Hello everyone

Hello everyone, it's been almost a month since my last update. There is way too much that has gone on to update everyone on all the details but ill try. Micah came home the Friday after entering the NICU.  We we so excited to be able to bring him home. Up until that point I felt as if I was babysitting a baby in the hospital. I know that sounds awful but please remember that we were planning on being able to go home the night of the birth and were thrown off guard having to spend a week at a hospital, interacting with nurses and doctors, and sleeping on a horrible hospital bed that was probably designed by chiropractors to promote business. 

Once we came home everything clicked! I was a dad, Laura was a mom and we were parents. I found myself staring at him while he slept, observing his every breath. This was my baby boy! Everyday when the swelling in his face would go down a little more, we could see more of each of us in him.

Now there are two things that most people told me about having kids that I heard repeatedly. One, was that having a baby would take you to a level of love that you cannot describe and have never experienced. The parent to child love would be one that cannot be compared to another. Two, was that having a baby would literally consume all of your time and energy. I was excited to experience the new love that I heard so much about but was really skeptical of the time consuming part of caring for a child. I knew it would require a lot, but how much? Now that we are in our new roles as parents, I can safely say all of it. I took a little more than a month off total from the fire department to stay home and care for Micah and I thought I would have done so much more. I figured I could knock out a couple of things off my to-do list like re-caulk the bathrooms, go to some doctors appointments that I have been putting off, touch up some walls, and so on. All I pretty much got to do was go to the doctors. Both Laura and I have been so busy, or at least it feels like it because we're so sleep deprived. What is sleep for that matter? It's been so long since we got a full nights rest. Micah started off the first few weeks, waking up every 3-4 hours to eat or have his diaper changed. But that quickly changed to about every hour on the hour and that's nights too. The pediatrician told us that it was normal and it was due to a growth spurt. So that lasted about 4 days straight and it was rough. Im used to getting up at night, we run probably an average of 3 calls every night at my firehouse with each call lasting 30 minutes to an hour, but day after day took it's toll on us. One night about 3 in the morning I was holding Micah while Laura prepped herself to nurse. I normally lay him flat on my chest and pat his back or his butt to help ease him while he waits impatiently (just like his dad). I ended leaning back and fell asleep with him on my chest. I didn't realize that at some point I handed him to Laura so she could feed him and laid on my back,  patting my chest thinking he was still on there. Laura just laughed and said "he's not on your Chest anymore!"

Micah is pretty fussy when he doesn't get his way. He does an escalating level of shrieks when we don't give in or don't satisfy his demands. For example he hates his bassinet, or better said the act of being placed in it. When he's asleep ill sometimes place him in there and I can get a few things done but once he wakes up and realizes where he is at, he shakes his hands wide and out and yells to be picked up. The same thing goes for his feeding. We go back and forth between bottle feeding and nursing and he lost total interest in nursing. The milk comes easily and without effort from the bottle, while he has to actually do some work when he is nurse fed. When he couldn't latch on right, he would 

Shake his head and make a funny, angry goat noise. He lost that battle and is nursing fine now.

He loves to be held and although it is sometimes inconvenient and tiring, someone told me today that I need to take advantage while he still wants to be held. This is true and I see the realization of the fact that he is growing everyday. He has jumped up in diaper and onesie sizes and is becoming more and more alert everyday. This is where that love that only a parent would understand. Even though we are tired and sleepy all the time (made evident by bags under our eyes) we are enjoying every minute of parenthood. 

Call me the swaddle king

Hey everyone, I'm super bored right now.  Laura is up and about and Micah is getting better. We've been given the ok to nurse Micah. It took her a while to finally get him to latch but thanks to that awesome nurse who has been caring for Micah he's nursing like a pro, if for some reason it were some type of profession. Laura and I both spent the night at the hospital last night so she could feed him every 3 hours. We got news today that Micah should finish his last round of antibiotics on Friday evening and will be discharged right after. That's great news! No one wants to be in a hospital longer than needed.

Let me just add that Micah is the perfect little baby boy. I know he has just been in our lives for a few days but amazingly he is not a cryer! He cries a little when he is being bothered like when we change his diaper, and take his temperature but as soon as we finish he stops and that's pretty much it. When he wants to let us know that he needs something he just lets out a series of little baby grunts. Kind of like he wants to establish a new form of communication that only we know and understand. Once I learn it, I'll be able to teach the dogs and we'll be set.

Since this whole trip caught us totally off guard we were totally unprepared. We had a few changes of clothes, and that's pretty much it. After the second day at the hospital we knew we were going to have to make a trip back home. We needed clothes, snacks, and some kind of entertainment. So early this morning around 7 am we made a quick trip home for a quick grab and go to be back in time to feed Micah. Let me just say I have the best family in the world! All of them (led by my sister) got the house ready for our arrival. They were apparently hoping  we would be discharged today and knocked out a some house chores I'd been meaning to tackle for a few weeks/days. They changed the air filters, washed some clothes, set up the pack&play, and even hid the cables running down the wall-mounted tv in the living room. Seriously, THEY HID THE CABLES!!! That's just amazing. I wanted to go back and sneak Micah back home.

I love them all. I would never tell them directly because my family doesn't show those weaknesses, but I do love them.

So I'm having a conversation with my brother; updating him on Micah and he asks "So did you give him the "snip snip" down there?" I didn't understand him at first but once I did said "Oooooohhhh, not yet dude, I don't know, what do you think?" As if leaving the fate of my son's prepuce for my brother to decide. He says "I don't know dude, let him be like the Europeans, just free-ranging it." I have no idea what that meant but then he adds "He'll be just like Gerard Butler!". By this point, I'm just plain confused and say "How does this have anything to do with Gerard Butler?" He says "Well he's European, and the girls like him. They also like the guys from One Direction." And that ladies and gentlemen is a typical conversation with my brother. 

Free-ranginn, ya hear me?  FREE-RANGING!

And just to end on a positive note, I am now the self proclaimed swaddle king. I've been steadily observing the nurses swaddle and I now can swaddle Micah into the most beautiful cocoon. I just have to be careful that I don't swaddle him to perfectly that he stays in there, grows wings, and then flys away forever. 

Stuck in the NICU.

Hey ya'll it's Paula Deen! I actually don't know why I wrote that. We're stuck in the NICU with Micah in a very country area so Laura says that I've been talking in a country accent for some reason. I was reading over my last post this morning and proof reading some errors when I realized that I didn't really write much about Micah. It might get a little graphic, so if your grossed out by the human anatomy then you might want to grow up. 

I had read sometime ago that a baby's skull is actually in peices and when they're born they're heads are shaped like cones so they don't destroy their mommy's while coming out. Well during Laura birth, as she was pushing the top of his little cone head was coming out and I remember thinking that Micah was going to be a small little thing. I was even worried that he was a bit premature; he was so small. But once his head came out I was like "whoa!" As soon as he was pulled out, the midwives places him on Laura for the skin to skin contact with him mom and that ms when everyone cried. Laura mentioned that at that moment the pain disapeared and she just want to hold him to her. After a few minutes he was cleaned a little, weighed and measure. He was 8.2 lbs and 21 inches long. Micah has so much hair! Most people who have seen his picture comment on that first thing. This kid is ready for his first hair cut and a trip to the barber shop for a straight blade shave. He has the sideburns I waited until I was about 14 to grow in. 

He definitely has my nose and mouth. But we're not sure on the eyes. He's still a little swollen so they might change. I think he might have his mommy's squinty eyes. What do you guys think?

