They can build me stronger. . .

Anyone reading this who is a dad go now to dad labs. Anyone reading this who isn't a father send a father you know to dad labs..

A boy?. . .

When I learned that the baby in my wife's belly was a boy, I was too busy worrying that he had Down's Syndrome to express my thoughts about him being a boy.

It's true, I really wanted a little girl. I had 3 sister's, I dote on my nieces like crazy, I never even liked other little boys when I was a little boy. Little girls, to me, are sweet and nice and cuddly. Boys are sweaty and rough and. . . well not cuddly. I wanted a girl bad (look at some of my old posts). So we're having a boy. . .

I'd like to say I thought I'd be ok or upset about learning I was going to have a son, but neither is true. . . I never thought I'd have a boy at all. Not even for a moment. SO, again we're having a boy. . .

The only experience I've had with boys is my nephew Kevin. . . some slightly pleasant, but mostly with my boy experiences, I still really want a girl. I don't do boy things. Boys need men to help shape them, I knew girls growing up, I don't know boys. So yeah, we're having a boy. . .

And already I love him more than words could describe.

Even if he is a boy.

Serious day. . .

Ok I've gotten into it with a few people now on this issue and you know how I hate to talk about serious things here but this is just making me angry.

Autism. . .

Jenny McCarthy went on Oprah this week to push her new book and scare people into believing that immunizing your baby causes autism. Jenny McCarthy is hot. . . loved her on MTV (and you know how I feel about breasts. Jenny McCarthy is funny. Jenny McCarthy may even be a good writer (I haven't read her books). What Jenny McCarthy is not is a doctor (though she did take a semester of nursing school before she became a playmate). Forgive me if I don't want to get my medical advice from a former centerfold.

The argument is always "well, what else could have caused it?" Parents want someone to blame. They won't blame themselves or God (and nor should they) and a two-year-old hasn't had much happen to them in their short time on earth so what could be the connection. . . it isn't contracted from someone else, they weren't exposed to radiation, it can't be breast milk vs. formula (or something else they ate). They need someone to blame, so they blame the one thing they couldn't control going into their child. . . vaccines.

Let's talk about another rising kid "disease," ADD. Attention Deficit Disorder. I'm assuming anyone reading this is over 25. . . do you remember anyone growing up with ADD? Do you remember any hyper-active kids in your grade school (if not, chances are, you were that kid)? ADD and ADHD didn't seem to exist until recently. Now everybody has it and doctors dole out medication like candy. Is it because it's more prevalent, or is it because we can test for it.

What about autism? Is it more common today or do people simply know what it is now?

Autism is hard to define. It's actually several similar disorders all lumped into a category. 90% of autistic diagnoses are genetic. The CDC, the AMA, the AAP. . . every one of them discounts the link between the two. Someone at work said "that's the government and western medicine. Your can't trust them, you should take more fish oil." So either the AMA (et. al.) is right ,and there really isn't a link between autism and immunization, or the government and medical community is lying to us. Maybe putting something in the vaccines to make the general populace less functional and easier to control.

Anyway, that's my two cents on the subject. I doubt I'm going to sway anyone one way or the other. Everyone who has an opinion on this subject already is not moving their opinion either way. For me it comes down to this. Would I rather have a kid stricken with autism, or would I rather have a kid die from polio, mumps, measles, chicken pox, or whooping cough, all of which can be fatal? I'd rather take my chances with the immunizations.

No popcorn for me thanks. . .

Birthing videos are no fun. We watched 2 of them in class this week. Both were from the 1970's, both featured bad hair—including a woman with a mullet, and somehow both videos were of women with thick Boston accents. The first woman decided she wanted to help pull the baby out so, after the head popped out, she sat up, reached down and pulled. The second had a husband whose idea of helping his wife relax was to sing "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" (I'm guessing such actions will get me killed).

