Like I said in the last post, this weekend was the first of two baby showers. While I had very little to do with the happenings and can't be too sure what went down, I was able to show up before the guests had departed to thank them for the mountain of gifts that were piled in the corner. Lots of great people, smiles, food, and gifts.
One of the stand out gifts of the shower was a quilt made by C's Nanny (grandma). I've been so excited since I found out Baby Girl was going to get a Nanny quilt, since this will be the closest I'll be to getting one of my own. It's awesome. C has one too and it's just as great.
Another stand out gift was a wrap that is to be used like a sling to hold a baby in a multitude of positions. It's super hippie style. I even got to try it out with our cousin's 5 month old baby girl. Fortunately I have a few more weeks to practice with puppy Alden.
Anyway, it was a fun weekend, hanging out with family. After getting back to our town, we exploded into our house and realized we (currently) have no place to put any one thing we got. Crap!
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
March is here! (a.k.a. 34 weeks) (a.k.a. T-minus-6 weeks!)
I can't believe we are at 34 weeks already. The uncertain amount of time left is presumed to be an even month-and-a-half and we're starting to bite our nails. The suspense is getting heavy. At my job, I've got a project looming over my head which promises to take me out of town for three three-day trips. We haven't "won" the job yet and the more I think about it, the more I get sick thinking about being so far from home and C going into labor. Anyway, I'm trying to be optimistic that luck will guide us through this month. I mean, I have two four-leaf clovers that I've been saving for some time now and figured I could cash one in for March in the spirit of Saint Patrick's Day. Sure, I can't be too certain that I have any Irish blood in me, but I suspect that in this case "it's the thought that counts."
I feel like as soon as April 1st hits, our baby will be on its way, arriving any minute thereon.
Meanwhile, I'm looking into other career options and wish that looked a little brighter. It seems like there are only a few doors available to me, and most of them lead back to school. Dammit!
--
In other news, we picked up and assembled our crib this weekend! Woohoo! We also added a few more splashes of paint to the nursery.
Also, we're preparing for the first of TWO baby showers which will be this weekend and next.
I feel like as soon as April 1st hits, our baby will be on its way, arriving any minute thereon.
Meanwhile, I'm looking into other career options and wish that looked a little brighter. It seems like there are only a few doors available to me, and most of them lead back to school. Dammit!
--
In other news, we picked up and assembled our crib this weekend! Woohoo! We also added a few more splashes of paint to the nursery.
Also, we're preparing for the first of TWO baby showers which will be this weekend and next.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Gifts, House, Bathroom (T Minus 7 Weeks)
Not much to say--actually, plenty is going on, just nothing to write about. All you need to know is Time is moving slow and fast.
We received our first present off our registry from our cousin in the mail!(Phew! Count the number of prepositions in that sentence!) And we ordered our crib yesterday! That should be here... probably before the baby comes. More art is getting finished and our baby's room is going to be rad-with-a-capital-R, as they say.
Plumbers are supposed to be here tomorrow to start the first step in constructing a second bathroom in our basement. I have no clue what is to be done and am worried that it's going to be messed up on my watch. Messed up and expensive. I can deal with "awesome and expensive" but not "messed up."
What does that do with being a dad, you ask? Everything. Ultimately this bathroom will serve ourbabysitters friends and family and hopefully attract a few more to stay for longer trips; longer down the road, when our daughter is an angst-ful, hormonal teen and getting ready for dates school or whatever, we wont be fighting over the space. Anyway, we agreed a while ago it was something to get done before Baby arrives, so here we are: the eleventh hour.
We received our first present off our registry from our cousin in the mail!(Phew! Count the number of prepositions in that sentence!) And we ordered our crib yesterday! That should be here... probably before the baby comes. More art is getting finished and our baby's room is going to be rad-with-a-capital-R, as they say.
Plumbers are supposed to be here tomorrow to start the first step in constructing a second bathroom in our basement. I have no clue what is to be done and am worried that it's going to be messed up on my watch. Messed up and expensive. I can deal with "awesome and expensive" but not "messed up."
What does that do with being a dad, you ask? Everything. Ultimately this bathroom will serve our
Monday, February 8, 2010
Breaking News in the Real World: Work less, but not work-less
My company isn't doing so hot, so this Monday morning we three employees were told cuts in hours were to be made, effective immediately. Fortunately, for me, this means a 32 hour work week at the same pay rate, keeping my benefits (which may or may not be necessary), and potentially an extra day of my week devoted to the personal time I value so dearly.
