Ho Ho Ho

We decorated for Chrismas last night. I was tempted to do it before Thanksgiving so that we could enjoy it for longer, but lucky for Jeff there was no time.

Our baby tree - this thing needs some presents under it!

Tyson enjoying a conversation with his Macy's Christmas friends
Tyson refusing to wear the Santa hat
Tyson with his friends from Macy's

Hiccups

The little dude has had the hiccups a lot this week. I was surprised at first that his kicks had such rhythm, but was happy that he was inheriting that from his dad and not me. Then I realized, however, that the pulses were my belly moving each time he hiccuped. The experts don't know why the baby hiccups, but say the movement may result from changes in pressure in the baby's trachea caused by swallowing. Others think that this reflex may be related to babies sucking their thumbs or drinking the amniotic fluid. Who knows, but it's neat when he has the hiccups because you can be sure that you'll feel movement for a minute or so...

Max and Ben

Jeff, Tyson and I enjoyed ourselves in Maryland. We stayed at Jeff's aunt and uncle's house (Bart and Ellie). As you could see from Jeff's post on Friday, they have a view of the Potomac River from their house, so it was very cool. Sandy and Denny flew in from Memphis and Jeff's cousins, Becky and Mike, with his wife Jill, also came up for the weekend with their two boys - Max and Ben. In addition to all of the Thanksgiving festivities and family bonding, it was a great weekend for Jeff and I because of the boys.

Max is a little over 2 years old and Ben is 5 months. I know that having kids is hard work, but I understand now that you don't really know what this means until you actually have the kids. For example, everyone tells us that the sleep deprivation takes it's toll, but I think somewhere in the back of our minds we think that our kid will sleep through the night from day one and only other people have to deal with this. Mike and Jill probably thought this too, but they didn't know that Little Ben is going to be CEO of a major corporation one day and requires very little sleep. Unfortunately they still need the minimal 5-6 hours a night. Thank goodness for the Baby Bjorn because they spend many night hours pacing the halls with Ben strapped to their belly. Ben loves this and is all smiles and baby coos...as long as they are walking around. He lets you know that he's bored if you stop to take a break.

Little Max is a sweetie...all boy and very active. He runs around constantly, so he requires a monitor at all times. He seems smart for a 2 year old, so I can only imagine how much time Mike and Jill spend teaching him his ABC's, 123's, manners, etc. It's non-stop teaching.

So the weekend was great because we got to see first hand the energy that having kids requires, but I also got lessons in bathing, changing diapers, putting on clothes, etc. Maybe I can blame it on the pregnancy, but it seems that taking care of kids is exhausting.

Where is Baby Schrades?

Shanna and I and Baby Schrades are at my aunt and uncle's place in southern Maryland. To see the exact location, click here. It's a link to Google Maps, which, if you haven't used, is pretty sweet. They live on the Potomac River, about an hour drive south of DC.

This morning I played golf with my dad, uncle, and cousin. To say that my dad and uncle are avid golfers would be an understatement. When we teed off at 8:30 AM it was 28 degrees. And that's Fahrenheit. Needless to say, it is difficult to play well when you can't feel your fingers. But it was still fun.

Not sure what's on tap for the rest of the weekend. Looking forward to watching the GT - Georgia game tomorrow night. Go Jackets!

Until next time...

Happy Thanksgiving

We have been lazy this morning, but are now packing and about to head to Maryland. Jeff's cousins and aunt and uncle live there. Sandy and Denny are flying in from Memphis. I've been looking forward to turkey and mashed potatoes all week. We're taking Tyson with us and are just hoping that he displays his best behavior during dinner. His table manners have room for improvement. Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby's Little Friend

Jeff and I have some great friends here in Raleigh that are pregnant too. Mark and Wendy are due on 3/23, which is just 17 days before Baby Schrades. This picture is fun because we are carrying our babies differently and you can really see it here. Wendy's belly starts curving out a few inches higher than mine. My mom said she carried her girls high, like Wendy, and my brother really low, like me. Mark and Wendy aren't finding out the gender, so we can only guess what she's having....I'm guessing girl!

Jeff meets Baby Schrades

Last night the baby kicked his dad for the first time. We were laying on the couch and I told Jeff to try and feel the movement. He put his hand on my belly and felt a little thump a moment later. I'm so glad that the little guy is big enough for Jeff to feel him now. He has been moving more the past few days, but we think he may be laid back like his dad. He just chills most of the time.

