Shelly's multi-tasking

Shelly's pregnancy cravings of ice cream do not stop her from traversing 2200 feet up a mountain to visit a castle built in the year 1105 in Flossenburg, Germany yesterday.

Don't worry, we took our time getting up to the castle and this pic was taken just after a quick stop by the ice cream stand.

Yesterday, we visited the Flossenburg concentration camp. More than 100,000 prisoners spent time there during WWII and 30,000 died there. Very sombering experience to visit the well preserved camp now.

Things are going well here. We're 2 hours north of Munich and about 30 minutes from the Czech border. We're somewhat limited on the internet right now but it should get better soon. Hope all is well there.

Mike
Grafenwohr, Germany

Heading out today

Hello folks,

Just a quick note before Shelly and I leave for the airport. We're excited about our trip to Germany today! Just a beautiful time of year to be in the Black Forest. And we get to see two of my good friends who now live there, Chris Lawton and Brit Hopper.

Besides the one disappointing day in the past week, we've enjoyed many events together. The Bret Michaels concert was awesome as always, the monthly cigar event with the boys was great, and Bon Jovi was as amazing as ever. Yesterday, we had an appointment with the doctor who will delivery the baby and she said things were going very well for the baby and the loss of the other would not affect anything at all with the baby. We're still getting used to the news but I think this trip away will help. And of course the support from so many friends and family have greatly assisted.

Oh, and I also made my first ever trip to Baby's R Us a few days ago. I wasn't sure what to expect but I thought I could just walk in and tell the salesperson, "Yeah, I need a stroller, car seat, and a crib". And she would say, "Okay, just pull your truck around and we'll have those right out". No, that simply isn't the case as there are literally hundreds of each of those items in there. I bet I walked down the car seat aisle for 40 seconds and still didn't reach the end of them. I didn't realize there were so many different kinds of baby things. I think I even saw a crib with an MP3 and internet connection! Man, when I was growing up we just had empty boxes that a washer and dryer came in. Okay mom, I'm just kidding. I do remember there was a nice crib before Marcy pooped all over it.

We'll be back on the net in a couple of days. We arrive in Germany early Friday morning. Talk to ya'll from there!

Mike
Kansas City, MO

The Lord works in mysterious ways

Today, Shelly and I had the first of two 1st trimester appointments this week. We were informed that one of the twins did not make it and likely miscarried a few weeks ago. Clearly, Shelly and I were not prepared to receive news like that today but we realize how delicate the first weeks of pregnancy are.

The good news is one baby looks very healthy, has a strong heartbeat (174 beats per minute), and is even bigger than average right now. Believe he said the baby was 53cm but he might have said 5 feet, 3 inches, one of the two. So the doctor had nothing but positive things to say about the baby from what he can observe right now.

According to the doc today (and we've found this changes depending on which doc you ask as many of you know first hand), Shelly is now 12 weeks and 1 day pregnant. So I'm officially calling the first trimester complete as she's now working on the 13th week.

Looking back on the first trimester, yes there have been symptoms like fatigue, irritability, nausea, diarrhea, an occasional hemorrhoid, bloating, and breast sensitivity. But I think with proper medication and rest I'll be just fine. As far as Shelly's symptoms, she's been doing very well despite cravings for Tin Roof ice cream and Sonic cheeseburgers with mustard, mayo, and ketchup.

I'd by lying if I said it didn't feel a little bit like I got the wind knocked out of me today. It's been an emotional time for both of us this afternoon. But in spite of the news, we realize we are very lucky to be where we are and will put all of our energy, faith, and prayers into our baby.

Even though we've had some disappointing news, we just need a little bit of time to refocus and recalibrate a little to God's most recent plan for us and we'll be right back on track. This blog will continue to capture pregnancy from my perspective as it allows me to escape my day for a moment to put my thoughts here and bring a little humor to us all in doing so. I hope you enjoy it and I've appreciated the feedback.

I just read each of the replies some of you wrote to Shelly's mass e-mail to her friends this afternoon. Thank you all so very much for your kind words and encouragement. We agree with all of you about God's plan for us and will take you up on your prayer offers as we continue on.