This isn't necessarily permanent (my boss explained this change should only last 2 or 3 months, until seasonal work picks back up); but without having consulted our budget, it could prove to be a great situation for our family. A day I could devote to being Daddy Daycare; a day less of paying some stranger to watch our kid; a day less of wage earning to pay for some stranger to watch our kid, thus helping to balance this change in our income....
Not sure what will come of it, exactly, but for now the mood is very positive! Good life go!
As they say: To be continued...
This isn't necessarily permanent (my boss explained this change should only last 2 or 3 months, until seasonal work picks back up); but without having consulted our budget, it could prove to be a great situation for our family. A day I could devote to being Daddy Daycare; a day less of paying some stranger to watch our kid; a day less of wage earning to pay for some stranger to watch our kid, thus helping to balance this change in our income....
Not sure what will come of it, exactly, but for now the mood is very positive! Good life go!
As they say: To be continued...
Monday, February 1, 2010
Nameless + aches, house
We are really struggling to come up with a name for you, Baby.
Trying to find one with a good meaning, maybe something that is derived from a family member, something that fits with our last name...
At one point we started straying from names to nouns, but hopefully soon we'll find something we just love. Even if it's a noun.
--
C has been feeling good, generally. Foot aches, waking up multiple times in the night, frequent need to pee, other back and joint aches... all add up to be pretty exhausting. She has to deal with a lot over the course of a day, so piles of dirty dishes, laundry, messes in the kitchen, unfinished projects around the house all seem pretty overwhelming and depressing. Lately, I've made it my first priority to make sure a dish doesn't sit in or around the sink for more than 24 hours. I especially try to get every dish done right after dinner. I think it's helping.
Trying to find one with a good meaning, maybe something that is derived from a family member, something that fits with our last name...
At one point we started straying from names to nouns, but hopefully soon we'll find something we just love. Even if it's a noun.
--
C has been feeling good, generally. Foot aches, waking up multiple times in the night, frequent need to pee, other back and joint aches... all add up to be pretty exhausting. She has to deal with a lot over the course of a day, so piles of dirty dishes, laundry, messes in the kitchen, unfinished projects around the house all seem pretty overwhelming and depressing. Lately, I've made it my first priority to make sure a dish doesn't sit in or around the sink for more than 24 hours. I especially try to get every dish done right after dinner. I think it's helping.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Crazy + Gear + Diaper bag hack
Ok, ok, ok. So, after reading my last post, C more or less implied I was insane for thinking the baby was going to come so early. She is convinced we are right on time--no less--with our scheduled schedule. So week 28 it remains.
I guess I'm just getting a little freaked out about the stuff we intend to do before Miss Baby is born--add plumbing in the basement, finish the basement, organize our art room, and, finally, finish the nursery. I live by the "expect the worst, hope for the best scenerio"--not that the baby coming early is in anyway the "worst" of anything, but it shortens a schedule to complete things I mostly don't know how to do...
In the meantime, we're bracing ourselves for a couple baby showers--not even thinking about for what we will register--and figuring out what else we need. Speaking of gear, I'm fixated on getting a dope (bicycle-) messenger style bag and hacking it into a hipster-friendly diaper bag. I don't want to say man-friendly, because that's not what I mean. I mean cool and legit, and something that could be used well beyond the diaper years, especially when I ride my bike. The front-running brand seems to be Timbuk 2 and its relatively low cost-to-pockets ratio. A local company, Seagull Bags, is a bit more expensive but offers stuff like custom pockets and organizers. It would be great if C liked it too--I may be able to tempt her with a nice color palette... Probably not. This idea would cost us around $100 more than those "man-friendly" diaper bags.
I guess I'm just getting a little freaked out about the stuff we intend to do before Miss Baby is born--add plumbing in the basement, finish the basement, organize our art room, and, finally, finish the nursery. I live by the "expect the worst, hope for the best scenerio"--not that the baby coming early is in anyway the "worst" of anything, but it shortens a schedule to complete things I mostly don't know how to do...