Belly Gallery - 20wks (halfway there)

20wk Belly

12wk Belly

The Attic

With Baby Schrades slated to take over our current guestroom in the next few months, we decided it was time to finish our attic. We've wanted to do this since we moved in three years ago, but have been delaying it for various reasons. And so, while the long, symmetrical shape and mancave-like feel of the attic would be prefect for a home theater, it's going to have to serve as our new guestroom.




I originally wanted to subcontract all of the work myself. Since our unorganized builder accidentally did all of the HVAC, electrical, and insulation work before we moved in, the room just needs sheetrock, phone and cable, trim work, and carpet. I tried calling some electricians to give me an estimate on adding some new lights. Of the 5 that I called, zero called me back. Same thing with cable and phone installation. Either these guys are doing such good business that they don't have time for my small attic job, or they are just completely unreliable. Probably a little of both. In any case, I just decided to save the the time and the trouble and hire a licensed general contractor to do the work. Hopefully, good ole Rod Oberlin over at Oberlin Construction will do things right.

When the attic is complete, probably in the next month, we'll be able to move the guestroom furniture up there and start on Baby Schradeses's nursery. I think Shanna might have a couple of ideas on that considering she's been talking about it nonstop for the last couple of weeks. And, I know one thing for sure... I will be the lone subcontractor on that job.

Until next time...

Miscellaneous Stuff

Movement
I can feel Baby Schrades moving around a lot. It's not really predictable, so I'm always nicely surprised when I feel a little tickle or thump. Sometimes it feels like he's doing flips, or swimming laps from side to side . Well, he's 8.5 inches long, so maybe that wouldn't be possible. It's hard to believe he's that long and we don't see his movement from the outside of my belly, but I think that comes in the next few weeks. Jeff has tried to feel him a few times, but he never performs on cue.

Bella Band
The Bella Band is still going strong. I wear it nearly everyday and think it's some of the best money I've ever spent (only $25). For the 2 pairs of pants that I can still button, I still wear the band because my belly pokes out and my shirts don't cover it completely.

Leg Cramps
Got another one last night, but wasn't as bad as the first.

Exercise
I'm doing pilates on Wed nights and love it. There are a few poses that I can't do, but not much. They say that it will tone my stomach and lower back muscles to make labor and post labor recovery easier. I hope so. I want to do more yoga for relaxation techniques, but every morning and evening I put it off by another 12 hours ("Oh, it's too cold and I'm still tired so I'll do it after work" or "I just ate dinner and should really start the day off right tomorrow by doing yoga..I'll start then"...etc)

Doula
We're still on the fence on whether or not to get a doula. If Jeff and I could get through it on our own without getting too stressed out then I'd rather it just be the two of us. I'm just afraid that the pain will be a surprise and will scare us. We start a 12wk class in Jan, so I think we'll be able to make a better decision then.

Nursery
This has been all consuming for me this week. I started thinking about colors last Saturday and can hardly go one hour without searching for pattern or style ideas online. I change my mind every other day on what the colors should be, but it's fun to think about. Poor Jeff is being a good sport by listening and acting interested when I tell him of my new ideas every night.

Tyson Blogs Again

This is Tyson Schroeder. I'm still pissed. I've gotten used to my mom and dad talking about my "little brother", and I even kind of like my mom's body pillow that takes up the whole darn bed, but on Friday something happened that was ridiculous. I really look forward to Fridays because my mom and dad usually get home from work early and we all three hang out, play, and go for walks. I was excited about this day, as usual, until the doorbell rang and in stepped our friends Holly and Adam with their new baby Katie. Nobody had informed me that my mom had volunteered to watch Katie for a few hours that night. I was willing to go with the flow, but then my mom paid no attention to me the rest of the night. All she did was try to make Katie laugh, hold Katie, and take pictures of Katie. I thought I'd get some attention by getting into Katie's carseat, but every time I stepped into it it rocked back and threw me off into the floor. I barked as loud as I could at it until my dad hid it in the closet. This is where I draw the line. Let the battle for attention begin.

I'm not good at catching smiles on film yet, so here's a good one taken by Holly

Wesley Gallery

I've been wanting to show off my little nephew, Wesley, for a while. He is almost 19 months old. We had so much fun with him when Bryan, Angela and he were in town for the wedding.

