OH BOY!!! Another Project!

Momma says that we need to get cracking on remodeling our third (and final) bedroom. This new baby is going to be here before we know it and we need to be ready! We have decided that the nursery will remain the nursery and Julia will get a brand new room...she is the princess after all!

This room is easily the coldest room in the house. It's on the northwest corner and has trees blocking what little sun it might see during the day. It does have a fabulous view of the lake though.
Courtney and I kick the project off by spending Martin Luther King Day stripping wallpaper. We actually did a great job...and by the way, the mixture of white vinegar and hot water is great for removing wallpaper and a lot cheaper than chemical removers!We finish stripping all four walls and Courtney is just whooped...we are admiring our work and I start thinking...that's where it gets dangerous. Our house was built in 1927. So I start wondering if there is any insulation in the walls at all. After performing a highly scientific "hammer test" it is determined that my suspicions were correct.

Well my little princess needs a warm room! So yesterday, we started stage two of the project. We removed the plaster in two walls, installed insulation and began hanging new drywall. My goal was to get all the drywall hung and we're a little less than half way there. All in all, I couldn't be more pleased with the progress.
Now that baby is coming quickly and I couldn't be happier. I have so much to teach him...plumbing, electrical, insulation, flooring, drywall, painting. The things that I've taken on in this house (with the help of some fantastic friends and family) are really starting to impress me. Now Julia is a big help, but I'm sure he will take it to the next level.Oh yeah...It's a BOY!!! Here's the photographic evidence...a view from the bottom. Let's the hope the ultrasound tech wasn't wrong. It looks pretty clear to me! Julia will soon be terrorized by a little brother. Boy oh boy is her world about to change.
But she is still and always will be my princess. There is nothing that I wouldn't do for that beautiful child...wouldn't you agree?

-Andy

It's a...a...a Dancer???

BIG DAY YESTERDAY!

A sonogram at 5 months! Word on the street was the by now, there's a little person swimming around in Courtney's abdomen and this was our first chance to see Little Baby Manny Fenway (LBMF for the remainder of this post). Supposedly, LBMF had come a LONG way since our last look at him (just a generic pronoun) in his lima-bean-like state. We were really excited...I'll admit it, I had been looking forward to this since we scheduled the appointment more than a month ago. And after having felt LBMF for the first time the night before, I was really getting psyched!

So we get to the imaging office and wait a few minutes in the waiting room when they call Courtney's name. I barely lift my arse off the waiting room chair and the technician tells me that I will have to wait a bit longer until they finish some super-secret measurements first. Faced with having to choose between revolt and waiting, I did what any soon to be father would do. I sank my arse back into that chair and continued to wait.

Shortly after we had gotten to the sonogram headquarters, another clearly expecting couple came in behind us. Just as my partner had been called in before me, his did too. The only difference was that as I sat anxiously waiting and wondering what was taking so long, this other guy fell asleep! Now I'm not talking about closing your eyes in the hopes of seeking relief from a headache for a few minutes...I'm talking a full blown, snoring sleep! All I could think was that it must not be his first child!

Anyhow, finally they come for me! Rebecca (the Sonagrapher) and I head back to a dark little room in the corner of the office. There on the table was Courtney, lubed up with belly jelly (official name) and ready to go!

Well, as excited as I was to finally see LBMF, I think he had me beat! Courtney must have have had some hip hop playing in there, because he was clearly getting his groove on! Arms and legs flailing! Punching Mommy in the stomach! Rolling around! Putting fingers in his mouth! Just putting on a show!!!

I asked Rebecca if her equipment was sophisticated enough to tell if he was left-handed and how good his breaking ball was. She said that he seemed to favor his right hand and that medical science had yet to invent equipment that could accurately predict potential drop on a curveball. I urged her to start a study.

It was honestly one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. We spent about twenty minutes just watching him go nuts. The good news is that everything looks normal. It looked like he had 10 fingers and 10 toes. The pictures above show some of this. The first one is a profile shot, the second is a profile with his fingers in his mouth and the third is a 3D shot of the fingers in the mouth. LBMF is currently about 20 centimeters....and growing quickly.

My question is...what's with the centimeters? I really think that the medical profession chooses to use the metric system just to prove that they are smarter than we are! I spent a portion of the afternoon trying to visualize how long 20 cm is and when I talked to my mother (a nurse), she very quickly come up with about 7 1/2 inces.

Anyway....we have decided not to find out what we are having and we have no idea, even after the sonogram. But one thing was clearly visible. LBMF looks like he's got lot's of energy and can clearly put on a show when he wants to!

- Andy