It's a girl!

I guess I should start saving... honestly, I don't know how...

1. I am going to handle my little girl dating and

2. I don't know how I will be able to afford her wedding.

Yes, it is official, the Mrs. and I will be having a little girl come this summer!

Epic. Here is a picture of our beauty, Elle.

Quick update!

Our gender determination ultrasound is scheduled for November 6th!

'Bout 3 weeks to go to find out if Baby Skates is a boy or girl.

If November 6th doesn't yield results... we have another chance at 22 weeks on November 22nd when we go for our 4D Ultrasound!

Stay tuned...

It's Nursery Time!

The past few weekends it has felt like Laura and I had been doing nothing, but searching for the perfect crib for our newborn, well, unborn child. It feels like we have been to every baby furniture store in the Atlanta area! We had been to Babies-R-Us, and Target, USA Baby and Georgia Baby & Kids, etc… Why the city-wide search you ask? Well, we have a piece of reddish-cherry antique furniture that we are trying to match and the only place that matched it, perfectly, was Georgia Baby & Kids! Although, the name of the color we got was “papirika!” Go figure…

Carol & Bill, Laura’s mom and dad, wanted to come out to see the furniture we picked out before making the final decision. So, last Saturday we finally worked out all our schedules so that we could meet at GBK’s. (Please note that I will be using these initials due to the fact that retyping GA Baby & Kids seems like a daunting task). We had picked out the crib, but at the last minute changed our mind to a different one, same color, different style. (Oh, I know how this sounds so exciting and I will probably elaborate and tell this very story at different social events throughout the season, so stay tuned!) Then, unbeknownst to us, we were asked by the sales clerk…

“What about a mattress?”

“What about a mattress?” I said. “Do we need a mattress you mean?”

“Yes!” the clerk said in a surprised voice, which is a pretty stupid question if you ask me, but I guess I could assume that he thought we might already have one… blah blah blah, but we told him this was our first time buying baby furniture! Oh well…

“Yes” Laura and I replied, in unison. “I think we need a mattress.”

He strolled over to the area where about five different mattress, all wrapped up in their zipped-up glory, laying propped up on various beds and cribs.

“Now this one…” he began… “is great!”

I quickly interjected, and jokingly asked “Do they have a temperpedic baby mattress?”

“Well,” he said, “they do have something that has memory foam, sorta like a temperpedic!”

Laura looked at me with eyes of “I cannot believe you just asked him that!”

I can usually read both Laura’s tone and look… and this time it was the look of “please don’t say something crazy…”
Because I am known to ask crazy questions… but I will get to that at a later time.

“This mattress is water resistant and can…” I pretty much lost him at this point and had already chosen this mattress in my head… so the rest of what he said was all said in a Charlie Brown teacher voice…”Whaaa whaa whaaa whaa whaa wha…”

You get the idea.

So, we picked out a crib, changing table and a mattress… is there more to it? Yes, but, for some reason I wasn’t aware of it!
Laura went on to ask for all the gadgets and rails that you need on down-the-road for when the crib converts into a big person bed. Yes, this crib converts… I never can picture the bed turning into a real bed until I see pictures of it. My imagination just won’t work that way, I guess. But, as soon as I saw the picture I thought…

“Oh, okay, that is what it will look like, great!” also in the back of my mind thinking… “I dread that day because 1. the instructions will be no where to be found as well as all the nuts, bolts, etc… and me, put stuff together…” I laugh, laugh, I do!
Do you hear me laughing? Picture the count from Seasame Street! “Ah Ah ah!”

Anyway, we go to the front, the papers are signed and we have purchased Baby Furniture! Wha la!

Now, having it delivered is a different story… they are suppose to come in and assemble it. Yes, we will see…
Let’s hope it isn’t like “Rooms-to-go” assembles things…

“Here you go!” said the fat, sweaty delivery man.

“Thank you, but wait! Where are you going?”

“That’s it”

“But, the table is in the box! Aren’t you going to put it together?”

“We don’t do that, Sir.”

Until next time!

A Frisky Parental Pair

I thought it might be fun to see how Laura and I come out when you plug in our astrological signs...

Eric = Aries / Laura = Gemini

Here is what http://www.babycenter.com/ thinks...

*Please note* This is for entertainment & superficial reasons only... please do not take any of the following very seriously*

Together you two make a dynamic and energetic parenting team, but you may struggle to provide the regularity and stability your family needs, since these aren't qualities that come easily to either of you. Your dedication and devotion isn't in question, and you share a youthfulness that your children will enjoy. But keeping to a regular meal or bedtime schedule, for instance, could prove a challenge.

The Aries parent is more forceful and dynamic -- the natural leader of the family. The Gemini mom or dad is playful and communicative, with a curiosity and love of learning your children will naturally want to emulate. You both need a certain amount of freedom, so give each other room for your individual activities. Then you'll both be more available to meet the needs of your children and each other.

Found at http://www.babycenter.com/

Gender Prediction

I went to six different websites that predicts the gender of your child…

At the moment the charts are in favor of a girl… four out of the six charts say “It’s A Girl!”

