Dear Baby, Part 8...

Dear Baby,

Well, it'll be about 9 weeks before we get to meet you. I don't know that I particularly appreciate that after all of the effort we've gone through over the last 2 years to bring you into our lives that you intend to greet us by screaming at us, but since that means that you are healthy and breathing, I suppose I'll forgive you. I won't pile on the guilt that I've been saving up for the last 2 years until you are a teenager - when I really need the amo. :-)

You are now fond of kicking me in the ribs. Thanks kid...yeah, I know you are there, can you kick at something squishy, please? But you seem to be growing - you are taking up more and more of my mid-section. I gained a whole 2 pounds for this last doctor's visit - up to 9 lbs now. I guess it'll be easier to lose the baby weight - wouldn't it be nice if I could lose some of the pre-baby weight too? Wait...you're a boy...you don't care about these things. Nevermind.

Your Mama finished up the nursery - I'll have to put pictures up here soon. They are still on the camera, and that is downstairs at the moment. And I'm too lazy to walk down there to get it, so that'll be next blog post. Hey...at least I'm writing, right? So hush it Michelle. :-)

I've signed your Mama and I up for lots of classes - childbirth class, CPR, breastfeeding...she is already complaining. But she is going so she can be grossed out along with me. Up to this point I've ignored all the details of childbirth - but I guess I have to face them now. I must say - I'm pretty nervous...but I do hope that the drugs work. Your Mama, once again, is complaining about that part too. She asked me if she really had to be in the delivery room - she isn't a fan of all the grossness that is going to come along with this. She's such a wuss. She'll be there - don't you worry. Even if I have to handcuff her to the side of my bed.

Truly, we are both looking forward to your arrival. The method of arrival and the screaming...not so much...but it'll be nice to have you out in the world with us. I'm hoping that you are a good baby - no colic or unnecessary screaming. I hope you sleep at least 2-3 hours at a time, and that you do ok on the feeding. I'll warn you - anything outside of these parameters just adds to the guilt list. Just think how mortified you'll be when I yell at you in front of your friends "You haven't changed a bit! When you were a baby, you refused to latch onto my breast, and now you refuse to do the dishes!" Just food for thought, kid...

Keep growing - but not too big. I'm thinking a 7.5lb baby is fine for me. So shoot for that goal, ok! We'll see you in a couple of months!!

Love,

Your Mommy

Dear Baby, Part 7...

Dear Baby,

Your nursery is almost done!! I know, you aren't going to be here for almost three more months...but you will find out soon enough that your Mama is a little nuts when it comes to projects. They must be just so, and they must be finished quickly. So, we'll be staring at your room for the next couple of months enjoying how pretty it is without a smelly Diaper Genie in the corner. OK...maybe I'm glad she got it done early. I'm sure there will be plenty of times when it isn't so pleasant. :-)

So, here is a progression of the painting stage...that was a ton of work...but I think it looks great:

Step 1 was to put up the chair rail and crown molding - which your Uncle Chris so graciously did for us. So here we are with our first round of tape, getting ready to go with painting:

The first round of painting involved painting the chair rail brown, and taping off for some stripes. Now I thought this whole thing was your Mama's project. However, once we got here, she reminded me that she can't put tape on straight. So I spent hours in there putting up tape. There are two stripes on either side of the chair rail, so I went through this fun several times. As much as I would love to focus on all my hard work, I'll only put this one picture of the taping of the stripes. I took plenty, though. Just to remind your Mama of all the work I did...when she's trying to claim the whole thing herself. :-)

Here we are with the stripes in the middle of the wall finished. I don't think we'll ever paint stripes again. Feel special kid...


So...I had to take this one, because that is your Mama applying tape. I rarely see this happen, so it had to be documented.


This is after we get the top part of the wall painted...coming together...looking more like a little boy room now!


And...(drum roll please)...the FINISHED PRODUCT!!! I have to say, I really love it.

And...I just had to do it...here is the detail on those fancy stripes. See how straight they are?! Yes, this is me claiming my credit. Because everything else in the room is all your Mama - I have to hang onto my contribution. :-)

I wanted to put this all together so that all of our friends can see it, and so we have proof that we once loved you enough to put together a pretty cool room. By the time you are old enough to remember anything, you'll be lucky if your walls are anything but the standard white. So here you go kid...this is how much your Mama and I were looking forward to your arrival. Since this last picture, we've gotten the furniture in. I'll put some more pictures up of that part soon.

Other than fun with the nursery, you are doing good and growing. Your arrhythmia seems to be slowing down, might be gone altogether. I'm happy about that. You've gotten big enough that I had to put away all my clothes and put on stretchy pants...which are mighty comfy, so I don't mind so much. You are kicking quite a bit, which is kind of like you saying hi...so it is nice. I'm sure pretty soon you'll be big enough to kick me in the ribs, which won't be so nice...so I'm enjoying this part while I can.

