Tom at 26 weeks
08 June 2009
04 June 2009
Learning a new code
Yay for vacation days and for mini-vacations. With the economy in a downturn, the baby on the way and the house that's still ours in Chicago we're being a little more inventive with our time away. We've taken a few weekends to go visit state parks and get some camping in (and bonding with ticks, which is yucky) This weekend we're heading down to Springfield, Illinois to visit some friends of ours from Chicago who moved roughly the same time we did and still have their house on the market. Note : If any of you readers wants a house about an hour north of Chicago I know of two where you might get a good deal! We haven't seen them in a while and they have a new baby (sorry AK and BK, you know that Amanda is coming for JHK (aka the baby)).
Minneapolis to Springfield is about 8.5 hours or so, we decided to split it up into smaller chunks for the way down, why not, it's our mini-vacation! We are spending the night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where they had a great big flood last year (we can commiserate). 400 blocks of downtown were under water and they're still recovering. While it's not New Orleans / Katrina we did see FEMA trailers on the way in and many of the doors in the first floor of the hotel we're in are still warped. Water is damaging.
As we were driving into downtown I caught a whiff of oatmeal. Oatmeal is super yummy in general and I figured they must mill oats here. Lo and behold the main Quaker Oats plant is located right down the street from the hotel! Maybe we'll head over there when we wake up tomorrow morning! (If we don't head over to a little bakery in the Czech village area)
Tomorrow we head the rest of the way, should be a fun weekend!
Minneapolis to Springfield is about 8.5 hours or so, we decided to split it up into smaller chunks for the way down, why not, it's our mini-vacation! We are spending the night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where they had a great big flood last year (we can commiserate). 400 blocks of downtown were under water and they're still recovering. While it's not New Orleans / Katrina we did see FEMA trailers on the way in and many of the doors in the first floor of the hotel we're in are still warped. Water is damaging.
As we were driving into downtown I caught a whiff of oatmeal. Oatmeal is super yummy in general and I figured they must mill oats here. Lo and behold the main Quaker Oats plant is located right down the street from the hotel! Maybe we'll head over there when we wake up tomorrow morning! (If we don't head over to a little bakery in the Czech village area)
Tomorrow we head the rest of the way, should be a fun weekend!
Bradley and Me
On Tuesday we went to our first of twelve Bradley classes. Bradley focuses on giving the mom the tools to go through with natural birth (no drugs, no caesarean) by teaching good nutrition, targeted exercise, and perhaps most importantly by training the dad in how to support both through the pregnancy and through the delivery. Twelve weeks of watching babies being born and getting prepped and ready to go. After our twelve weeks is up it's just about time for baby "Jill" to arrive!
We learned in this first class that babies, especially first babies, are typically late. Will the stork bring her on my birthday (4 days past due date)?
We also learned in this first class the beginnings of proper nutrition (more to come next week we're told). First and foremost 80-100 grams of protein a day. I'm in trouble if Amanda doesn't meet the goal. We were told of a website online that helps you track what you eat and you're recommended daily calorie consumption (based on age, height, weight, goals). Apparently I need about 3300 calories a day. When Amanda signed up she noticed that they didn't have a distinction between pregnant and not pregnant females so she wasn't sure how much she needed for the baby. I tricked the system though, I entered into the calculator an age of 0, height of 16 inches, weight of 1.5lbs with a goal of gaining 1 lb a week (which in reality should be about 0.5lbs a week but they didn't have that option. Tada, baby "Jill" needs 979 calories a day.
We learned in this first class that babies, especially first babies, are typically late. Will the stork bring her on my birthday (4 days past due date)?
We also learned in this first class the beginnings of proper nutrition (more to come next week we're told). First and foremost 80-100 grams of protein a day. I'm in trouble if Amanda doesn't meet the goal. We were told of a website online that helps you track what you eat and you're recommended daily calorie consumption (based on age, height, weight, goals). Apparently I need about 3300 calories a day. When Amanda signed up she noticed that they didn't have a distinction between pregnant and not pregnant females so she wasn't sure how much she needed for the baby. I tricked the system though, I entered into the calculator an age of 0, height of 16 inches, weight of 1.5lbs with a goal of gaining 1 lb a week (which in reality should be about 0.5lbs a week but they didn't have that option. Tada, baby "Jill" needs 979 calories a day.
02 June 2009
3D
I'm not very good about making a big deal about birthdays and anniversaries and the like (I don't forget them, I just don't usually make a big deal about them). This past Mother's Day was Amanda's first as a mom so I had to try and find something fun and exciting to give her. After hours of searching and searching I narrowed it down to two options: 1) Playing "Pin the carrot on the snowman" or 2) Getting a 3D ultrasound of baby "Jill".
I took the leap and gave her a gift certificate to the 3D ultrasound (sorry Amanda, hope you didn't have your heart set on the carrot/snowman game). Incidentally, Amanda and I don't actually give the gift certificates/cards to each other, we just free up that much $$ to spend, that way we can't lose the card, it doesn't expire, we can transfer it to a different store, etc.
Yesterday was the big day of the ultrasound. 25 weeks, 62.5% complete. 15 weeks, 37.5% to go. Little "Jill" is almost 2/3rds baked, which is 1/6th more than I'm baked!
In the last ultrasound we had "Jill" didn't want anything to do with showing us her face. She either would turn so we see the back of her head or put her hands over her face. She started this ultrasound in much the same way. I think she's camera shy. After about 15 minutes of prodding "Jill" did turn and look at the camera which caused both Amanda and the technician to giggle. Well worth the price of admission!
In the last ultrasound we had "Jill" didn't want anything to do with showing us her face. She either would turn so we see the back of her head or put her hands over her face. She started this ultrasound in much the same way. I think she's camera shy. After about 15 minutes of prodding "Jill" did turn and look at the camera which caused both Amanda and the technician to giggle. Well worth the price of admission!
Ever since Amanda introduced me to the concept of 3D ultrasounds I've thought they made the baby look like aliens. Perhaps it's a guy thing as a coworker had the same lament. I think most girls just giggle at the pictures. After seeing my own munchkin in the 3D pictures I'll amend and now think that the 3D pictures make other peoples babies look like aliens. They make mine look like .... marshmallows? ...
Countdown is still going strong. Tonight we start the first of the "Bradley" classes. Fun times?
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