A note from Truman

Being the dog of the house isn't easy these days. When the "visitor" first arrived, he just stayed in Mom or Dad's lap. He'd make noise, then would go to sleep.

He seemed sweet enough. We would all lay on the couch - my couch - like one big happy pack. And as long as I didn't try to give him a bath, we were all cool.

Then the little guy started getting grabby. He grabs my ears. My face and tries to grab my really short hair and pull. For a little guy he has quite a grip!

Now, he's moving around. He bugs me when I'm napping on the couch. He bugs me when I'm napping on the floor. All the time! He tries to smack me with his toys. And what's worse, he even tries to steal my bone. Mom and Dad are so strict with me when it comes to his toys, but they let him grab my bone all the time! How's that fair? At least they take it away from him when I want it or when he tries to chew on it.

The video below shows how he pesters me. I just want to sleep and he's trying to smack me with one of his toys. Mom tells him to "be nice." I wonder if she thought it was nice when he got her with that toy, too?

I've even had my collar taken away. I've been naked for the past 4 months! Yesterday, Mom put it on me to go for a walk around the neighborhood. We haven't done that in a long time. Mom and Dad said something about it being too cold. I don't know what cold means, but it's been terrible outside. There are huge piles of cold, white stuff blocking all of my favorite pee spots. Plus, I shake like crazy out there. I can barely feel my paws when I come in. Anyway, yesterday on the walk, the white stuff was everywhere. Mom kept griping about having to pick up the rolling thing the little person was in and carry it over all the white stuff.

When we got home, I was tired and Mom left my collar on me... until the little person started grabbing it and pulling it. I was good. I didn't knock him over like I wanted to. I tried to pull away, but his grip is SO STRONG! So, Mom pulled my collar off and put it away. Who knows when I'll get to wear it again?

He bugs my buddy, Frankie, too. He grabs his tail, pulls pawfulls of fur and even grabbed his whiskers once! Mom and Dad are pretty quick to make him stop, but I can't believe Frankie hasn't swatted him with his sharp claws. He's the biggest grump in the whole pack and even he gives him a free pass. If I try to play with him, he smacks me. Again, I don't know why this little person gets special treatment, but he seems to be pretty cute. And, when he isn't bugging me, or stealing my stuff, he's not so bad. I guess he isn't a visitor, but the newest member of our pack. That means, I'm going to have to put up with him.

Busy Busy!

It's been a busy past couple months and I'm glad Linda updated any readers we have, or may have left. This poor blog has been neglected too long. When we aren't busy, I just have no energy to post anything. Most days I'm chasing this very curious 8 month old boy around the house...seems he wants to get into everything he's not supposed to...

It's been a busy past couple months with all the running around, holidays and top that off with several doctors appointments both for Evan and for us. He got a cold right before Thanksgiving, then again right after Christmas that turned into a respiratory infection. He's still getting over that. I had taken him into see the doctor New Year's Eve and saw another doctor in our pediatrician's practice. He was concerned with his "barking" cough. He didn't exactly diagnose him with croup, but only said it sounded "croupy". He put him on prednisolone to help him kick the cough. It's sounded much better over the past couple days.

On top of Evan's sicknesses, Linda & I have both battled crap. I came down with strep throat last week...I hadn't had strep since I was in maybe middle school! Linda came down with tonsillitis then right after I got over strep. I'm hoping all this crap passes soon!

All in all, though, Evan had a great first Christmas! I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for us. Happy New Year to all of you! Below is a video of Evan dancing to South Park's "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo"...a bit late, I know, but hopefully you'll get some laughs out of it. I've been meaning to put this up for some time now, I laughed so hard I was in tears when I saw it! Maybe that is just me? I recorded it maybe a month ago... Enjoy!

Things I worry about...

Those of you who know Brian and I, you know we have a dark sense of humor as well as a pretty unsophisticated sense of humor - we laugh at fart jokes. So, if you are easily offended, I recommend you stop reading and just go browse somewhere else.

