It started with a line...

If you didn't get it from the last post, we're having another baby.

Man-to-Man Defense

Not long after our son, Palmer was born, I was talking with an older friend, who happens to be the father of four children. I was talking to him about the way things were going at our house since Palmer had been born.

I told him how having a baby was not nearly as earth shattering as I had anticipated. There was definitely a lot more to consider when trying to leave the house. There had definitely been an increase in the amount of stuff in our house. As well as a decrease in the amount of sleep, but overall, things were not all that different. If Kim had something she wanted to do, she could leave Palmer at home with me, and vice versa.

I'll never forget his response. It went something like this...

Yeah. Having one kid is a breeze. There are two of you and one of him. You can double team him. The more difficult thing is when you add a second kid. Then, you have to play man-to-man defense. Then, it is all over when they out number you. You are playing zone at all times and there are always holes in the defense.

Well, Kim and I are starting to practice our man-to-man defense in preparation for next year's March Madness. I know it's early, but we feel like we will need all the practice we can get in because Palmer's punching bag, i.e. our second child, is due to enter the chaos that is our lives in mid-March 2009.

Answers to some questions you might have...

• 9 weeks.
• Decent, more nauseous than last time.
• 22 months.
• Nah, that's what we wanted.
• It could happen.
• Most likely.

Questions you may have asked...

• How far along is Kim?
• How is Kim feeling doing?
• How far apart will your kids be?
• Wow, that's pretty close together, isn't it?
• Will you name this kid Sidney if NC State wins the ACC Tournament on the day it's born?
• Are you guys crazy?

Ready or not, here we go.

Palmer Video

Kim posted a new video on Palmer's blog. Head over there and check him out.

Can you really lose your voice?

Can you really lose your voice, if you don't know how to talk?

Palmer has been coughing and crying so much that he has lost his "voice". He still makes sounds, but he has lost his upper octaves. If you've never noticed before, babies make a lot of different noises, most of which are high-pitched. Well, now every noise Palmer makes reminds me of Amanda Overmeyer.

Here's a little clip of "Sick Palmer":

New Palmer Videos

Here are a few new videos for your viewing pleasure, especially if you are a grandma.

Bathtime for Palmer


Playtime for Palmer

That's my boy...

On Saturday, I came in from playing basketball to find Palmer in his swing, intently watching the Michigan-Ohio State game. Kim was upstairs doing something. So, it was funny to find him sitting there watching the game. It was like he had come down, turned on the TV and plopped down in his favorite chair to watch the game.

In other news...

NC State lost, both in football and basketball, this weekend. Boo.

We held our 1st Annual Visio Dei vs. Hope Turkey Bowl. Visio Dei came out on top 57-44. For those that may not know, Visio Dei was planted out of Hope Community Church last year. So, obviously, we couldn't let them beat us. Aside from a few disputes about the amount of contact that was allowed, we got through the afternoon without much of the bickering that usually comes along with twenty-five guys running around on a field. Overall, I think everyone had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Happy Halloween

Halloween
Originally uploaded by rshannonsmith

This picture makes it hard for me to be upset about the twenty bucks I spent/wasted on a costume for my son who will not remember ever wearing it.


Update:
He's a monkey with a banana on his head.

Palmer's Halloween Costume
Originally uploaded by danielglennsmith

More Pics:

Halloween 2007
Originally uploaded by danielglennsmith

Moms in Motion: Costume Party
Originally uploaded by rshannonsmith

Moms in Motion: Costume Party
Originally uploaded by rshannonsmith

Wanna see my video?

Palmer has recently became a lot more active. I played with iMovie this morning for about half an hour while I should have been getting ready for work. This is what I came up with. It's kind of cheesy, but Grandmas will like it.

Hide your daughters...

Lady Killer
Originally uploaded by rshannonsmith

This is one cute kid.
He gets it from his mom.

Thank You Cards

As you know, we recently had a baby. As you may also know, when you are expecting a baby, people throw you baby showers. With baby showers come gifts. And, if you are my wife, or like her, with gifts comes the task of writing out Thank You Cards.

