Week 2 - Everything

So Sydney arrived early and it will probably not be the last spontaneous thing she does. We had gone in for a routine checkup and a few hours later I was holding her in my arms, overcome. Some time later and with a little reflection on what had happened I ran into my father-in-law in the elevator as they arrived from a long drive to see their new granddaughter. He asked the obvious question, "What are you feeling right now?". I remember thinking I was feeling just about every emotion in the book from pure joy to wonder to fear to exhilaration. The only answer I could come up with to describe it was, "I'm feeling everything". For two weeks now we've been feeling everything. This includes new kinds of joy and also pee. Yes, we've been feeling pee as mom and dad figure out which diapers are the right size and how tight to put them on. Yesterday alone both of us changed clothes at least once. So while I initially thought my answer "feeling everything" would continue to grow day by day with new emotions, it's become clear that "feeling everything" will more likely include various new bodily fluids.

Mom has begun to play dress up as this picture captures :)

Week 36 - Lasts

Three and a half weeks to go. We can't believe it. We're starting to do some of our "lasts" before B-Day or E-Day as Maggie would probably put it (Epidural Day). To be honest she could use an epidural right now as the shots she's taken to the ribs for months now are finally wearing her down. So we're planning a fun last dinner out. We're running around getting last minute things for her. We're realizing our last time to get the car seats checked is running out. We're enjoying our last few weekends of sleeping in. We're celebrating our mom's last Mother's Day before Maggie joins the club and Grandmothers Day takes on new meaning. We're taking our last photos as a couple before we become a threesome. We're enjoying the calm before the storm....and then finally, at last, she will be here.

Week 35 - Future

So while I've generally viewed planning as tomorrow, maybe next week, at most next year...I've found my mind wandering way into the future and it scares me. Maybe all parents go through this sudden fog lifting realization that they are going to need money, and lots of it. Oh yeah, we've got retirement planning going but this is far more involved. We've got dresses up the wazoo, hair care products, dancing lessons, ice skating lessons and I don't even know what else little girls need. Now I'm looking 18 years into the future at some to be named college and how much it will cost. I plug in all my numbers on a spreadsheet and realize that the slightest tweak of an interest rate takes us from well in the black to bleeding red ink all over the place. So many unknowns. I woke up the other night realizing that given the general way girls marry older boys/men, that our son in law (god willing) is probably already out there somewhere crawling around on all fours. He's getting pictures taken that will end up in a slide show with our little girl on their wedding day as Maggie and I remember how it just seemed like yesterday the future was so far away.

Week 34 - Learning

I heard a funny story this week about babies in the womb. Apparently when they are strong enough and beginning to explore the world around them, they figure out that they can grab things with their hands...and what would you grab in a womb but the umbilical cord. So they've been known to grab the cord and squeeze, thereby cutting off the oxygen flow and passing out at which point they release the cord and everything is fine. Then they wake up and do it again. So at 34 weeks, our babies are already doing something they are not supposed to. They have become mischevious and curious about the world around them. I assume she wonders each night who is making noises at her through mom's belly. I tell her not to play with the cord...but she's probably already learning to tune me out.

Week 33 - Worry

In the wake of the VT catastrophe I would have, in the past, probably focused solely on those students who had died that day and the young lives that were cut short. Now, I thought of those innocent children and immediately my thoughts turned to their parents and my heart aches for them. I think I've started the conversion to someone who will now worry for the rest of his life. I'll worry when people hold my little daughter; I'll worry when she steps outside for the first time; I'll worry when she rides her bike down the block and around the corner, out of sight for the first time; I'll worry when she goes out on her first date; and I'll worry when she heads off to school. My prayers go out each night for strength to the parents of those killed...I simply cannot imagine their pain, and I never want to.

Week 32 - New Toys

So we picked up the car seat last night finally and I feel like I had picked up a new toy. I rushed home and took it out of the box to see what it looked like and after twenty minutes of figuring out how to detach it from the car base, I had a baby car seat in hand. Next was figuring out how this thing fit into the shiny stroller base we have in the front hall that I roll around each time I pass by because it has these big wheels and looks fun. So after another twenty minutes and realizing that in fact the baby faces IN and not OUT, things clipped in a lot better. I'm glad we're finally starting to get these new toys in the house because there only so many times I can admire and spin the dial on the new diaper genie.

