushed out with his little behind. You can see it bulging in the belly. It's as if he were mooning the doctor. Not cool, little man!

I swear, at times he pushes and kicks and squirms in inhuman ways. It's like he's an octopus. It's like Baby Matrix. It's like snails on speed. It's like Jiffy Pop. It's like whack-a-mole.

This is still fake, though. No question.

In your comments and responses to this post (because you know I'm going to demand comments and responses from each of you), along with your regularly solicited advice, opinions, suggestions, whatnot, let's see if we can come up with even more amusing little similes (comparisons using the word "like") to extend the list above.

Remember, the subject is "What is it like when Little Dude* Richardson kicks and squirms and pushes in inhuman ways?"

Be creative. Be crazy. Be careful. There are children reading this.

* This name suggested by Mike and Cathy Spencer. The opinions expressed by Mike and Cathy Spencer, and, indeed, the opinions expressed by all independent commentators are solely those of the individuals and do not represent the views of the proprietors of this site. No warranty is implied. Subject to availablity. Void where prohibited. All rights reserved. Returns and exchanges must be accompanied by the original sales receipt within 30 days of purchase. No additives or preservatives. Contains 10% fruit juice. May contain nuts. May not be combined with other offers. While supplies last. No animals where harmed during the making of this post. No pets allowed. Shirt and shoes required. In cooperation with the state fire marshall's office, the management of this theater would like you to take a moment to familiarize yourselves with the locations of all emergency exits. The aisleways by which you entered and the passageways designated by the illuminated emergency exit signs visible to you at either the right or left of the forward section have been checked and are clear exits from the building in the event of an emergency. Thank you for your time and attention.

From Saturday Night

2006-08-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

Note: I wrote this Saturday night, but it got so late and our internet connection is so slow (until our new DSL goes into effect, soon, I hope) that I didn't try to post it until now. More to come soon, perhaps later today. Probably tomorrow, though.

Just quickly, wanted to put something down for you to read. We’re all doing well, getting ever closer to the due date and all the accompanying preparations. As I write this, Jen is folding the little guy’s clothes, fresh out of the laundry. We’re just a tiny bit anxious about having everything done and ready before he gets here. I’m pretty sure that’s just a normal irrational feeling that normal irrational expectant parents have as they enter the ninth month (did I mention we’re in our ninth month?), but our irrationality was compounded by the events of last night (late Friday, early Saturday).

About midnight, Jen woke me up and asked me if I was asleep. She said that she thought she was having contractions. Now, it’s normal, especially this far along, for pregnant women to experience Braxton Hicks contractions, which are basically warm-up practice for the real thing, usually less intense, at irregular intervals, and focused mainly at the front of the uterus. But this felt different and seemed to be occurring about every 15 minutes. We knew that it might still not be the real thing, so I had her change positions, rearranged her pillows, tried to help her relax, rubbed her back, that sort of thing. And then we waited.

About five minutes later (give or take), it was 2 a.m. and Jen had to wake me up again. She was still experiencing what felt like cramps. So I helped her into the shower, hoping that would relax her and give us a better idea of whether we would need to pack a bag very quickly. We were a little worried that this might be it, and that we weren’t ready yet. We hadn’t installed the car seat yet. We hadn’t packed our bags yet. We hadn’t compiled a list of important telephone numbers yet. We hadn’t been to the movies one last time yet! Where did the time go!

Fortunately, the shower helped. The cramps/contractions/false labor/whatever subsided, and we were able to get some sleep.

This morning, we went to have the car seat installed. The county EMS and Fire department runs a program where they will install the car seat for free and teach you how to do it properly. About 85% of car seats are installed incorrectly, so we wanted to make sure we did it right.

Then we were supposed to go with some friends to Let’s Dish, which has a variety of ingredients laid out, and you prep the meals you want and then you can freeze them and they’re ready when you want them. This will make it much easier over the coming months. Unfortunately, they’re power had gone out, so we’ll have to reschedule for next week.

It’s getting late, so I’m going to wrap this up. But I’ve got more to say, so I’ll post again soon. Good night!

We love comments! But more importantly, we love people who leave comments. Not that we don't love people who need to leave comments (you know who you are).

Baby Boogie

2006-07-14T13:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, first order of business, Jen has put a lot of work into getting new photos up for your viewing pleasure. Granted, most of the photos are "new" only in the sense that they haven't been up on the site previously, but that's no reason to starting moaning and complaining.

In addition to new pics, Jen also divided the photos by subject. So, from the main photos page, you can go to a separate page exclusively devoted to ultrasound pictures, or baby shower pictures. If there are any pictures you would really like to see, let us know! Otherwise we'll think you don't want to see anymore pictures. If you think the baby is the cutest you've ever seen and Jen looks so beautiful with her pregnant glow, let us know! Otherwise, ... no, we'll leave it at that.

We have plans to take more belly pictures, as the belly is now quite prominent (and so beautiful!). But finding the time and energy and inclination to do so has been difficult. We'll be sure to let you know when we get them up.

Now, moving on.