If you are a parent you know that the first few months of parentdom is a trying time. If you are anything like Kim and I, that time is filled with a lot of guesswork and it is more like a day-by-day experiment than anything else. The baby cries. We feed the baby. We change the baby. We hold the baby. If none of those three things work, we just start making it up. Hold the baby this way. Lay him in the bed and let him cry for this long. Rock him. Bounce him. Swing him. It is all just a big experiment.

So, while we are working our way through the scientific method, there are certain things that we have to sacifice to be able to spend enough time doing "research" to get the proper results.

In my opinion, one of the first things that should be sacrificed is Thank You Cards. There should be some sort of reprieve for Baby Shower/Baby Gift Thank You Cards that do not get sent before the baby arrives. There should be a special section in the BGTYC, "Baby Gift Thank You Card", Code that grants a longer repreive for those parents whose children come a month or more in advance of their due date.

If you are a parent you understand. We are grateful. However, free time is spen on more important things, like sleeping. If you are not yet a parent and you are upset that you have not gotten a Thank You card yet, let us know what you got us and we will send it back to you. There's a good chance he's already grown out of it.

Chapter Six - Counting from 1 to 10

So, here we are... Kim is laying on the hospital bed, I'm sort of in a daze, stuck between making inappropriate jokes and being in shock1, and Krista, the nurse, is pulling stuff out of drawers, and getting the room prepped for delivery.

At this point, it was pretty obvious that were indeed going to have the baby. I knew there were people that would be interested to know about this. So, I called Kim's parents to let them know, but only got voicemail. Then, I called my mom to let her know. She answered the phone2, and her response to the news was something like, "Shannon! What are you doing in Florida?!?"3 I explained our situation to her, and she said she would call my sisters and let them know.

About the same time I was getting off the phone with my mom, the nurse firmly, yet politely, requested that I take my place by my wife's side, as we were about to start delivering the baby. Wait a minute. How are we going to deliver the baby without the doctor?

Krista directed Kim on what to do. She was to hold her legs with her hands, and to put her chin to her chest. Whenever a contraction came, I was to count from one to ten. While I counted, Kim was to take a deep breath, hold it, and "bear down". We would do this three times for every contraction.

Okay. Here we go. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10

1. back At some point, I asked the nurse if I should put on my shoes. This may sound funny, but anyone that knows me, knows that if the temperature is above 60°, nine times out of ten, I'm going to have on sandals. When we left the hotel room, I had picked up my shoes. Having not taken part in the delivery of a baby, I wasn't sure if you had to wear shoes or not. I mean, it seems like a closed-toe event. The nurse, after laughing at me, said I didn't need to put them on.


2. back Don't ask me why my mother was up at three-something in the morning. I guess you could argue that the phone woke her up, but really who knows. She worked third shift for a good part of my younger years. She may be a vampire.


3. back Her reaction made me think for a minute. I couldn't remember if I had told her I was going out of town or not. There was a time in my life that she would have rather not known when I was out driving all over God's creation. In college there were seveal spur of the moment trips from Raleigh to Boone, one trip from Raleigh to New York, and a failed attempt to cross the country by car. For her it was easier to not know that I was driving in the middle of the night.

Due(-Doo) Date

Today is July 2. Today we're supposed to have a child. However, said child decided to come a little early. A whole month early to be exact. So, here I am one month into fatherhood1, and I thought it was about time that I start sharing some of the wisdom I have gained in my adventures in parentdom.

1) Fathers of little boys must be like Boy Scouts.

As the father of a newborn, you get the pleasure/honor/duty of changing many diapers. I have never changed a girl's diaper, but I can't imagine that it is nearly as dangerous an activity. I have found that when changing a boy's diaper, you are putting yourself and the boy at risk. The Boy Scouts of America have the motto "Be Prepared", and when changing your son's diaper, you must be prepared like a good Boy Scout. You need to have a new diaper ready to be applied, and you need to have an extra wipe close at hand. Newborns don't have control over their bodily functions. So, you have to be prepared for about anything.

