No Britt

So the baby weighs about 3.3 pounds and is about 17.5 inches.  She isn't born yet, and is already totally running my life (not ruining, running.)  Brittney left for the weekend and left Baily (the dog) and I to fend for ourselves, we barely made it.  

I fed baily sausage all weekend and forgot to water any of our plants.  I went to put gas in my motorcycle and ended up spending 3 hours sucking oil out of the engine with a turkey baster, and ruining a pair of jeans and shoes in the process.  You may ask yourself  how is he going to raise a human.  That is the same question I was asking myself as I was walking back to my house with pants and shoes soaked with engine oil.

I came to the conclusion, as stupid as it sounds, that if I was thinking about the kind of dad I was going to be two months before the birth, that she may have a chance.  I just need to remember to water her and feed her sausage.

Baby class

Well I haven't worked on the motorcycle yet (and probably won't for a while), but I did get Birkley's closet done.  Now our unborn child has a custom closet, I have a bad feeling about this.  If we are judging by weight, we now have more pink and purple stuff then my gun safe, and two hunting closets combined.  As I am writing this, I have an even worse feeling.  The weird part is that I am a willing participant in the out with the camo/gun stuff and in with the purple/pink stuff.  

When looked at from a distance it looks as if manhood is being completely stripped and I agree.  I am sure I am about 60 days from having an emotional breakdown.  I mean that in a good way. The way I don't even  know yet, but I am sure is going to happen.  It doesn't matter who tells you and how many times they do, I am pretty sure you can not know the feeling of a new child in your life unless you are in the driver's seat.

For a guy I think there are a few holy shit moments in your married life.  I am new to this, so I only know a few (and the rest scare the crap out of me.)  The ones I know go something like this 

Do we really need that many people at the wedding?

I do

This is forever, right?

I can't buy whatever I want?

We are pregnant

It's a girl

many many more to come

We had our first baby class last week, great time.  We had to meet a bunch of people that are also having a baby at about the same time so you think there would be a common thread.  You would be wrong except for the baby part.  You could watch the caravan of people carrying pillows and blankets down a heavily traveled street to the building we were all headed.  To make things worse, we were driving my dad's car because Britt's was in the shop and I can't park my truck where we were going.  This wouldn't be so bad but I gave my dad a goofy father's day gift of a vanity plate saying happiness is being jared's dad that he refuses to take of his car.  This will come into play later.

So the class starts and it's really not so bad.  Breathe in breathe out, dad's (coaches) don't be a jerk, you can't smoke on break, dads (coaches) can't pee during the break, Mcdonalds should give more breaks (we had an employee of the golden arches in the group), baby comes out here, etc.  The only problem I had was the fact that we had to wear stick on name tags and introduce ourselves.  The moms to be had to give the date and name and the "coaches" had to give their name (even though they were stuck to our chests) and tell everyone the characteristic that they want there baby to have that the mother has.  This made for a great time when the people showed up late and had no idea what they were doing.  One guy said "her eyes"....awesome.  I on the other hand was second to go and forgot to tell my name and the lady next to me was kind enough to tell everyone my name (in case they couldn't read it on my chest.)  If you are wondering, I said I hope Birkley has Britt's great attitude towards everything.  (I thought I did pretty well until miss perfect next to me reminded everyone I forgot my name.)  

After that it was smooth sailing.  We got out of the class and headed to our cars.  At that point I remembered I had a big dumb tag on my chest saying JARED and I was getting into a car (parked with everyone else) that said Happiness is being Jared's dad.  That stupid joke has bit me in the ass so many times it isn't funny.  On a side note, if you want to do something stupid like that, make sure it is actually useable.  

  

Results yet to come

We had the Spokane baby shower and I can't believe how generous all our friends and family have been. Not only here, but also in Billings. It is pretty incredible how much love there is out there. Britt and I are extremely lucky to have the friends and family that we have. There is no way I could thank everyone enough. I showed up at the end of the shower and was completely overwhelmed. Thanks to everyone that came for the shower, and especially the clark aunts that came all the way for 2 days. It meant a lot to Britt and I.

