Hello from pregoland!

Baby Violet is still in the oven, like Derek said. And she’s still movin’ and kickin’ and lovin’ life in her little womb-world. I am also very proud to say that the violets that I received at one of my showers (thank you Carrie) are also still kickin’ on the window sill in the kitchen! I don’t do very well with plants, so I made a goal to at least keep them alive until ‘our’ Violet enters the world–so far, so good!

I also have some more photos to share! The first batch is of the surprise shower at the dance studio–the first two are of the dancers, a young group and an older group, the next one is of the teachers that were able to be there, and the last one is my mom.

The other set of photos are a few from the pregnancy photo shoot I did with Jennifer Glaws a couple of weeks ago–it was way fun, I totally recommend it to any pregnant mommas out there, no matter how big you feel!

Clair and I met with the doctor yesterday.  It turns out that baby is in no hurry to come out.  She is slowly starting to drop, but nothing to get excited about.  I’m guessing that the due date of Apr 26 is going to come and go with no news.  The doc said that if she doesn’t come naturally by Apr 30, we will schedule the baby to be induced on May 2.  So at least we have a locked in go-live date now.

To try to kick starts things, Clair is eating spicy foods.  Yesterday she had curry from Pei Wei with her mom.  Also, Clair, Ninja, and I went for a nice long walk.  It was so nice out, we went down to the St Anthony Main riverfront (across the river from the Mill City Museum where we got married) and had a picnic.  Then we walked across the Stone Arch Bridge.  Ninja was loving it.  So many new smells.  Once we got to the other side, Clair had to duck into the Guthrie to use the facilities.  After that and a short break, we were able to get back to our car before sunset.  It was a damn nice night.

I want to give a big thank you and blog-shout-out to all who either attended or hosted one of the fabulous baby showers thrown to welcome our little Violet into the big world!! We are now very well prepared for any occasion with all of the cute outfits, we can change many a diaper, conquer diaper rash, have fun in the bathtub, and much, much more.

We are now 2 weeks away from the due date as of tomorrow. I can hardly believe it, except that I feel more uncomfortable every day! The doctor says everything looks great, very healthy–but little Violet is in no hurry to make her grand entrance. Derek and I separately predicted May 1st, we found out as we were chatting the other night. His theory is very cute–especially if it happens to rain on Apr. 30. April showers bring May flowers (Violet)! I just have a feeling she’s going to be late. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Now for some pictures…

Shower #3 at Columbia Grounds–4/6/08

So, I’ve been a bit of a jerk and haven’t updated the blog in a while. Well, a lot has happened. Go buy a hat and hold onto it.

To start the month, Clair and I bought a new car: a 2002 Subaru Outback. All wheel drive, leather heated seats, 2 sun roofs, rides like a dream, and it is all Clair’s. I get to drive it on communal trips. It has recently started making a screeching noise from the windshield like letting air out of a pinched balloon. Clair is taking it in on Thursday. On most days, I drive the ’93 Civic with a busted muffler. It’s a sporty ride that gets me places cheaply that a bus won’t go, which brings me to my next point.

Our second economic-type crisis was averted last week. I started a new contracting gig at UnitedHealth Group in Plymouth. (The bus doesn’t go from NE Mpls to Plymouth according to metrotransit.org.) Medtronic decided to terminate my contract one month before Clair is due. That was fun news to get. I freaked out for a month, and then an opportunity came up at a place I worked before. After one week between jobs, I started back in the same role I left back in 2005, the only difference being that I am a contractor now instead of an employee. So far it has been one of the best starts to a job I’ve ever had. I recognize most of the people I’ve worked with in the past. They invited me out to a happy hour on Thursday. It has been a long time since I went to a work related happy hour.

My parents came up early in the month to help us organize the house a bit. Woody and I did odd stuff around the house while Clair and Mom organized all the gifts from Clair’s first baby shower. Woody and I put together the crib, a bookshelf, hung a bunch of shelves and pictures, rewired the baby’s room’s outlets and light switch, and installed a new light fixture. Clair and Mom washed and folded all of the baby clothes. We have too much baby clothing, so it took them a while. I’m just glad that we are seeing my parents more often.

A couple weeks later, Clair’s family friend Sandy came through with her wedding present. She cleaned our main floor completely: bathroom, kitchen, living room, family room, bedroom, and nursery. We heard she was disgusted by how much dog hair she vacuumed up. I can’t say I blame her. Ninja is a shedding machine. We definitely have to stay on top of that better.

Clair is getting pretty big. Less than 3 weeks to go. She has started going to the doctor on a weekly basis. In a short time, we’ll be in a new world. I’m anticipating that with an ignorant smile. I have no idea how drastically things are going to change, so I might as well greet it happily.

Ahhh….to be pregnant with friends!! This is from Katie LaPointe’s baby shower on March 30th. Yummy brunch and good conversation and cute baby gifts. Can you guess who’s due first!? We’re all one month apart according to our due dates, it’ll be fun to see what actually transpires. It was fun to talk heartburn, cravings, and small bladders(let the sleepless nights begin!) with gals going through it right along with you.

These are the crazy neighborhoood kids that my brother and I grew up with. Now we’re all grown-up and have to take pictures on the rare occasions that we’re all able to get together! This is from the beginning of March at the annual March Birthday bash for my father, Abby and Dan. Thanks for the awesome soup Cindy!!

Hey all,

My second-ever blog post, I’m kind of a slacker, except for the whole making a baby in my womb thing!  Just thought I’d share all those little fun pregnancy things, if for no other reason so I can remember once this is all over!  My three biggest cravings are cucumbers, celery, and smelling anything clean, Lysol, my shampoo, random public bathroom soaps…(nesting, nesting….)

We got a crib from Lynn and Julie last Saturday, yipee!  It matches our wood floors very nicely.  I’ll have D-man post a picture as soon as he gets that put together–bets, anyone?

Beyond our Babies R Us registry, I’ve stumbled across a couple of very fun baby websites that I’m tempted to spend way to much money at!  www.etsy.com–that one’s not just baby stuff, lots of stuff to buy, all handcrafted, artsy things and some very reasonable prices for one-of-a-items!!  www.daddygear.com–that’s for derek’s manly baby gear, I haven’t decided what to get him yet.  www.happyhippie.com/directory/kids.htm  –getting on the eco-friendly consumer bus, cute and feels good in so many ways!

Violet continues to kick, roll, and punch all over the place.  Her standard position is feet under the right side of the rib cage  and head/hands pushing on the bladder…  She had the hiccups tonight for the second time that I could feel anyway.  Oh and she LOVES music with bass.  At the dance studio and at our competitions when it gets loud, she starts groovin’!  I’m continuing to feel pretty good, I can tell I start to get tired a little quicker again though.

Thanks for reading our blog!   Hope everyone is doing well!

Since a few people have asked, we are registered at Babies ‘R’ Us. They have way too much cute stuff there.

So, Medtronic has created a campaign to get kids to read and to exercise and stuff like that. My favorite so far is the pitch to keep kids off drugs.

Here is the original image of a girl blowing bubbles:

Here is the image after it has been Medtronicized:

It looks like the poor girl is happily hitting the pipe. I don’t think this was proofed out.