Baby New Year?

Yesterday Tiffany had her 39-week appointment. There’s been some progress in the past week. Dr. Thompson said that she is about 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. We have another appointment scheduled for next Wednesday, and an ultrasound, but Dr. Thompson doesn’t think we will get to next Wednesday. Apparently the baby’s head is VERY low as well so she looks to be routing around for a way out!

We’ve got just one day left for this year. My original prediction was today, but that looks to be off the table unless Tiffany goes into labor and has an unusually quick delivery. I think we’re both getting anxious. Tiffany is pretty comfortable, she would probably tell you that she has had a pretty smooth pregnancy. The biggest issue for her has been some back pain and some trouble sleeping, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a pregnant woman not having issues with either their back or sleeping.

It does seem a bit odd that someone will likely be living in our house next week other then us, though her room is decorated better than ours and she probably already has more clothes than both of us combined. It will be nice to see a living, breathing tiny person using some of these things we’ve been amassing over the last nine months.

I’m sorry to say I think Chase (our dog) is in for a rude awakening. He certainly won’t be ignored, but he gets treated much like a child now, especially by Tiffany so that’s going to change. Recently, he decided to start the night on the floor sleeping before jumping into bed. We think he got tired of waking up every time Tiffany got up to go to the bathroom. He usually jumps in after he knows he won’t be disturbed too much and gets a few hours in our bed after her last trip to the bathroom. This baby is probably going to put a huge crimp in his sleeping schedule. Join the club Chase.

I am interested to see how he reacts around the baby. My guess is he will be in the lap or on the legs of whoever is not holding her. I’m not sure we need a baby monitor because anytime Chase hears anything he barks or mumbles under is breath, hopefully he gets use to the baby waking up and likewise, doesn’t wake her up too often. 

A lot has happened since we first got pregnant, for one, buying and moving into a new house. It doesn’t seem that long ago.I remember thinking I would have a birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas all before the arrival and here we are. There are those moments that you always remember throughout your life and I can still remember the moment very clearly when the pregnancy test turned positive. I have a feeling there’s another one of those moments coming up in the next few days.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

So it’s Christmas Eve and it appears as if we’re getting closer to the big event. I’ll stick with my prediction of Thursday, the 30th, but I don’t think it’s going to go much past that if I’m wrong.

At the doctor Wednesday, Tiffany was slightly dilated and later that night she had what we think was her first contraction. There have also been other “signs” that I won’t bore you with. Friends of ours just had their first baby two weeks ago today and when I talked to Matt he said that Andrea had been showing “signs” since Monday.

I, of course, asked him what these signs were and he said they were better off not spoken, I now know what he meant. Tiffany’s comfort level is still pretty good though her feet swelled up at church this afternoon. She also started holding her stomach part way through the service and immediately I thought she was having a contraction.Turns out she hadn’t felt the baby move for a while so she was pushing on her stomach. Shortly thereafter activity began again so no worries.

I was slightly relieved she wasn’t going into labor as I am hoping to get through Christmas. For the kid’s sake, I didn’t want her to share a birthday with Jesus. Not bad company, but let’s face it your kind of an afterthought when you’re sharing your birthday with Jesus. A few days later will be hard enough. Plus, I wanted to enjoy our last Christmas as “DINK”s, though since we’ve been buying stuff for this kid since May, that doesn’t really apply.

Oh, what’s a DINK? It’s a term I first heard at work at GS Marketing. DINKs are the highly desirable demographic “Double Income, No Kids”.  These folks are desirable because they have plenty of disposable income, or at least that’s the theory. Being a DINK was nice, but in reality, we haven’t been DINKs since we found out about the pregnancy.

Which brings me to my next point. Why do you have to wait until the child is born to claim them as a dependent? I don’t really want to add it up, but we’ve spent plenty of money on our child this year, yet no tax credit if she’s not born before the 31st. That doesn’t seem fair, but I’ll save that sad story for our daughter the first year she doesn’t get something she wants for Christmas :).

Taking the Tour

Today Tiffany had her 38-week appointment so I tagged along. We also had a scheduled tour of the hospital before the appointment and I had never seen the inside of this hospital before. The doctor’s office and hospital are located right next to each other so it was easy to make it to both on time.

At the hospital we got to see a LDR room, a post-part-um room and visited all the nurseries (there are three levels for various needs and stages). LDR, for the uninitiated is labor, delivery, and recovery. When we get to the hospital we head directly to the third floor since we are already pre-registered. At that time they will put us in a LDR room in either the east or west wing. I’m a little lost on where the west wing begins and the east wing ends, but I was careful to take note where coffee and snacks are available.

When we get to the third floor after arriving and enjoying complimentary valet parking, we are then taken to an LDR  room where will be all through delivery and then two hours after. After two hours, we’ll head upstairs to the fourth floor to a post-part-um room where will be for about two days. Those rooms are smaller than the LDR rooms, but both have private bathrooms including a shower and a day bed that didn’t seem too uncomfortable, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough.

The tour guide said that cell phones were not allowed in the LDR rooms because they can interfere with the signals that the some of the monitoring equipment sends out to various outlets. Many doctors can actually monitor vitals from a desk in their office.

Still I found it odd that no cell phones are allowed, yet they do offer Wi-Fi.  The main takeaway I got from today was that newborn kids don’t look too good. We saw some in the nursery and these kids were not cute. I’m not judging, but clearly it doesn’t matter how good looking they end up because I find it hard to believe all 20 of these kids are going to be ugly. 

