Not much going on these days besides Wife's tummy getting bigger and bigger. She had a doctor's appointment yesterday which I did not attend, and guess what? She wasn't seen for an hour and 15 minutes after the appointment time. F'ing outrageous, I tell you.
Everything is good, but the doctor sent her to a specialist this morning to get an echocardiogram because she feinted on BART a few weeks back. Naturally, it took so long that she decided not to come in to work today and is currently home taking a nap. Pretty awesome, no? She also has to wear a monitor on her chest to measure her heart strength for a day or two.
I am actually taking tomorrow off and will probably follow suit. I have a doctor appointment in the morning and a vet appointment in the afternoon and in between plan on working out and ... oh... nothing! My appointment in the morning isn't any big deal, I just need a physical and want her to check out my knee, which has been bothering me since my crash in Downieville. My dog is also great, she just needs her annual check up where I am inevitably shamed over her weight :(
Other than that, Wife is doing a garage sale with her family this weekend, and I plan on staying as clear from the shit show as I possibly can. I am going to try to sell a TV though, so we'll see how it goes.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
The latest and greates
Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, no real reason other than I was slowly accumulating news, I suppose. We had dinner with the in-laws last night to say goodbye to my BIL, who is moving to Manhattan with three suitcases to his name. After two attempts at making it in LA, he's off to the Big Apple. I hope it works out well, because he's 30 now and hasn't really held a full time job since I've been on the scene, and NY is pretty unforgiving as far as cities go.
So, the news last night was the Wife's older sister is pregnant with her second as well, about three months behind us. It'll be interesting to see how that changes the dynamic with Wife and her sister and parents. Wife and her sister have had a testy relationship their whole lives, but so far, so good.
The other major thing we've been working on is trying to nail down the plan as far as Wife's maternity leave, child care, benefits while she's out, etc. Honestly, when you start talking about short term disability and family leave time, my eyes just glaze over. The good news is that she is going to get paid, although it may be at 60% of her salary (or less), for 6 weeks, and she will get full medical benefits throughout. That's good news because the cost to her for benefits is about 25% of mine before taxes. She pays $59 a month, while I pay $109 per paycheck, or $218 a month.
The bad news is, her company only gives two weeks vacation and she has to accrue it before she can use it. She calculated out that she will have 6 days accrued by the time the baby is due. It's kind of shocking for me, as I have something like 5 or 6 weeks a year. I honestly don't know because I have so much I can't possibly use it all. After our three week honeymoon this year, I still have 3.5 weeks. Plus floaters and sick days and all that. Realistically, I should have this baby. Just kidding, hell no.
I've said before that my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world, and I was definitely reminded of it this morning when I met her for a quick kiss. She dresses so well, and had on an orange sweater that looked like she had a tiny little pumpkin belly.
So, the news last night was the Wife's older sister is pregnant with her second as well, about three months behind us. It'll be interesting to see how that changes the dynamic with Wife and her sister and parents. Wife and her sister have had a testy relationship their whole lives, but so far, so good.
The other major thing we've been working on is trying to nail down the plan as far as Wife's maternity leave, child care, benefits while she's out, etc. Honestly, when you start talking about short term disability and family leave time, my eyes just glaze over. The good news is that she is going to get paid, although it may be at 60% of her salary (or less), for 6 weeks, and she will get full medical benefits throughout. That's good news because the cost to her for benefits is about 25% of mine before taxes. She pays $59 a month, while I pay $109 per paycheck, or $218 a month.
The bad news is, her company only gives two weeks vacation and she has to accrue it before she can use it. She calculated out that she will have 6 days accrued by the time the baby is due. It's kind of shocking for me, as I have something like 5 or 6 weeks a year. I honestly don't know because I have so much I can't possibly use it all. After our three week honeymoon this year, I still have 3.5 weeks. Plus floaters and sick days and all that. Realistically, I should have this baby. Just kidding, hell no.
I've said before that my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world, and I was definitely reminded of it this morning when I met her for a quick kiss. She dresses so well, and had on an orange sweater that looked like she had a tiny little pumpkin belly.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Two swords!
So after a day of anxiety and stress, we went in yesterday for the ultra sound and the baby is a boy! I was really happy, but I think Wife took the whole thing a little harder than I expected her to. She definitely had some tears in her eyes during the meeting and then seemed down the rest of the evening. I brought home some flowers and mac and cheese after the gym, and even that didn't seem to snap her out of it.
I totally get it. I think we all get this vision of how our life and our child is going to be and then it can be a little upsetting when that dream is shattered. I honestly was expecting it to be a little girl, so I'm even a little taken aback and reconfiguring my expectations. While we were sitting there in the ultra sound room, I started thinking about teaching him how to open doors for women and telling his Mom how beautiful she is, like my Dad did with me.
I'd always figured I'd be dropping off little girls in tutus for dance practice and watching football out in the garage, so its all still a shock. I think you get the get the child you need though, and my wife has been a princess her whole life and basically lives a paranoid life, so a little boy is going to completely change her. I think I've said it before, they always say that men that are partiers and womanizers "deserve" to have little girls, so my wife would be exact opposite of that.
I just got her morning text and it looks like she's still down, so hopefully she'll snap out of it quickly. We're going to be around her family all weekend and are supposed to do the gender reveal party on Monday, so we'll see how that goes. If she doesn't snap out of it, there's no way she'll be able to keep it from her Mom all weekend - her Mom was already texting last night and trying to snoop around.
My biggest fear is that this whole thing will somehow change her excitement and enthusiasm for this baby. And I can tell the reason I feel that way is because it has totally amped mine up. We already have a name picked out, getting to teach him about sports and working on cars and fishing are all out there.
I know Wife had color schemes picked out for the nursery and visions of giant poofy ugly dresses though, so hopefully this is just a temporary thing. Her friends ALL have boys though, so I think once she's able to talk to them she'll feel a lot better.
I totally get it. I think we all get this vision of how our life and our child is going to be and then it can be a little upsetting when that dream is shattered. I honestly was expecting it to be a little girl, so I'm even a little taken aback and reconfiguring my expectations. While we were sitting there in the ultra sound room, I started thinking about teaching him how to open doors for women and telling his Mom how beautiful she is, like my Dad did with me.
I'd always figured I'd be dropping off little girls in tutus for dance practice and watching football out in the garage, so its all still a shock. I think you get the get the child you need though, and my wife has been a princess her whole life and basically lives a paranoid life, so a little boy is going to completely change her. I think I've said it before, they always say that men that are partiers and womanizers "deserve" to have little girls, so my wife would be exact opposite of that.
I just got her morning text and it looks like she's still down, so hopefully she'll snap out of it quickly. We're going to be around her family all weekend and are supposed to do the gender reveal party on Monday, so we'll see how that goes. If she doesn't snap out of it, there's no way she'll be able to keep it from her Mom all weekend - her Mom was already texting last night and trying to snoop around.
My biggest fear is that this whole thing will somehow change her excitement and enthusiasm for this baby. And I can tell the reason I feel that way is because it has totally amped mine up. We already have a name picked out, getting to teach him about sports and working on cars and fishing are all out there.
I know Wife had color schemes picked out for the nursery and visions of giant poofy ugly dresses though, so hopefully this is just a temporary thing. Her friends ALL have boys though, so I think once she's able to talk to them she'll feel a lot better.
Monday, October 8, 2012
T-2 on He or She?
Happy Indigenous People's Day! Hopefully, you aren't sitting at work while everyone else is at home like me...
Had kind of a fun weekend, but not too much going on. We are converting the guest room, which is next to our bedroom, into the nursery though, so work has begun on that project. So far that means, taking down the art and packing up some stuff and converting our old office into a sort of office/guest bedroom. It's going to be tough trying to fit all the things we had in the front and back bedroom together, so this has spurred all sorts of boxing up clothes and stuff we don't need for a garage sale Wife and her moms are planning to have.
A big part of the sale is going to be all the detail work Wife had gotten for our wedding this summer. We have boxes of mason jars and storm lanterns and sandals and god knows whatever trinkets sitting boxed up in our garage. I cannot wait until it is all gone, this sale cannot come soon enough. I've moved three times in three years and we just had a sale last year, so I don't exactly have a ton of stuff to offer up this time around.
The only other development was Wife went to a flea market in Alameda to pick over the furniture and try to find a dresser. We made a decision not to buy a changing table with the pad on top and get a dresser instead, which we plan on painting and adding a bed to change the baby ourselves, so that after the baby has grown a little, we can still use the dresser. Any way, Wife found a really fantastic one, really well made with great drawers and a solid back with real wood as opposed to particle board. She also found a bassinet which was quite a steal, we just need to paint it and get a mattress to go inside. So we're down to a couple of items so far, hopefully which can wait a while so we can reload on funds.
Other than that, I went to lunch with three of my friends on Saturday and finally got a chance to tell them. It was pretty funny because two of them had brought their kids, and the "Are you sure you want this?" question was definitely asked during a snot filled breakdown because the menu did not have grilled cheese. It actually was fun eating with the kids though, because in a way, it made me feel like if those guys can do it, I'll be great.
By the way, when we sat down the waitress had total attitude, and then the kids pulled up and she just mushed right up. It's amazing the way people respond to kids.
Oh, and my brother in law got a dog this weekend while his wife was out of town. How's that for a ballsy move? They have a 2 year old, so we went over to see how they were getting along. The dog was a rescue and was super well mannered with the toddler, but toddler clearly needs to warm up to the idea of having a big animal in her house. We'll have to keep an eye on how this develops, sister in law gets back today!
Had kind of a fun weekend, but not too much going on. We are converting the guest room, which is next to our bedroom, into the nursery though, so work has begun on that project. So far that means, taking down the art and packing up some stuff and converting our old office into a sort of office/guest bedroom. It's going to be tough trying to fit all the things we had in the front and back bedroom together, so this has spurred all sorts of boxing up clothes and stuff we don't need for a garage sale Wife and her moms are planning to have.
A big part of the sale is going to be all the detail work Wife had gotten for our wedding this summer. We have boxes of mason jars and storm lanterns and sandals and god knows whatever trinkets sitting boxed up in our garage. I cannot wait until it is all gone, this sale cannot come soon enough. I've moved three times in three years and we just had a sale last year, so I don't exactly have a ton of stuff to offer up this time around.
The only other development was Wife went to a flea market in Alameda to pick over the furniture and try to find a dresser. We made a decision not to buy a changing table with the pad on top and get a dresser instead, which we plan on painting and adding a bed to change the baby ourselves, so that after the baby has grown a little, we can still use the dresser. Any way, Wife found a really fantastic one, really well made with great drawers and a solid back with real wood as opposed to particle board. She also found a bassinet which was quite a steal, we just need to paint it and get a mattress to go inside. So we're down to a couple of items so far, hopefully which can wait a while so we can reload on funds.
