Week 33

Here are the latest bump pics, now less than 2 months left! We have our next OBGYN appointment next Tuesday, then Meghan leaves for the holidays at her parents on Wednesday until Jan. 2. I will find a couple of days between rehearsals and work to visit my grandma's house around Christmas. Other than that, I haven't made any definite plans yet.

As you can see, Desi is rather suspicious that "her" new bed may not be a permanent fixture...


Wishing you all a Happy Holiday!

Reflections on Fatherhood: Censorship

I'm generally not one for censorship. I am happy to be living in a country where people are free to read, watch, or listen to whatever they want. This of course applies to adults, but what about children? I absolutely adore A Clockwork Orange and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (both the books and movies), but would I show/read them to a ten year old? Hell no! So where does one draw the line for a child who may not be able to tell the difference between real and imaginary? Also, are there any toys that I should not allow my child to play with before a certain age?

As far as movies go, the ratings system in my mind is a little too overprotective. Obviously, the most important thing will be to know my child and his/her sense of reality to determine when certain movies are appropriate, but generally I'd say using the rating system minus two years is a relatively safe bet. Most PG-13 movies are VERY tame and can be handled by anyone over the age of ten. With the R rating, I know that by the time I got to high school I had no problem seeing any movie I wanted (and that was before high-speed internet), so I think that would be a logical time to lift the ban. More important than setting a specific age is to start a dialog at an early age about the difference between what they see on the screen or read in a book, and what is acceptable in real life.

As far as toys go, I have a feeling this may be a lost cause, and I use myself as an example. My parents decided when I was born that I would not be allowed any toy guns. Then at some point around the age of three I picked up a stick, pointed it at a tree, and started yelling "Bang! Bang!" Clearly I already understood the concept of a gun, and keeping me from a toy wasn't going to change anything... Then we have toys that indoctrinate children with stereotypes about the way they should act and look (Bratz, I'm looking at you). This is what scares me the most. After teaching at a high school for two years, I know how much today's kids are influenced by what they are told on TV and in music. Not that I wasn't so influenced when I was a kid, but now it seems out of control.

Is there a line of children's toys out there that encourages free thinking? I'm sure there are plenty, I just need to look into it.

30 Weeks... and stuff

Big belly getting bigger. 30 weeks and counting!

Hmmm. We might have to do somethin about Desi thinking this was set up for her own personal use! Any thoughts?

And so that Lucy Goosie doesn't feel left out... Here she is in all her burrowed glory!!!

Here is a picture of the stroller that was lovingly given to us by Conrad's Mom and Dad. We love it! And as you can see it has been explored by all furry creatures that reside in the house.

And here it is again.
This is a very exciting time for Conrad who will be starting his rehearsals for High School Musical on Tuesday. He has been awaiting the time when he would be able to step on stage again, as does every nut job who decides to follow the lights of the stage. We also will be having our 30 week apt at the Doc's office this week and no news from the Doctor regarding any concerns. You know what they say, "No news is good news!"

So far the Pregnancy is going well and Monkey is moving around a lot. Things are getting a little uncomfortable but I am sure that it will only get "better" as we progress farther along. So needless to say we are getting anxious, not to hurry the process, to meet Monkey and see whether we have a little Monkey or a Monkette :)

Love to everyone in this festive time of year. Enjoy the lights and wonder of the season!!!

Retraction and Unrelated Announcement

Those of you that have been following this blog may have noticed a comment I made a while back that called High School Musical one of the great evils of the world. I would like to officially retract that statement. High school Musical is a wonderful show that is simply misunderstood by everyone except for 10-14 year old girls. While following the story of the deep and complex lead character named Troy, this artistic masterpiece shows the importance of following one's dreams regardless of what others think. Valuable lessons about life and love abound, and the upbeat dance routines should have everyone yelling "go Wildcats!" by the end.



In a completely unrelated announcement, I have recently accepted the role of Troy in a 16 week run of High School Musical. The run opens on Feb. 18 (5 days after the baby is due, obviously I have an understudy), and closes on June 7. We will be performing 8 shows per week (2 Wednesday, 2 Sunday, dark Monday) for the majority of the run. So if anyone is planning on being in the Baltimore/DC area this spring, you can now see the new baby as well as a show!

Nursery Pictures

Here is the crib and our lovely Pooh bedding. My parents and brother found the bedding for an amazing bargain. Leave it to my mom to find the best deal possible!

Another shot of the crib

And yet another...

Guest room/nursery so far. This room contains as much furniture as we can possibly fit!

The chest of drawers/changing table that my parents and brother purchased for us. They are wonderful aren't they?

