He likes Green Eggs and Ham, Sam I AM!

Well, it's certainly evident now… if I did not believe Mauldin was in my wife’s belly, I am sure of it now!

No, not because of the countless evidence of pictures from ultrasounds... I mean either it is alittle baby or an alien is truly growing in my wife's womb, curled up so nicely next to her placenta. Okay, I am not even sure what a placenta is for, but for some reason, on Saturday, when we went for our 3D/4D ultrasound that sac was in the way of almost every picture! The boy really thinks it is a huge pillow for him to rest on. Who knows... maybe it is really comfortable?

But, we got some pretty neat pictures in the end...

Last night, my beautiful wife, Laura, and I were in the bed, after watching Heroes, and I decided to read to our little unborn boy. We have a pretty good collection of children’s books in the nursery, so I took it upon myself to go fetch one and see how he would react to the voice of his father, that being me of course. What better to start your son off with than, Harry Potter, well okay, we tried that once and never got a huge response, so this time I utilized a tried and true favorite, Dr. Seuss, “Green Eggs and Ham.” I never really knew how long it was until I read it last night…

I am surprised 'Sam I am' was so persistent, I would of given up after the second, “I do not like Green Eggs and Ham!” I mean obviously he is a very picky eater. (reminds me of someone I know...)

But, he will not eat them in the rain, on a train, with a mouse or in a house. Maybe he would eat them on the couch?

Well, Mauldin seriously liked this story of an anal retentive picky eater ‘cause I felt one of the biggest kicks from him. It was like David Beckham was in my wife’s belly.

It was so amazing! It was a strong kick too... I have been waiting to feel something like that for so long... other times I have felt things I wasn't sure if it was my mind playing tricks on me or not. We did try and get him to kick again, and we found out he sorta likes me singing! LOL! Or maybe he doesn't...

"Stop singing, daddy..."

But, lets just say for now he does... makes me feel better. So, we will now do a combo of entertainment for the little guy. Thanks to my elementary school teacher teaching me the “50 nifty states” song because one, it is one of the songs I readily know all the words to and two, Mauldin seemed to really enjoy the nifty tune.

Jumpin' in a pile of leaves...

Who knew that jumping in a pile of leaves would prove to be so fun?

Who knew boys and girls were so different? LOL Okay, I knew it, but today I got some proof! LOL!

This weekend was spent at my in-laws, because this year we will be attending Thanksgiving with my family, the tried and true sacred day of turkey, cornucopias, food drives and tripdafan.

Being married causes you to have to share certain holidays in between families, by which is sometimes an easy feat and others a little more argurous, although my wife, Laura, and I have always been lucky that we have never fought over this issue.

On Sunday morning I decided that we should have some fun with the kids, my nephew and niece, Drew and Annagrace. I mentioned the night before about raking the leaves in the yard and letting the kids jump in them. I mean you can't go through life without atleast jumpin' into a pile of leaves at least once, right? I sincerely hope... no I pray my child isn't a pansy. I want my boy to not be afraid to play and get dirty... to roll on the ground and stand up and laugh... I hope my little boy ends up peeing in his pants because he is having so much fun playing outside! Okay, maybe not the last thing... I do want him to be potty trained, but you get my point.

The first kid to play in the leaves probably never knew it would catch on so... seriously it is a fun thing to do... I mean as long as you get all the sticks, pinecones and other ailing things that could lurk in the pile! I will say it is a little unnerving to hurl yourself into a pile of wet leaves, that can't be sanitary.

But, isn't it worth it to experience the euphoria of leaping into a soft patch of dry foliage on a day when the sun is shining and the leaves are nice and dry...

Truly this is a day for a kodak moment.

Laura, my father-in-law, Bill and brother-in-law, Paul all were sitting at the dinner table the night before when I mentioned the idea... they had no idea I was serious.

Well, we all took part in the fun...

It is the little things in life that you remember for a lifetime...

The Nursery of Ambition

Mauldin's nursery is coming along...