Other than that, I went to lunch with three of my friends on Saturday and finally got a chance to tell them. It was pretty funny because two of them had brought their kids, and the "Are you sure you want this?" question was definitely asked during a snot filled breakdown because the menu did not have grilled cheese. It actually was fun eating with the kids though, because in a way, it made me feel like if those guys can do it, I'll be great.
By the way, when we sat down the waitress had total attitude, and then the kids pulled up and she just mushed right up. It's amazing the way people respond to kids.
Oh, and my brother in law got a dog this weekend while his wife was out of town. How's that for a ballsy move? They have a 2 year old, so we went over to see how they were getting along. The dog was a rescue and was super well mannered with the toddler, but toddler clearly needs to warm up to the idea of having a big animal in her house. We'll have to keep an eye on how this develops, sister in law gets back today!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Thanks Mom!
So yesterday Wife and I were emailing back and forth about finding out the sex of the baby. We'd briefly spoken about doing the whole thing where the ultrasound tech writes down the sex of the baby and then we give it to a family member and then cut into a cake or open a box and everyone finds out the sex, but I just felt that it is kind of a private moment I would like to have with her. I also want to have a medical person there pointing to it in 3D or HD or whatever, so there is no room for error.
She actually was feeling the exact same way, so we decided to find out ourselves, and then do some kind of reveal for our families. Wife runs with it, dates are set up, etc.
So I email my Mom to invite her and my Dad to the reveal. Keep in mind that my parents have become total homebodies and don't go out and do anything with anyone any more, and I'm also paraphrasing:
"Hi Mom, Wife and I are finding out the sex of the baby on 6/10 and wanted to know if you wanted to come over to Wife's parents house on 10/15 to find out? We'll probably do cake and possibly dinner."
"I don't think you should find out" Note she didn't even use a period.
"Ha, well we're going to find out at some point, and at least this way we can buy clothes and paint things in the appropriate color schemes. So, are you boycotting the 15th?"
"Yes. Have fun."
Now, I could care less but Wife is super sensitive when it comes to interactions with my Mom. Emails like that with Wife would easily lead to a crying talk about feelings, so thank god I was the one sending the emails. Still, as I walked over to meet Wife this morning, I could feel the anxiety building and knew I wouldn't be able to hide my disappointment/frustration, whatever.
I actually lasted about 10 minutes before she asked what was up, and I told her all about it. I could tell she was hurt, and tears started to well up, but she did a good job of saying she was sad for me. The next event up is Thanksgiving, her parents want to invite my parents over and I absolutely know that they'll make up an excuse not to come. Oh well, it's out of my control so I just need to let it go.
Also, told my boss today and she was over the moon excited, it was very cool. She even offered me two weeks off to stay home with the baby! That was my plan anyway, so great!
Not much else going on right now, I took Monday off from the gym and had to go to the dentist last night, so I need to get over there today. The dentist was fine, I'm not dying and don't need thousands of dollars of work, so all is well.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Ahhh, SF in the fall...
And it is 80 degrees outside. Everything they say about the weather here is astonishingly correct - October is summer here. It got me thinking about how I'd recently read about the female feeling warmer as circulation changes during pregnancy. That would be fabulous as I am hot blooded and always hot and Wife is, naturally, always cold.
This past weekend wasn't anything too exciting, although we did go to a sale because the strollers we were looking at were all 15% off and apparently these things never go on sale. We got a black UpaBaby Vista, in case anyone's interested. I can't wait to put spinners on it! But for now, it will sit in the cold, lonely garage until next month. Ha, the saleswomen were amazed we were shopping so early in the process, since Wife barely had a little pooch showing in the dress she was wearing.
We also went to a picnic and ran into one of my single buddies from SF way out in Suburbia. Yeah, I got to tell another friend! He was great about being excited and all, but keep in mind this guy has been single and living in the Marina in SF since he graduated from college. He would make a great dad, but if you are not from the Bay Area, there's a reason guys live in the Marina and it is not to settle down.
We had an interesting conversation with another couple about wanting to find out about the sex of the baby. As I've said before, I'm all about it but Wife started out completely against and now is slowly coming around to my side. Anyway, the other woman asked me what my reason for wanting to find out was, to which I replied, "Why would you not want to find out, if you can, so you can plan and paint and get clothes with the baby's sex in mind." She then went on to tell me how her husband wanted to find out early because he was worried it would be a girl and he'd be disappointed in the delivery room. Seriously? I get that people think that way, but I can't imagine ever vocalizing that to my wife.
I have actually gone out of the way to make sure I don't openly prefer one sex to the other, it just seems like setting yourself up if you do so.
I brought all of this up because we can find out any time now, for $65. We're trying to hold out a few more weeks until the 20 week ultrasound though, so we'll see how that turns out.
This past weekend wasn't anything too exciting, although we did go to a sale because the strollers we were looking at were all 15% off and apparently these things never go on sale. We got a black UpaBaby Vista, in case anyone's interested. I can't wait to put spinners on it! But for now, it will sit in the cold, lonely garage until next month. Ha, the saleswomen were amazed we were shopping so early in the process, since Wife barely had a little pooch showing in the dress she was wearing.
We also went to a picnic and ran into one of my single buddies from SF way out in Suburbia. Yeah, I got to tell another friend! He was great about being excited and all, but keep in mind this guy has been single and living in the Marina in SF since he graduated from college. He would make a great dad, but if you are not from the Bay Area, there's a reason guys live in the Marina and it is not to settle down.
We had an interesting conversation with another couple about wanting to find out about the sex of the baby. As I've said before, I'm all about it but Wife started out completely against and now is slowly coming around to my side. Anyway, the other woman asked me what my reason for wanting to find out was, to which I replied, "Why would you not want to find out, if you can, so you can plan and paint and get clothes with the baby's sex in mind." She then went on to tell me how her husband wanted to find out early because he was worried it would be a girl and he'd be disappointed in the delivery room. Seriously? I get that people think that way, but I can't imagine ever vocalizing that to my wife.
I have actually gone out of the way to make sure I don't openly prefer one sex to the other, it just seems like setting yourself up if you do so.
I brought all of this up because we can find out any time now, for $65. We're trying to hold out a few more weeks until the 20 week ultrasound though, so we'll see how that turns out.
Friday, September 28, 2012
In a gold lame speedo, so everyone will know!
Lols, the title for today's post was inspired by the Fed Ex driver that used to visit our office at my last place of business. He asked where one of the guys I worked with once, and when I responded that he was on vacation in Hawaii, the driver said, " Rolling around in the sand, so everyone will know!" It was such a random response that I still find it hilarious to this day.
I was just thinking about the babymoon concept yesterday while I was throwing the ball for my dogs in the backyard. Wife had been hinting about wanting to do something recently and I was just thinking through options. The problem is, to be honest, we just got married in June, need to buy a bunch of things for the baby and money doesn't grow on trees. I hate stressing out about money, because there's not a whole lot I can to have a positive effect on the bottom line. I hardly ever splurge and just buy things for myself, but seem to barely keep up any way. I just sent in over $300 in bills yesterday, and Wife wants to buy an $800 stroller this weekend. God, I hope I get a good bonus this year.
Anyway, enough about that, worrying about money makes everyone uncomfortable, and is boring to read about. That's not the kind of blog we're trying to be!
Not much new is going on with the Wife since her meltdown on Monday. She's been eating more in the morning and it seems to be helping. From what I've read, the baby is 4 inches long now and all the joints are working. The legs are growing longer than the arms and the taste buds are developing. Pretty cool stuff.
Wife asked me last night if I'd told anybody, and the truth is that besides the guys I went camping with, I really haven't. She made such a big deal about not telling people until she could tell her friends, and it just doesn't seem like the kind of news you should spread by text message. It's kind of a shocking reminder about how little I see my friends. Most of them have two kids and I guess their hands are just full all of the time. I invited a few to lunch tomorrow, maybe some of them will be able to go so we can watch some college football, have some good few and a beer or two and I can tell them in person. Not getting my hopes up though.
So today is my little Cavalier King Charles's birthday! I can't believe he's two today, it seems like he was just a tiny little gerbil scared of everything yesterday. I love grilling and trying new things, so I'm going to see if I can get my local butcher to mix some ground beef with brisket after work today. Supposedly, that is the most ridiculous blend you can get for a hamburger, so I'll barbecue those up for Wife and I and then make some sliders for the dogs. I try to do something like that for all the birthdays, I think we did steak for Lucy's last birthday.
Here's a picture of the birthday boy with his toy giraffe!
I was just thinking about the babymoon concept yesterday while I was throwing the ball for my dogs in the backyard. Wife had been hinting about wanting to do something recently and I was just thinking through options. The problem is, to be honest, we just got married in June, need to buy a bunch of things for the baby and money doesn't grow on trees. I hate stressing out about money, because there's not a whole lot I can to have a positive effect on the bottom line. I hardly ever splurge and just buy things for myself, but seem to barely keep up any way. I just sent in over $300 in bills yesterday, and Wife wants to buy an $800 stroller this weekend. God, I hope I get a good bonus this year.
Anyway, enough about that, worrying about money makes everyone uncomfortable, and is boring to read about. That's not the kind of blog we're trying to be!
Not much new is going on with the Wife since her meltdown on Monday. She's been eating more in the morning and it seems to be helping. From what I've read, the baby is 4 inches long now and all the joints are working. The legs are growing longer than the arms and the taste buds are developing. Pretty cool stuff.
Wife asked me last night if I'd told anybody, and the truth is that besides the guys I went camping with, I really haven't. She made such a big deal about not telling people until she could tell her friends, and it just doesn't seem like the kind of news you should spread by text message. It's kind of a shocking reminder about how little I see my friends. Most of them have two kids and I guess their hands are just full all of the time. I invited a few to lunch tomorrow, maybe some of them will be able to go so we can watch some college football, have some good few and a beer or two and I can tell them in person. Not getting my hopes up though.
So today is my little Cavalier King Charles's birthday! I can't believe he's two today, it seems like he was just a tiny little gerbil scared of everything yesterday. I love grilling and trying new things, so I'm going to see if I can get my local butcher to mix some ground beef with brisket after work today. Supposedly, that is the most ridiculous blend you can get for a hamburger, so I'll barbecue those up for Wife and I and then make some sliders for the dogs. I try to do something like that for all the birthdays, I think we did steak for Lucy's last birthday.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Puke on the floor!
Ugh, I forget my last update so I'll just dive in. Yesterday was a catastrophic day for those of us on vomit watch, as Wife almost feinted on BART and then ran out on the platform in Oakland and apparently tossed her cookies in front of a waiting train full of people. At this point, she called her parents in tears (her father later told me he thought she was being abducted) and had them come pick her up. She slept for the rest of the morning at her parents and then her mom made her a grilled cheese sandwich while she waited around for me to come pick her up after work.
