Christmas 2010 - Stage 1: Complete! Plus New BB Pic (24 Weeks)

So, about 70% of our Christmas is officially behind us.  This is a “Christmas in Lubbock” year for my brother and his family, so we had our faux Christmas Eve with our family last night.  This is comprised of the exchanging of all gifts involving our parents, our grandmother, or any member of his nuclear family as either the giver or recipient, as well as the eating of copious amounts of junk food.  Fun (and prodigious loot) was had by all.  I always look at the piles of toys, games, movies, clothes, various kitchen implements, and Lord-knows-what-else and think we are all quite spoiled (which is true).  Then I hear about how much other people buy for their kids and grand kids, both in the category of those that make me look modest and those that make me look extravagant, and realize how relative it all is.

And how it is all beside the point. 

We’ve decided to fore go the holiday observations involving a certain red-suited elf this year in the interest of focusing attention back toward the religious significance of Christmas.  This decision was somewhat reinforced when I asked Ren a few weeks ago if she knew what the point of Christmas was.  I was expecting her reply to be something along the lines of “it’s when Santa bring us presents” or maybe even “to spend time with family”; I unfortunately never really humored the possibility that she might actually identify it as the time when we celebrate Christ’s birth.  Her actual response to was even worse than I was expecting, though not terribly surprising:  “so we can get lots of presents.”  To make matters worse, she couldn’t even think of why we might give presents on Christmas; not surprising, as she is not associating the holiday with Christ’s birth.  Don’t get me wrong, I know that information must be in there somewhere – we go to Celebrate Jesus and the Christmas Eve candlelight services, so the association is being made – but she spends far more of her time around the holidays watching Rudolph and Santa Claus is Coming to Town than anything with a religious angle to it (although the Little Drummer Boy is also on one of those DVDs, so at least the nativity story is getting thrown in occasionally as well).  All of this is to say that I am feeling rather convicted about trying to focus less on the secular and more on the spiritual aspects of Christmas.  Not that I have a problem with the gift giving, it at least has a religious connotation and my mother is a gift giver by nature besides.  I would just rather focus on teaching my kids that we give gifts to commemorate the magi’s gifts to Jesus than because some cultural icon that evolved from an amalgam of Celtic folklore and a Catholic saint brings them to us.

I sound jaded now, don’t I?

*steps down off the soapbox*

The unfortunate downside to performing what I have always viewed as the central observation of Christmas (i.e. the Bailey Family Christmas Eve) a week early is that it throws off my mental calendar; my first thought when the radio came on in the car Monday morning on the way to work was “why are they still playing Christmas music?”  I had to remind myself that Christmas had not, in fact, already passed.  It’s not like Christmas will go by unobserved, we still have the presents from ourselves and Denine’s side of the family to open, and since our usual tradition is already done with, the Baileys that are left in town plan to spend the day catching up on the holiday season movies we haven’t had the chance to see.  Because nothing says holiday cheer like long-haired princesses, cyber warriors, and wizards.  Oh well, at least Narnia has a heavy spiritual tone.

In baby-related news, we are finally making some headway on the nursery.  Last weekend we got most of the fabric bought for the crib bedding and curtains, and this weekend I got some more prep work done for moving the kids into one bedroom.  We’re supposed to buy a crib this weekend (between movies, I suppose), and as soon as Ren is moved out we can start thinking about painting.  Even though the baby bump pic for this post is at 24 weeks, we are officially at 25 as of last Friday, so we only have 15 weeks (theoretically) to get everything done.  Which somehow seems simultaneously a long time, and not nearly long enough to get everything done.  Oh, and throw in still needing to get our shower fixed before then like I promised.

So much for things slowing down after the holidays.

Oh, and we may be changing the name.  Nothing official yet, though.

Eh, I got nothin'...

Holidays: Two Down, One To Go, & New BB Pic (22 Weeks)

I know, I'm a little behind on my regular updates, but there really hasn't been a whole lot to blog about.  Thanksgiving was nice and quiet, relatively speaking.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house with them, my grandmother, my brother's family, and his in-laws.  Then we watched movies all afternoon while my brother's family went to his brother-in-law's house for a second dinner.  The evening finished with a few rousing hands of Rummikub after my brother's family returned.  All-in-all, quite pleasant and low-key for a change.

