C - for Connor Andrew [chinese name TBD] Li
We like the name Connor so much that we couldn't NOT use it, and then Andrew is named for my father - Ned. So his initials (without the Chinese name) will be CAL - not unlike his first cousin Calvin. :D
Isn't that just perfect?
Everyone is still doing wonderfully - Connor & I napped earlier today, and Connor & Jen are napping right now.
Everyone slept wonderfully last night - Jen told me the baby nursed all night long with no problems whatsoever. Going to spend the day with our new little guy relaxing & getting to know him better.
But of course, more photos:
BOY!!
Baby boy (name still TBD) was born in the birth pool at 3:50pm CST at a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz. :) Jen & baby are doing wonderfully. More later, but here are some photos to tide you over:
Contractions have continued to get stronger - Jen is doing awesome & continuing to vocalize through the pain. She still in the birth pool and feel like things are opening up. Stay tuned...
Jen is doing just great! The baby is no longer posterior (thanks to Cliff!) & is now positioned correctly, has good heart tones, and is all set to come out whenever that is! At last check, Jen is now dilated to 6cm - so things are progressing wonderfully. She's in the birth pool which seems to be helping her cope with the pain.
Jennifer's contractions began at 5:00 a.m. this morning. The midwives were all here by 10:00 am. The baby has a good heartbeat but it was determined that it is in a posterior position. The midwives successfully assisted Jennifer in moving the baby into a better position. Jennifer is currently dialated at a 3. Jennifer will be enteriing her birth pool soon.
Yes, we have three midwives here and all is well. Blood pressure is good and Mom is handling contractions well. The midwives have brought out the doppler to find the baby's heartbeat and determine the position. We will keep you posted.
Contractions are still going (stronger today than last Tuesday); midwives are on their way over; birth pool is filling....maybe it's baby day!!
Ladies and gentlemen,
When the gate opens, please move quickly into the car and pull the shoulder harness down over your head. Please keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times, and please don't leave until the car has come to a complete and full stop. We hope you enjoy the ride!
*click click click click click click...* [sounds of roller coaster car ascending to the pinnacle of the first huge drop]
Contraction summary:
Started: approximately 5:00am
Duration: 45 seconds
Frequency: 2 minutes
An Easter baby or another warm up? Stay tuned!!
As to be expected, we've had a variety of reactions from people when they found out we're doing a homebirth. Everything from "oh cool!" to "huh?" to "that's freaking crazy!" While we don't think it's for everyone, nor are we advocating it's the *only* way, it's something we want to do. Again, it's not something we've jumped into lightly without doing a lot of research - we've read a lot of information, and feel like we're making a good, educated, informed decision.
Here's an excerpt of an email I wrote to a friend and thought it would be prudent to post on here as well.
[begin excerpt]
The hospital birth more & more these days is like an operation or a procedure. You go there to have a baby & the doctor's job is to get the baby out (more often than not, quicker than it should take; hence all the cesareans & drug-induced labors). In fact, in a lot of cases, the cesareans & drugs cause more problems than they prevent. It's a very impersonal, methodical experience.
The homebirth is totally focusing on the experience, and sacred and spiritual side of giving birth. It's all about the comfort of the mother, done in a very comforting, familiar setting, rather than in this very strange, institutionalized room. I mean, how wonderful is it to have the baby in your very own bedroom, close by (or on your very own bed)? After the baby is born, you're not stuck in an uncomfortable hospital room, surrounded by strangers, and having to wait to have things done for you. The baby is already in a warm, cozy, loving environment.
And the moment that the baby is born - what an incredible, spirtual, sacred, *powerful* moment - a moment where you can feel just how precious life is, and that you're holding the beginning of a life in your very hands. Even though the baby has already been alive & developing for 9 months, it's at that moment where you actually feel like the baby is given life, taking its first breath of air. We feel like that moment should really be cherished between parents and baby in an intimate setting if possible, not in the chaos of a hospital room.
It's also very empowering for the mother - to know that she can go through this natural process that's supposed to be that way. We want to be able to bond with the baby after its born - not have it taken away for tests that can actually wait. We want Jen to be comfortable and do whatever she can to get comfortable - not confined to a bed. Actually, lying in a bed is probably one of the most difficult ways to deliver a baby, yet they do it all the time.
We just don't want it to turn into a situation where the hospital dictates what to do because they are getting impatient. In a lot of cases, the labor slows down and so they immediately call for drugs or a c-section. Whereas if they moved the woman to a different position or let her walk around or a variety of other things, they could probably keep the labor going.
Hospitals are required for emergencies, I give them that, but a lot of labor & deliveries are NOT emergencies. People in other cultures & (even historically) gave birth naturally all the time...why should it be any different here in the US or today?