Oh, did she have on her wrist bands, take the anti-nausea medicine the doctor prescribed or have a ginger candy to suck on? Nope. I think that is probably the perfect man versus woman approach, she is telling me how awful she feels and I'm trying to fix it and it just pisses her off.
I guess a couple of people tried to help her on BART, which gives me some reassurance that there are some good people in the world. But she's not big enough to be obviously pregnant yet, so the problem is she can't get a seat most days. As a male BART traveler, I can tell you no one is giving up there seats to a hot blond with a little beer belly, she needs the full on basketball to get a seat and we're probably 2-3 months away from that.
I can't think of anything else that happened last weekend, other than we got a crib and went to look at strollers. I wasn't involved in the crib purchase at all, so I can't tell you much about it other than it is white and sort of old school looking. For the stroller, we were between the bugaboo and UpaBaby and took her BMW down to make sure they both fit in the trunk. They did, so it looks like we are going to go with the UpaBaby based on price and the number of features it has (this was decided by me nodding my head).
Can I just say that I thought a stroller was just a fucking stroller? You also need to buy the car seat, bassinet, infant seat, cup holder, blah, blah, blah. I'm playing this status game, aren't I? I can't stand keeping up with the Joneses BS, so I hope the stroller is the only thing that sniffs like it. We were walking away from the store and she pointed out a couple on the opposite sidewalk with an Orbit, FML.
At this rate, I'll need a vodka bottle holder. Did anyone see this stuff? Pretty cool, I want the baby monitor that integrates with the iPhone...
http://www.sfgate.com/style/article/High-tech-baby-items-fit-for-Marissa-Mayer-3882094.php
Oh, did she have on her wrist bands, take the anti-nausea medicine the doctor prescribed or have a ginger candy to suck on? Nope. I think that is probably the perfect man versus woman approach, she is telling me how awful she feels and I'm trying to fix it and it just pisses her off.
I guess a couple of people tried to help her on BART, which gives me some reassurance that there are some good people in the world. But she's not big enough to be obviously pregnant yet, so the problem is she can't get a seat most days. As a male BART traveler, I can tell you no one is giving up there seats to a hot blond with a little beer belly, she needs the full on basketball to get a seat and we're probably 2-3 months away from that.
I can't think of anything else that happened last weekend, other than we got a crib and went to look at strollers. I wasn't involved in the crib purchase at all, so I can't tell you much about it other than it is white and sort of old school looking. For the stroller, we were between the bugaboo and UpaBaby and took her BMW down to make sure they both fit in the trunk. They did, so it looks like we are going to go with the UpaBaby based on price and the number of features it has (this was decided by me nodding my head).
Can I just say that I thought a stroller was just a fucking stroller? You also need to buy the car seat, bassinet, infant seat, cup holder, blah, blah, blah. I'm playing this status game, aren't I? I can't stand keeping up with the Joneses BS, so I hope the stroller is the only thing that sniffs like it. We were walking away from the store and she pointed out a couple on the opposite sidewalk with an Orbit, FML.
At this rate, I'll need a vodka bottle holder. Did anyone see this stuff? Pretty cool, I want the baby monitor that integrates with the iPhone...
http://www.sfgate.com/style/article/High-tech-baby-items-fit-for-Marissa-Mayer-3882094.php
Friday, September 21, 2012
The big reveal
Not much going on here, wife has been feeling good and her luncheon to do the big reveal is tomorrow morning. After that, it can be considered public knowledge. Maybe she'll even reactivate her FB account! LOLs.
So I get some me time tonight and tomorrow morning to work out and watch some football. Looking forward to it.
I've never done a crossfit competition before because I do it to work out rather than allow it to consume me and become my lifestyle, but actually entered one in five weeks. It is a fundraiser for breast cancer, which is an important cause to me, so I've decided to go for it. I'm actually going to focus on the competition and use it as an incentive, and hopefully Wife will come down and cheer me on as she has done in the past.
Have a great weekend everyone!
So I get some me time tonight and tomorrow morning to work out and watch some football. Looking forward to it.
I've never done a crossfit competition before because I do it to work out rather than allow it to consume me and become my lifestyle, but actually entered one in five weeks. It is a fundraiser for breast cancer, which is an important cause to me, so I've decided to go for it. I'm actually going to focus on the competition and use it as an incentive, and hopefully Wife will come down and cheer me on as she has done in the past.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Dr Visit #3
So last night was doctor visit #3 for Wife. I actually sat this one out, because she couldn't remember why she booked it and let's be honest - there are way too many appointments if we are factoring in doctor, ultrasound and blood taking. I can't make them all, and I personally have a hard time believing this many appointments is even medically necessary. Yesterday, they weighed her (she hasn't gained a pound yet), had her pee in a cup and listened to the heart beat.
We just had the ultrasound last Thursday where the technician measured the heart rate, so it's not like a whole lot can change in four or five days. I mean it is great that she has someone monitoring her so closely, but it has got to be expensive. We pick up the copay, but no wonder insurance costs so much.
But I digress, back to the story. The really nice thing was that Wife and I got to ride home together for once on BART, and then she went off to the appointment and I went over to crossfit. I got a pretty solid workout in and checked my texts afterward and she still hadn't gotten in to see the doctor. For the record, that is three visits with at least an hour wait to see the doctor each time. For people who have to take off work and travel to see her, that's pretty outrageous.
Any way, everything is going very well, have a good night all.
We just had the ultrasound last Thursday where the technician measured the heart rate, so it's not like a whole lot can change in four or five days. I mean it is great that she has someone monitoring her so closely, but it has got to be expensive. We pick up the copay, but no wonder insurance costs so much.
But I digress, back to the story. The really nice thing was that Wife and I got to ride home together for once on BART, and then she went off to the appointment and I went over to crossfit. I got a pretty solid workout in and checked my texts afterward and she still hadn't gotten in to see the doctor. For the record, that is three visits with at least an hour wait to see the doctor each time. For people who have to take off work and travel to see her, that's pretty outrageous.
Any way, everything is going very well, have a good night all.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Nesting
Didn't make it over to googley blogger yesterday because I took last Friday off and needed to catch up on work.
The camping trip was great, we stay next to a beautiful river and fish and my buddy and I had bought all the food for the trip and made some pretty great meals. The mountain biking was brutal, I rented a plush downhill bike and was definitely riding faster than my ability. As a result, I fell about three times, one of which was probably the worst fall I've ever had. I went over the handle bars and landed on my left forearm, and then rolled onto my back and skipped about 15 feet over jagged rocks on my back before slamming into a rock with my helmet. Yeah, it felt spectacular. On another fall, I basically hit a log with my left shin and then slammed the bike frame against the other side of it with all my weight, it's a miracle I didn't just snap the bone but its pretty banged up.
Oh well, I went into crossfit yesterday and gutted out a tough workout, so it felt good to get back in there.
Wife wasn't feeling so well, she woke up yesterday morning and threw up and basically phoned it in for the rest of the day. Not even pretend to work from home, just off the reservation style. It's kind of the same story repeated daily, some days are better than others. Allegedly, she should be feeling better soon as we move into the second trimester. She has a doctor appointment this morning, so it will be interesting to see how that conversation goes. Has she even picked up the prescription the doctor gave her last time for a combination vitamin b and ginger pill to fight nausea? Nope.
We did go into see the ultrasound last week and they did some 3d imaging while we were there. It was take your breath away cool, the technology they have now to do this stuff is absolutely incredible. While we were watching the little baby was rocking out with two hands over his/her head and kicking away. The doctor came in and pointed out the ten fingers, strong heart beating and brain developing in the head. The measurements for the various chromosome issues were great too, it went really well. I can't wait until that fear is behind us, it's just so heavy to think about. Wife tried to pin me down last night on what we would do if something was wrong, I just didn't even want to go there until we have to. I think I know in my heart, but Jesus.
Nothing else new going on. My in laws were over this weekend and moved a bunch of furniture around and then bought us a crib, which I'm extremely grateful for.
Just got the morning text with an exclamation point, so she must be feeling stronger today. It'll be interesting to see how her boss reacts to her bailing yesterday and then either leaving early or coming in late today - I'll keep you posted.
The camping trip was great, we stay next to a beautiful river and fish and my buddy and I had bought all the food for the trip and made some pretty great meals. The mountain biking was brutal, I rented a plush downhill bike and was definitely riding faster than my ability. As a result, I fell about three times, one of which was probably the worst fall I've ever had. I went over the handle bars and landed on my left forearm, and then rolled onto my back and skipped about 15 feet over jagged rocks on my back before slamming into a rock with my helmet. Yeah, it felt spectacular. On another fall, I basically hit a log with my left shin and then slammed the bike frame against the other side of it with all my weight, it's a miracle I didn't just snap the bone but its pretty banged up.
Oh well, I went into crossfit yesterday and gutted out a tough workout, so it felt good to get back in there.
Wife wasn't feeling so well, she woke up yesterday morning and threw up and basically phoned it in for the rest of the day. Not even pretend to work from home, just off the reservation style. It's kind of the same story repeated daily, some days are better than others. Allegedly, she should be feeling better soon as we move into the second trimester. She has a doctor appointment this morning, so it will be interesting to see how that conversation goes. Has she even picked up the prescription the doctor gave her last time for a combination vitamin b and ginger pill to fight nausea? Nope.
We did go into see the ultrasound last week and they did some 3d imaging while we were there. It was take your breath away cool, the technology they have now to do this stuff is absolutely incredible. While we were watching the little baby was rocking out with two hands over his/her head and kicking away. The doctor came in and pointed out the ten fingers, strong heart beating and brain developing in the head. The measurements for the various chromosome issues were great too, it went really well. I can't wait until that fear is behind us, it's just so heavy to think about. Wife tried to pin me down last night on what we would do if something was wrong, I just didn't even want to go there until we have to. I think I know in my heart, but Jesus.
Nothing else new going on. My in laws were over this weekend and moved a bunch of furniture around and then bought us a crib, which I'm extremely grateful for.
Just got the morning text with an exclamation point, so she must be feeling stronger today. It'll be interesting to see how her boss reacts to her bailing yesterday and then either leaving early or coming in late today - I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Momentum
I'm starting this blogging thing off early today, been sick last week and busy at work so it is easy to forget to do it and then one day turns into another and voila - stale blog.
I'm trying to think of what's new on the baby front. Wife has been feeling marginally better, there's up days and down days. And right as I typed that she texted me she's been throwing up this morning at home... So there you have it.
We hit twelve weeks on Saturday, so that's the official time at which most of the miscarriage risk is gone and you can supposedly safely start telling a broader audience of people. I really just told my brother, whose reaction, after telling me how great it was, went something like, "I don't know what's stranger; you being a parent or mom and dad being grandparents." His wife was great and sent a very sweet email to both the Wife and I.
