Our life

Last night, we had our last class until the baby is born. So we’ve made it to totally prepared, just as I predicted over the weekend. So lets see here:

• Get pregnant. check
• Make announcements. check
• Take pics. check
• Prettify nursery. check
• Fill it with furniture, clothes, toys, and products. check & check
• Take all the recommended classes. check

Yep, we’re all set now. Just need to have the baby, and then start living the easy life. Right? Just going to be that simple. Baby will arrive, perfectly clean and easy, on exactly the due date. C will be ready to run her marathon a few hours later. We’ll go home and everything will be great. Baby will sleep at night, and require minimal maintenance during the day. By one month, the baby will be feeding and changing him/herself, and talking by 2 months (hacking by 3 months?).

And then he/she will become a wonder-child, worshiped by a large country out west. We will be showered with gifts and money, and be forced into retirement simply because that country wishes us to focus on our wonder-child. We will live happily ever after, filthy rich, loved by the world and allowed to live privately.

Of course, I could be exaggerating a little bit. This could be ignorance of what is truly coming down the road at us¹.

But I ask you: what’s healthier? Worrying about what may or may not happen? Or believing we’re ready, while still understanding that we don’t know it all.

Are we ready to be parents? In a word, No. But that’s not a negative thing. If everyone said they were ready, I wouldn’t believe them. Nothing against them. Just how I feel. We can’t know all there is to know;² no matter how many classes we take, books we read, and people we talk to. That’s part of becoming a new parent: you get to learn stuff, by talking or reading or trial and error.

When we were born, we weren’t ready to be babies. When we grew up, we weren’t ready to be adults. When we get married, we weren’t ready to be spouses. When we have children, we’re not ready to be parents.

Our parents figured it out, just as theirs did before them. And I think they have all done great jobs (puts a feather in my parents cap for me, and of course one in Oz’s cap for C). So with that in mind, I am certain that we will do a great job too!

And I couldn’t have a better mommy in mind for my child, period.

p.s. – This afternoon is the last ultrasound. Tomorrow is another doc visit. Baby shower is Saturday (Target and Babies r Us). Guess I got a bit off topic there.

1. Answer: I’m exaggerating [↩]
2. proper usage? I’m never sure on the semi-colons [↩]

Tuesday - We learned a few things last Tuesday. First off, we I learned that the quarter round installed throughout the house is 3/4 inch. So the 64 linear feet of 1/2 inch that has 2 coats of stain on it already won’t be used as planned. Ahh the fateful 7 P’s come into play¹.

We also learned how to “properly” secure 64 linear feet of 3/4″ quarter round to a sub-compact car with a spoiler so that it won’t blow away on the 40 mile drive home. The recipe is equal parts twine, ingenuity, path, and luck.

So then Tuesday night I restarted prepping the (correct) quarter round for the nursery. When we removed the carpet in there to get the floors done, it exposed where the old quarter round was. Had to cover that up, plus finish the transition. 4 coats of stain (Minwax Golden Pecan #245) and 3 coats of poly, and the prepwork was done by Thursday night.

Wednesday - Wednesday was our final birth class. Kinda sad to see it end. But we’re now completely prepared (more than I meant when I said that last week). Next week, we’ll reach “totally” prepared (enlightenment?). When we first started going to class, we wanted to Eat at Mickey’s (Potatoes O’Brien… mmmm). We never had the time to make it. So we felt it fitting to eat there on our last night.

Thursday - Spent that evening finishing up the quarter round after a long day at the office.

Friday - Planned on going out to Menards that morning. Had my list and plan. But a series of seemingly unconnected events occurred that told me maybe I shouldn’t go. I’m not a big believer of fate (in that aspect). But this time, I chose to listen. Came back with the Oscar Meyer Weiner theme song in my head (Thanks Oz!). Had to get some donuts from Frankee’s Bakery, just in case.

Mowed the lawn, then started working on quarter round. It was done Sunday². C took Friday off to help around the house. Totally threw me off, as I kept thinking it was Saturday.

Towards the afternoon, we started the nursery furniture. Oz came over and her and C worked on the drapes for a bit. After she took off, we went back to the furniture, and worked well into the night.

Begin Geeky Stuff – During the work on Friday, I asked Oz if I could borrow her cam (Canon S5-IS). I knew that the Canons have what was called the Intervalometer. It takes a pic every X seconds/minutes until X pics/infinity (think time lapse). I thought that would be neat to put the nursery together like that. Well, apparantly Canon stopped doing that after the S3-IS.

Figured out Saturday morning (thanks inco³!) that CHDK for the S5 does, in fact, have a script that does that for me. So after a bit of counter-intuitive trial and error, I was able to load it on Oz’s camera (its non-destructive). Yay! End Geeky Stuff

Saturday - Finally made it out to Menards in the morning, picked up supplies, came back and got to work. ⁴ I finished up almost all of the quarter round. Just the end pieces need to still be set (they were cut after finish. Stain and poly applied, and now dry fit). C and Oz worked on the drapes for most of the afternoon, and well into the evening.

Sunday - I patched the holes in the nursery (7P’s again. Old drape hardware). C and Oz worked on the new drapes. I finally tackled what I thought would be a simple project: mount a mirror. But mounting a 78″ tall by 40″ wide mirror into a 39.5″ wide area requires a bit more “work” than originally anticipated. Let’s just say that, while secure, I’m not done yet. After that, and the pizza and Rp/Lp’s visit, I did the one thing we’ve both been waiting for: moved the bed back to our room.

Last night, we slept in our bed in our bedroom for the first time in 3 weeks.

Conclusion – Its becoming more and more real. With all the projects I’ve done around the house, the nursery began as “just another project” to me, mentally. As it comes together, it’s hitting me: this will be our baby’s room. This room will be the first place our baby sleeps and wakes in (post hospital, of course). A couple times, I’ve caught myself just standing over the crib or changing table. I’m not sure what I’m thinking, I just catch myself doing it.

I am in awe of this. We’re going to be (fantastic/outstanding/super duper) parents soon. You’re going to be (fantastic/outstanding/super duper) Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, etc soon.

Ain’t it cool?

1. Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Good ole dad! [↩]
2. it took me this long for several reasons. First, its tedious. Second, I’m becoming anal about fit and finish. Third, I had to help C with some things here and there. And fourth, we did the nursery Friday after I put down the 3 walls [↩]
3. inc, I don’t use names here [↩]
4. I’m going to be completely honest here, I don’t recall all that was done Saturday. The past 3 days have been a blur. The things I can remember, I’m posting in this post. I’m just worn out, and ready to finish all of this work [↩]