21 Weeks

My apologies to all you faithful followers of our baby blog. I've been a bit of a slacker over the past two weeks, thereby skipping over the 20 weeks post entirely. It took Amanda giving me some good tough lovin' to kick me back into gear. So, thanks to her, I'm back on the horse. And without further ado, your 21 weeks post:

The past two weeks have been very busy for me, mainly at work. For those who don't know yet, my job now includes being the Athletic Director of our school. Yes, me, an Athletic Director. Well, who knew how much time it takes to run a varsity sports program. I'll tell you, it's all-consuming. And when that's only one-sixth (if that) of your job, it's impossible to have a "normal" work week. However, I can happily report that we won our first soccer game ever last week. It was one of the coolest experiences watching the kids on the field and those on the sidelines all hug each other, jump up and down, and cheer for their school. Last week was also consumed by another big project. Another role my job includes is working with high school teachers to integrate community connections and service into their classes. This past week, I was working with the AP US History teacher to co-teach her class and implement a project in which the students will be running a voter registration drive. The kids are so excited and really passionate about enrolling as many voters as possible over the next 2 1/2 weeks. They've set their goal at 250 voters. It was great fun being back in the classroom. It's always invigorating to experience the rush of educating! Speaking of educating, seems we're doing quite well on that front at BPCPS. Statewide MCAS scores were just published, and our results are pretty impressive:

• On the 9^th grade Biology Exam, 100% of students scored in the Advanced or Proficient Categories, placing them 1^st of 271 school districts in Massachusetts.
  
• On the 8^th grade ELA exam, 98% of students scored Advanced or Proficient, placing them 2^nd of 283 districts.
• On the 8^th grade Math exam, 93% scored Advanced or Proficient, placing them 1^st of 282 districts.
• 100% of students passed the 8^th and 9^th grade exams.
  
• On the 6^th and 7^th grade exams, BPCPS students significantly outperformed their peers in the Boston Public Schools on all exams.

Needless to say, I'm pretty proud to be part of such an amazing team of educators!

Now, what you really came here for: the baby update! Everything is continuing to progress well with the little one. He's kicking up a storm these days, so much so that sometimes it can be hard to concentrate on anything else. He's clearly growing, as you can see in the pictures of my belly. Sometimes it feels like he's growing faster than my belly can accomodate. It can feel like he's pressed right up against the sides, trying as hard as he can to stretch them out for more room -- almost as if at any moment I could become part of some creepy sci-fi film in which a baby tears its way out of its mother's stomach. This week, he's around 12 1/4 ounces, or 3/4 of a pound. He's about 10 1/2 inches long, the length of a carrot.

This weekend, we made our final registry trip to Babies R Us. As we were leaving, the woman at the desk suggested that we need to register for somewhere around 300 and 350 items, based upon the number of guests expected at the three separate showers. This seems absolutely ridiculous. We're perfectly happy with our under-100-item list and suspect that any generous gift-givers will be as well. Needless to say, Mike is thrilled to know that this registering bonanza is over. That's not to say that all the shopping is over. In the coming weeks, we'll be visiting a few recommended furniture warehouses to tackle the crib and other bedroom furniture. However, it's good to know that a major task has been tackled!

Thanks to everyone who has recommended names. If you haven't heard yet, we're not sharing our chosen name -- or even the runners up -- until the baby is born. I know this can be frustrating, but we feel this is something we need to do on our own. I will say that many of the names on our list have been suggested by you, the faithful readers, so you can sort through them and see if you can guess which one it will be!

In conclusion, Amanda, I hope you can eat, sleep, and concentrate now that you know what fruit or vegetable our little guy is this week! :-)

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Mike, Danielle, & ____________ Pape

Dad's Corner: The Halfway Point

Today we are at the halfway point in the pregnancy.  Danielle is still getting bigger as you can tell by the pictures, and, even though he's grown a lot, the baby still has a long way to go, so she's only going to get bigger.  It's certainly a strange transformation to see for the first time, but quite amazing as well.

Now that we've found out the sex of the baby, we're starting to work on names again.  It has been requested that we start a list of suggested names.  The only way I've found to do this so far is to have people suggest names in the comments (either this post or any other) and then I'll add them to the list in the side bar on the right.  If I find a better way, I'll make sure to set it up.

It's exciting to know I have a son coming.  Of course, my number one desire is to have a happy and healthy baby.  That said, I can't help but feel some excitement that I'll be buying remote control toys and building blocks instead of pink stuffed animals and purple dresses (let me just say right now that if my son wants to wear a purple dress and play with pink stuffed animals, I will love him just the same.  Heck, I'd even go to a father and son-in-a-purple-dress dance with him if that's what he wants.  Besides, who hasn't worn a purple dress at least once in their lifetime.  Perhaps it was in college when your friends said that they were all doing it and to just show up at the party in the dress and they'd all be there in their purple dresses too and you can all have a laugh, but then you show up and you're the only one in the purple dress and people start pointing and laughing and taking pictures that show up all over the internet the next day.  But I digress.)  There's all kinds of toys I can't wait to pretend to buy for him that are really for me.  Down the line I may be buying dolls, but at least for now, I'll be buying toys I can play with too.