Wife told two of her very close high school friends, but has organized a lunch for the weekend after next to tell her broader group of friends. I think I mentioned it in an earlier post, but she's also frozen her Facebook account out of fear that someone will post something and suggested I do so as well. Let me just interject right here to say how ridiculous all of this is. First of all, the staggered schedule of telling people is beyond lame, and no guy has ever gone on another guy's facebook page and written something about a baby in the history of the internets. Second of all, she is setting herself up for disappointment because as exciting as this news is to her and I and maybe her family, most of our friends have little kids of their own and have been to this rodeo over and over again. I'm letting her run with it though, so she can enjoy the moment.
Oh, and it turns out that her good friend at work that is pregnant too, is half a week behind Wife. I'm just picturing this luncheon with all of Wife's friend to do the big reveal and the friend blurting out, "I'm pregnant too!" Wife might just choke her out at the table. The good thing about the friend being pregnant is she's already called in sick about 5 or 6 times and is overly dramatic about the morning sickness, so Wife is realizing some of it is an attention thing and veering hard the other way.
And she totally looks bigger and washed out! Just kidding, I have no idea how she looks and wanted to complete my gossip update.
Man things. I'm going camping with three friends this weekend and have Friday off. I'm looking forward to it, although I am dreading sleeping in a goddamn tent on the ground again. But mountain biking, fishing and drinking some beers with the boys should be good.
How good is it to have the NFL back? Thank god. Also, Sons of Anarchy started again last night. I was a little concerned because the last episode of last season was a little out there, but man it started off right. Should be a fun season, and heavy on Trig - my favorite character.
I'm trying to think of what's new on the baby front. Wife has been feeling marginally better, there's up days and down days. And right as I typed that she texted me she's been throwing up this morning at home... So there you have it.
We hit twelve weeks on Saturday, so that's the official time at which most of the miscarriage risk is gone and you can supposedly safely start telling a broader audience of people. I really just told my brother, whose reaction, after telling me how great it was, went something like, "I don't know what's stranger; you being a parent or mom and dad being grandparents." His wife was great and sent a very sweet email to both the Wife and I.
Wife told two of her very close high school friends, but has organized a lunch for the weekend after next to tell her broader group of friends. I think I mentioned it in an earlier post, but she's also frozen her Facebook account out of fear that someone will post something and suggested I do so as well. Let me just interject right here to say how ridiculous all of this is. First of all, the staggered schedule of telling people is beyond lame, and no guy has ever gone on another guy's facebook page and written something about a baby in the history of the internets. Second of all, she is setting herself up for disappointment because as exciting as this news is to her and I and maybe her family, most of our friends have little kids of their own and have been to this rodeo over and over again. I'm letting her run with it though, so she can enjoy the moment.
Oh, and it turns out that her good friend at work that is pregnant too, is half a week behind Wife. I'm just picturing this luncheon with all of Wife's friend to do the big reveal and the friend blurting out, "I'm pregnant too!" Wife might just choke her out at the table. The good thing about the friend being pregnant is she's already called in sick about 5 or 6 times and is overly dramatic about the morning sickness, so Wife is realizing some of it is an attention thing and veering hard the other way.
And she totally looks bigger and washed out! Just kidding, I have no idea how she looks and wanted to complete my gossip update.
Man things. I'm going camping with three friends this weekend and have Friday off. I'm looking forward to it, although I am dreading sleeping in a goddamn tent on the ground again. But mountain biking, fishing and drinking some beers with the boys should be good.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Boost me out of here!
Wow, there is no one around today, the day before the long labor day weekend. I'm literally counting down the minutes until they cut us loose. I have a great job, that I love, and one of the best things is that they basically let us all go at 1-2 the day before a holiday.
Nothing new to report on the baby front, Wife was feeling great all day yesterday. I met her for lunch at one of her favorite spots down here in the Financial District and she ate almost everything on her plate, which never happens. So I went shopping after crossfit and picked up a filet mignon and some things for a salad for us, but she wasn't the least bit hungry. That seems to be the pattern, she'll be starving and over do it at one meal and then just not be hungry at all for dinner.
I told her a while back that I would make her some spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and garlic bread for dinner tonight, but the CEO of her company brought in BBQ for lunch today. She loves BBQ, so I have a feeling I'm going to do all this shopping and then find out she isn't hungry at all. Oh well, all I can do is try.
Great day at the gym yesterday, finally. We did squats and a little metabolic conditioning and I finally performed up to what I expect of myself. A friend of mine from high school was there too and we lifted together, and he told me he is taking off from his bank and starting his own hedge fund later this fall. Could be something to keep an eye on as an opportunity, I really want to make some more money and get us into a house, if possible.
Gotta run and get out of here, have a great long weekend.
Nothing new to report on the baby front, Wife was feeling great all day yesterday. I met her for lunch at one of her favorite spots down here in the Financial District and she ate almost everything on her plate, which never happens. So I went shopping after crossfit and picked up a filet mignon and some things for a salad for us, but she wasn't the least bit hungry. That seems to be the pattern, she'll be starving and over do it at one meal and then just not be hungry at all for dinner.
I told her a while back that I would make her some spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and garlic bread for dinner tonight, but the CEO of her company brought in BBQ for lunch today. She loves BBQ, so I have a feeling I'm going to do all this shopping and then find out she isn't hungry at all. Oh well, all I can do is try.
Great day at the gym yesterday, finally. We did squats and a little metabolic conditioning and I finally performed up to what I expect of myself. A friend of mine from high school was there too and we lifted together, and he told me he is taking off from his bank and starting his own hedge fund later this fall. Could be something to keep an eye on as an opportunity, I really want to make some more money and get us into a house, if possible.
Gotta run and get out of here, have a great long weekend.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
In heat
I just met up with the wife at her BART exit and went to Starbuck's for a green tea and decaf latte, she looks smoking hot and feels great today. The last couple of days, when she's complained about feeling sick I've run through the checklist of precautions she has to fight it. Do you have on your seasickness wrist bands? No. Did you take the anti-nausea medication your doctor prescribed? Well... no. Did you eat the ginger candy (natural cure) we got you at whole foods? Well... no, I don't like the taste of ginger.
As a man, this would be like walking out into the cold of the morning every day without a sweater or jacket for a month and then complaining that it is cold. So she did all three today, and guess what? She feels great! Amazing how that works, isn't it?
She was wearing leggings with a short skirt over them this morning and sat on my lap while we talked, so of course now I'm in heat. Things have definitely slowed down in that department because she feels so crappy all the time, so its been a while. I think most men probably take care of that themselves, but I'm going to hold off. Every time I do that, it automatically turns out to be the day she wants some "private time", so not only am I not really interested, but I need her to dress up like a Cal Trans worker and speak to me in a British accent to get where I'm going. Every one ends up beat up, confused and the dogs think I'm killing mommy.
Work has slowed down a little today, but the two other guys who are in my role are out so it could get a little crazy. I usually manage to pull it off, so hopefully it stays quiet.
Did another benchmark workout yesterday and stank the place up. I looked back at my performance on this particular workout for the last three years, and this was my worst performance by far. It's pretty frustrating, need to focus and get better every day.
Hope anyone reading this has a great day. Also, I think it is a given, but unless I specifically say so - the pictures that appear on this blog are never of me or my wife.
As a man, this would be like walking out into the cold of the morning every day without a sweater or jacket for a month and then complaining that it is cold. So she did all three today, and guess what? She feels great! Amazing how that works, isn't it?
She was wearing leggings with a short skirt over them this morning and sat on my lap while we talked, so of course now I'm in heat. Things have definitely slowed down in that department because she feels so crappy all the time, so its been a while. I think most men probably take care of that themselves, but I'm going to hold off. Every time I do that, it automatically turns out to be the day she wants some "private time", so not only am I not really interested, but I need her to dress up like a Cal Trans worker and speak to me in a British accent to get where I'm going. Every one ends up beat up, confused and the dogs think I'm killing mommy.
Work has slowed down a little today, but the two other guys who are in my role are out so it could get a little crazy. I usually manage to pull it off, so hopefully it stays quiet.
Did another benchmark workout yesterday and stank the place up. I looked back at my performance on this particular workout for the last three years, and this was my worst performance by far. It's pretty frustrating, need to focus and get better every day.
Hope anyone reading this has a great day. Also, I think it is a given, but unless I specifically say so - the pictures that appear on this blog are never of me or my wife.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Just me and my gyno...
No big deal! Round two of the visit to the doctor de la vagina was yesterday, and guess what? We arrived to a fully packed room of giant, miserable looking women and a bunch of screaming kids. When we went to check in, the nurse let us know they were running about an hour behind. I seriously should offer to help out with the operational issues in this office...
So we ended up going by Wife's family's house for a little while since its only about 5 minutes away and the nurse was going to call us when they were ready for us. Nothing to interesting to report there, Wife was talking to her moms about the issues she's having with her sister, so I tuned out and watched CNN's coverage of the Republican convention. I don't care what party you are in, is there anything more stupid than a convention? Anyway, off my soapbox.
We got the call to come back in at 5 PM, and my fantasy football draft was at 7 PM. No big deal, right? Plenty of time for the doctor, the model of timeliness to do her thing.
So we went in, and were actually shown right into a exam room. First we did a little question and answer thing, and let me tell you - my wife can machine gun the questions. Right on cue, in the middle of a discussion about what she can eat to help with nausea, Wife said, "I need to go to the bathroom to be sick." Then she commenced with a 5 minute puke session that reverberated through the entire office. The doctor and I felt awful for her and I got her some ice cold water once she finished.
And what better way to finish off a rousing puke session than to jump in the stirrups for some cervical testing? OK, I have something to get off my chest, I am deathly afraid of most health procedures. I've feinted, out cold, twice in my life - including once just because of a discussion during A&P in high school ( I was known from then on as The Kid Who Feinted). So stirrups, speculum, giant qtips, etc are not really my thing. My Wife was a champ, of course, and I just averted my gaze until the whole thing was over. I suppose it is good training, because I am terrified of the day when the baby is due (end of March, btw).
So the final step in the check up was hearing the baby's heartbeat. The doctor used some kind of super mic and found the heart beat right away. "Boom - boom - boom", it sound so strong and so fast - I pictured a little fetus running on a treadmill. Wife was all teared up, and I was just overjoyed, there's a little son or daughter of ours in there and he or she is developing and growing and sounded so determined.
We got out and got home in time for the ff draft, which suddenly wasn't that big of a deal at all. My team is a'right, a little weak at RB because I decided to take Tom Brady in the first as this is a pass scoring heavy league.
I've taken the last two days off to rest from the gym, heading back in for an ass blaster of a workout. Hopefully, I'll see some progress instead of regression this time. Eating is still crappy, but today's the day it turns around!
