Well, so far, so good.

Diana is doing well, aside from some minor aches and pains and soreness. She woke me up last night with a gnarly cramp in her calf, and I had to pry her ankle back to stretch it out. That was pretty exciting. But no major complaints.

Little Spraggette, as far as we can tell, is doing well. She continues to dance around, and like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park, appears to be systematically testing the perimeter of her enclosure for any vulnerability or structural weakness. It’s still so weird to feel her rolling around in there. Last night, we could pretty much tell where her body was, and when I put my ear up to Diana’s belly, I’m pretty sure that I could hear her heartbeat. That was pretty exciting.

Aside from some finishing touches, I think we’re about as prepared as we can get. We have cribs and clothes and diapers (and other various “ass accoutrements”, as we privately say around the house), and all sorts of other tools and instruments and toys. Since I’ve never changed a diaper before, I figured I’d check them out. Diana went and got a monkey stuffed animal, and I did some practicing on that. Easy-peasy, except for the tail getting in the way. Hopefully that’s not a problem with the real version. The car seat has been installed, since that needs to happen to get the baby home from the hospital, and, of course, the monkey (still in diapers) had to test it out.

Diana said she read somewhere that 80% of people install their carseats incorrectly. My gut-reaction, decidedly un-PC response was “Yeah, well 80% of people are retarded”. I installed the carseat, and was pretty sure I did it correctly. It goes without saying that safety is important, and I wanted to do it correctly, but after my little comment I wanted to make VERY sure I did it right. Diana took it to some place where they check carseats, and apparently they said it was “way too loose”. So either Diana got scammed somehow (unlikely), or I’ve got some words to stuff back in my mouth (much more likely). Oh well.

We graduated from our childbirth class, which proved to be the worst class ever. The teacher was friendly, but awful. I wish I had Eryn’s aptitude for mimicry, because she had a really distinctive way of speaking, but I could never do it justice. She seemed to start off a thought, then switch topics multiple times during the same sentence, and finally trail off with a little giggle, and move onto the next thought. At the end of the class, she handed out an evaluation form. “Let me know if you run out of ink”, I said, as Diana offered some friendly advice on how to be a better teacher.

We had a baby shower a week ago, thrown by Diana’s sister and a family friend, and it was very nice. To be honest, I was a little worried that it would be filled with activities that I wasn’t comfortable with (not only for myself, but for my friends), but it all turned out well, and I think everyone had a good time. My mom even flew in from Montana to surprise us there, which was really fun.

That’s about where we’re at. The busy summer of friends from out of town, night classes, and various other events has basically come to a close, and we’re officially entering countdown phase. I can’t say we’re prepared for every eventuality, but I think we’re in pretty good shape, all things considered. Ask me again in a month or two.

We drove by a big truck that had a sticker that said "Wu-Tang" on it.
"Wu-Tang... Posse?" Diana asked.
I smiled. She's so cute when she talks about gangster-rap.
"What is it? Clan? Gang?"
"Clan", I confirmed.
"Yeah!" she said proudly. "I knew it was something like that!"
"Insane Clown Posse", I reminded her.
"Oh yeah! Are they boys? Or, you know, like East Coast vs. West Coast?"

SO cute.

MLOM Draft 2K7

Pictures from the MLOM Fantasy Draft...

With a tear in my eye, but a lingering smile on my face, I'm sorry to announce that Best Weekend Ever 2K7 has come and gone. And it lived up to its name.

Mike and Gwen arrived on Wednesday evening, and the weekend was one big party until the following Tuesday. We went to the zoo. Downtown was painted red. We went to the beach one day, and eschewed the beach for a beachfront mansion the next day for our fantasy football draft. Guitar Hero battles and jam sessions were had, as well as old-school Mario Kart and wrasslin', as well as even older school SNES NHL '94. BBQs were fired up, and games were played on dining room tables. I'm really not sure I could have asked for a better weekend.

By far, though, the best part was just having Mike around, and the whirlwind of jokes and laughter and goofiness that follow him. I don't really know how else to put it, other than it's just fun to watch "Mick be Mick". Anyone who reads his blog should get some insight into what that means. It's especially reassuring to know that he can be so far away for so long, and return to old friendships without even a hiccup.

It was also really great that Gwen could visit as well, and that we could all get to get to know her better. I don't particularly envy a new girlfriend being introduced to such a close-knit group of friends, but I think she survived successfully. I expecially enjoyed asking her about neurology stuff (migraines, seizures, etc), and watching her completely "activate" as she spoke about the area of her expertise. It's neat to see someone's passion for a subject shine through as they talk about it. I think Gwen is someone I'd like to be friends with, regardless of her relationship with Mike.

If I were to be totally selfish, I'd hope that they finish their military service and move to San Diego. It might be a lot to ask, but a boy can dream.

The other best part about Best Weekend Ever, as a side-effect of Mike's visit, was that Eryn and Iwan and Gabe and Little Buhr and Norm (and associated girlfriends and families) were all out in full effect for part or all of the weekend. It's always a ton of fun when we can all get together, and this happened multiple times over the course of a weekend. I don't have particuarly many friends, and I really adore the few that I have, so having them all in the same room is always a great thing.

And so there it is. The football draft went well, and I'm completely giddy for the NFL to start. Diana and I have a busy week ahead of us, with our second childbirth class tonight, as well as a hospital tour tomorrow, then a rehearsal dinner, then wedding, then family brunch for her cousin's wedding this weekend. We took our first childbirth class last week, and I'm sorry to say I was pretty disappointed with it. It was one of those situations where half-an-hours worth of information was stretched out over 2.5 hours (including a full 1.5 hours of "ice-breaker" games and introductions. Jeez!) We also went to a breastfeeding class, which was actually pretty good, and I think we learned some good information, but it's unfortunately a little hard to practice before "go time".

Diana and I were talking about the upcoming Charger pre-season game, and getting it set up to record on our DVR, and Diana said that we should look up a baby "LT" jersey. It caught be a little off guard, the emotion and realness of it all, and I pretty much burst into tears. I'm excited to become a father, but just to warn you all, there may be waterworks involved.

That's all I've got. Smell ya later for now.