Updates, Updates, Updates...

Well, as I told everyone in the beginning, I would write periodically. That is why I haven't written in about 2 weeks. It is also b/c my wife and I have been traveling the country to tell parents the "good news". Nope, we are not Gideons, but we did tell our parents about the Truffle. Last weekend, we traveled to Michigan, Traverse City to be exact. There we met with Rebecca's whole family for a pre-planned Christmas present (a weekend of fun in an indoor water park/lodge). Ok, this trip was mostly for the kids (our niece and nephews), but at least we had a surprise for them. Anyway, we got to surprise everyone, well almost everyone. Rebecca's sister-in-law asked her point blank in the hallway if she was pregnant. I believe Rebecca's response was "uh, ah...uh yeah". Ah, what a made-for-television moment. I can imagine it now.

Picture sunset on a rural farm. A woman in her late 50's is finishing up the dishes. Her husband is putting away his tools for the day. In the distance the woman sees a grown man walking up the street toward their farm. This man looks familiar, but somehow different. As he approaches the elderly couple, the woman realizes he bears a resemblence to their son, only this is a grown man, a soldier, a leader of men. When he knocks on the door the couple comes running over to him, the woman crying exclaims, "Son, you've been gone for so long. We thought you were gone. Oh, we love you so much. Are you home? Is this real? Are you home" The son stares intently at his parents and says "uh, ah... uh yeah".

Anywho, we surprised the rest of them at dinner. It was quite nice. Rebecca's mom cried, and I received one of those "you devil, you sly devil" elbows from her brother Rob. Everyone was happy.

Saturday, we traveled to NC to tell my parents. We also went for my dad's birthday. It was very nice. Both of my parents were pretty stoked. It has been about 10 years since the last grandchild, so I know our baby will be very very spoiled. The highlight of the night was me finding out that my mom "knew"that I was going to be a girl. What was this based on you ask? Nothing!!! Absolutely nothing. There was no ultrasound. My mom believed I was going to be a girl b/c her pregnancy with me was completely different than hers with my older brother. They even had names for me and everything--but no backup boy names. She was that certain. My dad said that he knew I was going to be a girl b/c...well b/c my mom said so. Anyway, I believe I was named around the time the birth certificate came around. I wonder if they were just looking around the delivery room for things to name me. I guess I am lucky that my name isn't Bedpan Toilet Sutton or something like that.....

Well, that is a small recap of our last two weekends. I'll write again soon when something intrigues me.

Food Update #1
My wife still hates carrots and anyone who mentions them.
However, if I mix broccoli into rice and mashed potatoes, she will eat them. Maybe if I make plane noises and play "here comes the plane", I can get her to eat that tofu. Who really knows?

My wife hates carrots...

My wife hates carrots, broccoli, yogurt, tofu, nuts and granola to name a few. Doesn't sound strange? Well my wife is a vegetarian who loved these things before she became pregnant. Cravings and food adversions are a crazy thing. Something that I will never understand. I now find that if I really want Rebecca to scowl at me, all I have to do is suggest that she eats carrots. Carrots??? Who hates carrots??? Now, you may not love them, but to sware that they are your mortal enemy???

Fortunately there are still a few things that she likes, one of which is not the way our dog smells. The daily battle between her love of Hardy and her disdain for his "doggy aroma" is quite interesting and complex. On one hand, she really wants to play with him and spend time with him. On the other hand, his doggy odor (remember the heightened sense of smell) is driving her crazy. Oh yeah, in addition, he farts often. Anyway, I will let everyone know how this epic battle turns out.

A beating heart...

I saw my baby today.

Now if anyone at this point believes that I shrunk down and walked inside of my wife to check out the embryo, please stop reading. Well, wait a minute. That is a pretty good idea. Does anyone remember that sci-fi movie when doctors (I believe) shrunk down and flew their spaceship into the patient's body to do brain surgery (I think)? I could be getting this all wrong, but I vaguely remember watching this movie. But anyway...I didn't do that. We went and had an ultrasound.

When we went to see the doctor 3 weeks ago, we found out that there may be up to ~10 days descrepancy between the due date we calculated and the calculated due date based on the traditional method using the first day of her last menstrual cycle. If any guys are reading, I give you permission to hit me. I just made you read "last menstrual cycle". However, I did give you a reference to one pretty sweet sci-fi movie above, so I think we're even. Anyway, we were lucky enough to have an ultrasound at 8 weeks.

Well, the baby looks good. 16 mm from head to rump. According to the technician, everything looks good and "textbook", even my wife's ovaries. Yeah, I'm with you...its a good thing to know, but I didn't really need anyone telling me that either?!?!

The coolest part was seeing and hearing the beating heart. 175 beats per minute. Pretty good. Hearing and seeing the heart gave the pregancy an extra boost of realism today. I must say that I got a little choked up... I also got choked up later when my wife reminded me of something very important and thought-provoking. She said, "if the baby is only 16 mm, then think about how small his or her laser rocket arm must be." WOW, if there are still any dry eyes out there, then you all have stones for hearts...."just think how small his or her laser rocket arm must be." I don't think I could have said it better.

Update to this post: here is a picture of the Truffle at 8 weeks