No pictures yet but the first phase of the project is coming to an end. We (I) will start painting Thursday. I think I am looking more forward to getting to the Birkley's room more then I am to finishing ours. We can't wait to set up Birkley's room with all the great things that were given to us at the showers. Baily (the dog) has already tried to claim some of Birkley's toys so I need to get the room done so they have a safe place.

Now I think the only thing I can do for my pregnant wife is buy a motorcycle to build, so I did. It went over surprisingly well. This is how it went down. Everything is sheetrocked, tapers will be here monday, I love the bedding and colors you picked out, you are very pretty pregnant, I'll have the doors done on sunday, you are very pretty pretty pregnant, I'll get the windows in next week, I can't believe you can carry a baby in that skinny frame, I bought a motorcycle and I love you and you are very pretty.

It almost went smoothly.

by-by-by memorial day weekend

So I just figured out that my wife, my baby and my dog's name begin with B and end with Y. What the hell were we thinking, I never thought I would have the family with names that match, whether it be first name letters, middle names, or anything else, but here I am. Not only do we have first letters, but they damn near rhyme. I tried to get Britt to change her name but that didn't work and Birkley is pretty much set. I tried to rename the dog, but the bitch wouldn't respond. We are soon to be the family with sappy almost rhyming names, sorry everybody I did what I could. I guess we still have nicknames, do what you will.

Memorial day weekend

I love this weekend. Most of the time I used to work through it and get a couple days off later to go fishing/camping/whatever the hell I wanted to do when nobody was around. I remember a couple of times when I was able to go out with friends to a lake that nobody knew about and go camping. I loved it, it was one of the few times I got to go camping in the year. I used to go way up north where nobody knew where I was, it was great, absolutely great. I never thought it could get better.

This year I am loading up my tools, wife, and friend and driving 7 hours to go to my in laws. We are going to our first baby shower. I am going to work on a basement all weekend and then pack up a bunch of pink and purple stuff in my truck and then head back the 7 hours to home. The surprising thing is that I am looking forward to every part of the extended weekend. When I break it down, think about it, and write it down it is very surprising to me how excited I am. I think the most exciting thing to me is that after this weekend, I get to go back to work on our project house.

I think Birkley is making me pretty pathetic.

Banana

Baby Pictures

It's a girl (notice the arrow)

That's the soft spot not a receding hair-line

Thumbs up     Letting us know everything is ok in there

Right now our baby girl is the size of a banana.  I'm not sure what to be suprised by more, the fact that the baby is as big as a banana or the fact that I just found out that the baby is a girl.  I thought I would be excited when I found out what sex the baby was, but I was suprised by what happened when I was in the "big" ultrasound.  Little did I know that before we find out what sex the baby was, we would measure every possible vital organ/bone not to mention head.   My mind went quickly to what kind of baby to I hope everything is ok.  It was pretty nerve wracking to watch the tech measure and record measurements of your baby when you have no idea what is going on.  Our tech was very good telling us what she was doing, but I became very anxious with each measurement.  By the time I found out what sex she was, I was relieved that everything else was ok.  I almost wonder if this is done on purpose. 

     Personally, I didn't care what we are going to have.  I speak for both of us when I say that we are very excited to invite Birkley into our lives.  So Britt is able to feel her moving and I am looking forward to when I can feel her as well.  It is pretty incredible to be able to put a sex, let alone a name, to a child that is about to come into your life.  I have started to think 1,5,10,15, even 20 years ahead.  It's a lot different now and it is exciting and kind of scares the crap out of me.  Game on.

cantaloupe

So we hopefully find out what kind we are having on Friday, big day for us.  The last picture we have was at ten weeks when the baby was about an inch and a half.  Now the baby is the size of a cantaloupe.  Apparently at that size, you can see if there are testicles (my wife may have testicles.)  I am told this will pass.  At this point, I could care less what we are having as long as it is healthy.  I know this is the thing to say, but I am here and that's exactly what I'm thinking.

As for our projects, our windows are done and the demo is done on the master bedroom.  We have a lot more to finish up.  

paternal Nesting part 2 (operation fuster cluck)

So here are a few pictures of our new bedroom