Izzer's Prediction

Yes, we are those people. Those people with the small, fluffy dog that we treat just like a child. She will be the star of many more posts, I assure you.

Izzers has particpated in the gender guessing poll, and we're back with a recap. Baby Daddy demonstrated his man skills by carving an M (male) into one bone, and a F (female) into the other. He then showed them both to Izzers as I explained the importance of her 'mission'.

Whichever bone she picked would be her prediction. Next, Baby Daddy lined them up side by side (we're very scientific) to reduce any bias.

After a few moments of whining, we let her go, she ran across the room and immediately grabbed the one on the right . . . Izzers is thinking 'girl'.

Breaking the News

Other possible title: 'The Preggo Reveal'

I discovered I was pregnant the first Saturday in December. After quickly filling in Baby Daddy (I'll let him tell you that story if he wishes) and snapping a picture of the evidence - why positive pee sticks scream "TAKE A PICTURE OF ME", I don't know, but they do, loudly - we celebrated by, what else, eating (and eating something that I didn't have to cook).

First on the baby agenda - who to tell? when to tell? how to tell? We agreed to tell just a few very close friends who could offer some advice to newly expecting parents. Fifteen "shut ups" and "are you freaking kidding me?s" later, we had some advice and an initial plan. Mitchell consulted a few coworkers who were either expecting or new parents, and I contacted a recommended OB. I won't lie - I decided between the two recommendations based on their pictures. They both came very highly recommended - and I threw out the male because he looked creepy on his office webpage. Seriously, what woman wants a creepy man poking around down there? So far we've been impressed with the OB I chose.

Many of you may not know this, but Mitchell and I can be superstitious at times. (Mitchell more so, but I have been known to cross my fingers during the fourth quarter of a close Hawkeye game - yes, you can thank me for that Michigan State defeat :) ). We decided to wait awhile, ensure everything proceeded smoothly, tell our immediate families at Christmas, and then let word spread after my first 'real' appointment on January 19. We refused to talk about possible names until we heard a heartbeat.

It was difficult to go through all of the family holidays trying to not lie outright:

"So Mitch, what's new? "Oh, not much. . . " (lie).

"So Bon, it's about time for a baby isn't it?" "Ha! Keep dreaming" (little sort-of lie)

We managed to get through those to Christmas day, and were able to share the news with the future grandparents, aunts, and uncles. We wrapped a present for each of our families and hid them under the tree with just "Open Last' written on them.

Mitchell's mother opened the Hunt present . . .

. . . and let out a happy scream. We have some very excited future aunts and grandfather as well.

At my families' Christmas, my father opened the gifts . . .

(The first grandchild of 2010 is due in April)

. . . looked at us, and said, "Seriously?". Apparantly we had fooled him into thinking it really would be 2012 before Baby Hunt would arrive.

After our first appointment went well, we let news spread to family and more friends. Now, I'm pretty sure every single person in the town of Edgewood knows.

. . .Ain't my baby. . . name ;)

So Bonnie and I have been talking about names for Baby Hunt. We've actually have been talking about names for our children since before we were married. The typical conversation would go something along these lines:

Bonnie: 'What do you think of the name Jack?'
Me: 'Jack Hunt? Say that really fast out loud."

Yes, a good portion of the names Bonnie throws out there I look at like I was still in elementary school or junior high (I'm sure you all think I can do a great job at that) and try to make fun of. Little kids and teens find plenty of ways to tease each other, so I don't want to be the guy that names his boy Sue. Because of this and the fact that our children will be asked about their 'Uncle Mike' by the time they are in junior high, Bonnie and I decided we were going to use some guidelines to help us decide out name 'finalists. . .'

-No names that end with a 'ka' sound
-Try and make it difficult for adolescent minds to mock (If I can mock it in <30 seconds, it's a no go)
-No names that are 'Top 10' popular right now.
-No 'pot smoking hippie' names (i.e. Apple, Rainbow Sunshine, etc.)
-Names have to work with the middle names we've chosen.

With this, we currently have 8-10 first names for each gender listed, and as time passes by, one of us will update on which names we've eliminated. So stay tuned ;)

P. S. What are the middle names? Glad you asked ;)

If we have a boy, the middle name will be Mitchell. Yes I am being that guy.
If it's a girl, the middle name will be Rose, after Bonnie's 'adopted' grandparents.

. . . and a poll too!

With the ultrasound four weeks away, we have been wondering if we are going to have a son or daughter in August. Yes, we will find out, if little baby Hunt lets us. We've toyed with the idea of keeping the gender a surprise, but ultimately we are both very practical and think it will be easier to prepare if we know.

That being said, I have looked into some other, less traditional, and much less reliable, methods of gender prediction and have the results for all of you!

According to the Wedding ring predictor, we are going to have a BOY. (By the way, if you ever want to feel awkward, lay on the floor with your husband dangling his wedding ring on a string above your abdomen).

According to the Chinese Calendar, we are going to have a GIRL.

And, according to a collection of Old Wives Tales, we have a 54% chance of having a BOY, and 46% chance of having a GIRL.

So, what do you think? Take a guess on the poll to the right. Or, if you don't have a gut feeling, just pick one of the two - you do have a 50% chance of being right.

16 Week Update

I had my 16 week appointment this afternoon, and everything looks great. 'Normal' is a word I'm loving these days, and we were incredibly happy to find that everything so far is 'stone cold normal' according to my OB.

We had a slight issue finding the heartbeat at our last appointment. After two minutes of going over my abdomen, the tech looked at me and asked, "Are you sure about the date?". We gave each other a small look of panic, and the tech tried once more, with me lying flat. After thirty seconds or so, she found the heartbeat - 168 bpm. I don't think I've ever been so relieved. This time around, the nurse found the heartbeat immediately - a healthy 152 bpm.