A few nights ago, we were sitting on the front porch after putting Evan to bed. Brian started browsing through The Onion and found this:




We laughed hysterically and then prayed, "Dear Lord, please don't let this be our son."

Objective: Mobility Now!

Evan is really trying to get himself mobile. Here's a video of one of his recent attempts.




Also for your viewing pleasure is a picture from the same mobility attempt that I like to call, "Cheeks McGee."

Impressionable young minds

Remeber that episode of Friends where Ross and Rachel were doing just about ANYTHING to get Baby Emma to laugh? If you recall, the only thing that worked was singing and dancing Sir Mix-a-lot's 90s hit "Baby Got Back."

Evan demands to be entertained. He is not satified with sitting on your lap. You have to be standing up and you have to be moving when you hold him. One night I discovered that making the "bubble" sounds with your lips really amused him. So of course I did this ALL THE TIME. If it gets you a smile, you do it no matter how numb your lips get.

NowI see how babies, particularly our baby, can pick up on things so quickly. Check out the video:



If Evan can pick up this at 15 weeks, how much longer do I have until my poor choice in language use comes back to haunt me?

Better Late Than Never!

I've been working on this a good long while...

Below is a multimedia montage I made of Linda's pregnancy, and then pics immediately following Evan's birth meeting some of his family members...

Linda wants me to warn those of you that may get queasy or are currently pregnant. Please watch this at your own risk. These are just pictures and some video, nothing gruesome, however there is live audio of Evan's birth playing in the background. I wanted to preserve that, but tried to drown out the screams as best I could with music and some editing. Enjoy!

Play time

Evan is starting to discover and become amazed and amused by the world around him. At first, we were so entertained with his newer-found ability to smile and laugh, that we didn't think to record it. Over the past few weeks, we were able to get a few clips of him enjoying his swing and his play gym. Brian did a good job of editing these clips down into a short(er) video for all to enjoy. If this doesn't make you smile, then I don't know what will. :)

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

Just like how Jerry Lee Lewis sang it...Evan is a mover and a shaker. It's to the point that I can even see his acrobatics through Linda's shirt. See the video below for proof!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I needed some answers from my job about the time off I was hoping to take when Evan makes his appearance and I finally got an answer from my boss...and they are gonna let me off for a few weeks to get adjusted to life with a newborn. I was beginning to panic. I'm glad it's resolved now and that I'll have a job to come back to. I've found that having a baby is not really all that conducive for fathers to take time off work. That's really kind of sad. In fact, I've come to find out there are a lot of things that really aren't expectant father-friendly. Seems California is the only place that is 'father-friendly' in terms of having a child. California dads, I believe, are the only ones that can really take paid time off to help care for a new addition to their family. Every where else kind of seems to have a 1950s frame of mind...meaning it feels as if fathers should be hands off during a pregnancy and newborn care...like we should not play a part in any of it. It feels like we should be the bumbling idiots...if that makes any sense. Now if I can only get the rest of that list that I mentioned in that prior post accomplished, I will be prepped for this little guys debut!

In our 32nd week of pregnancy, Evan should weigh about 3 ¾ lbs., which is the size of a large jicama. What the heck is a jicama anyway? He would be about 16.7 inches long and is taking up lots of space in Linda's uterus. However, that 16.7 inches in length is from head-to-toe, but he is now back to a curled up position due to the confines of the womb. The weight that Linda should be gaining now, half of that will go to Evan. Linda had mentioned before that our OB would actually like to see her gain some more weight...as she is on track to only gain about 20 lbs. for the entire pregnancy. Some have asked if I have gained any "sympathy weight". While I'd like to answer with a confident, "Hell NO!"...I do have to admit that I have put on a few pounds. I used to brag that I still have the same waist size as I did in high school. What can I say...I was blessed with a high metabolism. I have bought pants with a 33 inch waist since I was 17 years old, however some of my jeans are now a bit snug around the waist. Since I work for an airline, we have scales to way people's luggage...and I use those every now and then to see how much I weigh...and did so the other night. I've packed on about 5 or 6 lbs. This is disconcerting. Must lay off the sweets! Anyhow, I digress. Evan will gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside of the womb. And since he is fattening up, his skin is now opaque, meaning the "see-through" days are gone. He now has toenails, fingernails and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth. He should now also be in the head down position with his butt facing up. It is said that this is the most comfortable way for him in an ever-so-cramped womb, and it will make his exit easier in a few months. His days are basically spent napping now...in 20 to 40 minute intervals...that and the squirming around we caught on camera...