So we ended up going by Wife's family's house for a little while since its only about 5 minutes away and the nurse was going to call us when they were ready for us. Nothing to interesting to report there, Wife was talking to her moms about the issues she's having with her sister, so I tuned out and watched CNN's coverage of the Republican convention. I don't care what party you are in, is there anything more stupid than a convention? Anyway, off my soapbox.
We got the call to come back in at 5 PM, and my fantasy football draft was at 7 PM. No big deal, right? Plenty of time for the doctor, the model of timeliness to do her thing.
So we went in, and were actually shown right into a exam room. First we did a little question and answer thing, and let me tell you - my wife can machine gun the questions. Right on cue, in the middle of a discussion about what she can eat to help with nausea, Wife said, "I need to go to the bathroom to be sick." Then she commenced with a 5 minute puke session that reverberated through the entire office. The doctor and I felt awful for her and I got her some ice cold water once she finished.
And what better way to finish off a rousing puke session than to jump in the stirrups for some cervical testing? OK, I have something to get off my chest, I am deathly afraid of most health procedures. I've feinted, out cold, twice in my life - including once just because of a discussion during A&P in high school ( I was known from then on as The Kid Who Feinted). So stirrups, speculum, giant qtips, etc are not really my thing. My Wife was a champ, of course, and I just averted my gaze until the whole thing was over. I suppose it is good training, because I am terrified of the day when the baby is due (end of March, btw).
So the final step in the check up was hearing the baby's heartbeat. The doctor used some kind of super mic and found the heart beat right away. "Boom - boom - boom", it sound so strong and so fast - I pictured a little fetus running on a treadmill. Wife was all teared up, and I was just overjoyed, there's a little son or daughter of ours in there and he or she is developing and growing and sounded so determined.
We got out and got home in time for the ff draft, which suddenly wasn't that big of a deal at all. My team is a'right, a little weak at RB because I decided to take Tom Brady in the first as this is a pass scoring heavy league.
I've taken the last two days off to rest from the gym, heading back in for an ass blaster of a workout. Hopefully, I'll see some progress instead of regression this time. Eating is still crappy, but today's the day it turns around!
Monday, August 27, 2012
False start
So the wife and I both left work early on Friday so that we could go to the gyno/vagina doctor together and listen to the heartbeat and experience the magic of our Mars Bar of life. Total clusterfuck. First of all, it was in area that I hate driving through (thus guaranteeing it will be where I buy a house) and way the hell out there. Next, I walk in and all these women are joking around about how giant their wombs are whatever and they all get awkwardly quiet when I show up. But the icing on the cake was when, after an hour of waiting where I forgot to bring a book, the doctor had to run out and deliver a baby.
They sent us home. After taking half days from work! Is that the business model? Can't a nurse hold the microphone up to your stomach and answer questions about the different types of screenings and test? For god's sakes.
It wasn't that big of a deal though because they can fit us back in at Tuesday evening and I got to go workout early, I just like to be dramatic.
What else happened? Oh, I went mountain biking with my friend, who has a... (shit, let me check my phone) let's call it 8 month old baby. Anyway, the ride was great, and we were talking about the whole issue with having kids immunized these days and the risks. Scary stuff, things I hadn't even thought about and considered before. He said kids get twice as many shots now than they had in the past, and all of these shots have things like aluminum, formaldehyde, whatever in them. Some of the things: chicken pocks and tetanus, do you even need to be immunized for that? Can't you just deal with it when it comes up rather than expose your child to something where the side effect might be... oh, autism?
I don't know. This was all based on our conversation and I haven't buckled down and down the reading/research myself yet, so that will be interesting. It can be a little overwhelming, can't it? I need to read something on sleep training as well, that's a must read before the end of March...
We also told my parents yesterday. I was a little anxious about it because I had just heard my mom tell my brother and his new wife to wait before having kids... but my brother is also not working, so I was hoping that was why. Anyway, it went really well, my mom jumped up and gave Wife a hug and told her how happy she was and we talked about due dates and how we'd been hiding it at a couple of family events. Best case scenario, really. I don't know why I worry so much about telling my parents about things like this and when I was engaged, I guess I just always have a need to anticipate the worst and they never let me down.
I'll need to work on that, I suppose.
It wasn't that big of a deal though because they can fit us back in at Tuesday evening and I got to go workout early, I just like to be dramatic.
What else happened? Oh, I went mountain biking with my friend, who has a... (shit, let me check my phone) let's call it 8 month old baby. Anyway, the ride was great, and we were talking about the whole issue with having kids immunized these days and the risks. Scary stuff, things I hadn't even thought about and considered before. He said kids get twice as many shots now than they had in the past, and all of these shots have things like aluminum, formaldehyde, whatever in them. Some of the things: chicken pocks and tetanus, do you even need to be immunized for that? Can't you just deal with it when it comes up rather than expose your child to something where the side effect might be... oh, autism?
I don't know. This was all based on our conversation and I haven't buckled down and down the reading/research myself yet, so that will be interesting. It can be a little overwhelming, can't it? I need to read something on sleep training as well, that's a must read before the end of March...
We also told my parents yesterday. I was a little anxious about it because I had just heard my mom tell my brother and his new wife to wait before having kids... but my brother is also not working, so I was hoping that was why. Anyway, it went really well, my mom jumped up and gave Wife a hug and told her how happy she was and we talked about due dates and how we'd been hiding it at a couple of family events. Best case scenario, really. I don't know why I worry so much about telling my parents about things like this and when I was engaged, I guess I just always have a need to anticipate the worst and they never let me down.
I'll need to work on that, I suppose.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Nerping the leedle
Nothing much to report today. No drama and no throwing up, thank god. We have a big day tomorrow as we are going into see the doctor together, I'm really not sure what it will be about - I don't think she is due for a sonogram but maybe they'll listen to the heartbeat? I'm really looking forward to it, should help make it seem a little more real than my beautiful wife getting a little bit softer in the middle.
She jokingly told me I'm supposed to be gaining weight out of solidarity yesterday, never going to happen! My eating has been really good this week and I've hit 3 days at the gym in a row. Today is an off day so I am going to get some yard work done when I get home and then have an adult beverage and catch up on Hard Knocks while she's in the city getting her hair did.
She is scheduled to go on a business trip next week, so I'm kind of interested to see if things still happen according to plan now that she's disclosed her pregnancy early to her boss. So far the boss lady has been nothing but great, but we'll see how it plays out. Her company is purchasing one or two other companies in the next month or so, and she was anticipating getting a promotion. Hopefully, that will still be the case as she tipped the hand a little early.
Oh, and the neener neener is not purple :/
She jokingly told me I'm supposed to be gaining weight out of solidarity yesterday, never going to happen! My eating has been really good this week and I've hit 3 days at the gym in a row. Today is an off day so I am going to get some yard work done when I get home and then have an adult beverage and catch up on Hard Knocks while she's in the city getting her hair did.
She is scheduled to go on a business trip next week, so I'm kind of interested to see if things still happen according to plan now that she's disclosed her pregnancy early to her boss. So far the boss lady has been nothing but great, but we'll see how it plays out. Her company is purchasing one or two other companies in the next month or so, and she was anticipating getting a promotion. Hopefully, that will still be the case as she tipped the hand a little early.
Oh, and the neener neener is not purple :/
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Breakdown
So yesterday at work, Wife's best friend told her she can't hide it any more and she is 6 or 7 weeks pregnant ( I forget). This is the same friend who got engaged a week before us, married a month and a half after us and whom works with my wife. All Wife's plans of telling her friends and having a little moment of happiness at work or whatever just went flying out the window.
Not to mention, she's been toughing out a few weeks of morning sickness and we haven't told a soul and the friend just blabbed about it on IM. Wife breaks down, goes in and tells her boss (since they will both be on maternity leave at the same time) and leaves for the day one unhappy camper.
She goes to her parents house, and fills them and her brother (recently moved back home) in. I get all kinds of congratulatory texts and send one to my wife, "Guess we're telling people today!" Ha.
Any way, went to crossfit after work and had a horrible workout on a benchmark program, felt like vomiting and irate afterward. It's the worst time I've ever put up for that workout since I started crossfit. Too much time away and travelling. Time to buckle down.
After that, I met Wife over at her parents and her sister had just gotten there with our 2 year old niece. She said all the right things but was decidedly cool and decided to leave early. It was pretty transparent, I'm not sure if she is jealous of the attention, or because her daughter won't be the only grandchild any more or what, but she is such a pain in the ass. She started questioning my wife on names and whether or not we would do the test for Down's Syndrome, just all kinds of personal stuff.
So something to keep an eye on, she's a know it all type of person who thinks whatever she does is best. We'll see how that plays out as things move along.
I need to figure out when to tell my parents as well. I've been planning on waiting until 12 weeks all along, but this throws a little kink in the plan. They say that if you tell someone before 12 weeks, you need to be prepared to tell them if something goes wrong. I'd be fine with that, so I'm thinking about talking to my parents this weekend.
Oh, and then wife barfed a couple of times this morning while she was getting ready for work. It seems to be based on her taking her prenatal vitamins, so we'll keep an eye on that.
Not to mention, she's been toughing out a few weeks of morning sickness and we haven't told a soul and the friend just blabbed about it on IM. Wife breaks down, goes in and tells her boss (since they will both be on maternity leave at the same time) and leaves for the day one unhappy camper.
She goes to her parents house, and fills them and her brother (recently moved back home) in. I get all kinds of congratulatory texts and send one to my wife, "Guess we're telling people today!" Ha.
Any way, went to crossfit after work and had a horrible workout on a benchmark program, felt like vomiting and irate afterward. It's the worst time I've ever put up for that workout since I started crossfit. Too much time away and travelling. Time to buckle down.
After that, I met Wife over at her parents and her sister had just gotten there with our 2 year old niece. She said all the right things but was decidedly cool and decided to leave early. It was pretty transparent, I'm not sure if she is jealous of the attention, or because her daughter won't be the only grandchild any more or what, but she is such a pain in the ass. She started questioning my wife on names and whether or not we would do the test for Down's Syndrome, just all kinds of personal stuff.
So something to keep an eye on, she's a know it all type of person who thinks whatever she does is best. We'll see how that plays out as things move along.
I need to figure out when to tell my parents as well. I've been planning on waiting until 12 weeks all along, but this throws a little kink in the plan. They say that if you tell someone before 12 weeks, you need to be prepared to tell them if something goes wrong. I'd be fine with that, so I'm thinking about talking to my parents this weekend.
Oh, and then wife barfed a couple of times this morning while she was getting ready for work. It seems to be based on her taking her prenatal vitamins, so we'll keep an eye on that.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
If you read this... you might get pregnant.
Sorry I've been an absentee upcoming baby daddy, flew out last week to attend my brother's wedding in Michigan for which I was the best man. It was quite a shin dig, and I'm so glad it all went well and is behind me.