The doctor’s appointment revealed that TIffany is just a little dilated, but not a measurable amount, whatever that means. Nothing newsworthy otherwise. We then stopped by my office for a few minutes since I won’t be going in to the office tomorrow or Friday. I’m predicting an arrival next Thursday since my office will be closed again anyway next week. 

Vacancy

As promised, some pics of the nursery. Yesterday’s fun project was to put the curtain rod up above the window, a simple task one would think. It might have been if our house had been built with normal walls. Without going to in-depth, let’s just say it took 30 minutes and five holes in the hall to find a place on either side where screws could be anchored.

Of course the test holes had to be filled in with spackle, sanded and then painted to match. So what should have taken 15 minutes took about 2 hours over the course of 2 days. While I had the paint out, I did get to paint some of the lighter spots on the wall that I missed with the first two coats. Mercifully, I think the work is done and the nursery is ready for an occupant. The diaper bag is packed with her take on home clothes and that’s our city-mini stroller folded up against the wall. 

You’ll notice that framed puzzle on the wall, another fun project. Tiffany and her sisters put the puzzle together in about five minutes, that was not the problem. When we went to look for  a frame for said puzzle, the choices were limited, problem 1. Finally we found one that was to our liking and as Tiffany tries to put the puzzle in the frame we find out that the puzzle is just a shade too big for the frame, problem 2. Either Pottery Barn Kids can’t measure or our frame was off. Whatever the issue, Tiffany had to shave a portion of the puzzle off all the way around so it could fit in the frame.

Yesterday, we were at Target looking for a hamper and sure enough what did we see, something that looked pretty close to our framed puzzle, albeit smaller, already done and ready to hang. I will say our puzzle looks better. 

The breastfeeding class yesterday was pretty informative, I think we both got something out of it and I was not the only dad-to-be in attendance which was my concern. The class was held at Memorial Hermann which is about 20 minutes from our house and was taught by a “lactation consultant” I suppose that’s better than milk maid. It was a pretty nice looking facility and we briefly walked through the “family birthing center”. The way this place looked, coupled with how far our hospital is from our new house, got me wondering if a transfer of birth places was possible. (It’s not).

Short work week for us both this week. Tiffany only works Monday and our office will be closed Thursday and Friday. We tour our hospital Wednesday and have the 38-week appointment so I’ll go to that in the morning and she’ll drop me at the office while she goes to her hair appointment. Once she’s done with that I should be done at the office and will head back north for the weekend unless the doctor tells us to check in to the hospital.

Calm Before the Storm

Tiffany had her 37-week appointment on Wednesday. She’s not dilated at all so it doesn’t look like we are on the cusp of anything. The baby has “dropped” however so things are progressing. I’ll be going to the next appointment this Wednesday and we’ll also be touring the hospital where we will deliver. It’s right next door to the doctor’s office. 

Saturday morning we get to go to a breastfeeding class. Apparently, it’s for couples. I say apparently because this is what Tiffany says. I was not in favor of going because I don’t plan on breastfeeding the child so I’m not sure what I would get out of it. Tiffany’s point is that I need to go for support and to help remember things she might forget. That led to the following exchange.

Me: “Do you acknowledge there are things that I know more about than you?”

TIffany: “Yes”

Me: “Okay, well when I tell you something in any of those areas you don’t listen to me anyway. So even if I remember something from this class that you don’t, you’re not going to listen to me because clearly I don’t know more about breastfeeding than you do.”

While Tiffany acknowledged  that could possibly happen, she still wants me to go. My concern has nothing to do with the time, it’s two and half hours, or the time of day, the morning, but that I will be making a bunch of women that I’ve never met before extremely uncomfortable.

“What is that guy doing here?” I have been assured that won’t be the case so I will be attending the class.

The rest of the day will likely be spent putting the final touches on the nursery. I’ve said that before, but “we” seem to keep finding things to do. We did add some key pieces off our registry that Tiffany was concerned about getting, the pack n’ play, the highchair and the breast pump. The highchair, pack n’ play and the swing from Tiffany’s grandparent’s have taken up residence in our office, conveniently located in the baby wing. 

Once Christmas is over, we should have some more room in the closet in the office so those items won’t be just sitting against the back wall. We’re pretty much ready though, I do need to put the car seat in the back of the car but in a pinch we could throw it in the back before leaving for the hospital. I doubt it will come to that.

The Baby Wing

That’s what I’m calling a portion of our house on the first floor. Walking in the front door, on the left, there is a small hallway with two bedrooms and a bathroom...the baby wing. One bedroom is the nursery, the other the office and bathroom in between is decorated in a not so subtle theme that is just slightly childish. (There are cartoonish blue whales far and wide).

The office bookshelves have been screwed to the wall so they cannot be tipped over by a wandering toddler down the road. It’s location is also good because either of us can be in the office and just be steps away from the nursery. 

The nursery is also very close to completion. Today we selected a curtain rod to hold the valence. I will put it up tomorrow or Tuesday and then we should be ready for some pictures which I will post of course. 

Today is the 12th and our doctor says that they will not let Tiffany go longer than a week late before inducing so no matter what happens, this time next month, our daughter will be with us.

I hope she can handle having a portion of the house dedicated to her. 

Push Gift

There’s been plenty of talk during the pregnancy of a “push gift” for Tiffany. Of course, by talk, I mean Tiffany dropping hints she wants one. I have mixed emotions. For those that don’t know, a push gift is a present for the mother after the birth of the child for “pushing” during delivery, as if there is any other way for the child to be born.

Kudos to the first woman who said to herself, “I wonder if I can get my husband to get me a gift for giving birth to the child that I wanted just as much as him.” Congratulations also go out to all the women who helped spread this notion that a woman is entitled to a gift for giving birth to her own child.

