What's in a name?

If Shakespeare is to be believed, the name of anything bears no impact upon the beauty of that thing. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. Surely by default this would mean that Coco's farts, if called 'buttercups', would still smell horrific and would still mean that we'd have to have all of the windows in the house open, even as the weather cools.

 

Of course, they would. Coco has no knowledge of the word 'fart' and therefore cannot influence their regularity or potency just because Alise and I call out 'OHMYGODCOCOFARTEDBAD!' to each other. By the same token, if our child is given the name 'Buttface', 'Poopstain', 'Smeghead' or 'Margaret', it will still be as cute as a button, despite its unfortunate moniker.

 

So why are we stressing so much about baby names?

 

Because, it's the single most important decision that we can make for this child, that's why.

 

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating. But maybe not. I attach great significance to the names of people, and form opinions in my mind before I meet them in person if I know their name. I have often thought to myself 'he's nice, but I don't think he's a proper 'Dave'', which is a very strange thing to think.

 

So we're going to discuss this name business, quite probably until the moment of birth. We have a few that we like, but we've decided not to share. We're like great artists, we only want you to see it when it's finished and signed.

Let's talk about sex, baby

Both of us, individually, have each held the following opinions.

 

 

1) 'we shouldn't find out the sex of the child, let's keep it as a surprise!'

Or;

2) 'lets find out! It'll make things much easier! Plus, we're really impatient!'

 

We've also both discussed this, at length. I suppose it could be possible that one of us knows and the other doesn't, but how long do you suppose that would last?

 

We both really don't care if this child is male or female. There are pro's and con's to both; Alise loves the little dresses that girls can wear (though she is fast becoming a fan of boys clothes too), while I would probably prefer to play with toy cars and trucks than Barbies. We could, of course, have a boy who plays with dolls or a girl who plays with cars and that would be totally fine with us (especially if the girl graduates to play with bigger cars and can perform a tune up and oil change in the driveway), but I'm working on what's more likely here. I will play soccer with either sex and the child will be a Nottingham Forest fan (the poor soul), so its not like we have different plans for raising the kid if born a boy or a girl.

 

But, there are things that we can decide on beforehand if we know what we're getting. A name, for one. Baby clothes could be bought in confidence before birth.

 

Neither of us are big fans of 'blue for boys and pink for girls', though. The nursery will be painted in a gender neutral color, a yellow or green perhaps.

 

Still, we think that we will ask to know the sex of the child as soon as possible. We'll be able to settle on a name, we'll be able to plan a little better, and we'll stop referring to the growth within Alise as 'it'.

 

Which then leads to the next question. Do we tell our friends and family what we're getting? I kind of think it might be awesome to keep it a secret; something Alise and I could share. It would also mean that baby shower gifts are more gender neutral.

 

Hhmmm…. Things to ponder…

Baby is SO needy...

Alise and I went to a consignment sale this weekend.

 

It was basically a few yard sales in one. There was furniture, toys, clothes for both baby and mommy and other 'things'. While we were able to pick up a few bargains, it also bought home something to me.

 

Babies need a lot of stuff!

 

Obviously, baby needs to be dressed, especially if it's going to go outside. It needs something to catch its number ones and twos, it needs something to be wiped with. It needs food, and if breast milk is its food then we will need something to extract the milk and store it for those times when Alise's 'kitchen' is closed. It'll need somewhere to sleep and somewhere to sit. It'll need toys and it'll need a car seat. It'll need a stroller, it'll need… a whole lot of stuff.

 

I was a little overwhelmed at this place. The fact that 'baby will need stuff' wasn't a foreign concept to me before, but being there really bought it home to me.

 

I think that part of the problem is that, while Alise is now showing (photos will be shown, I promise), and even though we've seen an ultrasound; it's still kind of a hypothetical concept. Honestly, I think that we'll both be able to better analyze and consider this 'thing' as a person when we find out the sex, and when we decide on a name.

