Sunday, April 30, 2006

hey

well, the count-down continues and spring is most definitely here. The tulips are almost done blooming and our azaleas are taking there usual own sweet time getting ready to bloom in the front yard. This is also clearly the worst spring pollen wise since we moved here... we are both concentrating on indoor work this week, with the exception of the ever-present lawn mowing.

Otherwise the week has been pretty full... took in a baby basics class, a little lamaze, and basically trying to take care of the little things that need to get done before the baby arrives... though, as the doctor said "No worries, you'll be pregnant next week," to Danette... we had a little time to work with, it seems. Yesterday, we went and got her pre-registered at the hospital since we are done to ~3 weeks so that we can just head to the family maternity center instead of sitting in a waiting room... now I am working on another house project, re-painting the ceiling in our shower... not a lot of space, but it still takes time for all those coats of Killz to dry.

Other than that, life goes on....

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Monday, April 17, 2006

happy birthday danette

Happy Birthday Danette!

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Saturday, April 15, 2006

yo mama (to-be)

Just thought I would post a pretty decent pic of Danette from earlier this week. She has definitely 'popped' and the kid is movin' and groovin' all the time. A little over 5 weeks to go and everyone seems happy and healthy... that makes me one proud and happy papa-to-be. There a few more (random) pics, including one of all 2.85 of us over at this pagePosted by Picasa

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Friday, April 14, 2006

car seats... ugghhh.

So, we are basically in the homestretch, a little over five weeks to the due date, and the ever-present "they" suggest having the infant car seat installed about a month ahead of time just in case... plus it builds in some time to get the darn thing checked out by a pro since apparently most car seats are not correctly installed. Around here, I guess that the Shaker Fire Department might check them out a few days a month, and I think a couple of the children's hospitals... I need to look those days/times up... why other than the vague statistic I just paraphrased? There is a reason why so many are poorly installed... it is a real pain to do! I actually didn't need a workout today after trying to install the car seat in both cars (so I would know what might or might not work)...

Furthermore, it has been a while since I spent much time in the backseat... and boy are they small... moving around was difficult, but getting the carrier in and out requires moving the front seats... well, that is requires moving them from the completely back position that I drive in... but you get the idea. It will be a little better when the kid doesn't need a rear-facing carseat any more, but that is a ways off, and will probably coincide with little feet kicking my seat...

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Thursday, April 13, 2006

spring

yup, spring is here in Cleveland... not that it won't snow again, but it has been so mild this winter, that I kind of doubt it. But just since this past weekend the trees are blooming (as are allergies) and so are the daffodils in the yard. In fact, I may have to go out and mow the lawn this weekend, it looks like it is done being dormant for the year.

Yesterday was pretty fun... Rog and Jeanne were here for a quick visit on their way to Ashtabula to see some family and friends. We hadn't seen them in a few years and it was nice to spend some time catching up with them and show them around a little bit. They were even kind enough to schlepp stuff that my parents had packed up for us... mainly children's books that they had kept from when my brother and I were kids... but some other odds and ends too. I joked to Rog that he would get better gas mileage after leaving our house. Even got in a quick hi to Chad and Laura when the got their calls in to their mom and dad, which was good too.

Other than that, the same busy, busy, busy here... Danette has a birthday coming up soon too! so watch out for that....

And for those of you keeping score at home, I realized that as of today I have now lived more than half of my life without one of my original front teeth... damn baseballs... or reflexes, or something like that....

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Sunday, April 09, 2006

cross-off another week

It is amazing that another week has just flown by... in fact we are only 8 days from Danette's birthday and as of this tuesday we'll be at T-minus 6 weeks and counting to the baby. This past week was pretty crazy busy around here, especially for Danette... she has had a project that is on the fast-track and has to be completed quickly, so she has been working a lot.. on the plus side she came home early on Friday and just rested for the afternoon. What else is happening... well, Roger was in town to give a talk and stayed at our house... this was a fun time, we talked some good science and caught up a bit. They just moved out of their house in Eureka where Danette and I house-sat for about 8 months during our last year in St. Louis... so that is kind of an end of an era. We also had fun taking him out to some local restaurants while he was here too.

This weekend was fun too... yesterday afternoon our friend Julie who works with Danette came over with her newborn, 6-week old daughter to see us and catch up with Danette since she was unable to come to the shower a couple of weeks ago. Her daughter Maggie is pretty cute and spent most of the visit just sleeping in my arms while we (mostly D and J) chatted... Then today we got up and did some errands early... then early this afternoon we had our tour of the hospital, Hillcrest. (check out the web nursery - I am sure that our kid will be there in the next several weeks!) Seems like a nice hospital and it has a Level 2 neonatal nursery with a 24-hr neonatologist in-house, which is nice in case any babies come early (fingers-crossed against that!)... It is nice to have an idea of where things are and what to expect, logistically-speaking, while we are there. I hadn't realized it, but hospitals are becoming very security conscious, especially toward newborns, and basically babies are fitted with Lo-Jack like devices and security always knows where they are on the ward... and in fact if a baby gets near an elevator, the doors won't close, and silent alarms go off. So that is comforting in a way... and we'll have to double check that the tracking devices is removed before we try to leave! Also, another woman that Danette knows from a class, happened to be in the Family Center, so after our tour, she called up to her room and then went up and had a short visit. While that was happening, I was down in the waiting room watching a mother struggle with a new child-seat for her newborn. It apparently was installed right in the car, but the carrier/seat had straps that were difficult to loosen enough for this tiny newborn to fit in the seat... it took a security officer and a maintainance guy to help her... I stayed out of it because they had lots of help, but since the seat is a similar design to what we have... I am definitely going to make sure that I can get a stuffed animal or something in and out of that chair before we have to do it for real.

We met the second pediatrician this week... she seemed great too, so that will be a difficult choice, and we had our first Lamaze class which was good... four more weeks of that, I think.

Finally, we took the plunge and got a camcorder... a Canon like our digital camera, so we ought to be able to take some video and hopefully post some at some point... though I am not sure if I can do that here...

Anyway, have a great week.


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Sunday, April 02, 2006

setting those clocks ahead

though hopefully not the baby's clock, we are still trying to get ready! We are almost to the bare-minimum stage now... yesterday we took the trek out to the BabiesRUs (yes two weeks in a row for me) and bought the car seat - stroller combo. The car seat is one of the infant variety carriers that securely connects to a base installed in the car. We just need to install it and then go to the one of the friendly hospitals or fire stations where they will check to make sure I actually installed correctly. We still have about 7 weeks until the due date, and most of the books seem to say to get it installed about a month before just to make sure you don't get caught by surprise... so we still have a few weeks.
So, I had promised a few more pics of the baby's room and the dresser. So the pic on top is the dresser that we finished... it now has enough polyurethane to protect it from just about anything (we hope!). We will secure the changing pad to the top and use it as a changing table as well. Below is the crib, all decked out in the stars and moons motif bedding. the mobile fits the theme with stars, moons, and even a planet with rings..the underside of the sun has a nice smiley face... it winds up and plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".
This week we start Lamaze classes, which should be good, meet another pediatrician, and then we will have a guest at the end of the week. Our friend and my former graduate advisor Roger is coming to give a talk and is going to stay with us, which should be great fun. Posted by Picasa

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