I have not suffered a direct hit, though several people have. This can be attributed to me covering the boy's urination device with a wipe while performing the routine cleaning and maintenance on his under carriage. I did leave him completely uncovered once as I walked across the room to retrieve more supplies, i.e. diapers, only to return to find him and the entire changing doused in his fluid. Another time, I got to experience the deuce while in transition. I had placed the new diaper under him, and removed the old diaper, but before I could finish the cleanup and get the new diaper latched on, he let it go. I quickly pulled the new diaper closed to limit the damage. I've found, the more prepared you are the less collateral damage you suffer.

Going into parenthood, most people, men especially, think that changing diapers is going to be gross, and I was no different. However, for some reason, changing Palmer's has never been a problem. It's odd. From the beginning, I just started doing it without thinking. I have actually found it quite gratifying. When he's crying, and I change him, and he stops crying, that makes me feel good.

More to come later. Oh, yeah, and I am going to finish my story. Maybe pearl of wisdom number two will have something to do with time management in parenthood.

1. back This month has went by quickly. Yesterday, when I looked at him, he looked big. He's gained a little over a pound, but I guess that is pretty significant when you start out at 7 pounds. It would be like me gaining 36 pounds last month.

Chapter Five

"You're gonna have this baby in the next two to six hours," says the hospital worker person as they exit our cubicle with a curtain, I mean... room. Kim and I look at each other in utter disbelief. I mean, sure, the doctor told us on Wednesday that she would recommend us not traveling1. So, we knew there was a chance, but we never thought it would actually happen. We thought, "We've had a textbook pregnancy. We're not monitoring any delicate situations. Most first pregnancies go over the due date2. What's the worst that can happen? If we go down there, and we have the baby. It's no big deal."

Like I said, that's what we thought. That's what we thought and said on Wednesday as we left the doctor's office. Now, it was two and a half days later, and we were about six hundred miles removed from that doctor, Rex Hospital, our house, and everything that we had planned on. Our thoughts were a little different at that moment.

At this point, they moved Kim and I to the "laboring" room. Really they just moved Kim, and I followed along, sort of like a lost puppy. When we get to room 202, we meet a few nurses and Dr. Rosenburg3. Dr. Rosenburg was a nice lady. She asked a few questions and was probably disappointed to find that we didn't have any medical records with us. Our lack of records4, led to the decision for them to take several vials of blood from Kim to run some tests. The nurse, Krista, got to work on drawing the blood for the labs, and the doctor informed us that she had to go do a C-section, and that she would be back in about an hour to take care us us.

While drawing Kim's blood, Krista asked if she wanted any pain medicine, or an epidural. Kim's response to the epidural was, "Sure. I had always planned to get one."5 Krista called someone to let them know that Kim wanted an epidural, only to find out that the same chick that had stolen our doctor had also stolen the anesthesiologist. The person on the other end let us know that it would be 30-45 minutes before they would be in to give her one. To this Kim responded calmly, "Okay. I'll just work through the contractions until then." Stud.

So, Krista finished up with what seemed like bloodletting, and as she got ready to exit the room, she and Kim had the following conversation.

"If you feel like you have to have a bowel movement, you need to let me know."6
"I kind of feel like that now."
"Really?!?"
"Yeah."
"Let me check your cervix again." [Checks Cervix] "You're complete!"7

At this, the nurse gets on the horn and calls for reinforcements. Then, she starts running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Now, I am not a smart man, but I put together a few things and quickly came to the realization that the nurse was not interested in helping Kim to the bathroom. The felt need to push had nothing to do with dropping any kids off at any pool, it meant there was a kid that wanted to come into the world.

1. back "You never know," she had said. "Things can happen. My sister had her baby at thirty-six weeks."


2. back I have heard Kim say this several times, but I have never read anything about it, but I figure she knows more than I do about this type of thing.


3. back We had been told that Dr. Rosenburg would be taking care us while we were in triage. Someone explained that she was the doctor assigned to those people who show up and don't have a doctor. I wondered how many people come to the hospital, aside from those people that are hundreds of miles from home, and do not have a doctor. Later we would find out that at least two people came to TMH that night without one.


4. back Kim had asked the doctor back in Raleigh if we should get a copy of her records to take just in case, but she, the doctor, had said "No."


5. back It was just that flippant, not "OH MY GOD! YES! GIVE IT TO ME NOW!". She was late in her labor, at least 7cm dialated, and she is like "Sure." My wife is a stud.