 

Both of these, things that I'll talk about in the next couple of days!

Self Promotion

Hi all,

Alise and I had a lovely day yesterday. We went to a consignment sale of baby and maternity things, and got some great bargains. We then came home, relaxed, did some laundry, before going to a soccer game between the New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders. We even got to go onto the pitch before the game, which was really cool. Photos and more stories to follow!

Here's the self promotion part... I've started another blog where I'll be posting one chapter a week of a new book, 'Big Brother Joe'. Hopefully it'll make me rich and famous! Or it'll just be something that I'm proud of and will look back on with pride.

Follow it here...

http://bigbrotherdiary.blogspot.com/

Oooh-terus

For the last few months, this whole 'baby thing' has been quite fun, really. As I've discussed in detail, Alise has had to pee quite a bit, has had some (but not many) food cravings, and her boobs have grown. Apart from that though… all has been pretty quiet. There's been few constant reminders to me, that she, is preggers.

 

All of this has changed, literally in the last week. Whereas before Alise looked like she'd possibly had a few too many cheeseburgers, she now looks decidedly pregnant. Her belly has grown; she's 'popped'.

 

As Alise pops her belly, Jeremy poops his pants.

 

Seeing Alise now so obviously 'with child' has kind of scared me. I knew it was coming, but it still came as quite a shock to me and I'm struggling to reconcile it in my teeny little head. I suppose it's like a lot of things. I've known that people are dying but it didn't sink in until I saw them in hospital. I've known that  winter is coming but it won't hit me until I see frost on the car windows and snow on the ground. I work so much with visuals (surprisingly, since I'm so blind) that even the mental knowledge of an event means little until I see evidence with my own four eyes.

 

I know I'll be okay, I know I'll adjust to this and be fine. Mentally, I know this. I've yet to see it with my own eyes though…

That was Summer??

Fall has officially come to New England.

Leaves are changing, Halloween decorations are up at all the stores, apples are in season and Alise is already contemplating painting her stomach to look like a jack o' lantern... What does all this mean? Well, in almost exactly a month, we'll be celebrating our 2nd anniversary and Alise may be just beginning to feel the little flutters as our baby moves around.

 At that point, we'll be rapidly approaching the halfway point in the pregnancy and things will be even more 'real' than they have been... Seasons change quickly in New England. One day you're blowing off errands to go to Water Country, and before you know it, you're shoveling 4 feet of snow out from around your car at 7 am trying to get to work. It makes us realize how quickly this baby is going to be coming into our lives, even though we often feel like the process takes forever.

The leaves are just starting to change, but autumn comes and goes quickly. Soon the trees will be bare, Thanksgiving will be over, and we'll be getting ready for a visit from Alise's sister at Christmastime. Though it seems like only yesterday we found out about the pregnancy, it's already been nearly 4 months. Before we know it, we'll be bringing this whole new person into our lives. And probably not blowing off errands for water parks for a while...

The 'real man' rubs it in...

You may recall my mentioning Alise's brother and his status (in my eyes at least) as 'a real man'.

Well... He's only gone and got himself onto the front page of the local newspaper! Go on... read all about it.. http://www.theolympian.com/672/story/977386.html?storylink=omni_popular

Baby Daddy has a new job!

We hope. The place that I've been contractually working for (I.E. paid by the hour with no benefits) wants to take me on full time. Go me!

To celebrate this, Alise and I headed to the only Sonic restaurant in Massachusetts. I always see their commercials, but until recently the nearest Sonic was in Ohio; which is a fair drive. The new one opened recently and is a mere 40 minutes away, a short hop for fast food.

Alas, like any half decent in Massachusetts, this place is very popular. You know, we went to a new Chinese restaurant a few weeks ago and the wait was 2 hours. 2 hours!! For food! Really?

We're not patient people. We didn't wait for 2 hours at the Chinese, we didn't wait in line at Sonic.

We ended up, late and cranky, at Friendly's. We were not satisfied, we were not well nourished, we were not in a celebratory mood.