Baby's words of wisdom: "Mom and dad, you need to understand I'm developing ears now.  Ears are what I use to hear.  That means I can hear everything you say.  Yes, even when you whisper those 'sweet' nothings Casanova.  By the way, it's a miracle I was even conceived with such gems as, 'If you loved me, you would get me another beer'."

Ultrasound pictures

A few pictures from last week's ultrasound are displayed here. In the first one, you can see the proof that our little one is a boy. Mike refers to the second one as the "Skeletor" shot. He's looking right at us, but the way the ultrasound captures his face doesn't make him look exactly cute! The third is a little bit of a cuter shot. This was towards the end, and he was rubbing one of his eyes - perhaps getting a little tired of all of the poking and prodding!

19 weeks

I feel like so much of what I have to share this week has already been said, but I thought I'd go ahead and share the standard weekly information. Our little guy is about the size of an heirloom tomato this week (though, as we shared, we know he's a little bigger than average, so consider him a very large heirloom tomato!). Sensory development is key this week, with the brain developing sections specific for sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Some research shows that he can begin hearing us this week, so we've started talking to him. So far the conversations (if you can call them that) focus mainly on how goofy his dad is.

Today, we spent another 2 1/2 hours at Babies R Us. We tackled as much of the Infant Care section as we could before I reached my shopping limit. As much fun as it is to debate between one pair of baby nail clippers and another, there's only so much of that one person can take in a day! Babies R Us is divided into four main sections, and we've worked our way through most of two of those sections, so we're hopefully about halfway there. Our registry is now 5 pages, so that seems to say we're getting there!

The Big News: It's a...

In the words of the technician who performed our ultrasound: "It's a genius with a penis!"

Yes, it's a boy!  And there's little question about that.  Another priceless quote from the technician: "Boy, he's well hung!"  Indeed, there's no questioning that there's a sizable penis between his two legs.  The technician says that she is very clear with people when she's not entirely sure about the sex.  She'll tell them that she wouldn't bet her paycheck on it.  In our case, however, she declared that she would bet her paycheck, her house, and all of her belongings on the fact that our baby is a boy.  He's just that well hung.  

As for the genius part, well, what can I say?  Would you have expected any less?  She measured the size of his cerebellum, which she said was a measurement of how intelligent the baby is.  When I laughed, she very seriously said, "No, really, this is an indicator of intelligence."  Well, our little one's cerebellum is a good bit larger than is typical at this age.  In fact, it's measuring a full week and a half larger than the rest of his body.  So, indeed, there's no arguing it - he's a genius.

It also seems that he's going to be big.  All that food I'm eating must be going to straight to him.  At this point in their development, the average weight for babies is 9 ounces.  Our little guy, on the other hand, is measuring in at a whopping 11 ounces.  The technician is predicting that he'll be 8 or so pounds when born.  She assured me that he wouldn't be 12 pounds, but said he'll definitely be large.

Everything else we checked out looked great.  The heart is pumping away - about 148 bpm.  The stomach, bladder, and kidneys are all formed and functioning appropriately.  The face is forming as it should.  The arms, legs, fingers, toes, and even little fingernails and toenails all appear just as they should.  It's amazing all you can see on these ultrasounds!  And he seems very happy - he's flip-flopping all around, quite the active little one.  The technician was even a little frustrated with him at one point because he just wouldn't sit still to let her get the shot she needed.  He seems to tire himself out though, because toward the end he stretched his arms out and his neck back and then rolled over on his side, presumably to go to sleep.  

We couldn't be more excited!  Everything seems much more real now, now that we know this little being is going to be our son.  He acutally looks like a little baby now, and to add to all the excitement, I felt the baby move for the first time this morning.  As I was making my breakfast this morning, it felt like I had a little muscle spasm in my upper stomach.  Sure enough, throughout the day, I felt more and more of these little spasms and flutters.  It's so exciting to feel this little life inside of you!

And so, as the day comes to a close, we are absolutely ecstatic.  I mean, who wouldn't be?  What more can you ask for than "a genius with a penis?"

Dad's Corner: The pink or the blue?

First, I'd like to start an online petition and I think everyone should sign.  The petition is to strongly encourage Danielle to start slowing down concerning work.  School has started, so she's in work mode now, coming home late and bringing work home.  All those in favor, sign below!