I had some blood drawn for a quad screening and we met with the financial guru of the OB office (yes, having a baby is uber expensive, in case you were wondering). Other than that, everything was routine.

I have had some requests for 'bump' pics, so enjoy - there won't be very many :) Here is Baby Hunt (and Izzers) at 16 weeks:



Perhaps the most exciting part of the appointment - we have a date for the ultrasound! I know many women have ultrasounds early in their pregnancies, but I will have only the one assuming everything continues to go well. We're looking forward to Monday, March 22! (Damn you spring break pushing the appointment back a week).

The Pregnancy Shuffle

No, it's not a dance (you all know I do not dance). I've reached the transition stage where my old clothes do not fit, but I'm not in the full swing of maternity clothes either. Enter what I've coined 'The Pregnancy Shuffle'.

Yesterday, I went through my closet and 'boxed up' my regular clothes that no longer fit and will not for many months. (And by 'boxed up' I mean put in Lora's closet [sorry Lora!]). And there were a lot of them . . .



The good news is that we did some shopping to supplement the clothes I lost. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly close to what was put away.

Ugh - I am only telling half of the story - as Mitchell will remind me. The mess began on Friday night, an hour before our dinner reservation at The Montage in Cedar Falls - a favorite restaurant of ours. Dressing is typically an issue for me - I blame my scientific nature - full of 'I don't have anything to wear's, 'What do you wear with this?'s, 'Nothing looks good's, and even a few stomps and possibly a tantrum or two. Friday night was no different, except for the addition of some fabulous pregnancy hormones and the realization that I, actually, had very few clothes that fit. They were either uncomfortably tight, or just unflattering (at least to me - Mitchell said many of them were 'fine' but I think he was just hungry). At 6:45 we ended up pushing back our reservation thirty minutes. Forty minutes later, with a bed strewn with tried-on clothes, we left, still five minutes late for our reservation, but dressed.

The first book for Baby Hunt. . .

So I've been trying to think of something witty to start my first blog post with, but to be honest, I don't have any sarcastic, witty comment to come out of the gate with. I do have this though: I am very excited to become a father, but I am also scared shitless. I just hope I can do half the job as a father that mine or my wife's (although I won't have a silver tooth cap to flash, (okay so there's the sarcasm)).

So on to the title of this post. This past week, I was at Barnes and Noble, buying Baby Mama the third season of Ballykissangel, when I decided to meander over to the Children's Section. I wanted to see if I could find a book that I wanted Baby Hunt to have read to/ be able to read when the time comes. So I walk by the shelves, looking for a book. . . I circle the area 3, 4, 5 times. I probably looked like a guy who was just hanging around, looking for little kids. . .

After my laps, I settle by the Dr. Seuss books. I first look at 'Hop on Pop' as I thought it would be a good child father book to read, but I wasn't feeling it (lame, I know). I wanted something that I remember reading as a child to be the first book I bought for my child. So I leave the Seuss books for a bit, but find myself coming back to the shelf of the good Doctor's works. After what felt like a solid 10 minutes of staring at this shelf, though not really reading the titles (after this and the prior circling of the children's section, I was waiting for Chris Hansen to show up). When a yellow spine drew my attention. And there it was a book that I remember reading and one I felt worked well for my first 'choice':
(Let the mockery begin)

Onto Trimester Two

Friday officially marked the beginning of the second trimester for Baby Hunt and myself. Phew! It's an amazing relief to be one-third done and only 6 months away from meeting Baby Hunt (yep, still no nickname).

On my side, the last three months have been fairly uneventful, so uneventful that I've often wondered if I am, infact, pregnant. I have been very lucky so far (crosses fingers) and had very little morning sickness. I have had a few moments of nausea, but nothing a few crackers couldn't cure. Other than that, I've noticed a few small changes - my hair and nails seem to be growing faster. Oh, and my pants don't fit anymore, all but one - my skinny jeans - go figure! The Bella Band I've been using for 6 weeks isn't cutting it anymore and I bought my first pair of maternity jeans yesterday for work. Relief!!

Baby Hunt, on the other hand, has been quite busy. He/She has all necessary organs, fingernails and toenails are developing, and hair is starting to grow ( I joke that Baby Hunt already has one advantage over Mitchell ;) ). He/She can open his or her fists and we heard a heartbeat (168 bpm) at our last appointment.

. . . and I don't feel a bit of it. Isn't it crazy that all of this is going on inside of me and I don't feel a bit of it?

Our next appointment is February 16, which should be fairly uneventful except for the quad screening. Our first ultrasound should happen mid-March.

What's in a name?

You know how many couples have really cute names for their unborn babies? We've heard of Skippy, 'The Bean', Peanut, and many others.

. . . Well, not us. At least not so far. We want to have a name that is specific to unborn Baby Hunt, so 'it' and 'baby' are not options.

A co-worker of mine has been calling the baby Astird (a reference to The Office, which we are both fans of), but Mitch hates the name - and with good reason. I've told him that we can call it whatever he wants, whenever he comes up with a name, and he has yet to think of one.

Hopefully he will think of something soon, or Astird may just be it . . .

(Don't worry - we wouldn't think of actually naming Baby Hunt Astrid)

. . . and Baby makes three!

(and Izzers makes four) :)

Yep, it's true. We're expecting our first Baby Hunt.

Welcome to our humble little blog! We hope this becomes a place where you can check in on the progress of Baby Hunt, and our own transformation into parents. Please check back often!

On a light note, last week I realized just how 'expectant' we really are and how our priorities are changing. Mitchell went to Moline on a business trip and came back with the following items from the Deere store, modeled by Izzers.

Baby:1, Izzers:1, Us:0.