New Neighbors, the 4DP, and Baby Names

Two new couples have moved in next door, and will presumably be having babies soon. I will try to keep everyone apprised of their life as well, since not everyone gets to enjoy nesting Yellow-Crowned Night Herons in their back yard. Here are two pictures of them flirting with each other. These pictures are pretty big, so please click on them to expand them.




We do in fact have some really nice human neighbors and have been pumping them for information lately as they have an adorable 18 month old (give or take) daughter. Fortunately with all of the turmoil of last year having quieted down, we are able to be around the house enough to chat with our neighbors and get to know them. Frankly I am just glad that the 4DP has not offended them to the point of not speaking to us.

Ah, the 4DP. What are we going to do about them. Their skill a defeating my containment fence is quite impressive, and if I had the money I would simply hire someone to smack them when they attempt to escape. Currently the fattest one (Bonnie) has made impressive escapes through tiny spots, digging up bricks, moving a granite block, and breaking a string of wire I had intertwined at the bottom of the mesh to defeat such attempts. The bottom line is: more wood. I am going to put up another row of 1 x 4's at the ground level of the fence. If the get through that, we might have to change the entire strategy and adopt the fenced area for ourselves and cede the yard to them. Alas.

Now, for Angie news. She has been feeling much less first trimester-y and much more second trimester-y. Overall energy is good, but she does tire quickly. All of the stretching and loosening of muscles and tendons is making her a bit uncomfortable but has not slowed her down much. The ever-present snack bag has decreased and could now feed only one family for a week as opposed to four, but the clothes are really becoming a problem. Yesterday, while convincing my mother to try a Jet-Dock at her pier, Angie and my Mom decided that a shopping spree would cheer them both up, so we all lumbered off to the mall (ask me to tell you about how much I love the mall sometime). I would normally have excused myself from such a trip, mumbling about hot pokers and bamboo splinters, but since the girls were both less than ambulatory and I wanted to be supportive of my wife (ahem), I followed along. You may recall the special kind of hell I mentioned being in during our first visit to the OB/Gyn, the one where I was surrounded my tired, hungry and angry pregnant women? This was pretty close: A maternity clothing store with my 21-week pregnant wife and my wheel-chair bound mom. I was running between the racks where my mom was yanking things down and shoving them at me to the changing room where Angie was trying on everything and giving them the thumbs-up or thumbs-down. I won't get in to the obvious discomfort of the other patrons as I went running by their changing rooms, or the obstacle presented by a determined woman in a wheelchair, but I will talk volume. In my life, or at least as soon as I had some say in the matter, I have never tried on as many clothes as these two ladies went through in one afternoon. I won't kvetch any further because I was quite happy that everyone (Angie and Mom) got to enjoy themselves and play dress-up. It did make me miss beer though...

Baby names are the last item for today. I want some input. A few of you already know a favored name, and I would ask you not to divulge it here, but I would like two kinds of input from everyone (anyone?):

1. Favorite names you are willing to share with others,
and
2. How, if relevant, you chose names for your own children.

You can email me directly or just comment. If you need my email, comment and I will send it on. Hope everyone is well. Angie and I send our love to Family and friends.

4DP Update

I know that compared to yesterdays post a 4DP update will be fairly boring, but I thought I would post a picture of the forlorn posse looking longingly at freedom or devilishly at green things, you decide. I will also note that the German and the Brit have both tried to stymie their "relocation" with illness. Otto seems fine now, but the Brit (Tyson) has managed to garner sympathy and is currently languishing inside on his dog bed.

What about the Sex!

Yesterday was our big appointment with our Doc, the one in which we could find out the sex, in addition to learning that the Mother and Baby were doing well. I will skip the minutiae, and hit the high points. First, during the sonogram, Angie felt the baby move--a whole lot, and there was no confusing it with anything else. I, being the supportive nurturing father, encouraged the baby to utilize Angie's womb as a punching bag and practice some Karate. With that, they got started and several pictures were taken of the baby and from what they determined we were having a very healthy and happy baby. There was even some thumb sucking while taking a break from the sparring with Angie's womb. Angie was in good health too, and seemed to brighten up when the Doc made an entrance (I am so glad they get along so well). A brief discussion about pain and epidurals and then it was off to work for Angie and I.

