Rest, work, rest.... rinse and repeat

This weekend was both restful and full. We got a new couch and painted the boy’s room and slept in. With Finn at Papa and grandma’s house we could work in spurts and lay around for long periods of time but we miss him a lot. Saturday we were going to go pick him up after he spent some time with my parents but snow on the passes, and Kate’s possible contractions made that impossible. So we rested and worked and enjoyed a bit of calm before the storm of two kids, family, work, and a forecast that calls for rain as far as the calendar will go. Two more days now until we report to the hospital to convince Kate’s body to let that big boy out. We have a bag packed in case of an early release that we both hope for but doesn’t seem likely. We both like the idea of rushing to the hospital as we forget our wallets at home. It’s romantic kind of.

The time between

For the last month I have been working long hours at work and getting less sleep then usual. It seems like a good warm up to the sleepless nights of a newborn but for the next few days I will be in the in-between. The extra hours at work are over and the baby is not here yet. With Finn at my parents house there is a strong possibility that I could sleep until noon tomorrow, maybe longer, and that idea sounds good. I am in no way comparing because I will always lose, but I am really tired. I feel weary and unhealthy and in need of some sun. The odd thing is that I am really happy. This busy time has been really great and Kate and I have had a lot of fun together.

T-Minus 6 days.......

A week from today we are heading to the hospital to coax our son out. Kate had another ultra-sound where we found out that the little guy is quickly passing up “little” and moving towards “hefty”. He is already bigger then Finn was when he was born and he is not due until Feb. 17 if you believe the first date. The ultra-sound lead the Dr. to change the due date to Feb. 6 which is when our induction was already scheduled. How about that! There is something far less magical about an ultra-sound on a full term baby. You can’t see anything really. I did get a good look at his kidneys and his spine and he looks good, seems like all his working out in the womb is paying off. We do have a name picked out but I’m not putting it up here until he is born, I want that post where I announce it. If you want to know email me or call and we will tell you. We aren’t trying to keep it from anyone I just want his name to be introduced on this blog when he is. Well that’s the news.

Curves ahead

You think you know how your life is going to change, you feel like you have a good idea what is coming up but the truth is you have no idea. That is where I am at lately with a new baby coming any day now. I wrestle around on the floor with Finn and wonder if he has any idea what is coming. He kisses Kate’s belly when we ask where the baby is and he has even learned the baby’s name, but does he know that soon that baby will be born and come live with us? Does he know that he will no longer be the sun to mine and Kate’s universe? I don’t think I even know what that is going to mean. My Friend Liz said that when she was pregnant with her second she thought she couldn’t possible love him as much as she did her first. When he was born that changed for her. I am excited for our new baby to join us but part of me is sad to have my affection split. My friend Matt told me that when his girls were first born he didn’t really like them. He loved them but they were newborns and he didn’t know them yet. He felt guilty for it and both loves and really likes his kids now but I worry that I might feel like that with the new guy. Finn is so freaking cute right now with his growing vocabulary and his tiny voice. When he hears me come through the door he yells out “Oh no!” and runs squealing into Kate’s arms to hide from me. One thing that Matt told me too was to not worry about it too much, guilt is silly. I know that’s the truth. It is an exciting time and the more I try to imagine how it’s going to feel and what’s going to happen the more I know I have no idea.

A rough day

Yesterday was a rough day. I woke up feeling nauseous but still went into work at 6 AM to get some overtime in before our baby boy joins us. I struggled through a couple of hours feeling like if I could just throw up I would feel much better. usually these morning are preceded by a night of gin and tonics and some inappropriate jokes on the Beeler's porch. Without such late night revelry I could not explain this morning sickness. Around 9:30 in the morning in the middle or a phone shift I had to run to the bathroom as that nauseous feeling was fully realized. I called Kate to come get me on her way to taking Finn to my mom's. I felt great after throwing up but then I would start to feel sick again. This pattern went in 45 minute shifts making for a terrible day. Kate went to work but was soon back home seeing my 45 minute cycle and raising it 20 minutes. We were quite a pair laying in bed whimpering like babies. Around 2 in the afternoon I stopped getting sick but felt chills and body aches all over. Kate on the other hand continued throwing up for another 2 hours until we took her to the hospital. She was very dehydrated and couldn't keep anything down so they gave her an IV and some medicine to stop the puking. She was also hooked up to some baby monitoring and we saw she was having pretty regular contractions. every two minute there were significant readings leading the nurse to check how far along Kate was. She was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced and could give birth anytime between now and her due date. That seems like a pretty inexact science, I mean we pretty much knew that before we came into the hospital right. Anyway after 3 IV bags and some much needed non-vomiting rest we were able to go back home. We both woke up this morning feelin much better, still with flu like symptoms but infinitely better then the day before.