This week we find out the sex of the baby.  Everyone has their intuitions and voodoo methods that predict whether the baby is a boy or a girl, and that's why we've had an equal number of guesses for each.  There was a rumor that we wouldn't tell people when we find out, but we will.  I might make it a puzzle you have to solve, but we'll still tell everyone.  As far as my guess, all I can say is that the baby has been extremely well behaved, hasn't made his/her mom sick, eats like a horse, and prefers bright colored maternity clothes.

We appreciate all of the baby advice we've been given.  So far, we've learned the following:

• You should put the baby's crib in your bedroom for the first 6 months, but never put the baby's crib in your bedroom.
• Wait until you figure out what kind of stroller you need, but get a stroller right away, you'll definitely need it.
• Install the car seat yourself, but never install the car seat yourself, it's too hard.

You get the idea.

A couple weekends ago, Danielle and I started our baby registry.  It was very overwhelming.  Walking into a Babies R Us is like walking into a foreign country where men are not allowed to venture out on their own.  There were pregnant women and children every where!  Every once in a while, I'd spot a fellow man clinging tightly to his wife, dodging screaming kids with fluffy toys.  Granted there were a few veterans, men who'd done tours here before and knew the aisles and areas to avoid better than us rookies.  One guy came in alone chatting on his cell phone like a lost tourist wandering into the bad part of town.  I tried to warn him, but before he knew what hit him, he was spinning in circles, a gang of 5-year-olds playing ring-around-the-rosie trapping him.  Despite all of that, it was good to actually test out some of the items.  After a few frustrating fold-ups, transforms, and disassemblies, I realized engineers that fail out of school must become baby product designers.  They couldn't have made some of these things harder to operate.  I look forward to many years of frustration.

Baby's words of wisdom: "I could be a momma's boy or daddy's little girl, but I'll never be a Yankee fan.  And the Patriots will still win the AFC East."

18 weeks

At 18 weeks, we are growing closer to the halfway mark. This week, the baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and about 7 ounces. The arms and legs are flexing away, something we're hoping to feel very soon. Next week, we have our anatomical ultrasound, which will be a full check of all of the limbs and inner organs to be sure everything is developing appropriately. As long as the baby is in a position conducive to showing, then we'll also be able to find out whether we're having a little girl or a little boy. Hopefully, in next week's blog we'll be able to officially say "he" or "she," rather than always "the baby!"

Speaking of bell peppers, since so much of what Mike and I think and talk about these days revolves around food, I'll say a few more words on that topic. I'm sure my mom will be happy to know that pregnancy has forced me to broaden by eating horizons. I am eating things regularly now that I never ate before, simply because I know they are good for me and the baby. My diet for the first time in my life includes whole wheat products of all varieties (whole wheat English muffins, whole wheat pita bread, whole wheat pasta, the works!) and yogurt (and not the frozen variety!). And believe it or not, I'm actually growing to like these things.

Last weekend, we began our baby registry. It's clear that this is going to be a long process. It's simply amazing how much stuff you need for a baby. We spent over four hours in Babies R Us, and we only made a dent in the registry. The woman who got us all set up with a scanner said that the average registry is 12 pages long. I think ours is about 1 page after our first day. Hopefully our pace will pick up a bit going forward. We started with the big items (car seats, stroller, high chair, play yard), as I knew that would feel like real accomplishment. Walking out of there with a registry full of pacifiers, Q-tips, and a nasal aspirator somehow just wouldn't have felt as satisfying. Of course, Babies R Us has all of the items out so that you can test them. It was great fun trying to figure out how to fold up things like strollers and play yards. Mike's frustration levels were clearly beyond their limits with certain items, which was an easy way to decide not to select them, no matter what our trusty buying guide said. Thankfully, we should have a little time to practice all these folding mechanisms before the baby arrives!

Life has certainly gotten busy once again now that all of the students have started back to school full time. The beginning of the year is always a hectic time, and this year is no different -- which is why it took me until several days after the 18 week mark, which we reached on Wednesday, to finally put up this post. Orientation week is different than a normal school week, as students are not in academic classes but rather many, many sessions designed to set up the expectations and culture for the year. As a result, I was in classrooms the vast majority of the week, running different activities. I managed to sit down as often as I could, though my feet were certainly screaming that it was not often enough! I also was lucky enough to have other teachers around so that I could whisper to one that I needed to go eat a quick snack and have a few moments to sneak away. Gone are the days of not having time to eat lunch! Now, no matter what my day looks like, I somehow find a way to sit down and enjoy my five courses of "lunch" throughout the day. The kids are all of course very excited about the baby and have all sorts of questions, which is fun. All in all, the year is off to a good start. It's clearly going to be very busy but very exciting!