The Stroller Rage

Yes, so apparently I need to be a little better informed. Last Thursday's appointment contained no sonogram, or really, no real information that would be fun to mention here. So basically, in order for me to get you a cool, updated picture of Goose, I would have had to cross many of the unmentionable barriers that Nicole and I have in our marriage. So I apologize, I have no new pictures of Goose to share. We did hear Goose's heart beating very loudly this time, and right off the bat... maybe he has a crush on the nurse, or maybe his excitement at not having to deal with a sonogram matched our disappointment. Either way, I was really hoping on sharing a picture of Goose, but what can you do. The doctor said no. And she also added that there won't be a sonogram for like 6 more weeks. So if I promise you anything before then, I am a liar. Don't fall for it.

So anyway, no sonogram for 6 weeks? What fun is that? As the father of this child, and therefore, accepting of no real duties in this process (I'm not growing it nor am I checking its health), my only real involvement is the up keep on this blog. Keeping those that care informed and up to date. Without this task, I'm only slightly more involved in this process than you. Well... I guess when Goose starts kicking Nicole real hard (which is all the time these days), I try to get on to him, but him and I both realize my threats are hollow. So long story short... sorry for not fulfilling the sonogram promise. I have made an attempt to post a slideshow of current photos for you. I'm not sure where it will show up, if it does indeed show up. So if it doesn't appear on the side of this blog, then it means I messed it up somethin' awful. Hopefully it will work. Also, for some reason the slideshow thing I have made crops a little bit off of the bottom of the photos. So if there is one you want to look at closer, just click on the picture when it pops up, (or any of them for that matter), and it will take you to the place on the web where I have the photos stored. You can look at them there in better detail than what shows up on the slideshow. This slideshow should show several rarely seen photos of Nicole as well as our new stroller... which I will get into later on in this blog. And yes, the last photo is of Nicole, holding a goose decoy, pushing our stroller. She's now a few steps closer to becoming a true Texan. Next step would be either clay pigeon shooting or actually adopting the "I'll take a coke." "What kind?" "Dr. Pepper" lingo.

Other news not involving sonograms are that Nicole and I have officially been baptized into the stroller phenomenon. We recently purchased a sweet little travel system that consists of a stroller, a car seat and 2 bases that will be installed in our cars. Total time in Baby's-R-Us to purchase said items: well over 3 hours. Why so long you ask? Well... I'm glad you asked. The answer: Baby equipment is unbelievably complicated. Add that to the, "Who Cares. Whatever." attitude by the employees at Baby's-R-Us and you find Nicole and me, helpless, standing in front of a sea of strollers. We were like lambs if you will, left to figure out how the strollers collapse, un-collapse, how the car seats attach to the strollers, etc. etc. Hopefully from the tone I'm typing in, you can still sense some of the frustration associated with the whole process. It was unbelievable. But with bad does come some good. I did learn a few things. And they are, in no significant order:

1. My engineering degrees have put me at no real advantage when it comes to the backwards mechanics associated with strollers.
2. Everything that looks like it should make the stroller do something is color-coded red. Whether it is for the most mundane of uses or not, it is red. Thus inherently creating an endless combination of levers and buttons to push and pull in hopes that something will happen.
3. There are a million types of stroller/car seat combos.
4. None of them fold up the same.
5. To make it personal, I collapse strollers much like I speak to someone that doesn't speak english. To explain: Say I want to fold the stroller to its travel size. Also say there is a nearby red handle. I begin the process by pulling the handle and pushing on the stroller in the direction I think will make it fold up. If nothing happens, I pull the handle a little harder and push on the stroller a little harder. Fast-forward a few minutes and you will find me bracing the stroller with my foot and yanking on the handle like I'm trying to crank-start a lawn mower. If nothing still happens, I ask Nicole the redundant question of, "Am I doing this right?"... not wanting an answer, mind you, just wanting someone to be on the same wave length as me. It's lonely being dumb sometimes. The relation to speaking to someone who doesn't speak english is this: I say, "Excuse me, do you know where the bathroom is?" They stare and say nothing. I say, "DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE BATHROOM IS!!!!!!". Nothing. "BATHROOM?"

But, it was great time. The next big purchase will be Goose's bed. We've actually already bought it, but since they didn't have any more in the store (naturally), they had to order it. It should be in on Friday. I'll keep you posted.