From here, we move on and focus on things to look forward to in the next few weeks and months. Today, we finalized an Alaskan cruise departing from Anchorage on June 8th and each of our parents are coming along, all six of us! And this Thursday, Shelly will accompany me on a business trip to Germany for 2 weeks. So we're looking forward to going back to one of our favorite areas of the world in just 72 hours.

Many thanks to all once again. And yes, I'll be back soon to tell you about the Bret Michaels concert last Friday night and also about my first ever trip to Baby's R Us!

Mike
Kansas City, MO

Richie Sambora's loss could be my gain

I read in the paper yesterday where Bon Jovi lead guitarist, Richie Sambora, has been charged with child endangerment following his DUI arrest a few weeks ago with his daughter in the car. There has been talk that it might affect his tour schedule but I seriously doubt it. Bon Jovi is in concert at the Sprint Center tonight and also Tuesday, the night Shelly and I are going.

But...just in case Richie decides to stay in California today and tend to personal issues and miss the concert tonight, I am volunteering my services to fill in on guitar for him. Now, I don't know how to play a real guitar but I do have one Shelly bought for me. Just haven't found the time to learn it yet. But I do know all the words to pretty much every Bon Jovi song, I know how to lip synch in case I don't, and can also play the air guitar pretty well.

So here's what I'm thinkin'. My brother-in-law, Matt Stansberry, is the best guitarist I've heard since The Eagles' Joe Walsh. If he plays guitar off stage while I fake it with the air guitar on stage while lip synching the concert can continue on as planned. Can't you just see me at the beginning of "Livin' on a Prayer" using the talk box at the beginning? "OOH AH OOH AH OOH OOH OOH, AH OOH AH OOH AH OOH OOH OOH" I know many of you are softly singing along with that so I'll let you finish.... Okay, let me go ahead and prepare my letter to Richie:

Dear Richie,

Hey brother, I understand you're in a bit of a bind right now and may miss the concert tonight. Well, just wanted you to know I have a plan you may enjoy hearing about. I'll need your private jet to go to Oklahoma City and pick up Matt Stansberry. He will play all of your parts tonight while I play air guitar and sing or lip synch, whatever you decide. I think the crowd may actually enjoy seeing a person younger than 45 up on your stage for a change. I'll need to know something soon so I can clear my afternoon schedule at work and prepare. I watch Jeopardy at 4:30 so it would be around 5:30 before I could get to sound check. Yes, I will wear my straw cowboy hat but I can't mess it up because I need it tomorrow night for the Bret Michaels concert. And yes, I realize Survivor is on tonight but my wife can show me how to tivo it. Trust me, I have all the bases covered and am available. Oh, and I usually go to bed around 10:30 so if we can skip the encores and get straight to it that would be great. I look forward to hearing from you.

P.S. Please tell Denise Richards to stop calling me. I'm a married man now.

Mike

So there you have it. We'll see how it goes today. Wish me luck.

Mike
Ft. Leavenworth, KS

We are having twins but only one of us is pregnant

Last week in Korea my boss was introducing me prior to a brief I was about to give. He told the audience at one point, "Mike and his wife just found out they are pregnant with twins". No big deal until I started thinking about it. Are WE really pregnant with twins or is SHELLY?

I'm pretty sure it's just Shelly. There are only two times when I feel like I am pregnant. One is when I leave a Chinese buffet and the other is when I leave Em Chamas Brazilian Grill on 64th Street.

Since Shelly told me she was pregnant a few weeks ago, I have been asked many different questions I never had before. Questions such as "Where did you go sing karaoke last week?" or "When do you want to play golf again?" or "What do you think about the Royals so far?" have been replaced with "Do twins run in your family?" or "Did you guys do in vitro?" and finally "Did I hear from someone that you and Shelly are pregnant?".

I probably wouldn't have an issue with saying "Shelly and I are pregnant" if I hadn't seen that freak on Oprah who has many features of a man but is really a woman and pregnant. Now let me stop for a moment and clarify that I was not watching Oprah. It's not like I rushed home, went into the room, turned on the TV, and switched the channel straight to Oprah. I am not allowed to change the channel in the bedroom from 4:00 to 5:00 because Shelly is tivo'ing Oprah. So when I turn on the TV and it's on you can't change it. Yes, I could have turned off the TV but went ahead and left it on...don't judge me!