Sorry!

Sorry about the lack of a post lately, with Meghan's parents in town we wanted to spend our free time with them rather than behind a computer trying to come up with new witticisms for the blog.


In the next few days we will add a couple of new posts involving the new crib and chest of drawers for Monkey's (SOMEONE has "politely requested" that I retire the name Overlord. ho hum...) room, obgyn updates, a new reflection on fatherhood, a small retraction from a previous ROF post, and and anything else I may have forgotten.


I will leave you for now with the latest baby bump photo, and a picture of our beloved Desi in the bathtub (really, what good is having a cat if one can't send inane photos of it to all one's friends and relatives?).


Enjoy!

24 weeks

Here is a picture of the belly at 24 weeks. It is sticking out a little farther than a couple of weeks ago.
We have some good news. A couple of weeks ago a scan of Monkey's brain showed a Choroid Plexus Cyst. As far as complications go it is a fairly common one, however it can be an indicator of a chromosomal abnormality. Needless to say I was a wreck thinking the worst as only an irrational person like myself can think. The good news is that on Thursday I got a call from the doctor. After she had viewed the newest ultra sound, it had been determined that the cyst had resolved itself. It was GONE!!!! Thank God! One stress gone. Everything else looks great and right on target. I have been feeling increased movement, but Conrad is still not able to feel anything. Hopefully soon!

Here is the latest ultra sound of Monkey. I love looking at these pictures knowing that the cyst is gone. It makes me smile :)
Look at that big old noggin! Conrad says it is a sign of intelligence. However, that is what all people with big heads say;)
Not much else going on over here. We are getting ready for my parents to come to Baltimore. I am so excited to see them. We actually get to have all of us together for Mako's birthday for the first time since he graduated high school. Since we weren't all together this summer, this will be the first time since Christmas. So needles to say, I can't WAIT!!!!

Hope everyone has a great week.

USA 6, Cuba 1

Clearly ready for fatherhood...

I went to the USA vs. Cuba World Cup qualifier last saturday at RFK. Started tailgating at around 3:30 for a 7:00 game. As we were playing Cuba, the guys I went with decided mojitos and cigars would be appropriate for the occation, and who was I to argue?

Can't wait to share this kind of experience with my child (minus the mojitos and cigars of course...).

22 Weeks and Counting!

Well, here is my belly at week 22. I think I feel the difference more than I see the difference. It is definitely something I can't hide anymore and tends to grow throughout the day (much more substantial in the evening than in the morning). The wonderful new development is that I can now feel movements, more so than just the sensation of a popping bubble. The gymnastics tournament in my belly every evening after dinner is actually quite a strange sensation. Not at all how I imagined it would feel. I am one who thrives off of the reassurance this newer development offers.

I have let the kids at school know about Monkey and they are pretty excited about becoming "Godparents." In their community if you are not a blood relative you tend to be a Godparent. Thus, when they claim a familial relation to every other student in the school they can rationalize it. One of the most common explanations for why they just smacked someone else on the head is that, "It's ok, that's my cousin." Needless to say these children are a unique breed. Lovable on their own, but the group dynamic is not the greatest. It makes me smile however, when I am at school scolding the kids for being too loud and Monkey is getting very upset from the noise and kicking or punching me. I can really lay on the guilt and get a 50/50 shot at it making a difference.

Conrad and I finally ventured to the wondrously overwhelming establishment that is Babies я Us. Holy Crap!!! My first emotion upon walking through those sliding glass doors was, "Ok, I don't want to do this anymore! How can one little baby require all of this?" We proceeded to the registration counter to get started. We got all set up with our scanner gun and we were ready, to stand in one place looking at row upon row of different pacifiers, bottles, medicines, soaps, etc. not knowing what the hell to do or which one to pick. Finally we picked none of them got frustrated and moved on to the next isle. The big things like stroller, crib, dresser were easy. Which one do we like best? The other stuff was nearly impossible to differentiate between. Conrad kept it light, while I was ready to curl up into a ball and disappear, so God bless him for that. See we make a good team right? I overreact and he doesn't react at all.

