Daphne's Halloween Costume

Here's a sneak peek of Daphne's Halloween costume taken yesterday afternoon. She's a bumble bee this year. Shelly had the tough choice of picking out a cheerleader outfit or a bee. It pretty much came down to the bee outfit fit her better. She only weighs 12 pounds but is a little thick in the middle.

Speaking of Daph, she had a little street fight last night. Shelly and I were walking her in our neighborhood when a big neighbor dog came out and bum rushed her on the sidewalk. I was pretty pleased with our reaction though. I ran over and pushed the big dog off of her then Shelly spanked his little rear, all right there in front of the owners and friends they were sitting outside with. Then we pelted the owners with comments about keeping their dogs on a leash. Oh, and Shelly handed them the vet bill this morning.

Shelly took her to the vet this morning. She has two puncture wounds on each side of her body and lost some blood last night. She was lucky not to have had a punctured lung. She has a small drainage tube in right now and is in some pain so she is being very quiet which is often unusual as many of you know.

She's been nicked before a few times so I'm sure she'll be fine in a few days. Maybe we'll re-look her costume and make her a gangster.

Mike
Fort Leavenworth, KS

False alarm on the new pictures

So, the 3D picture and video opportunity didn't quite work out last night like we expected. We were able to get a few glimpses of him but nothing as clear as we had the last time. But the intent was to help train the new ultrasound technicians on new equipment and hopefully they got something out of it. But hey, it was free and we were able to notice he had filled out some and had those same cute lips. The next regular ultrasound is October 8th so we'll check him out then.

Heading out to Shelly's hometown of WaKeeney, Kansas this afternoon for a baby shower tomorrow. Enjoy your weekend.

Mike
Fort Leavenworth, KS

No more training, it's all up to us now

If you're receiving positive vibes right now that I may be a little smarter tonight it's because I am. Yep, we just finished our last baby class this evening at the hospital. After 3 sessions totally 11 hours of topics such as poop, pee, boobies, crying, diapers, circumcision, and epidurals we're on our own now. Just a stack of baby prep books by the bed for occasional review prior to going to the hospital in a few weeks. I enjoyed the classes and I think I was paying attention for the most part. There were only a few times went Shelly caught me checking sports scores on my phone.

Our 32 week doctor's appointment was last Friday. The baby weighed 4 lbs, 3 oz. His head was down at the time but he has been moving quite often in Shelly's belly. Either that, or Mexican food and fudge ice cream bars are causing weird protrusions on the surface of Shelly's stomach.

We also had the opportunity to take professional pregnancy photos the other day. This was one event I was a bit reluctant about doing. Something didn't seem right about us sitting in a studio with Shelly's shirt up exposing the soccer ball to a strange man. But it went well and we'll have the pictures back next week. Here are a few proofs:





Tomorrow we have a great opportunity to take another gander at the little tike. One of Shelly's friends told her about a new 3D/4D ultrasound place in Lenexa looking for pregnant volunteers to assist in training their new technicians. So...tomorrow night I'll be able to post more 3D pictures and video of him. And this whole package is completely free, a $175 value! Just couldn't pass it up. So we're pretty excited about that. The appt. is tomorrow at 3PM.

Well, time to do my nightly duty of rubbing Shelly's sciatic nerve before bed.

Mike
Kansas City, MO

Mike Essary, Lactation Consultant

So I went to Breastfeeding Class with Shelly tonight. This was the first in a trilogy of baby classes we have over the next few weeks. I was a little leery about going as I'm sure any guy would be. For one thing, when Shelly called to schedule the class she asked the lady if husbands should attend. The lady said, "Well, if he feels comfortable". I wasn't sure how to take that as it didn't sound too reassuring. I would have felt better if she said, "Oh yes of course, we urge all husbands to attend and we cater to them as well!". But I decided to take my chances and go along.

Overall, it was a good class and very informative. My knowledge of breastfeeding increased by 100% primarily because I knew absolutely nothing about it prior to the class. Most other women had their husbands there so I wasn't the only dude.

I'd give the class an overall rating of PG-13 as there was quite a bit of partial nudity during the slide presentation. But we men remained focused on the task at hand and sat quietly taking notes, or at least pretending to take notes as to not seem like we're staring at the screen.

And how about that title...lactation consultant. I didn't know there was such a thing but it sure sounds official. And I'm sure it's indeed a crucial job. I wondered about being one myself and having a business card that said Michael Essary, Lactation Consultant. My phone number would be 531-8008. And for those who haven't picked up on it yet, get a calculator and put in those numbers. Now turn the calculator upside down. That's right, it says "BOOBIES", one of the best tricks there was back when I was in junior high.

Anyway, after 3 hours of discussions about breasts and milk I couldn't decide whether to stop at Hooters on the way home or just have some cereal. I chose the cereal, Cocoa Krispies in fact.

Enjoy this joke I ran across:
***********************
A woman and a baby come into the doctor's office. She was
told to go into a room and wait for the doctor. After arriving there, the
doctor examined the baby and asked the woman, "Is he breast fed or on the
bottle?" "Breast fed" she replied.

"Well, strip down to your waist," the doctor ordered. She did. He pressed,
kneaded and pinched both breasts for a while in a detailed examination.
Motioning to her to get dressed he said, "No wonder this baby is hungry. You
don't have any milk."

"Naturally," she said, "I'm his Aunt. But I'm glad I came in.
***********************

Mike
Kansas City, MO

Who needs baby classes?!