Of course, it isn't finished yet... not by a long shot; although, of course, we are having fun throwing around ideas of what we want in there...

We are a very ambitious couple... as you might can tell. We found some college pennants, from some not-so-well-known universities, that we thought it would be cool if Mauldin ended up with a scholarship to!

Sometimes we just stand in the room in total awwh because no matter how Laura's belly grows it just doesn't seem real until you see all the little clothes hanging in the closet. Of course, we have the ultrasound picture, but the real-ness just is not there yet. I am sure it is more real for, my wife, Laura, than I because she is the one waking up in the middle of the night due to Mauldin's nocturnal activities....

The nursery is beginning to come together and look like a room for a child, a very neat child, but a child none-the-less. We have been testing out all the toys ourselves lol, just to make sure they are safe of course!

Now we are not experienced parents... this is our first child and as much as we feel ready... this evening taught us we are still clueless when it comes to certain aspects to parenting. We probably will end up having this issue even when Mauldin is here...

"Hey do you know if it is okay to (insert action regarding a newborn)?"

"Ummm... not sure, go look it up online!"

Yah, cause I know wikipedia is always such a great resource for child rearing.

Honestly though, Laura and I pulled out a blanket and tried to "swaddle" a mickey plush toy... Sorcerer Mickey to be exact. We were hoping his magical abilities would prove to be some help in assisting us in automatically knowing how to swaddle a baby.

"Are you sure that's right," I said "it looks a little tight to me, you don't want to cut off his circulation!"

"Well, I don't know..." said Laura "you try it! I'm sure you will do it right, Mr. father of the century!"

We are really excited about our pending bundle of joy to join the Skates household... I just hope he doesn't mind having such crazy parents.

"Why did I end up with the parents who didn't know how to swaddle?"

We certainly are going to start making a list of "how do you's" when we see our families over the holidays.

HAHAHA!

A free weekend, oh the possibilities....

Okay, this weekend we are pretty much free to do whatever we want because, unlike most weekends, we don't have any pre-set plans. Atleast any we decided to attend... but with that being said we honestly wanted to have atleast one "free" weekend for ourselves... just ourselves. We contemplated jet setting off to Disney World for the weekend of thoughtless frivolity, but alas, our responsibilities got in the way... sorry Mickey! We really want to be there... (Don't worry, those days are over... *sigh*)

I mean we certainly deserve it don't we? My wife, Laura, is a very hard working teacher and during the week her stress is extemplified ten-fold due to endless meetings and never-ending piles of paperwork. I, on the other hand, have a full-time job and am a part-time student. I am a communication/event coordinator for several Atlanta Business Associations. I am at work everyday from eight to four-thirty, and most days have class until atleast 7:30pm. Whenever we get home we say our hellos, talk about our days, give a hug and a kiss and then spend the rest of the evening either on the computer, side-by-side, or watching a few hours of our favorite shows... usually TMZ, How I met Your Mother, Heroes, Survivor or past seasons of the Mole or Smallville. Then it seems like we are back to work as soon as we got home... it's frustrating! I will try and digress... or change the subject;

Ohhh look! Shiney!

(I do tend to be a tad ADD at times... )

I don't mean to whine, I mean I am glad I have a job! Certainly, but, I guess, I wish there were just more hours in the day... Damn Earth, why couldn't you just revolve a little bit slower?

So, when the weekends get here it is often full of things we have planned to do during the week, but never found time to do because we were so busy. Weekends are usually full of parties, weddings, family get togethers, writing papers, etc...

But, thankfully, this weekend, we are free to do whatever we want... I miss the days when Laura and I would stay home, and just play video games all day... yes, I have a wife that will play video games... and honestly sometimes a LOT better than me. I hope I can sit around with Mauldin and have some quality hand-eye coordination with him... of course we will go out doors and do things too! Catch! Okay, lets go back and finish that level! HAHAHA

Laura and I get so intranced in our games we actually have "no shower" days! I know she will probably say...