This kid is something else. He moves and pushes so much, I think he's got a disco ball in there, and he's doing the Baby Boogie. The other night, I woke up to the muffled sounds of music. Jen was asleep, but the sound was coming from her direction. I thought, she must have fallen asleep listening to a CD with headphones. But as I leaned closer, I realized there were no headphones, no CD player. I brought my ear as close as I could to her belly without waking her, and I could hear the distinct sound of Carl Douglas singing "Kung-Fu Fighting." The boy was getting down! Ok, not really. But he does boogie!

Most of the movements we feel now are not kicks, so much as they are pushes, sustained movements rather than sharp, quick jabs. The other day, I was convinced I could feel his little hand bulging out. The best though is when he not only pushes but also drags. Do you remember those Bugs Bunny cartoons, where Bugs goes into his rabbit hole, and the dirt bulges up and you can see Bugs travel underground? Yeah, it's like that. Very cool!

We had another sonogram this week, a follow-up on the one they did back in June. At that time, the report showed that his left cerebral ventricle (I think I have that right) was slightly "prominent" (an ominous word, cool and detached, and we lacked the context to know whether it meant it was harmless or whether we should panic) although still within the normal range. Apparently it was measuring 0.9cm (again, I think that's right), and it's only a problem at 1cm and above. So the perinatologist wanted to follow-up, because he feels it's best to keep a close eye on it as it approaches 1cm. Fortunately, we got pretty much a clear bill of health. the ventricle was not more than 0.8cm, less than before, which is in the right direction. He wants to do one more in August just to make sure, but it looks perfectly fine at this point.

We also got a wonderful profile picture! You can actually see the little nose, little mouth, and little chin! Very exciting for us.

That's it for now, a short one today. Again, we'll try to get more belly pictures up. Hopefully, that will happen soon; I'll let you know.

And we encourage feedback from you. Let us know what you think, what you'd like to see, what questions you want us to answer. Come on, people! I'm running out of stuff to talk about! That is, until my infant CPR class in August.

Another Update, a Long Time Coming

2006-06-12T16:54:00.000-05:00

Don’t misinterpret our silence these past several weeks for a lack of news or noteworthy update information. Au contraire! We have been quite busy recently, so this will likely be a large post, or at least, likely to contain a large amount of information.

The paternal grandparents came for a visit a few weeks ago, and while they were here, we had a 3D ultrasound. Many of you have likely heard one of us mention it, or perhaps even seen the pictures (which you can view here). It’s an elective procedure, meaning it’s not for medical purposes. They use some kind of device that interprets the sound waves differently from a normal ultrasound, giving them more depth and more shape. They also include a DVD of the ultrasound, set to whatever music you choose. We were quite excited, and it did not disappoint. It was a wonderful experience!

The office was north of Baltimore, so we spent the day in Baltimore doing touristy things. Ft. McHenry was quite interesting, especially for a history buff like Russell/Granddad. We got to the ultrasound office a little early, and they had several flat screens hanging from the walls, playing videos of 3D ultrasounds. The waiting room was very comfy, with couches and chairs you just sink into (I love that in a couch or chair). When it was time, they brought us back into a large room. At one end was the bed/chair/table thing for Jen to lie down on so the technician could perform the ultrasound. I got to sit in a chair by her side, and there was a large video monitor where we could watch. My parents were seated at the other side of the room on a comfortable couch (well, it looked comfortable, I don’t think I actually asked), placed directly in front of what amounted to a very large entertainment center, with a large flat screen TV on which they watched.

The technician started out with the normal procedure, checking heartbeat and what not. Then she switched to the 3D. Right away, I was thrilled! As you can see, the 3D images are much more defined and distinct. Whereas before, we couldn’t tell what we were looking at, or how or where the arms (for example) connected to the body, with the 3D it was much easier to figure out what we were seeing. He (yes, 100% certain now) moved around quite a bit as the technician pointed out arms, legs, head, heart, etc. At one point, his little hand moved up toward his face, so it looked like he was waving! We gushed and oooohed and awwwwwed. I'll try to see if I can get the actual video up for you to download if you choose, but I'm not sure I'll be able to figure out how. We'll keep you posted on that. Anyway, be sure to check out the pictures.

In anticipation of becoming parents, Jen and I have enrolled in several birth and baby related classes. First is our "Make Way for Baby" birth class, a kind of "what to expect" about the actual delivery process. Then we'll take the "Aw, It's a Baby! Now What?" class, which will cover the basics of infant care, so when we bring the little guy home, he won't think, "Why did they leave me with these amateurs? What's a guy gotta do to get fed around here!?" I've also signed up for an infant CPR class, covering birth to one-year. I hope and pray that it will be a complete waste of my time. But just in case.

This past weekend, we were finally able to get the prenatal heart listener to work! This was a gift from Grandpa Rick which consists of a sort of amplifier device and two pairs of headphones. You place the amplifier on the belly, and it picks up all the sounds inside, including and most importantly the baby's heartbeat. Mostly, you hear a lot of background noise. It's a noisy place! Until now, he hasn't been big enough for his heartbeat to be audible above all the other noises. When we go to the doctor every month, he uses a doppler machine, which is more specialized, so we've heard the heartbeat before. And that's why we were able to identify it when we heard it on our own. It was quite exciting!