Another "thankfully uneventful event" in recent history was our latest prenatal exam.  We got our official prognosis on the ultrasound results, and the doctor said everything looks good.  Size is good, heart rate's good, and Denine's weight gain is good, which I know is a big deal for her this time.  We're well past the halfway point now, so we're starting to get the "are you ready for him to be here yet" question from lots of people.  For any of you out there wondering:  the say is an emphatic "no."  We've still got way too much to do before then; we still have to move the kids into one bedroom, then we can get started on the nursery.  Actually, I think the more correct answer is the cliched, "She's ready to not be pregnant anymore, but we're not ready to have another baby in the house yet."

First baby bump pic with the new camera.  Hard to believe we've got 18 weeks to go, and we haven't hit the "rapid growth" stage yet...

There was one other minor event, that being the death of our digital camera the day after Thanksgiving.  The upshot of that timing was that we could at least get a replacement on sale.  The downside was that I had Jamie's old Transformers laid out nicely in the living room floor, ready to be photographed so we could post them for sale, when the camera died.  I had to settle for using his, which got the job done, but wasn't pretty.  Then we rushed out to buy a new CyberShot S2100; not the greatest camera, but it takes decent pictures and only set me back $100.  And, perhaps most importantly, is uses the same batteries and memory cards that I already had.  Farewell, S600, you have served honorably. 

Perhaps the most newsworthy (or at least most publicized) event of the last couple weeks has been my acquisition, and subsequent trial, of a sampler pack of lolly pops from Lollyphile.  This included such flavors as absinthe, bourbon, lavender, chai tea, and maple bacon to name a few.  I've almost finished trying all the flavors, and needless to say, it has been an interesting experience.  It has also reminded me how much I enjoy a good lolly; this may have to become a regular acquisition of mine, albeit without some of the more, shall we say, "daring" flavors (I'm lookin' at you, maple bacon).

That's all for now.

What I Give Thanks For in 2010:

I missed the “post something you are thankful for on Facebook every day in November leading up to Thanksgiving” boat that everybody seems to be aboard this year.  So, in lieu of that, I present a list of (at least) 25 things for which I give thanks, one for every day I should have been posting to FB.  I know, it won’t develop a daily habit of thankfulness, but I prefer my moments of self-reflection in large, separate doses anyway…

• First and foremost, as always, I am thankful for a God that loves me enough to send his unique son to die and suffer for my sins in my stead.
• I am thankful that God has consistently seen to my provision, even when I did not see His hand in it.
• I am thankful that God provides for me daily to teach me to rely on Him rather than my own wisdom and preparedness.
• I am thankful that I have a God-fearing wife.
• I am thankful that I found someone to share my life with that loves me enough to endure my idiosyncrasies, help me in my brokenness, and fight for our marriage.
• I am thankful for shepherds and ministers who are committed to equipping our church body for that fight.
• I am thankful for shepherds and ministers who are not afraid to tackle to difficult topics, that know it is worth ruffling a few feathers if it can save even one marriage, one life, or one soul.
• I am thankful that I have found in our life group Christian brothers and sisters with which I feel my family is accepted, mentored, held accountable, and spiritually fed and challenged.
• I am thankful that I have found a group of Christian men to be my “band of brothers,” and that my actual brother can be a part of that.
• I am thankful that God is using numerous circumstances in my life to teach me about the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
• I am thankful that I am, finally, beginning to learn what it really means to be a Christian – to not just follow rules, but to truly walk with God.
• I am thankful for Christian mentors that show me through their example what it means to give up control and live a God-led life.
• I am thankful that my son decided to give his life to Christ this year.
• I am thankful for my two vibrant, beautiful, intelligent, and challenging children.
• I am thankful that God chose to open our hearts and bless us with another pregnancy - with all the hopes, fears, excitement, and promise that entails.
• I am thankful that the most serious health issue we have had to face with our children has been epilepsy, and that God has shown me through that experience how much of a blessing that truly is.
• I am thankful that God has given me opportunity to use my experiences with my son’s epilepsy to minister to other fathers dealing with similar circumstances.
• I am thankful to be part of an extended family that stands by and supports one another.
• I am thankful that I live close enough to my family that my children can grow up with their grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins -at least on one side- being a part of their day-to-day lives, and develop the strong sense of family that I was blessed to grow up with.
• I am thankful that God has worked in my sister-in-law’s business to allow my wife to work for her part time and be a stay-at-home mom, more or less.
• I am thankful that my wife working for my sister-in-law has given her a chance to develop a closer relationship with both my sister-in-law, and our niece and nephews.
• I am thankful that when I tell my son that he cannot see a movie, play a game, read a book, listen to a song, or be exposed to some other form of media because of its content, he accepts that my decision is based on my love for him and concern for his spiritual well-being.
• I am thankful that there are Christian artists to provide me with an alternative to popular music, and Christian radio stations so that I can be encouraged by my entertainment and not constantly exposed to the negative messages in mainstream media.
• I am thankful for organizations like Focus on the Family that provide me with information and tools to evaluate media from a Christian worldview.
• I am thankful that my son has a love of reading, and sets an example for his sister that reading is something to be enjoyed.
• I am thankful that I work for an ethical company that values its employees.
• I am thankful that most of the biggest problems in my life involve inconveniences regarding items most people in world would consider luxuries, if they can conceive of them at all.
• I am thankful that I live in an age of such technological wonders that virtually any information I could need or want is readily available to me at any time (say, to check Webster.com and make sure I’m not misusing a word in the course of being overly verbose).
• I am thankful for all the old friends that I have been able to re-connect with on some level in recent years due to social networking. 
• I am thankful that I live in a country where I can worship God without fear of persecution, where I can disagree with my government without fear of retribution, and where I can change that government if I so choose.

