A Girl (We're pretty sure)

So I'm about 90% sure that we've got a girl.

What's the remaining 10%? Well, I've only got the grainy Rorschach-like ultrasound images to go on.

But we're moving forward under the assumption that we'll need things in pink.


So here's what's happening in my mind this week.

I'm glad to have the gender (mostly) determined. I was not out for one over the other, but was curious about the gender, so that I could go ahead and put the question to rest. Someone asked if I was disappointed that its a girl. I said no, absolutely not, but I would say that I'm a little more nervous about it being a girl rather than a boy. The reason, as best I can figure, is that - well, I'm a guy. All of my assumptions and "experience", based on my own childhood and upbringing are from the perspective of a guy. So a girl is completely uncharted territory for me. Plus, I'm already terrified about dating and such, because I know how guys are. Talk about cart before the horse.

We've been discussing nursery painting. Krissi has been eager to paint the nursery since we found out, and while I'd been resisting, I'm on board now. We've been talking seriously about painting it with a jungle theme. As in, paint the walls in some color, then paint trees and animals and stuff. It seems exciting and cool.

Gender stereotypes have been on my mind lately. Again, I have a theme of putting the cart before the horse. Perhaps it relates to a story I heard a coworker tell the other day, of a small boy who was playing with his sister's dolls, and a father freaking out. Krissi waffled a little, when we made up our minds that its a girl, about whether to do the jungle theme, or something more 'girly'. I asked if girls deserve cool jungles as well, and we agreed that they do. I sortof feel like I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill, but I suppose that its all I have to do - the baby is still incubating, and so I just get to be anxious about all the stuff that will come after April. So I'm down with girls getting pretty things, but they should not be restricted to only things that are 'pretty'.

We're tossing names around. I've gotten a great deal of amusement from tormenting Krissi with name suggestions like "Sith Lord Williams", or "Wikipedia Hamburger Williams", or any number of other ridiculous names. But we're trying to consider other names that we can both agree on. Isabella has been a top contender right from the start. We both sortof regret naming our cat "Zoey", because we think its a great name, and sortof want to have it in the running for a kid's name. In truth, our cat goes by the name "Kiki" though, and there's no cat-birth certificate to prove otherwise.... maybe we're on our way to having our own Indiana. Other names that we've thought about: Madeline, Alexa/Alexis, Elora, Fiona. So we're kindof all over the map. Hm, how about Kylie or Kaylie?

We're slowly starting to assemble a baby registry, and make plans and do research on stuff that we need. Grandma/great-grandma is taking care of the crib, which is cool, since they can be quite expensive. Shopping for baby stuff is both fun and torturous.

Quick shout out to my homies, Maddie and John, also of Clan Williams, though through no blood relation. They're having twins in January.

Last note for today, on finances. We've been paying off old outstanding debt for the past couple of years, and are getting somewhat close to having most of it paid off. The job setback for Krissi was particularly unfortunate, because it pushed all of our payoff timing back some. And with a baby on the way, and knowing that we need to pay a few grand to the hospital, and to her doctor, and plus all of the things that we'll need for a baby, its a little nerve wracking. But we're very fortunate in that we're not destitute. While we may be a little tight, we haven't had to cancel internet service, or sell my laptop, or eat bologna sandwiches. But it still makes me anxious.

It's oh so quiet,

So my fledgling baby blog has been super quiet because there has not been much to report.

I suppose that is solely from my perspective though. This period of pregnancy seems largely like a waiting game. Sure, Krissi is going through some changes, and I'm not trying to say that the changes don't affect me, but I'm somehow somewhat removed from them.

She's showing, but only a little. She's a few days shy of 20 weeks along, so now in the second trimester. The morning sickness is a thing of the past. Lately its complaints about odd aches and pains and weird feelings, all associated with growing, and things moving, we assume. She's waiting to feel the baby for the first time. She felt something the other day, but is not sure if it was a baby, or just a stomach gurgle.

So its been a waiting game. I think that I'm still working on accepting it as reality, not because I don't want to, but because thusfar, my life has not changed significantly. The visible signs are small. I think of it as driving to Denver, but still being far enough away that the Rocky Mountains are just a line on the horizon.

We went to Babies R Us last night, and man oh man.

I try to be a conscientious consumer. That's polite talk for saying that I try not to buy every piece of overpriced useless garbage that is marketed to me. Walking into a store that sells baby products makes me feel as though unless I spend a million dollars, my baby will not be safe, fed, rested, smart, or possibly alive. I'm working to arm myself though. We bought a couple of books to help us, they are:

The Baby Gizmo Buying Guide Because, despite that I just said that I do not want to buy tons of stupid crap, I love stupid crap, and I love to buy it.

I'm Pregnant! Which has been a good book for information on the pregnancy, and fetus development.

What to Expect the First Year Which seems to be a goldmine of information on month by month baby development.

I've also started going around and checking with people at work, asking moms what kind of things they could not have lived without, or what kind of things they never expected to need. I'm getting some good advice.

Here's some of my thoughts, in braindump fashion, so in no certain order, or claim to sense.

We're hoping to do cloth diapers, but we are aware that they can be challenging. Everyone that I've talked to face to face so far has pretty much said "Oh! Fun! You'll use disposable."

I want to be a non-spanking household. This is old and well-worn stuff for parents, I'm sure. But I've never raised a kid. I got spankings, and turned out relatively okay. But I can't help but play amateur psychology, and equate any kind of physical violence to, well, making physical violence okay.

We want to do breastfeeding until at least a year old. Pumping and trying to keep up is a little scary, even for me.

We're looking at cosleeping gear. Either a bedside bassinet, or a little sleeper with sides that goes right into the bed with you.

We hope to find out the sex at our next Doctors visit.

Names.... we've been batting around a few. We came up with a boy name and a girl name right away, and thought that the matter was settled, but we've since talked about a dozen or so names, and have not settled.



So.... the Rocky Mountains are getting closer. Denver ain't so far away.

Its anxiety causing... it makes me slightly terrified. Excited too, sure. I've got all of the questions that I assume most first time parents have. "Am I ready for this?", "Will I be a good parent?", "How much will my life change?" (answer: completely. And that's super scary too. I'm a creature of habit.)

I anticipate that I'll be posting here with more and more frequency as time goes on. I did separate this from my 'regular' blog, since I intend for this to be focused in scope.

It bears mentioning that I'm totally open to folks posting comments here. I'm happy to take advice, suggestions, criticism, etc. If you're reading this, and you want to share with me, please don't hesitate to comment, email, call, whatever.