I mentioned in my last post that he had inhaled a little bit of meconium resulting in needing to be transported to a NICU in hickory. Meconium stays in the lungs and has to be absorbed by the body. Its toxic so they told us he would have to have either a 2 day or 7 day round of antibiotics depending on his recovery time. Micah is making very good progress and has brought his respiratory rate down significantly, it's still high but better. His doesn't need any oxygen assistance anymore so we were optimistic. Well today the doctors informed us that because of his still high respiratory rate and after looking at X-rays of his lungs they saw that he still has some dark spots in certain areas that they would like to monitor and treat him for 7 days. He's better and hasn't developed a respiratory infection but more antibiotics and monitoring won't hurt. Another great sign if progress is that Laura can now feed him. Before he was getting all his nutrients through an IV. But now were working trying to breast feed him or should I say Laura is, I'm not breast feeding anyone. The nurse attending us at night has been a blessing! She is a great person all together. They're all great but you can tell in the details that this one cares. We stepped out to eat and she didn't know if we were coming back so she gave him his first little bath and had him swaddled and sleeping when we came back. Anyways I'll keep you guys updated of any new news. I'll have plenty of time since we'll be here until next Saturday. Anyone have any good netflix suggestions?

At last!

So after 41 weeks of pregnancy, Micah is finally here. What an amazing array of emotions labor is. I've never gone from feeling so sad and helpless to happy and ecstatic and then back to disappointed and helpless. Let me explain.

First off, I literally had about 3 or 4 unpublished post that I never finished. They made for a good read but are kinda obsolete now considering that Micah is here. One talked about home renovations and feelings of impatience, another one talked about Micah being the last baby standing or in another words being the only one of a group of babies due at the same time to not be born and About getting my jump bag ready. I probably mentioned something about impatience there too. 

The last few weeks were so hectic and suspenseful that I could never finish a blog post. The due date came and went while we sat there twiddling our thumbs. But finally Thursday morning Laura woke me up saying "I don't want to freak you out or anything but I've had 4 strong contractions about 15 min apart." They weren't too painful so she called her midwife and was told to call if they got more frequent and or painful. They didn't, So I went to work that day checking my phone every 10 seconds waiting for "the call" that never came. The contractions would die down and become further apart so we knew something was going to happen but just didn't know when. I took Laura on a few walks to the mall and Ikea to try and hurry along any signs of pregnancy. The next morning Laura woke me up to tell me that she was having really painful 1 minute contraction about every 10 minuntes. Painful enough to wake her up from her sleep. Just to make sure it wasnt another false alarm she got up and showered while I packed the car. The contractions continued and each one seemed to be stronger than the one before. I decided to make our way to the birthing center and if she wasnt ready to be admitted, at least we would be in the vecinity of the center in case THINGS GOT REAL.

I think I forgot to mention before that we decided to switch our birthing facility from Carolina Maternity Center in Ft. Mill to Natural Begginings in Statesville. CMC had their licensed revoked for reasons still under investigation and we had to find somewhere else to deliver. The facility in Statesville was 40 minutes away from our house on a good day, on a bad one, about an hour and a half. Heading up there around 8:15, up I-77N on a friday, at the beginning of a  workday? I was preparing for the worst traffic and was shocked to not have to stop at all! We made it there in about 40 min and I quickly walked Laura in to get measured. She was dialated at 3cm. There I learned that they would like for you to be 4-5 cm dialated to be admitted, 6-7 if you want to try to contract in a birthing pool, and 10 to start pushing. This was all aroud 9 am. This midwife recommended we go have breakfast, than go for a walk at a park or a mall then come back later when it got hard to walk. There was a mall about a mile away with an IHOP so we figured we would kill to birds with one stone. I ate my breakfast fine but looked up to see that my poor wife could barely take a bite out of her food, not because of the contractions but to nerves. I was fine though, I looked across the table and said....

After we were done we walked around the mall for about another 2 hours, where we met with my in-laws. Around that time the contractions got painful to the point that's Laura could not walk anymore. So we decided to make our way back to the birthing center. After another measurment Laura was 4.5 cm dialated and was admitted. We chose a birthing room and settled in, preparing for what was to come. I walked around putting our gamplan into play, lighting lavender oils, and texting friends and family to let them know we were getting ready for the big day. By now the time was around 12:30 pm.

Now what happened over the next lets say 8 hours is pretty much a blur. To pretty much sum it up let's just say that laura switched to various positions while she contracted every 2-3 minutes. Her friend, Sister and I took turns holding her hand and rubbing her lower back trying to soothe the pain while each contraction got stronger and over-powering. Now I like to think I have a sense of humor and I like to make jokes on this blog hoping to pull a chuckle from all of you but on a serious note. Every man I've ever talked to has said that he broke down and cried when their wife gave birth. I don't cry. I probably have not shed a tear in about a good 15 years.So going into this I had a mind set of "Challenge Accepted!" I felt I wasn't going to cry. And I did pretty good up until about the 8th hour of  her being admitted. Her and I were sitting in a dark bathroom. I was holding her hand while her contractions kept coming minute after minute without letting up. Just as one would mellow out and a stronger one would take its place she cried "No, no, no, just make it stop. I don't think I can do this anymore." And right at the moment she opened her eyes for a brief second, looked at me and said " Baby, just make the pain go away..." That pierced me deep and I looked down and away while my eyes instantly watered and teared. A few hours later while she was on her back and finally pushing she would push and make progress, but the physical and mental exhaustion beyond what anyone could handle. She would put her head back and say "I can't anymore, I just can't". But somehow she mustered up the stregnth for one more push, and then one more after that.

In both those occasions the feeling of being absolutely helpless ate at me. I make a living by fixing peoples problems. One fire captain once said that when firefighters show up and you dont know what your problem is, We'll make one for you just so we can fix it! So finding myself in a situation where I could do nothing at all to fix the problem, and worse for the person whose it mattered the most killed me. So Yea, I shed some tears, a few but they were there. If you Sir don't or didn't she's any at the birth of your child then I want to shake your hand and ask you more about what it's like to have no heart.

The whole labour surprised me in many ways. The experience as a whole is nothing like what I imagined. And the moment Micah was born there was not a dry eye in the room. My wife was amazing. She pulled of a 15 hour natural labour. Deep down inside, I imagined her weak pain tolerance would make her change her mind fast about going natural but she carried on through it like a champ. Other people's reaction's were pretty surprising too. My Sister in law and one of Laura's best friends were of great support. Wether it was holding her hand, fetching towels and rubbing her back they were on it. I honestly thought that (and please dont hate me you two) they would be an overwhelming nusiance. But they did great. My sister and My mom pulled it together too. My sister refused to go into the birthing room once the pushing started because she refused to see Laura naked because the labours she's seen have apparently been carried out in victorian dresses. 

Okay Dutchesses, PUSH PUSH PUSH!!!

But she came through for us and cheered Laura through! My Mom was sitting outside the birthing room, hearing all the screams and would occasionally send me a text asking how everything was going. After about an hour and her thinking that the labour wasn't progressing, she sent me another text saying "You need me to come in there?" I replied "Yea sure if your not scared of Vaginas". Her reply was and I kid you not "I'm Strong and Laura needs someone strong to encourage her!" and as I was reading the text, she busted the door down and Encouraged. I guess she couldn't sit back and watch all is weaklings sit there with our weak voices try to motivate.

Everyone played a major role and I am thankful for everyone who text us and were thinking of us. Even if I couldnt respond, thank all of you.