Here's hoping you all have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Drumroll Please... (20 Weeks)

Well, I know what you are all here for, and it isn't to read my rambling.  As I'm sure anyone keeping up with this blog knows, we had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound today - which, although the purpose is really to check out the baby's anatomy and make sure everything is coming along nicely, everybody thinks is just to find out which options package you ended up with.  Although the little bugger gave us the darnedest time being modest, we did finally get his legs uncrossed so we could get a look at his bits and pieces.  Yes, you read that right: we are being blessed with another Bailey boy.  In addition to the "money shot," which I won't be posting here (at least not yet), we got some nice - as far as sonograms go - profile pictures.  I've also got the latest baby bump pic, since we are due for a new one.

I have no idea why the scans came out kind of purple; I'm still learning how to use my new scanner.

At least this set looks a little bit more like a baby than the last one...

And last but not least, the exterior view.  This is really dark for some reason...

Unless something changes between now and the time I sign the SSN paperwork, he shall be dubbed Judah Jeremiah Lee - Judah for it's biblical-history significance, and because it's an unusual, old Jewish name; Jeremiah for my wife's late brother, Jeremy, and also because it's old and Jewish; and Lee because it's my dad's middle name and a family name on my mother-in-law's side.  People keep asking me how I feel or if I'm happy about having another boy.  Honestly, I kept vacillating about which I'd prefer to have.  In some ways I was hoping for another girl, but I also thought that I'd prefer to have a boy if we were having any more after this, so that there would be an older brother closer to their age.  Ultimately I decided I'd trust God's judgment and just be content with however things turned out.  I've been doing a lot more of that lately, but that's a blog for another time...

In other news:  Nada!  Excluding today, we have had a blissfully uneventful couple of weeks.  Of course, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, and Christmas hot on its heels, I don't think that trend will hold out.  Plus, we now have to start planning the nursery and getting ready to move the kids into one bedroom.  And I still need to get some estimates on rebuilding our bathroom and get that underway.  And figure out how to get the squirrels out of our attic.  And...*whimper*

Of Glasses, Halloween, and Tanks....

Well, I promised that I would get a picture of Ren's new glasses, so here it is.  We still never got around to taking a pic specifically for that purpose, but we did go get family pictures for the year taken Friday.  So instead of a snapshot, you get professional pictures!  How cool is that?

Halloween was fun this year, if not a little crazy.  We got together with our church life group plus some of my parents' life group, so there was quite a crowd.  All the kids went trick or treating together, which made our group about twice the regular size.  It was fun, but exhausting as always.

Group shot of our life group; Tyler and I are the only party poopers with no variety of costume on.

The only other news is that I decided to switch out the gravel in my fish tank for sand.  This was facilitated by the fact that we purchased an aquarium which will eventually house the gerbils that we promised to buy the kids as a consolation for having to share a room once the baby gets here.  So I took the opportunity while I had a spare aquarium to empty out the fish tank and swap my substrate.  I think I can officially say that once was enough for that experience, but I am pleased with the result.  I don't think the fish really care.

My more "natural looking" fish tank.  I can almost guarantee I'm still going to get ribbed about the fake rock cave by the peeps on the fish forum.  Oh, and the hose full of old gravel are only temporary.