So we'll continue to finish up your nursery, and marvel at all the little tiny clothes that our friends and family gave us as hand me downs - which, of course, are already washed and folded and in your drawers. Your Mama is a nut...I'm telling you. We've got so many clothes now that all your drawers are full and then some. You won't wear all of these clothes - but they are really darn cute!!

So, keep growing, and keep kicking. Take care in there kid...

Love,

Your Mommy

Dear Baby, Part 6...

Dear Baby Boy,

Well, you've already decided you don't get enough attention. Apparently you have an arrhythmia, and made all the doctors jumpy this week. My OB heard it at your monthly appointment on Tuesday, and had me into the Fetal medicine place first thing Wednesday for an ultrasound to check it out. Now you weren't terribly cooperative, bouncing around all over the place, so you had your Mommy laying on the table for an hour while the ultrasound tech chased you around my belly trying to get a consistent view of your heart.

The good news is that you appear to be doing OK. They say that this type of arrhythmia will clear up on its own in about 97% of cases. But I have to go to the doctor every two weeks until it does. See...you needed more attention. Well, you got it. But I'm going to make a deal with you...we'll give you all the attention you need, so you can cut out this arrhythmia nonsense. I don't need you coming out like your Grandma, with a list of heart issues too long to think about. So I vow to talk to you more, and we're going to get you some music to play to my belly. Is it a deal?

You've really started moving around this week - at least now I feel it. It already seems like you are a spastic little thing, so once you get to walking, I think we're going to be exhausted. But I'm glad you're entertaining yourself in there.

Keep growing, stay safe, and get that heartbeat back on track for me, OK?

Love,

Your Mommy

Dear Baby, Part 5...

Dear Baby,

This week, we took you to the Outer Banks. You are a well traveled kid. First Paris, then the Outer Banks. I'm taking you to New York with me next week, and I think we'll end up in Atlanta for work before the end of the month. Don't ever tell me that we don't take you places. Well, quite frankly, you're a more agreeable traveler right now...so who knows where we'll be taking you once you are able to talk and wander around. Probably only to the playground down the street.

So, your Mama and I are enjoying our last single couple vacation. Now don't take this the wrong way...but your Mama and I are going to miss our time together just the two of us. We've slept in, wandered the beach, gone shopping at cute little shops...things that I'm pretty sure you'll never let us do again. You'll be taking us on whole new adventures...but we will sometimes drone on about the quiet times that we had back in the day.

So we are enjoying every moment of quiet. Sitting on the beach with a book for hours on end...eating at random times...sleeping until 10. These are times that we'll look back on nostalgically. Especially when you are screaming your head off.

But enough about us...onto you. We found out a couple of weeks ago that you are a boy. That was a shocker. I kinda had a feeling you were, but boys scare the crap out of me. I'm so worried about all the ways that we're going to screw you up. I'll apologize in advance...we might raise a therapy-worthy kid. Granted, we aren't really girly, so you won't grow up with too much of a feminine slant. But I'm going to look kinda scared during the potty training thing and the birds and the bees talk is going to be something comical, I'm sure. Adventures...we shall call them adventures.

You are just beginning to show up in my belly. Nothing that anyone can see, but your Mama and I can see that you are growing. I don't really feel you moving around, though I'm sure you are. We don't yet have photographic proof that you are really a boy - just the statements of the doctor and ultrasound tech...but we are hoping for photographic proof at the next ultrasound in a couple of weeks. Your first embarrassing wee-wee shot. And so it begins...

So, I hope you enjoy the sound of the waves as much as we are...and you feel all warm and cozy in my de-stressed vacation body. Stay safe and keep growing kiddo.

Love,

Your Mommy

Dear Baby, Part 4...

Well kid, this chapter might be kind of depressing. But the intention of writing these to you was to catalogue the months of my pregnancy, while you grew from an egg, to a bean, to a lime, to a tangerine...and I think you're now a grapefruit. Why do they refer to the progression in size of a fetus in terms of the produce section at the grocery? But anyways...

I sit here in your grandfather's bedroom. You won't get to meet him...you are almost 16 weeks, and he probably has less than a day left. He's dying of cancer...it got him but good. I'm doing my best to keep you safe, and not have my body too disruptive by how entirely evil this whole thing is. I hope you're OK in there...I'm kind of having a rough time out here.