Here are several pictures of the baby that will not ruin the surprise for you if you don't want to know. At the bottom, however, I will let the secret slip, as Angie and I both decided that we wanted to know...








This picture shows the baby with her hand at her mouth, probably nibbling on a finger...


Alright, here goes the spoiler...

It's a GIRL!
This picture may come back to haunt her, though. It's indicating what isn't present, thus making it a girl. I am a little hesitant to start my child off in the world with this picture, but I can always take it down...

Strange Sightings

In regards to the 4DP and their new environs, they are none too happy. This photo conveys their feelings.

It took some fine-tuning, but we have managed to stop the escapes.

On another note, aliens have been sighted IN our house. This large thing arrived and the fact that it says "saucer" on the side leads me to believe that it is alien in origin.

Note the peculiar shaped octopus-like thing. When pressed it beeps and blinks. I believe it to be a mind control device as I stared at the device until the blinking stopped. There may have been drool, and I think I lost awareness of the passage of time. As long as I am in control of my faculties I will attempt to report on this invasion. I fear it will be an invasion weekend however, as Angie has mentioned a
Mom2Mom sale slated for Saturday. This is certainly alien code for an eminent invasion.

Myriad of things

To quote Click and Clack: “Hah! We’re back!”

No, I have not forgotten about my intention to journal significant moments in my family’s development. Yes, significant moments have occurred, but I have been waiting. I have been biding my time, collecting information, staying observant so as to catch every single nuance of every single situation so I could precisely document it for all to read. Now we are ready. Now I can walk you step by step through the last few weeks with lavish detail and meticulously explained situations, so in depth that if you yearned for a more realistic knowledge you would have to actually BE me. Whew. Deep breath… Ready?

Angie and I and the baby-to-be are great. Thanks for asking.

Anti-Climactic? No doubt. But in truth that really does sum it for us. Don’t worry, I have more. I will try and separate things into sections:

Mother-to-be
Home
Sister
Mom in NC
Mom in SC
Father-to-be

Mother-to-be

Angie is doing really well now, at least much better than she was. She makes it through almost every activity without gagging, but still has trouble with brushing her teeth. Her appetite swings are much better as well, although that may be her excellent management technique: a snack bag overflowing with crackers and cheerios and such. Her energy is more normal, but she does take often breaks, which is exactly as it’s supposed to be, we think. There has been one mention of some flurries in her tummy and she was not sure whether she had felt baby movement of was just digesting, but we are on the lookout for more movement. We have a doctors visit on the fifteenth, and at that point we will have to decide whether or not we want to find out the sex. Angie is still pretty sure she doesn’t want to know, but I am caving and think I can keep a secret if I find out. She is going to be at nineteen weeks tomorrow.

Home

To talk about our home we have to note that we have four dogs, two cats, and seven fish. We live in a 1600 sq. ft. two floor house with a smallish single car garage, with two attics for storage. Our lot is not big, about a third of an acre, but it fairly well kept in the front and despite my best efforts we have grass in the front. The back is fenced in and has a large wooden deck and pergola. Unfortunately, the entire fenced in area (turf) is run by the local gang known as the “4 Dog Posse” or simply 4DP. The 4DP is a bit of an enigma, as they are wholly prejudiced against all things green, but seem to have no international prejudices and have accepted members from Britain and Germany among other nations. The 4DP had been pretty inconspicuous for years until the German showed up. In the years since his arrival the toll on green things has risen twenty-fold. They still remain shrouded in mystery and have only occasionally been glimpsed doling out their “justice” on green things. On one rare occasion we witnessed the German, the one we have named “Otto” viciously attack a green thing. Worse yet, we had attempted to dissuade the attack by coating the green thing with a pepper spray deterrent and were horrified as we watched “Otto” become enraged by the pepper deterrent and vivisect the green thing before our eyes. Angie still has nightmares. And don’t even get me started on the land-mines they leave for the unwary. It is, fortunately, one of their only assaults on Angie and I, the other being their deliberate (could it be unintentional!?) drain of all liquid assets Angie and I try desperately to amass.

