The Lion, The Wardrobe (no Witch)

December 9. Winter's definitely descended upon Dallas. Normally at this time of year it is still light-jacket weather (50s), but this morning it was mid-20s with a windchill of 11 degrees! This must sound ridiculously cold to you, seeing as how you're used to a cozy 98.7 around-the-clock.


But with winter weather, comes the winter wardrobe. Unfortunately, though, your Mom's winter pea coat, which usually envelops her, and could do so twice over, hardly buttons around her belly. It is dangerously close to what your Pops coined as the forced-casual look.

In fact, over the weekend your Mother postulated that she might have one more week before the jacket simply would not close around her. At that point, though, I will donate my jacket to the cause. By the time she outgrows that, we hope it will be Spring though.

But not to worry, we'll keep the bump (that's you) nice and warm and cozy.

You'll also be warm and cozy in your nursery too. And now that the basics of the nursery are down, we're talking decorations.

Your Mom wants to decorate your nursery (or at least one wall of it ) with illustrations of animals from Classic children's books.


As part of our continuing effort to pre-natally communicate with you daily, we were reading Shel Silverstein's "Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back" out loud to you last night. It was a good book. When you understand English we'll read it to you again.

But, due to this reading, Lafcadio made the list of creatures in your nursery!

After we read, we brainstormed about other characters for your nursery, and here's who else you may be seeing:

George, Curious.Lion, Cowardly.Manic Depressive Donkey

Crocodile, Lyle, Lyle

Caterpillar, Hungry, Hungry

Brown Bear, Brown BearBabarSylvester (of the Magic Pebble Situation)And the Petit Prince's Fox

...but that's just to name a few.

How is this all going to work together in a cohesive design? I have no idea. That's not my department. But I do know that you're going to love your nursery (or at least we will), and that you'll be sound and snug in your new home. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and promise you that you'll be even more snug than your mother's winter jacket!

I wanna hold your...foot? hand? unknown appendage?

Last night while cuddling on the couch, your Mom and I both had a hand on the belly (yes, it's certainly big enough to accomodate that now). You were doing your sommersaults and kicks and rollings, like usual, but then you did something new, and very cool:

You pushed, and kept pushing, your foot (or hand?) out to us, for at least 10 seconds at a time. Your Mom and I both held your hand (or foot?) and it was truly remarkable. I could feel bone, detect the shape of the appendage and feel you pressing against me.

Remember this picture from before? Well, what you were doing felt like it should've looked like this. But, don't be freaked out, it didn't look like that at all.

Sure, we've felt jabs and even 2-second holds before, but this was as if you were just stretched out in the belly, making yourself as comfortable as possible, kicking your feet all the way out to the edge. And, as a result, you kept your foot out there long enough for us to hold it in the palms of our hands...and smile.

Baby School

On Saturday, your Mom and I celebrated the beginning of week 27 by spending the whole day in school. Yep, Saturday School. But it was totally worth it: we took a class on Baby CPR, Baby choking remedies and Baby Care (including bathing, swaddling, changing, immunizations, nursing, and more).

We are totally still a little scared, never having children before; but these classes made us feel a little more confident and a little more ready for you to arrive.

When we entered the class room, the first thing we saw was the pile of identical babies stacked up in the corner. It was a bit odd, to say the least, but- really- where would YOU keep your pile of babies?

Then we learned how to do chest compressions just in case your heart stops. Don't worry, though, the teacher said that baby CPR, while a vital skill to know, is one that is hardly ever used. Which mean, you're gonna be just fine! But just in case you're note, your Mom and I know exactly what to do!

Then we had to breath right into this baby doll's mouth to help resuscitate it (as part of the CPR)-- but the doll never woke up! But at least I got to breath into a doll's mouth. Cross that life-goal off my list!

We finally graduated from the CPR class to the baby care class. I think I started out quite well and impressed everyone with how tightly I held the baby's head. Dad of the Year!

And then, of course, we learned to change the diaper. But, I imagine, you'll never have a diaper change as clean and easy as with the doll. For starters, this little fella didn't even excrete anything. But he was anatomically correct-- which was pretty frightening. Your Mom even pointed to it in the middle of class, leaned over to me and asked "WHY??????"

Now that we're officially less than 90 days away from meeting you, it was good to have all this information under our belts (or hats, or wherever we're gonna keep it).

Don't get me wrong- we still don't know exactly what we're doing...but we're getting closer!

The Thin Brown Line

They said it would come. And it did. About a month ago I started noticing the fabled "linea nigra" (or black line) appearing vertically on your Mom's belly.

She swore she didn't see it.

Then I definitely knew I was seeing it, and even tried to point it out to her. But she still said she didn't see it!

Finally about a week or so ago, your Mom finally saw the line!

"Guess what? You know that line we're supposed to get on our bellies? I think I have one."

"That's what I've been saying all along!"

The evidence, which is clear to everyone now, is below:

Much to her surprise, though, the line seems to confirm that she's not symmetrical. Or at least that's what she thinks, anyway. The line falls off to the left side of her body...so either the line is out of whack, or your Mom's not symmetrical.

It appears the what causes the line isn't a mystery at all. Basically, the same thing that causes all of pregnancies other fun time happiness- HORMONES- is what causes the line.

But, why the line appears where it does still IS a mystery. They don't know WHY it appears down the center of the belly!

Is it a racing stripe? The 50 yard line? A connect the dots? Who knows.

But what we do know, though, is that this thin brown line is yet another sign that you're going to be coming out to see us soon.

And maybe, that's what the line is afterall: A Finish line! When you see it, you'll know you've finished the first part of your journey!