In the meantime, we're bracing ourselves for a couple baby showers--not even thinking about for what we will register--and figuring out what else we need. Speaking of gear, I'm fixated on getting a dope (bicycle-) messenger style bag and hacking it into a hipster-friendly diaper bag. I don't want to say man-friendly, because that's not what I mean. I mean cool and legit, and something that could be used well beyond the diaper years, especially when I ride my bike. The front-running brand seems to be Timbuk 2 and its relatively low cost-to-pockets ratio. A local company, Seagull Bags, is a bit more expensive but offers stuff like custom pockets and organizers. It would be great if C liked it too--I may be able to tempt her with a nice color palette... Probably not. This idea would cost us around $100 more than those "man-friendly" diaper bags.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Week 28? Fast Forward?
I've got a sneaking suspicion that we are actually at least one week ahead of where we think we are in the line of pregnancy. After our last big ultrasound the doctor said Miss Baby was a little bigger than she is supposed to be; and at the last check-up, when measuring C's belly, she again said we seemed to be "ahead."
So, this morning, when checking "my stories" (i.e. blogs), I find that this one woman jumped from 19 weeks--where she thought she should be--to 21 weeks after their ultrasound. Hmm...
I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but I'm putting together a timeline of when stuff needs to get done around the house, and I think to be safe I need to count on Miss Baby arriving around April 1st--or, dare I say, the end of March. Crap.
Not "Crap". I mean, we have a house--so we aren't that bad off. A 3 bedroom house at that. The only problem is, while trying to finish half of our basement, the other 2 bedrooms are staging areas for loads of junk. We could move it all downstairs but we're supposedly getting work done down there... If worse comes to "Crap" (for real) then we'll move everything downstairs or in the garage. We'll make it work. My one goal is to have a pristine and magnificent baby room finished before the baby needs it.
We have another ultrasound scheduled for Week 36--that's 2 months away, and could potentially be the day our baby is born! Yowza.
So, this morning, when checking "my stories" (i.e. blogs), I find that this one woman jumped from 19 weeks--where she thought she should be--to 21 weeks after their ultrasound. Hmm...
I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but I'm putting together a timeline of when stuff needs to get done around the house, and I think to be safe I need to count on Miss Baby arriving around April 1st--or, dare I say, the end of March. Crap.
Not "Crap". I mean, we have a house--so we aren't that bad off. A 3 bedroom house at that. The only problem is, while trying to finish half of our basement, the other 2 bedrooms are staging areas for loads of junk. We could move it all downstairs but we're supposedly getting work done down there... If worse comes to "Crap" (for real) then we'll move everything downstairs or in the garage. We'll make it work. My one goal is to have a pristine and magnificent baby room finished before the baby needs it.
We have another ultrasound scheduled for Week 36--that's 2 months away, and could potentially be the day our baby is born! Yowza.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Nursery Inspiration
I can't convince these pictures to line up in pretty ways, but here is some stuff I like:
Monday, January 4, 2010
Week 26
For a long while now, C has tuned into the FitPregnancy online pregnancy calendar for weekly updates on the growth of Miss Baby Girl. This is what they say for Week 26, which started yesterday:
Your baby weighs about 1 1/2 pounds and has undergone a growth spurt in the past few weeks... [She] would be about a foot tall if she could stand. This week marks a major milestone in your baby's hearing and sight. Your baby's hearing system (cochlea and peripheral sensory end organs)... is now completely formed, and over the next few weeks, she'll become increasingly sensitive to sound. In about a month, you'll feel her jump if she hears a sudden loud noise. Sound passes easily into your uterus, which helps her ears develop. Her eyes are almost fully formed. ...The air sacs of the lungs, called alveoli, will be developed by the end of this week and will begin to secrete a substance called surfactant that keeps the lung tissue from sticking together.
Pretty dope. Sounds like we should be talking, reading, and singing to Miss Baby Girl...
2010 is here and just like I anticipated I feel the pressure to get the house prepared for B.G.'s arrival. We found a crib we both really like, and maybe even a dresser. Over the weekend we organized a bunch of hand-me-down clothes and even bought some kid-sized hangers. I'm also a proud owner of a Babies-R-Us rewards card. All that is left to find is a comfy chair, an overhead lamp, a large rug, curtain fabric, and some wall art... Piece of cake, right?