That's another benefit of a homebirth - it's not set in stone what you have to or need to do - because every labor & delivery is different. It's all about trying different things to get Jen comfortable. If we don't have a waterbirth we won't be disappointed. Actually, with Braden, Jen did get into a tub at the hospital - but her labor slowed down when she first got in. So they made her get back out. We found out later that labors do sometimes slow down a bit when you get into the water, but it'll pick back up. They just didn't give Jen enough time...(see?? Impatient!)
The midwives are there to help & support through the labor & delivery - they have methods to turn the baby if it's posterior - they know what to do in a host of different situations. They are there to see that the placenta is delivered. We're actually quite excited to see this through! And I think hearing the stories of the other homebirthers last night gave Jen some inspiration that she can do it too. :)
The thing is...a lot of people go into a hospital birth thinking that that is the only way to do it & that's the only way it's done....they plan on getting an epidural, getting drugged up & being induced. They just want the operation over & done with with as little pain as possible. But sometimes, it's going through the painful struggle that makes it all the ever more rewarding at the end. I liken homebirth to running a marathon. People don't run marathons because it's comfortable or painless. It wouldn't be as meaningful if they ran the first mile and then rode in a car the remaining 25 miles. :)
[end excerpt]
Almost exactly a year ago to this day, I upgraded our digital camera from a craptastic Kodak to a much mo' better Canon A60 for free (thank heavens for Ebay THAT time!) Because it was such a hot deal, I shared it with my officemates and the camera purchasing spread like wildfire. One was bought for the office to replace the Beyond Ancient 640x480 Sony Mavica (which still stored photos on floppys). Other co-workers bought them for their families and themselves.
While highly regarded as one of the best 2.0MP digicams out there, ratings don't mean squat when their longevity has been cut short by Random Acts of Gravity. Within the last month, the office A60 disappeared into some unknown void when some co-workers of mine lost it on site. It'll probably turn up in a couple of eons when aliens discover it in an ancient archaeological dig. One belonging to one of the secretaries decided it wanted to see what bouncing on concrete felt like, and bounced down several concrete stairs. Last I heard it had knocked itself unconscious into a coma that it still hasn't awoken from.
Of course, this meant I've been extra careful with my own personal A60 since They say "accidents always comes in threes", right? Or is it "three is a charm?" In any case, I could just see some misfortune befalling my delicate camera just before we need it for the birth of baby.
I should fear no longer as number three just showed up unexpectedly at my cubicle door, bags in hand. Another co-worker of mine bought an A60 (unbeknownst to me), and she JUST brought it to me to see if I could figure out what was wrong with it. When the display looks like a TV with the worst reception you have ever seen, well, the best you can do then is search its pocket for loose pixels. That camera wouldn't voom if you put 15,000 volts into it! It's passed on. It's met its maker. It's pushing up the daisies. It is no more! (Brownie points to anyone who gets those two references). My guess is that it took a short walk off a long pier, but there's really no way to be sure.
Now that I'm satisfied my camera is in the clear, I'm going to let her out of my safekeeping and let her go see new and unexplored places. After all, if you love them, you've got to set them free, right? Or as Wayne & Garth put it, "If you hurl and she comes back, she's yours. If you blow chunks and she bolts, then it was never meant to be."
What is to be learned from this lesson, grasshopper? Just remember kids, digital cameras should never ever be subjected to acceleration on the order of 9.81 m/s^2 or 32.16 ft/s^2.
from the birthing class, that is. Last night, Jen & I attended our final birthing class with Mary Alexander. She had invited 3 new moms to come share their homebirth stories with us. However, only one of the dads made it (the others were home babysitting older children), but it was more than worth it to hear the experience from his point of view!
Mother #1 just recently homebirthed her 3rd child (she had homebirthed numbers 1 & 2 as well). This time was her first time doing a waterbirth, and she said it was definitely worth it! Her husband even "caught" the baby, although he wasn't quite prepared to do it. For this mom, her mom had homebirthed all of her children, so to her, it was a very natural and common thing. In fact, she admitted that she didn't even know about hospital births until she was 12 yrs old!
Mother #2 homebirthed her second - and said it was a very empowering feeling giving birth to your child without drugs or intervention. She used a combination of meditative techniques to help her through the pain.
And mother #3 had the best story to tell - she also waterbirthed her baby, but her labor was relatively fast & hard. In fact, she had hard labors for 4 or 5 hours which only got her 3 cm dilated, and then went from a 3 to an 8 in a matter of 45 minutes. Her story was the most hilarious because she talked about how she & her husband sang the baby out. Her focusing technique involved singing a hymn that she knew, but instead of singing the words, she hee'ed & hoo'ed to the tune.
Jen also got her two shipments of newborn cloth diapers yesterday so she brought those to the class for show-and-tell.