"Eric! I can't believe you put that in your blog!"

Really tho, spray on some cologne and apply some deoderant (antipersperiant) and you are good to go for another... say... 6-8 hours! Depending on your activities, of course.

I'm sure there are A LOT of people who have no shower days... (I know of plenty, although, I won't name names... )sometimes consecutive and I doubt they are going to criticize... although, I will say, after a day... a shower and shampoo are a must!

Now it is not like we play "World of Warcraft" like they do on south park, but our video game days do sort of go long... how long? Sometimes we start at 10am and don't finish until... okay we sound really dorky don't we? Alright, I hope you all enjoy your weekend!!!

Have fun while it lasts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween overdue

I am sorry I have been late in posting about our Halloween fright fest, but here are some pictures of the night's events...

Cast:Laura, Me, Amy, Jenn, Paul, Jeremy, Tori, Grant, Annagrace & Drew

Harry & the Headphones

Tonight, my wife, Laura and I decided to give Mauldin his first lesson in Harry Potter. If you did not know Laura and I are big fans of the series, both the movies and books. We are on the hinges of.. well lets say me more than Laura, but almost obessive-like sometimes. You probably already assumed as such if we are exposing our unborn child to the likes of the Boy Wizard, the chosen one if you will... or the Boy who lived, okay I disgress, if you aren't picking up on these refrences pick up a book or a movie and you may can follow this a little bit... honestly, if you haven't seen Harry Potter, for religious reasons or something you may want to losen up a little bit. I mean I don't think Mauldin will come out of the womb wanting to study potions for a living. But, you know what if he does we will just say he likes chemistry!

The point of my blog is to introduce that Mauldin has began kicking, well not like, "whoa he just knocked my hand off your belly kicking," but Laura swears she is feeling it. Although, everytime I place my hand on the ever-growing bump, the kicking subsides, well lets say it, all together goes away. Is she making this up? Is she just wanting to feel it so bad it is happening, or is Mauldin playing a cruel joke on daddy already? Well, whatever it is I would like to feel it happen... atleast once!

Back to the headphones and Mr. Potter... we are trying to give Mauldin some culture early on... there are no concrete studies that; say playing music or whatever will make your child smarter, but who says it will make them, I dunno, not smarter? So, will Mauldin be born speaking with a British accent? Well, if he does wouldn't that be hilarious?

Cheers!

It's A Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, bring on the blue stuff... It's official, we are having a boy!

53% of people who voted said, girl... (I was in that group) however, my beautiful and intuitive wife, Laura, said boy alllllll along! Not to mention almost everyone in our family! I guess I was just saying girl so if it happened to be I would have already prepared myself for it.

Not that having a girl is a bad thing, but having a boy first really would be a nice thing to have off our shoulders... for one, we don't have to worry about having our name stolen!

With that being said...

Mauldin James Skates will be a very welcomed addition to the Skates household.

See the pictures...

It's almost official...

It’s almost official…

We have names picked out, but now we just need to know which one we will need to use!

Hopefully, tomorrow we will have an answer…

Boy: Mauldin James

Girl: Tessa Darling

Penis or Vagina... just tell us already!

In less than three days my wife, Laura, and I will be heading to the doctor's office to have an ultra sound that may give us the answer we have been waiting for, for soooo long!

We are fastly approaching the 20 week mark.

Is the child floating around in my wife's tummy a boy or a girl?

If you haven't voted on our poll, be sure to hurry and make your guess.

Of course, there may be a possibility we may be let down if our dear Baby Skates is being a little modest... if that is so then we will have to wait another two weeks!

On Saturday, November 22nd, we are having our 4D ultrasound where we can see our baby look like a clay figure and see it give us a peace sign or, shutter to think, the "finger," not on purpose, of course! LOL! I've heard stories... lol

So, Thursday, November 6th, be thinkin' about us as we are on pins and needles just waiting to find out if Baby Skates is a boy or a girl.