Deep thoughts...

I have never considered myself to be overly macho. Nobody reading this would ever disagree with this observation, I have no doubt. I have had some occasions of late that have made me very concerned. Maybe I am getting ready to be a dad and parts of it are just downright scary which I am OK with.

I have made an observation of myself lately that I would like to discuss for a moment. Lately, I have noticed that I have become more comfortable with the term "cute". This is not a word that I would use very often in my pre-prefatherhood life. In recent weeks, I have found it more and more acceptable for my lips to utter this word to describe a myriad of items, situations, etc.

Just the other night Melissa came home with a gift from a family friend that was a UF tracksuit for a 6-9 month old baby. It is fantastic...blue and orange with "GATORS" written across the back of the jacket. Every avid sports fan's dream for their unborn child. For those of you that know me well this is something that would make me very excited, especially since we are expecting a little boy to enter our lives in a few short months. My first reaction however was to call the matching pants and jacket, "cute". Over the first 6 months of this pregnancy I have become more sensitive, there is no denying that. But instead, my initial reaction was..."oh, Squirt will look so cute when we are watching football games in the fall...".

I guess this is just one of those growing pains on the road towards parenthood, but should "cute" and "football" be used in the same sentence?

Registries....

Welcome to week 22! This has been an exciting week or two. We started with the trip to the furniture store. Who would have thought that there were so many kinds of cribs? After our trip to Babies-R-Us and Ira was denied every attempt to get something sports related anywhere close to the registry the furniture was not going to be much of a battle. Simple, classic, but Ira was not going to leave that store without the glider and matching ottoman!!!! You melt into this chair and no amount of screaming baby will get you out of it. I presume that the screaming baby will be in the chair with us most of the time that we are in the chair, but who knows.

Next it was time for the registering. Under the presumption that the baby registry is no where near as fun as the wedding registry, Ira went to work and and I was off to the store with some experienced help. I must thank my dear friend Rachelle for putting up with me during this ordeal. She and I spent a few hours at Babies-r-us and Target registering for all the baby essentials. Have to say the advice from my friends and family who are already moms and the research I did before heading to the stores really helped.

Squirt is starting to get more active, so the flutters are more frequent. We are still waiting for that first big kick. Squirt is trying as hard as a little guy in his position can to talk to us though. Mommy asks for a little activity down south and all of a sudden the little guy is moving around. We'll have to wait and see if he takes to commands this well when he is on the outside too.

I started taking a pregnancy water aerobics class. Such a great workout and I get to hang out the other moms-to-be! (I have so many comments that I could put here but all have been censored. Squirt's momma has reinforced the old adage, "if you have nothing nice to say then don't type anything at all".

Daddies-R-Us?

Like any expectant parents, this past Sunday we headed off to the local Babies-R-Us to check things out. During the almost 2 hours spent in the store I was able to make several observations which I will share with you below:

1. It is amazing how you can shop for nothing and still feel like you just spent way too much money.

2. No matter how many advanced degrees you might have (Mel and I have a combined 3 higher education degrees and 1 CPA certification) it will never prepare you for the test of collapsing a stroller in the middle of a store with other dads-to-be watching out of the corner of their eye to see if they are the only one who can't do it.

3. Don't let anyone tell you differently, they make diaper bags that won't make you look like a moron carrying it around the mall. But does it really matter...everyone sees you with the child in tow, so isn't the diaper bag expected?

4. Don't be afraid to ask the other people around you in the store for their opinion. Many of them already have children and are full of insights beyond what you would ever think about.

5. Said another way, learn from all of the extra money they have spent that hopefully you won't.

6. If one of these individuals has several tatoos and when asked about the difference between different strollers replies, "this one rocks!", you should turn and run from this individual immediately!

7. I have a feeling that we all look scared for a reason!

What am I?

Today was sonogram day. After a night of tossing and turning in anticipation for the big day, mommy and daddy headed off to the doctor's office bright and early. Almost immediately once the sonogram was started we got this picture of the baby's head. It is amazing how much the baby has grown since the first sonogram we had and Squirt was only the size of my fingernail.


(This is a profile of Squirt's noggin)

As you can see from the next picture below that Squirt has certainly grown since the last time we got a little sneak preview. Squirt is now approximately 8 to 10 inches long and weights about 1 pound. Everything is coming along smoothly and all is accounted for as evidenced below from head to toe.



(Those are feet on the left and for some reason in this shot Squirt thought that a finger in the eye was a good idea.)

At this point the anticipation was killing us so I am sure that by now you are wondering what I am. When Squirt was done swimming around for a minute the tech was able to get a good shot from below and...



(The doctor assured us that was not an arm in this shot...or as Grandpa Ray put it so eloquently...there is a stem on the apple.)

That's right, Squirt is definitely a boy as we got to see several shots of the family jewels. The doctor said that the baby is normal, healthy, and doing just great. As the machine was about to get shut down, Squirt gave a little thumb's up to let us know that all is going well down below.



(yes, that is the arm again)

Movin' around

Am now at week 20 and for the past week or so, I have been feeling Squirt making the flutter movements everyone and the books said I would feel. Tomorrow we find out if Squirt is a boy or a girl. Then, the baby planning can really begin!

Chillin'

We are hoping the cold will eventually move out of Atlanta. Squirt has been blessed this week with not only 1 snow storm but 2. The city shut down for the most part unnecessarily (which is to be expected). We were hoping to give Squirt the experience of hearing Barry Manilow live but that will have to wait as even Barry was afraid to venture out in the snow on Saturday night. We think it only right to culture our child so that they can know what really happened at the Copacabana!



We are still waiting for Squirt to make contact. We are talking every day with the little guy/gal but no response. We are starting to think that the microphone (belly button) is out of order. Some sort of response would be greatly appreciated. A kick, a little nudge, something besides sending Mommy to the bathroom 14 times every night. Something along these lines would be great so that maybe Melissa would stop both sides of the conversation. Yes, this is for real. All of the books tell you to talk to the baby, which we do on a regular basis. Some conversations more in depth and serious than others, but Melissa has decided that since Squirt can't answer she will answer for Squirt. The voice is rather high pitched and kinda cute. This is why it is very important for Squirt to answer in his/her own way so that Daddy can be sure that Mommy hasn't completely lost her mind.



The next 4 weeks can't go fast enough so that we can stop typing "him/her" or other variations and finally figure out what Squirt really is. Everyone in the world is convinced that Squirt is developing as a boy. We, in our own and very unprofessional opinion, are convinced that Squirt is a girl. Either way is no matter as long as there are 10 fingers, 10 toes and Melissa will be allowed to buy ultra-cute clothing for our little baby.

For now we are all great and our little bun in the oven is baking just right.

16-week doctor visit

Just got back from the 16-week doctor visit. All is still going well with the pregnancy. Have gained about 5 pounds and the baby's heartbeat is perfect. Other than being ready to fall asleep by 9:30pm each night, I am feeling great.

Ira and I have been able to tell the baby news to all of our friends and family. It is nice to be able to share such great news and not keep it a secret. My belly is "poppin' out" and I am enjoying wearing maternity clothes. Why as we got older we ever stopped wearing elastic pants is beyond me....they are so comfortable.


We have already started the daycare center search. Been an interesting process and I am enjoying hearing local moms advice on what they recommend.