Also this weekend, Jen finished knitting the absolute cutest baby cap ever! It's a standard cap, but it has bunny ears on top! She picked out some incredibly soft alpaca wool in a light brown color (so he will look like our bunny Moose!) and some in pink for the inside of the ears. You can see a picture of the cap (not the one she knitted, but the one that accompanied the pattern) in the photo gallery, all the way at the bottom of the page. It's so cute, you'll melt!

I really need to get more and more pictures of her up here so that you can all see how adorably cute mommy-to-be is. She has several outfits that I just love! They make her look so beautiful. And at times, she really does have a glow about her, which I always assumed was just a cliche. Nope, it's for real.

The baby kicks constantly now. And hard, too! He is a strong little booger! Of course, that's a good sign, but Jen is convinced he's trying to break out. He pushes really hard, and is all over the place, including her rib cage! I feel bad for her, because it's clearly uncomfortable, and often a shock to have him kick suddenly and sharply. He seems to get active especially after Jen eats; she says he really likes apples.

We bought a baby book recently (here's a picture of it; isn't it great!), and this weekend we started filling it out. Most of the book will have to wait until after he is born, but the first few pages are for things we already know. There is the family tree page, where we filled in all the names of his grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and his one cousin! Then there are pages about mommy and daddy, so we filled in information about us, our full names, what people call us, our birthdays, where we were born, where we grew up, the names of our schools, our interests and hobbies and talents, that sort of thing. I'm a little embarrassed, though. Jen's page was first, and she was born in Springfield, Missouri. So when I filled out my page, I tried to write (in pen, no less!) that I was born in St. Louisville, Kentucky. White Out is a great invention. It's probably the invention that most separates us from the animals.

And Now for Something Completely Unbaby-Related

Just briefly, for those of you interested, here's something fun and a little random. It's a link to a video of a live performance by the music act Gnarls Barkley at the MTV Movie Awards. Some of you may have heard their song "Crazy," which they perform here. If you haven't heard the song, give it a listen at the very least if you can; one of my current favorites. Anyway, Gnarls Barkley is really the work of two people: soul singer Cee-Lo Green (think Al Green, only six inches shorter and six inches rounder) and DJ Dangermouse (fantastic producer and arranger, of the Jay-Z/Beatles mash-up "The Grey Album" and the Adult Swim-inspired Dangerdoom). Cee-Lo is short and round, Dangermouse is tall and beanpole thin, and they used this physical constrast to great effect in a series of publicity photos, where they dressed up as famous pop-culture characters, including Superman (DM) and Clark Kent (CL), Wayne (CL) and Garth (DM), Napoleon Dynamite (DM) and Pedro (CL), and two droogs from A Clockwork Orange. I mention these amusing photos to explain why the video I've linked to is so great. Not only is it a great performance of an amazing song, but Gnarls Barkley and their back-up band are all dressed up like Star Wars characters. The back-up singers are dressed in the orange X-Wing fighter jumpsuits, the string quartet are dressed like imperial officers. The guitarist and bassist are storm troopers, Chewbacca's on drums, DM's on keyboards dressed like Obi Wan, and Cee-Lo's up front with those amazing pipes and a Darth Vader costume, admittedly more reminiscent of a chubby Dark Helmet. And I'm pretty sure Boba Fett is hanging out in the background, doing who knows what. Just lookin' pretty cool, I guess. Anyway, if you get a chance and your internet connection is sufficiently fast (this probably won't work very well with dial-up), take a look. It's amusing and sounds fantastic. There is an intro by some not-very-funny guy with a bad fake accent, but when Vader comes out breathing, and someone removes his helmet to reveal Cee-Lo, yeah, it's worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ylqf7hqiiQ

As always, comments are not only welcomed, they are encouraged! Please leave a quick hello and share your thoughts or suggestions.

Hospitals and Hot Dogs...Plus, Nesting News

2006-05-12T13:36:00.000-05:00

To start off by stating the obvious, it's been a while. Yeah. Sorry about that. Let's move on.

Many things I want to touch on, things that I've neglected to mention before, new developments, etc. Most significantly, a few weeks ago we took a tour of the maternity ward at the hospital where we'll be having the baby. It was actually a good experience.

There was a group of 7 or 8 couples, all of whom were much farther along than we were. It took about an hour, and we got to see birthing rooms and the "suites" where we will be after the baby is born. Although "suites" is not quite an accurate word, since they consist of a bed and a bathroom and a couch, all squooshed together. They are about one-third the size of the birthing rooms, which, by the way, are HUGE! I guess they have to be to accomodate all the nurses and doctors and monitoring equipment and the mother and the baby and the father and the bed and the tv. Seriously, the room we saw was nearly as big as our whole apartment, square-footage-wise. But the birthing rooms have a limit on the number of visitors (family and friends) allowed, though I forget how many. The tiny "suite" is where we will be able to receive visitors.

They also have a nursery where they can take care of the baby for a few hours if we need a break, but for the most part, they try to make it possible to keep parents and baby together as much as we want. Which is really good, I think. When we were there, the nursery was completely empty, no babies, no nurses, nothing. Which was a little disappointing because we didn't get to see any newborns, but it does show that they are serious about keeping baby and parents together.

