Building a Baby - almost complete

Here it is - our baby being built over time. Right now, it's June 30th at about 10:30am and Shawnna has been having labor pains since 11pm last night. She thinks today will be the day! We're just waiting for the contractions to hit the magical numbers of 1 minute long, 5 minutes apart. At that point, we'll notify the doctor and head to the hospital. We've been waiting for this moment for so long, it's hard to grasp the fact it's finally here. We're both excited and anxious to meet our baby girl for the first time. My next posting will be to announce her birth - wow, that makes it very real. In a very short time, our lives will forever be changed, but I have no doubt it will be for the better.

39 week photo & the nursery

Here's my 39 week photo. Do I look like I "dropped"? Dave and I can't really tell, but we think maybe I did. If I did, it was within the last few days.

So here we are, one week before the due date. I'm very ready to meet the baby...I'm hoping she's thinking the same thing about right now. I'll put my prediction out there and say that I think she'll be here by her due date.

This Thursday, I see the doctor for my weekly check up. At that point, if I haven't gone into labor, we're going to schedule a preliminary induction for July 9th. That would be one week after the due date so she won't be more than 41 weeks. A lot can happen before then!

I've also added a couple pictures from the baby's room. It's basically done and ready. I think it looks beautiful with the paint we picked and all the furniture and decor. All we need is a baby to go in there.

So, this little girl can come any time she wants to...if you get my drift! :-) We are ready for her, at least that's what we tell ourselves. I suppose that attitude will change the minute she gets home and we're trying to settle in.

Hopefully our next post will be will be to tell you all that she's here! Until next time...

My First (pre) Father's Day

Even though our baby hasn't been born yet, today was Father's Day and I received a few Father's Day cards and gifts from those who consider me a father since it is my baby that's about ready to pop out of Shawnna :-) I appreciate the well wishes and am ready to embrace my new role in life.

When I woke up this morning, Shawnna got out of bed, left the room and came back with some gifts and said the following:

For Father's Day, baby girl and I wanted to be creative and thoughtful with our gifts to you. So we decided to go shopping for things that we know you would like and use.

First thoughts were, what does every dad need? A tie...no, not for this daddy. A coffee mug...that wouldn't do. A new shirt! Nah, he doesn't need a new shirt either. So what should we get?

Well, this daddy is fun and likes to play so we should get some games! What are some of the best games? Basketball, baseball and football came to mind. Baby girl wants to play too, so she picked these for Daddy. (she gave me a Disney Princess football, baseball, bat and glove as well as a pink basketball)

Mommy thought Daddy should have something practical and useful for keeping his every day items tidy. So she got this for Daddy. It'll hold watches, rings, money, keys and cell phones. (she gave me a very nice box to keep the aforementioned items organized)

Together, Mommy and baby girl also wanted to give Daddy something special and meaningful. This gift will allow Daddy, Mommy and baby girl to look back and remember this special time. (we went to the Sears photo center to get some nice photos taken - like the one above)

Shawnna also wrote me a very sweet letter:

Dave,

You've been an incredible husband, and you've already become an incredible dad with all the love that you show for our family in everyday situations.
I love that you've rubbed my feet and reached up high to get things I can't reach, and put things together for the baby. I love that you drag me out to take walks that I might have otherwise foregone, to keep me in shape for delivery and postpartum. I love that you've attempted painting the baby's room (here's that story), and been there for every prenatal appointment and class that I've taken. I feel we are very loved, taken care of and supported. And for that, I want to say thank you on behalf of our unborn daughter. We love you from the bottom of our hearts for all the love that you give us everyday. This is one very fortunate little girl to have such a wonderful father.

Happy First Father's Day!
Love,
Shawnna and baby girl

Needless to say, it was a great first Father's Day and in a very short time, I'll finally be able to meet the daughter I've been watching grow into a seemingly healthy bundle of joy.

Oakland Athletics vs. Minnesota Twins - June 1, 2007

Shawnna got 4 tickets to the A's game from the CEO of the company we work for and we invited Dan and Kelley to come with us. The game was at 7:05pm and while it was 82° in Tracy when we left, we dressed warm knowing it was in the low 60s in Oakland. The seats were three rows up, right behind the visitor's dugout - nice! To our right were the seats reserved for the visiting team's owner and to our left was the family of Kevin Slowey who was a rookie making his very first major league appearance (he was the starting pitcher for the Twins).

The game was less interesting than making up stories about the relationships between Kevin Slowey and the people we assumed was his family to our left. They actually didn't have tickets to sit that close, but the security guard let them sit there after telling him who they were. Even though they were related to the opposing pitcher, letting them sit close was the right thing to do. For their sake, I'm glad Slowey pitched a great game (he gave up 1 run, 5 hits in 6 innings).

The game started slow and was pretty uneventful until the end. In the 3rd inning, Jeff Cirillo hit a sacrifice fly to score Nick Punto and put the Twins up 1-0. Eric Chavez answered for the A's in the 6th by hitting a homer to tie the score. It remained 1-1 until the 10th inning when Jeff Cirillo hit a single to score Luis Castillo. Then, Mike Redmond singled to score Jason Tyner putting the Twins up 3-1. The A's rallied in the bottom of the 10th but only managed to score 1 run when Dan Johnson hit a sacrifice fly, bringing home Travis Buck and making the final score 3-2. Tough loss for the A's, but an exciting end to a pretty boring game.

Painting & Landscaping - May 29 - June 1, 2007

A couple of weeks ago, I took a day off work to paint the baby's room. Shawnna and I had settled on a lavender color (Cheerful Whisper by Behr) which goes very well with the decor we picked for the room. After taping off the room and getting the brushes, roller and paint ready, I began to transform the room into a space fit for a princess. Three and a half hours later, I was tired, hungry and finished painting. I took a step back, looked at my work and thought, "It needs another coat... CRAP!" Some people enjoy painting and think it's relaxing and therapeutic - I don't. The thought of painting the room with a second coat wasn't pleasing.

Enter The Paint Pros. Luckily, we had been talking about hiring a painter to paint some other rooms in our house for a while, so I saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. We hired The Paint Pros to paint most of the interior of our house. The living room, staircase and upper hallway are green (Prickly Pear with highlights of Hawaiian Luau from Kelly-Moore). The family room, dining room, and kitchen are a neutral beige/brown (Soft Buckskin with highlights of Bourbon Street from Kelly-Moore). The master bedroom is a lighter neutral color (Baked Biscuit with highlights of Soft Buckskin by Kelly-Moore) and master bathroom is Soft Buckskin. While they were at it, I had them do the second coat in the baby's room as well. It took them 4 days with 4-6 people working to complete the job and it really looks nice.

At the same time, we had the landscapers who did our backyard (Tracy Landscaping) re-landscape our front yard as well. Over the years, we have replaced some of the plants that were originally planted when the house was built, but it needed an overhaul to look complete and match our backyard. So, we had them rip everything out and start fresh. We added a mow strip, a few boulders, black lava rock, 3 birch trees, spotlights, a bunch of smaller plants and flowers with a new drip system. The whole project only took them 2 days to complete and now our front yard is presentable again.

With the landscaping and paining now done, we were able to cross a couple of big items off the list of things to do before the baby comes and takes all our attention. Everything looks so nice that it's almost like living in a new house again.