Time Flies

Today Nicole and I are now officially way under the 100 day mark. Time really flies by these days. It seems like only yesterday that Nicole was telling me she was pregnant, and only yesterday I wasn't believing her. For those of you that haven't been filled in, which I'm pretty sure nobody has, it happened the Saturday morning before A&M was set to play Oklahoma in football. I was watching the college gameday broadcast live from College Station when Nicole tested out one of her 40 million pregnancy tests. (Side note: Chances of me rembering life-changing dates are substantially better if I bookmark them around sporting events. It's a good tip for younger newly weds. Just fyi.) Anyway, back to the story. Nicole had been thinking she was pregnant for quite awhile, and so she had been taking like 3 or 4 pregnancy tests a day. She said it was because she was feeling different. At the time, I thought she was crazy. I thought she might be trying to pull a fast-one on me so that she could get out of helping me renovate our newly purchased house.

So she takes one for about the 40th time, only this time, instead of a "Nope" from a not-so-distant room, I hear in a quiet, questioning voice, "I think we're pregnant?" Naturally, I say "Whatever", thinking she was just foolin' around. Because for somebody's life to change so drastically, it had better be something a little more substantial than "I think", you know? "Oh, I think your life is going to change forever."

So I looked at the indicator (after Nicole assured me it was clean, obviously) and the only thing you could see was the bare hint that a thought of a line could be there. So I read the directions (which, is what I do.) I read the directions on just about anything. It's kind of my thing. So I read the directions, and although they were direct, I still doubted. They said (paraphrasing) "If you see anything at all, then you are pregnant." Those that have been there know that sometimes the line is not really a line. This time it wasn't really much of anything. It was just barely there. It looked more like where the line would be, if there were a line, but there wasn't. Like if you rubbed your eyes, what was there originally wouldn't be there when you opened your eyes back up. So I still doubted and I thought, can't they do better than this? To me, it seems that for something as life changing as this, not only should the line be CLEARLY visible, it should also take things a step further. Instead of a line it should be a phrase that lights up saying, "Yes, idiot, your wife is pregnant. Tell her you are excited, that you love her and that you will discuss baby names after the A&M game, but only if they win. A loss means you can discuss names tomorrow." Of course, if this were the case, I guess the pregnancy test wouldn't be as small and convenient as it is now. But that would certainly be better than the uncertainty associated with a faint line.

In all honesty though, the uncertainty almost took the luster out of finding out I'm going to be a dad. It almost stole the romance associated with something as romantic as becoming parents. But it didn't. I was still able to experience all the emotions. I was excited. But I was also scared, and worried, and doubting it was true, hoping it was, worried it wasn't true, nervous, wondering if we were ready, realizing it didn't matter now if we were or not, etc. But it was a great time. Seems so long ago in my mind, but now, as we await Goose, well under 100 days away, this day seemed like it was so far away then, and now it's happening. Nicole is huge and her belly moves on its own. We are buying lots of things and making the preparations, but it still is a little surreal to me. It almost seems like it is too early, like we just got married and we just bought our house. Like not long ago we discussed having a kid and what it would be like. And now it's about to happen. But then it also seems like it's about time. I'm tired of waiting and worrying about his health and the troubles we are going to face raising him. I'm tired of wondering what it's going to be like. So, sometimes I'm glad life moves so quickly. Like somebody out there knows that we are ready when we doubt ourselves.

On a different note, Nicole has another doctor appointment tomorrow. They will be doing another sonogram, so I hope to update the blog Thursday or Friday (probably Friday) with the updated Goose pics. I give you no guarantees that his hair will be combed or that he will smile. Until he gets to a point where we can discipline him (i.e. out of the womb), he's pretty much calling the shots. He's in for a rude awakening though... literally and figuratively.

Rock it out

So first things first, let me apologize to everyone for the lag that has occured between the last few posts. I have had like 4 projects go out in the last 2 weeks. Add that to my ongoing daily efforts dedicated to keep Nicole happy, and reminding her that she isn't so much fat as she is pregnant. Plus keeping Ed (our cat) from eating things he shouldn't and throwing them up places he shouldn't, and my free time has been a hot comodity lately. But, today is a new day. Life is sweet again. The joys of engineering without any real responsibility to the public are gone. (i.e. - I have no major projects going out anytime soon.)

For those interested, the above picture constitutes our first major purchase for Goose's room. That would be a sweet little rocking chair that's sole purpose in life is to turn a screamer into a sleeper. This chair will be what I call "phase 1". Should the baby rocker fail to put our child to sleep, I plan on implementing a series of steps/phases that according to my research, will be effective. They are in order of progression:

1. Try baby rocker again.
2. Feed him again.
3. Load him in the car and drive him around.
4. Beg.
5. Whiskey.
6. Bribery.
7. Stun-Gun him.
8. Grandparents.