6. back I honestly thought that she didn't want Kim going walking over to the bathroom by herself, and if Kim had to drop the kids off at the pool, she wanted to make sure someone was there to help her get to the toilet. I was wrong.


7. back Complete in Baby Having terms means the cervix is 100% effaced and dialated 10 cm.

Chapter Four - This was not in the infomercial

Whilst traveling through the hallways of the hospital, I continued in my attempt to time Kim's "contractions", both the time between them and the time that they were lasting. Not being one to wear a watch, I had to resort to another mechanism. The iPod, though carried by many, it is not known for time keeping abilities1, but it was all I had. I have to admit that I was doing a pretty lousy job at recording our data, but to my defense, everything was happening pretty fast, including the contractions. At this point Kim was having a contraction about every threem minutes or so, and they were lasting somewhere around fifty seconds to a minute2.

Our journey through the inards of Tallahassee Memorial took us to meet a nice young lady named Alicia. Alicia helped us get checked into labor and delivery. There were a few papers that we had to fill out and forms we had to sign. It ws a bit of a special case because we were out of towners. She was a super nice lady, and found it funny that I wanted to take her picture. I kept making Kim laugh, and Alicia said if I could keep that up, that it would be good for Kim. Obviously, I didn't find that very difficult to do.

After a very short wait, we were called into triage. I wheeled Kim into the triage area, where we were directed to have Kim change out of her clothes and into a hospital gown. Once we accomplished this task, we were to go into the room next door where we would be seen by a nurse. We got Kim all changed, and we made our way to the room, and Kim laid down on the bed.

Soon after, we were visited by a nurse. She lt us know that she was going to be putting two monitors on Kim; one to monitor contractions, and one to monitor the baby's heart rate. After working through a bit of trouble getting the monitor to stay where she wanted it, the nurse informed us that what Kim was feeling were indeed contractions3. Upon verifying that Kim was in labor, the nurse decided that it may be a good idea to check Kim out to see how far along she was. A second hospital worker person, maybe a NP came in to examine Kim. After examining her, I think her first word was "Wow."

It is worth mentioning that I paid pretty close attention in the Preparing for Childbirth class, and having a pregnant wife, you sort of pick up on baby/pregnancy/labor lingo and jargon. So, when the examiner followed up her "Wow." with "You are 7 cm dialated."4 I couldn't help but laugh.

My first words were, "This is not how it happened in the video."

1. back There was a time when I was unsure why Apple had decided to include a stopwatch as an "extra", but I guess they knew that some day some random dude might need to use it to time his wife's contractions, or more likely, someone would need to time an a Sumo wrestler doing a shuttle run.


2. back I couldn't, and still can't, remember what the length of the contraction was supposed to tell me, but I felt like it was something I was supposed to know. Yet, another reason I should have found the Preparing for Child Birth book.
   NOTE: We still have not found the book. I'm begining to believe that a leprachaun stole it, or maybe a knome. I hear they are very sneaky.


3. back My deer-in-headlights look may have shifted towards the-kid-who-can't-find-his-mom-in-the-mall look at this point.


4. back For those not in the know, dialation only goes up to 10 cm, and it usually takes women, especially on their first baby, a long time to get to 7cm, we're talking like 8 hours, not 1 hour.

Chapter Three - From Hotel Room to Hospital Room

Kim's discussion with the doctor established that her water had most likely broken, and that we should make our way to the nearest hospital in a swift, yet smooth manner. He didn't say it, but I think he meant like gazelles gracefully galloping across the serene savannas of Sub-Saharan Africa. He also added that we would want to find out if that hospital delivered babies. Did he think we would be asking about the other services they provided?

We decided that it would be good for someone to know that we had left to go to the hospital, but we were unsure whom we should tell. At this point, we were not sure if we were going to have the baby or if it was going to be your typical trip to the hospital in the middle of the night with a pregnant lady. We decided not to wake the bride from her beauty sleep on the night before her wedding, and Kim's parents were at an RV resort several miles away. So, we/I decided to call Kim's brother, Kevin. We had our nephew's booster seat in our room, and they would need it if they decided to go anywhere. So, the call served two purposes. He came out to meet us, and wished us luck as we headed off to the unknown.