So as I said, they're still showing videos from the 70's. Imagine. . . you're in your 30's and having a baby, you go to childbirth class and it's video week, the instructor puts in the video, presses play, and next thing you know you see your mom in a hospital gown bent over with a contraction and your dad standing behind her. . . or worse yet someone who isn't your dad standing behind her!

Our class started with 3 couples during week one. Week two introduced a 16-year-old and her aunt. Week three we got a couple that was there for a make-up class. . . that's right, a make-up class. You can only then imagine how fussy the mom-to-be was when her husband wasn't completely posing in the labor poses like the drawings on the poster. "You're hand is too high, the guy on the poster has his hand lower down, how can this be relaxing if we don't match the couple on the poster. My mother was right, I should have married Greg." And so on.

We laugh a lot in class. . . we're the bad couple.

When furniture attacks. . .

Why would a piece of furniture make it all seems so real? Yesterday we bought a crib and a changing table/dresser. After 2 trips across town we got them both home—though the crib is still unassembled in my car. The dresser is in the baby's room (no, we still don't like the n-word). We got it in place and both got the same feeling. . . "oh my we're going to have a baby." No kicking or baby clothes or ultrasound or birthing class gave us this same feeling of, "holy crap there will be a baby here soon!"

Not sure how the piece of furniture—which looks just like any old dresser—could suddenly make us realize the gravity of the situation. I wonder what would happen if we bought a new couch?

30 minutes or it's free. . .

We had a doctor's appointment on Monday. As we sat waiting in the exam room there was a knock on the door and the doctor poked her head in and said "I have to go deliver this baby, I'll be right back." Right back!? . . . yes, she was right back. Less than 30 minutes later. granted her office is about a 5 minute walk to the delivery room, but still. She's like Dominoes.

I take back a little of what I said last time about the L&D classes. This second class was much, much better than the first. We went through signs of labor and how the labor itself should go. . . kind of a read through. The teacher actually had some helpful information and I felt she was answering our questions well.

I found a cool podcast, "The Ford Galaxy of Stories." It features "famous names from the worlds of [British] film, TV and comedy tell(ing) memorable children’s stories and bring(ing) them to life in their own unique way. Parents can download new stories each week to keep the family entertained at home or in the car" My wife and I watch our fair share of BBC America so we recognized quite a few of the narrators. It's really good, and I swear Ford is not paying me to say that.

Oh and you can subscribe to it through itunes for easy distribution.

You can't spell class with it. . .

We started our labor and delivery classes this week (Tuesday).

Waste of time.

I think we would have been better served with a book on the subject and a yoga class. Didn't learn anything new, had to lay on the hard floor whilst some retired nurse tried to hypnotize us, and at some point we're going to be lectured on breast feeding. . . it's not that I'm against breast-feeding or anything (I love anything involving breasts), I just know some people who were unable to do so, and likely my wife won't be able to do it for longer than a month (it's hard to pump when your office is a 1st grade classroom). She's not very helpful. We've all read the books, we know what we're doing, tell us stuff we don't know yet.

"So guys the answer to the pain is deep breathing. I ask you Is there anything we can tell them that they won't believe?!" That's from a show called Coupling. Anyone pregnant should rent, TiVO or just watch on BBC America the 4th season of Coupling. You should really watch all the seasons (or series). It's a great show, but season 4 is all about the main couple going through pregnancy. Some good insights.

On a side note, I got to meet my friend Janice this week. She doesn't seem to think she looks pregnant, but I do. I knew her as soon as I saw her at the restaurant last night. The 3 of us went out for ice cream, after the business dinner, and talked baby stuff. . . it was fun.

We have paint. . .

I finished most of the painting of the baby's room today. Blue on blue stripes. We have a little more to do. . . like furnish it. I'll post pictures once we get to that part.

Other than that, not much is happening. We spent Saturday night with a woman I grew up with who it due November 1st, and Sunday we spent the evening with a couple we hang out with and their one-year-old girl. It is kinda cool to think about having kids around soon when we go out to dinner.