One observation/theory we have about why she had so many contractions on Tuesday - Jen remembers drinking some of her herbal tea that night before, which is supposed to induce labor. And she hasn't drank any since then. Maybe that explains why she hasn't had many contractions since then?
Ariel also started up softball again yesterday with her first practice of the season. She'll be playing in the U-12 division this year so all the girls on her team are new to us. On the positive side, she's also no longer the only tall, lanky girl on her team. There are several so she's no longer quite so out of place.
Went to bed last night with anger issues against Ariel's softball coach (from last year), the Ebay scumbag who thinks I'm lying about the fencing foils, and He/She Who Shall Rename Nameless. Grrrr....not getting into all that right now though.
"Not a creature was stirring, not even a baby..."
Well, that's not exactly true as the baby seemed to be wanting to punch/kick its way out through Jen's bladder last night while we were watching the Japanese version of Shall We Dance (courtesy of Netflix). I told the baby in no uncertain terms that it was going the wrong direction if it wanted out!
But aside from a few contractions this morning, all is quiet. Our last birthing class is scheduled for tonight - I wonder if Mary Alexander will check Jen to see if she's dilated at all.
Ariel also starts softball season tonight with her first practice!
So while nothing is really going on, how about a poll of which boy's name you think we should choose? You can leave your opinions as a comment or email me. :) Please rank them in order of preference:
And here are your choices:
Andrew*
Caleb
Connor
Darren*
Ethan
Nathan
*'ed names have my dad's name contained within them - so while significant, not the overall deciding factor.
Well, the good news is that Jen & I both got a decent night's sleep. So the answer to the question that y'all are obviously waiting for is that there is no baby YET. ;) Jen's contractions pretty much stopped for the night after she went to bed, so it looks like it was a hoopla for nothing. Well, I'm sure her body did *something*, but not enough.
You just gotta love this emotional roller coaster that we're on! Feel free to get off when the car comes to a complete stop. Or feel free to keep riding along with us!
Well, Jen's contractions lasted through dinner, but since then, have sort of petered out. She's still having them, although fairly infrequently now and not for very long.
Looks like we'll try again tomorrow!
I said it once, and I'll say it again - this is definitely the "worst" part IMO - the waiting and not knowing when the hard labor will begin. Of course I'll post something if something does happen! Again, you *never* know about these things.
Last check? Contractions still going, pain in varying degrees. Nothing new to report. I need to go make dinner & wontons (for freezing & eating later)!
Jen just called me - the contractions haven't stopped. She took about a 2 hr nap and was woken up by some stronger contractions - these seem to be coming every 3 minutes or so, lasting about a minute in duration. In fact, she had 3 contractions while I was on the phone with her. I may not be here at work much longer as I still need to go by the grocery store before going home!
I hate seeing her in so much pain & discomfort, but it's what the body needs to do to get the baby out! I asked during one of the birthing classes for the women to try to describe to me what contractions feel like...so I can try to relate. If anyone else thinks they can do better, feel free to email me. :)
I should probably just go home as I can barely concentrate here at work anyway. And seeing as how the report got sent out yesterday, there's nothing pressing for me to be here for right now.
The midwife checked Jen out & told her she's not effaced yet but her cervix is at 1cm or 2cm on the outside, and is definitely ripe for more contractions! Man, makes her sound like a fruit or something. So it could be later tonight or it could be days from now...but Jen is continuing to have contractions so we'll just wait & see again.
The midwife left but told Jen to call her if anything changes. Jen is continuing to do her daily chores to keep her contractions going. :D The midwife (Mary Alexander) was also impressed that we had done a trial run with the birth pool & that I had figured out how to siphon the water out of it, and we had everything ready. I guess a lot of couples don't often think that far ahead.
See? Being an engineer is good for something! I guess I sometimes take the logical way of thinking & always planning ahead mentality for granted.
More if anything changes!
So Jen called the midwife and the midwife told her how to check to see if she was dilated and how much. So last I heard, she was going to go do that & call me back. Well, that was nearly an hour ago, so I just called home to see what was going on.
My sweet daughter answered the phone and told me Jen couldn't come to the phone right then because the midwife was there!
Oh gee...thanks for keeping me up to date! I'm only the father, forcryingoutloud! I guess *someone* got a little too excited and forgot to call me!
So now I anxiously await to hear what's going on. Still no plans to leave work early...YET.
Jen just called me here at work telling me that she's had 3 contractions in the last 15 minutes, each lasting about 45 seconds in duration. She's going to call her midwife is see what she thinks. Either her midwife will come out to the house now, or she'll tell Jen to wait for her appointment.
Jen's been having contractions off & on pretty much through the entire night. She definitely feels like these are doing "something", although they are still somewhat infrequent - probably having 3 or 4 every hour, lasting about a minute in duration. She has an appointment with her midwife later today, so I expect we'll find out if she's starting to progress then.