I think I've mentioned it before, but I had to give the toast and it has been hanging over my head all summer like the hangman's noose. I hate public speaking, which sucks because I'm actually really good at it. I get crushed by anxiety and adrenaline and my voice cracks, it is horrible. So I told my brother about it and he gave me a beta blocker and an adavan (sp?) and told me to take it 45 minutes before the toast.
And then I went up there and completely nailed it. I don't know how we can get our hands on that stuff, but I swear to god it is a miracle. I was near panic leading up to the toast, and then... it was fine, my voice was strong, everyone laughed at all my jokes. Afterward, at least twenty people told me it was the best best man's speech they had ever heard and one guy with a nose ring told me it was inspiring.
All I can think about is the occasional client presentations I have to give, need to look this stuff up.
So at the wedding, it seemed like everybody was pregnant. Two bridesmaids, including one who whispered that she was 10 weeks (two weeks ahead of us) and some people in the crowd. It's one of those situations where you think its just you and then realize, everybody has either done this, is doing it or will do it.
Between that and my wife's best friend and coworker calling in sick and conspicuously saying she's waiting for the Aspirin to kick in (pregnant women can't take ibuprofen), I think she feels a little less special. But then we realize its our baby and part of us and how cool that is.
Funny moment of the trip was when I was reading about what to expect in weeks 7-10 on my Kindle with her during the flight back. We read a blurb about how increased blood flow is going to turn her neener neener purple and she was horrified while I was laughing my ass off. I guess I'll need to check that out soon.
Anyway, great to be back. Great to be sleeping in my own bed and be back to see the dogs.
I ran once while we were there and did some heavy front squats yesterday but I really need to get back in a groove. My eating has been shit, so that's my focus for this week. Here's a picture of the 2011 and 2012 crossfit games champ front squatting the hell out of something.
I think I've mentioned it before, but I had to give the toast and it has been hanging over my head all summer like the hangman's noose. I hate public speaking, which sucks because I'm actually really good at it. I get crushed by anxiety and adrenaline and my voice cracks, it is horrible. So I told my brother about it and he gave me a beta blocker and an adavan (sp?) and told me to take it 45 minutes before the toast.
And then I went up there and completely nailed it. I don't know how we can get our hands on that stuff, but I swear to god it is a miracle. I was near panic leading up to the toast, and then... it was fine, my voice was strong, everyone laughed at all my jokes. Afterward, at least twenty people told me it was the best best man's speech they had ever heard and one guy with a nose ring told me it was inspiring.
All I can think about is the occasional client presentations I have to give, need to look this stuff up.
So at the wedding, it seemed like everybody was pregnant. Two bridesmaids, including one who whispered that she was 10 weeks (two weeks ahead of us) and some people in the crowd. It's one of those situations where you think its just you and then realize, everybody has either done this, is doing it or will do it.
Between that and my wife's best friend and coworker calling in sick and conspicuously saying she's waiting for the Aspirin to kick in (pregnant women can't take ibuprofen), I think she feels a little less special. But then we realize its our baby and part of us and how cool that is.
Funny moment of the trip was when I was reading about what to expect in weeks 7-10 on my Kindle with her during the flight back. We read a blurb about how increased blood flow is going to turn her neener neener purple and she was horrified while I was laughing my ass off. I guess I'll need to check that out soon.
Anyway, great to be back. Great to be sleeping in my own bed and be back to see the dogs.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
The silence is... spooky
I've been busy for the last couple of days with a presentation and a big deal culminating that's taken a lot of extra work to get across the goal line. I hate presenting, I get nervous and my voice starts to shake, it is the worst. I tried to ground myself and focus, but I still got off to a shaky start. I recovered pretty quickly though and definitely got stronger as the presentation went on. It helped that the clients were asking questions as well, instead of just me droning on.
It kind of worries me about the toast I'll have to give at my brother's wedding next week, I've been practicing every day but I am sick of this hanging over me all summer and can't wait to get it over with. He did a great job at mine, and he told me later he'd taken a BETA blocker. I'm going to see if he has one I can borrow.
On the baby front, my wife is feeling great these days, albeit a little bloated. So much so, in fact, that we got a little frisky last night. I've read that some women feel great with it and some, not so much, so I've kind of let her take the lead in that department. So far, its been less frequent, but I think that would be natural for someone that feels like throwing up or gassy all the time, so whatevs.
I think her feeling better can be interpreted two ways - she's through the worst of the morning sickness phase or something's wrong. My wife is one of those people that immediately assumes the worst, so I'm pushing the "that's fantastic, you're through the worst of it!". We have a doctor's appointment in two weeks to hear the heart beat, so I'm sure everything will be confirmed as great then.
We're camping this weekend, so this will be a big test to see if she can sneak her little pooch by her mother. I also noticed that her brother was talking a lot about babies last weekend, so I'm kind of interested to see if she spilled the beans to him. I honestly would probably be relieved if she did, not being able to talk about it when I see my brother next week is going to be really difficult. He's my best friend and it just seems so natural not to talk about something so significant with him, but that's the deal.
We're taking the dogs camping by the weekend, so I expect this to be a total shit show. I love them, but keeping them entertained and an eye on them all weekend is going to be a little much.
It kind of worries me about the toast I'll have to give at my brother's wedding next week, I've been practicing every day but I am sick of this hanging over me all summer and can't wait to get it over with. He did a great job at mine, and he told me later he'd taken a BETA blocker. I'm going to see if he has one I can borrow.
On the baby front, my wife is feeling great these days, albeit a little bloated. So much so, in fact, that we got a little frisky last night. I've read that some women feel great with it and some, not so much, so I've kind of let her take the lead in that department. So far, its been less frequent, but I think that would be natural for someone that feels like throwing up or gassy all the time, so whatevs.
I think her feeling better can be interpreted two ways - she's through the worst of the morning sickness phase or something's wrong. My wife is one of those people that immediately assumes the worst, so I'm pushing the "that's fantastic, you're through the worst of it!". We have a doctor's appointment in two weeks to hear the heart beat, so I'm sure everything will be confirmed as great then.
We're camping this weekend, so this will be a big test to see if she can sneak her little pooch by her mother. I also noticed that her brother was talking a lot about babies last weekend, so I'm kind of interested to see if she spilled the beans to him. I honestly would probably be relieved if she did, not being able to talk about it when I see my brother next week is going to be really difficult. He's my best friend and it just seems so natural not to talk about something so significant with him, but that's the deal.
We're taking the dogs camping by the weekend, so I expect this to be a total shit show. I love them, but keeping them entertained and an eye on them all weekend is going to be a little much.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Easy like Tuesday Morning
So after a long weekend of picking up ginger snaps, ginger ale and some nauseous medicine the doctor prescribed, it feels like that issue has been nipped in the bud. Hopefully, no more fake puking behind planters in front of Starbucks! I think right now, she just is bloated and feels full all the time. Her belly is definitely starting to show, at least to me. I think it is because she is so damn skinny. She'd actually lost two pounds when she weighed in at the doctors, so she's clearly not eating out of control.
When I met the wife, she was about to go to a yoga teacher's training to get certified, so she was practicing power yoga 4-5 times a week. Since we moved in together, she's worked out about... quarterly. So I've gently been encouraging her to start some kind of low impact regime so that she feels better while she's pregnant, and bounces back a little quicker afterward.
For the record, I'm not even worried about that - but she has a huge fear of losing her tight little body, which is probably shared by all expecting mothers. I think the fear is spurred on because her sister took almost two years to bounce back.
Her brother recently moved back into town from LA, and he joined a gym right down the street from us, so I'm hoping they start taking classes together. My wife is similar to me and gets lost in her head a lot, and I know how important being active is to me, so fingers crossed.
I just got back from meeting her for decaf coffee and tea, and she's already talking about cute maternity clothes and we're at 7 weeks! In my head, that means one pair of jeans with that stretchy black band and maybe a shirt, right? Ha ha, I'm dead.
When I met the wife, she was about to go to a yoga teacher's training to get certified, so she was practicing power yoga 4-5 times a week. Since we moved in together, she's worked out about... quarterly. So I've gently been encouraging her to start some kind of low impact regime so that she feels better while she's pregnant, and bounces back a little quicker afterward.
For the record, I'm not even worried about that - but she has a huge fear of losing her tight little body, which is probably shared by all expecting mothers. I think the fear is spurred on because her sister took almost two years to bounce back.
Her brother recently moved back into town from LA, and he joined a gym right down the street from us, so I'm hoping they start taking classes together. My wife is similar to me and gets lost in her head a lot, and I know how important being active is to me, so fingers crossed.
I just got back from meeting her for decaf coffee and tea, and she's already talking about cute maternity clothes and we're at 7 weeks! In my head, that means one pair of jeans with that stretchy black band and maybe a shirt, right? Ha ha, I'm dead.
Friday, August 3, 2012
It's official
So A went to the doctors today to doctor's today for her first visit since we took the at home test. She was just at the OB/Gyn for a regular visit in June, and they'd talked about going off the pill but even she said, "Wow, that was fast!" No shit.
But any way, it's official! We did it. I haven't gotten all the details, but apparently she's also having blood drawn and a sonogram.
Work is killing me, I'll write more when I have a chance.
Haven't worked out in two days, so hopefully I'll get out on time today.
But any way, it's official! We did it. I haven't gotten all the details, but apparently she's also having blood drawn and a sonogram.
Work is killing me, I'll write more when I have a chance.
Haven't worked out in two days, so hopefully I'll get out on time today.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Ginger Baby
Ginger - she needs to eat it to stop feeling like she's going to puke, and we will probably have a ginger baby. I'm strawberry blonde with blue eyes and freckles, and she's blonde with green eyes and freckles, so we've come to accept the fact that we will have a ginger baby with an afro. It's fine, I'm good with it. We can all huddle under umbrellas and marvel at you people that tan.
So we just hit six weeks, the eyes are black spots, the spinal chord is forming, there are paddle hands and a heart that's beating at 100-150 beats per minute. The fetus is the size of a lentil. Pretty amazing stuff.
We took a picture of Wife's belly last night, it has grown a tiny bit. It looks like she just ate whatever she wanted all weekend, a little pooch.
Overall feeling better by using her bracelets in the morning. There was a rough night in there sleeping though, she's not quite to the "peeing all the time" phase but she's just generally uncomfortable. And eating like a horse.
I keep hearing about "sympathy weight gain" and immediately think, "That's for weak men." Now I understand how it happens, you might leave work feeling great and excited about grilling a steak and having some salad for a nice paleo dinner, but that all goes out the window when the guilt tripping starts about having chinese food or pizza for dinner instead.
Can't write as much as normal, but the 300c ended up costing $2k to fix. That's a lot of diapers. I'm beginning to feel like I can't catch a break financially.
