We’re Out June 10, 2008
Posted by Dad in The pregnant progress.Tags: announcement, baby, church, leave, maternity, paternity, work
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Sunday, we told our congregations our good news. For me, I thought it was going to be a mere formality. The week prior, I told my human resources committee and passed before them the plan for our leave. Yes, the United Methodist Church is actually very progressive when it comes to this area. Both father and mother are provided with up to 3 months off… paid! We’re taking full advantage of this, overlapping and staggering our time off so that B. will have almost six months at home before child care decisions need to be made.
But back to Sunday. We decided to do it in the context of prayer. Pray for the to-be child, Susan’s health, and my sanity. When it got time to make the announcement, I felt very self-conscious. I felt selfish for asking people to pray for me in this context. So many people have just lost loved ones, and hear I am asking people to pray for me for something so good and hope-giving.
S. had just the opposite problem She was afraid that telling the congregation that she was pregnant would confirm her worst fears… that yes, everyone would know that a married preacher goes home and has sex with her husband. Irrational? Yes. fraught with puritanical sensibilities? Yes. Silly? No.
Oh well.. I guess there’s no turning back, now.
Strollers June 5, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: baby, maclaren, stroller, techno xlr
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Stroller, you are evil to me, right now. I’m sure that the future will prove you quite useful and probably my favorite item of baby gear. But right now, you perplex me.
My goodness the options.
Okay, I’ve got to confess something. I have a little bit of a head start. When i was 15, a little sister came into my life. Back then, there was basically only one option, your traditional umbrella-esque, foldable stroller. Sure you saw the occasional first-time, eccentric, spend-too-much-money parent pushing one of the larger strollers, but those wound up parked in the basement in favor of something lightweight.
But today, the umbrella-stroller is only one option. You also have the jogging stroller, the modern take on the pram, and the urban stroller–something that will take the beating of the miles, has larger wheel, and collapses for those darts onto the subway.
General consensus here is that you need two… one for “reconnaissance” and one for “expeditions”. In other words, you need a lightweight, foldable one, and you need a heavy duty one.
I’m thinking that we’d go with the umbrella and one of the more substantial city strollers, that could double as a jogger on S.’s morning walks.
Then there was the curveball. The in thing to do is to get a stroller that will accept you infant car-seat (so you don’t have to wake the baby). Remember the last post where the tipping factor between Graco/ Britax was length of baby? Well, the Britax car seat does not seem to be acceptable to too many strollers. But I think we’ve decided on this:
This is the Maclaren Techno XLR. It’s foldable. The handles telescope. It accepts the Britax Companion car seat. The only problem is that its so hard to find! I want to find one before I decide. Oh, and Maclaren invented the umbrella stroller. I’m sold.
So the Recon Stroller is settled. The expedition stroller is still up in the air.
Stay tuned
Edited: Yeah, so we go to the Maclaren store while in New York. A wonderfully nice lady informs us that, contrary to claims on website, there’s no way the Maclaren XLR accepts the Britax Companion. Back to the drawing board.
And the Search Begins June 4, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: baby, britax, car seat, gear, maclaren, pram, stroller
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Dear me. I must confess, for the past week, I’ve done some reading on the internet about different “baby gear”. The advantage of the “Googles” is that you can alway turn the computer off when you hit your saturation level.
Yesterday, S. and I made our first excursion to the stores to actually look at gear. Oh my. There’s so much stuff to think about. Good thing we’ve got 6 months to plan all this stuff. Otherwise, we’d be up the proverbial creek.
We went to two different places. It painfully obvious that our tastes and demeanor for how we like to shop far outstrips our budget. So we have to set a process and prioritize. What do we buy, what do we register for, what can we buy used, and what must be purchased new.
I don’t really know where the process goes.. so I guess I’ll start posting stuff by priority.
S. is well into week 13, now. She’s doing okay. I still find it uncanny how her sense of smell has come out of nowhere.
First Post June 2, 2008
Posted by Dad in The pregnant progress.Tags: baby, week 13
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Well, here’s the first post. S. and I are having our first child. As many of our parishioners have not officially found out, yet, we cannot post a whole lot about this on our work or personal blogs. So, “Hello, WordPress”.
Over the next few days, I’ll be posting blog posted I’ve saved to my computer that charts out other random thoughts in this process. But for now, let it suffice to say that we’re 1 day into week 13!
April Fool’s Day April 1, 2008
Posted by Dad in The pregnant progress.Tags: april fool's, baby, finding out, test
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You know, I should have known it. I was sleeping in. You see, It take S. a lot longer to get ready in the morning than it does me. This works great while she gets her shower, I sleep. Then, when she’s waiting for her hair to dry so that she can dry her hair (no, you didn’t misread that and I didn’t mistype it), I get ready.
I was doing my regular Tuesday morning thing, when Susan jars me awake. Sleep in our family is a precious commodity. Both being clergy, we know to let the other “sleeping dog” lay unless there’s a death somewhere. But for some reason, when she woke me, I could tell in her voice this was something… different.
All she said was, “D. It’s Blue.”
What?
“It’s Blue.”
Really?
Wow. That’s fantastic.
silence followed by embracing in more silence.
“So what do we do, now?”
duh
So a doctor’s appointment was called. We both spend the rest of the day in a haze. Oh yeah, if you’re wondering, she did buy more tests, hehe.
And to think, April Fool’s Day. The joke of it is that the weekend prior, S. was late. On the way to see the in-laws (and get taxes done) she picked up a test kit. Nothing. Secretly, I was disappointed. Little did I know.
