We are now in our 18th week with exactly 5 months to go. According to one source, the baby begins to hear this week and may even be startled by loud noises. It can also start to swallow although I can't imagine there is anything worth swallowing at this point. Reading these updates is exciting but it is even better when we get a peek at the little one.
Our friends had a baby shower this weekend in Springfield so we stopped off at buybuyBaby on our way home. We checked out a couple strollers and once Mike decided he had found the best one, we left. Even though we were only in the store for 15 minutes, I feel like we made progress and can no longer be considered slacker parents-to-be. For now, we'll continue our daycare search and sleep in as often as we can. We still have a 5 months to relax before the real work starts and we plan to take full advantage of it!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
We thought we'd take a quick moment to address some recent comments we've gotten regarding the content of our blog.
We decided to start a blog soon after we told everyone of our exciting news with the intent that we could share with family and friends every exciting moment of the pregnancy...every last exciting moment. Funny thing is that the initial excitement Susan and I shared as a couple, and then the excitement we had as we told family and friends has since turned into a process something akin to watching water boil, or more accurately, watching grass grow. Our 3 sonograms and 1 heartbeat listening have been seperated by days and weeks and months of, well, nothing.
So we have decided that the blog will focus on our interests along with the infrequent though exciting pregnancy moments. BTW: We scheduled the major sonogram for a couple weeks from now so we should have some newer pictures fairly soon.
We decided to start a blog soon after we told everyone of our exciting news with the intent that we could share with family and friends every exciting moment of the pregnancy...every last exciting moment. Funny thing is that the initial excitement Susan and I shared as a couple, and then the excitement we had as we told family and friends has since turned into a process something akin to watching water boil, or more accurately, watching grass grow. Our 3 sonograms and 1 heartbeat listening have been seperated by days and weeks and months of, well, nothing.
So we have decided that the blog will focus on our interests along with the infrequent though exciting pregnancy moments. BTW: We scheduled the major sonogram for a couple weeks from now so we should have some newer pictures fairly soon.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Daycare hunt
So we found out about a month ago that parents around here are a bit more industrious than both Susan and I. Apparently, a 6 month waiting list is fairly common at most daycare centers, and some are more than 9 months! So we have now joined the frenzy in earnest (even though we don't need anything until October at the earliest).
Karen, iBaby's aunt, had heard good things about Reston Children's Center and suggested we check it out. So, a few weeks back, we went and took a tour. The place was clean and very homey. Children were being held and every infant was being watched. There was a darker sleeping room where every infant had his/her own crib that was connected to the playroom. We both decided that this was the place for us. Sounds easy enough, right? Well apparently signing up in January for a slot in October does not guarantee you anything! In fact, after I learned the difficulty in getting a slot I offered to take the first available even if it opened up before October. Even with this they recommended we apply to at least a couple others.
So, I vistited a second place at lunchtime last week without Susan. What a mess! Children completely unsupervised crawling all over the room. I saw one under a crib...pure chaos. The only upside was the whole tour took 5 minutes as I had zero questions.
Today Susan and I met up at noon and visited another site. Although the children seemed like they were being watched, there was little to no interaction from the caretakers. The place was clean though and chaos was controlled...BUT...they are located next door to a homeless shelter with no controlled access for the doors and noone at the front door. We both agreed to take a pass and went to lunch at La Madeleine.
We'll be checking out a bunch more in the next two weeks...wish us luck!
Karen, iBaby's aunt, had heard good things about Reston Children's Center and suggested we check it out. So, a few weeks back, we went and took a tour. The place was clean and very homey. Children were being held and every infant was being watched. There was a darker sleeping room where every infant had his/her own crib that was connected to the playroom. We both decided that this was the place for us. Sounds easy enough, right? Well apparently signing up in January for a slot in October does not guarantee you anything! In fact, after I learned the difficulty in getting a slot I offered to take the first available even if it opened up before October. Even with this they recommended we apply to at least a couple others.
So, I vistited a second place at lunchtime last week without Susan. What a mess! Children completely unsupervised crawling all over the room. I saw one under a crib...pure chaos. The only upside was the whole tour took 5 minutes as I had zero questions.
Today Susan and I met up at noon and visited another site. Although the children seemed like they were being watched, there was little to no interaction from the caretakers. The place was clean though and chaos was controlled...BUT...they are located next door to a homeless shelter with no controlled access for the doors and noone at the front door. We both agreed to take a pass and went to lunch at La Madeleine.
We'll be checking out a bunch more in the next two weeks...wish us luck!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Houston, we have a problem
Wow! I just got done watching Houston drink the kool-aid that is Obama-mania. If you haven't read it, Charles Krauthammer had a great piece last Friday in the Washington Post that puts these speeches/cult revivals in context. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/14/AR2008021403105.html
"Obama's Super Tuesday victory speech was a classic of the genre (cult revival). Its effect was electric, eliciting a rhythmic fervor in the audience -- to such rhetorical nonsense as "We are the ones we've been waiting for. (Cheers, applause.) We are the change that we seek." "
If you watch these speeches with this framework you can see he is no different than any cult figure even setting up false enemies with lines such as "They said this couldn't be done" and "They say I must be naive, to talk about hope". The worst part is that the media outlets not only do not question any of his rhetoric, but rather seem to be nothing more than propoganda towers to brodcast his messianic message. Tonight he spoke for 45 minutes and every cable news network broadcast the speech in its entirety (after cutting away from an in-progress Clinton speech) with no commercials. Here's to hoping America shakes itself out of this trance before we make a big mistake! Now that's hope I can believe in!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Don't believe eveything you hear!
Our good friends Erik and Cat got married this weekend so we were pretty busy. The wedding and reception were incredible as was Mike's speech. This had to be the best food of any wedding we've attended and there was tons of it!
So, after a late night celebrating, we woke up early this morning and headed to the doctor. Our stubborn little one is doing well and even cooperated by allowing us to hear the heartbeat for the first time!
I think there are old wives tales pertaining to every aspect of a pregnancy so we ignore most of them. One tale we heard that made sense though was that more nausia than usual indicates a girl because the hormones from the baby are in conflict with the mother's hormones. Considering I am still getting sick at 17 weeks, Mike inquired with our doc if this means we are having a girl. I think he was comforted when the doc said this wasn't true at all...we'll see though (I still think its a girl).
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Fair and Balanced?
A friend sent me these pictures today...they are the two pictures on the front page of the Washington Post. Is this really the best photo of McCain they had? I guess the photographer has McCain's name in the photo so he didn't see the need to show his face...McCain sweeps all three primaries and they show a picture that makes him look like he's drowning. This is the most blatant favoritism I have seen in a while...and I do watch CNN still so I'm used to favoritism.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Back to Reality
So we are back from a nice week down in St John USVI....we've been to a few islands but both agree that St John is the perfect place for a winter vacation. 3/4 of the island is undeveloped national park with beautiful trails and forests and unreal beaches. Snorkeling is amazing as is the hiking.
The link to our other St John photos is below.
Not looking forward to work tomorrow!
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