Your baby weighs about 1 1/2 pounds and has undergone a growth spurt in the past few weeks... [She] would be about a foot tall if she could stand. This week marks a major milestone in your baby's hearing and sight. Your baby's hearing system (cochlea and peripheral sensory end organs)... is now completely formed, and over the next few weeks, she'll become increasingly sensitive to sound. In about a month, you'll feel her jump if she hears a sudden loud noise. Sound passes easily into your uterus, which helps her ears develop. Her eyes are almost fully formed. ...The air sacs of the lungs, called alveoli, will be developed by the end of this week and will begin to secrete a substance called surfactant that keeps the lung tissue from sticking together.
Pretty dope. Sounds like we should be talking, reading, and singing to Miss Baby Girl...
2010 is here and just like I anticipated I feel the pressure to get the house prepared for B.G.'s arrival. We found a crib we both really like, and maybe even a dresser. Over the weekend we organized a bunch of hand-me-down clothes and even bought some kid-sized hangers. I'm also a proud owner of a Babies-R-Us rewards card. All that is left to find is a comfy chair, an overhead lamp, a large rug, curtain fabric, and some wall art... Piece of cake, right?
Friday, October 9, 2009
Visiting family, Health, House, Work
It's been a hot minute since any update. As this is a journal of sorts, I owe it to myself to check in.
Well. Things have been good. Mostly quiet. C's nausea seems to be subtly waning away into nothingness.
We were at a family function over the weekend and everyone there knew the news of our pregnancy--which was nice because we could talk freely about it. The moms were able to share stories and were curious to hear about C's experience.
Just before that event we had stopped by C's cousins' house to visit them and their 2-week old daughter. How freaking small! Like, freakishly tiny. I was blown away--like, I had never seen a newborn before. It was the first time I got a little freaked out, like, "This is gonna be us in 6 months!" A new piece of furniture that it seems we don't yet have the space for. We were able to share our good news with them and they were happy for us.
I need to get my butt to work and finish our basement--finish the drywall, add some flooring, and get a bathroom installed down there. After that we can start on a baby's room...
--
Fears about H1N1/"Swine Flu" are rising and I'm trying to keep optimistic about everything. So many things can go wrong between now and forever that I just can't let those fears dwell in my head space.
--
C and I got in a little argument yesterday about my job and the pressure to work "above and beyond" as a non-exempt yet supposedly "highly-compensated" salaried employee at a fledgling company (this means I'm expected to work over 40 hours a week without over-time pay). I believe any other job in the same line of work will come with similar demands/expectations. The alternative? Quit and become a stay-at-home dad. Maybe get a part-time job. I agree that we could probably take the cut in total income... Is it possible? Would it work? Not yet comfortable with the idea of quitting my job, but can see that it would suck to leave the baby every day in the hands of strangers I'm paying to do what a parent should be doing.
Well. Things have been good. Mostly quiet. C's nausea seems to be subtly waning away into nothingness.
We were at a family function over the weekend and everyone there knew the news of our pregnancy--which was nice because we could talk freely about it. The moms were able to share stories and were curious to hear about C's experience.
Just before that event we had stopped by C's cousins' house to visit them and their 2-week old daughter. How freaking small! Like, freakishly tiny. I was blown away--like, I had never seen a newborn before. It was the first time I got a little freaked out, like, "This is gonna be us in 6 months!" A new piece of furniture that it seems we don't yet have the space for. We were able to share our good news with them and they were happy for us.
I need to get my butt to work and finish our basement--finish the drywall, add some flooring, and get a bathroom installed down there. After that we can start on a baby's room...
--
Fears about H1N1/"Swine Flu" are rising and I'm trying to keep optimistic about everything. So many things can go wrong between now and forever that I just can't let those fears dwell in my head space.
--
C and I got in a little argument yesterday about my job and the pressure to work "above and beyond" as a non-exempt yet supposedly "highly-compensated" salaried employee at a fledgling company (this means I'm expected to work over 40 hours a week without over-time pay). I believe any other job in the same line of work will come with similar demands/expectations. The alternative? Quit and become a stay-at-home dad. Maybe get a part-time job. I agree that we could probably take the cut in total income... Is it possible? Would it work? Not yet comfortable with the idea of quitting my job, but can see that it would suck to leave the baby every day in the hands of strangers I'm paying to do what a parent should be doing.
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