Well, with a child on the way we decided we can not allow our child to be raised in fear of landmines and witnessing the horrors of the war 4DP is waging against the green things. Rather than a scorched earth assault (the theory being no one would be able to tell the difference in our back yard since everything, even down to the grass, has been assassinated) we chose a containment approach and have implemented a fencing strategy. After pricing multiple containment designs, we decided to build our own and have designed a 24’x20’ area the 4DP can patrol and maintain their anti-green initiative. Despite the chasm separating us in our social views we brokered an agreement that allows passage to and from the house, and stipulates that the 4DP will be allowed out into the yard only under our supervision, but will be free to mutilate all green things on their turf. Of course that point is moot, as we will not place anything green on their turf, but they don’t know that yet, and I don’t think they can read, although “Otto” certainly looks like a quick study.

With the backyard under control, we are hoping that it will help the rest of the house. Having the silly dogs outside and safe is great and we should be able to turn our dustbowl of a yard into something more pleasant and less dusty and muddy. Angie and I are trying to get the little jobs out of the way so we can focus on the big one: the baby room. I think we are breaking the jobs up into two categories, one being putting the house together the way we want it, and the other is integrating the baby into it. This dog area is the first in the list of things we need to do to get the house “done” or at lease as close to “done” as we can get it. We both are on the same page though, so at least our direction and goal is the same. I hope we aren’t scraping popcorn off the ceiling and pretending to be a mobile for the baby at the same time…

Sister

This is relatively old news, and I suspect that her blog will have very good info about her everything. If you area so inclined to read it, post a comment and I will reply with the URL. So my news based on a phone call is: Sister and Jared are doing great. Baby Caroline is doing well too, from what I last heard, and Mary is tolerating it all. Here is a picture for everyone:




Mom in NC

Wilma is doing great. She had been sick but has recovered tremendously and we are so thrilled that she has her joie d’ vie back. She even has a little spike haircut, very cool. We are hoping she will come visit us soon, but seeing her over Easter was very pleasant.

Mom in SC

Mom down here is doing great too, although not quite as mobile as she may want to be. Since she fell in VA, she has been hanging in there, and coping really well. I suspect that her immobility is starting to erode her positive attitude some, but I have no doubt she won’t let it get her down to far. Her ankle will be back up to speed and although it will have hardware in it, she should be doing jumping-jacks very shortly.

Father-to-be (Me)

I must admit I have a whole lot to say. So many unique things have happened over the last several weeks, and I am struggling to process all the unique things and stay on top of the everyday items. I think the oddest thing is my incredulity at being a father. Two months ago I was gung ho about the being a dad and now I don’t believe it’s true. It’s like I slipped into denial after acceptance, it seems backwards. I do find it hard to believe that I will be a Dad. I look around at other parents and think that I don’t seem that old, or I don’t feel old enough or, more often: I don’t act old enough. My nesting instinct has continued mostly and the spirit of my intentions that I wrote about in January are in place even if the specific actions aren’t always there. I am really worried about the fact that it seems like Angie and I struggle to progress with our plans despite having more available time then we will have come August and the following eighteen or so years. I am sure we will adapt and grow as the challenges present themselves, especially when we “have to”.

I’m going to break here and maybe post some more later today. Probably not much this weekend since we’ll be busy fighting the 4DP, but Angie and I have formed a tentative alliance with the “Two Cat Crew” and feel optimistic about our chances. God Bless and a toast to Quikcrete!