I see this dude on there who clearly looks like a man but has a huge stomach and he and his "wife" are rubbing it while Oprah asks them questions. After throwing up a little bit in my mouth I just had to sit and watch. Like a car wreck right? He has a beard and bushy armpits but also stretch marks on his stomach and apparently has a baby in his belly. Oh, and he only has man boobies. Now unless you are a woman from Eastern Europe there is no reason you should have a beard and bushy armpits. But there "she" was.

So since then I ruled out saying "Shelly and I are pregnant" and compromised with "Shelly and I are having twins" which seems a little easier on the ears.

Mike
Kansas City, MO

Shelly's evil training plan for me

It was just after 3AM early Monday morning and I was in a deep sleep, mostly as a result of jet lag mixed with two Tylenol PM tablets. I hear a rumbling in the house and the sound of banging then the snapping of plastic like when you break a clothes hanger in half. Just as I'm reaching across to my nightstand to man my position with a .38 pistol in my right hand and my Iraqi bayonet in my left hand, I see a grainy figure in the bathroom that resembles my wife. She was beating the toilet senseless. You know when you go to Chuck E. Cheese and there's that game with all the gophers coming up briefly from all those holes while you try to whack it in the head before it goes down? That's what it reminded me of.

As I begin to stand down, she walks into the room and says (use your favorite Johnson County accent here), "Well the toilet is broken. You're going to have to get in here and fix it!" We pass each other at the entrance of the bathroom as she heads back to bed and as I begin to assess the situation, still groggy and mostly confused.

I see that the toilet has flushed but has not filled back up and is making noise. I also noticed many pieces of plastic, apparently from the thingy that the big ball on the rod hooks on inside the top of the toilet. Now, even when I have had plenty of sleep, am completely alert, and after coffee I still have very limited repair skills. But I do know you can just turn off the water to the toilet until a more appropriate time allows further attention. So that's what I did.

After getting back in bed, I begin to play back in my mind the events of the past few minutes. I just don't recall Shelly waking me like that in the middle of the night over something she would normally know how to handle better than me. Then it hits me. Was Shelly testing my ability to problem solve in the middle of the night? Maybe she was seeing how I would do if one or both of the twins were crying at 3AM? Could it possibly be that she purposely concocted this event??

My mind then shifts back to something that happened earlier in the day. I had complained to Shelly that ever since we put our house on the market and it must always remain in pristine condition, I don't have anything to read in my bathroom. You know, had to get rid of my ESPN, GQ, Maxim, and Men's Journal from the back of the toilet. So as I'm preparing for a #2 she suggests I read an article she downloaded the day before and she hands it to me as I'm on my way to the throne. It was an article about how different and more challenging it is to take care of twins. One particular paragraph said how you must be prepared to deal with one or both of them crying in the middle of the night. By the way, I fully expect one baby to cry from 1-3AM then slap hands with the other so that baby can cry from 3-5AM. If I go in with that expectation then anything else will be okay.

Anyway, at this point I'm pretty convinced I've cracked Shelly's evil plan. What's even worse is that I told her about 10PM that I was looking forward to my first full night's sleep after coming back from Korea and I was going to take sleep medication so I wouldn't wake up at 3AM like I did the previous night.

Now many of you out there know Shelly pretty well. Do you really think sweet little Shelly could go to such great lengths just to test my ability to diffuse a situation on short notice and less than ideal times? I would be curious to know what you think.

If I were to conduct a self-assessment on my performance I would say I did pretty well. But I learned something else that I'm even happier about. The next day as I was fixing the toilet I was sitting on it backwards as I installed new parts. After putting the top back on while still sitting there I realized how comfortable and functional it was to sit that way while taking a crap. You can use the top of the back of the toilet to put your magazine on, do a crossword puzzle, eat your lunch, or just lay your head down like you did back in kindergarten. Go ahead and enjoy the visual you now have in your head. Okay, now go into your bathroom and try it. I'll wait...

...pretty cool huh? You are welcome my friend!