Only time will tell or an ultrasound! :)

1.http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/PredictSex.htm

Boy!
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2. http://www.obfocus.com/calculators/gender.htm

Girl!

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3. http://www.webwomb.com/chinesechart.htm

Girl

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4. http://pregnancyandbaby.com/pregnancy/baby/Chinese-conception-gender-chart-9.htm

Boy

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5. http://www.baby-parenting.co.uk/baby/predictor.html?

Girl

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6. http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/family/174482/Chinese-birth-predictor--Baby-boy-or-girl

Girl

Sooner or later? I choose sooner!

The weekend is upon us and I, for one, am really excited because I am ready for the weekend to be here… I bet if there was a poll of everyone’s favorite day, Friday and Saturday would win by a landslide… Monday’s wouldn’t stand a chance! Kind of like what’s your favorite, oatmeal cookie or chocolate chip?! No brainer…

I am in a really good mood today…Why am I in such a good mood you wonder? One of the biggest reasons is because I got to thinking to myself! I thought “self, how in the world are we going to wait until December to find out what sex the baby will be?” Then I thought some more, as I tend to over-think a lot of things… and I wondered “how did we come up with the date of December anyway?” I am sure whenever Laura reads this she will look at me and say “I don’t know!” Anyway, I read on babycenter.com that you can actually find out the sex of your unborn child as early as 15 weeks! Yep, 15 weeks… but most likely it will be 18-20 weeks when we will find out.

The article on the website said:

"Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")"

Yes, there is a possibility it may be hidden, but I would like the chance to see!!! Wouldn't you?! Why in the world are we waiting so long to find out…? I am sure a lot of you are parents out there, and thus have had a child before! Why didn’t you mention to me “you don’t have to wait that long?” Mean people. Mean, mean, mean. Bottom line, October will be one fun and exciting month!

So, to update you on what’s upcoming…

Well, next week, August 13^th @ 2pm, Laura and I have our second doctor’s visit when we will get the first picture of “Baby Skates!” Then not much to do, but wait…we will have to wait until the middle of October when we will finally find out is “Baby Skates” a girl or a boy?

Excitement abounds… stay tuned!

Welcome to Unisex Babyland!

To quote Robin Williams...

"This is beyond obsession!"

Is it just me or when people say “when you have a baby nothing will be the same” just kind of sound stupid and sort of like a “here’s your sign” kind of remark? Of freakin’ course your lives will never be the same… because you are basically deciding to alter your lifestyle by compromising everything you've ever done or thought of doing, up until now, that is.

Picture it like you are getting a roommate, but this roommate doesn’t pay for anything… he or she is a very small, tempermental, needy, whiny roommate that you will love with every fiber of your being.

Laura and I got married in June and for two years we basically thought about our upcoming wedding… well now, it’s baby-time! As Franc from “Father of the Bride 2” would say “Welcome to Babyland.” Now that we have broken the news to everyone we will surely go out and do the inevitable Baby Register… and for those of you who do not know…(and if you are reading this I am pretty sure you are on an educational level where you know what a Baby Registry is…) I digress, so beyond online registries we will go to Babies-R-Us, the break-off store of Toys-R-Us, the place you used to scream and kick to go to just so you could see all those toys in one place all at the same time! After having a kid for a while, you will most surely end up going back, but not for yourself. Okay, sorry, where was I, the Baby Registry, right? Laura and I have visited this store on several occasions and I will not divulge to you the amount because you will revert back to the aforementioned quote at the beginning of this blog. It seems having a child is quite the pricy quest… everything we have thought about registering for or have been told we “need” is atleast $150-$250… a travel system, high chair, bouner thingy, gliders, not to mention breast pumps, car seats, baby furniture, etc… it honestly adds up really quick!!! I, however, am not going to worry about this because if I do, I may die. It’s as simple as that!

Moving on, I think books are a great source of knowledge, (between us we have four, I think) but I think experience is the best thing to have, so we appreciate all the advice everyone has had for us as newlywed parents. This is going to be a whole new world for us and we are so lucky to have such an amazing support system behind us.

We are slowly starting the process of turning our spare room into “Babyland,” and our spare bathroom into “Babyland jungle,” (we are doing jungle because the room is already green and we do NOT want to repaint!)but not even sure where to begin… although, we cannot truly do much until December when we know the sex of Baby Skates! Speaking of, if you haven’t done so, be sure to vote on the sex of Baby Skates on the poll to your right! Well, sadly, until December everything will be unisex colors, yellow & green… Or, we could do what my mom and sister are doing… which is buying girl stuff & boy stuff and getting gift receipts, but I see that as a lot of work, so until the time comes we are gonna be (the word that is hardly ever uttered out of my mouth) patient!

Stay tuned…

Is it bad I wanna be a cool dad?

Is it bad I wanna be a cool dad?

If you were wondering… All of these can be found on my Amazon.com wish list!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/baby/3VLHF7KQLKXUS