My favorite part of the tour was finding out about their security measures. The mother gets a wrist band with her info on it, and an additional band with the baby's info, as does the father. The baby gets a wrist band and an ankle band, and only the people with the bands can take the baby home. This way, you don't have mixups. Seems pretty good, but here's the best part: Baby also gets a band that has a sensor on it, and when baby gets too close to the exits or elevators before the doctor discharges mom and baby, the sensor goes off and all the exits are automatically locked down! It's like a baby spy movie!

Jen may have other things she will want to add about our maternity ward visit, but I'll leave that to her. I want to move on to hot dogs.

One of the things the doctor told us when we first got pregnant was that Jen shouldn't eat hot dogs, because even the all-beef hot dogs have, shall we say, "additives" that you don't really know how they will affect the baby. (Brief aside: what parts of the cow are considered beef? Is there any part of the cow not considered beef?) So anyway, of course the very fact that she can't eat hot dogs anymore made her want hot dogs. Naturally.

Recently, with the weather being so pleasant, we decided to grill out hamburgers. And as an added treat, we decided to try veggie dogs. Now, we had never had veggie dogs before, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect. At our grocery store, they sell several brands of soy-based veggie dogs, with names such as Smart Dogs, and Good Pups, and the like. We bought one that promised an "authentic taste." As an experiement, it was not a complete failure. They were edible. They just didn't taste good. Maybe it did have an "authentic taste," but it wasn't a "hot dog taste," which is what we were hoping for. Much the same as SweetnLow tastes authentically like it was created in a lab.

So far, Jen hasn't had a lot of food cravings. Hot dogs, I guess you could count. The first that I recall was when she said she really really wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. The other day, we were watching a movie, where a family sat down to dinner, including mashed potatoes, and Jen leaned over to me and whispered, "I want mashed potatoes for dinner." But that's about it as far as cravings go. Still, we have several months of pregnancy ahead of us, so who knows?

Nesting news

We are very excited, and well into the process of "nesting." We have a lovely bassinet for him to sleep in, which he should be able to use for the first several months. We've been buying clothes gradually, so that by September, we should have everything he will need. There are some incredibly cute outfits we have already. Last weekend, we bought an outfit of a blue and white striped shirt, navy sweater vest, kakhi pants and clip-on tie. We have several "onesies," those one piece deals with the snaps up the legs. They have various cute logos and pictures and such. One of them has a handprint and says "handful." Jen's gone through all the clothes and separated them by size/age-guideline (she's such a wonderfully proud mother!). Only thing about clothes is that it seems like stores sell much more clothes for girls than they do for boys, probably twice as much.

He kicks quite regularly now, and Jen and I both enjoy just feeling his little hands and feet push out against her stomach. We talk to him and sing to him, and he seems to respond with little movements. Sometimes, it's less kicking and more rolling, as though he were just shifting around and exploring his little space. Quite often, Jen's convinced he's trying to burrow his way out. We can feel him right up close! He seems to move most when she's lying down, I guess because that's when he has the most room. But when she tries to get up, often she says it feels like he has grabbed on to something deep inside and is twisting it. I'll hear her say, "Let go of mommy's intestines!" It's pretty funny, but I try not to laugh too loudly, because that would just be rude.

My parents are coming to visit in a few weeks, and we'll be going to have what's called a 3D ultrasound. There are several places in this area that do the 3D ultrasounds; it's an elective rather than a medical service. In other words, it's for eager parents and family who want to see the baby, and not intended for any medical diagnosis. I'm not sure exactly what makes it different, but from the pictures we've seen, it's a much more detailed and clearly defined image. So we hope to know for sure that it's a boy afterward. We're very excited!

I guess that's it for now. Hope to have some pictures up soon. I think Jen may have added some, but we have more to come. As always, I invite your comments. Both scorn and praise are most welcome.

Star Wars Enumeration (or Learning to Count Starting With 4)...Plus, An Imagined Conversation Between Father and Son

2006-04-27T12:45:00.000-05:00

I'm pleased to see that five of you (I'm the sixth vote) are sensible people, people I'm am proud to call "friend" or "family" (or "friend or family," take your pick). I salute you. I would trust myself and my child to your excellent care, at least for the afternoon.

Two of you I'm worried about.

I've tried very hard to understand your motivations, but the utter lack of reason demonstrated by your votes in our Star Wars poll leaves me baffled. (It's not the only vote I find misguided, but that's a discussion perhaps better suited for a different venue. Let's move on.)

In light of these two tragically misguided votes, I have come up with several possible explanations for why you voted for option #2 ("1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6"). You may choose any of these as your own, and no one will think any less of you. It's okay. You are forgiven.

-First, it seems quite likely that you didn't understand the question. This often trips people up on multiple choice and true/false questions. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Don't brag about it, either, but it happens. The question was "Should we introduce our child to Star Wars as episodes..." Now, clearly, the correct answer is "4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3" or even better, simply "4, 5, 6." And you all must have realized this. But I suspect two of you got tricked by the way the question was phrased. Had we instead asked "Should we NOT introduce" then, of course your answer would have been right. That's why it's important to read the question carefully so you know exactly what you are answering.