As Micah was coming out , He seemed to have swallowed some Meconium (look it up). Which seemed to be affecting his Oxygen saturation levels and his breathing rate. The Midwives had a hard time suctioning out his air way and decided it was best to have him transported to a NICU to be monitored for a a lung infection and or Pneumonia. As of now its precautionary and he is being put on a 24 hour round of anti-biotics. Depending on his improvement he could be cleared to leave or if an infection develops he could have to stay for a 7 day round of anti-biotics. The average discharge time for at the Birthing center is 4-6 hours after birth and thats what we were looking forward to. The realization of having to spend 48 hours to 7 days in a hospital is very disappointing. But I guess that's life (Get it? The Cornbread joke earlier? Life?). We're just going to have to take it one diaper at a time.

The last baby standing.

First off, just want to say sorry for not keeping everyone up to date these past few weeks/months (I've completely lost track on where we left off). Since my last post the pregnancy has reached what has felt like a standstill. Everyone says that the final months are the longest. You know the baby is coming and the days on the calendar are marked off one by one, but the progress seems so delayed! The house is littered with pack and plays, strollers, and baby onsies so I know we're getting close but I feel so far. This is where that patience thing I was working on comes in handy. As it stands now we are 11 days away. I feel like those commercials "It's our baby and we want it now!"

Micah is now the last baby standing or should I say swimming. Since the beginning of the pregnancy I came in touch with friends and family that were also due around the same time as us. And all have given birth already while we sit hear and watch. The friends that announced their pregnancy the same week we discovered ours, received their baby boy at the end of September. My wife's cousin in NY had hers last Wednesday. A firefighter buddy of mine whose little girl was due the same week as ours just had theirs last night. Meanwhile Micah is taking his sweet time.

My mom and sister through a mustache themed baby shower, full of corny and embarrassing games, gifts, and great friends. I was super happy to see all the support from friends and family. Seeing all of them there to support us, assures me that everything is going to be just fine. Our friends bought us alot of the stuff we needed on our registry. With the exception of a few things here and there, were set and ready to go. 

 

The nursery is complete with the exception of a few decorations that we'd like to set up but are nonessential. Now I need to start getting a jump on a few things like a jump bag with all the essentials for when my wife goes into labor. Until then, send me some lives on candy crush because this game is kicking my butt.

A Butternut Squash!

 Hey everyone, Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. The pregnancy seemed to have taken a standstill for a bit but now has us busier than ever. Micah is now the size of a Butternut Squash and weighs somewhere around 3-4 lbs. We are pretty much counting down the days until arrives. The Baby Momma is doing good. Although she was having cramps running down one side of her leg, which she read was a common thing for women this far along in the pregnancy. Her midwife recommended some baby safe supplements and problem solved. This summer has been great to us. I've always heard that summer pregnancies suck and had this one been planned we would have tried to avoid the summer at all cost but there really haven't been many days over 90 degrees and hoping I don't speak too soon, summer seems to be on its way out. Here's an interesting piece of information, Studies have shown that the baby now has sleep cycles in which he could possibly even dream. Isn't that crazy? What does little Micah dream about? The strange and distant voices outside his little bubble?

The small baby bump that was easily covered and disguised is now here and making it's presence known. In about a months time, we went from people being surprised when finding out how far along my wife was to her not being able to find anything to wear. Which means several shopping trips to look for Maternity clothes. That's whole 'nother subject that I don't want to get into too deep, but Maternity clothes is ridiculously expensive!!! Maybe its just me because I'm used to finding my clothes in the clearance racks or in my brother's room when I casually raid his closet, but seriously guys! Talk about taking advantage of someone in a tough spot. At the end of the day it is business, but I still imagine a group of evil business men and fashion designers gathered around a large conference table, laughing hysterically because we all fall into their traps!

And then, Once they feel fat, bloated, and can't find anything to wear
they'll have no choice but to buy our expensive clothes!


Both the wife and I took some vacation days a few weeks ago and finally got around to painting the nursery. With a little help from my sister and her husband we knocked it out in no time. It's painted a gray color with red accents. All her ideas.... from Pinterest. Once we were done with that we could move all the baby furniture inside including a big red comfy couch that I previously had no place for. I think It'll be perfect in the nursery for those up all night time when you just need a place to crash.   Once I add a T.V., my Xbox, a mini fridge, a Man Cave sign and Oh wait, nevermind ; those times are gone.

  Here's a picture below, let me know what you guys think. All its really missing is the little guy.



With the nursery somewhat complete we went ahead and registered. My wife wanted to make a registry at Target which was cool with me. Once we were there I had flashbacks of making our wedding registry. I remembered how My wife was so detailed and did alot of research on every product. The baby registry was literally the same experience. When I got a hold of the scanner, I was just looking at colors and prices. My reactions were "Ooooh, this one looks cool!" or "Ouch, that ones expensive!" while my wife was overly prepared with cut-outs of product reviews and several parenting magazines and their recommendations for what every parent needs. It's a good thing she was there to balance me out because if not, Micah, you would probably end up being swaddled in some paper towels and napkins. They'd be cool napkins though. With little firetrucks on them.

There are alot of things that people say parents "need" for their babies. I guess it's been a while since I was a baby (24 years from my estimates) but I don't remember having or needing all the things that experts list as a requirement for babies. This led to several disagreements between my wife and I. Here go some, and parents help me out if I'm wrong :

1) Wipey Warmers. A Wipey is a moist, disposable towelette that is used to clean the rear end of a baby when changing their diapers. Apparently the Baby Union was not satisfied with the way they were being changed and cleaned and decided they wanted more. Wipeys themselves were simply not enough. They had to be warmed. The Baby Union fought hard to make sure the "parenting experts" made a Wipey Warmer a necessity for every with-child household. Seriously guys. No one from my generation had one and I think most of us turned out ok, with the exception of a few.


2) Shopping Cart cover. This one was tricky. I know that Shopping Carts are some of the dirtiest things on the planet. Putting your child in one is something I plan on avoiding. Some of you may say "But Fire Daddy, (yes, I will now be refered to as Fire Daddy.) didn't you ever ride in a shopping cart as a child?" Yes, I did. At my local family grocery store where people actually took pride in cleanliness and appearance. Most places and people cared about those things back then, but now all that's gone out the window. That's not all. Think about the people who touch the grocery carts. Never noticed them? Take a trip to www.peopleofwalmart.com and get back to me. I bet you won't touch one without sanitizing first. The wife and I didn't disagree on one but  just kinda looked it over as a product that makes your child's ride in a bacteria infested seat more comfortable.

Hey do you think after we leave the Walmart we can swing by the Pediatrician's? I'm pretty sure this rash on my leg wasn't here 2 minutes ago.

http://www.nationalreview.com/the-feed/261194/how-dirty-your-shopping-cart

3) Rectal thermometer. Because I love my child and that's why they make digital ear thermometers.

Hey Daddy, What are you doing with that?

 4) A Baby Bullet aka a super small food processor with cute designs on it. Because it's a super small food processor with cute designs on it.

We're probably going to make another registry at Babies R' Us for the variety, so I'm sure I'll have more useless products to review. 

While I have your attention, I'd like acknowledge and thank a few people. My family, The Jimenez, and Karla. Thank you so much for all the little baby clothes and supplies you gave us. Having a baby is a life altering event that we can never be fully prepared for but your contribution and help, reminds us that it's all going to be OK because we have good friends and family like yourselves. 