Strollers from "The List"

This weekend was the first weekend that we've had free since we've finished the 1st trimester and felt it was safe to buy big items for Baby Schrades. Our neighborhood was having a yard sale, so I went to check it out, thinking I'd turn right around and come home. I've only been to a few yard sales because I'm too impatient to look over a bunch of misc items to find something good. I don't do well in TJ Maxx either. Lucky for us the baby things are usually bigger or brighter, so there wasn't much rummaging. I was so pumped from finding such good deals at the yard sale that I came home and got on www.craigslist.com. I think I found the best deal there - Travel System, which includes a car seat and 2 bases, for a fraction of the price. All future mommies should consider buying used. The girl that sold me the travel system said that her baby was only in it for 6 months, so it looks brand new.

We'll never have an excuse not to take Baby Schrades for a walk....

Travel System

Jogging Stroller

Umbrella Stroller

And Tyson's new favorite toy, the Travel Swing

At least you're not in Kansas

Earlier this week the Kansas State Board of Education voted 6-4 to require their public school science teachers to spell out specific objections to Darwin's theory of evolution as part of their curriculum. If you have been following this story, you know that this is a win for 'intelligent design' proponents and a big loss for science, at least in Kansas. Intelligent design has absolutely no place in a science classroom, and should be taught in a philosophy class, if anywhere. But I'll leave that topic alone for now.

What I can't get over is this: In addition, 'the Board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.' In case you didn't catch that, the Board rewrote the definition of science. The Kansas State Board of Education. Now, if you are bold enough to rewrite the definition of science, then you probably have some impressive credentials in a field of science, right? A Nobel Prize maybe or at least a PhD from a prestigious school? After all, you are rewriting the definition of science.

Well, apparently not. The six people that decided to rewrite the definition of science are: a former teacher who now runs a farming operation, a district manager for an insurance company (he also drives a Dodge Stratus for any SNL fans out there), an accountant who went to Mid- America Nazarene University (where?), a farmer with a degree from Kentucky Mountain Bible College (Iris Van Meter, pictured below), a former teacher who now owns a plumbing business, and a veterinarian. And I'm not making this up. You can read their biographies here:

http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdaddr.html

As a future father with a kid in the public schools, I'm wandering what the parents in Kansas who opposed this are thinking now. The nationwide attention that this has already received is not exactly helping the reputation of Kansas or the kids that are graduating from their public schools. No doubt they are pretty bummed, as I would be too. According to the board's new definition, science can be anything you want it to be. A teacher can basically teach whatever they want and call it science. As American children are falling behind the rest of the world in science and math skills, is this really what we need?

Quantum physicist Iris Van Meter
wasn't happy with the current
definition of science

OUCH!

I had only heard about the infamous leg cramps until I got attacked in the wee hours of this morning. Poor Jeff and Tyson must have thought there was a real emergency from the way that I screamed out. It's amazing how on target all of the books are about these kind of things: "It's most likely because your leg muscles are tired from carrying around extra weight. Leg cramps may start to plague you during your second trimester and get worse as your pregnancy progresses and your belly gets bigger. They may be aggravated by the pressure your expanding uterus puts on the blood vessels that return blood from your legs to your heart and the nerves leading from your trunk to your legs. While these cramps can occur during the day, you'll probably notice them most at night." Bingo. That's me. Holly warned me about these and now I know. All other pregnant women get ready.

Shot or No Shot?

Jeff and I have almost decided to not get the flu shot this year. We actually never get it, but this year we have to reconsider because of the baby. Some people say that you should get it because it's recommended and protects the baby, and some say that it contains thimerosal (a mercury-containing compound) and could be harmful to the baby.

The CDC says that "because pregnant women are at an increased risk for flu related complications and because a substantial safety margin has been incorporated into the health guidance values for mercury exposure, the benefit of the flu vaccine outweighs the potential risk for thimerosal". So basically they are saying that it's less risky to take the shot because you might get sick. But I say that if you take the shot then you have definitely assumed the risk of any side effect from thimerosal (not that I know of any documented side effects). So you're gambling either way...one in that they won't discover some adverse side effect to thimerosal in 20 years by taking it, or that you'll get very sick by not taking it.

The reason it's a tough decision for us is because we are going to try for an unmedicated delivery, so why would we inject medicine now if we're going to avoid it later? I thought that my midwife of all people would be supportive of a decision not to get it, so I was surprised yesterday at our visit. We told her that we weren't getting the shot and she was surprised. She said that it is recommended by some academy of physicians and the CDC, but then she smiled and said she wasn't one to get the flu shot when she was pregnant either. I think she has to tell me what's recommended, so she was vague. IBM is getting more shipments of the shot in a few weeks, so we have some time to weigh our options...