So we just hit six weeks, the eyes are black spots, the spinal chord is forming, there are paddle hands and a heart that's beating at 100-150 beats per minute. The fetus is the size of a lentil. Pretty amazing stuff.
We took a picture of Wife's belly last night, it has grown a tiny bit. It looks like she just ate whatever she wanted all weekend, a little pooch.
Overall feeling better by using her bracelets in the morning. There was a rough night in there sleeping though, she's not quite to the "peeing all the time" phase but she's just generally uncomfortable. And eating like a horse.
I keep hearing about "sympathy weight gain" and immediately think, "That's for weak men." Now I understand how it happens, you might leave work feeling great and excited about grilling a steak and having some salad for a nice paleo dinner, but that all goes out the window when the guilt tripping starts about having chinese food or pizza for dinner instead.
Can't write as much as normal, but the 300c ended up costing $2k to fix. That's a lot of diapers. I'm beginning to feel like I can't catch a break financially.
Monday, July 30, 2012
It hath started
So I had my fingers crossed about the whole morning sickness deal skipping out on my wife's pregnancy as she already gets car sick, motion sick and whatever other queasy, nauseous feelings are out there. No such luck.
As I've said before, she's had occasional feelings of bloating, sick, and headaches, but this weekend was a new evolution. She felt sick the entire weekend and I had to pull over twice on the 4 hour drive home because she thought she was going to projectile vomit on my dashboard. At one point, I was asking her if she could fit the vomit in a Burger King cup because I didn't want to pull over in the middle of nowhere. There never was any vomit, but some crying did follow before she finally crawled into the back seat and curled up in the fetal position to sleep.
I'm terrified that its going to be like this every day the rest of the way. I've read in three different places that that is possible, and that would be my luck.
Making things even more fun was the fact that I kept having issues with my car during the drive, a plastic runner under the engine had come loose and was dragging on the freeway before eventually snapping off. But a small piece remained, and would drag anytime we hit a dip in the road or changed lanes. That 60K tune up just got $200 more expensive, guaranteed. I'll drop a grand on this trip to the mechanic, no doubt about it. Oh well.
The wedding was great, by the way. Lots of fun, Alicia looked great and I had a great time with her friends' husbands. It's always a little dicey when you are forced into situations with with your wife's friends' husbands or significant others, but I'm really fortunate that this particular group of guys is a lot of fun to be around.
I'm just laughing to myself because one of my wife's friends is an absolute disaster, every time there's an event with alcohol - she's that sloppy train-wreck that is doing something inappropriate and out of control. Funny but at the same time, tragic. The girl who got married wrote Train Wreck an email after my wife's bachelor party because she was such a shitastrophe the entire time. So how did she respond? By passing out in a chair outside the wedding and disappearing most of the night. My last vision of her was being carried by two groomsmen down the street. The told us at breakfast yesterday she'd be "having a talk with herself".
By the way - we escaped the entire weekend without anyone guessing Wife was pregnant. I did head off some drinks with sprites dressed up like cocktails, and we had the waiter pour sparkling apple cider instead of champagne, but it actually wasn't that hard.
As I've said before, she's had occasional feelings of bloating, sick, and headaches, but this weekend was a new evolution. She felt sick the entire weekend and I had to pull over twice on the 4 hour drive home because she thought she was going to projectile vomit on my dashboard. At one point, I was asking her if she could fit the vomit in a Burger King cup because I didn't want to pull over in the middle of nowhere. There never was any vomit, but some crying did follow before she finally crawled into the back seat and curled up in the fetal position to sleep.
I'm terrified that its going to be like this every day the rest of the way. I've read in three different places that that is possible, and that would be my luck.
Making things even more fun was the fact that I kept having issues with my car during the drive, a plastic runner under the engine had come loose and was dragging on the freeway before eventually snapping off. But a small piece remained, and would drag anytime we hit a dip in the road or changed lanes. That 60K tune up just got $200 more expensive, guaranteed. I'll drop a grand on this trip to the mechanic, no doubt about it. Oh well.
The wedding was great, by the way. Lots of fun, Alicia looked great and I had a great time with her friends' husbands. It's always a little dicey when you are forced into situations with with your wife's friends' husbands or significant others, but I'm really fortunate that this particular group of guys is a lot of fun to be around.
I'm just laughing to myself because one of my wife's friends is an absolute disaster, every time there's an event with alcohol - she's that sloppy train-wreck that is doing something inappropriate and out of control. Funny but at the same time, tragic. The girl who got married wrote Train Wreck an email after my wife's bachelor party because she was such a shitastrophe the entire time. So how did she respond? By passing out in a chair outside the wedding and disappearing most of the night. My last vision of her was being carried by two groomsmen down the street. The told us at breakfast yesterday she'd be "having a talk with herself".
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Road Trip!
I didn't post yesterday because I had a horrible stomach ache and decided to head home, as it was a slow day at work. The fact that I also got a haircut, went to crossfit, picked up my dry cleaning and took the dogs for a walk before I'd usually get home was just a bonus. What? I felt better!
Some meathead in the middle of the metcon last night pointed to me, like he wanted to go head to head or something. WTF? Who does that? People get super competitive at crossfit, which can be good because it pushes you beyond what you think you are capable of, but that's a little ridiculous. Besides, I was silently racing the two guys next to me and whooping them, you can't be tardy to the party like that.
So not much on the baby front. Wife (I need an Alias for her to protect the identity of the innocent) is doing well, she claims she's starting to feel nauseous in the mornings but its hard to tell if it is because of the pregnancy or not - she gets car and motion sick at the drop of a hat anyway. She used to drink a lot of coffee and Coke (switched to decaf) so she's been getting some headaches in the morning as well. She took some tylonel the other day for it, so naturally the book I'm reading covered the uptick in the possibility of miscarriage if someone takes ibuprofen or aspirin during pregnancy. Whatever, I'm sure one time isn't the end of the world.
I drove into work this morning because we're heading down to the Central Coast for a wedding this weekend right after work. Wife is in the wedding, so its going to be strange to be sitting and milling about on my own. There was also some discussion on what I'd wear to the rehearsal dinner, because I honestly could care less and was planning on showing up in a button down shirt and jeans (invitation said casual). There just seems to be more important things to worry about right now, know what I'm sayin'?
Wife is not a big drinker, so it'll be interesting to see if she gets cornered about drinking this weekend and how she deals with it. I have a feeling she'll be fine, but we'll see how it goes. I kind of like it being our secret, so it would kind of suck to get the cover blown off by some friends before we even get to tell our families. Oh well, in 7.5 months, it wouldn't matter any way.
Oh, and tomorrow is beach day and the forecast in for 63 degrees. I went to school in San Diego, so I was thinking I might surf a little bit - but forget it if it is going to be that cold. I've been reading too much about sharks lately any way...
Some meathead in the middle of the metcon last night pointed to me, like he wanted to go head to head or something. WTF? Who does that? People get super competitive at crossfit, which can be good because it pushes you beyond what you think you are capable of, but that's a little ridiculous. Besides, I was silently racing the two guys next to me and whooping them, you can't be tardy to the party like that.
So not much on the baby front. Wife (I need an Alias for her to protect the identity of the innocent) is doing well, she claims she's starting to feel nauseous in the mornings but its hard to tell if it is because of the pregnancy or not - she gets car and motion sick at the drop of a hat anyway. She used to drink a lot of coffee and Coke (switched to decaf) so she's been getting some headaches in the morning as well. She took some tylonel the other day for it, so naturally the book I'm reading covered the uptick in the possibility of miscarriage if someone takes ibuprofen or aspirin during pregnancy. Whatever, I'm sure one time isn't the end of the world.
I drove into work this morning because we're heading down to the Central Coast for a wedding this weekend right after work. Wife is in the wedding, so its going to be strange to be sitting and milling about on my own. There was also some discussion on what I'd wear to the rehearsal dinner, because I honestly could care less and was planning on showing up in a button down shirt and jeans (invitation said casual). There just seems to be more important things to worry about right now, know what I'm sayin'?
Wife is not a big drinker, so it'll be interesting to see if she gets cornered about drinking this weekend and how she deals with it. I have a feeling she'll be fine, but we'll see how it goes. I kind of like it being our secret, so it would kind of suck to get the cover blown off by some friends before we even get to tell our families. Oh well, in 7.5 months, it wouldn't matter any way.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
OMG, is it mine?
So apparently the baby is the size of a sesame today, and the heart is developing but not beating yet. Also, I read in my Kindle book today that it is very common for men to question whether or not the baby is theirs at this point in the pregnancy. I believe the statistic was 20 out of 100, and then the author went on to say 2 out of 100 really are the result of adultery.
Is that crazy to just me? I've never doubted for a moment that the baby is mine, but at the same time - we were blessed to conceive on our honeymoon. But still 20% of pregnant guys wonder if it is theirs? That's nuts, I wonder if its a sign of society these days or some common response to being pregnant but life hasn't really changed?
My profile name is "Your Baby's Daddy", now that seems a little more poignant...
Nothing else new to report. I need to call my mechanic for my 60K mile tune up and my dentist just called because its time for a cleaning. It never ends. The sad thing is its a no brainer that the car gets tuned while the dentist gets put off.
We're going to a wedding this weekend, I'm looking forward to having Friday off and its at the beach, so that should be nice. The weather's only supposed to be in the 60's though, so maybe a bon fire and some sports will be in order...
Is that crazy to just me? I've never doubted for a moment that the baby is mine, but at the same time - we were blessed to conceive on our honeymoon. But still 20% of pregnant guys wonder if it is theirs? That's nuts, I wonder if its a sign of society these days or some common response to being pregnant but life hasn't really changed?
My profile name is "Your Baby's Daddy", now that seems a little more poignant...
Nothing else new to report. I need to call my mechanic for my 60K mile tune up and my dentist just called because its time for a cleaning. It never ends. The sad thing is its a no brainer that the car gets tuned while the dentist gets put off.
We're going to a wedding this weekend, I'm looking forward to having Friday off and its at the beach, so that should be nice. The weather's only supposed to be in the 60's though, so maybe a bon fire and some sports will be in order...
Monday, July 23, 2012
Well, the weekend turned out to be fine. About an hour after my post from Saturday morning, my wife and I had a discussion about the state of our finances and laid it all out. I think we both had some valid points, put I left and went to crossfit in a pretty sour mood. My wife had pointed out that we hadn't explored all the possible options when it came to qualifying for a mortgage and hadn't even looked at signing up for her benefits or mine.
The reason for that is pretty simple, to me. I pay almost all of the bills every month, and I pay 70% of the rent right now. Having another two peoples benefits come out of my paycheck makes me want to scream.
Any way, I left on Saturday morning and went to workout with a little extra motivation. The workout was heavy front squats, and then a 7 minute circuit alternating between 5 muscle ups (a brutal gymnastic maneuver) and 10 thrusters @ 115 lbs (probably the most taxing barbell exercise we do). I only mention the workout because, for some reason, when I'm taxing myself things become a lot clearer.
