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?....