An ear of corn

Hello everyone, thanks for checking in. Sorry it's been a while but it's been an eventful few weeks since I last updated the blog. Little Micah is growing and letting his presence be known. He's now the size of an ear of corn and kicks like a little Maradona. I actually felt him kick yesterday. My wife and I were laying in bed and I put my hand on her belly to see if I could randomly feel anything. And a few seconds later there was a twitch. Now I know that sounds weird but I can't think of any other word to describe it. My wife describes it like little muscle spasms. This was pretty big for me. I'd been trying to feel Micah ever since my wife said she started to feel him move. She even woke me up a few days ago at 3 in the morning, grabs my hand and places it on her belly asking if I can feel Micah kicking. I said yes and turned back around. She then asked me "Are you just saying that because you want to go back to sleep?" And I said "Yes"...... and then went back to sleep. So the fact that I felt him was pretty exciting.

Like I mentioned before, these past few weeks have been pretty busy and eventful. To start of I got promoted to the rank of Firefighter II. I still ride the back of the truck and do most of the hands on work but now with more responsibility. On our dept. a firefighter II is kind of a jack of all trades. He pretty much jumps from one position to the other depending where he is needed. He may be assigned to drive, or even ride the seat which is a fancy way of saying "playing" captain of that company for the day. And because he goes where he is needed I got some unfortunate news. I would be transferred from my station to one across town where they needed firefighter II's. When I say across town I mean it. I'm going from a station less than 5 miles from my house to one almost 35. Depending on traffic it could be anywhere from a 30 to 45 minute commute. Needless to say I wasn't excited, especially with a pregnant wife at home alone. Just the proximity brought peace of mind that if anything were to happen I would be a few minutes away. But no assignment is permanent and eventually I can make my way back to "my" station or one closer to home. And at the end of the day, I still got the best job in the world wether I'm at a station by the house or be across town. 

We also had out first appointment with the midwife. Her name is Pamala and she's super nice. She definetley created a relaxed and chill atmosphere. The day after, we had a songram done and got a 3D picture of Micah. Alot of people told me that he looks like me. He pouted the whole time ....just like his dad. I've also fixed my car dilemma. The day after we got the 3D picture, I took a ride to a Toyota dealership in Concord to test drive a 4runner. I've always trusted Toyota's and love how they hold their value longer than other vehicles. Negotiations went smooth, and I got what I wanted from my truck as a trade-in and we made it happen. Hell, even Micah helped. I was talking to the salesman and asked him to go back and tell his manager what my requirements were and he said "I don't think he'll do that!" so I took out my phone to Micah's Ultrasound picture and said "Don't do it for me, Do it for the baby!" One thing I noticed is that the salesmen still use the "leave you at the desk while they go negotiate with their managers for extended periods of time" tactic. Sorry to break it to you guys, but in the world of smartphones with internet and apps it doesnt work anymore! I dont know if they were trying to test my patience but I was relaxed. Everytime they left to play their game, I played one on my phone, or watched a video on youtube. I ended up leaving that night with a 4runner. So I can check that one off the list.

At the firehouse there's a tradition that if you get promoted you have to buy steaks for the whole crew. It's a nice way to show your appreciation to the guys that helped you move up and shed some knowledge on you, it also sets you back a pretty penny. Kind of like saying "Hey, congrats on your promotion and the raise ! Now give us that first pay check so we can eat some steaks." We all have to do it, It's tradition. But at our station it's more of a contest to see who can buy the biggest steaks. I did good this year. We had so much meat, PETA and the vegans rallied up a protest outside the station! I knew I wanted to get huge steaks but was not counting on the size of the cut that I bought. When I went to Harris Teeter, I asked if I could get some Ribeyes cut but the lady said the butcher was gone for the day and all that was available was whatever was in the pre-packaged meat section or behind the display counters. I didn't even bother with the Pre-packaged section because I had a statement to make. So I asked how much one from behind the glass would cost me. She said "Oh you don't want those. That's the kind of steak that men buy when they want to show off to their buddies at a cook-out!". I looked her straight in the eye and said "I'll take 5." No kidding, each one was at least an inch and a half thick. I pretty much bought everyone their own cow Jk. Throw in some sauteed parmesan green beans, a sweet potato, and Oh were they delicious. I guess you could say it was my last attempt to get the Battalion Chief to pull some strings and tell me I could stay at my station. Tough nuggies, I'm still leaving. Once he thanked me and told me that it was one of the best steaks he'd had in his life, I told him there was another one in it for him if he got me back in the future!

Ain't that the truth!

Changing the subject and tone, I'm sure many of you have heard of the 19 firefighters that lost their lives in Arizona a few days ago. What a tragedy! Next to 9/11 that's the second highest firefighter LODD (line of duty death) in US history. I believe I read somewhere that their average age was 28. Most of them were husbands and fathers. One of them left behind a pregnant wife. She was 7 months pregnant with their first child. That one hit me pretty hard. It's always sad to hear and my condolences go out to all the families of the 19 firefighters and to those affected.

A Pomengranate

Little baby Micah is now the size of a pomegranate and weighs about a pound. My wife feels her baby bump but it's not really showing. We find ourselves having to show people a picture of the ultra-sound to convice them that we're not playing a joke on them when we tell them Laura's prego. But everyonce in a while something happens that lets us know there's still a growing baby in there somwhere. For example, the other morning my wife woke me up to show me her belly, it was literally bulging on the left, It was a little bulge but it was noticable. I guess she had slept to one side and her uterus creeped down and stayed there for a bit. It was pretty weird but kinda cool too. And guess who's had some foot swelling? Yea, it's Laura. It doesn't happen alot but we've noticed it especially after a long day of her standing at work. One of the Pregnancy forums I keep up with said the best thing a daddy can do is massage his baby momma's feet. So I guess I'm gonna have to go buy some scented lotions for the next swelling episode.

I'll just pretend these are my dog's ears.....Whose a good boy?!?!?

Here's the coolest thing that blew my mind. Today, June 20th, 2013, Laura felt Micah moving. She said she felt it around lunch time. Just a little wiggle, but it was out of the blue. It wasnt expected. At first she said it was random and kept doing what she was doing but she felt it again a few hours later. How awesome is that? I can't wait to put my hand on her belly and feel Micah kick.

I mentioned in my last post that we we're gonna take a tour of a Maternity Center. Well we did, and we we're definately impressed. First of all the Midwives had a extensive experience in the medical field. Most of the them got into Midwifery after long careers as Nurses in the delivery room or the ER. As Midwives many of them have delivered 400+ babies. They're trained to spot any signs of complications. There is a hospital nearby and an ambulance service at throwing distance if needed. Another thing we liked was the atmosphere of the rooms and facility. These weren't ordinary delivery rooms. They were all out suites with king sized beds, showers and tubs that just put me at ease. I've been inside hospitals hundreds of times and the rooms, the staff, and the thought of having my wife hooked up to a bunch of cables is frightening. I wasnt 100% convinced going in but talking to the midwives and asking ALOT of questions and doing ALOT of research I feel better about it. It seems like a great, natural alternative to the hospital setting. My wife loved the idea and at the end of the day its her decision and I support her. We go for our first appointment next Wednesday. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Bananas

Little Micah has now grown to a healthy 11oz and I about the length of a banana. As I was typing out the title to this post I couldn't help but think of that Gwen Stefani song where she spells out bananas. I forgot the name of it. Help anyone? There's been a lot of movement this week with Micah. Earlier this week my wife complained of sharp pains in her lower belly. To the WebMd!!! Thanks to the Internet we have found several pregnancy blogs that can help put any worry at ease. What we learned that this is a common process where the growing uterus pushes and stretches the abdominal muscles. Micah is just growing.