I wouldn’t have a problem at all if say I had asked a woman for a child, she carried it for 9 months and then gave it to me and the child and I went on our way. That sort of arrangement would be worthy of a gift, no question.

Here’s my issue. It’s not like I haven’t done anything during this process. I’ll let everyone’s imagination figure some of my duties out, but I don’t recall getting any help painting the nursery for example. I don’t expect a “paint gift.”

I’m not trying to compare painting a room to actually giving birth, the painting probably took longer than the birth will ;), but it’s not like anything has come up that she didn’t know about when we decided to get pregnant. “Oh I have to push the baby out of me?? That’s a surprise.” 

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the effort, but shouldn’t my unquestioned love and devotion be enough? I guess we’ll see what happens and how much “pushing” their actually is.

Last Supper

Thursday we celebrated our last Thanksgiving without a child. Next year there will be one more mouth to feed, though I doubt a 10-month old can pack away that much turkey. 

It was a good meal as always on Thursday. My mom often comes to town for Thanksgiving but did not this year because she was in town last weekend for the baby shower. When she is in town, she, Tiffany and Tiffany’s mom typically head out early the day after Thanksgiving looking for Black Friday deals. 

Since my mom was not around and also because Tiffany’s mom had to work Friday, I substituted in the search for deals and it began Thursday night when Tiffany’s dad and I headed to Toys R’ Us/Babies R’ Us in the search for a humidifier that was half off, among other items we were sent to look for. That was a big mistake.

We headed to a Toys R’ Us and a Babies R’ Us combo store right around 10 at night when it opened. That was a mistake. There were about 2,000 folks already in line and that may be an under-estimate. I have no idea what they were waiting in line for and why someone would wait 3 hours in line in the hope to buy a Lego set $10 off but I digress. Needless to say we did not wait in line and went to another location only to find about 1,000 people in line there. We got home about 11:30 with no humidifier.

It worked out fine as Tiffany and I went the following morning and picked up the humidifier. That wasn’t our first stop though. We got up about 6 and got to the Target near our house at 6:30. I wouldn’t say it was crowded. Target had opened at 4 a.m., but everything in their circular was still in stock except for a pyrex set that we probably would have bought if they had it. It looked as though they stocked about five to start from the way the shelf looked. Still it was a productive trip especially considering they had a checker at every register so there was no wait when we were ready to check out.

We then headed to Home Depot where they were out of the Duracell batteries they were advertising, but we did get a new trash can for our kitchen . Once again there was no wait and we headed to Toys R’ Us/Babies R’ Us to look for the humidifier which we secured. There was no wait to enter the store and I showed Tiffany where the line had been the night before. She seemed skeptical, can’t say that I blamed her. I’m pretty convinced Babies R’ Us is keeping Toys R’ Us afloat. I can’t say I’ve ever had a positive experience shopping there. I challenge anyone to go into a Toys R’ Us any time of the day and go 5 minutes without hearing a screaming child or a parent scolding a child who eventually start crying. Come to think of it, maybe this is the reason everyone was in line at 10 at night.

We then headed over to the mall and visited Macy’s, which was packed, by far the busiest store.  We did buy a new coffee pot and waffle maker which were on sale only to find that they were both cheaper at Bed Bath and Beyond after you use their standard 20% off coupon. Tiffany returned them the next morning in favor of the better deal at Bed Bath and Beyond. 

I’m not sure I’m Black Friday material. I would probably do the local stores again, Target and Home Depot, since they are a short drive from our house, but I doubt I would do more than that in future. I suspect next year I might be on baby watch anyway.

Shower Recap

Saturday we had our baby shower here at the new house. Tiffany’s co-workers had thrown her one earlier over lunch some weeks back, but this was organized by Tiffany’s friend Kristy...with an assist from Tiffany’s mom. They both did a very good and extremely thoughtful  job. It was a co-ed shower, but the guys were outnumbered by the ladies.

There were games, very good food and some very nice gifts. One of the games was to guess the number of M&M’s in a baby bottle. Having been to several co-ed showers before, I’ve honed my skills at this game. I’ve won before being as close as 10 M&M’s...Saturday I guessed the number of M&M’s exactly, i type again...EXACTLY..277.

I was pretty impressed. No one else seemed to care or found it unusual. One of our friends guessed over 1,000! I got it exactly right! Looking back, I’m wondering if Kristy went through the guesses, saw what I put and just said I got it exactly right to be nice.

I’ll get some pictures up at some point. I need to take some of the new house too. We had gotten things pretty settled and organized but now we have a wide array of boxes and such containing baby items. Once all that is organized, I’ll take some pictures.  I was thinking on the way to work today after dropping my mom at the airport, (She was in town for the shower and was a big help as well) that I might be able to relax this weekend for the first time since moving. Sure enough I get to work and Cyndi, our office manager mentioned how she will be decorating for Christmas this weekend. 

Now I suppose we don’t have to put up the tree this weekend, but if it doesn’t happen this weekend, who knows when it will. So I’ll be starting another burn pile this weekend (clearing some dead wood in our yard) and dragging Christmas decorations from the garage into our living room and assembling our tree.

This will be our last Christmas as a duo, unless our little one comes two weeks early which I suppose is possible. If that does happen, we are fairly well prepared thanks to Saturday’s baby shower.

Yes, We're Still Pregnant

Yes, we’re still here and still pregnant. The process of moving put the blog on the back burner and then no internet connection at the new house until yesterday prolonged a post even more. We’re not less than 2 months out, hard to believe. It seems like just yesterday we were possibly pregnant. The nursery is painted, the furniture is assembled, a picture will come shortly, and the baby shower is scheduled for next weekend here at our new digs.