I'm sure the granparents probably hope the rocker (step 1) and the remaining 7 steps fail. And no, (Mr. and Mrs. B), I'm not opposed to driving a screaming kid all the way to Ft. Myers, just to drop him off, turn around and drive back. And yes, Nicole and I promise to give you at least a 5 minute heads up.

But, in all seriousness, the rocker we bought is pretty cool. Nicole did a great job picking it out. We (Nicole) got to choose the fabric. It does need some breaking in, but once we get that taken care of, it is going to be really comfortable. And apparently that is what is most important. Well... probably that and that it's going to be scotch-guarded.

The other big news happening this week is that Goose has really started to move around. Now that I'm an old hat at feeling him move, I've been taking part a lot lately. Holy Cow is he active. Nicole is convinced he doesn't sleep, and in turn, doesn't sleep herself. So she's tired all the time because of Goose, who apparently just lives to kick her stomach these days. Here's a quick little side story for those of you that care.

• I guess Nicole's new resting place for her hand is now her newly formed baby belly. So she rests her hand on there a lot lately. Mostly because she says she likes feeling Goose move, but also because it's so handy. So while she's working the other day (Thursday), she's resting her hand on her stomach like normal. Only this time she feels Goose start his attempt at kicking her hand off of her own belly. For those of you that know Nicole, we all know that she can be a little stubborn. So she originally thought she would comply with Goose's demands and move her hand, but then she thought... "No, 1. my hand was here first. and 2. it's my stomach. I'm not moving it." So I guess Goose must have had a similar thought process, and so he continues to kick her hand. And so they continue to "fight" for a few minutes until Nicole realizes that Goose is settling in for the long haul. So she completely caves and moves her hand. Goose wins. Quite unbelievable really. Especially considering that the first battle between parent and child should always be won by the parent. So I'm pretty sure this isn't a good thing. Now we are already going to have to retrain him. Rule number one will now have to be that kicking is not acceptable. To be fair though, Nicole did later try spin the happenings as her just liking to feel him kick, but I believe it was as she originally described. It was a battle between them and she lost. Goose 1, Nicole 0.

So to wrap up... my sister said it best the other weekend... we've created a little community with this blog. I'm glad everyone has a place and a desire to check in on Nicole, me and baby Goose. People I would never have thought would read this blog have found it (what's up Summer and Lisa). So Nicole and I are very glad everybody is involved. Later, when Goose finds himself grounded and bored and without anything better to do other than to read this blog and all the comments, he's going to feel very blessed. Well... let's put it this way... he'll feel blessed or we will make him feel blessed!

What Dreams May Come

24 weeks today. Nicole had another doctor appointment... no sonogram, so no new pics of our ruggedly hansome fetus, but we did find out one thing: this kid hates doctor equipment. The only thing major that they needed to get done today was a quick heart rate check. So the "quick" check up turned out to be a skills competition for the nurse. I waited forever to hear the heartbeat, with everybody being real quiet, and then I started getting nervous. Then it was over. I still don't think I actually heard a sustained heartbeat, but Nicole and the nurse both say it was there. The problem was with that boy of mine. He did not like them listening in on him. Nicole said he was running all over the place and that he hasn't moved like that ever. Goose has apparently become very skilled at avoiding the microphone and has apparently developed some moves. He would dart off to her side, run up high, slide down low... basically whatever he had to do to dodge the microphone, short of coming out, he did it. Normally, hearing the heartbeat is my favorite thing at these appointments. It's why I come. But seeing the display he put on today really makes me proud. All I can say is, "That's my boy!"

So thanks to everybody for the feedback. Pertaining to the necessities we were asking about, there is so much baby stuff out there that who knows where to start. The suggestions were great, and much appreciated, but it sounds like we will need to find out for ourselves what works best for us and Goose. For me, that will probably be having Nicole do everything and only helping out during daylight hours. I'm probably no good after say... 8 pm anyway. Pertaining to the names, we definitely appreciate the suggestions. We have some ideas, but are going to buy a baby name book just to make sure we don't miss out on anything great or have a tremendous lapse in judgement. Names that are currently on the hot list are as follows: Maddox ("Max" for short), Nolan, Jacob ("Jake" for short), Cash. Picking a name is difficult. There's a lot of pressure there. And for somebody as indecisive as me... he may wind up with a first name and 5 middle names.