One cool thing I read about the Micah's growth this week is that he has developed taste buds. So not only is the baby feeding off of what my wife eats but he is also enjoying it (Hopefully). Now this poses a problem. I love spicy food but my wife refuses to eat anything remotely tingly to the taste buds. I guess opposites do attract because being mexican, spicy food is a must. I've had emberassing moments at restaurants where my wife sends back plate after plate because she claims it too spicy and I can't find anything spicy on the plate. Or when we were dating and she would come over for dinner I had to ask my mom to change her recipes and go super light on the chile so Laura could enjoy her meal without throwing up. So obviously we have very different tolerance levels when it comes to spicy food. So where will Micah's tolerance level be? It's kinda hard to say because he definately wont be getting any spicy food while he's in the womb. We're just going to have to work on it once he's here with us.



Maybe one day he too will have a hot sauce named after him.

I dont remember if mentioned it in an earlier post or not but The wife and I recently watched a documentary about birthing in the U.S. and how unfortunately birthing has become a business for many hospitals. This leading to the U.S. having one of the highest infant mortality rates amongst industrialized countries. The documentary was pushing the idea of Materntity Centers so I can't say its wasn't unbiased but much of the information made alot of sense and sparked my interest to do more research. There is a nearby Maternity Center in Ft. Mill SC, and we decided to take a tour this saturday to see if this is the right choice for us. When we watched an introduction video for the facility, suprisingly we saw some friends that we hadn't talked to in a while being interviewed. They had they're little girl at the facility so I immediatley went in to stalker mode and searched for them on Facebook to ask them questions about their experience with the birthing center. They said they loved it and had very good things to say about it. I in no way intend to make this decision for my wife and am not an advocate for one birthing method over another. She knows whats best for her body and what she can and can't handle. Obviously there are health risk that can only be adressed at a hospital so we are definately going to weigh out our options. Either way we're excited to see what this place has to offer.

Goodbye

How do I Say goodbye to yesterday? It's quite sad, parting ways that is. We've all had to say goodbye to friends, family, pets, or any object that is precious to us. I too have said goodbye recently. To what you may ask? To something very dear to me. I said goodbye to my motorcycle. It was hard I'm not going to lie, but a man has to recognize his priorities in life and mine have changed. I sold it and watched as a stranger rode it away into the sunset and as the shine of the modded grips glistened and the loud rumble of my custom exhaust faded away and I couldn't hear it anymore, a single tear rolled from me eye down my cheek. 

Now I am completely exaggerating guys. I sold it to my dad, so I'm free to ride it anytime I please. But with our big change in lifestyle I knew I didn't need an extra expense at the moment. Now just to put it out there, the wifey did not push this decision. It was completely my idea. I felt It was the best choice. Once we talked about it she did give me permission to buy one in the future. (Did you see what I did there?). And even though I only sold it to my dad, it still stung a little to part with and if I don't ever purchase one again, I can still check it off the list of a childhood dream I always had. If you happened to have played the video at the begining if this post then by the end of this paragraph you're probably saying to yourself that the Boyz II Men song was a little too much (especially if you're weeping, then we'll give you a minute).

Ok, now changing the subject. My family has fallen into a full frenzy buying baby clothes. It's all pretty cute, especially some of the peices my wife has bought that are firefighter themed like the one below.

The funny thing is that a CO-worker of mine told me that we would probably recieve so much clothes at the baby shower that any clothes we bought would probably never get used besides the fact that the baby would probably wear a select few items of clothes. And even though I explained this to my wife and sister, It doesn't seem to make a difference because apparently to them Micah is out to make a fashion statement. But I found what has to be the coolest baby onesie out there, and yes, Micah's has already been ordered. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you ......the Baby turnout gear onesie.



Will baby Micah save somebody's life one day? I can't make any promises ..... but yes.



A Mango, A BOY MANGO!

So did you win? We're you right? How much money did you make? Or lose? Hopefully you played the game and are sitting on stacks at this moment because you bet right. I did not. Remember all that talk about having a baby girl? Yea I was wrong. My wife and I found out the big news this past wednesday. It all happened so fast. We literally walked in and the Ultrasound tech came in a made some small talk, Once she applied the jelly on my wife's belly in a matter of seconds she looked at my wife and said "Honey, you should've bet something because its a boy!"

Wait what?!? Can you look again and make sure? That was pretty fast. Are you sure?

Yes she was right and I was wrong. Her first declaration was later confirmed by a count of all the fingers on the baby (There were 11). There was an overflow of emotions. My wife's included. For some reason thinking about our lives a year from now, I imagined us carrying around a little girl. But like I've mentioned before this was simply a gut feeling and there were only 2 possible outcomes. My wife chose boy and I chose wrong! Either way we are more than happy. All the vital signs and growth measurements are looking healthy and where they should be. The good news is that I won't have to paint the nursery and we can now start to buy boy clothes and baby supplies.

So now that we know the baby is a boy I guess we're pretty much decided on a first name, Micah. My wife is still undecided on a middle name. To a certain point, because of my lack of interaction in the pregnancy it sometimes doesn't feel real to me. Let me explain a bit, Men obviously don't experience the same things as women (i.e Carrying the baby in their bellies). We don't go through the stages of morning sickness, nausea, frequent urination, clothes not fitting, baby bumps, baby kicks, etc. We pretty much stand aside, watch and observe, not being able to relate. Think about it. When a pregnant woman feels a baby kick or the baby pressing up against all those other organs, Will a man be able to relate? "Oh yea, I know what thats like! I remember this one time I was constipated for like a week and then I ate some taco bell and then....." Of course not. We weren't built to handle it. I talked to a couple other guys who pretty much said the same thing. The pregnancy finally hit them like a ton of bricks the day of the birth. They just recall walking into a hospital, and walking out with a baby and realizing "Wait a minute, I'm a dad!" Either way from now on we'll refer to the Baby as Micah so he can feel included.

Taco Bell, you never cease to amaze..... and give diarrhea.

 

The Countdown begins...

I am now officially counting down. As of now its 4 days until we find out the gender of our baby. I'm stoked! Once we find out we'll be able to start decorating the nursery, buy baby clothes, and get mentally prepared for whats ahead of us.

I had a couple people ask me if I wanted to find out. I gave them a blank stare. Why wouldn't I want to find out? I know some people live for the suspense and excitement of not finding out until the birthdate but just knowing that we're having a baby is way too much for me to handle. The technology is there so why not take advantage of it. Back in the day when it didn't exist, people were holding threads and needles over a pregnant woman's baby bump, trying to see how and what way it would move just to come up with a guess of what the baby would be. So of course I want to know!

I'm still stuck on the idea of having a baby girl. I have no idea why but its a feeling I can't shake. My wife seemed to agree with me up until a few days ago. All of a sudden, she now has a feeling that we might have a boy. Maybe there's more to these feelings we have. Maybe this gut feeling won't go away because its what we secretly want! From what I've seen, children are almost always attached more to their parent of the opposite gender, hence the terms Momma's Boy and Daddy little girl, right? I can totally see that though  If we had a girl, her daddy would spoil her rotten and if we had a little boy he'd stick to his mommy like there ain't no tomorrow! 