Week 31 - Outfits

The Week 31 instructions on Baby Center indicate we should be getting a bag together already. Do I start to hyperventilate now or wait a few weeks. This is all happening much faster now. Apparently this bag contains the "going home outfit" that Maggie has taught me about recently. According to some unknown law, this is one of the most critical pieces in the whole birth puzzle. This outfit must be cute. It must be appropriate for the season. It must be girly enough so everyone knows we had a girl and we can avoid those awkward moments when people look at your baby and wonder. It must be the right size and we're not sure if she's going to be very big. It must be cuddly and the perfect outfit as this is the "welcome to the world" outfit. Based on this you'd think we were going to leave the hospital and there would be some float we would jump on to be whisked off into a parade cheering us on culminating in our coronation as new parents. Alas, my thought is that we will leave the hospital quietly, put this baby in the car seat we pray is installed correctly, and drive her home at which point she will spit up and poop on her going home outfit.

Week 30 1/2 - Picture Time

Haven't had any good profile shots in a while so here are a couple from the last week. Note Maggie's very cute prego jean jacket :) In other news, the nursery is complete and we can't help but peek in each time we go upstairs. It's funny to have a nursery in your own house when you've looked at nurseries in other people's houses for so long. Still doesn't seem quite real...yet with each additional shot Maggie takes to her ribs reality sets in a little more each day :)

Week 30 - ...and she's Big!

We went in for our 30 week doctor visit yesterday and we still have a very (almost too) healthy little girl. The doctor said Maggie looks full term already so we're starting to think we might have our little bundle of joy earlier than we thought. She'll come out talking at this point so the doctor has Maggie laying of the carbs (i.e sugar) to slow this thing down. Already an overachiever at 30 weeks of age...I love it! :)

Week 29 - Kumquat in 4D

I still haven't really figured out what the fourth dimension is (color?) but it was still an incredible experience. You could really see her nose and lips and then her cute little feet moving around. That finally clued us in to what's been kicking Maggie's ribs for the past couple weeks and the shots to her midsection are the arms moving around. A couple of times we even saw her open her mouth or stretch out and it was just wonderous to see how fast she's grown into a real looking person. You can also check out a video they made of her stretching out at the link below!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9210686162661959456

Week 28 - The Home Stretch

Today Maggie enters her third trimester! This little girl is kicking like crazy every day and we're having a blast watching her each evening. The nursery is in progress and we've finally got some paint on the walls. Hopefully just another couple days of work to finish that up and we'll be able to get everything set, well ahead of time as all good first time parents do. The opposite would be our friends Marc and Steph who just had their third and I'm pretty sure they were picking up things at Babies r' Us on the way home from the hospital with their new little son.

Week 27

I was at Starbucks this morning and behind me in line was a relatively new dad with his daughter in hand. I probably never would have noticed them before but I just kept looking back and thinking about how proud he must be and how much fun this guy was having with just a little trip to Starbucks to show off his girl. Somewhat like getting your driver's license and going out for that first drive alone, I can't wait to wake up one morning...let Maggie sleep in and go out to Starbucks for a little dad and daughter bonding time.

Week 26 - Redefining A "Fun" Evening

A story from Maggie:

Thought I would share a fun story about Kumquat. She was very amusing to Ivey and me last night. We spent about 15 minutes just watching my belly and laughing - who needs TV? (J/K, we still need TV!) Ivey made a yummy dinner of Chicken Piccata. Something different for me to eat, but not sure why she was so active - either just a coincidence or she wasn't used to the garlic and capers? Anyway, she was kicking and punching like crazy. I think an elbow or a knee scraped across my stomach at one point too. The funny thing was you could SEE all her activity just looking at my belly.

Week 25 - Remodeling

Now 25 weeks and only 15 to go!! I can't believe this has gone by so quickly although 15 weeks will still feel like a long time to Maggie I'm sure. Last weekend we finally cleared out the nursery of all the furniture and have a fresh start ready to be girled up for kumquat. We've got some chair molding and pink and brown stripes in the works but we'll see how that turns out and put some pics up when it's ready.

