Thursday, November 30, 2006

Lil' Bookish

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had flown to D.C. for my annual reunion with my college roommates. They threw a itty baby shower for me that was fabulous. Place settings for the eight of us, candle favors (to light while I am in labor), fun games (for real these were fun), and cool gifts. Check out what my best-girlfriends got me and Baby...


all filled with books. I am in love.


One of the games we played was super fun. I am so not a shower person and defo not a game player. However, this one was hysterical. Juli had gotten Rob to send her four pictures, two of each of us. We were all given a color copy of these, scissors and glue. The goal was to create Baby Bookish out of Rob and my features. Some of these were very very scary...but ultimately had us rolling with laughter.


These are my girls...



Friday, November 24, 2006

MOMMY'S ALRIGHT... DADDY'S ALRIGHT...














Since we last spoke, the Bookish Girl survived being hooked up to jumper cables (twice). We haven’t gotten the results back yet, but my suspicion is that doctors are going to find a heart in there. A really big one.

The musical gods have been smiling on us of late. Last Thursday night (as momma and baby slept) I was able to get baby’s very first autograph. Bobby Bare, Jr. and Centro-Matic played at the Middle East and Bobby Bare, Jr. was kind enough to sign his new CD “The Longest Meow” with a special note to baby. “How the hell do you spell Whitina?” Just kidding. I’ll get a photo up as soon as we announce baby’s REAL name.

AND… as luck would have it, Cheap Trick arrived in Boston last Friday evening… perfect timing for baby’s first concert. And just like baby’s… my view was pretty lousy. But the tunes were right on the money. Aside from seeing live-action baby on the ultra-sound monitor, the most surreal moment as a dad so far: feeling baby kick with one hand and waving my imaginary cigarette lighter with the other while Robin Zander belted out THE FLAME. That’s right… they busted out THE FLAME!!! You know… “I will be the FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!”

Gotta go. I’m getting all weepy up in here.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow we are officially 67.5% of the way through this pregnancy. But really who's counting?

We will be spending the day on the couch watching football and relaxing. Rob and I both love this time of the year and we are disappointed not to be with our families in warm Florida, mild Kentucky or Freezing cold Rochester.

But, we have to admit NOT traveling is kind of fun too. I told Rob that we should come up with some sort of fun tradition to do every Thanksgiving. His reply, "I have one. We can watch football and drink beer." Hmmm, I don't really see how that's different from other Thanksgivings. "Well, we can drink a different brand of beer." Ahhh, clear as mud now. I won't be drinking any beer but I will get my turkey! We have made dinner reservations at a historic inn outside of Boston, Longfellow's Wayside Inn. This was a popular tavern before the days of I-90 and the car. It served people who traveled to and from Boston and Worcester (pronounced Wuster, like "mister"). It was also the subject of book of poems published in 1863 by Henry Longfellow called Tales of a Wayside Inn.

How's that for a history lesson?

Unfortunately we both have to work on Friday so the slothness will only last for a day. Boo-whoo

Here is some random news:

- The baby is still a maniac mover and shaker. She is most active at night, when I'm *trying* to fall asleep. She has reached that critical point where she is really strong and still has a lot of room to move. This results in a big punch to the gut! It actually causes me to jump awake...

- We have decided to switch prenatal care from a traditional OB-GYN practice to a midwifery practice. Our OB's office, while medically capable, wasn't the warmest place and it is quite large. Their patient base is such that they rarely would remember us (and we were there a lot!) and were treated a bit inconsistently depending on who we saw (they have six OB's in the office). Furthermore, they are medical doctors and their first line of defense is, naturally, medicine. Seeing as how I'm not ill - just pregnant - we decided to seek out a practice more in line with our personalities. The hospital where will will deliver is a premier woman's hospital and has an in house midwifery group. The midwives deliver at the hospital, they are all certified RNs and most of them have been practicing midwives for over a decade (and certified RNs prior to that). If, God forbid, something should go wrong during the delivery we will be instantly handed over to one of the many trained and capable OB's on call at the hospital. I had my first appointment there this morning and, wow, what a huge difference. I feel much safer, supported, and more listened to...I think this was a good decision.

- I have a cold..and it stinks. Rob and I went to bed at 8:30 last night - we are practicing up! I am also starting to get up in the middle of the night to pee again. The only good thing about this is that I have learned (some nights) to not really wake up while I do it!

- As most of you know by now, I fainted again. I was caught by someone and didn't fall to the ground. The baby is fine so I have been referred to a cardiologist who Rob and I both really like. Her plan is to slowly rule out all of the cardiac causes of fainting. My EKG was normal, I was given an echocardiogram, and had to wear a 24 hour heart monitor (Halter Monitor). Unfortunately the Halter monitor didn't work the first time (argh) so we're off to have another put on this afternoon. I have a follow up appointment with the Dr. next week to check up on the results of all these tests. In the meantime I have been advised to increase my sodium intake. The Dr. is a bit suspicious that I'm not retaining any of the water that I am drinking. Huh, I could have told you that! ;) I have also had to change my morning commute to avoid any sort of situation where I am by myself around people who can't help me if I feel sick. Seeing as this is a city and people are a bit preoccupied this pretty much eliminates any public transportation or city walking. A bummer for me as I really liked that time of day.

- We have set up a registry for baby: www.babiesrus.com, www.target.com, www.babystyle.com.

- There are a few ideas out there for names. Rob and I have pretty much decided but this hasn't stopped speculation on the part of family and friends. My two favorites: Whitina (Rob always teased that if we had a boy he would name it Whitey. Whitina is the female version of this), and Crenella (After Romeo Crenel, the Brown's head couch). Any other suggestions?!


Sunday, November 19, 2006

PINK MOON IS ON ITS WAY














saw it written and i saw it say
pink moon is on its way
none of you will stand so tall
pink moon gonna get ye all
and it's a pink moon

Thursday, November 02, 2006

All right, Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close up

More Pictures of Baby. These are in 3-D!

Click here for the photo album.

When the ultrasound tech first put the probe on my stomach the baby was sticking her index finger out. Rob thought that she was saying, "You're number one dad." I thought that she was probably just confused and didn't know quite where her middle finger was yet. ;)




Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Our baby will be well clothed. Between the grandmother, sisters, aunts, and friends the kid is going to be cooler than Rob and I combined. I held off on knitting for the monster until we knew the sex. It is way more fun to knit for girls, as there are cuter patterns and more colors. Although, honestly, I am definitely not into the whole "Pink was meant for girls and Blue was meant for Boys" thing. I think you should switch it up a bit, explore the color spectrum. Having said that, I have already purchased about four balls of pink yarn. The best laid plans...

I wanted to wait for the sex to be determined for a few reason, mostly related to security and assurance that a child would be born. Also, it's a lot easier to pick out a pattern if you know who you're knitting for. I started knitting just about as soon as we left the Doctor's office after our ultrasound appointment in September. I finished one week later. That is the fastest I have EVER knit anything. I guess I was pretty excited!

I would like to introduce to you Baby Bookish's First Handknit Sweater. Which, coincidentally is not at all girly and could be used for a future Little Stomper.



In other news...

- I found out today that my maternity short term disability will only cover 5 weeks, not the 7 we expected. The plan was for me to take off the full 12 week legally allowed Family Leave, of which some would be paid by disability, some by accumulated sick time, and the rest without pay. However, as we face down those extra weeks without a paycheck the number crunching may illuminate a different course. I am supremely disappointed in this country's policies on birth, work, and insurance. We are lucky - I can't even begin to imagine how this must work for single parents.