So many of you know my wife and I do Crossfit and before you freak out and think that pregnant woman shouldn't do those workouts let me say that the workouts are scaled down or changed to accommodate her by a professional. Anyways, we recently took a 2 week hiatus from crossfit due to work and our mini weekend vacation so when we went back it kicked our butts bad! My shoulders were killing me and I felt like throwing up (I blame it on the heat and humidity wink..wink). But my wife's experience was also different. The baby is now the size of a sweet potato and her uterus is the size of a cantaloupe. So while she's squatting, jumping, and burpeeing it up, there's a little sweet potato inside a cantaloupe, inside her belly moving with her. Something else thats interesting is that her body is pumping more blood into her system to nourish and help the baby grow. She's working out harder and doesn't even realize it, so props to her for sticking with it. This is the first time she's felt actually pregnant while working out which is another testament to how fast the baby is growing and that's a great feeling because my wife isn't showing as much but we know the growth is there.

Changing the subject, have you guys heard of Vine? It's a social media app like Instagram but it uses short 10 to 15 second videos. I heard of some people using ot and curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check it out. There are some really funny and creative short videos there. I found a hilarious father/daughter duo on ther by the username of Eh Bee, check them out. I'm  on there too under Adrian Loera if you guys want to look me up. Maybe I can upload a video of the ultrasound on Wednesday. Thanks for checking in.

A little vacay here, a little vacay there

Have I ever told you guys about how the wife and I never took a honeymoon?

The year was 1965....jk.

When we got engaged in August of 2009, I was in the hiring process for the Fire Department. I had no idea wether or not I was going to get hired. So when it came time to set a wedding date we chose March. Another 3 months passed by before I got a "conditional" offer of employment and it wasn't until December when I finally received a Letter telling me what recruit class I would be in. The fire academy was a 6 month school/miniature boot camp. There was no vacation that first year on the job, so when we got married, the next day all we did was just go to the Waffle House and chill the rest of the day. Romantic, right? The year after, we got so caught up with different friends and family issues and we purchased our house that we never took a belated honeymoon.

Now don't get me wrong, we've gone on small vacations. We took a trip to California in which my brother and mom decided to tag along. We've taken small weekend trips to different places with friends but we have never honestly taken a trip just the two of us to a resort or a cruise. We just never have.

Now that were having a baby I don't know if we'll ever have our Honey moon. I'm not saying it to get people to pity us. If anything it's our fault, maybe we're subconsciously sabotaging ourselves because we're scared of flying or being on a ship? Not really, just lack of planning.

We wanted to go on a big vacation before my wife got big but looking at our budget we figured it would be smarter to save for baby expenses. So what were gonna do is take smaller weekend getaways. This week were heading up to a cabin in the mountains. I good friend of mine owns a cabin in the mountains and rented it out to us for an awesome price. Hopefully next month we'll hit the beach.

Can you hear me now?

Today we are 4 months into this pregnancy. The baby is the size of a turnip. I didn't title this post after a turnip because I didn't know what one was until about 4 minutes ago when I googled what one was. So now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about what we can expect from the baby this week. The baby is beginning to form body fat. Its slowly developing its thumb sucking skills and get this, It can hear us! At week 16 the baby can hear noises especially loud ones like the dogs barking. Pretty soon it will start to recognize daddy and mommy's voices. While I was thinking about all the beautiful things the baby can hear I became sad when I realized the baby would soon fall victim to hearing all the crappy music we have to endure. Yes, you too, my son or daughter will have to hear the no talent stutters and screams of Nicki Minaj. Well not if I can help it. I got that Spotify Premium baby!!! I have always been a fan of Oldies Music. Anything Motown and definitely my west coast Lowrider Oldies. I can honestly say I'm an all around fan of any "good" music and If I have a say in it, so will my son or daughter. So from now on, anytime my wife and I are riding in the car together we will be listening to the classics.

Guard dogs reporting for duty

As many of you know, I currently own 2 dogs. A Boston terrier named pollo and a pitbull mix named Oso. These 2 little guys are like my kids right now. I've trained them and they're the most loving little creatures. Now I know everyone says that about their dogs, especially when they have a fierce demeanor like in the case of our pit. But I sincerely believe it. I have never seen my dogs be aggressive with anyone except on one occasion when a stranger let himself into my house in which case I didn't mind it. I have mentioned before, how I make some spontaneous decisions, some of which I look back to and have to wonder what led me to make them. Adopting our first dog was one of those decisions. I was getting close to finishing the fire academy, my wife and I were newly weds and I knew that my 24 hr shifts were probably going to be tough on her. So one Saturday morning I woke up and decided we were going to adopt a dog that day. We lived close to a Pets Mart that hosted different dog rescues every week. We made our way down and saw that the rescue being hosted was a Great Dane Rescue. They had huge dogs! Great Danes, Pits, Mastiffs, but I wanted something smaller (I say I because my wife wasn't too crazy about the idea). I asked one of the volunteers randomly if they had any smaller dogs like a Boston for example, and they happened to have one back at the rescue. Long story short, being that it was a rescue; they made some home inspections, made me sign some papers, pay some money and a few day later we had pollo. Growing up my neighbor had a Boston. They are some of the most alert dogs I'd ever seen! They're super friendly and hyper. I figured that a dog like that would be perfect! A hyper dog would keep my wife entertained and keep her company. It's keen senses would warn of any strangers or passer-bys and being a small dog would be the best choice for living in an apartment. Well other than being small, Pollo was none of the above. Although he was loving and eventually warmed up to us, he wasn't a good guard dog. He was really mellow, never barked, in fact in the event of a break-in, I don't have a doubt that he would probably lead an intruder into our bedroom as if showing them the way to the goods. Oh well, he grew on us even though he defeated every purpose for why we wanted a dog in the first place. So after a year or so, we or should I say, I decided we needed another dog (does anyone else notice a trend?). This time we had a little more freedom with the breed. We were moving into another location so I decided to look into a bully breed. I figured, if I wanted a guard dog I was going to get a GUARD DOG! So I started looking into pitbull mixes. Now before anyone out there starts to going off about their bad reps and how they knew someone who knew someone who had a cousin.....that was eaten whole by a pitbull, let me just throw this out there. I sincerely believe that any dog can be either a loyal, loving animal or a feisty, mean, aggressive, demon dog. I've been bit about 5 times by a dogs and its been by small chihuahuas. It's all in the way they are trained and wether or not they are socialized as puppies. Unfortunately, many of the people who own that kind of breed don't care to invest the time to learn how to train them properly and leave them tied to a tree in their back yard. Anyways, I found a puppy on Craigslist that was going to be taken to a pound if not adopted by 5pm the next day. So out of the blue, I told my wife that night that we were gonna go see this dog. We literally drove to Troutman (about 45min from Charlotte) around 9 that night to go see a puppy. And that's how we found Oso. He was a feisty little guy. The family that originally owned him were a bunch of kids that tossed him around and it showed in his attitude. Ironically they had named him Tyson, after a guy who bit someone's ear off. But with a little patience and training he's turned into the best dog.

Obviously with the pregnancy my wife and I have pondered if we will be able to keep the dogs once the baby is born. I love these little guys. I sometimes wonder if my wife feels the same way. I know she enjoys them but I don't think it would hurt her as much as it would devastate me to lose them. Once she even confessed that after a couple days of the dogs being sick and throwing up repeatedly, she had entertained the thought of taking them to the shelter while I was at work and then telling me they ran away. She kind of laughed it off but I had a hard time sleeping that night. Jk.

I honestly do think the dogs have taught us alot! Even if they're sick and making a mess. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that part of raising kids? Having to care for a little being in the good times and the bad? There's been times when we've accumulated hefty vet bills because one of our dogs hadn't pooped in 4 days or because we noticed one of them is walking with a limp. How about the times we have to interrupt our plans to go home and let them out to pee and feed them or having to find dog sitters for our out of town trips. Obviously I'm not comparing babies to dogs. I know that having a child is on a whole 'nother level. You can't send the baby to its crate if its bad (or can you?). And even though I love my dogs, at the end of the day they're still dogs. Not my flesh and blood. I know where they stand in the circle of life but even then, they still have brought a large amount of joy and happiness into our lives.