Married Vs. Dating

On our way home from a very nice holiday party the subject of Football came up. We are in the heat of the playoffs and I lamented the fact that my Raiders were no longer prominently involved. Lately when I bring up the Raiders, and it’s not that often, Kate tells me she doesn’t believe me. She doesn’t believe I am a fan of the Raiders or even of Football in general. How dare she! She must have had too much to drink at the party, why am I letting her drive in this condition? I asked her to pull over right away so I could issue a sobriety test, but she called me an idiot and reminded me that she is 8 months pregnant and hasn’t even had a sip tonight. I thought it would pass but Kate fells strongly about this subject. She said I just like saying I’m a Raiders fan for the reaction. She said I care more about story then games and being a Raider Fan is just a convenient vehicle for telling stories. She is really making me angry at this point but she is far from done. She said there is no question I love the Lakers or the Dodgers because I talk about them a lot. She repeated a lot while making an exaggerated head nod for dramatic effect. The only time she hears me talk about the Raiders is when other people ask if I’m a fan of the Colts. I still think she is drunk at this point but it can also just be the rampant hormones in her body from the pregnancy, either way she is out of her mind. She is wading into dangerous water and I am not sure she can see the shore anymore. She badgered me to admit she was right, but I will never do it. She is dead wrong. Hitting her stride she offered as evidence the Kobe trade talks with the Lakers against the Randy Moss draft day trade. Kobe didn’t even get traded and I talked about it every day for two months. She only heard that Moss was a Raider from an NFL broadcast. Please, you can’t compare Kobe to Moss, that is just crazy. She said I am married to the Lakers, I am married to the Dodgers, but I am a best friends with the Raiders. She said I’m not even dating them, I’m not even best friends with them, they are just people that I know and might have grown up with but their not in my fantasy league or anything. They weren’t invited to my wedding, hell their not even friends on Facebook. Though it’s 11 at night she demands that I give her my phone so she can call Kyle. He will agree with her. I wouldn’t give her the phone, Kyle would never agree with her and besides it midnight in Arizona. Even if he did what does that prove, no he wouldn’t agree. Kyle may hate football but he wouldn’t question my fanhood. Would he? HE DID! Kate chatted with him the next day on gmail and that Judas took her side! Et tu Sezo? He said Mark is married to the Raiders, but James is just friends. Can they be right? They can’t be right, I mean the Raiders and I have had some good times. Sure we have had some fights over money and the chores but who hasn’t? We may not be in love anymore but I made a commitment when I was 12 and 18 bad years can't erase the 3 good ones!

The Holidays are over, long live the holidays

We took our tree down and put it outside, I guess that means the holidays are officially over. It was a really great season of getting to see and spend time with family and talk with friends and there is still a couple of visits to come before and after the new baby but now it feels a bit quiet. All this month I am working overtime to take advantage of some incentives at work during our busy season. It has been tough getting in at 6 and leaving at 5 but it is only for a month and I work at a desk, my dad does this in the rain and cold putting buildings together. The overtime incentives will in just before the launch date of baby 2.0 so it will be nice to get a little extra cash and get used to being tired most the time. I don't have any New Year's resolutions this year but i'm fat and I want to change that, and we are going to track and balance our spending this year to reduce debt and be more intentional about where our money goes. I loaded some software to help with this and i am following the lead of some great financial bloggers. I won't be loading my Financial Statements up here online but if you want to see them you can. I like the idea transparency and I think that anyone who would ask would be genuinely interested.

Different but still exciting

I've had some things I have wanted to write, thoughts to flesh out and give legs to, but I haven't. It always sounds better in my mind right when i think of it, or so I seem to think when trying to recall the idea later. It's like I could be a brilliant writer if only I got my shit together and wrote when it occurred to me. That's probably not true but it's nice to think that way.