One other fun thing I am starting to learn about pregnant ladies is that they have some really wacked out dreams. Has this happened to everybody else out there that has kids? From what I have read and researched, wild, vivid dreams are fairly normal during pregnancies. Nicole is definitely not an exception. She has been having some really crazy episodes... so much so that she has started to get really concerned. Mostly because her dreams aren't the typical floating through the clouds, eating chocolate flavored rainbows. Hers are quite different, and to be honest, they are kind of violent. It's funny. For instance, here's one she had last night that had her worried:

• Scene: Nicole high in a tree house, clothed in a sniper outfit, armed with a bee-bee gun. Her target? Oh, a pasture full of children mocking her and her gun. Saying things like, "That won't hurt me". Her move? Well... obviously angry about something, she squeezes off a few rounds and peppers a poor unsuspecting boy right in the rear! He falls to the ground and lay motionless hoping Nicole will move on to her next target. (And so you don't think I'm the crazy one... this is completely legit. This was her dream!)

So needless to say, she has been pretty freaked out thinking these dreams are some kind of indication of what Goose is going to be like. She's worried she's growing some kind of danger to society in there. Like our first born child is going to be born with a straight jacket and the Hannibal Lecter face mask. Kind of a funny thought though. The doctor pulls Goose out of the womb only to find that he is wearing the afforementioned outfit and he does the whole, "It's good to see you again, Doctor." Pretty funny. Anyway, sorry about the sidetrack. So since both of us were obviously a little concerned (and I was at this point), I did some research this morning to help ease her mind. Turns out a lot of women have crazy dreams. Her violence is apparently derived from her ever growing motherly instincts and, of course, the hormones. So long story short... do not mess with our baby! Nicole will rip you a new one!

Help Wanted

Hello all. As I'm writing this today, Goose is currently 22 weeks old. Outside of the increased playtime he's having in Nicole's belly, everything else seems to be going eerily smooth. Well, outside of the fact that Nicole is without a doubt pregnant. It seems like every morning she wakes up a few sizes bigger than the night before. But it seems that the bigger she gets the more at ease she gets with it. Probably because there is no doubt now that she is pregnant with a baby, whereas before, a case could have been made that she was pregant with Little Debbies.

While we are on the topic of increased belly size, Nicole is currently employing the use of a "belly band". What a great invention that is! According to her though, it isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'm guessing because if left unattended, it could easily ride up into turtle-neck status, but I still think it is a great idea. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, I'll explain. Nicole's belly is so large now that she can't wear her normal pants without getting Goose all wrapped up in a half-nelson. So, in the time between her size now, and her gi-normous size a few months from now, she can wear her same pants, but with the button and zipper undone. The belly-band then wraps around her waist, covering the pants and holds them together. Such a great idea somebody had. But also, such a great idea I have... me, a belly-band, and some Mexican food!

To get to the meaning behind this title, Nicole and I are requesting a little help from everybody that reads this blog. We would like some serious feedback on the following 2 things:

1. For those that have kids: What was the one thing that you could not live without when taking care of your newborns? (i.e. diaper genie, something called boppers, or maybe chocolate?)
2. What are your favorite boy names? Now, I know this will take some restraint (Mrs. B), but we would like serious names... meaning names like Finius, Lars and Hobart should definitely be left out of the mix. And also, if you are saving a name for your future child, then by no means include it in your list, because with Nicole's pregnancy has also come a hightening of the senses, meaning she will no doubt be able to sniff out your weakness and believe me when I say... she will pounce!

Also, one more thing to wrap up. I pulled this from a pregnancy website. It was talking about what things Goose has developed.

• Your baby is able to hear. (Dads, did you know: low-frequency sounds mimicking a male voice penetrate the abdomen and uterine wall better than the higher frequencies of the female voice?)

I would just like to point out... like father, like son. I have a hard time hearing Nicole too. Good times.

Kick It!

Well what a week this past one has been. According to Nicole's lady doctor, Goose should have begun moving around by now. Nicole thought she felt him move for the first time 2 weeks ago... over a box of nerds no less. I guess the thought of a sugary, candy-coated high was too much to stay still about. But even his movement then left Nicole unsure that it was actually Goose and not any of the multitude of changes her body is undergoing (i.e. gas). So we weren't completely certain then. This past week; however, is a completely different story. Where last week was more "I think that was the baby moving", this week has become "What the &*^% Goose, knock it off already!" He has been gettin' with it.