Mike
Kansas City, MO

Shelly's leather pants dilemma

So after several hours in the air on Saturday and at 37,000 feet above northwest Alaska, I decide to pull out my April calendar. Wanted to take a look at my schedule for my time in Kansas City before the next trip on the 24th. Noticed a couple of key events that immediately improved my overall morale after being a little grumpy from sitting in that seat for 9 hours. And it didn't help much that my buddies noticed me watching "P.S. I Love You" a little earlier in the flight. Hard to get out of being caught watching a chick flick.

Anyway, the two events that stood out were two awesome 80's hair band concerts Shelly and I have tickets for--Bret Michaels of Poison on the 18th and Bon Jovi on the 22nd. At this point I immediately switched my ipod to Bon Jovi and played a little air keyboards on my tray table of the beginning of "Runaway" by Bon Jovi followed by some air guitar of "Nothin' But a Good Time" by Poison.

With the volume cranked up the music was apparently escaping some from my headset which resulted in the Korean dude next to me giving me a dirty look. So I told him, "Hey pal, I've been listening to Korean crap music for a week now. You're going to finally enjoy some good music and you're to sit there and like it. And hey buddy, I'm a foot taller than you and weigh a hundred pounds more so I'll do what I want". Okay, I didn't really say that but I thought about it. Okay, I didn't really think about it but I should have. Okay, I really shouldn't have thought about it but I could have. Instead, I gave him a little Asian bow and turned my music down like a good boy.

So as I pondered those concerts and how much fun we'd have I became startled at a thought which resulted in me ripping off my headset and rubbing my forehead with my hand while staring intently at the floor. "HOW IN THE HECK WILL SHELLY FIT INTO HER BLACK LEATHER PANTS?!!!". You see, Shelly told me recently her clothes were beginning to get tighter and she thought she'd make the maternity clothes transition in the next couple of weeks. And she looks smoking hot in those black leather pants and it's been an 80's concert tradition of ours.

I then thought that we might be okay with her wearing hers for these two concerts. But what about later this summer?! I mean, I don't have tickets to anything yet but we usually go to Def Leppard, Journey, Motley Crue, and maybe a little Ratt, Cinderella, and Firehouse. I was a little relieved when I thought that most girls reading this have already had children and have come across the same dilemma.

So here's my question, "Does anyone out there have any black leather maternity pants Shelly can borrow for the next few months?" If not, I am willing to pay $25 plus $18 shipping to have pants like the ones pictured above sent to us from an ebay seller in Canada that I ran across this morning.

That's how important this is to me, folks. We have to maintain our lifestyle as long as we can. I mean, I don't see us taking the twins to see Motley Crue in the summer of 2009 but I haven't completely ruled it out yet.

Let me know what you think and I appreciate any advice as we move forward into maternity clothes. And don't forget to send in your federal taxes tomorrow. I'm not as concerned about states taxes but your federal taxes help pay my income thus supporting my concert habit!

Mike
Kansas City, MO

The link between diaper changing and Slurpee straws

So I'm on my last day in Korea and fly back to Kansas City tomorrow. Yeah, just as I'm getting used to the 14 hour time difference and starting to sleep through the night it's time to go. But I'm ready.

Shelly gave me one task to accomplish while I'm over here. Buy her some high quality replica Coach, Louis Vuitton, or Chanel purses or handbags. I think I'm pretty confident I can do that, since most of my buddies with me were given the same task by their wives. But I seem to recall she also asked me to look for a diaper bag, big enough for two babies worth of diapers.

So as I'm pondering that at lunch today it made me think...so just how many diapers are we going to have to carry at one time? Why isn't one enough for the day? I mean, I don't wash my Jeep Cherokee if it's raining outside because I know it would just get dirty again. Now if you haven't already picked up on it, I have never changed a diaper in my life. Nope, I just can't recall doing that. Usually if Marcy or Mandy would ask if I wanted to I would give some type of reply like "I would love to but my hands are all chapped right now". Just looking out for the baby's best interest.