The hospital was not very far away, maybe four point three miles, or so. I had been timing contractions1 since Kim got off the phone with the doctor. The first few came about five minutes apart, which according to our Preparing for Child Birth class means it is time to get to the hospital. The short drive to the hospital took enough time for about four contractions. They were coming anywhere from three to four minutes apart at this point, and the stoplights weren't helping.

So, we roll up in the Emergency Room at about 1:45 AM, an hour after Kim woke up "leaking". As we walk in, the young guy at the desk, who was on his cell phone, probably spittin' game to his lady, says something like, "Oh. Hold up. I've got to call you back." He asks Kim how far along she is, and upon her saying almost thirty-six weeks, he gives us this wide-eyed, you-can-not-be-here look, puts Kim in a wheelchair, and wheels us through some corridors to an unknown destination.

1. back It's probably worth noting that at this point Kim and I were not completely sure that what she was experiencing were contractions. See, we have never had a baby, and everything you hear about labor is how excruciating the pain is. You see women on TV sweating, screaming, cussing at their husbands, and such. That was what we were waiting for. Kim was just experiencing, in her words, "bad menstrual cramps, but nothing horrible."
   

Chapter Two - Google, where are you? I need you.

Kim had moved from the bed to the bathroom, and I was still in the bedroom developing my strategy for handling the situation. Kim's change in location had no effect on her newly found likeness to a faucet. I thought this might be a good time to call the doctor. So, I started searching through Kim's purse for the number to Capital Area OB-GYN, to no avail. It was not in there.1 I decided to call someone who might be able to get me the number I needed.

After getting voicemail the first time, I called Daniel for a second time, and he answered. I informed him of the situation, and he got me a number. It was the number to the practice, but did not help any. On the second try, Daniel came through like LeBron in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals. He was money. I called the answering service and had the on-call doctor paged.

I left the phone with Kim and headed for the front desk to acquire the location of the nearest hospital, just in case. Coincidentally, on our hour long drive across town through traffic earlier in the day had taken us right by a hospital. After confirming that the hospital was where I thought it was, I returned to our room to find Kim on the phone with the doctor.

1. back This is the point where I regretted not owning a laptop. How the heck am i supposed to get along in the world without assistance from my friend Google in my times of need?

Chapter One - Can someone please turn off the faucet?

Kim woke me from my remote still in hand, Baseball Tonight still on the TV, sweet slumber around 12:45 with the words "Honey, I think I am leaking?!?" I had sat down on the extra double bed in our hotel room just two hours earlier with the expectation of catching up on the days happenings around MLB. Somewhere between Web Gems and Touch 'Em All I lost consiousness. It had been a long day.

Friday had started in Savannah, Georgia. We spent Thursday night in a hotel room, splitting our drive to Tallahassee across two days. We arrived at Kristin and Don's house a little after noon. The rest of Friday was filled with a trip to Publix for sandwiches, some Guitar Hero, an hour drive through five o'clock traffic, a wedding rehearsal, and a rehearsal dinner. The Cropenbaker rehearsal dinner was held at A&J's Blues Cafe, where the music is loud, the service is slow, and the the cajun seasonings are applied liberally. Some might say the latter was a contributing factor in the events that followed.

Upon Kim's informing me of her hypothesis, I quick concurred based on the empirical evidence found in her wet pants and the wet bed. She was indeed leaking. After a quick call to God on the prayer hotline, where I asked for guidance and wisdom1, I got up off the bed and entered into what can best be described as a shell shocked, deer in headlights mode. At this point I really regretted not finding the book from the Preparing for Childbirth class, Kim and I took at Rex, before leaving home.

1. back The words I used may have been closer to "Oh God. Oh God. What do I do?!? Okay breathe. It's going to be okay."

Prelude

On Saturday, November 4, 2006, Kim and I found out that she was pregnant. This didn't come as a complete surprise as "we were not preventing it from happening." The next few days and weeks were filled with a variety of feelings. We told a handful of people of our news immediately, but decided to hold off on breaking the news to our families. With the holiday season quickly approaching, we thought it would be nice to tell our families when we were all together.