I guess you should know that as of the last year your family medical history has taken a bomb dive. Your grandfather has cancer, had a stroke years back, has bad eyesight, and has a stubborn streak. Your grandmother is just a walking disaster, who is inexplicably still walking. I hope the other side of your DNA is healthier than we are. This was all news to me, kid. When we conceived you, I figured we were a fairly healthy bunch. Truth be told, your genetics are probably fine. Your grandmother has a whole host of issues we won't discuss, and your grandfather thinks the cancer came from Agent Orange in Vietnam. Another reason to be a pacifist and hate war...but I'll brainwash you into my liberal views later in life.

I'm going to do my best to ensure you don't have to go through this...we're trying to eat better, and I was lucky never to have the bad habits of smoking and such that your grandparents had. I'm gonna try to be there for you long into my 80s. As of the moment, my folks are setting the bar around 60. My Dad would have turned 60 in December. I'm going to do my best to be healthy and live to see your kids, which I now hate that he won't be able to do. I'm sure that as you grow up, you'll harp on me about that, as kids seem to do.

Your grandfather was a challenge in my life, and many times a parent that I couldn't deal with. In the last weeks of his life, he recognized his mistakes, and I think I've learned from them. All in all, he was a good person, and I loved him. Despite his faults. He says the same about me. :-)

I hope I'm able to get through this week without causing you distress. I'm trying.

Love,

Your Mommy

Dear Baby, part 3...

Dear Baby,

Well, over the last week you have let me start eating again. I greatly appreciate this. You are still picky, but I'm not minding that so much. One thing that is slightly irritating is that you appear to be trying to make up for lost time, and require food about every 3 hours. You are so cozied up in there, that you don't know the difference between day and night, so I'm up at 3am eating Rice Krispies. But, at least I can eat, so I feel better that you are getting some good nutrients. I was feeling guilty there for a while that I was starving you...the start of what I'm sure will be decades of mom guilt.

So...we start with feedings every three hours now...6 months before your birth. Your Mama says that I should get used to it. My reply was that if we are planning on simulating the first months of your life, I'd wake her up every time I have to get up to eat. She was much nicer after that. :-)

Your Mama has been reading everything she can on keeping you safe. She spent an hour last night listing off all the things we needed, should have, shouldn't have. Sometimes I wonder if the internet has too much information. But, she is getting prepared. Me...I'm just hoping to get through labor. She can be in charge of all that. She'll do a great job.

Your Mama is also dying to finalize a plan for decorating your nursery. You'll find over the years that she has a small addiction to decor. For the most part, it is quite enjoyable. Every so often, something weird shows up...like a little ball on a shelf in the livingroom that is covered in seeds. It looks good, but I can't imagine going into a store and looking at a ball covered in seeds and thinking "fantastic! that's just what I need!". But I digress...

So, she pulled some old wive's tale last night with dangling a ring from a piece of string over my hand. Supposedly it would move in a circle if it was a girl, and back and forth if it was a boy. It went in a circle. Your Mama was rather distressed because she had no idea what she would do with a girl's nursery. Me, I'm waiting for the more scientific method of an ultrasound. That whole thing felt like using a Ouija board to me.

Anyways, we are at 14 weeks, and doing great. I hope you are growing nice and strong in there.

Love,

Your Mommy

Dear Baby, Part 2...

Dear Baby,

We saw you for the third time on an ultrasound yesterday. This time, you looked less like a bug, and more like a person. You have a nice big head (still), and we saw your arms and legs. You have a little nose that we'll say looks like mine, even though I had a nose job at 14 and don't remember what my real nose looks like (the nose was broken, people...I wasn't a snotty little vain tween :-) ).

We ordered your crib yesterday...so now you can be assured of a place to sleep. Your Mama has to strip her old dressers and re-paint them, so we're not entirely sure that you'll have your things in drawers...they might be stacked up in the corner. I'm just kidding...she's more on top of stuff than I'll ever be...so your whole room will be ready and gorgeous. Which I suppose will please us plenty, even though you won't remember it at all. We'll show you pictures someday. Along with pictures of the egg you once were. Enough visuals to confirm for you that your parents are truly nuts.

You and I are currently still at odds over food. I'm hoping you'll take it easy on me soon and let me eat normally. That is still my chief complaint with this pregnancy - which I won't mention much until you (or your spouse/significant other/somebody vaguely related to you) experience pregnancy. Then I'll recount the torture you put me through, the days I couldn't eat, and the times that you were spiteful by letting me eat, only to toss it back up at me. On second thought, I may not do that at all. Because my mother is constantly telling me those stories, and it is darn annoying.

So, only 7 more weeks before we can start referring to you as a she or he. We're kind of already calling you a she, so if you're a girl that works out. If you're a boy...well...I hope you're not offended.

Take care in there, kiddo. And let me eat, would you? I'm sure we'll both be happier.

Love,

Your Mommy