So we have made a deal. We will try to keep the dogs as long as we can and as long as its safe for the baby i.e. the allergy factor etc. That being said, Oso and Pollo, you have now been officially deputized as Baby Guard Dogs of the Loera Household. Report for duty October 26th, 2013.

An Avocado

This is week 15. Almost 4 months of pregnancy. In just a few weeks we will have hit the half way point and its all down hill from there! The baby is now the size of an Avocado. That means we can take some of the past fruits and veggies that the baby resembled like a small tomato, a lime, an onion, add a little olive oil, salt and pepper and make some guacamole!

So at this stage in the pregnancy, one can't help but wonder what the baby will look like. My wife and I had the funniest conversation thinking about all the possibilities. Our families and their facial characteristics vary widely from sibling to sibling and parent to parent. For example, my dad and my mother-in-law are light skinned. My wife's siblings have colored eyes while my family is dark eyed dominant. My brother has thick hair while I inherited my dad's thinning hair (why, Why, WHY?!?!). My family is taller (for being mexican) while my wife's family is a little shorter. I'm sure all of you get the point right? The baby's features can take a turn in any direction and the funny thing is that there's nothing we can do about it. Not that I would love the baby any less but the baby has already started forming all of his or her little features. Meanwhile the wife and I are left in the dark until the day comes when we can see and hold our little creation for the first time.

So until then, there are certain websites that claim to give you a preview of what your baby "could" look like (keyword: Could). I know its all fun and games but when my wife found one of them we literally spent about an hour uploading different pictures of us trying to see what the different outcome could be. So Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Micah and Leilah!!!

#TeamMicah

#TeamLeilah #TeamAbigail 

What do you guys think? I know that these picture are pretty much based on no science at all. They just  merge 2 pictures to see what they can come up with but I'll tell you what. The little baby boy looks EXACTLY like me when I was a baby. The resemblance is almost shocking. I have to find a picture of me as a baby so you guys can see for yourselve's but for the meantime trust me and Isn't that little girl the cutest thing you've ever seen in your life? Both of them are. Once we were done with our baby morphs as the cool kids call it, we started morphing pictures of other friends just out of curiosity. Some of you reading this blog were morphed. Don't worry all of your babies were cute except for one, but I'll never tell.

I'll just throw the final result up here and let you figure out who you are....

All of the babies were cute. Which made me think, this website would not be popular at all if it showed ugly babies and that led me to think, When parents have ugly babies do they know their babies are ugly or do they not realize it because of the love for their creation? Then I started thinking of a baby I made faces at, at a Grocery store earlier this week. Then I started thinking of Sweet Potatoes at the Grocery store and then I thought about fire trucks. Did I mention I have ADD? More on that in another post. (Squirrel!) But as I mentioned earlier we will love our baby no matter what!

So I finally found a happy place to blog. A place where my words and ideas come easy and flow without obstruction. The nursery! We have started turning one of the rooms upstairs into a nursery, complete with an awesome rocking chair and changing table! I was up there typing my fingers off, writing without stop when my wife calls me down because she wants me to Blog next to her. So being the good husband that I am, I came down to be beside her even though I explained that I had found a happy place. Well long story short, she just wanted me to see all the combinations of cases she can make for her iphone because that's not distracting at all. Love you baby!

Patience

“A man who is a master of patience is master of everything else”  George Savile

Interesting quote right? It makes a lot of sense. Patience is a virtue. One of the fruits of the spirit. Patience is a must have for parents. Now the funny thing is that I have little of it. Let me rephrase, I'm very patient with people just not with things. I ruined my first year anniversary because of lack of patience. You want to hear the story? Huh do you? Ok fine I'll tell it.

So we're coming up on our fist year anniversary. My wife and I have been throwing hints back and forth about what we would like for an anniversary gift. She's always really easy to shop for because without knowing she always let me know what she needs or points out things she likes (Now that I think of it, I might have been played). Me on the other hand am a little harder to shop for. I rarely ever talk about things I want. I just get them. Ask my wife, she needs a committee to sit down and brainstorm about what I like. 

 

Ok. Ok. Ok.....no flip flops, he doesn't like flip flops!

So around that time I had been playing lot of tennis so One day I tell my wife one day that I have to get my racquet restrung and she says "Oh, at Don's?" I kinda stopped and thought to myself, how does she know about Don's (the only tennis shop in Charlotte, good one at least)? So she pretty much let the cat out of the bag. A couple days later I'm at Don's picking up my restrung racquet when I randomly ask if there are any good deals on racquets. I found one I liked and test it for a couple of days and loved it. I went back to turn it in when Don makes me an offer I can't refuse. He shows me the racquet I want at an unbelievable price. I knew my wife was going to buy me a racquet but I had no patience. I tried calling her to tell her about the deal but she didn't answer. So I bought it. I felt that if I didn't buy it then I'd miss out on a great deal. I know that many if not all of you reading are putting your hands to your forehead and thinking what an idiot, and your right. I should have waited. Well anyways that story was just to show how little patience I have. When I want something or need something I don't hesitate to buy it. Ha, last Saturday I was mowing my lawn for the second time in a week and said an hour into it, pushing my rinkey dink mower "forget this crap, I'm going to Lowes."  And I bought a decent mower that runs up the humongous hill I have in my backyard

So that brings me to a couple days ago. My wife and I are talking about the baby and I say jokingly "Seriously, this baby needs to hurry up and get here because I'm losing my patience!" Then I started thinking what if I just randomly went out and bought a baby. Jk. But that just reflects the mood. Almost every conversation we have at home or with our family and friends somehow reverts back to the baby, so much so, that I sometimes feel the baby is coming tomorrow. Once I come back to the realization that there's still another 6 months to go, I get a little impatient. But I know theres a reason God made pregnancies 9 months long. Not only for the baby but I have to get ready too. I have to learn to be patient. 

On another note, here's a pretty cool picture we took today at a fire we were first in to. Just thought I'd share it. 

 

Worry about yourself!

I just ran across this video and thought it was so funny. This little girl has a little attitude but is so polite at the same time. "Worry about yourself!" but when her dad ask if she needs helps she says "No, thank you." Well just want to share this with you guys. Have a nice day : )

A Peach

Look how are baby has grown! The baby is now as big as a large peach. How crazy is that! It amazes me how fast the baby is growing and I can't even see it. I was talking to a friend at work about the baby's growth and he mentioned how if I think its growing fast now, just wait until I'm holding him/her in my arms (I really think it's going to be a her). Anyways that shock and awe will come at it's own time.


We had our second sonogram last Wednesday. During the second visit the Doctor normally takes blood samples and test for several diseases and birth defects so it was pretty nerve wrecking. Fortunately everything is looking good so far. So we finally get around to the sonogram. I was excited to see how much the baby had grown and developed and I was not disappointed! The doctor zoomed in little by little to finally reveal the Baby. What a difference a few weeks can do. The baby had little arms and legs and was not happy that it was woken up. It jumped from one side to the other and all I could think of was "Parkour!"

Just like this except in a uterus.

One of the test the Doctors perform is measure the skin on the back of the neck of the baby to test for down syndrome. Don't ask me how it works but to do it the baby had to have its hands down. The Doctor wiggled the Baby for almost 10 minutes trying to get it to put its hand down. She even asked my wife cough to see if it would budge. It was so funny, almost as if the baby knew because it immediately threw BOTH hands up to it's nose kind of like saying "No pictures please!". What a little celebrity.