With both of our families living out of town, we would be hard pressed to find another excuse to bring everyone together to share our exciting news. So, we waited a bit longer than usual, until Christmas, to let them in on our little secret. Both families were elated by the announcement, and shocked that we had been able to keep it under wraps for so long. The news brought on tears of joy, huge smiles, and lots of hugs. Within all this joy and celebration, someone, after a little quick calendar math, realized that the time frame for our child's arrival coincided with another event in Kim's family.

Kim's sister Kristin got engaged to Don Cropenbaker on Sunday, November 5, 2006 at a Tampa Bay Buccaneer's football game. Kristin and Don decided on an early May wedding, but the place they wanted to hold their wedding was not available until early June. So, after we found out about our pregnancy, Kim's sister got engaged, and before we told them about our baby, Kristin and Don set their wedding date for June 2, exactly one month before our due date, July 2.

The first thirty-five weeks of Kim's pregnancy went by without much ado. Mommy's tummy grew, the baby's heartbeat was always strong, the ultrasound did not reveal any abnormalities. Everything was as expected. At our thirty-five week check-up, the nurse even told Kim that we were "boring". At this same appointment, we reminded the doctor that we were scheduled to leave for Tallahassee, Florida that weekend. The doctor said that she wouldn't tell us that we could not go to Florida. She recognized the importance of Kim being at her sisters wedding. Kim was the Matron of Honor. The doctor did say however, that she would suggest we not go.

We listened to her advice, but decided not to follow it. Having had no complications to that point in the pregnancy, Kim and I decided to take the risk, and go to the wedding. So, on Thursday May 31, Kim and I packed up the Escape and headed down I-95 South toward I-10 and Tallahassee, Florida.

Countdown

When people find out you are expecting a child, the first question is always, "When's [he|she|it] due?" This is usually followed by a litany of questions that include, "Do you know if it's a boy or girl?", "Do you have names picked out?", "Do you have the nursery ready?", etc.

I thought I would post today in an attempt to give some answers. The doctors predict that our baby will make it's debut on July 2, 2007.

That's in:

However, only around 5% of all babies are born on their due date. So, it could be any time. The other answers go something like, "No. We decided to be surprised.", "No. We have some candidates, but I'd rather not hear your opinions on them.", and "No. I have gotten a lot done, but we are not quite finished."

I have to say, I am getting really excited about the baby. Everyday, it gets more and more real.

25 Weeks

Twenty-five weeks and counting. Lil' Bojangles will be here before you know it. We are selling the naming rights for our child on eBay1. Right now, Bo's has the winning bid with a year's supply of Supreme Dinners, with french fries and iced tea, of course.

1. Dear people who do not find this funny and/or people that actually are interested in purchasing the naming rights, We are not really selling the naming rights. We have already decided that whether the baby is a boy or a girl, we are going to name it Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff Smith, and we will call it Biscuit for short.

Randomosity

You may ask yourself from time-to-time, "Why would anyone be awake at 4am?". I find myself asking myself that very question this morning. I have actually been awake for about half an hour, but I have already taken the ime to clean out and organize my inbox. What else do people do at this time of the day (err... night?). Oh yeah, sleep. Well, I tried that one, but it didn't work out so well for me.

Since I am awake, I thought I would catch you up on what I have been up to.

I started reading a new book, The Irresistible Revolution, and I can't stop reading it. Well, that's not completely true. Of course, I can stop reading it. I just find myself not wanting to. It is by Shane Claiborne1, and is autobiographical in nature. It is hard to explain why I find it so great, but it rocks my soul. Sometimes I read it and think, "That's what I think." Then, I read something he did, and I think, "That's what I think." See the difference? If you have ever found yourself tired of hearing about church or annoyed by Christians, you may want to check out this book. It is not about some religiosity, but it's about being what he calls an ordinary radical.

Remind me to tell you the story of the Prodigal Cat.