-It also occurred to me that perhaps the whole "Traditional" versus "New and Improved" thing might have been a problem. Admittedly, that was tricky. We have been conditioned by advertising to think that we should prefer what's "New and Improved," even if the phrase refers only to the design of the box whatever-it-is comes in. Just remember from now on, advertising is evil.

-Perhaps you answered incorrectly intentionally, because you thought it would be funny. It's not funny.

-It could be that you clicked the wrong answer by accident and then proceeded to vote correctly. If this is the case, no harm done, but you should probably work on your hand-eye coordination by playing Minesweeper for a few hours.

-In the unlikely event that this vote was one of the "nefarious deeds" I mentioned in my initial email update notice, shame on you! But it's okay. You are forgiven.

And that's it. Those are all of the possible reasons for voting incorrectly. There aren't any others. If you think that you know of other so-called "reasons"--such as "I actually think you should watch the Stars Wars movies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6"--trust me: You're wrong.

An Imagined Conversation Between Father and Son

We went back to the doctor this week (the OB, not the cardio or the ER), and everything is as it should be. The doctor had a little difficulty finding the baby's heartbeat because this little guy is agile like you would not believe! He's going to rule at tag and hide-and-seeker! But once the doctor did find the heartbeat, wow was it strong! The loudest we've heard it. You know how some people with really large stereo systems in their cars are really rude and drive through your neighborhood with the windows all the way down and the bass all the way up? Well, that's what this was like. Of course, we're going to teach him to be more considerate than that. And we're not buying him a car.

This past week, as I contemplated the arrival of our child and the importance that we teach him the proper order of the Star Wars movies, I realized that someday I would have to have that really difficult talk with him. You know, about why episodes 1, 2, and 3 were so disappointing. And I got to thinking how I could approach this issue with wisdom and love, so that my son is set on the right path in life. Here's how I imagine it might go:

Son: Dad, why are the newer Star Wars movies so disappointing? What went wrong?

Father: Well, son, I knew someday you would ask. What you've got to understand is this--

A long time ago, in a state far, far away (cue orchestra), there was a young filmmaker named George Lucas, who had a vision fueled by a mysterious yet unidentified power. That power was called the Force X, or FX for short. With the power of FX, his vision led him to make three of the greatest movies of the late 70s and early 80s. Undisputed classics that changed the face of cinema forever.

As the years passed and his movies became more and more engrained in the popular culture, George Lucas receded into anonymity, although the rumors of his plans for Star Wars prequels continued to resurface from time to time. All the while, the power of FX was being perverted by the evil Hollywood Empire and used to subjugate the moviegoing public. By the 1990s, this subjugation was complete, and audiences were forced to watch mindless tripe while eating lots and lots of stale, overpriced popcorn.

Then it was announced that George Lucas would indeed make the long-awaited Star Wars prequels. The public, for years held captive by the Empire, rejoiced, anticipating what they thought would be the beginning of a revolution.

But sadly, it was not to be.

A filmmaker name Darth Tedious, seduced by the dark side of the FX, betrayed and murdered George Lucas. The Hollywood Empire then allowed Darth Tedious to butcher the legacy of the original Star Wars movies, assaulting the public with over six hours of computer-generated scenery and characters that, while intricate in design and technically adequate, were stiff as cardboard and utterly lacking in charm, not to mention dialogue that was either written by a random-word generator or was cut and pasted out of an abridged dictionary.

And that's why I'm so glad that we showed you episodes 4, 5, and 6 first. Because Darth Tedious wants to impose his order on everyone everywhere, and I love you too much to allow that to happen.

Son: Thanks, Dad! I love you too!

Comment? Let's hear it!

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's ... What is that?

2006-04-18T15:47:00.000-05:00

For all the talk you hear and copy you read about the marvelous advances in ultra sound technology, I was expecting a high-def big screen sonogram with surround sound and stadium seating. Well, at least the floors weren't sticky.

The long-awaited morning dawned bright and early, but long after I had gotten up and out of bed. And there were still several hours before we were scheduled for the sonogram! Both Jen and I were very keyed up, excited to see our baby. Jen had a very nice talk with the baby this morning before we left, encouraging it to be cooperative and sit still, because it was going to be on tv, and we wanted to see what we could see or not see, if you know what I mean.

We arrived on time (early, actually, but we wandered around a nearby CVS until appointment time), and were anxious to get things underway. Fortunately, they were very prompt today. With a minimum of busying about, the ultra sound began. Right away it was clear to me that I had no clue what I was looking at. The technician was very nice and patient, pointing out everything to us as she clicked and took measurements on the screen. I have no idea how it's all connected at the moment, but our baby has a stomach, two kidneys, a bladder, two eyes, two arms, two legs, two nostrils, and a rump; I'll just have to trust that they will all end up in the right places by September. I was able to recognize the spine clearly, because the vetebrae look pretty distinctive. And the heart, because it was beating (145 bpm, if you were wondering).

The technician said that our baby currently weighs about 11 ounces and is 19 weeks and 5 days old.