And Now For Our Regular [Slightly Belated] Update (18 Weeks)

I know, I've been slipping on my posts again.  I've generally been trying to post at least every two weeks, but I didn't have a new pic (or a lot of news) come Wednesday, so I procrastinated.  I did have one piece of news that I'd been saving 'til the pics were loaded.  In my last post I mentioned that while Jamie and I were having The Talk he told me that he was interested in talking to one of our elders about baptism.  Well, that Saturday we sat down with Tim and talk about baptism, and Jamie decided to get baptized that Sunday morning!  For those of you who aren't familiar with our faith tradition (Church of Christ, to be specific), aside from the spiritual implications, baptism is a formal statement that an individual is choosing for themselves to be a part of the Church and dedicating their life to Christ; there is a lot more to it than that, but I'm simplifying for space.  Like I said before, kind of a big deal; we're very proud of him!

I'm happy, I swear; I just had a cold that day!

We discovered this week that Ren has apparently been curse with our wonderful eyesight.  The good news is that even though she is somewhat farsighted (like Denine), according to the doctor that's not unusual in children under 8, there is a good chance that she may grow out of it, and it doesn't need to be corrected yet.  The bad news is that she also has an astigmatism (like Denine and myself) and that does need to be corrected, though she may grow out of it, also; Denine and I have not, but we're holding out hope.  So this Thursday we spent an hour picking out just the right frames and got her first pair of glasses.  I thought she might be upset that she has to wear glasses now, but she actually seems pretty excited about it, at least for now.  It helps that the oldest girl in our life group at church wears glasses, and I think Ren kind of looks up to her like a big sister, so she's probably pumped to look a little more like Lynea.  I thought I had a good glasses pic, am actually shocked that we didn't get one as soon as we got home, but it has been pretty crazy the last couple of days.  I'll have to post one as soon as it is available.

Speaking of crazy, Fall Festival at our church was this afternoon (this has been a very church-centric post).  Denine spent most of the time manning our van for Trunk or Treating* while I went around to all of the activities with the kids.  Most of it was pretty standard fair: carnival games, bounce houses, hay ride, a dunk tank with our ministers taking turns getting wet.  The stand out attractions this year were the rock climb and mechanical bull, neither of which Ren was interested in, but Jamie did both.  The kids got out a lot of energy running me around, I forgot to bring a hat and got rather sunburned, and large quantities of candy were collected (the advantage to all of ones family manning Trunk or Treat being that you get to raid the leftover candy afterward).  Fun was had by all.

FYI:  Those are completely homemade costumes, courtesy of my wife.  10 points to anyone who can identify what obscure Star Wars character Jamie is; Ren is just a generic youngling.

Here is the latest "baby bump" picture, plus some coordinating pics.

Complete with Halloween-themed bump attire.  Look, she's smiling again in this one!

 

In case there was any doubt about what's on her shirt, it's a Jack O' Lantern.  She keeps saying that she is a Jack O' Lantern for Halloween; I keep pointing out that she looks like she swallowed a Jack O' Lantern for Halloween.  I also said that this officially means that Baby#3's first Halloween costume was a Jack O' Lantern (in utero counts; I still say Jamie's first movie was Phantom Menace, he could still hear it at -3 months old).  There was another pic in which she didn't look like a psycho, but the angle wasn't as good; sorry, Honey!

I couldn't resist posting this: Denine got showed up by a girl at the Fall Festival.  Granted, Denine isn't quite big enough to pull that off yet.  And even if she was, it'd be a cold day in you-know-where before she willingly exposed her belly in public, paint or no paint.

The next regular post may be a little late again, but on purpose this time:  the ultrasound that we will (hopefully) find out the sex of the baby is in two-and-a-half weeks, so I'll probably wait until then to post another baby update.  Maybe we'll have a quiet couple of weeks between now and then.  Just before the holidays come full force and everything gets crazy for six or so weeks.  I guess I should enjoy this year.  It is, after all, the last year that I won't be outnumbered...



*For those not in the know, "Trunk or Treating" is a standard at our Fall Festival.  All the participants line up in the parking lot, open their trunk (hatch, tailgate, etc.), and decorate their vehicles.  Then all the kids go around Trunk or Treating for candy.  I believe all of my family (my parents, my bro and sis-in-law, and ourselves) have participated every year since our church started Fall Festival; you can see the beginning of our decorations for the van in the pic of my kids above.  One of these years I'm planning to go all out Dia de los Muertos, but thus far lack the funds.