We do have a contract on our old house so that is a relief. It’s scheduled to close at the end of this month. The inspection was today so we’ll see what they’re inspector finds. If he finds nothing, he’s not really doing his job. That said, I’m not interested in doing a ton of “repairs” so we’ll see what happens. 

Tiffany is what I would call noticeably pregnant, meaning that people will approach us when we’re out and ask her when she’s do without hesitation. It’s been hectic since we’ve moved, we’re now into week 2 and have almost every box unpacked, just need to place photos on the wall and stuff like that. Everything should be good to go by the time the shower rolls around next Saturday.

I painted the nursery before we moved in and the furniture arrived, along with the glider, this past weekend. Of course some decorating remains, but if the baby arrived tomorrow, (and apparently that’s possible) we would be ready.

Tiffany is actually out of town right now. She’s in Dallas for some meetings for work. A co-worker drove her so no flying or anything to be concerned about. Now that we’re back online, the posts will be coming more regularly, if anyone is still checking :).

On The Road Again

The first and last post from a mile up in the sky...I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to post this, but I am writing it on Wednesday, October 13. We’re on our way to Florida for my cousin Amanda’s wedding, which is Saturday. Today and tomorrow we will actually be at Walt Disney World with Tiffany’s folks, brother and sisters. Friday, we’ll head to my mom’s on the east coast of Florida for the wedding before traveling back to Houston on Monday. 

On the way to the airport today I realized that I had probably been on a plane five or six times before I got to college. I can remember about five and I think we flew to Florida once when I was a small child. I mention that because our unborn child is making her fourth flight as I type. This is our second trip to Florida since we found out Tiffany was pregnant, we travelled to Philadelphia and New York in August and Tiffany went to Tennessee for work in July. Interesting how things can change.

Tiffany noted when she sat down on in the seat on the plane today how small it was, I reminded her that the seat has not changed since August. I can notice a difference too, different in that I have less room to the right of me than usual:) She also noted that the seat belt seemed lower than it should be to which I replied that her stomach was bigger than normal, so the seat belt was probably fine. 

I haven’t had much time to write recently. I’ve been pretty busy with the new house, work and packing our old house. Our new house had window blinds on the first floor, but no coverings for the second. Also, the blinds on the first floor were cheap, 1/2-inch blinds that were just there for security reasons. To make a longer story shorter, we ordered blinds for every window in the house. Kevin assisted with the first install in the kitchen on Friday and I started the rest. I still have plenty to install. Much of my time this past Friday was spent figuring out if they had sent us the correct order. After about two hours of opening every box and holding each blind to the window, I was able to confirm that we got everything we ordered. Now I just have 28 of 36 windows to go. I should be able to knock it out in one long afternoon.

After the blinds it’s on to tackle the nursery. We’ve selected a color and by we, I mean Tiffany who chose two shades of green. We ultimately decided on the darker shade. Next weekend I’m hoping to finish the blinds and the nursery because we are set to move the following weekend.

This past week I spent some time changing the address on our magazines and filing our mail forwarding request. The moving truck arrives on the 29th of October, the same day the ATT guy is scheduled to arrive at the new house to hook up our phone and Internet. After the movers finish Friday, Saturday Rooms To Go will be delivering our dining room furniture, bar stools and new couch. That same day DirectTv will be arriving as well as ADT to install the control panel for our alarm system. If they all arrive between 8 and 12 in the morning, it could get a little crowded. That would mean that DirectTV and ADT were on time and Rooms To Go came to our house first, which all seems unlikely. Still, I’ll be relieved when all of this is over with.

Last week Tiffany’s co-workers threw a baby shower for Tiffany. At the last minute it was decided that guys would go too so Kevin and I ended up going too. It was over lunch at the Chili’s by Tiffany’s work. Tiffany’s mom and siblings drove in for it too. We got a lot of nice things. I had known about it for a few weeks because one of Tiffany’s co-workers had contacted me for Pam’s (Tiffany’s mom) phone number so they could call and invite her. Soon after, Tiffany started noticing items being removed from the registry. But even after she was told last Wednesday that lunch would be taken care of for her Thursday, she didn’t put it together.

When she arrived at work last Thursday and saw her cubicle decorated, I think it started to make sense, but she was still surprised to see me, Kevin, Pam and the kids there.

We also pulled the trigger on the glider over the weekend. There was actually a sale at a competitor of the store where we wanted to get it. Tiffany called, and the said they would honor the other store’s coupon so we saved 10%. We ended up getting a chocolate color and the chair swivels, glides and reclines. Once that is ready to be delivered (4-6 weeks), we’ll have the crib and dresser delivered at the same time. The crib has been sitting in the warehouse for almost two months. It came in shortly after we knew we were moving so we purposely did not have it delivered to our current address. Another reason why I need to paint the nursery sooner rather than later.

Tiffany will be going shopping with my Mom on Sunday after the wedding for baby related items. She advised that we bring another bag to take things back with us. I don’t know what they plan on buying, but we didn’t bring another bag. I’m willing to risk it. 

Well, the fasten seat belt sign just came on so I’ll use that as my stopping point.

Not Recommended

So I don’t recommend moving while expecting a child.  You might be able to tell from the  lack of posts that time has not been plentiful lately. Our last doctor’s appointment was  Wednesday. Tiffany went on her own, just a routine checkup and the appointments come every two weeks now so there will be plenty of time for me to get to some more. 

The doctor’s office did call the following day to say that Tiffany’s iron count was a little low in her blood work so they recommended more red meat and a supplement. We went out for burgers for lunch on Saturday and Tiffany picked up iron supplements at the store on Sunday.

