Five-Foot Step

Just a small adjustment, which seems to be the point we're at now; things are moving slow.

We moved up the ultrasound to next Thursday, because the week after that is my first week of finals and the appointment was basically right before one of my finals. Now it's a week earlier and right at the end of one of my classes; I'll be stepping out a little early to make it there in time.

Still, it can't come soon enough.

Also, I think I felt the baby move for the first time last night. Hard to tell for sure at the moment, but Veronica confirmed that the baby was being active in that area.

This is awesome.

Crib Complete!

We had a busy few days, recently, that have kept me from posting and the both of us from getting a few things done. Before I get into that, however, I want to address the question that is most concerning everyone who might be reading this: the baby is apparently the size of the average sweet potato this week.

Astounding, I know.

Moving on: We made a trip to South Florida this past weekend to attend my sister's wedding (which was great!), and along the way Veronica got her hands on some very nice maternity clothes via my cousin. There were train rides, dancing, seeing all sorts of people, and playing with little kids as well as very little babies.

Now we're back in town, and have officially gotten signed up for birthing classes with the woman we met with before. JC Penney also, without ever really getting back to us on the matter, sent us two of the replacement part we needed for the crib and those were waiting for us when we got back in town.

Last night my lovely wife put the last parts of the crib together while I was still in class, with this being the final result (although the mattress is still in the plastic and we haven't put on any of the bedding or anything).







It looks great, and it feels like with the addition of this simple bit of furniture we've taken a big step towards making the whole situation more real. I can't wait until the week of May 6th, when we'll get to see the baby again and likely discover whether we've got a little boy or little girl on the way; it's probably the thing I'm looking forward to most at the moment, which may be dangerous considering that's the same week as the first of my finals.

Until next time.

Construction Continues

The baking process goes on!

The baby is now the size of an average... onion? Ah, alrighty then!

Veronica and I are currently working on putting together the awesome new crib that Veronica's mother got for us, but unfortunately a tiny little piece was missing and we're trying to get J.C. Penney to replace the part. Still, it's mostly whole at the moment and I promise that I will make sure to get some pictures up as soon as it's done being put together.

We went in for another check-up, just a brief one where we got to hear the baby's heart again (all is fine!) and Veronica got the quick look-over (she's doing fine), and have also taken some steps towards taking some birthing classes. After looking around for some options in the area, we decided to check out one particular lady who does personal classes locally and who also acts as a doula if we decide to go there to help with Veronica's pain management.

The two of us met with the woman at a local bookstore and it went really well; she's got a good deal of experience, confidence in her ability without coming off as overly pushy, and wasn't too, ah, "crunchy." I understand it may not be entirely fair, but when people start getting too strong into the whole anti-medical-establishment "my way is more natural and better" thing I start to get a bit wary (for perhaps the same reason I tend to avoid martial arts schools that build themselves around the philosophical/chi energy stuff).

So, y'know, that's good!

Promise more updating as more happens, and the next big ultrasound (very exciting!) is in early May!

Under Construction

The next ultrasound is still a few weeks away, but in the meantime there are some occurrences of note in the Baby Anticipation department.

First : The baby is 5" from crown of the head to tail bone. This means the little one is almost as long as a dollar bill (81%), and about 1.2 times the radius of a FIFA-regulation sized soccer ball. 

Or, to put it another way, baby is roughly the size of your average avocado.

Second : Veronica has started to feel the baby moving. This is really, really cool and I can't wait until I can feel it move for myself. We grinned like idiots as she sat and hummed and let me know when she felt little stirrings.

Third : We got some nifty stuff from Veronica's parents. There was a small package with some bedding material, some blankets, and a little chick towel that's got a hoodie thing so you can wrap the baby up, keep their head warm, and make them look even cuter than they already are.

And then there's the crib with mattress, which we just got today (well, the mattress came a few days ago) and we are very excited about putting together soon.

Check out this headboard! Veronica was pretty happy with how it appears to work with the room, and it is a nice looking crib.

And that's all we've got at the moment!

Minor Update

Not alot new a the moment, but we will be having some new things to show off in the coming week!

Right now I'm still telling or making up a story every night, we still have incredibly supportive families, and very excited friends. All is going pretty well.

Veronica's parents have done us the amazing favor of buying us a very nice crib and mattress, getting another of each for themselves for our eventual visits, and the mattress came in on Saturday. We expect the crib in the coming days, and I'll include some pictures and more details at that point.

Customization

So this afternoon we had our friends Nick, Nicky, and Michael over to help us paint some of the rooms in the apartment.

The apartment is nice, but with the idea that we're going to be living here with our baby for a little while (something we kept in mind when we moved into a new place) and the desire to personalize the baby's future room a bit we decided it needed something to make it more of a home. You know, not as much a bunch of white walls with a few paintings thrown up.

That in mind, we worked on picking out some colors over the last two or three weeks that would work in some of the rooms. Today our volunteers came over, and we got started.

Well, not right away.

First we fed them some rather good pasta, prepared by Veronica (featuring Mom's Spaghetti Sauce), then we painted.

Here are some images of how it turned out, though they are not exactly setting the world on fire in terms of picture quality.





Once that was done we rocked out to Five Guys for burgers, Coldstone for ice cream, and back to the apartment for some Munchkin.

Overall it was a very, very good day. Can't wait to mess with the nursery (Ha! Love calling it that) more over the coming weeks and months.

Oddity

So, Monday evening I went to a friend's place for a semi-regular board game night with a bunch of other guys, and as sometimes happens with the large group games things dragged on a bit late. I got home around midnight and was way too tired to try to do a regular "read from the book" story time...

Is it really strange that I turned our successful game of Arkham Horror into a "bedtime story" for the baby? Because it was actually pretty fun.

I'm going to file this one under: MAJOR GEEK.