The best part, the true highlight for both Jen and me, was seeing the little hands waving back and forth. It was like the baby was saying Hi! That was something we actually could distinguish. It actually looked like an actual hand actually waving back and forth. Not like the bladder, which looked like an empty space (although at this point I guess it is empty). And not like the head, which looked like an alien. Seriously. We have pictures. They'll be up soon. Again, though, the alien-head is probably attributable to the early stages of development. Or it could be my fault. Guess we won't know for sure until September.

The whole time, the baby was squirmming (squirmy baby!), presumably moving and kicking in response to the pressing of the wand-thing. (The process, for those of you who don't know, involves pressing a wand-thing into the belly.) I feel bad for the poor little one, being prodded like that at such an early age. I probably would have squirmmed and pushed too.

Unfortunately, as a result of all this movement, the technician had difficulty seeing the baby's sex. And I know that's the only reason you're actually reading this, so I'm going to drag it out a bit.

So sorry! I've been yakking this whole time, you couldn't get a word in edgewise! How have you been?

Things going well at work?

You don't want to talk about it, do you?

That bad?

Are you going to keep silent? Not say a word to me?

Ok, ok, ok! I give. I'll tell you. The technician said she couldn't guarantee, because the baby was moving so much and all, but she thinks the baby saw its shadow, which means there will be 6 more weeks of winter. Sorry folks. Don't put away that thermal underware just yet.

Ok ok ok! Just kidding. Sheesh, you'd think some people couldn't take a joke.

The technician really did say that she was 99.9% certain (and I suspect that her numbers were more figurative than literal; just a way of expressing that she was mostly confident in her conclusion but that she couldn't be exact. I mean, I don't really think she was computing decimal places in her head as she preformed the sonogram. That would be quite a fantastic feat, if she could, though, wouldn't it? I mean, really! To have the dexterity of mind and body to solve complex mathematical calculations simultaneously with the physical demands of hand-eye coordination required to perform an ultra sound successfully without so much as breaking a sweat! I am quite impressed now. She could probably tour with that kind of act.

okokokokok! For real this time!

She said that it would be our next sonogram before we could be 100% certain, but she's pretty sure that

it's a boy!

A Correction ... Plus, (Baby) Polls and (Music) Posts

2006-04-11T13:51:00.000-05:00

Ok, so yesterday I said that the cardiologist had suggested Jen might have "chronic low blood pressure." Well, I guess maybe I heard that wrong. Jen tells me that it's not "chronic" but "occasional." Her blood pressure is normally in the ideal range, but the doctor thinks that it might sometimes dip a little, bringing on the dizzy spells. She's a little skeptical about that, mainly because the dizziness seems to happen only in the midmorning hours (9:30 am to 11:00 am).

That's perhaps the most puzzling part; why only at that time of day? We've not had problems at any other time of day.

Anyway, she wanted me to correct my earlier post: "occasional," not "chronic." We're not down with the "chronic."

And now for something completely different.

With the impending sonogram and (hopefully) knowledge of whether we're having a boy or girl, we've been trying to figure out what new poll we should put up on the Baby Polls page. We will need some new polls, because once we know and you know whether it's a boy or girl, it will hardly be useful/entertaining to have a poll asking whether you think it will be a boy or a girl. We've talked about a few options, including the worst initials and whether you think the infamous Alien baby picture is genuine. I kind of like the idea of having a poll about what you think our next poll should be. But maybe that's just me. If you have any ideas for polls, let us know by leaving a comment. Otherwise, we'll have to resort to something lame (Backstreet Boys or NSync?), and nobody wants that.

And to close, I want to repost Colin Meloy's beautiful, sweet Baby Song, because I love it and you should too. And I'm pretty sure none of you actually listened to it the first time I put it up. Prove me wrong by leaving a comment (is it too obvious that I'm pushing the comments really hard?).

I also want to put up a song by The Features, a band from Sparta, TN, formerly of the late Murfreesboro record label Spongebath. "That's the Way It's Meant to Be" came from their EP "The Beginning," a six-song recording about the singer's twin daughters. The lyrics are very sweet, so I've included them here. But be warned: Sweet as the lyrics are, this song is pretty frenetic and probably won't appeal to many of you. Just so you know ahead of time.

"That's the Way It's Meant to Be"
by The Features

Little fingers, little toes, little tempers that come and go:
It's the little things that matter most,
like the monograms on your clothes.
Gonna stand right by your side, Wipe your nose and dry your eyes,
zip your dress and tie your shoes. There's nothing I won't do.
Gonna love you 'til I die, 'cause I'm yours and you are mine.
That's the way it's meant to be!

Call the doctor! Call the King!
Someone should witness all the joy that you bring!
Oh my love, you're such a beautiful sight!
Just wanna hold you and squeeze you tight!
Gonna take you by the hand, try and make you understand,
take you everywhere I go, teach you everything I know.
We can laugh until we cry, 'cause I'm yours and you are mine.
And that's the way it's meant to be!

One happy accident, two little rays of light.
As long as you're with me, everything is alright.

Gonna tuck you in tonight, fall asleep right by your side,
take a swift kick in the head, may you push me out of bed.
Steal the cover, I don't mind, 'cause I'm yours and you are mine.
And that's the way it's meant to be!
And that's the way it's meant to be!