The Curious Case of Belly Button

Your Mom's Belly Button just keeps getting more and more curious. She was sure a couple of weeks ago that it was going to pop from ( to ) , and so we started Belly Button Watch 2009. The crowd has been gathering every night with bated breath and front row seats, waiting for it to pop to an outy...but as you can see, the crowd has lost it's interest.

You see, we don't even know what Day of the BBW it is, but I do know that that thing is STILL an Inny. But, it's becoming a very weird inny. You know what the bottom of a balloon looks like when it's tied off? Well, of course, you don't know what it looks like right now. Maybe a little bit like a spleen? I don't know. Here's a picture of one:
So, that little purple tip really is a good example of what your Mom's belly button looks like.

It's shallow, it's textured, it's flat, it's rubbery, it's the top piece of a bulgy, round orb.

Don't believe me? Fine. Take a look at this and tell me it's not the most curious belly button you've ever seen. Now, the belly button is remarkably hard to take a picture of, so you may have to use your imagination a little bit.
But seriously, is it going to pop or just keep getting more and more shallow? Is it going to start talking to us? Is it going to wink? I don't know! But, we'll keep monitoring the situation. Hopefully something more interesting will happen with it (like a POP..OUTY!) so the dogs' efforts wont have been in vain.

So, even though this is supposed to have been the month of your Mom's fastest growth, we still have a shallow inny on our hands, and a curious one at that.

But, we do have an ever-growing belly. In fact, I think the belly even grew from last week to this week. (Thanksgiving food certainly must have helped).

What do you think?

WEEK 25


WEEK 26

And maybe sometime soon, your Mom will have one of these protruding from her shirt: )

Rockin' Around (The Christmas Tree)

You've been a busy little boy lately. You are moving regularly and it's not just little kicks, jabs or rolls anymore!

Two days ago, after we put up our Hanukkah and Christmas decorations, you were kicking and rolling all around in your Mom's belly (especially after she ate some cookies).

Last night, you were extending some limb (a foot? a hand? your head?) into your Mom's gut for extended periods of time. These weren't just fleeting movements..I actually had my had around whatever that was for like 5 seconds at a time. Maybe you were reaching out to me as a reaction to my voice or my hand on the belly, or maybe you were just trying to get comfortable and I kept bothering you.


Either way, it was truly amazing to just hold your (foot?)...it felt like a human...just a human wrapped up in a thick comforter pushing against you. So, yeah, I could feel a sturdy little appendage reaching out!

But cookies, my voice or touch aren't the only thing that's making you move now a days. We've told you how you react to music just the way that the pink ectoplasm does in Ghostbusters 2, but your Mom has been telling me that certain music makes you move more than others, letting us think that maybe you can recognize (and like?) certain tunes. You've certainly been exposed to enough Ben Folds and Beatles to know them by now, but your Mom swears that you'll wake up from a sleep and start moving around whenever she puts on Folds or the Beatles.



In fact, today she was sewing you a stuffed Lion and was listening to Abbey Road, and as soon as the tunes started, you started dancing.

This is consistent with our findings a couple of a week ago: When your Mom and I were playing "The End" from Abbey Road on Beatles Rock Band, you started kicking like crazy! So, your Mom made me play the song 5 times in a row to try to get a good video of you kicking and moving. Take a look at yourself moving:

• Specifically, around second 33, look at Toby's ear!
• And look for the big one at 1:09 near Toby's collar.

(also, ignore the gentle rat-a-tap-tap-thump-clods of my ah-may-zing drumming..it's on Expert, so give me a break!)

But, of course, we're gonna test this theory and see if it's JUST Ben Folds and Beatles or if it's just music in general that gets your motor running and starts you rockin' around!

A Light in the Belly

After reading a chapter in this book called "The Expectant Father" about communicating with you while you're in the belly, your Mom and I have really been stepping up our intra-uterine communication.

There's some amazing research (and anecdotal accounts) out there about how much you can actually be hearing and even soaking in. The book tells a story of an Orchestra conductor who somehow knew the Cello lines to the scores before he'd ever even heard or read them. As it turns out, his mother, a concert cellist, was practicing those very same symphonies throughout his pregnancy.

Of course, we've been singing to you and feeling your kicks and talking to you, but now we're trying to have conversations (albeit one-sided) with you and even play with you.

The book makes it a point to say that you will definitely know your Mother's voice (and heartbeat (and stomach gurgling noises)), simply by nature of you being in her belly. You'll also recognize my voice just from being around me, but if I make special effort to communicate with you in the belly, you'll be even more familiar with my voice.

Right after I read this chapter, you got a major concert on the way drive back from Houston two days ago of your Dad singing Ben Folds' greatest hits. And it was pretty dang good, because everyone knows that people sing the best when they're in the car.

So, besides singing to you, I've decided to start just chatting with you, giving you narration of our day, what's going on on the outside and more. It definitely feels silly to be talking directly to your Mom's belly, and takes getting over some self consciousness, but I'm starting to find it more natural. So instead of just reading out loud, like we've been doing, we're actually starting to engage you in conversation...

And, believe it or not, you're quite the budding conversationalist. Of course, not all this communication is verbal or audible. The author of the book said that he would often try gently pushing the belly once and saying "One," then pushing twice and saying "Two," etc. He said he would often get one belly kick back on the "one," and sometimes even got two kicks back on the "two!"

I tried this trick quite a few times and, to my surprise, I got some kicks back on the "One," but no matching on the "two."

However, when your Mom tried this trick, she swears that she got a One and a Two! Don't worry, I'll keep trying!

Even if she didn't, this new chapter on communication has begun in our lives and it's proving to both me and your Mother that there IS a light on in the attic...or, rather, in the belly!