The same day we heard about the blood work we closed on our new house so we are now the proud owners of two houses. We went out to the new one this past weekend and stayed at Tiffany’s parents. We also celebrated her brother’s birthday Saturday night. During the day we measured for blinds and went to Home Depot to pick up some ceiling fans for some rooms that needed them. I then put one up leaving the rest for another day...which turned out to be the next day, Sunday. Kevin, Tiffany’s dad, came over Sunday and we put the rest of them up. There is one that has about 20 minutes left, but we have the ceiling plate in, which is the hard part. I feel pretty confident I can put together almost any ceiling fan now.

Of course the color of the nursery is a hot topic right now. There are other things that need to be done around the house. I, knowing that painting a room doesn’t take all that long, didn’t have painting at the top of my list, but that is of little importance of course. Looks like the nursery is going to be a shade of green. My vote was for anything but pink so i had “some” input.

In the coming weeks we have a trip to Florida, packing to do and of course other baby related activities as well. October will be a busy month for sure.

Crowded Quarters

Shortly after we found out that Tiffany was pregnant, talk began of how she would need a body pillow for sleeping at night. I really didn’t give it another thought, seemed like a reasonable request. 

Soon enough a body pillow appeared on our bed. Granted, it wasn’t even being used, it just got wedged at the bottom of our bed between the mattress and the foot of the bed. There it stayed for weeks until recently when Tiffany started to use it. As you might imagine, it takes up some space.

When we got married, I’m not sure exactly when, it was decided that Tiffany would sleep on the left side of the bed and I would sleep on the right. I use to sleep on the left, but I was delegated to the right without much choice. I’ve obviously grown accustom to it and when we decided, I certainly didn’t think it was worth putting up much a fight over.

Now over five years later I sleep in the fetal position facing away from Tiffany clinging to the edge of the bed. Tiffany has all sorts of positions, but she loves to straddle the middle of the bed leaving enough space for a WHOLE OTHER PERSON next to her on the opposite side. With the addition of this body pillow my space got slightly more cramped...and then the real problem started.

When our house was first staged to sell and to have photos taken, we packed up Chase’s crate. Chase is our dog for those who don’t know and we would put him in a crate at night because he would jump on the bed at night and sleep with us if we didn’t. He reluctantly entered the crate himself (probably because he got a biscuit when he does). 

Well, we didn’t feel like setting the crate up every night and taking it down for showings so we put it in the closet for a couple weeks. When it became apparent that we wouldn’t be having showings every other day I thought it would be prudent to get the crate back out and reclaim our bed. Especially since Chase’s favorite spot seems to be wherever my lower legs are.

That did not go over well with Chase. He went to the crate when I told him, as usual, but proceeded to cry and wine for the better part of two hours one night a few days back. It seems Chase had enjoyed first class and was not eager to go back to coach. To sum up, Tiffany and I are now sharing our bed with a body pillow and our dog that both stay mainly on MY SIDE. Of course when I shared this story with someone earlier today it got a chuckle and a “wait till that baby arrives”...Maybe I’ll see if we can find a bigger crate...for me.

100 Years to Live

Things are moving quickly now, January seems right around the corner and I would call this time the calm before the storm. Tiffany is noticeably pregnant, but also not uncomfortable yet. I suspect that will change in another month or so. She has the occasional pain in the back and sleeping isn’t always that easy, but overall,\ the pregnancy seems to be pretty easy, at least from the perspective of the peanut gallery.

We’re about to be the proud owners of two houses. We close on the new one next week, the 30th and we haven’t received an offer on our current house. I wouldn’t say I’m looking forward to owning two houses, but in the long run the short term stress will be worth it. The situation also represents two P’s in my 3P philosophy of life. What’s the 3P philosophy you ask? 

1)Point of View- I think a person needs to have their own point of view or opinion, not just take someone else’s. Take in as much information as possible from other people and sources and come up with an unique point of view on any particular issue that is yours and yours alone. Sure, someone else somewhere likely agrees with you but the point is you arrived at your point of view yourself.

2)Perspective- Here’s where our house situation comes into play as an example. I grew up in a 1,500 SQ. FT home with one full bathroom in the entire house. Tiffany and her mom at one point lived in a garage apartment while her mom attended medical school. We certainly were not deprived of anything that we needed, but are mothers would be the first to tell you that we were not wealthy either. Now, in a time where many are losing their homes and going bankrupt, we will own two homes and are moving to a 4,000 SQ. FT Home on two acres. Is it an ideal situation to have two houses? No, but it’s far from a bad situation either. Not to mentionthere are children all over this country, forget about other countries, that will go to bed hungry tonight. Our child, who has yet to be born, already has a full closet of clothes, a dresser and a crib to sleep in. I think you see my point.

Sometimes when things are not going perfectly to plan, folks tend to wallow in a pool of self doubt or frustration because, as they say, the grass is always greener on someone else’s lawn. One of the keys to happiness, I think, is knowing you’ll never have everything you want, but to realize you have much more than you need. Ultimately, that’s what matters most. Could it be a hassle having two houses, yes, but we need to keep things in Perspective.

3)Patience- I don’t know many decisions in life that didn’t benefit from thoughtful analysis. There have been times that I know I’ve made a snap decision and it’s worked out well, but that is much less common than making a rash decision or doing something hastily and regretting it later. There’s a reason why when you go to buy a car they tell you the “deal” is only good for that day or why “sales” only last a prescribed amount of time. Retailers want to play on the emotion that you have to have something today because it will be gone tomorrow. They know that if you think hard about whether or not you need something, you’ll likely realize you don’t.. Patience is also good practice when it comes to emotion. I don’t know many people that can’t use some work when it comes to patience in dealing with spouses, children or work issues.  I certainly can.