As I continued my thoughts during lunch on diaper changing over my plate of mystery meat with rice, I got the visual of seeing how some people check for dirty diapers, by putting their hand down the back to see what is there. Now, I do not know the measure of success here. Is success defined as not feeling anything at all or does success mean bringing back up a poop finger showing that you successfully discovered a dirty diaper before the tot starts crying about it? Ladies and gentlemen, I'm just not sure I can do the finger check down the crack method. So since I'm ruling that out I need another method. This is what I've come up with.

You know when you get a Slurpee and it comes with that big long straw with the little spoon on the end of it? You see where I'm going right? I know what you're thinking, that Mike Essary is a genious. I'll just slide one of those down the back and see if the spoon is full upon its return or empty. It's as simple as that.

So let me know what you think. But I do know one thing. I'm starting to get a nice list of items I need before these kids are born. One is the Rockabye Baby music CDs mentioned on the comments page earlier, the best idea I've heard all week by the way. And the other is a big box of Slurpee straws. Maybe Sam's Club sells them so I can get a big huge box of them.

As long as I can continue to develop good ideas like this, my fatherhood skills should greatly improve.

Mike
Seoul, South Korea

My fear of lullabies

There are many people out there with odd phobias. Like fear of clowns or fear of balloons. Well, I've had a fear of lullabies for quite some time now. Not sure why but everytime I hear one it just gives me the creeps. The worst is "Hush now baby don't say a word..." Makes my skin crawl just thinking of it. Hang on. Okay, I'm back now from locking my hotel door and looking under the bed.

Thinking others may have the same phobia I googled "lullaby phobias". Nothing, but I did run across something interesting on wikipedia. They list the following as the origin of lullabies:

"The word Lullaby comes from the Hebrew phrase "Lilith Abi" which means Go Away Lilith. Lilith was a woman possessed by Satan who killed babies and seduced men in their sleep." It's no wonder these tunes freak me out!

Despite my best interest, let's go back and break down my worst lullaby.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird. And if that mocking bird won't sing. Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

If that diamond ring is brass, Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass. If the looking glass will break, Papa's gonna buy you a chocolate cake.

When the chocolate cake you eat, Papa's gonna buy you a puppy sweet. If that puppy will bark, Papa's gonna buy you a horse and cart.

If that horse and cart break down, Papa's gonna buy you a big toy clown. Hush little baby! Don't you cry. Mama's gonna sing you a lullaby."

So what we're saying is we're bribing the young tot to go to sleep by promising unrealistic items in exchange. I do not even know what a mockingbird or looking glass is or where I would get one if the kid called me out. I can just see it once the kid is old enough to talk, "Yo pops, what's up with that mockingbird you promised me that time?" How do I answer that one?? And let's say I am able to find all those things and we get to the big toy clown. A big toy clown?! Are you kidding me? What's creepier than that?!

My plan is to never introduce lullabies to the kids and instead, maybe subsititute a little Journey, Eagles, some good ole 80s hair band tunes or some classic country. I'd be much more comfortable humming a few lines of "Hotel California" and that song makes no promises of what I will do if the kid does go to sleep. And what' s more soothing than humming a few lines of "Open Arms" by Journey. Maybe break into a little Ozzy in the morning to wake them.

Since we create the cognitive nature of children by introducing lullabies at an early age, if we never do that then they will never know the difference. Nothing would make me more proud than to see my kid walking to kindergarten whistling the beginning of Guns n Roses' "Patience". I'm telling ya, his lunch money would remain in his pocket my friends.

Mike
Seoul, South Korea

Middle names--why all the fuss?

It's an exciting time right now. In just a few short weeks we will know the sex of the babies. We strongly believe it will either be two girls, two boys, or one of each. And I truly do not have a preference though I think it would be neat to have one of each. By the way, after Shelly first told me she was pregnant I asked her what she wanted. She replied "a girl" and when she asked me I replied "twin boys". And I made several twin references in the week before finding out she actually was pregnant with twins. I'm available to pick your lottery numbers for a small fee.

At some point in the next few weeks after we know the sexes Shelly and I will assume our position at our kitchen table (unless our house sells then we would be at one of your kitchen tables). We'll take out the ole dry erase board and begin to craft two perfect names. We will go through multiple iterations of mental gymnastics for days before all others are crossed out and two remain.