We were perusing the bathtub isle, which by the way is rather extensive as well and could be a tore on it's own, and we came upon the Deluxe Baby Spa. This thing is insane! It has jetted whirlpool effects that we don't have in our regular tub, and a shower detachable handle to rinse baby off. It was crazy expensive especially taking into consideration we registered for a piece of foam that will (ideally) keep Monkey afloat and only costs $7. At this point in our adventure Conrad had the brilliant and oh, so loud idea that the baby spa was remarkably similar in size and function to the foot spa we already owned. At this point in the exclamation a woman next to us turned to Conrad and gave him the most withering, disgusted look I have ever seen. She thought he was serious which I found rather amusing, to her even further disgust. Once I got myself pulled back together and had made the much needed trip to the restroom ( due to excess laughing) we proceeded on to the next isle which had the foam things that positions the baby in the crib. We had already decided to forgo a bassinet due to no storage availability after it's usefulness was through. Conrad then piped up with his second gem (even brighter and louder than the first one), that it was a shame we had previously disposed of the box from Costco that could easily take the place of the foam positioner. As it happens the disgusted woman from before was witness to this second brilliant display of cost-saving ingenuity from my husband and my hysterical laughter. I had previously thought it impossible, but she managed to get even more disgusted with us and stormed off muttering something unintelligible under her breath, which prompted the second and equally as necessary restroom break on my part. After this we hurried through the rest of the store scanning anything and seemingly everything so we could get the heck out of there and go home. I was exhausted and impatient at this point and Conrad was no longer focusing on the task at hand, but checking out the latest sports scores and highlights that he had missed in the 4 hours since entering this magical land of extravagance. I took the longest nap to date in my pregnancy upon arriving at home. It was wonderful and a great conclusion to an unnecessarily stressful adventure. (the stress was unnecessary not the adventure)!

Reflections on Fatherhood: Culture

Being someone who has devoted the last ten years of his life to the pursuit of the performing arts, it is important to me that Overlord has an appreciation for the arts and is a cultured overlord.

Now, I realize that the term "cultured" can be rather vague, so I'll break it down this way: To be a cultured individual, one must have a basic understanding of certain subject areas within his/her society, and at least an appreciation for differences between those subject areas among different societies. These subject areas generally include but are not limited to: music, theater (both live and recorded), sports (yes, sports are a part of culture...), art, literature, history, science, language, and basically anything else that can be included in a liberal arts degree or found on a Trivial Pursuit board...

So how does one accomplish this? I believe one starts with children's versions of some of these art forms. As much as I have complained about playing more parts in children's theater productions than any normal person should ever have to, I believe that it instills in children an appreciation for live theater that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. So we have children's theater, children's museums, science museums, books, and lots of travel. As (s)he gets older, we can begin mixing in easier-to-understand non children-specific works, i.e. Two Gentlemen of Verona as opposed to Titus Andronicus, Salvador Dali (surrealist, but kids love it) as opposed to Jackson Pollock, The Marriage of Figaro as opposed to Wozzeck, etc...

Hopefully this will eventually lead to a well-rounded overlord who has developed his/her own complex tastes. Now of course we will inevitably run into the snobby taking of one idea and going WAY too far with it: Picture a 20 year old overlord dressed in black from head to toe at a coffee shop in Chelsea saying things like "I don't understand how anyone can even watch American movies, they've been nothing but drivel for the masses since Citizen Kane..."

We could also end up with an overlord wearing a beret and speaking on street corners through a megaphone about the need for the proletariat to rise up while asking to be referred to as "Che."

Just about everyone goes through a phase like this, and there's really nothing wrong with it. I'd much rather have my child sound like an idiot for being a little too passionate about something than sounding like an idiot because (s)he simply doesn't know anything.

Next up in the Reflections on Fatherhood series: Censorship. How far should I go (if at all) in sheltering my child from the bad things in this world like violence, R-rated movies, or High School Musical?

So There's a 25% Chance...

New ultrasound, new photos. Four possibilities:

Normal looking human baby

Normal looking human baby, button nose

Normal looking human baby, slightly enlarged teeth

Evil alien overlord, wringing hands in anticipation of immanent arrival and subsequent enslavement of entire human race

Things went well for the most part at our ultrasound today. Monkey (Overlord?) was being rather stubborn (much like a certain parent who shall remain nameless...) and wouldn't turn over to allow a shot of his/her spine, but everything else looked normal. 11 ounces, 141 bpm heart rate. The technician never asked whether we wanted to know the sex of the child, so I assume she couldn't tell yet.

A Moment of Seriousness

As most of you probably know, I work at a school where the lives of my students are anything but easy. Let's just say Leave It To Beaver never saw this part of town.

This last week I went into work to find out that a student of mine had been shot in the leg during a shootout between two of the neighborhood's drug dealers. The little girl, whom I will refer to as "Jane," was wandering around her housing project when she got caught in the crossfire. She managed to make it home where her father called 911. She was rushed to the hospital and quickly released after the wound had been taken care of (no insurance you know). She was terrified of going home so she spent the rest of the week resting at her Grandma's house.