So I believe it was Wednesday night... Nicole and I were watching some mindless television before we go to bed (our usual routine), and Nicole comments that Goose is really moving around. Then, she asks me/tells me to put my hand on her belly so I can feel him. I'm sure it's the same for all dad's the first time this happens, or maybe I'm a little different, given my uneasiness with all things slightly out of the ordinary. I much prefer thinking everything through so that I'm completely prepared for what's about to happen to me, in hopes of warding off the girl screams that are both untimely and unbecoming. But I balanced that side of me with the side that says that I'm not just a man, but rather, "THE" man, and therefore I did what I always do, fake some manliness, push myself through and I say "Sure" and I put my hand on her belly. And then... I wait. I'd compare the situation at this point, to a kid that wants to hold a bug, or a bird or anything else that they haven't felt before. They want to experience it. They want someone else to put the bug or the bird on their hand and they cringe and close their eyes and turn away in the moments before it happens because they don't know for sure what is about to happen. (Sure, some of them probably pee their pants and scream like little girls too, not saying I know of this personally, I'm just guessing it probably happens. It's a big world.) Anyway... so I wait. And so I realize that I'm on somebody else's time line. And I think, "Can he feel my hand on Nicole's stomach? Is that why he's not moving?" "Did I just freak him out?" "What's going on in there son!" Then it happened, and I will never forget it. Goose kicked and moved and rolled all at once. Sort of like a whale breaching the surface of the sea. Or maybe like the roll a gator does when it catches something. Sure, maybe a dog doing the roll over trick, but that is much less glamorous. Add a kick to all these things and you've got it. It happened so fast that it took a few seconds to process, so if anybody is curious, I didn't yelp like a girl or yank my hand back quickly. I just felt happy. Such a strange feeling. Hard to completely describe, but it was monumental to me. I will no doubt carry the feeling with me forever. Good for me, but great for Goose. He's going to be a quick one. He's going to be a soccer player. (Ref. Billy Madison).

Also this past week Nicole and I learned that Goose has been developing his sense of touch. Probably why he has been so active. I have a few theories on this. The first... that he is much like his father and is uneasy to the "new" experience of feeling things and he continues to freak himself out repeatedly. The second is that he has been playing a game with Nicole that she is unaware of. The old childhood game of "I'm going to start kicking, and I hope you don't get in my way." The third, while extremely doubtful, is the vision I have of a jailed inmate pumping iron to pass the time. He's got nothing better to do than say, grow some eyes, so in the downtime, why not beef himself up a little. Now, I'm in no way calling Goose a criminal so much as saying that when he arrives, there's a good chance he is going to be a bad a$$... and possibly a smoker.

That is all.

It's a Man Baby!!

Yeah, okay... so apparently when I say "no later than Friday" I really mean "no earlier than Sunday night". Sorry for the delay. But as you can probably surmize from the title, IT'S A BOY!! So to celebrate, Nicole and I (mostly Nicole though), have been on a shopping spree to find some of the necessities that this little boy is going to need. And I have been on a learning kick to figure out the baby lingo as it pertains to clothes. For instance: "onesies" are the equivalent to uni-tards for adults. "Rompers" are essentially "onesies" with little shorts on the end. And "sleepers" are essentially "onesies" with pants. Basically, I learned the lingo in like a day... so I can only conclude that parenting will be a walk in the park. Again, I could be wrong... but I doubt it.

So it's a boy (or as I prefer: a little man baby)! I'm so excited. A girl would have been cool too, but as I see it there are a lot of pros to it being a boy. For example:

The Pros:

1. Teaching him to pee outside.
2. Somebody else has to pay to marry him.
3. Nicole is now outnumbered when it comes to watching sports.
4. I will only have to mow the yard for another 2 or 3 years.
5. Did I mention an increase in sports watching and a decrease in sappy movie watching?

The Cons:

1. I guess this means I am the one that has to explain about how birds germinate bees and make baby tulips... and honey. I'm going to start making my power point presentation tomorrow.
2. For Nicole - Boy clothes are less cute than girl clothes.
3. The teenage years and how nobody is going to "understand" what he is really going through.

So 5-3 in favor of the boy. We'll keep him.

I was going to attach a few of the pictures from the sonogram, because the lady took like 10 to 15 pictures, but since the pictures aren't incredibly straight forward, and since Nicole was unable to get them on a disk for you guys, we'll have to include those pictures another time. (That's right... your not getting to see pictures because Nicole let you down. Take it up with her.) So I've included the latest picture of Nicole because her belly has really exploded in the past few weeks. She looks just like she did the day we married, but with a pregnant belly. It's cool for me to see how quickly things change.

Noteables from the doctor's visit. The baby is very healthy without any signs of complications. Due to the thigh bone, the nurse commented about how long baby goose is and how he is going to be a long one (no suprise there though). Goose is 20 weeks old but has developed to almost 21 weeks. The doctor didn't say it, but if you do the math, he should arrive with a mustache. And finally, she said it was definitely a boy... no doubt about it. So, take from that what you will. I will try to get some sonogram pictures up within the next week, but I've learned my lesson, I will promise you nothing.