Our realtor suggested we lower the asking price on our current house. I suppose it’s possible that could garner more interest, but no other homes have sold before ours in the neighborhood so it seems to me it would be a little rash to just lower the price after just a month. Our current house would certainly sell fast if we lowered the price substantially and it would be a burden off of our shoulders and that does hold some value, but panicking and lowering the price doesn’t seem too prudent right now, especially considering we are the most aggressively priced house in our neighborhood. We just need to be patient, if we want to lower the price later, we certainly can, but why make a hasty decision now.

So that’s the 3P philosophy, something that I’ve come up with in 31 years of life. Not a great accomplishment by any stretch of the imagination, but better than nothing. Having a child certainly makes a person take stock of where they are in life. It is, after all, one of the great milestones of life. 

I was wondering today how I got from throwing a tennis ball against the brick wall of our old house to owning two houses, expecting a child and getting heart burn from a pumpkin spice latte. Ten years ago i could run into a wall and feel fine the next day, today my left ankle aches for no apparent reason and my shoulder cracks if I raise my arm above my head. Those aches and pains are certainly annoying, but there are people who can’t walk, let alone limp for a few minutes and children who will never be able to use their right arm in ways that have and still can. There will be people tonight that have nowhere to call home. Now is a good time to keep things in perspective.

Lost Somewhere in Houston

Things have been a little hectic lately. We’re getting close to the closing date on our new house (Sept. 30) and of course are also trying to keep our current house looking good so we can hopefully sell it before our daughter starts grade school....

This past weekend was pretty eventful. We had the inspection on the new house Friday just to make sure the roof or foundation was not going to collapse on us anytime soon. As expected, the inspector found dozens of tiny things that are easily fixed, but nothing serious. We left him at the house before he finished because we had tickets to see Dave Mathews Band at the Cynthia Woods Pavilion, conveniently located close by in The Woodlands. 

It was my first DMB concert in some time. I think the last one I went to was circa 2002. I had tickets to a concert at the O’Dome at UF in 2004, second row seats actually, but Kristy (Tiffany’s maid of honor) was visiting UF that weekend so I passed on the concert. Yes, I do remind her of this on occasion.

It was Tiffany’s first ever Dave concert, and by association our daughters, who was kicking quite often. It was one of the better Dave concerts I’ve been to and might have ranked first, but the encore was so-so with a new song which was good, but not great, and a finish of All Along the Watchtower. Watchtower is always good, but I was hoping for a Crash, Ants Marching finish. It was also strange to hear a Dancing Nancies version where Dave says, “Lost Somewhere in Houston”...

That was probably my 11th DMB concert so to put it near the top is saying something. I remember my first ticket was $19.50, this past ticket was $70. Don’t get me started on the $11 can of beer (albeit a 24 oz. can) 

We spent the remainder of the weekend at Tiffany’s parents just down the street from the new house where we, okay I, enjoyed some college football and Tiffany got up to speed on how many clothes our daughter already has thanks to a generous donation from friends of her parents who live across the street. 

I promise you this is no exaggeration. This child now has more clothes than Tiffany and I do combined. There were crates, that’s plural, of gently used and never worn girl clothes ranging from 3 months to 18 months old. Combined with what we already have, well, this child won’t be hurting for something to wear, that’s for sure. 

Sunday we returned to our current house to find that we were having an open house. A miscommunication with our realtor, but we were happy to find something to do for a couple hours and our neighbors, Brian and Brittany, were gracious enough to let us watch the end of the Texans game at their house. 

As for developments with our daughter, I can actually feel her much more now. Tiffany claims she can see her shirt move sometimes, I can’t verify that but I can feel our little girl moving in there whether it be a kick or punch or just rolling which is nice. 

I’ve read that a woman becomes a mother at inception and a man becomes a father at birth. That makes a lot of sense. Now that I can feel the baby moving, it’s becoming more real, but Tiffany doesn’t go very long at all during a day without being reminded she’s pregnant. Other than the fact her stomach is getting bigger, it’s hard for me to understand how she feels or really have daily reminders of the pregnancy.

Today is the start of the third trimester, I think, so we’re on the home stretch. By the time we get settled in our new house, it will be the holidays and pretty soon we’ll be counting down the days.

Registry, Take 2

Saturday we did something we thought we would not do...register at Target. Not that we have anything against Target per say, but I thought one registry would be enough and so did Tiffany. That was until we got a mailer from Target offering us a $20 gift card if we registered with them, so off to Target it was. 

This time it was much more low key. We got the “necessities” out of the way at Babies R’ Us so the pressure was off to a degree. Of course Target’s shelves are filled with items not just for baby and I was tempted to slip into electronics and throw a TV on the list, but I didn’t. 

But if it wasn’t already clear, Saturday made it official how different women look at a baby registry then men. For example, I think most women are actually shopping when putting things on the registry as if they are going to get everything they registered for. I, and I assume most men, want to include anything that looks interesting and that we wouldn’t buy ourselves. Example: We are buying a breast pump, it doesn’t really matter if somebody buys it for us or not, we are going to buy it. On the other hand, if the Baby Einstein rattle that attaches to the car seat doesn’t get bought, we may go ahead and take a pass.

With that in mind I was scanning some funky toys that looked cool, but that I would never buy. Also, we didn’t want to double up on too many items, just in case the registry genie arrived and people hit up both registries. Needless to say that I think we have EVERYTHING covered now.