Recently, I've been spending time with my... err... brother? Brian. The hesitation is due mostly to the difference in the definition of the word brother and the connotation that it carries. Brian and I have the same father, but different mothers. By definition that makes us half-brothers. However, we are a little over six years apart in age, didn't grow up to togeteher, and barely know one another. I grew up with my older (whole?) sister Constance and my younger half-sister Leslie, but though Leslie and I share a mother and a dad, but not a father2, she has never been my "half" sister. You say half-sister and people immediately think, "Oh, I get it. She's not your real sister." Which couldn't be farther from the truth. So, by definition Brian and I are half-brothers, but it's easier when introducing him to say, "This is my brother, Brian." But, then you get blank stares from people that sort of know you, but don't know the whole story because they are thinking, "I never knew you had a brother?!?"3 But, then, the people that don't know you that well hear you call him your brother, and that carries the certain assumptions with it 4. You see, it's complicated. Maybe this is one of the reasons why God isn't a big fan of divorce?!? The point is that Brian and I have been hanging out lately, and though it may occasionally be awkward, all-in-all it's not a bad thing.

Most of you know that I'm also preparing to become a father, and hopefully a dad (see note 2). Every day I get more excited about the baby. Kim's belly keeps growing, which she sometimes gets concerned about, but I think it's amazing. But, I'm not the one that has to carry around an extra 25% of my body weight, and deal with my back hurting. I've seen this baby on the ultrasound, and I've felt it move, and I want to say that I am ready for it to emerge into this world, but I am not sure I will ever truly be ready for it. I'm not sure how this works, but I find myself already feeling like I love our baby. That seems weird to me for some reason. Can I love someone I have never met? Can I love someone knowing that when we do meet, they are going to scream at me and make demands that take away from what I want to do? Logically, it doesn't make sense.

Well, it is late/early so I am going back to bed. I hope you all have a great day.

Side Notes: (Which are in fact different than footnotes.)
Chris Sexton bought a bus. Incredible!
Today is my birthday.

1. ↩You may have just thought, "Oh, no, he di-int put a foot note in his blog." Oh, yes, I did. Shane Claiborne has some of the funniest footnotes in his book, but I didn't add footnotes in an attempt to copy him.


2. ↩That's another story, but if you know me, you probably get it. You might get it even if you don't know me. FYI... I wanted to put this aside in the my blog without bogging down the post. This is where the idea of footnotes in my blog was born.


3. ↩Some of them actually say it, and that is always a bit awkward.


4. ↩Like maybe you know when each others birthdays are.
   Okay, maybe I am taking the footnote thing to far. I think I am going to make this the last one for this post.

Getting kicked in the face

This weekend was a good one.

Kim and I have recently been making an effort to hang out with people that are outside of our typical group. It's not that we don't like the people that we usually hang out with. It's just that there are so many people the we see around, but have not taken the time to really invest in there lives. The past three Fridays we have hung out with my sister and brother-in-law, the Hathaways, and the Pritchetts. Daniel labeled it New Friend Friday. So, this past Friday we hung out with the Pritchetts. We didn't do anything special. Katie grilled up some quesadillas. Then, we sat around. We talked and watched a little TV. It was great.

Saturday was a good day, as well. I played basketball in the morning. I was productive around the house in the afternoon. Saturday night Kim and I had dinner with my little sister and my mom. Dinner was awesome. I should be spending more time with my family.

Sunday was another good day. We did baptisms at visio dei for the first time. Jeff's message was on point, again. A friend of mine said, "Man, Jeff has been on fire recently." My brother Brian was baptized. He seems to really be connecting to what we are doing. It is great to see someone that wants to be involved so much that they are willing to drive an hour to be a part of a community. Brad Wynne posted about the baptisms. You can find that here. Sunday afternoon I took a nap. Then, I watched Lost. Then, the Smiths came over and we hung out.

All in all, there wasn't much to complain about.

The most amazing thing that happened this weekend was, I got kicked in the face.

Kim told me she read something on one of her pregnancy web sites that said I should be able to place my ear to her stomach and her the baby's heartbeat. Well, those people are liars. I have been listening to her stomach, and I have yet to hear any heart beat. I have heard plenty of other rumblings and grumblings.

Well, I was listening to her stomach on Friday night. Again, I could not hear any heartbeat, but something else happened. The kid kicked me. The first time, I wasn't sure what it was then it happened again. The second time I knew it was the baby moving. That was awesome. It was awesome in all sense of the word.