So in a little more then a month we are having another boy. I'm not sure if I have said that yet. We are having a boy for sure. He's all turtle in his last close up and from the looks of Kate's belly he is big and active. I have been awakened to baby elbows in my back more then once. The little dude seems to be leading a jazzercise class in Kate's belly. He is much more active then Finn was at this pre-age. Also Kate is much more attached to this new baby then she was to pre-natal Finn. She loves him a lot now and is super attached, but when he was in her belly she didn't know how great he was going to be. It's funny cause I think I am the opposite. I was really attached to Finn when he was in Kate's belly. I would sing and talk and generally irritate Kate with my attention to her cohabiter. Now I'm just waiting for him to come out and worried that we won't have a name picked out for him y the time he comes.

Mommy kissing Sata Claus

We went and saw Santa on Saturday and Finn was not at all freaked out by ole St. Nick. He was pretty freaked out the night before when he saw Santa in Clatskanie but momma went up there with him so he was OK. He listened in to Santa and pointed out his Gaga and Papa in the crowd. I bit of a shout out to his posse. My work had a Santa Saturday for the employees and their kids and it was really great. You could create a naughty and nice list for Santa to refer to when talking to the kids and we got to wrap a toy for Santa to pass out. We didn't take advantage of all that but will next year for sure.

Storm Update

My Aunt Jamie works at Centrailia College in Central Washington and commutes from Oregon a couple times a week. Centrailia and neighboring Chehalis were two of the hardest hit towns by the most recent storms. Here are some pictures and a story about what my has had to deal with going back to work:

I'm in Centralia now. Silly me! I thought that Jackson Highway would be open and I could just sail in to work the "back way." Well, I forgot that Kresky floods as well and I would have to travel another 30 miles out of my way with all the other people. Then I had to witness first hand all the people cleaning out their flooded houses which really upsets me. I never should have come in. I was protecting my vacation hours when I could have just called in sick. "Hello this is Jamie, I'm home sick today, sick of this water devastation." Is that excusable? Anyway I'm here and it is much more ugly than depicted on the news. Isn't it always.

Bathroom Etiquette?

I need a ruling on a bathroom situation I ran into the other day. (feel free to click on the image to make it bigger if you need to) A and B are stalls, C and D are urinals with C being full sized and D being for people like Kyle. Here’s the situation: When I came into the bathroom there was someone in stall B but A, C, and D were open. I only needed to go numero uno so it was a choice between C and D. The thing is, the dude in B was taking a wide stance and it felt to me like he was pulling a Larry Craig. I don’t like using D when I can avoid it because I feel like it is too low and leads to sprayage. What is the right move in this case? Do I use the man size urinal roaming feet be damned or do I use the peewee weewee and risk backsplash?

Wet and thankful

Storm Watch 07 is back up and running in the Northwest. I’m sure you have either seen the news reports or experienced first hand that last couple of days but in case you are wondering we are just fine. In Beaverton we didn’t have much of the destructive wind of the coast or the saturating rain with the mud slides ad flooding that goes along with it. My parents town was hit hard and I have some family with flooded basements and muddy driveways and this blog’s top commenter, Aunt Jamie, can’t get back to her school in Centralia because !-5 is closed in Central Washington. It has been a good indoctrination into the Winter weather of this area and while it hasn’t been fun we have managed. We signed up for a covered parking spot and there was one right in front of our door. I parked there once and woke up to a note on my car threatening towing. Turns out the spot was promised to someone else and it hadn’t been marked in the ledger. We were given another spot farther away and when I saw the guys whose spot I had stolen I apologized. He understood the confusion and we chatted for a bit that night and the next day when I returned from an emergency diaper run. Later that evening we got a call from the Leasing office letting us know that we can have the good spot. The guy thought we could use it more then he could, even though he had been waiting for that spot to open up for a while. We will have him and his roommate over for dinner to thank him soon but my appreciation for his sacrifice won’t be satiated anytime soon. I am more thankful then I think is necessary and I don’t want to make him feel uncomfortable every time I see him. But the thing is it rains a lot, and getting Finn in and out of the car, plus any other things that need to get out is tough, and what he did made that much easier. I want to hug him and look into his eyes while holding both shoulder and say thank you as my eyes well up. But that’s creepy and unnecessary.