They Grow Up So Fast! Plus: New BB Pic (15 Weeks)

Well, it has finally happened:  I have had “THE TALK” with Jamie.  I was already planning on having it with him sometime in the near future, both because he is at about that age and because having a pregnant woman in the house kind of opens up that line of inquiry anyway.  The last time around he was only five, so the only question I was asked was “How does she get out of there?”  To which I replied, “The same way she got in,” which was just ambiguous enough to work; although it did not really answer the question, it somehow seemed to satisfy his curiosity at the time.  I have been looking for appropriate source material to use in the discussion, most books specifically for that purpose seem to be either far too secular and far-reaching, or far too conservative and narrow-sighted (if anyone has suggestions on a book, let me know; if I find a good one, I’ll pass it along as well).  I figured I’d get a book or two to use, read through them, and prepare what it was I wanted to say, how much I thought he needed to know, etc.  As is the case with most of my over planning, it was completely blown out of the water.

Whilst on the phone with my lovely wife, she informed me that a few days after Jamie had spent the night at his friend’s house, his parents happened to check the internet history on their computer and found several inappropriate websites.  They asked their two older teenage boys about it, and they knew nothing; they asked their younger son about it, and he also knew nothing; they asked their middle son (Jamie’s friend) about it, and he apparently freaked out.  It seems that, in the midst of searching for humorous videos on the ‘net, they stumbled upon some inappropriate site by accident and when he tried to close it even more sites popped up, as inappropriate sites are wont to do.  Jamie says that he had no idea that that happened and that he must have been looking for something on the TV at the time.  I make a deliberate habit of taking him at his word unless I have a very good reason to believe he is lying to me, so I believe him when he tells me that he did not seeing anything he shouldn’t have.  Nonetheless, I determined that I could no longer forestall the inevitable conversation; the time for “THE TALK” had arrived.

Honestly, it was not as bad as I had expected it to be, particularly considering that Jamie has a reputation for being easily embarrassed.  I concentrated on explaining to him why (physically, psychologically, and morally) sex should be reserved for married couples, and covering the basics of the actual human reproductive process.   There was a lot of embarrassed laughing and more than a few horrified/disgusted looks, but that’s to be expected; let’s face it, the human reproductive process is both quite humorous and quite revolting to an outside observer.  I also focused on letting him know that he can come to me with absolutely any question without worrying about getting in trouble, and that I’d rather him ask my advice before he makes a mistake than ask me to help him deal with one.  All in all it was a good discussion and hopefully laid the groundwork for open communication in the future.  I know one thing for sure:  I’m glad it’s Denine’s turn to have this talk the next time around.

In other news:  Not a whole lot. 

Work has been frustrating; one week we sit around twiddling our thumbs, the next we are chasing our tails to get something out on time.  We are currently working with one lead on several different projects, all the clients want their stuff done now, he is working out of the office on the other side of town, and half the time is out in the field.  Communication is such that from hour to hour nobody really knows what is going on, and nobody is around to straighten things out.  Wheeeee!  On the up side, I still have a job and am actually getting overtime on a regular basis again.  So, it’s not all bad.  And I do, almost masochistically, love a challenge...

Something (seemingly unrelated) that came out of my conversation with Jamie was his interest in learning more about baptism.  So, yeah, kind of a big deal.  I’m currently arranging for one of our elders to talk with him about it, hopefully this weekend.

Dad turned 60 last Thursday; for some reason that makes me feel old.  I think it’s because I’ve always categorized people 60 and over as “grandparent aged” and people in their 30s to 50s as “parent aged.”  I realize that my parents have also been grandparents for over a decade, but on some subconscious level I think I always thought of them more as my parents than our children’ grandparents.  Now it’s like a switch has flipped and I think of them as grandparents first.  Maybe it also has to do with us becoming less dependent on them, in a number of ways.

Last, but far from least, is the newest “baby bump” picture.  Yes, I teased you with it in the subject and made you read the whole post before I showed it to you.  Mwahahahahah!  *chooses to ignore your ability to scroll*

 Sorry, no smiling in this pic; she was at least smirking in the other one I shot, but the bump was not as well defined in it and it is, after all, the star of the show.  On a side note, we did not deliberately plan for her to be wearing the same shirt in all the baby bump pics, she just happened to be wearing it again this week.  Although it's not a bad idea, keeps things consistent...

There shouldn't be anymore actual baby pics until the next ultrasound, which is scheduled for November 17th, so everyone will just have to be satisfied with external images until then.  Hopefully we will also know the gender at that point, so there's something to look forward to with eager anticipation.  Maybe we'll even reveal the name then.  Or maybe not, I haven't decided yet.

New Baby(?) Pics! Plus: My Month as a Maintenance Man & A Walk Down Memory Lane (13 Weeks)

Okay, I was going to start out by complaining about having to work on the duplex again this past weekend, but I know what you all really care about: pictures.  So here is my previously teased two-for-one, views of the baby from both inside and outside!