Colin Meloy - Baby Song

The Features - That's the Way It's Meant to Be

Love it? Loathe it? Got something else you think I should put up? (baby-related songs, no Barney please) Let us know by leaving a comment!

--Sean

A Dizzying Scare and Rumbles of Joy ... Plus, HEAR YE, HEAR YE!!

2006-04-10T17:35:00.000-05:00

Well, we are now officially half way to the expected due date, and not a moment too soon! I've not had a chance to write an entry for nearly a month now (shame shame shame), but it's not for lack of topics to write about, that's for sure.

There are some days where I really, really enjoy being an expectant father. The highs are quite high, and everyone is excited for us. We get giddy sometimes, planning and speculating and anticipating the arrival of this wonderful, beautiful little life! And it's really nice to feel like we have plenty of time to prepare, all the time in the world, like there's no urgent need to rush out and get everything ready nownownow! Instead, it makes shopping for baby clothes and strollers and such a real treat, almost leisurely, even. But there are other days where September can't come soon enough, because then (in my head at least) both Jen and the baby will be fine and healthy. Tuesday was definitely one of those days.

As you've probably already read in Jen's column, we had a pretty emotionally jarring week last week. And it was auction time for Jen, which certainly didn't make anything easier. I feel a lot better now, a lot calmer, but still, it's hard not to worry, to keep my imagination in check and not dwell on all the things that might go wrong.

Just to recap (for those of you who haven't already read Jen's account and are too lazy to stop reading this and read hers first), Jen fainted in the waiting room of the doctor's office on Tuesday morning. They called an ambulance, and we spent the rest of the day in the ER basically waiting for them to tell us they couldn't find any reason why she fainted. But they did rule out the most common reasons (blood sugar was fine, no anemia, no blood clots), and referred us to a cardiologist for consultation. So we went to the cardiologist, who suspects that it's a case of chronic low blood pressure. Many of the pregnacy hormones dilate blood vessels, making low blood pressure even lower. He said she should eat more salt, which should help keep her blood pressure stable. We are going back on Wednesday of this week (April 12) to do some more tests to make sure that everything else (specifically heart-related) is working properly.

Unfortunately, this is only slightly reassuring news. We've read all sort of stories and reports and medical entries recently about many more serious and life-threatening conditions that are associated with fainting. We just wanted to know as much as we could, which I still think is to our benefit. But the downside is that it highlights all these other things which are most likely not relevant but so much scarier. What it boils down to is that we (ok ok... I) have that much more ammunition for concocting nightmare scenarios. But like I said, I'm much calmer now.

Jen got a little dizzy this morning (Monday, April 10) at work, and I was on the phone with her. It wasn't as severe as before, but she was good, though, and did what the doctor advised: lie down with feet elevated until it passes. And she kept on the phone with me, so I could talk to her and make sure she was ok. That helped quite a bit to keep me calm and (I'd like to think) keep her safe. I'd much rather have been at her side, but at least on the phone, she can communicate how she's feeling, and I know that she's still conscious.

And some good news, Jen's starting to feel the baby move around on a regular basis! She said several times it's felt like the baby was doing sommersaults, and other times as if the baby has its back against her belly and is pushing with arms and legs. I have felt it a few times, just light little rumbles, but it's so amazing! Giddy is the only word to describe how it made me feel.

AND ... SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!! HEAR YE, HEAR YE! On Tuesday, April 18, 2006, Jen will have her next sonogram. Yes, that's right, you know what that means. Barring the possibility that our baby is wholly uncooperative (and don't rule it out, this is my child too, remember), we should know whether it is a boy or a girl. We are so very excited! So, keep coming back to read this site. We will update it, I'm sure, as soon as we know!

Also, please leave comments. We'd love to hear from you. You can email us, or you can click here and leave comments that way. I may even highlight your comment in my next entry (which, granted, is not exactly your path to fame and fortune, but if you thought that it were, well, then, we should probably talk about the difference between "real" and "make-believe"). If you have trouble with the comments function, let us know.

--Sean

Ravings and Cravings ... Plus a sweet little ditty for you to hum

2006-03-14T18:01:00.000-05:00

Things are going well here in Babyland. With the exception of work-induced exhaustion (and I hold S&K responsible for that! *shakes fist threateningly*), we're feeling good and starting to nest a little. Preliminary nesting, you might say. The early stages of planning for the eventual beginnings of starting to think about preliminary nesting. That is, we read an article that used the word "nesting," so that sort of counts, right?

This weekend, we were out shopping, not for anything in particular, just out, you know, just shopping. So we were very pleasantly surprised when we found a diaper bag that we really like. It's about the size of a very large purse (or handbag for our UK readers), has all kinds of pockets inside and out where we can keep bottles, toys, aspirin, car keys, cell phones, more bottles, and yes, diapers. It also came with a changing pad and a little bag for wipies. It's fairly unassuming, a muted green color (not too dissimilar from the background of this site), with no designs or markings or obnoxious brand names (I don't want to be a walking billboard, you know). Jen mentioned perhaps getting some sew-on decorations to adorn the bag, so maybe that will be nice. It's even nicer to have that option.