On another note, I'm learning more and more about pregnancy everyday. For example, how it changes a woman's taste and preferences including her favorite ice cream flavor which would have been nice to know when I was trying to calm a serious case of BMR (refer to previous post). Now,  I'm working on a theory and plan to submit it to a scientific institute for further review. Woman obviously gain weight during pregnancy. They have to! Especially when they're lugging a 12lb baby like my mom did with my "little" brother. But why do some men gain weight? Well it's all related to the woman's changes in taste of course! Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago we went to Moe's for a quick bite for dinner. I love Moe's and so does my wife so I thought. So were in line picking and choosing our toppings and fillings for our meal and then go sit down at a booth. That's when my wife looks down at her food and says "I'm sorry but this looks disgusting." She totally lost her appetite. It wasn't her, it was all part of the first tri-mester changes. Either way I felt bad, but MO' MOE'S FOR ME!!!!

He gets it

I have to admit, I've had a serious case of writers block ever since I made this blog public. I'm glad I've had great feedback but I don't know if it's that these past few weeks have been a little more uneventful and we've hit a slump or I'm trying to match or out-do the popularity of the first posts or maybe just maybe it's just all the Moe's giving me brain farts.

A peach.

A large lime

Let me show you the ways of my people.

So the baby has now grown to the size of a large lime. Now we're talking. I can work with a limes. Cut that bad boy up and down him with a shot of tequila! (The Lime not the baby) And Just like the kick that comes after some crappy tequila this baby is taking its toll on my wife. As we near the end of the 1st trimester the morning sickness and nausea are here with a bang.

I'd also like to go back and correct an earlier post regarding pregnancy hormones. I spoke to
o soon. I have recently been the victim of Baby Momma Rage (BMR for short. I have a feeling I'm going to be referring to it a lot more in the following months). This past week on a couple occasions I have to remind myself it's not my wife talking its the baby. At least that's what she tells me when she screams.

We've been considering several baby names and have narrowed it down to a few names we love. I'm a big fan of names in Spanish and an even bigger fan of biblical names. So when we run our ideas through friends and family we get a variety of different responses from "I love it!" to " Well,I used to date a ____". We quickly realized that there will be no pleasing everyone. Any name we choose, there's going to be someone who knew somebody who had a cousin that was named so and so who killed a puppy. So at the risk of making this sound like a baby naming contest which it's not, here are the names we like the most.

For a boy we like Micah and Abel but those are not written in stone.
For a girl we like Leila and Abigail. We're more than likely going to go with those names for a girl.

This baby naming is a lot harder than I thought. A couple people have thrown ideas our way and I think to myself "Well, that's interesting but my son/daughter is going to have to go to school someday...". Lets give him or her a fighting chance at least. A friend of ours named Elizabeth was telling us how when she was in school another girl would tease her and call her "lizard breath!" Now that's sad. There's a lot of other stranger or should I say more unique names out there to make fun of,and some little girl chooses to go with Elizabeth? It's a tough world out there. Either that little girl was a psycho or my friend was in need of a Tic-tac (if lizards have bad breath, I wouldn't know). But that goes to show that we really need to think this through.

Please don't make fun of me. It's just a name!!!

Pregnancy Hormones

Pregnancy Hormones I'm learning are a funny thing. They can turn your wife against you in a heartbeat. I can't say I wasn't warned. Almost every piece of information made reference to it at some point. Luckily my wife's hormones don't turn her into a psycho who hates me. She just seems to cry at small things or be fine with things that would have made her cry before the pregnancy.

For Example.

The other night we were watching Wreck it Ralph at home. I had already seen the ending but watched it again with my wife. Before, the ending to that movie would have made my wife Cry. So I sat back with tissues and my phone set to camera so I could take a picture and upload it to my blog because I'm stupid like that. I waited and waited but the tears never came. I even asked "Aren't you sad?, Doesn't that make you want to cry?". Nope, no tears from my wife.

The next day was our 3rd year anniversary. We both woke up and started getting ready for work. I had to be out earlier so as I said bye I said "Oh and Happy Anniversary, love you babe." And the tears came out. "Oh my god!, I totally forgot that was today. I can't believe I forgot. I'm so sorry." I didn't think it was a big deal. I'm sure if I hadn't mentioned it she would have remembered at some point during the day. I wouldn't expect her to remember first thing in the morning because we didn't have any special plans (by choice not because I forgot). So either it's the hormones or those tears were the Wreck it Ralph tears my wife held in the night before.

On another note, Women's senses are heightened during pregnancy, so I read. So here's a little something for the guy my wife works with who decides to smoke a pack of cigarettes in his car with the windows up. Doesn't spray himself down and then thinks its acceptable to go back to work in a small confined space surrounded by bullet proof glass with 3 other people including a pregnant woman.
You're an Idiot.

Homemade Roller Coaster ; Hamster Car

Isn't this the coolest thing you've ever seen? Is that even a question? THIS IS THE COOLEST THING YOU"VE EVER SEEN! If I was only half as cool as this Dad I can guarantee my child will have the best childhood (along with a few broken bones). Just hear his baby girls voice when he ask her if she's ready to go "Yessss Sirrrrr!". If that doesn't bring a smile to your face than you have no heart.
      I have a pretty big back yard with half a playground still there from the previous owners and It's a pain in the butt to mow. Something like this just might be what I need to take up some room.
       I come from a long line of Dad's improvising fun. I remember once when I was about 10 we lived in Northern Virginia, we had a huge snowfall. Just around the corner from our house was a huge hill that was the it spot for sledding. So Mom asked Dad to buy some sleds so we could hit the Hill that evening. I was so excited! It was going to be our first time sledding there. Finally my Dad came home and I anxiously looked for the Sleds. Well my dad being the great improviser that he was MADE sleds! It was literally a Long 5x2 piece of sheet metal with two holes punched through the front end where he slipped a long piece of extension cord for us to use as a somewhat steering device. Three of them. One for each of us. I was pretty upset at first. I mean C'mon, Sheet Metal?!? The Edges were so sharp we could have probably lost an arm or seriously hurt someone as we were coming down. But it worked! Except for the occasional times when the sharp front end got caught in the ground and through us off flashing death before our eyes. We had an awesome childhood.
     

This is The Hill!!!

So lately I've been weighing my options regarding my car situation. I currently drive a half cab truck that probably wouldn't be the best for baby accessibility. Pretty much my two options are trade my truck for a newer more baby friendly vehicle once the baby is born or save up some money from now til then and try to buy an older,  more gas friendly vehicle, CASH and keep my truck. 

I'm not really decided but have been doing my research on cars. One of them is the Kia Soul. I'f you don't know which one I'm talking about its the one with the Hamsters. So I decided to go test drive one at a local Kia dealership. Once I arrived there a Salesman came out to greet me. After explaining my situation he gave me the usual run around about how I needed this car. "It's perfect for you and yo baby."Anyways, long story short, the salesman tried pushing 2013 model so I asked him if the Hamster came standard or if I needed to upgrade to a higher package Jk but I did ask him if there were any older or Pre-owned models to which he said "Oh no, you see these cars sell out quick. We don't get any of them back." Either way I wasn't ready to buy a car then, so I took some information and told him I'd come back when I was ready. But just as I was getting in my car to leave I looked up at a field above the dealership and saw an entire lot of used Kia Souls! What a Loser. Needless to say Hamster or no Hamster; I won't be going back.