Now let me caveat by saying I believe all people should have a middle name. I don't want my children to be that kid in class who cannot explain why mommy and daddy didn't provide them a middle name like all the other kids. But the energy we spend deciding on one just isn't fair to the amount of attention it receives later in life.

Think for a moment about your friends or co-workers. How many of their middle names do you know? That's right, not as many as you would think. And it doesn't count for people who go by both names like Cari Beth or John Henry. I'm going to give myself a little test right now. Between my sisters Marcy and Mandy, I have four nieces ranging from 5 months to 9 years old. I'm going to attempt to recall each of their middle names.

1. Addison Paige
2. Lilli Katherine
3. Sophie Marie
4. Vivian Mae

I'm fairly confident about #1 and #4. I'm less confident about #2 and #3. Sure, I could rattle off all of their full names at one time, but after the first year or so the names just weren't said that much, at least not around me.

Now I fully agree with David and Larry and Kim Parr. By the way, Larry's full name is actually Michael Lawrence Parr but he goes by Larry. Getting my point here? Okay, you gotta make sure it flows well and doesn't accidentally spell something bad like a boy named Andrew Samuel Stevenson. And I agree there will be opportunites to use their full names. Can't you just see Shelly's mom say, "Shelly LeAnn Deutscher, get in there and pick up all those shoes! You're 6 years old and you do not need 53 pairs of shoes!" Now I know that by using her full name like that it didn't work as her shoe count is twice that much now.

I would bet my middle name was used more in the first year than it has in the 35 years since then. Sure, I had to use it when I got by social security card in 1984 and when I joined the Army in 1988, but not much other than that. Go ahead and write out your full name. Feels a little awkward writing that middle name huh? I can't write in cursive. I'm sure I could at one time in Mrs. Smith's third grade class but I write in print now and the only thing I write in cursive is my name. So writing the beginning letter of my middle name makes my fingers hurt since I'm not used to it.

Well, I hope this dicussion results in you asking those friends and co-workers for their middle names. Who knows, might just improve your relationship with them to know that. And let us know how it goes.

Next topic will be "My lullaby phobia and why do they creep me out so much".

Big presentation to give in 2 hours. Wish me luck. Enjoy your Monday.

Michael Lee Essary
Seoul, South Korea

What time is it anyway?

Greetings from Seoul. Made it to the hotel a couple of hours ago after flying 17 hours today. Besides being stuck in an elevator for 25 minutes in San Francisco today the trip was unremarkable.

People ask me sometimes how it feels to spend 17 hours in an airplane. Here's the closest I can explain it. Go out into your garage and get into the backseat of your car (no larger than a mid-size). Close the door, buckle your seatbelt, and settle in with a couple of magazines, books, ipod, etc. Spend the next 17 hours in that position only getting up for an occasional quick bathroom break. Remember to note that at the 8 hour mark you aren't even half way there yet. Oh, and when you finish set all the clocks in your house 14 hours forward to take into account the time change. Enjoy your flight.

More tomorrow. My little friend Mr. Tylenol PM is calling my name.

Tomorrow's topic will be "Why do we spend so much energy thinking of a good middle name when after the first year or so no one even remembers it anymore". Ponder that until then.

Mike
Seoul, South Korea

Guy vs. girl reactions

Okay, so one thing I’ve noticed in the past few weeks is how differently my guy friends react to the news versus how Shelly’s girl friends react. Here are some of what I’ve observed so far:

WOMEN

Oh my gosh…

…that’s so wonderful for you guys!
…such fantastic news!
…I have some maternity clothes you could certainly use!
…you’ll have such cute little children!
…so have you thought of colors for your nursery?
…I can hardly wait for your baby shower!
…I’m so excited and I wish you all the best!
…do you have names picked out yet?
…are you going to have more?

MEN

Dude…

…so does this mean you can’t go to the Royals home opener?
…don’t even think about cancelling the monthly cigar event!
…are you going to find out who the father is?
…looks like it’s time to start shopping for a mini-van!
…I think my cousin would sell his 1985 Chevy Astro!
…how much do you want for your Bret Michaels and Bon Jovi tickets?
…just remember you now have to hand out two cigars!
…please tell me you are still coming to Vegas for the fantasy football draft!
…what are you going to do if she goes into labor during the Oklahoma vs. Texas game?