Daphne knows something is up. She is used to being the center of attention in this house. But now, she seems to notice that Shelly and I are discussing something having to do with a new addition to our current family of three. And there are likely times when she feels a bit neglected already. She listened to us oooh and aahhh over all the nice gifts Shelly received at a recent shower. She very carefully sniffed and reviewed each item as it was sat on the floor.

So...to make her feel like she is contributing to the arrival of our son, I've decided to use her to practice such things as diaper changing, CPR, and how to hold and carry a baby in our new Baby Bjorn carrier picture below:

Here's one of Daphne trying on the awesome new shirt my sister Marcy got us for the boy:

It says, "I've got the world's greatest dad" Fits her pretty well huh?

Daphne weighs 13 pounds and although we both hope the boy doesn't weigh that much when he is born, I'm trying to get used to hauling around that extra weight in my arms by practicing with Daphne.

Here's a picture of me practicing the art of the diaper change (just in case Shelly isn't around that is):

And here's a couple of me practicing CPR:


After all that practicing it really tuckers one of us out:

Heading to Branson tomorrow for a few days. Ya'll enjoy your weekend.

Mike
Kansas City, MO

Gaining an identity

There really is a little person in there! About a year after telling my sister Mandy that the 4D ultrasound she had on her daughter Vivian looked creepy, Shelly and I decided we needed to have a little peek at our son this week. And boy was it worth it. Even though some of the video looked distorted because of the amniotic fluids the creep factor quickly subsided and it was awesome to see our little boy. Nothing will compare to actually holding him in a few weeks but it was great to catch a glimpse. Shelly had a normal ultrasound on Tuesday and all looked great. At 29 weeks, he's measuring 2 weeks ahead on most readings right now. He weighs 2 pounds, 13 ounces and his head measured ahead of schedule. Shelly's belly reading was 31. I'm not sure what that 31 reading is called but something where the ultrasound lady measures from her belly button to her nether region. Apparently, the number should line up with the number of weeks pregnant. So as of now, he's a big baby but we're told it could all even out. Either way, Shelly is really feeling pregnant right now. She looks very cute though, as many of you know who have seen her lately.

Anyway, we were told all the conditions were good if we decided to have the 3D/4D ultrasound. I called a place down on the Plaza and we were able to get in a couple of hours later. So we have a 30 minute DVD of the entire ultrasound as well as about 75 digital and hard copy pictures. Pretty neat. Check out this video:

By the way, are you still impressed moments later that I used the phase "amniotic fluids" in a sentence and I'm pretty sure it was used accurately? That's right, I've been readin' my books boys and girls. Enjoy the pics and short video. And bear with me on the video, it's a video of a video (me recording my computer screen with my camera for a bit while the DVD played). You'll notice his left eye looks like it has a dark ring around it like Petey from The Little Rascals. Not to worry as this was just a shadow on these particular pictures. And just in case you don't remember The Little Rascals or know what Petey looks like, here's a pic. Mike
Kansas City, MO

Keeping the boy going

It will be interesting one day to tell our son of all the places we took him while he was still hanging out in the womb. Had a very busy and varied week last week.

Flew to Boston last Monday morning. Since I was using airline miles for free flights Shelly and I flew on separate airlines but met up in the Boston airport just after lunch. Rode the subway to the hotel and pretty much just walked around the city that night.

On Tuesday we bought a trolley ticket that took us to various spots all over the city where we could get on and off throughout the day. Saw many of the major attractions in Boston that day before coming back to the hotel to relax for a bit. Went to a Red Sox game that night at Fenway Park. Awesome park, hard to believe how much history there is in that 96 year old ball field.

Wednesday we took the subway and hit some of the Freedom Trail sights. Went to Paul Revere's house (he was not home at the time), went to an old cemetery called the Granary Burying Grounds where John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin's family, and Mother Goose are all buried there. Ate lunch at the oldest restaurant in America, the Union Oyster House. Went back to the hotel and prepared for the highlight of our trip and the main reason we went...The Eagles Concert!

The concert was amazing. We had great seats, 12 rows in the center from the stage. They played for almost 3 hours straight!

Flew back to KC on Thursday morning and prepared for my parents to visit us the next day.

Took my mom and dad to Stroud's Chicken Friday night before heading to the Uptown Theater to see the Oak Ridge Boys. Even after all these years those guys sounded great. After a stop at Sheridan's for some frozen custard we went home.

On Saturday after Shelly fixed us all a fabulous meal of pork chops and all the fixins, we all went to the Royals game for Military Appreciation Day. It was very hot to start the game but by the second inning we had some shade and a breeze. Great game even though Shelly's boyfriend, David DeJesus, was hurt and did not play. Went to eat Mexican food at Margarita's after the game then went home and played cards that night. Oh, and of course the obligatory jaunt down to Cold Stone to get some ice cream.

On Sunday, we went to church in Independence to visit some old friends and mom and dad left that afternoon back to Oklahoma. Overall, a great weekend. The boy was very active throughout the week and especially when Joe Walsh got on that guitar during the Eagles concert. Pretty active during Elvira and Bobbie Sue during the Oak Ridge Boys concert also.

Shelly's parents visit us this weekend then we're off to Manhattan, Kansas for a week to inprocess my new job before coming back to KC for a school I have here at Fort Leavenworth until the end of November.

Mike
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas