9:45pm, Thursday, July 17, 2008

First trip to the store to satisfy sudden ice cream need.

(I got 2 flavors, just to be safe: Dreyers w/Butterfingers and Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie. We have satisfaction.)

Movement Detected

The first time it felt like a wave moved from one side of Pam's belly to the other.

Then she felt something that she likened to "that part at the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring when the elves are fighting [Sauron] and there's that deep sound and wave that moves through them. It was just like that."

And last night I felt a series of rapid movements, faint and small, but definitely there.

They call this "the quickening."

We're halfway there people. Size of... a banana!

The anatomical ultrasound happened last week. Everything is as it should be.

Circumcision update: currently leaning to not doing it. I really thought more people would comment on that, and not just to me, personally. Oh well, it is a sensitive subject.  

We sold the futon. It was in the way of future crib. Next up, selling the dining room table and getting a smaller one. Then, a smaller desk, and we'll be able to redo the office into his room (a large purple dragon may take over a wall). And a sewing table I'd better check if my mom wants.

Speaking of my mom, she decided it would be impossible to spoil the kid from Houston so she's moving up here with my grandmother. We're doing all we can to Austinize her asap.

Congratulations are in order to a few other people we know...

Just hitched: Pam's sister, Amy, made it official with her fella, Don.

Just agreed to get hitched: our friends Rob & Robyn and Casey & Kelley (apparently there's a marriage bug going around)

Also in a family way: our friends Phil & Jen, about 10 weeks behind us. Pam & Jen went to pre-natal yoga last night for the first time in preparation for baby expulsion.

Stripping mastic off cement floors is for sucks.

That's all the news from here....

Operation House Re-Do 4 Kid A

We've got about 1000 sq ft in our house and only 2 bedrooms, one of which has been the office/guest room. So that room will become the kid's room which means that the dining room is going to become the dining room/office which means that the kitchen needs to be redone so we can have some more storage space and just a better working room in general. 

We're moving the back door from the kitchen to the dining room so we ordered French doors this week. Our friend Trevor (the Elder) is overseeing the project so he came over and widened the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. The next day, we rented a floor stripper because we're going to do stained cement floors. We started in the dining room, which had 2 layers of acrylic tile. The stripper peeled off her clothes.... er, sorry... peeled off the tile as easy as mowing the lawn. It probably took about 30-40 minutes total.

Then we turned around to do the kitchen and hit the proverbial brick wall. The linoleum flooring did not want to let go. I went back to the Home Depot and bought a couple of new blades. That helped for about 2 minutes. Then about this time, it was time for Pam and I to go see the doctor so I had to take off. When we got back 2 hours later, Trevor had done some research and was now scoring the linoleum and pouring boiling water over it. This helped a great deal but it still wasn't as easy as mowing the lawn. Eventually, we got thru it all (about 8 hours for both rooms) though there are still some small batches of backing on the floor and age-old black remnants of adhesive in both rooms. We're going to get some eco-friendly stripping solvent from some friends today and that's how Trevor and I will be spending tomorrow.

A few pics below. Unfortunately, that's not snow floating in the air but dust particles.

Kid A

This isn't the greatest quality ever, but when the doctor can only record in VHS....

Regardless, you can still see him moving around (big stretch!), watch and listen to his heart beat, and see some of his bone structure, like his spine and arms and legs.

The sonographer was taking some measurements of some of the bones, telling us he's growing just fine. You can't really make it out in the clip but we were able to see the hemispheres of his brain; they were totally ready for learning.  Later, you may realize that you're looking up from below his feet. This was when she was trying to determine if he was a dude or dudette. She couldn't tell, but the doctor would in a few minutes.

This video is not even 6 minutes long but it seemed a lot longer while it was happening. Also, keep in mind the little nipper is maybe 4" long here.

The First Cut is the Deepest

A few weeks back I breathed a sigh of relief when we thought the kid was going to be a girl... at least I wasn't going to have to concern myself with one very important decision... circumcision. And then, hey-ooooohhhhhh, here's a little surprise, it's a boy and you (we) get to decide whether to cut or not to cut.

It's 11:15pm on a Sunday and I'm in Waco for a shoot. So here's the wikepedia page (featuring some non-porn but still NSFW example photos) on the decision at hand. If anything were to generate some comments I'd expect it to be this post, so what say you? As a circumcised child of the 70s, I'll admit it, I'm torn as to what to do now in 2008.

Remove Pins & Needles

The kid is a-ok according to the fine folks working in the lab. What up, Genecare!

No spina bifida, no downs syndrome, no any other scary stuff.

Hooray!

And chromosomal confirmation that he is indeed a he, him, male, fella, guy, and a dude.

Pronoun Day

So...

...um.

We weren't expecting an answer today.

But sometimes, you get the unexpected, or rather, it gets you. 

Don't ever believe the old wives' tales, because in spite of all signs pointing to our fetal-American being a girl, they were wrong. 

The doctor very clearly saw the gender-specific defining physical feature of our son. We also saw his brain, spine, ribcage, and saw and heard his heartbeat again, down to 147 beats per minute. (It gets slower as he grows.) We watched him put his hands in front of his face, shake them out to his side and stretch out his legs.

It was  He is amazing. Check him out: 

It's been a long day. I'll try and revisit it in the future to give you more of a feel for it all. 

Currently...

14 weeks

Becoming a Pronoun

On June 9th, we're getting an amniocentesis done. This will let us know that the baby is chromosomally hunky-dorry. Chances are slim, like in the 1% range, that there would be any problems, but still. You read about these things and freak out a little bit, whether you want to or not. All forms of prayer, wood-knocking, finger-crossing, lucky-rabbit's-foot-rubbing, and happy-dancing are accepted and appreciated.

It will also tell us, definitively, if it's a boy or a girl. I'm pretty sure a lab is involved so we're not going to walk out of the office with an answer, but will know in a few days or a week.

Thankfully, we don't live in the general area of any chemical plants, but a couple of other  things have pointed to us maybe having a girl. First, there's the fetal heart rate: if it's above 140 you're having a girl; below 140 for a boy. Ours was at 164. However, this old-wive's-tale has been scientifically disproven. (Google "fetal heart rate boy girl" for details.) Then, there's this article about mom's calorie-intake at the time of conception. The Mrs. was watching the calories with her friend, JC, at the time. 

Also, a friend and our tax accountant (self-determined 90% correct guess rate) have said it will be a girl. And even though I'm the first son of a first son, Pam is the first daughter of a first daughter of a first daughter of a first daughter.

People have already been asking if we want a boy or a girl. I myself asked this question of a former brother-in-law once and received the answer, "A healthy baby." I never forgot that and so it's become our answer (see paragraph 1 of this post). But after that, we divide along gender lines--Pam says girl, and I say boy. 

So, what will it be?

Fly a Kite

Something a dad should be able to do; I verified my ability to do so last Sunday. 

It was Waffle Sunday but we needed milk so I went to the store to get some milk. On the way there, being as it was Mothers' Day, I decided that my superstition could suck it (bad luck to wish a pregnant lady Happy Mothers' Day only 11 weeks in?) and I was going to do it up for Pam. Flowers, chocolate-covered strawberries, a not-so-sappy non-Hallmark card, lemon Italian soda, a couple of ribeyes... you know, the good stuff. I came home and made a couple of yogurt parfaits (is that redundant?) and then some waffles with berries on top and grade-A maple syrup.

Then, as it was really a beautiful day and Pam couldn't stand the thought of being indoors, we threw some stuff in a bag and went down to Zilker Park. We spread out a blanket and had some cheese and Italian soda in wine glasses (courtesy of this wine tote we hadn't had a chance to use yet). It was sunny and breezy and people were playing soccer and extreme frisbee, walking dogs, hanging out, and flying kites. A couple years back, maybe more, we'd gone out to a kite festival and bought one but had never flown it so we brought it with us. All I could think was that I needed to make sure I could do this because it seems like a can't-miss hit with the kids; I know it was for me. 

For a while, my dad lived across the street from a park, most of which was a big open field. Every so often, we'd go over with a kite and see how high up we could get it. Once, we took one of the dogs with us and Dad attached the string to her leash. It was pretty cool to watch Suzie the pug fly a kite.

But all those times, Dad had been the one to launch the kite. I would watch and sometimes he'd hand over the string and I'd hold it. It all seemed simple enough, but as I recalled, launching required running with the kite trailing behind you and getting some speed and wind to pick it up. It wasn't something I didn't think I could do, but it still seemed like some kind of skill or finesse would be needed, some (semi-)proper form of technique.

Maybe those were just on some not-so-windy days, or because he only had some too-short kid with him. Because we just had to let out some string and pull it tight as the other person let the kite go. Then we'd let our string out and try to keep it up as long as we could, adjusting for the gusts, and hoping it wouldn't dive-bomb into anybody. Except maybe for the people who didn't look after their dog, which tried to eat our cheese. (Never, and I mean never, go after a Whitehouse's cheese uninvited. Or be ok with pulling back a bloody stump.)

This parenthood thing... it can be daunting if you think about it too much. There's a lot to learn/consider/digest. I find myself singing the theme song from Smokey & the Bandit, or at least the line "we've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there..." just to keep myself in check. And I know that there's plenty you just can't prepare for and will totally be on-the-job training (hello diaper changing) but I figure it can't hurt to learn a thing or two in advance. 

Kite-flying can now be checked off the list.