Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Baby update

Last weekend was parental education weekend.

Saturday was spent at a 1 day Lamaze marathon class. We learned everything you wanted to know about childbirth but were too frightened to ask. I wish we could have started the classes sooner so we could have taken the 4 2 hour sessions instead but the class schedules didn’t work out for us. I learned how I could be helpful while my wife was in labor. That was good information since all I know about childbirth is from TV and the movies. (And that stuff was useless.)

With a fresh dose of motivation, we went out Sunday morning to pick up some more baby items since she could arrive “any moment” now. (That was 1 of the things I learned in Lamaze class.) Breast Feeding/Lactation class was in the afternoon. Again, I learned more about breast feeding/lactation than I knew I needed to know. I also learned I could be of assistance. I always thought I was pretty much out of the loop since my breasts are non-functioning display models. But apparently I can help make sure the baby’s got a good latch on and in the proper position.

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posted by ChowderHead @ 5/21/2008 07:17:00 PM 0 comments

What does a Chowderhead do on his vacation?

He works on his lawn & garden. Weed & feed the lawn. Turn over the flower beds and put down 4 cubic yards of mushroom manure. Yes, it’s THAT time of year again. We’ve learned the mushroom manure not only helps to feed the plants, replenish the nutrients in the soil, insulate the plants from temperature swings, but it also helps to break up the hard clay soil that was my flower beds. We’ve been using mushroom manure for the flower beds for 4 or 5 years and they are so much easier to turn over now versus then. In the past I might get 1 or 2 beds turned over and I was exhausted. (I had gotten a work out.) This year turning over all the beds was pretty quick & easy. Yes, it was still a few hours worth of work but it was done in a few hours versus a day & a half. I find gardening to be a good stress reliever. Yes it's work but gardening allows me to get out of the office and not think about my usual occupation.

He gets a new top for his Miata. I love the new top. The glass window really increased the clarity and visibility out the rear window. People with regular cars don’t think about their rear windows much. But the original plastic rear window was starting to get cloudy, yellow and wrinkled. All of this reduced visibility making it harder to park the car & a bit more dangerous. Something else people that don’t have convertibles don’t know or think about: shrinkage. Convertible tops invariably shrink due to age, wear & tear, and exposure to the elements. Shrinkage isn’t a problem unless it rains. We live in Pittsburgh, it rains…

He works on his baby girl’s room. We bought a glider/rocker and a crib. I assembled and placed the crib.

He takes his wife to a surprise baby shower. Her gal pals called me months ago to get names & contact information for anyone they and I thought should be invited to a baby shower. Since we both come from small families her friends took it upon themselves to throw her a baby shower. They did an awesome job. The food was good, the games were fun, and most importantly so many people came to celebrate with my wife. She had a great time. She was floored by the number of people who came. And the distances some of the attendees drove to get to the shower.

We did manage to squeeze in a few nice dinners that week.

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posted by ChowderHead @ 5/21/2008 07:11:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Updates

I love the new top on the Miata. It looks nice and I can see clearly out the rear window. The old rear window was plastic and it was starting to yellow and distort what you saw. I no longer need to worry about rain getting into the passenger compartment nor the seams in the top.

The baby room is coming along: We purchased a baby glider/rocker and placed it in the room. We purchased, assembled, and placed a baby crib so it definitely is a baby's room now!!! The walls have been washed in preparation for painting.

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posted by ChowderHead @ 5/04/2008 10:32:00 PM 0 comments