While shopping, we also came across some keep-it-klean pacifiers. It's this wonderful innovation where it closes up on itself when the baby drops it so that it doesn't get the nipple dirty from being on the floor. Fantastic! And we bought a mobile as well, with little plush Mother Goose characters (humpty dumpty, the cow who jumps over the moon, the shoe where the woman lives with all her many many children). It plays Brahms's lullaby, and it's very cute.
I'll leave you today with this wonderful song that Jen and I have been humming and singing for weeks. It's incredibly sweet. The only title I know for it is "The Baby Song," and it's by a musician named Colin Meloy (a recent father-to-be himself) who is part of a group called The Decemberists. It's a gently strummed acoustic number with an offbeat but appealing melody (which is pretty typical of the Decemberists, for those unfamiliar). Take a listen.

Colin Meloy - The Baby Song

Here are the lyrics, if you'd like to read them:
My darling, what wonder have we wrought here?
It's weird and it's wonderful, dear.
An ankle, an ear lobe, an elbow bone:
It's weird how it wonderful grows.
And it was only me and you
that made this three come out of two.
My darling, what wonder have we wrought here?
It's weird and it's wonderful, dear.

A tumblin' in Dublin, and next thing you know,
a weird and a wonderful show!
All tendons and rib cage and beating heart,
a weird and a wonderful start!
And it was only me and you
made this three come out of two.
My darling, what wonder have we wrought here?
It's weird and it's wonderful, dear.
It's weird but mostly wonderful, dear.

The Heart of Rock 'n' Roll?

2006-02-28T15:23:00.000-05:00

Is the Beat, of course!

What I mean is, we had a Dr.'s visit today, and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat! It was so exciting! You could tell it was the baby's and not the mama's (and not Not-the-Mama's either, obviously) because it was so much faster, 2 or 3 times faster. Bumbumbumbumbumbum! That fast, really!

Anyway, Jen's dad Rick sent us an at-home heartbeat monitor (Thanks Grandpa Finney!), so we will definitely have to try to hear it on our own.

Also, this past Sunday evening, we went to a baby show. That's right, an all-baby revue with baby dancers, baby jugglers, a little baby comedian with baby suspenders holding up his diaper...

Let me try again. We went to a presentation about baby safety. In this case, "presentation" is a euphemism for "hard sell." Basically, the point was, if you don't buy our baby furniture, your baby will die and/or get an owie.

To be fair, the guy giving the pitch made some good points about safety, and how just because something is sold in stores, doesn't mean it is automatically safe. But, yeah, he made that point many times. That and the death/owie point pretty much covers it.

So, onward with our pregnancy adventure. Jen says she is feeling better all the time. And with the exception of last night (sadly), she's been sleeping better, too. And that's good, because I'm convinced we're both going to need all the sleep we can get.

--Sean

Daddy's Blog makes its auspicious debut! Sort of.

2006-02-23T16:07:00.000-05:00

2/23/06--UPDATE--This blog is in conjunction with our baby website: Baby Makes Three. We created the site as a fun way to keep our friends and family up-to-date with the major developments of our pregnancy. As part of the process of developing the site, we decided to do a blog (even though that word is one of my least favorite--sounds so unappealing). But, with the software we are using, we didn't know exactly how to create a blog (There's just no way to make that word sound nice, is there?) directly on the site. So, we've opened it here and are linking it to our baby site.

On the baby site proper, under the column Daddy's Blog (I may blog if I have to type that word again, which is only fitting, since I'm sure Baby will quite often, so I may as well get used to it) on the Baby News page, I will paste the most recent entries so you can read them there directly. But I don't know how much room that page will allow, and who wants to scroll down endlessly anyway? That's what makes this site so convenient. Here, the posts are automatically archived, and there's a built-in comments function so you can comment directly about a post or about the site in general. Just another way for you to participate and contribute and feel connected.

Any questions? Let us know!

--Sean

2/23/06--Ok, this is the inaugural entry for Daddy's Blog, so I'm just going to try to give you a sense of what function I anticipate this section will serve and what you might expect to find here.

I kind of see this as place where I can share my thoughts, amusing anecdotes, and other items of interest. Along with stories from our life (Jen's and mine), I might post a favorite poem or quote or website you should check out or a link to a song. (Believe it or not, I've got some very sweet songs about anticipating fatherhood, some of which you might even like!) It's less about information (the update column covers that already) and more about keeping you connected with us. At least, I think. Maybe not. We'll see.
Anyway, I hope you've had a chance to browse through the entire site by now and seen what a great job Jen has done with everything. It looks fantastic, doesn't it? Send her an email to tell her so. She deserves some praise!
We definitely want your feedback about the site. So if you see something you like, or something you think could be improved, let us know. We might not follow every suggestion, but we are certainly open to ideas for improvement. After all, we created this site as much for your enjoyment as for our own. And it will always be a work-in-progress. Well, that is, at least until the baby comes. It's a work-in-progress that should mirror our "other" work-in-progress. So it should leave you feeling like you've made some connection to us and to our growing baby. And to do that, we will continually try to add new and exciting things for you to see and read and hear and smile about and want to share with everyone you meet. Otherwise, what's there to keep you coming back, right? --Sean