Upon hearing the story I was obviously stunned. A few of the circumstances surrounding the incident bothered me (setting aside the fact that a little girl was shot). First of all, what the hell was Jane doing wandering around a notoriously dangerous neighborhood at 11:00 pm on a school night? What was a 9 year old doing outside alone at 11:00pm at all? In addition, where were her neighbors? It wasn't until she managed to get herself home that 911 was called. Every person in the housing project (including some of her classmates, my students) could hear the gun shots, but apparently no one thought it necessary to call the police.

Equally disconcerting was the reaction my students had to the news that a classmate had been shot. They felt bad for her, but there was a noticeable absence of surprise in their reactions. They were much more curious as to the status of the shooters. Did the police know who they were? Had they been caught? Were they in jail yet? There was also a lot of speculation as to who's relative or friend it was that had shot Jane. This is an issue of great concern to the Staff members. The likelihood that the shooters are known to the kids is very high. What will their reactions be if/when they find out it was a father or uncle of a classmate? If something like this had happened to a classmate of mine when I was 9, I would have been shocked and afraid for my own safety and the safety in my neighborhood. It is disheartening to me that shootings are such common occurrences in the lives of these children that they aren't even phased by a classmate getting shot.

When I see things like this, I sometimes wonder if we are all crazy for bringing children into this world. Obviously, this situation grew out of one of the worst neighborhoods in one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country, and in no way represents a "normal" childhood. It's not like there's no hope, but sometimes thinking about it all can be overwhelming.

Reflections on Fatherhood: Sports

As an ex-athlete and lifelong sports fan, I feel it is my duty to make sure that Monkey is well-versed in the world of modern athletics. Just as important to this is making sure that (s)he roots for the right teams. Clearly I will have failed as a father if my child comes home one day wearing a (god forbid) Ducks t-shirt...

To accomplish this end, I am planning a "root through osmosis" approach. If Monkey observes me rooting relentlessly for the Beavers, (s)he will slowly begin to root for the Beavers as well (Monkey see, Monkey do, anyone?). On the other side of things, if the child sees me throw the TV remote in angry despair after the Bears lose on a last-second field goal, (s)he will come to understand that a horrible thing has occurred, and will mourn along with me for the rest of the day/weekend/month (depending on the magnitude of the game).

This approach clearly worked on me. I know that Penn State has without a doubt the greatest football program that has ever existed because starting in the fall of 1981, I watched their games and joined in with all of the joyous highs and despairing lows with my parents and other members of the Penn State Club of Oregon.

Thus the indoctrination encouragement begins this coming summer with the FIFA confederations cup. I see this as the perfect opportunity to "kick things off" for two reasons: 1. It sets the tone that the USA Men's National Soccer Team is the #1 team in the hierarchy of teams to root for. 2. The confederations cup is kind of like a "World Cup Lite," and will serve as a good preparation for the pandemonium of fandom that Monkey will witness the following summer during the actual World Cup. After that it will be a healthy tossed salad of Penn State/Oregon State/Chicago Bears football in the fall, a sprinkling of the occasional Baltimore Orioles baseball game, a dash of Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey, a dressing of Portland Trailblazers basketball, and for dessert, Portland Timbers Soccer (here's to praying they are able to join the MLS in the next 5 years). Bon appétit!

Next up in the Reflections on Fatherhood series: Culture (on the chance that Monkey turns out to be a theater nerd like his/her father...)

(wow I wish the English language had a gender-neutral pronoun referring to a human being)

Pregnant, or Just Big Boned?

Ever been confronted with a question that could possibly turn uncomfortable? Let me tell you a story...

Obviously I have gained some weight as a side effect of pregnancy. That being said, my current look is that visually glorious in-between stage where the question on everyones mind is something along the lines of, "Is she pregnant, or just plumping up for a sparce winter?"

With this in mind, imagine my surprise when two people in the same day asked me when Monkey was due. At first it didn't strike me as odd, but looking back I wonder just how much I would have cried twer there no due date. As someone well aquainted with the concept of insecurity, I have to wonder how many years of therapy it would take to restack that house of cards. Yay self-esteem!!!

13 weeks and 17 weeks

13 Weeks



















17 Weeks

Sea monkey at 16 weeks.

Totally has my eyes...







So we have decided to start a blog for anyone interested in tracking the progress of Meghan's pregnancy. Judging by the preliminary ultrasound, we are a bit concerned that we have managed to conceive a sea monkey, but are relatively confident that all will be cleared up at our next ultrasound on the 22nd.