(For some weird reason this video is not playing...and I dunno how to fix it. I did find a way to view it though. If it does not play for you from the main page, click the title of this blog at top "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" or just click here, and it'll lead you into the individual blog post...scroll down to the bottom and press play.)

It's a ...

So, today was the big day. Today we found out the answer to the boy/girl question. Brian, my mom and I all went to the doctor together and we went to the ultrasound room. The ultra sound tech said she had to do her business first.

She measured the head, looked at the brain, spinal chord, heart, diaphragm, feet, legs, arms. Then she went back and tried to get photos of the face, but Nugg was in a position where all we could see was a profile, but from that profile, I pretty confident to say that Nugg will have Brian's nose!

Then, she finally (like this post) got to the point that we were waiting for. She was trying to get the angle when Brian said, "I think I see something." The ultrasound tech said, "How could you miss it?"

It's a official and absolutely no question. Nugg is a boy! So if you voted boy in our little poll, you have the joy of being right. Congratulations!

I'm enamored!

Our second doctor's appointment was this afternoon at 3:45. I thought it was just going to be the normal checkup and to get Linda up-to-speed on some things, as mentioned before. I was hoping, however, that we'd be able to hear the heartbeat with a Doppler. I didn't bring a video tape with us... It was just a whim that I decided to bring our camera along with us.

They called Linda back, and since it was more of a woman's check up I opted to stay in the waiting room. I told Linda to have them come get me if they do a Doppler. Dr. Schieber called me from the waiting room about 30 minutes later and brought me back to the ultrasound room. Linda was in a gown. I asked if she was going to get an ultrasound. Dr. Schieber said that she had a hard time locating the heartbeat. That thought made my heart drop...fearing the worst... She went on to say that still at 10 weeks (we are at 10 weeks 3 days) it was a 50/50 shot of locating and hearing the heartbeat through just the Doppler. So to put all our fears to rest, she proceeded with an ultrasound.

Nugg is still doing excellent!!! Heartrate has increased to 173 beats/minute, compared to the 152 beats/minute a few weeks ago! Dr. Schieber poked around and we got to see Nugg move! Glad I brought our camera!! I forgot to ask how big Nugg is measuring, but I think the sonogram says 2.01 cm? I could be wrong on that though... Our next appointment is scheduled for October 9th... Keep on saying prayers that all continues to go well for us! See below!

McNugget's first home movie!

Amazing! Here's our first ultrasound...with some pizzazz! See below:

The Beans Have Been Spilled!

So the families know now! Yesterday, we were at my wife's family to celebrate her older sister's and brother's birthdays and she decided to chime them in on the news! They were extremely excited, as proof in the video below! Her younger sister, who just got married, said she was suspicious when my wife turned down a beer...

I had wanted to tell my dad, future stepmom, and sister by getting our dog a t-shirt that read "I'm Gonna Be a Big Brother"...however they are extremely busy over the next few weeks and it was going to be hard to get everyone together...so I made a phone call this morning to spread the news to them! They all are very excited for the new addition to our family! When I told dad about it, he got somewhat emotional about it and handed the phone over to my future stepmom. She said that my dad had left the room because he was probably crying! He then called me a bit later this morning and told us that when we find out what we are having to let him know because he is going to them their first pair of 'bibbers' (overalls).

Here's the video of telling my wife's family last night:

In The Womb

I found this on YouTube, and it goes in depth about what is going on right now inside my wife's womb and how the baby is developing! This is part is from conception to week 6 - the week we are currently in. It is part of National Geographic's documentary "In the Womb". Pretty cool stuff!