Maggie's coat is just about to the point where she can't button it anymore so now it's a race against time with spring. Can her coat hold out a couple more weeks? Will spring come early and relieve her of the need for it? The groundhog did not see his shadow so we're hopeful :)

Week 24 - My Valentine

Kumquat turned 24 weeks on Valentine's Day and Maggie shared a few fun facts about this week:

Your baby can hear more and more now, and you may even notice her startle
at loud, sudden noises. But she's probably getting used to the regular
noises she hears around the house, such as your dog barking or the roar of
a vacuum cleaner. Many new parents are surprised by how unfazed their
newborns seem by sounds like these, but if you think about it, they've had
months to get accustomed to them.

She is starting to get taste buds.

She is about 1 1/2 lbs.

Week 23 - Tae Bo Girl

Kumquat definitely enjoyed the warmer climates of a 90 degree Aruba. The sweet desserts made her happy and strong enough that dad got to feel her kick for the first time! What an awesome feeling all around. We had a second ultrasound when we got back and she's still a girl and very very healthy at 1.4 pounds. Everything looked great and seeing her made coming back to reality a little easier. The Week 23 picture (with ice cream) is included to the right :)

Week 22 - ...and there off

..off on vacation...we're exposing the belly to southern Carribean weather this week so not much to report...another sonogram next week though!

Week 21 - Are you kidding me 'r us

Have you ever stood in the aisle of a babies 'r us and had a serious conversation about whether your baby will want the tray on its stroller or not? Have you looked at pacifiers and decided that she would find this one so much more enticing than that one? The experience of registering baby items for me has become similar to buying fishing tackle. I wander through countless aisles of items, many looking exactly the same and I really have no idea what will work better than anything else. All I know is we have a boat and we're going fishing so we better pick some stuff up.

Week 20 - Kickoff

At the midway point now and Maggie has finally started to feel the baby kick! This is where I really start to be envious of what she's feeling. Last night she had me put my hand on her belly but it's too early to feel much. At first she didn't know what it was but now that it keeps happening so she' s sure it's our little soccer player stretching those legs out and getting ready! Another appointment this week and the heart was beating away just fine about 150 beats per minute. This would be the point where we realize that while 40 weeks sounded like a long time at the start, it doesn't seem like much is left compared with what we have to get done.

"Life is tough enough without having someone kick you from the inside."
~ Rita Rudner

Week 19 and It's a...

Healthy (and I assume happy) baby girl! The ultrasound was incredible and just an experience to see how responsive and mobile this little zucchini sized girl is. Already doing somersaults in Maggie's stomach and the technician had to chase her around just to get measurements. With tears in her eyes Maggie looked up at me and said "This is going to be expensive". While I never committed to either, I think it's going to take some time to get used to the thought of a little girl. At least I have Marc and Roger who have paved the way with two girls each and can provide some much needed help :) I thought of how happy my Mom was after having two boys that she's finally going to have a little girl, something she confided she had hoped for all along. I thought of Maggie's Dad who had two girls and is in for more of the same for which we're lucky because he did a pretty good job with the first two. Almost halfway now and what an incredible day, and so many more to come.

Week 18

Maggie entered Week 18 by ringing in the New Year with no champagne. I'm sure kumquat appreciated it though. Fun trip south to SC and a long car ride back but Maggie did well. The bump isn't so big that it creates problems yet with the driving. Mom and Dad are learning all about car seats this week and looking at the newly released consumer reports verdict on all the new safety features. Only five days now until the ultrasound and we're pretty excited. I think we have some excited parents as well that want to start shopping sprees :)

Week 17

Maggie continues to feel stretching pains as the baby grows. Only a couple weeks until the ultrasound and our anticipation is boiling over. Allison and Ryan gave birth to a beatiful baby boy (Grayson) on Christmas Day and are doing great!

Baby Brady

Why not include posts about other cute babies as well :) Here's a great picture from the Naughty and Nice party where Brady certainly looks naughty.

Welcome!

We thought about creating a new website but I didn't want to spend my vacation doing that so in the interest of joining the new world of blogging I figured what better time. So periodically we'll throw up the pictures that are required of all new parents including the ultrasound and other things that only we can find interesting but must subject everyone else to as well :) I chose a pretty generic template and we'll "girl" or "boy" it up when the news arrives in late January! To whet your appetite, here are some pictures of the happy mom and dad at 16 weeks :) Mom is up about her normal weight by this time....Dad has gained about 1/2 pound from all the brownies Maggie keeps making.