First up is the last sonogram we had done at 11 weeks:

The baby looks a little bit more like a baby here than in the last one.  We could even see the little bugger moving around some during the ultrasound; too bad they don't let you bring flash drives to take videos home.  Now that would be something to pull out at a graduation party...

Next up is the view from the outside at 13 weeks:

Surprisingly, I got Denine to smile for this.  She was griping at me for taking a full body pic, she wanted it to just be of her belly.  I told her we needed the full body for scale.

That should be the last sonogram we have until around 20 weeks when they do one to check anatomy (and hopefully determine sex), but I plan on having regular updates to the "baby bump gallery" from now on.  I'm shooting for at least bi-weekly at this point, though the more frequent the better.

Well, it was kind of crazy Saturday but I think we are finally about done getting the duplex ready for new tenants (good thing, since they are moving in on Friday).  My sister-in-law and the Cutshalls came out and helped us finish up the cleaning and yard work (HUGE Thank You!), now all I have left is to fix the kitchen faucet sprayer and to cart off all of the yard trash that we generated.  I don’t think the tree in the front had been trimmed since I did it a few years ago, and apparently Susan finds trimming trees and shrubs to be somewhat cathartic, so she was very….thorough.  So, there is a fairly sizable pile of limbs and twigs in the backyard that needs to be disposed of; luckily, there is a landfill a few blocks down the road where I can dump it for a nominal fee, I just have to get around to doing it.  Looks like this weekend won’t be labor-free after all.  *sigh*

On a totally unrelated note, I was in an odd mood last night and decided to dig through my memory box.  I assume everyone has one of these, a receptacle for things which would be garbage to most people but which have significance to oneself.  Okay, a lot of it is garbage that got tossed in there at some point, but a lot of it does bring back memories.  I realized two things digging through that box.  The first is that I have a lot of really good friends that I let fall by the wayside.  If I have one big regret in life, that is probably it: that I failed to keep in touch with my friends throughout the years.  I’ve gotten in touch with many of those people through Facebook and whatnot, and if you are one of those I was lucky enough to find again, I apologize for not keeping in touch all these year.  There are still more out there that I have no idea where they are or what they’re up to, and I suppose for some of them I never will know in this world.

The second thing I realized is that I really do need to buy a scanner, I have some really embarrassing pictures of you people…

How My Rental Property Improved My Home (or The Domino Effect of Home Improvements on Secondary Properties)

Well, I can officially add "kitchen faucet replacement" to my list of home improvement experience.  Now, this sounds really easy when you're looking at the diagrams for how to install a kitchen faucet while standing in Lowe's.  What one fails to consider is the fact that you will have to perform this feat while laying on your back, half in and half out of a cabinet, simultaneously working around and squeezing beneath the drain, supply lines, and garbage disposal.  But I "got 'er done."  And I get to do it all over again tomorrow...

Somehow I got roped into changing out the faucet in our kitchen at home so I could take it to replace the one in our rental property.  Actually, I know exactly how I got roped into it:  I'd rather spend twice the money to improve my own home and give the rental my hand-me-downs, which are nicer than what is currently installed, than pay to improve a rental property that I hope to sell as soon as the economy picks back up / my current tenants decide to move out.  (Nat, if you're reading this, don't take it the wrong way)  This largely came about because I had decided to do the same thing with the dishwasher, so there was already a precedent for this thinking.  What I failed to take into account was the fact that I have to do these installs twice, once to replace the item at my residence and again to install it at the rental.  So, by this time next week I expect to have installed another kitchen faucet, two dishwashers, and a kitchen light fixture.  Although I am buying the light new.

Still no scan of the newest sonogram.  I really should buy a scanner, but it seems so superfluous when one has a digital camera.  Particularly when we have a family member with a good one that Denine sees at least four times a week.  I was intending to start posting semi-regular pics of Denine's "baby bump" (as Dr. Mullin puts it), but I'm just too dad-gum tired.  Maybe I'll do a two-for-one if we get the sonogram scanned in the next few days.

Second Doctor's Appointment, and First Slumber Party (11 Weeks)

So we had our second doctor's appointment on Friday (technically the first prenatal visit, the last one was the initial diagnostic visit). Nothing really new to report: the baby's growing, Denine's blood work is clear, everything's A-okay. The baby is now about 5cm/2in, so I guess he/she's been promoted from peanut to Brazil nut. We had another ultrasound done (off the books, just 'cause the doc likes to do them, thanks Dr. Mullin!), so hopefully we can get this one scanned and posted in a more timely manner. In the mean time, here is the first sonogram that I forgot to post earlier.