No matter, all is going well for these two soon to be parents. Still no real symptoms, still feeling like it's all kind of hypothetical. Oh how our lives will soon be thrown into panic.

We love the new chest!

It's okay, don't worry... this time I'm not talking about Alise's boobs...

Last Friday we decided to buy a new chest freezer. We have an old, stand up, fridge below/freezer on top thingy which while functional, doesn't allow us to keep too many things in a state of frozen. We went to Sears and picked out a nice small chest freezer (one that would be fairly cheap to run, wouldn't take up too much space in the kitchen, and which would fit in the back of Alise's car), and adopted the 'hey salesman, we want to buy something' pose.

Soon a kindly gentleman came over and talked us through our purchase. We spent a good while talking with him, comparing the freezer to other models, before settling on our choice. We wanted the freezer.

Turns out he didn't actually work there, he was just a nice old man who liked talking to people. No matter.

We eventually found someone and bought the appliance. Got it home, plugged it in, and spent the rest of the weekend filling it.

You see, Alise is currently nesting. A combination of the pregnancy and the approach of winter has turned her into a 5'7" squirrel. We cooked up pasta sauce, we made lasagna. We bought a 'shit ton' of bread rolls and froze them too. We cleaned the pantry of 'old crap' and filled it with 'new crap'; we're ready for an apocalypse.

Really? More Video?

Yes really! And this is a special, 'filmed by Alise' video...

More Videos!

Merely by way of 'you're great, thanks for keeping on reading'... here's more video!

Video Diary Extravaganza!

It's been a tough week for followers of the baby daddy. Updates have been few and far between, explanations poor. Here's my way of making it up to you... a video diary overload from last weekend at the cabin!

First, we have Alise and I on the water... enjoy!

Ultra-ULTRA!-Sound

This ultrasound came as quite a shock to both of us...

The last one was very cool, don't get me wrong. We saw a blob, saw a heart beating, didn't really see much of anything else.

This time we went into the room like we were old pro's, thinking that we knew what we'd see. We left the room slightly giddy, after seeing a head, legs, arms, fingers, even possibly a nose. We also heard the heartbeat.

Amazing stuff, really. We got some photos, some of which I have crudely photographed myself and attached above. Apologies for the quality.

So Many Stories!!

Thankfully, we have a lot of time to talk about them...

Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had a lovely long weekend, whatever you did.

Alise, Coco (hereafter named 'The Burping Fart Monster') and I had a lovely weekend at a VERY remote cabin, on a lake, in northern Maine.

There will be STORIES!
There will be VIDEOS!
There will be PHOTOS!

And if that wasn't enough to salivate you on this Tuesday, we also had our second ultrasound this morning!!

Stay tuned everyone, things are getting exciting!

My Bad...

You're all totally correct, there haven't been many updates to the blog recently.

In all honesty, things are rolling along perfectly normally, but surprisingly we are still short of pregnancy symptoms. Rather than being relieved about this, it's really been a little disconcerting. There should be more to report, right??

Alise has been slowly but steadily putting on weight, and in my opinion is possibly starting to show. In her opinion she's getting 'fat', which is perfectly understandable but also something that I have to argue about with her. To me she's glowing, beautiful and divine; and far from fat. To her she's unable to comfortably fit into her pants and has a spare tire.

It can't be easy, naturally putting on weight at a fairly high rate. It can't be easy at all.

The 'frequent trips to the bathroom' symptom continues, but is now feeling like a 'normal' part of life. We plan for it, we know that its coming. Easy for me to say of course, its not me that is waking every night to go potty, but Alise seems to have accepted it and would probably be most put out if she slept through without going.

Tiredness is still an issue, but with the lives that we all lead, can be attributed to pretty much everyone. Tell someone at work that you're tired, and most will say that they are too.

Apart from that though? We pretty much carry on with life! I'm sure that things will pick up now that we are in the second trimester, and that there will be plenty more to report to you all.