On Sunday we headed to Tiffany’s grandparents for a labor day celebration. There we were greeted with more baby clothes that Tiffany’s mom had picked up. This child now has more clothes than I do, I’m not even exaggerating. We let her mom take the clothes back with her so we don’t have to move them next month when we move.

For those that don’t know, we have a bought a house closer to TIffany’s parents. Much of my attention lately has been focused on that, both the purchase of the new house and trying to sell our house. Let’s just say the purchase is going better than the sale. I’m glad this will be documented because down the road the headaches will be well worth it so it will be nice too look back and appreciate the effort that’s going to take place over the next few weeks.

This week we have the inspection on the new house. I’m not expecting any surprises, it’s new construction and looks solid. That same day we have tickets to the Dave Matthews concert. We timed that just right as shortly after we bought the tickets, the band announced that they would take a year off from touring. And with a child on the way, this will most likely be my last Dave Matthews Band concert for some time.

Pick a Price

Today we we headed out first thing for another ultrasound and doctor visit. The morning got off to a rocky start as there was a traffic light out near one of the major roads we travel on which backed things up just a bit. Plus we were told I could not park where I normally do (In a Pappasito’s) so we both don’t have to drive all the way to the hospital and pay for the parking. We instead have now chosen McDonalds about .75 miles away.

Anyway, we arrived late but it made the wait shorter at the hospital (They tell you to arrive 30 minutes early, we were 10). In fact, I dropped Tiffany off at the door and parked the car and by the time I made my way to radiology, she was already being registered. After a brief stay in the waiting room and a cup of coffee for me, Tiffany  was escorted back to the room where I met her and the technician a few minutes later. 

This ultrasound didn’t take nearly as long, this tech knew her way around that machine better than a fat man at a buffet. We were flying through, the results of which you see to the left before we were told that the radiologist needed some more views of the heart.

Tiffany of course took this news as meaning something was wrong. (Spoiler alert: nothing was wrong) and of course the genius tech didn’t help. When Tiffany asked her if something was wrong or looked strange the tech replied, “I really can’t say.” Way to calm the storm sweetie, thanks for your help.

She did her deed and returned a few minutes later saying the radiologist got what he needed to see and that she would be back with the report for us to take to the doctor’s office. She also offered a warning, “Don’t break the seal on the envelope.”

As you might have guessed, this didn’t help Tiffany’s nerves. I was a little perplexed, not worried mind you, but are they not going to read the results if we open the envelope? Is the doctor going to say something to the affect of, “I’m sorry, these look like sonogram results, but you see you broke the seal on the envelope so we really have no way to be sure, your child could be seriously deformed.”

It made me think of that Seinfeld episode when Elaine gets busted for looking at her chart and gets black booked by every doctor in NYC. Needless to say, we didn’t break the seal.

But before we leave the hospital scene, I would be remiss not to mention an alarming trend that’s developing. We don’t seem to be able to get an actual price from the hospital for anything. We were charged one rate for the ultrasound the first time at the hospital and then told yesterday we were not billed enough and it would be another amount today. Then they revised that amount lower yesterday and the amount we paid today was actually slightly more. So they’re real organized over there. I’ve come to call this the Pick a Price payment plan.

We also found out that the Rogam? shot that Tiffany will get in a few weeks will be $50. This is the shot that protects the baby, and any other future babies from cross blood contamination since TIffany and I have different blood types. Basically, there’s a chance you can kill the baby without the shot so they could probably charge whatever they wanted and people would pay it. But let’s get back on track.

With our sealed envelope we made our way over to the doctor’s office which is in the building next door.  After a third stop to the bathroom for Tiffany, we got to the doctor’s office just in the nick of time to be escorted to the exam room where we waited for 15 minutes. 

After Tiffany’s vitals were taken, Dr. Thompson decided to grace us with her presence. For those keeping score at home this was her second time seeing Tiffany since the pregnancy began. (She’s now 22 weeks). She took a measurement of Tiffany’s uterus with a tape measure (normal) and then opened our magic envelope. Surprise, no problems. She asked if we had any questions and we were on our way. Tiffany’s next appointment will be in 4 weeks, I’ll probably sit that one out because two weeks after that she will begin to go every 2 weeks and she will be getting that shot so I think it best for me to be there for that. 

She’ll get some basic labs taken next time, but nothing spectacular that I may miss.  Oh, it was also confirmed again that it was a girl, which is good because we have a closet full of clothes for a baby girl.

Registration Day

Yesterday we ventured out to Babies R’ Us to start our registry. I say start because it appears that a baby registry is an ever changing organism, something that can never be truly defined or completed. I’d say we spent well over two hours in the store and we still have plenty of fine tuning to do.. and of course by “we”, I mean Tiffany.

We began at the desk just inside the doors under the huge sign that read “Baby Registry” (As if you could register for anything else at Babies R’ Us). It would be interesting to find out how much of their business comes from registry related items, I’m guessing well over 50 percent. Once seated, we were walked through the process along with three other couples to save time. That was the first and only instance of saving time on this day.

Armed with a book of recommendations and our gun we headed out first to the far northwest corner of the store. The gun had a familiar feel, much like the one I had used almost six years ago at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond to complete our wedding registry. The scans were quick and easy accompanied by a satisfying beep each time, I was happy.

We started with receiving blankets and sheets....which are necessary of course, but not that interesting to look at or select. This is when Tiffany started bouncing around aisle to aisle. Weeks and hours of preparation, lists made and she rarely consulted anything as we made our way around the store. The bigger ticket items like your stroller, jumper and high chair were of course preselected and took little or no time and seemed to be the areas where the preparation paid off.

