Archive for March, 2008

Weekend Update

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Well, we are two weeks out. I just can’t believe that Grayson’s birthday is almost here. I suspect it will be a blink of an eye and I will be saying that I can’t believe Grayson is heading off to college. But I digress.

The weekend was a good one but very busy for us. BM’s mother moved back to town this past week so we had her staying with us for a couple of nights while her stuff was unloaded and setup by the movers. Saturday BM and her mother were out picking up a few last minute things for Grayson and his room while I stayed home and put together the changing table. I am always amazed at how well those build your own furniture pieces are made and how precise they are. One of these days I can see homes being made like that and costing much less (taking into account inflation, etc) than they do today. But, again I digress.

Today, we did our normal weekend chores such as laundry, grocery shopping, etc. But we also began preparing for the inevitable trip to the hospital. BM packed her bag with most everything she will need for her time in the hospital. I made backups of the computers, took photos, and did some general house work. So, while we aren’t completely ready for when the big day comes, we are ready enough that we won’t have the level of anxiety that we would have had otherwise.

Speaking of photos, we did another photo session today and below are two shots from that session. Hope everything is going well for you and yours. I will write another blog entry in a day or two.

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Check that thing off the list

Monday, March 24th, 2008

BM has been an amazing machine for the past couple of weeks. She and I have each had our respective lists of things we need to try and deal with before Grayson is born. Her list includes things like picking out sheets and ordering diapers. My list includes things like take out the trash and cut the grass :)

But, I must say, that selecting certain things for your baby isn’t as easy as one might initially think. For example, just last week a new report came out that talks about the harmful chemicals that are released from plastic baby bottles when they are heated up. Well, it took BM doing the bottle research to find that bit of info out and later select the bottles we are going to try to use with our baby boy.

Every night, BM sits in front of the computer and her various books navigating around in an attempt to select or order whatever that one item of the day is. But, by the time we go to bed, she has crossed off another item from her list. I am so proud of her and all that she has accomplished during her pregnancy that I wanted to share that with everyone.

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Another Doctors Visit

Monday, March 24th, 2008

BM is finishing up her 36th week of pregnancy which gives us three weeks to go. The tentative due date is April 15th, which we have talked to the doctor about to see what he can do to help us avoid having our child on the day most American’s are grumbling about their taxes :) Not surprisingly, he said it is just a waiting game now.

We had a doctors appointment today for a routine checkup of BM and Grayson. It’s old hat now - blood pressure, urine specimen, fetal heart rate - “Perfect Growth.” We have been lucky to have a wonderful doctor help guide us through this process and answer all our first time baby questions. As we have gotten closer to Grayson’s birthday, our list of questions has continued to grow. This morning was no exception as we peppered Doc with a list of questions ranging from phone numbers to call all the way to procedural questions. He answered them all in his typical calm, cool demeanor which only works to reassure us that things are going smoothly.

Speaking of doctors, we finally decided on a pediatrician. I didn’t know it until we got into the baby making game, but before the child is born, you actually shop for a pediatrician. BM and I have had several interviews with pediatricians around town and had our last one last week.

The pediatrician we selected is a female doctor that lives a block away from us. She was extremely professional yet comfortable with us and was the most honest doctor we interviewed. She didn’t seem to mind that BM and I came prepared with a series of questions ranging from using the internet as a resource to other basic first time baby questions. As you might expect, BM and I spend quite a bit of time trying to educate ourselves on those things that we are able to actually learn and we don’t really deal well with doctors that aren’t comfortable having patients who ask questions. We feel like she will handle our questions in stride. She also had a similar philosophy to ours in term of parenting and vaccinations. The firm she is with is very well respected in town and is associated with the nearest children’s hospital. All in all, we just left he interview feeling like we had found Grayson’s doctor.

After Grayson is born, the pediatrician will see him each day he is in the hospital. After we leave the hospital, she will see him once a week for a several weeks and then we are on a monthly schedule for several months after that. During that time, the pediatrician will be helping BM and I to deal with all the unexpected things that we expect to encounter :)

Anyway, we thought you all would like to know that another items has been marked off the list :)

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House of Hotties

Monday, March 24th, 2008

Saturday was a big day for BM as she had her baby shower. She has been meticulously working through her list of things we need to buy before Grayson appears on the scene and the shower nearly finished off that list. I think maybe BM has one more piece of furniture on order and, otherwise, we should be good to go with most things we need once our new baby decides to join us at home.

The shower was a lovely event hosted by and attended by many of our very close friends and family. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family that take such good care of us.

The shower was what I would call a traditional shower where the ladies enjoyed great food and company. I was telling BM that I hated not being able to stay for the event (ladies only) and see everyone because they are all such great people. In fact, when I was asked to swing by and pickup the gifts at the end of the shower, I was so excited that I would get to go to the house full of hotties. And sure enough, I walked into a room full of gifts and ladies. So, to all you hotties (and that includes you) that attended or sent gifts, I want to say thank you. BM and I are truly blessed to be surrounded by such loving and caring people.

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Tornados in Atlanta

Monday, March 17th, 2008

Last week, BM had a business trip to Atlanta. I decided to go to make one last trip away from home before Grayson is born. We tried to get a room at the Embassy Suites in downtown Atlanta but they were booked up with people in town to watch a basketball tournament. So, we ended up staying in mid town and am very glad we did.

