Category Archives: Second Trimester

About a Boy

Posted on December 19, 2009 | 3 Comments

So if you haven’t figured this out from the blog post title, we are expecting a boy!

J at the ultrasound

J at the ultrasound

The latest in 3D Ultrasonic Technology confirms the presence of very tiny testicles. That’s the perfect setup for a punchline about genetics and my masculinity. So let’s just move past it shall we?

A boy – but don’t tell Janelle’s father. Apparently he doesn’t want to know until it he(!) is born. I have know idea how we’ll be able to keep this information away from him. But I suppose we’ll try.

The 3D Ultrasound was pretty fun, actually. The room is very comfortable, with big leather chairs and such. Not clinical at all. Ultrasounds are not new, but it still seems like a mind-blowing technology: “Let’s take a look at the living thing in your stomach.” Wow! There it is – let’s count the toes!

Add into this that we had four of our family members watching this experience live on the Internet. Plus I was snapping pics (like this one of J) on her iPhone, texting my sister, and posting to twitter at the same time. Oh, and drinking a Tim’s coffee.

We live in very luxurious times. How can you raise kids to appreciate this luxury and not have them take it for granted?

So, yes, a boy!

We think.

The technician was very positive and spent a great degree of time checking various angles in order to satisfy herself. So I’m confident.

And yet: this wouldn’t be the first time that the ultrasound was wrong (far from it). And that’s okay. J loves surprises. And I’m perfectly happy for either a boy or a girl.

But it’ll very likely be a boy.

So now we are refining and focusing the list of possible names (I’ll be discussing the issues with the Last Name in a later post). J is trying “Henry” on for size.

And to me it all seems that much more real. The resolution on the future seems higher and much more viewable. And with the increase in resolution so too an increase in the enormity of the responsibility.

Oh geeze.

I think J is feeling something similar. Now she’s able to think about the idea of a son. She’s going to have a mother-son relationship. I’m going to have a father-son relationship. That is a little unnerving.

I’m suddenly reminded of when I was learning how to swim: hanging on to the side of the pool and putting my foot into the water – deeper and deeper – and nothing beyond.

I guess it’s sink or swim time buddy.

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Posted in Beginnings and Endings, Second Trimester, The Pregnancy

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Renos

Posted on December 11, 2009 | Leave a comment

J and I have a propensity to bite off more than we can chew. I’m speaking specifically about overly-optimistic and intricately entwined project time-lines. Each step in our projects must begin a specific time regardless of the status of the previous step – and yet the previous step must be completed before the next step can be complete. It’s a house of cards, really.

J would like to think this is related to my tendency to wait until the last minute to complete things (but, pray tell, what else is a deadline for?). But I prefer to blame my child-like naïveté (what’s a mitre saw?) regarding hammer-and-saw-type projects. Once I do it once, I tend to do it much better the second time.

Mitre Saw

Mitre Saw?

This particular project/disaster spins outward from an essentially simple project: the installation of hardwoods in the baby’s room, our bedroom, a hallway, and a few stairs. We’re not even installing this hardwood – we are paying people to do it for us.

But it is not so simple, of course, since we are living in this space at the moment. So there is furniture – beds, bookcases – that need to be moved into the barely-big-enough kitchen and living room (already stacked with boxes of to-be-installed bamboo flooring). There are carpets and underlay to be removed. Baseboards too. All of this comes with nails and staples galore that must also be pried out of their wooden resting places. Walls to be painted. Baseboards to be purchased, transported, painted, cut, installed. All of this and more: our previously installed custom closets need to be removed and subsequently reinstalled, for instance.

“Renos” is both a curse-word and a Christmas tradition for J and I.

Before we moved into our first condo together – the first place we actually owned – we needed to do much the same. I spent countless hours pulling staples from the floor, ripping baseboards and casing from the walls, and generally gutting the place at a rushed pace to ensure that it was barren before the flooring guys came in to start making it better. All this was a few years ago in December, just days before J and I were bound to hop on a plane for Christmas in England.

The snow and the frigid cold and Christmas carols and the %*&@ing renos…yes, it must be the Holidays again.

Happy Christmas everyone!

You Would Never Survive the Winters in this Province – Maybe Smith

PS – the to-be-finished-today flooring already looks awesome. The baby’s room has been painted green and yellow. And J might have already purchased a crib this morning. So it is working out perfectly (just as I planned!).

(Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/biblicone and Flickr’s Creative Commons)

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Compelling Humility

Posted on December 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

And when our baby stirs and struggles to be born it compels humility: what we began is now its own.
- Margaret Mead

You’ll be pleased to know that since my last posting, I have taken the fitness declaration to heart. Literally, I guess, since my heart has been working overtime. My muscles too didn’t realize what they were in for (Indeed, I’ve received several unfair labour petitions from the muscles’ shop steward. I’ve responded by increasing the tempo even further – take buttercup!). But while I may have a few sore muscles, I do feel better. Better rested. More energy. It is really amazing how quickly you can feel the impact of basic physical exercise.

The baby’s room is coming along nicely. The walls have been painted (mostly) and the new floors come next week. The house is a crazy mess right now – which is freaking the dog out – but hopefully it’ll be better by Christmastime.

Lisa Mitchell – Neopolitan Dreams

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Posted in Beginnings and Endings, Second Trimester, The Pregnancy

Eating for Two

Posted on November 19, 2009 | 2 Comments

In the last forty-eight hours I’ve consumed four doughnuts and about six bowls of ice-cream. This isn’t all that I’ve eaten in the last two days. I’ve eaten much more. Lots of bread. Some perogies. Half-a-bottle of non-alcoholic, but plenty sugary, champagne. I can go on, but I’ll spare you. Suffice it to say that this is an approach to nutrition I’ve been pursuing for many months, with predictable results.

DoughnutsThere was a time when I could not gain weight. I was nineteen and I weighed about 145lbs. I was six feet tall. Looking back, I can see that I was burning so many calories a day that I could afford to eat and drink whatever I wanted. I was working full-time in the military and I threw myself into PT (physical training) every morning with gusto. I tried to bulk up by following my Dozen-Dozen Diet™ – that’s a dozen beer and a dozen doughnuts a day.

I didn’t bulk up.

Oh, the wasted days of youth.

You can guess that the time when I could not gain weight has long since ended. My height, sadly, has not increased with my weight. I’ve bulked up, to be sure. Just perhaps not in the athletic locations.

Now, there are many reasons to be healthy and fit. I have many reasons. Not the least of which is that I am still in the army, and being out of shape is a definite no-no there. But at my rank level there is no one looking over my shoulder or telling me to pump off a few more pushups. No, that motivation must come from within. I am supposed to be a good example for younger soldiers. And for me that train of thought carries over to my new responsibilities of fatherhood. I need to set a good example. I am responsible for the eating and fitness habits of my child.

And that’s a good reason to start doing something about it now.

Moreover, I’ve been told that raising a kid can be stressful – from sleepless nights, to money concerns, it will take a toll on you mentally and physically. A healthy and fit body can endure stress better.

So I’ve decided that I need to recapture the gusto of that nineteen-year-old self. Get back into a physical fitness regime. Frankly, there is no excuse not to (I work fifty metres away from a gym! And I live a hundred metres away from another gym).

I have under 20 weeks left before this baby is born.

Time to eat better  and  get fit.

I know I have your support.

So please stop bringing me doughnuts.

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Posted in Fitness, Second Trimester, The Pregnancy

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New Subaru

Posted on November 18, 2009 | 1 Comment

Subaru (スバル) is the automobile brand name of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries Group. The fact that I bought a vehicle made by the Fuji Heavy Industries Group makes me laugh (see here and here). But while humour is important in a vehicle, safety remains more important (Subaru gets major safety kudos in CBC article today). Thus we have the Subaru Forester. Until I get a couple of our own pictures, I’ll have to direct you here to see what it looks like. So far I’m very pleased with this purchase.

So, while we didn’t find out what sex the baby is from our ultrasound last week, we did pick up a new car.

Meanwhile, the house is slowly transforming – the den becoming the baby’s room. This is involves removing all the furniture from the den and figuring out where to put it: no small task. But we now have all the furniture out. We’ve also scheduled a few contractors to help with small projects and the flooring guys are coming around the middle of December. By Christmastime we should have nice new floors, a nicely painted and tidy baby’s room, and even some rebuilt cabinets in the kitchen.

Certainly there is no lack of work.

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