I can't wait until this baby gets here.

That's My Baby's Mama

First Baby Pictures

On Wednesday, we got to see our bundle of joy for the first time. Well, sort of. We had our comprehensive ultrasound. This is where they check out the parasite to make sure it has all of its limbs and innards, heart, stomach, bladder, kidneys, etc.

Note: The host, i.e. the Mom, i.e. Kim, would like to make it clear that she is not in favor of calling the child a parasite.

Me: Kim, what would you think if I refer to the baby as a parasite?
Kim: No! You can't call it a parasite. Parasite has a negative connotation.
Me: But, by definition, that is what it is.
Kim: You just make sure people know that I do not agree with it.

You read the definition and tell me if it is not a parasite, but when you do, leave all your connotations at the door.

Here's a picture of the "baby". I can't wait to meet it.



Also, congrats to Corey and Danielle. Welcome Shiloah.

A few of my favorite things...

Rain drops on roses, and whiskers on kittens...

This picture

And most importantly... my wife and her ever growing belly.

The Highs and Lows of My Holiday Season

I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the year's Christmas while it is fresh in my mind. I have decided to lay out the highlights and lowlights. The highs far outweigh the lows. There are many more of both that won't make the list. Here's what I've got:

highlight: I got an iPod.
It was sort of a Christmas present to myself. My wife is so awesome. When I asked Kim what she thought about me getting an iPod she said, "Go ahead, you deserve it. Consider it your Christmas present to me." She is great. Just knowing that I was getting something I had wanted for a long time was present enough for her.

lowlight: 18 hours of driving to and from Florida, and only 52 hours of visiting in Florida.

hightlight: Watching la-eh-ah-er-na turn into "learn".
Our nephew David is five years old and is learning to read. He got a new book as a gift, Let's Go Swim. As I helped him read it for the first time, he sounded out the letters for the words he did not know. The look on his face when realized what word he was sounding out was priceless.

highlight: Kim's mom getting all choked up.
When she was reading the poem Kim framed for her to announce our pregnancy, Kim's mom teared up. It was incredibe to see how happy someone could be for someone other than themself. Kim's mom said she had been praying for us continually that we would be able to conceive.

lowlight: Kim getting upset about people complaining that we should have told them sooner.
My baby's mama doesn't need to be getting stressed out.

highlight: Hanging out at the Ramseys'.
The Christmas Eve service at Visio Dei was nice and simple. However, my favorite part of the evening was the after party at the Ramseys'. There was lots of good food, and quite a bit of fun. I had a lot of fun playing with the boys and the train. We probably ruined Jeff's rule about not touching the train.

highlight:Kim's excitment over my mom's gifts.
My mom went out and bought gifts for our yet to be born child. Kim said she thought she was going to cry when she was opening them.

There are tons more, but if I make the post any longer no one will read it to the end. So, I hope you all had a great holiday season. Feel free to share your highlights.

The Cats Out of the Bag

Finally, I can write stuff on here about one of the most exciting times of my life. If you are unaware, and I apologize if you are one of those people that I was "supposed" to tell in person, on the phone, or whatever way other than by posting it on my blog, I am going to be a dad. I know, scary right, someone like me being responsible for another human's life.

Last weekend we told my family, and this weekend we told Kim's family. They were the two groups that we wanted to tell in person and surprise.

We had planned to tell them both when we got together for Christmas, but we had to tell my family a little earlier. We had the Hayes Family Christmas party last Sunday in Alamance county, and given Kim's enlarged mid-section, we thought it would be easier to go ahead and let my family know the reason behind her recent growth. We didn't want them to think that Kim had just let herself go, and I was afraid they would think she had some sort of ginormous tumor.

This weekend we let Kim's family in on our secret. They were all surprised. It was a very touching moment. Kim took a picture fram and made a baby-esque matting, and framed a poem. As Kim's mom read it she began to cry. She read it aloud again today and cried again. It is awesome to see someone so happy for someone else.

So, look forward to hearing more about our future family member. I am sure I will have a lot to say about it. Sorry, if you are put off by me referring to it as "it", but I don't know if it is a boy or girl, and I can only assume it is human.