Friday evening a tornado passed right through downtown causing major damage to numerous high rise buildings. Luckily, nobody was killed which, after having driven through the area hit, seems to be a wonder. Due to the security presence and lack of parking, I didn’t stop to take any photos.

We returned to our house last Saturday evening and spent some time unpacking. Today, we shot some photos and I have included them below.

As for the pregnancy, everything seems to be on schedule. Our next meeting with the doctor is just over a week away.

End of 36 Weeks

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4+ years of poop

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

When we first made the announcement that BM was preggers, some friends of ours (who have two young children) dropped a care package off at the house. They picked up a few goodies one day which included the Jenny McCarthy book Belly Laughs.

I didn’t know too much about McCarthy other than she was pretty popular on MTV and had done a pictorial in Playboy (what? - can’t a guy read the articles :) BM and I can attest that the Belly Laughs book really does make you belly laugh. BM and I would lay in bed reading this book and start laughing so hard that we thought we would never catch our breath. McCarthy’s no holds barred style of humor really proved to be helpful in the early stages of BM’s pregnancy.

Well, our friends decided to get us the second book by McCarthy - Baby Laughs. We are about halfway through the book which has also made our bellies hurt. So far, the chapter that has made us laugh the most had to do with the amazing amount of poop that a baby can produce and the amazing ability of a baby to get the poop everywhere. Jenny’s potty humor in that chapter is great and I won’t even try to do it justice.

That chapter reminded us of a friend who had his little boy (4 years old or so) over at our house a couple months ago. The little boy was tugging on his dad’s pants to tell dad he wanted to go home. Dad was hanging out with us, so he made no effort to move toward leaving. Finally, after enough tugging, the little boy told his dad that he had pooped in his pants and needed to go home. The dad, who was standing among about eight adults, took the news far better than I expected. Dad got up, walked to the car, all the while telling the boy that he would have to stand up in the back seat with the windows down so as not to stink or mess up the car any worse than such a trip would absolutely require.

Needless to say, it was the poop chapter and the boy story that made me all of a sudden realized that I would be stuck dealing with poop for more than the next four years. But, I am told it is for a worthy cause :)

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GR is short for Gordon Ramsey :)

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

BM and I love to watch the TV shows that entrepreneur and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey stars in, especially his European shows. Some friends of ours turned us on to Ramsey about a year ago. Since then BM and I have watched all of his European shows and a few of his American shows. Most of you will know him from his US shows called Hell’s Kitchen (think Apprentice but in a restaurant kitchen) and Kitchen Nightmares where Ramsey tries to turn around failing restaurants whose owners often times shouldn’t be in the restaurant business.

While his US shows are good we love the shows from across the pond. I would guess most Americans see Ramsey as a super hard ass that doesn’t care about anything other than his ego. But, after having watch his other shows, we can definitely say that nothing is further from the truth. BM and I guess that Ramsey’s shows are done a specific way so as to attract an American audience.

Well, we had dinner with our Ramsey friends the other night. They have taken to calling Grasyson GR (it appears that everyone is looking for a nickname to use :) I mentioned something at dinner about how Ramsey would take issue with something the kitchen had done and the light bulb went off in our friends’ heads. She blurted out “GR really stands for Gordon Ramsey, doesn’t it?” He followed with, “Now that the cat is out of the bag, why don’t you just name you kid Gordon Ramsey?.” So, now you know, GR really means Gorden Ramsey rather than Grayson Reid ;)

If you are interested in reading more about Gordon (not Grayson) you should check out his Wikipedia article here. And, if you are looking for a Ramsey show to get you hooked, take a look at the F-Word (stands for food silly) or the British version of Kitchen Nightmares.

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5lb 2oz

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

We are in the middle of the 35th week and we had another doctors appointment today. Perfect growth is all I really need to say. But, I thought everyone would like to know that, through the magic of the computer and the sonogram, they tell us that GR weights in at 5 lbs 2 oz. Assuming all the variables used in that calculation are accurate, this puts GR on track to be just over eight lbs around the time he is born. The problem for BM is that I have a gigantic head (physically not mentally ;) so even if GR is 8lbs at birth, she may still have to deal with my boy’s large noggin.

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More Pics

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

Today was a photo day and below are a couple from our session. BM has been really tired today, I guess because she has been working so hard to come up with a name :)

Nearly 35 Weeks

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Grayson Reid

Saturday, March 1st, 2008

Well, it took us a really long time to select a name, but not because we didn’t have one we liked. Mostly, we felt like we might be doing our child a disservice by not committing a decent amount of time to the selection of his name. In the end, I am sure it won’t matter because it is the only name he will have ever known.

So, we are happy to tell everyone that our baby’s name will be Grayson Reid.

The name really has no special meaning or connotation for us. It isn’t a family name or the name of someone famous or infamous (as best we know). We just like the name.

We have found several different definitions of the name, but my favorite is “son of the gray haired one” which is what I expect to be shortly after he is born. Son of the bailiff, steward, and overseer are other definitions we ran across. So, it is nice that we didn’t select a name which is defined as “crazy one” or “the one who doesn’t pay attention” (although the latter will surely follow since he is my son).

Anyway, we hope you like the name. We thought you would like to know :)

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