I'll update this list as more reactions are collected. Heading to Asia tomorrow. Chat with ya'll from the other side of the pond.

Mike

Kansas City, MO

Recap Time

Let me spend a few minutes catching folks up on the past few weeks. My assumption is most if not all of you know the story so this will be a little condensed.

Shelly and I decide last fall we'd try to have a baby. When she began having back problems and was told of the possibility of surgery and heavy meds we put a little haitus on the pregnacy possibility. Shelly accompanies me on a business trip to the Nashville area in February. She comes home and I stay another week. I return March 7th after a day of flight delays, snow, layovers, etc. I arrive late at night in KC and am smoked after a busy couple of weeks of 15 hour days. Shelly is acting a little weird (more so than normal) and is asking if I want to go to dinner, do I want to sit and talk, etc. I'm pretty much just ready for bed and begin to head that direction.


She stops me and pulls out what I now know was a pregnacy test. Puzzled, I hold it and am not sure what to make of it but am now glad I didn't think it was a thermometer and put it in my mouth. Then she shows me a homemade drawing of two adult stick figures, a child stick figure, and a little dog and of course the obligatory tree and sunshine. Still a little groggy, I think it's the same drawing I made for her for Valentines Day, minus the little child.


Just as it's beginning to sink in, she hands me a book called "Your pregnancy for the father to be". After 10 seconds went by I took my first breath as Shelly said, "Are you still not getting it?!". My reply was "Are you with child?" Yes ladies and gentlemen, of all things I could say to my wife and new mother to be, my response was something an Amish guy would say (no offense to the Amish who may be reading this, your baked goods are wonderful).


After a day at home I fly to Virginia Beach for a one week conference. I had planned to fly back to KC early on the Friday morning before Easter weekend so we could jump in the car and head to Porter to tell my parents. More flight cancellations led to Shelly driving without me and me flying directly to Tulsa that night. But it all worked out, except for the fact Shelly and I were never alone until hours later after dinner. (I did not know Shelly was having twins yet). After mom, dad, Mandy, and Shelly and I return from dinner everyone spreads out in different rooms. Upon completion of multiple ititerations of hand and arm signals between Shelly and me while my mother is reading the paper in the same room as us, I decide to go and get dad and ask him to come into the living room. I then tell them they are going to be grandparents again. Everyone is going crazy and mom begins to bolt towards to phone to call Marcy on vacation in Alabama. Shelly then shouts for everyone to stop because she needs to tell "something else that not even Michael knows". We all freeze in place as Shelly says something like (and this part is a bit of a blur to me) "It's going to be TWINS!" Fortunately the chair I was leaning on preventing my immediate fall to the floor. I stood there in shock and after another 10 second period I blinked and took a breath for the first time before joining in the celebration, still numb, weak in the knees, and partially belligerent.


After screaming and hugging from Mom, Dad, Mandy, and Shelly and controlled breathing on my part, mom called Marcy then put me on the phone. She asked if I was surprised and my response was, "Marcy, if I woke up in the morning with my head sewn to the carpet I wouldn't be any more surprised than I am right now". If you saw National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation you will think that makes complete sense. If you did not see it you will think I'm a complete dufus. Or possibly you'll think both.


So there you have it. With Marcy and Shelly both tag teaming dissemination of information it didn't take long for the news to get out.


My next post later today will be on the different reactions from my guy friends vs. the different reactions for Shelly's girl friends. Of course they are much different. Then I'll be off the net for a couple of days while traveling.


Mike

Kansas City, MO

The Beginning

So, I'll say the same thing most people say when they create their first blog. I can't believe I've finally hit the world of blogging. But nevertheless, here we are.

This blog will track my perspective of Shelly's mutiple birth pregnancy. Yeah, that's what it's called when more than one fetus is carried to term in a single pregnancy. You won't have to write that definition down on your tablet right now because that's only one little tidbit of information we will all learn as we go through the next 7 months, or as you girls called it...28 weeks.

I'll also list my location at the end of each blog since I'm only in one spot in the world for about a week at a time these days. More later!

Mike
Kansas City, MO