Though it be not written down

I am well aware of the fact that I am an idiot, I really don’t need daily reminders to help bring the fact home but I still got a big one today. I have been lamenting the lack of Internet access for a month now as I patiently wait for my DSL to get set up. I ordered phone and DSL service on 11/5 and expected it to be setup fairly quickly. The first due date I received had the start time of 11/8 and then I got an updated phone message telling me “Congratulations! Your updated connect date is 11/18.” While I appreciate the up beat can do attitude of the machine giving me this message it is more of a “We’re sorry” type message. Anyway I waited patiently checking the site for an updated note but there wasn’t one. I finally got so frustrated that I called in demanding to know why it takes a month to set up a phone line in an apartment! Turns out I was sent an email needing me to call in and verify my identity since I ordered on line. Once I did that they let me know my phone service would be set up the next day. Awesome! Had I just called in 3 weeks ago we might be having this conversation over the phone, or at least I would be posting this from home, but no, I’m an idiot. I feel like Doberry in Much Ado About Nothing

Dost thou not suspect my place? dost thou not

suspect my years? O that he were here to write me

down an ass! But, masters, remember that I am an

ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not

that I am an ass.

Very, that's how cute he is, very

It seems I am perpetually apologizing for not updating and that reeks a bit of arrogance. I guess I have this picture of people checking each day for new content and going away with a cloud over their day when they find nothing there. That is probably not the case but my apology comes also from a place of wanting to write more and not getting the chance to and so it ends up being an apology for me more then anything else. A blog is at heart a diary of sorts and our diaries are meant to be more personal. Most of the time that I am writing it is more to myself as the audience then anyone else but I am always aware of who may or may not be reading this and there fore tailor and smooth where rough edges might have done just fine. I am rambling and wandering and all I wanted to really say was that I don’t have a computer at home and work seems to be a poor place to update so I have been negligent in writing what I have wanted for that I am sorry. I apologize to any disappointed readers and I apologize to myself for not stoking the flames narcissism that have roared wildly despite my neglect.

Now that I have that out of the way I wanted to talk a bit about how freaking cute my son is. Finn is now 17 months and walking away like a champ. He took longer to get there then his contemporaries but he is going full board now. His vocabulary is increasing from Ball and Car to a wider palate of phrases and sounds to make sense of his world. He calls Kate ‘mama’ and he calls me ‘gaga’. It used to be ‘kaka’ but he found that word was closer to cracker and didn’t want to confuse us. He loves cars and points them out screaming ‘car, car, car’ until we say yes Finn that is indeed a car. You are a very astute young lad finding a car on this freeway at rush hour. He has also created some much more complicated language for trucks. For the trucks he says ‘papa’ and shakes his head no. This comes from the fact that his Papa Bing drives a truck but he is well aware that isn’t indeed papa or his truck. He has heard the word truck, he can say the word truck, but he chooses instead this complicated process of audible and physical action to convey the meaning because he is a complicated, complicated individual.

A couple of nights ago Kate and I were driving around to fill a Birthday/Thank you basket for my mom and Finn was in the back checking out the scene. We had a pop station on the radio and there was a non-descript pop princess song on that was catchy but empty. Finn started singing along in ‘Ba ba ba’s but doing so in such a condescending tone that there was no doubt he was my child. It was like he was making fun of the song while humming along in true Indie-rock snob fashion. His uncle John would have been so proud of him.

It has been tough going back to work and not being with him all day but I have come to really enjoy those final few steps on my walk home when I know that soon I will see Kate and Finn. I know that they will both smile at me and be excited that I am home and that feeling is intoxicating. I am not sure it makes up for missing so much but it definitely softens the blow.

Polling the hive

Where do you go to find out what is happening in a new city that you have moved to? What are the resources to take advantage of to get plugged in quicker? These are the two questions rolling around while I sit in class learning complex piece of software to support. In two days we will move into our new apartment in Beaverton and I have been trying to see what's what with our new neighborhood. I have located the library and will be heading there as soon as I get a piece of mail with our new address. I have also located the bank and closest bookstore and the bus route to the max. Most of the other stuff is going to come from getting out and about and meeting people who give you a few pieces of their tiles to add to your new mosaic but in the mean time where else should I look? What do you think is important to find out right away when you move to a new place?