 I always love looking at early sonograms, they're like "Where's Waldo" in black and white with static. For those without practice, the baby is the gray blob in the upper-left of the black upside-down-heart shaped blob. Yeah, it to me a few seconds, too...

Jamie's first slumber party was last night, his belated birthday observance. He's had people sleep over before, but never more than one person; I've officially decided that five boys between the ages of nine and eleven is about three too many, particularly when they're up and running around the house until about midnight. At that point two of them went home and the other three were banished to Jamie's bedroom, where they apparently played with Legos and DSs until about 3:00. It was fun but we are all pretty exhausted today, although the boys were somehow bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 9:00 this morning when I got up. Thankfully we shouldn't have to repeat the experience for about a year, at least.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Ever have one of those weekends where you're actually glad to get back to work so you can finally take it easy? Yeah, it's definitely been one of those. Here's the rundown of my weekend+:

• Thursday - After work, we went over to my brother's house to spend time with my aunt, cousin, and her baby who were in town from Lubbock, plus have an informal birthday party for my son.
• Friday - Worked a full day (which I don't normally do on Fridays) to make up for having Monday off, went home and had dinner with my best friend who was in town from Pittsburgh, then had our mutual friends over to hang out until around midnight.
• Saturday - Spent the afternoon shopping at Toys'R'Us (store closing sale, woot!) then got together with my extended family at my parents' house for dinner and visiting.
• Sunday - Church, then lunch with my parents, aunt, and cousin. Went over to my rental property to get started cleaning and spackle holes so we could paint on Monday. Went back over to my parents' house for dinner to help them dispose of Saturday's leftovers, and to visit with and say goodbye to my aunt and cousin.
• Monday - Spent the day painting spots on the walls and cleaning at my rental property.

Can I get a regular work day, please? At least I'll have Tuesday and Wednesday to rest and get back to normal. Then I'll have men's group on Thursday and our next prenatal appointment and Jamie's birthday sleepover on Friday. *sigh*

It never ends, does it?....

First Doctor's Appointment, and Playing Catch-Up (8 Weeks)

Denine had her first prenatal check-up today, complete with our first first ultrasound image (pic to follow as soon as we can get it scanned).  I didn't expect to have the same surreal feeling at the first sight of my new child that I have in the past, what with this being a planned pregnancy and all, but I suppose the fact still remains:  seeing is believing.  Not that I didn't believe she was pregnant before, it's just more real (for me anyway) when I actually see the.....baby?  I guess embryo is technically correct at this point, but that just sounds so clinical.  Denine called him/her a peanut...

So, my last post promised an explanation of what's been going on for everyone that hasn't been in-the-know; I intended to do that sooner than now, but I spent all last week running a temperature for no apparent reason and didn't really feel like trying to be interesting at the time.  I'm all better now, so I guess it's time to make good on my promise.  Still not sure how interesting I feel.

We actually started this journey about 10 months ago; it didn't seem like that long until I sat down and realized it was about last October that we started talking about having more kids.  This was, naturally, shortly after we sold all of the old baby stuff we had been holding onto for the last five years "just in case."  Thanks, Murphy.  Anywho, after a time of prayerful deliberation we decided that we both felt the time was right to try for another child, which is something that honestly we have never agreed on before.  After that decision, Denine had to ween herself off of her medication, a three month process in itself.  Then we had to wait about a month after discontinuing birth control, per her doctor's request, before trying to get pregnant.  Luckily, actually getting pregnant didn't take that long.  Not that I have a problem with the process, mind (we're all adults here, right?), but by that point we were getting a little impatient; we spent longer on the process of getting pregnant than the actual pregnancy will take.

I can't speak for Denine, but the process involved in consciously deciding to have another child has been very strange for me.  Both of our children are "oops" babies; that may sound horrible, but it's the truth.  It doesn't mean I love them any less for it, but it is what it is, and what they are is unintended pregnancies (it occurs to me just now that the present tense is probably the correct way to phrase that:  they will perpetually be "unintended."  My, how I love the English language).  Having done it both ways, unintentionally and deliberately, I definitely recommend the latter, the stress level is much lower, at least assuming everything goes smoothly.  It is a distinctly different experience, to be sure, and a different kind of anticipation, probably because I didn't start the whole process with an end date in mind this time.

Thanks to everyone who has been along for the ride from the start, and everyone who has hopped on board since to support us.  I suppose the train never really stops, we'll just hit certain check points along the way.

I suppose here is where I make some bad pun about the ride of a lifetime...

</cheese>

An End to Tongue-Biting, or Get That Cat Out of the Bag!

Well, it's official:  I'm a horrible blogger.  I think six months without a post definitely qualifies me as worst blogger ever.  Okay, probably not ever, somebody's bound to be worse.  But still, pretty bad.  In all fairness to myself, there has been a reason I haven't been posting.  You see, the most relevant goings on in my life for a while now have been related to something that I wasn't allowing myself to talk about in a public forum (although lots of you knew what was going on; thank you, by the way, for keeping mum).  Now the cat is out of the bag, however, and I can finally tell the world:  We are officially anticipating the birth of our third child in April!


Whew, that's a load off...

So, with that said, I fervently intend to do better about keeping up with this blog from here on.  I've also invited my lovely bride to join in authoring, so hopefully she will be adding her two cents worth through the coming months and beyond.  I'll post later to bring anyone who hasn't been privy to what's been going on "behind the scenes" with us for the past several months up to speed.

Ho-Hum

I decided to rename my page already.  "The Bailey Blog" seems a little more warm and fuzzy to me.  Not a lot to blog about but I thought I would post something just for the heck of it.  Let's see, recent events... 

My fish are spawning and I now have teeny baby bristle nose plecostomus in my tank.  I've seen as many as three at once, but I'm doing good to find any most of the time; there are lots of places for half-inch long fish to hide.  My fish tank is going to get pretty crowded if they keep doing this. 

Going to try to finish ripping our shower out tomorrow (ugh!).  Metal lattice tile backing sucks, by the way.  I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have room to get a shower unit in once I get all the old sheet rock out, but I don't think so.  It's about time to get some quotes to have somebody come replace the 'rock and re-tile the walls.

Plans are still proceeding as.....planned.  We both still have jobs, so that's good.  Jamie's doing good in school this grading period, which is also good.  Ren's.....not been killed by her teacher, so that's good?

I feel rambling coming on.  Work week ... over ..... brain ... shutting down ...

Sorry about your manhood...

I’ve been contemplating a blog for a while now and just hadn’t had anything that I really felt compelled to rant about.  That was solved on the way to work this morning because, well, anyone can tell you how much I love my fellow denizens of the road.  I’ll toss in a two-for-one special on my first post and rant about something I like, too.

I had turned from Clay into the middle South-bound lane of Hwy 6; normally I turn into the far right lane but someone was already in the right-hand turn lane when I got there, and that turn signal is so short that I hate to be behind anyone.  So I’m driving along, minding the speed limit (40 or 45 at this point) when a Little Grey Focus (forthwith LGF) passes me on the right; no biggy, I don’t get offend when people pass me normally, I’m not that guy.  When I hit the intersection that marks the change from 40 or 45 to 55 mph I sped up to my usual morning speed of “just under 60,” passing LGF in the process.  This is apparently when I insulted his manhood, and the dance began.  You know the one, where somebody will speed up just enough to get almost ahead of you, then forget that they want in front and slow down just enough to get almost behind you, then speed back up again ….. rinse, repeat.  The entire way down Hwy 6.  Under normal circumstances I just let this go and don’t let it bother me, but I have to get over in the right-hand lane to turn off for work.  So the next time LGF is almost behind me again I speed up,  get in front of him, and slow back down to the speed I was going before, which was faster than LGF was going beforehand.  LGF then proceeds to get in the middle lane, pass me, and then move back over to the right in front of me.  At this point I’m annoyed (I’ll admit that I called him something un-Christianly) but I let it go at that, it would not be rant-worthy without the piece de resistance, the cherry on this assholery.  Not more than five seconds after cutting me off, just before the light at Park Row, LGF moves back over to the middle lane.  All that jockeying for position in a lane that you didn’t even need to be in, presumably all because I accelerated faster than you when we entered the 55 mph zone.  Kudos, LGF, you are now my poster child for road rage.

Well, I feel better now.

In other news:  I’m almost through the trades for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comics catching me up to when I jumped on after Vector.  Why have I not been reading this book?!?  It’s so much better than Legacy!  Don’t get me wrong, I like Legacy, but that’s in spite of its main character whereas KoToR is because of it.  I’m sorry Cade, but it’s true; you’re a whiny, emo show-off who had developed some depth, but you lost it again.  Zayne is the Jedi everyman, and he is on a defined quest with a point.  Legacy is populated by people from the cool kids’ table, a bunch of self-assured tough guys; KoToR’s cast is the misfits from the table in the corner, the ones who hang together because no one else wants them around.  Which table do you think most Star Wars fans and comic book geeks sat at? 

Yeah, me too.