First Ultrasound with Midwife

It's still a boy! We were a little anxious that they would tell us it was a girl since we've already bonded with a little boy. We have some cute pictures to post, but I've got to scan them in first. They said that everything measured the way it should and that they are showing him at 18wks and 3 days. I show 18wks and 2 days, so the date of April 9th is just about right. His h/b was at 164, which was the highest it's been, so he must have been excited for us to see him. This morning the little dude was upside down. The u/s tech said that this makes sense because his head is heavier than his feet and gravity pulls him down. I was surprised because I thought he had been kicking me, but they must have been little punches....but Mary Charles said that he's still swimming and flipping all around so it is probably kicks and punches. At the beginning of the u/s he was sitting on his little calves and feet and his arms were above his head. He put his hand by his face a lot, but we couldn't tell if he was sucking his thumb. I've gained 8 lbs total, with 4 of that being in the last month, so I think we're right on schedule. It was neat to see him again and be able to see his little profile more clearly. Although I need a massage now from keeping my head turned to the right looking at the screen for 1/2 an hour....Dad's get the best view at the ultrasounds!

(several hours later)
It's really lame, but I had to take pictures of the pictures with my digital camera. I went to Target and Wolf Camera and they were no help in getting them on a disk. The midwife gave us a disk but it was not formatted correctly, so we can't see the images. Anyway, these came out okay....

Profile Shot

Profile shot with leg and foot. The "bubbles" is the umbilical cord.

Little face looking at camera Left leg and foot

Belly Gallery - 18wks

12wk Belly

15wk Belly

18wk Belly

Not that I know anything about carrying babies, but Baby Schrades seems to be low in my belly. I can feel him kicking about 4 inches below my belly button. The pants in the above picture are covering my lower belly, so you can't really see a big difference. In this pic from Jenn's wedding you can tell he's growing....

Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job

Well, only 4 weeks into my blogging career and I can't think of a good topic to discuss. Actually, I have several good topics, but I ran them by Shanna and she reminded me to consider my audience. Good point. Therefore, I'm going to the mailbag to answer some questions from my readers. Here it goes:

Q: Did you find anything at the IKEA store in Atlanta for Baby Schrades last weekend?
-- M. Sorgen, Duluth, GA

JS: No, and hopefully I will never have to go to IKEA again. Cool furniture for low prices? Yes. Set up like a maze that ensures you have to walk the entire store to find what you are looking for? Yes. Parents letting their kids run around like it's Chucky Cheese? Check. Smells like cinnamon buns? Roger that. Worse than Wal-Mart? Possibly. Overrated? Definitely.

Q: If Samuel Alito is elected to the Supreme Court and the court, in turn, lifts the ban on fully automatic machine gun ownership, are you going to get Baby Schrades an Uzi?
-- J. Harris, Tulsa, OK

JS: Hell yeah. But not before I get myself a couple. You never know when you might need that kind of fire power.

Q: Almost 18 weeks in... are you excited?
-- P. MacDonald, Raleigh, NC

JS: Shanna is really starting to show, so it's sinking in more and more each day. I haven't been able to feel the baby yet, but I hear that will be possible very soon. Shanna says she can feel him already. It hasn't fully hit home, but, yes, I'm excited.

Q: Do you think Baby Schrades will have a fro like yours?
-- G. Money, Portland, ME

JS: If he's lucky.

Q: What's on tap this weekend for you, Shanna, and Baby Schrades?
-- R. Jones, Tampa, FL

JS: No big plans really. Shanna's mom is in town and I think we are just going to chill. I'm playing golf tomorrow morning and will watch the GT - Wake Forest game at 1:30 pm. I also want to see the movie Jarhead if possible. And, if nothing else, we have Discs 1 and 2 of Arrested Development: Season 1 from Netflix. This show is hilarious. I should have rented it sooner.

Until next time...

Wedding Bliss (exhaustion)

The fam rolled in on Tuesday evening. Neil's family hosted a yummy dinner on Wed night and then the ceremony was today at a quaint 18th century house in nearby Cary. I think that the wedding was everything that Neil and Jenn wanted it to be. Neil was a little pissed that we wrote "Go Tech" on his windshield, but oh well. The happy couple is now snuggled up in a cozy cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains. Congrats Neil and Jenn!

PS. Happy Birthday Bryan!!!!!!

A Day at the Spa

Before

After

Superman Returns

Getting ready to go out....

Waiting for his first Trick or Treat of the year....

Too much candy....

Mommy had to carry him to bed....