We got hung up on bedding for the crib and by association, overall “look of the nursery.” Now I’m not against pink, far from it, but I am not painting a room pink. Can our daughter have pink things? Sure, a pink room is not one of them so I did have some interest in the bedding and overall look. The first design that Tiffany had picked I thought was awful. Out of the 30 choices they had for boys and girls her choice would have ranked 30th for me. 

We eventually chose a pattern with a little pink, but also plenty of red with a ladybug theme, a good compromise.  Of course it took about 20 minutes to arrive at that decision. It was the first of many instances of feeling sort of overwhelmed.

For example, there were about nine types of wipes, nine. There were wipes for sensitive skin , dry skin, wipes with aloe etc...etc...I can’t even remember what we ended up with and I won’t even get into the diapers which I thought were organized pretty poorly. Here’s a crazy idea, put the same sizes together or at least have them broken up by size within the same brand. By the time we got around to bottles and nipples and other odds and ends, we were pretty much wiped so that’s where a lot of the fine tuning will come in on the computer.

When we finished...for the day.. we returned to where we started where there were four couples just starting like we were just a couple hours before. They took our gun and plugged it into the computer and we left with a bag full of coupons and samples for the recently registered, a thank you of sorts for bringing them hundreds of dollars of business. So our days with the gun are probably over, but ahead lies weeks and weeks of logging on and updating the list.

Active Duty

Our little one is becoming quite the active body (inside Tiffany’s body). Tiffany feels her all the time now, but I’m not that lucky. I’ll put my hand on her stomach and I do feel something, it’s just not what I expected. 

To be honest I’m not really sure what i expected, a kick, a push of my hand, something  more than what I’ve felt so far. What I’m feeling now seems to be a grapefruit rolling around in Tiffany’s lower abdomen. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have felt that before she was pregnant and the sensation I feel is usually followed by a “Did you feel that,” from Tiffany so I’m assuming it’s our little girl doing summersaults.

Our crib and dresser/changer is in, six weeks ahead of schedule. Right now it’s sitting in the warehouse. We’re not sure where we should get it delivered or if we should pick it up. Do we deliver to the new house after we close at the end of next month? Do we deliver to Tiffany’s parents house? Do we pick it up and and bring it to our current house  because we will most likely be hiring movers anyway? For now, it’s in the warehouse. They say they only want to hold it for up to two weeks, but what are they going to do? If they sell it to someone else they would have to give us another set or a refund so I’m not concerned. 

Tiffany heads to Dallas tomorrow to visit the branch there. That will be her last trip for work, I hope. She’s driving too and it’s a 4 hour drive so I’m not thrilled about it, but at this stage in the pregnancy there shouldn’t be any problems. She’ll be back on Friday and there are talks that we will register this weekend. She’s getting pretty anxious. It looks like now we may be having an open house so if we have Chase with us, that’s not really an option but I’m sure it will happen sooner than later.

Tiffany has spent a lot of time doing research for items for the registry. To the untrained eye, like mine, maybe too much time. I think wars were started with less preparation. Anyway, I guess I’m operating under the assumption that we will almost certainly leave something off we could use and even more likely, register for 20 items we find no use for once the baby arrives.

I do think we need to have a solid stroller and car seat, those are two items that we will use every day and that need to be safe. I’m not sure there’s a huge difference from one bouncer or highchair to another, but I’m sure I’ll find out.

Don't send clothes :)

Tiffany’s mom and sisters visited this past weekend and after we all went to dinner on Friday, the ladies went shopping for the baby Saturday morning and afternoon as I mentioned below. Our baby will be well clothed for the first 3 months of her life, and possibly up to 6 months, that’s for sure. I was surprised how much they came back with, especially considering the baby is 4+ months away. Either way, whenever she arrives, she will be well clothed thanks to grandma’s generosity.

The blog posts have been less frequent lately because we are in the process of getting our house together to sell. Not the best time for sure, but we’ve found a house near Tiffany’s parents, our preferred daycare provider.) It’s very nice and even larger than what we have now, so there won’t be a need to move down the road. We’re getting what I think is a very good deal, but I’ll feel even better once we sell our current house.

I got some positive feedback the last time I delved into something a little outside the pregnancy and I’m sure some people will find this quite enlightening and it does have to do with child care.

We had a couple apply for one of our houses today. They are not married and the woman has four kids, who are disabled. The man works a lot of hours in a trade profession, but the woman stays home and takes care of the kids. Understandable, of course, they are disabled. She collects over $700 a month in Social Security for EACH child, that’s each child folks for a total over $2,600 a month. But these kids do need it, I mean they are disabled.

I’m sure by now you’re wondering what their disability is. Two have ADD and ADHD and the other two have “other learning disabilities”. Their ages are 17, 16, 13 and 11. I believe she is pregnant with a fifth child, but I didn’t ask. That makes sense since once the eldest child turns 18, that check stops arriving in the mail.

Just to recap, this woman collects over $2,600 from the government for her “disabled kids”.....there’s nothing wrong with this picture???????????

And people wonder why Social Security is going bankrupt, unless of course this is the only such case in the country....HMMMM. 

Just Browsing

Tiffany is quickly assembling her registry list but lately she has been focusing on a stroller. There seems to be a winner now, the city mini jogging stroller. It’s gotten very good reviews , is lightweight and looks to be quite durable. This is one of many review/demonstrations out there. It’s still hard for me to focus on something that won’t be needed for another 6 months, though I do like the looks of this stroller.

Tiffany is actually out right now giving it a test drive with her mom and sisters. They arrived yesterday to do some browsing for baby over at Babies R’ Us and other related stores. I got to do some more yard work, with the heat index well over 100.

We’ll see what they come back with, if anything, but I have a feeling this is the first of many such trips.