Friday Nights

Remember when Friday nights meant mom or dad dropping you off at the movie theater to hang out with your friends? You spent half the night eating sour patch kids and the other half shoveling quarters into a Pacman video game.

Remember when Friday nights meant high school football games? You wore your favorite sweatshirt and stood at the edge of the field. You held someone's hand for the first time or exchanged innocent pecks under the bleachers.

Remember when Friday nights meant parties at the sorority or fraternity house? You stayed out late, acted like you were all grown up. Then back at the dorm you stayed up even later talking about who you saw, who you met & wondered if they liked you too.

Remember when Friday nights meant dates, a dinner & a movie? Remember when Friday night meant meeting friends after work for happy hour? Remember when Friday nights meant concerts & house parties? Remember when Friday nights meant a long walk for ice cream with someone special? Remember when Friday night meant just snuggling on the couch for a movie?

Remember when Friday night meant washing brand new baby clothes & unpacking a fresh pack of newborn diapers? WAIT. What?

Yup. Friday night & we're unpacking hand-me-down baby clothes & clipping the tags from new ones. Baby's complete wardrobe, all those tiny little onesies & sleepers, fill only half the washer. Then we'll dry, fold, & place them gently in the freshly lined dresser drawers where they wait for 6 more short weeks.

Calm Before the Storm

We attended the first of our four birthing classes this evening. As we entered the hospital, signs posted in the hallways led you to "Birth Education Classes". A more accurate sign would've read, "Annoying People who don't listen to the instructor and ask the same question that's already been asked FOUR TIMES -> this way". Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder how some people even find their way from the bed to the bathroom in the morning.

Aside from the uber-random, repeat questions, it was an okay first session. The first session was very much an overview. Later sessions delve into more detail about labor, relaxation techniques, and other topics. The class included a tour of the Labor & Delivery and Mother & Child sections of the hospital. We were both suprisingly unemotional & calm about the whole event. I think we went into the evening thinking that the class (and tour in particular) would somehow create a sense of "reality" that would frighten or excite us. But, it didn't. Maybe that reality already exists. Maybe the information learned created a calm rather than anxiety. Or maybe, maybe it's just the calm before the storm.

33 weeks down. 7 to go.

Freezer Foods

Back at the beginning of the year, we made a New Year's Resolution to "eat in more & out less." So far, we've done really well & had lots of fun in the kitchen in the process. Now with just a couple of months to go, we're thinking about stocking up the freezer in anticipation of being too tired to do too much in the kitchen after those sleepless nights begin. We don't have a lot of freezer experience, so we're looking for suggestions. If you have any great recipes that you know freeze well, send 'em along.

will.hinshaw@gmail.com

traci.hinshaw@gmail.com

We start our birthing classes next week. More excitement to come!

Single Digits!

Well, folks, we're down to 8 weeks -- yay for single digits! Or, maybe....crap, single digits. At this point, it depends on the day you ask -- in some respects, it seems like the last 32 weeks have floooown by. In others, it seems like we might never get to hold the little girl that awaits us at the end of this journey. And, what a journey it's been. Just to share a few statistics and factoids -- in 2009, we've experienced

...2 pregnancy tests (yes, we went back to the drugstore for a 2nd one after our first positive result, we couldn't believe it!)

...9 doctor's appointments so far (with many more to come)

...4 ultrasounds

...376 prenatal vitamins (approximately -- that's TWO big horse pills a day. For those who know me, you know this alone is a HUGE accomplishment for me and my overactive gag reflex)

...1 craving for chocolate cake so bad I made one myself

...268,080 minutes since finding out we're having a baby

I must say, when I look at it in those terms, it's understandable that I forget what life was like pre-pregnancy! But, now there's just 8 short weeks until a new life enters this crazy world. A new circle begins & I can hardly wait to see where it goes. Just eight weeks.

The Pillow Fort

The Pillow Fort. If you've ever been pregnant or ever slept with a pregnant woman, you know what I'm talking about. For as long as we've shared a bed, T has constantly fought me to stay on my half of the bed. No more. I am now relegated, like a serf, to my "third" of the bed, the third beyond the north wall of The Pillow Fort. Like most preggos, T has found that sleeping comfortably is directly related to the number of pillows utilized. There are pillows under the head, under the belly, between the knees, and behind the back. Complete pillow fortification.

I generally take a strong pro-sleep stance. If pillow fortification is what it takes, I'm in favor. I suppose it's really no bother to me. I could sleep just as soundly atop a freight train locomotive running full speed through a tornado as I can in the shadows of the north wall of The Pillow Fort.

Butterflies, Rainbows, Ballet Slippers & Innocence

A lady that I work with had a baby girl in March. Early this week she sent a box full of clothes that her little one barely wore, but has already outgrown. As Traci & I sorted through them, I was amazed at just how tiny they were. It's sometimes difficult for me to fathom that a person, a real live person, could ever be that small. And if the whole baby's that small, think about how little her stomach is or her heart or her lungs. If I think about it too much, it really becomes more than I'm capable of taking in.

It's not only her physical size that I'm struck by as I study the miniature couture, bejeweld with butterflies, rainbows, & ballet slippers. It's the innocence that really strikes me, the innocence that comes with being a newborn & weighing little more than a bag or two of sugar. How could anything that small be anything less than perfect. I can't imagine any parent every thinking otherwise. At some point though, we all fall from that perfection, that innocence. We're tainted by our environment and our own thoughts and actions as we develop and grow. I wonder though, does a parent see the innocence of their child go or does it just slip away. Can a parent ever pinpoint that moment when the innocence is gone? Can a parent do things to perserve that innocence or make it last longer? For now, I look forward to enjoying the innocence of a beautiful newborn for as long as it might last.

These are the things that I think about when I look at those tiny clothes ... butterflies, rainbows, ballet slippers & innocence.