I called my wife when I was done and agreed that I needed to at least take a look at everything before I ruled it out. Then I met her at Barnes and Nobles (they still have them!) and we bought 5 or 6 books about pregnancy. An older gentleman checked me out and said, "I notice a theme in the books you are buying, are congratulations in order?" Its funny, we're 5 weeks in or so and haven't told anyone, so this stranger checking me out at the book store was the first person that's congratulated me. I definitely was filled with... I don't know, joy?
The rest of the weekend was a blur of yard work, trying to stay out of the 100 degree heat and not much else. I finished a book that I'd been working on on the Kindle for a while and bought a book called "Pregnancy for Men: The whole 9 months" to read on the train. It's written by a Brit, so all the pop references and certain slang words are pale and taste bad going down.
I noticed more of what I saw on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles, when it comes to resources for men, they all try to take a sarcastic, funny approach. Its amazing how many cliches there are when it comes to pregnancy, but then again - we're not doing anything original here. But the overall feel is like being at one of those comedy traffic schools, the attempts at humor are cringe worthy.
The reason for that is pretty simple, to me. I pay almost all of the bills every month, and I pay 70% of the rent right now. Having another two peoples benefits come out of my paycheck makes me want to scream.
Any way, I left on Saturday morning and went to workout with a little extra motivation. The workout was heavy front squats, and then a 7 minute circuit alternating between 5 muscle ups (a brutal gymnastic maneuver) and 10 thrusters @ 115 lbs (probably the most taxing barbell exercise we do). I only mention the workout because, for some reason, when I'm taxing myself things become a lot clearer.
I called my wife when I was done and agreed that I needed to at least take a look at everything before I ruled it out. Then I met her at Barnes and Nobles (they still have them!) and we bought 5 or 6 books about pregnancy. An older gentleman checked me out and said, "I notice a theme in the books you are buying, are congratulations in order?" Its funny, we're 5 weeks in or so and haven't told anyone, so this stranger checking me out at the book store was the first person that's congratulated me. I definitely was filled with... I don't know, joy?
The rest of the weekend was a blur of yard work, trying to stay out of the 100 degree heat and not much else. I finished a book that I'd been working on on the Kindle for a while and bought a book called "Pregnancy for Men: The whole 9 months" to read on the train. It's written by a Brit, so all the pop references and certain slang words are pale and taste bad going down.
I noticed more of what I saw on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles, when it comes to resources for men, they all try to take a sarcastic, funny approach. Its amazing how many cliches there are when it comes to pregnancy, but then again - we're not doing anything original here. But the overall feel is like being at one of those comedy traffic schools, the attempts at humor are cringe worthy.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Need to make that dolla dolla
Ugh, it's 6:30 and I can't sleep. I think part of every married (or unmarried) guy's life is wanting to take care of your wife and family. We shoulder that responsibility and burden and probably die early because of it.
So we rent a house, a nice house, but still, we rent. We've been talking about buying a house for years and with us being pregnant, I decided to call a broker last week and crunch numbers. As part of the process, I gathered up all the account balances and spreadsheeted away. It turns out that my wife blew threw the budget for the wedding and had accumulated about $14k in debt.
The debt I can deal with, so we buckle down and tighten up and pay it down. The problem is, she isn't a numbers person and doesn't understand why we can't buy a house. Like literally, foot stomping, "I want a house. Why can't you borrow money against your 401k?" type of stuff. As if I'm going to leverage us further out to buy a house we can barely afford right before we have a kid.
I have no idea how much having a kid costs. I believe my wife when she says she will want to go back to work, but I've worked with enough women who've said that and then can't bear to leave their children in someone else's hands to know that can change. So best case, she'll be on disability and earning less than 100% for at least a few months, and then we'll have to figure out child care and pay for it as well. Worst case, we'll just have my income.
Either way, I can't see a house working right now. Not without more cash for the down payment. We're in the Bay Area, a decent house costs at least $550,0000 so for 10% I need at least $55K. Plus closing costs.
In the meantime, live goes on. A hose fell off my radiator last night and my car needs to go into the shop. My wife wants books on pregnancy and needs money to get to work next week.
They say there's never a "right time" to have a kid. But I've focused my whole life on making sure I was one of those people that could afford a child, and it feels like I got caught on the wrong side of the spreadsheet.
So here's to a weekend with an angry wife and one car so we'll need to work together. At least I've got a half a bottle of vodka and a mountain bike trail head 3 minutes from my house.
The baby is supposed to be the size of a poppyseed right now. From what I've read, the brain and spinal chord develop quickly in these first few weeks. My job is to encourage her to eat a lot of protein and fat to help her body do that. We had pizza last night :/
So we rent a house, a nice house, but still, we rent. We've been talking about buying a house for years and with us being pregnant, I decided to call a broker last week and crunch numbers. As part of the process, I gathered up all the account balances and spreadsheeted away. It turns out that my wife blew threw the budget for the wedding and had accumulated about $14k in debt.
The debt I can deal with, so we buckle down and tighten up and pay it down. The problem is, she isn't a numbers person and doesn't understand why we can't buy a house. Like literally, foot stomping, "I want a house. Why can't you borrow money against your 401k?" type of stuff. As if I'm going to leverage us further out to buy a house we can barely afford right before we have a kid.
I have no idea how much having a kid costs. I believe my wife when she says she will want to go back to work, but I've worked with enough women who've said that and then can't bear to leave their children in someone else's hands to know that can change. So best case, she'll be on disability and earning less than 100% for at least a few months, and then we'll have to figure out child care and pay for it as well. Worst case, we'll just have my income.
Either way, I can't see a house working right now. Not without more cash for the down payment. We're in the Bay Area, a decent house costs at least $550,0000 so for 10% I need at least $55K. Plus closing costs.
In the meantime, live goes on. A hose fell off my radiator last night and my car needs to go into the shop. My wife wants books on pregnancy and needs money to get to work next week.
They say there's never a "right time" to have a kid. But I've focused my whole life on making sure I was one of those people that could afford a child, and it feels like I got caught on the wrong side of the spreadsheet.
So here's to a weekend with an angry wife and one car so we'll need to work together. At least I've got a half a bottle of vodka and a mountain bike trail head 3 minutes from my house.
Friday, July 20, 2012
That Just Happened
This is my first post, who knows if anyone will ever read this ish so it could be me rocking in the corner crying to myself. What else is new?
This is my Jerry McGuire mission statement.
I just turned 37 three weeks ago, got married two months ago and went on a great honeymoon in Italy. My wife is 35 and the best thing that's ever happened to me, there's times when I feel like pinching myself because I'm with her. We got married after dating for two years, we moved in together after five months of dating. What I'm trying to say is we did everything quickly because we knew how lucky we were when we met, and we knew we wanted kids and the clock was ticking.
Anyway, the goalie was pulled on our honeymoon. We got busy every day except for one day when we were exhausted and overheated from hiking all over Florence in 95 degree heat. The monthly bill came anyway. We started to worry. What if something was wrong? What if we're one of those couples that needs help? We did a little research on ovulation, how to increase your odds of success, etc. I did a little research on the Chinese calendar, what positions are best for having a boy, etc.
Month two of trying and we were pretty sure we nailed it. The making the baby stuff was better, more romantic and less of a task, which it had been occasionally during month one. So the monthly bill was due on Tuesday, and it never came. She took a test, and it said she's pregnant. Then she got up Wednesday morning and took another test. I got a text from her with a picture of the indicator literally saying the word "PREGNANT". We're knocked up, its Friday.
How do I feel? Holy shit am I happy. But alternating with the profound joy are feelings of terror and the realization that I don't know a goddamn thing about pregnancy or being a father. I'm doing the research online, I'm ordering the books on Amazon, I'm a sponge soaking up how to be the best baby daddy I can be. And all I keep reading is: "You are fucked". Apparently, I'm basically living with a ticking time bomb of hormones and whining. I don't buy it, so I'm starting this blog so if someone some day is like me and wants to know what being an expecting father is like, they can have the truth. I'll lay it out there, the good and the bad, and I promise to be honest. Also, I don't know shit about blogging, so bare with me.
Also, I'm not just going to write about baby stuff. I think babies and kids are boring as shit, so here's a little about me. I'd rather hang out with my dog (whom I potty trained in two weeks) than hang out around a screaming baby. I mountain bike and do crossfit to stay in shape and I work in finance for a huge institutional bank with universities, pension funds and various government agencies as clients. We'll see how much my interests change during this process.
So we did the first picture last night of her with her flat stomach against a white wall. Picture 0 and this is blog post 0. Star date July 20, 2012, due date March 26, 2012. May god help us all.
This is my Jerry McGuire mission statement.
I just turned 37 three weeks ago, got married two months ago and went on a great honeymoon in Italy. My wife is 35 and the best thing that's ever happened to me, there's times when I feel like pinching myself because I'm with her. We got married after dating for two years, we moved in together after five months of dating. What I'm trying to say is we did everything quickly because we knew how lucky we were when we met, and we knew we wanted kids and the clock was ticking.
Anyway, the goalie was pulled on our honeymoon. We got busy every day except for one day when we were exhausted and overheated from hiking all over Florence in 95 degree heat. The monthly bill came anyway. We started to worry. What if something was wrong? What if we're one of those couples that needs help? We did a little research on ovulation, how to increase your odds of success, etc. I did a little research on the Chinese calendar, what positions are best for having a boy, etc.
Month two of trying and we were pretty sure we nailed it. The making the baby stuff was better, more romantic and less of a task, which it had been occasionally during month one. So the monthly bill was due on Tuesday, and it never came. She took a test, and it said she's pregnant. Then she got up Wednesday morning and took another test. I got a text from her with a picture of the indicator literally saying the word "PREGNANT". We're knocked up, its Friday.
How do I feel? Holy shit am I happy. But alternating with the profound joy are feelings of terror and the realization that I don't know a goddamn thing about pregnancy or being a father. I'm doing the research online, I'm ordering the books on Amazon, I'm a sponge soaking up how to be the best baby daddy I can be. And all I keep reading is: "You are fucked". Apparently, I'm basically living with a ticking time bomb of hormones and whining. I don't buy it, so I'm starting this blog so if someone some day is like me and wants to know what being an expecting father is like, they can have the truth. I'll lay it out there, the good and the bad, and I promise to be honest. Also, I don't know shit about blogging, so bare with me.
Also, I'm not just going to write about baby stuff. I think babies and kids are boring as shit, so here's a little about me. I'd rather hang out with my dog (whom I potty trained in two weeks) than hang out around a screaming baby. I mountain bike and do crossfit to stay in shape and I work in finance for a huge institutional bank with universities, pension funds and various government agencies as clients. We'll see how much my interests change during this process.
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