Baby Equipment

In about 10 weeks we will have our little baby girl, Vivian. As all good parents do, we have been procrastinating on buying the necessities having a baby in this modern age require. This weekend we decided it was time we start getting serious about being prepared, so we skipped our "Newborn Basics" class and decided to go shopping instead.

Of course, it isn't good enough to just run down to Jamesway, KMart, or the local dump. These days you need to do some research ON-LINE. After combing Consumer Reports and the Target website, we settled on the Chicco Cortinal Travel System for our first carseat/stroller.






Hopefully the baby comes with better instructions...







I have to say once it was together I was impressed with how easy it is to use. The stroller folds up by pulling one handle, and the car-seat snaps in and out with almost no effort. Yvonne and I even tried out the car-seat in the Audi and Mini today. Clearly, technology has seriously advanced since I was a kid. The LATCH System makes it extremely easy to install the car seat.






So, the car-seat/stroller is our first major purchase for the baby. We saw a few cribs while we were out, but are still debating how much to spent and what to get. Target has a nice one that isn't very expensive, but we still need to research it a bit more before we decide.

Finally, since it can't ALWAYS be about baby, I leave you with a picture of the new TV I bought after selling my townhouse two weeks ago. It is an LG 42PG20 Plasma TV. The best part is that it has a digital tuner, which lets us get HD off the air. No more cable bills! I need to enjoy it while I can, for soon enough it will be playing a continuous loop of "The Little Mermaid" or some other such crap...

How NOT to be a dad...

The other night Yvonne and I decided to get her old Cabbage Patch doll out and see what it would be like to dress it. Basically, we wanted a trial run with a non-squirmy baby to make sure we knew how to button the onesies.








Let's just say I know why I never played with dolls growing up...













Of course, as I have learned over the years, every problem can be solved by my old friend and Patriot, Sam Adams...Clearly, the little Cabbage Patcher is excited to have a good beer and not the usual Miller Lite.






Don't worry. When the REAL baby arrives, she will only get a steady diet of Momma Yvonne's Breast-y Lager.

Nervous Moments/Dry run

Yesterday started out as a normal day. Wake up late, shower late, leave late, and head to work. Yvonne and Lilli saw me off as I got into the car and I started work as usual. Around 11:30 Yvonne messaged me that she was feeling ill and getting tunnel vision and that it wasn't getting any better. To play it safe, I left work and came home. I was pretty nervous and hoping she would be all right. When I get home she is on the phone with the nurse trying to get hold of a doctor to see what might be wrong. We managed to eat some lunch before the nurse called back and let us know the doctor wanted us to head into the hospital and get checked out. The fear is Yvonne may have Pre-eclampsia. All I could do was re-assure her everything would be ok. Luckily it was a nice day out and we had a pleasant ride to the hospital. I think getting some fresh air helped.

We made it to the hospital and, after taking too long to hand my keys to the valet (which was very handy), we went inside and had to update all of our paperwork. Yvonne was very nervous and we kept telling Vivian she wasn't ready yet and needed more time to cook.

They took us back to room 14 and gave Yvonne a hot little dressing gown and had her sit on the bed where the nurse, Sherry, hooked her up to a blood pressure monitor, a fetal heartbeat monitor, and a pressure monitor to measure any contractions. Then Sherry left and said she would be back in a bit. We spent the time looking around the room, having our first tour of the place. We also noticed the TV had both of its channel buttons removed, so we were stuck watching CNN.

Yvonne was feeling the urge to go potty, so we walked down to the nurses station to get a little help. Sherry returned shortly and collected her sample and told us someone would be by to get a blood sample.

More time passed.

Finally someone did arrive and managed to actually get blood from Yvonne (her hand, since the veins in her arms are apparently fake.) Off the lady went and we got to spend more time alone with CNN and listening to the fetal heartbeat monitor. I got thirsty and decided to look for a soda and some fruit for Yvonne. I managed to find the nursery, though there were no babies there at the time. Finally I made it to the front entrence where there was a gift shop that sold drinks. I got a diet Pepsi and a Snickers for Yvonne (sadly, they had no fresh fruit.)

Back in the room the iPhone paid off by allowing us to check our email and find that my house finally closed and I was now officially homeless. Well, unless you count the country house...

Around 4pm Sherry returned with the good news that Yvonne was fine and that it wasn't Pre-eclampsia, and that we were able to go home. We were both relieved and happy to leave, though it was a good experience getting to see the inside of the hospital and how things worked. We also walked by the nursery on the way out and got to see a little newborn baby girl. She was very cute! Soon enough we will have our own little one to bring home with her cute little pink hat.

Speaking of cute, here is a picture of Yvonne in her sexy hospital gown. What you don't see are the easy open flaps for breast feeding. ;-)

Still Cookin'

Not much has been going on in daddy-land lately. Things are going well and Vivian is really starting to grow. This, of course, leads to Yvonne's belly starting to grow on almost a daily basis. We are anxiously awaiting the day her "turkey timer" (ie, belly-button) pops out, which is getting close. Vivian's movements are also getting stronger and clearly visible. I can't wait until the day we can see a little foot or hand pressing out.

On another note, I managed to get into some sort of poison plant while weeding a couple weeks ago and have developed some nasty, itchy rash all around my body. It is very pleasant. I initially thought it was chiggers, then fleas from Lilli (first the dog farts all the time, now she gives me fleas...) I went to the doctor on Monday and she said it was caused by some plant and she's seen it before. She gave me 12 days worth of Prednisone, so hopefully it will start clearing up in the next day or so.