Don't get TOO excited yet though...this *could* last for several days before the REAL thing happens.
More updates as the situation develops!
A panoramic shot of the surrounding landscape from when we were a top of Pinnacle Mountain on Saturday:
Note: Generated in less than 20 seconds flat using free Autostitch software from a series of 3 photos!
And just another test of a new photo site I'm considering using for baby photos:
Tick...tick...tick. The clock continues to run and Jen continues to get more & more uncomfortable with each passing day, but no baby yet! I somehow managed to get down to New Orleans/Baton Rouge and back for four days without having to hop on last-minute flight to try to get here in time for the birth of my baby.
The trip to Louisiana was to present our final results for a huge modeling project I've been working on for the past year - the Mississippi River Reintroduction into Bayou Lafourche, one of the largest 2D hydrodynamic models ever constructed.
While I was down there, I got to visit with my brother-in-law, Brett, who is doing an externship at the Palace Cafe in New Orleans as part of his program with the CIA. My boss is somewhat of an amateur chef & food connoisseur so they got along just grand. Amidst 15 lbs of boiled crawfish, we had a lovely dinner and chat about the restaurant industry. The culinary fare for the rest of the week consisted of po'boys & other Cajun delicacies. Mmmm. Can't say that I could ever get sick of Cajun cuisine.
We are still indecisive about a boy's name. One that we're liking more & more is "Darren". Jen told me last night she thinks we're having a girl so it may all be a moot point. ;) We shall see...
Received the birth pool a couple of a days ago and did a trial fill-up run last night, just to see how long it would take to fill it up once we were officially into labor. Looks like it will only take about an hour or so, so no worries there. We still need to rearrange the furniture somewhat in our bedroom to make space for it, but it is large enough that both Jen & I will be able to fit in it.
Jen has been having some isolated contractions this past week - nothing continuous, so it looks like her body is starting to warm up to the idea of pushing that baby out! I'll keep y'all posted if anything develops...
Still no "news" yet! Jen is now in her 38th week but I suppose it could happen any day now. She's been having some warm-up contractions the past few days - hopefully THAT is ALL they are for now!
Jen ordered this large birth pool a few days ago - we're hoping to use it for our waterbirth! :)
The birth class last Thursday was very informative. We talked about my responsibilities & duties while Jen is in labor...I think I'm ready!! Hehee. I look forward to seeing our baby soon and possibly even being the one to "catch" the baby after he/she is born.
I'll be incommunicado for the next few days...so don't go thinking that we went & had that baby already!
And one last thing - NBC is finally showing The Office (pilot is on 3/24) - the American remake of the hilarious BBC version. However, after seeing the sneak peaks for it, I don't have very high expectations for it. The BBC version had the perfect characters, and was so well-written and produced - I can't see the American version even coming close. Plus they copied the same characters & plot from the BBC version - I just don't see it working.
- AvP: Sucky plot, some good AvP fights. Good thing it was a free rental.
- Riding 8 miles w/Braden on a trailer bike behind me is probably the equivalent of riding 20 miles solo. At least that's the way my legs felt trying to go up steep hills. We had a blast Saturday afternoon though - got out into the warm, spring air along the Arkansas River with our new Camelbaks & gave Jen some peace & quiet at home.
- Another victory in our table tennis league brings Co-worker buddy & my record up to 5-2 overall. Driving back in my truck with the windows rolled down, the warm air gushing past our ears, Sonic Route 49 slushies in our hands, Tiny Dancer cranked up on my stereo, and singing at the top of our lungs - life just doesn't get much better than that. It's moments like that that I will miss *especially* once CWB is gone this summer. *sigh* In some ways, he's like the brother I never had....
- My heart is finally troublefree now that my friend Joshua's computer is protected from viruses, spyware, and hackers. He got DSL several weeks ago but I haven't been able to go over & help him set up all these protections until last night. Yay us!!
- Apple's 30" Cinema flat panel monitor RULEZ all. I drooled all over it when I saw it at CompUSA today.
- Signed Ariel up for softball again this spring. I can't wait!!!
- March Madness is coming up in 2 weeks. I can't wait!!!
- Baby is due is less than 3 weeks. I can't wait!!!
Changing out a heater core? Check. Replacing car speakers in the door? Check. Removing the entire panel of each door? Check. Changing out a car battery? Check. Installing a car amplifier? Check. Replacing a malfunctioning turn signal switch? Check. Replacing a bad center taillight? Check. And most recently - changing my car headlight? Check.
It just got me wondering - do most people (as far as the general public goes) know how to do some of these basic (yet probably not important) tasks? If you don't, what do you do when your turn signal stops working or you have a busted taillight? I'm no auto mechanic by any means, but I was just curious what people do for basic maintenance with their vehicles?
*****
Talked to my sister the other night and she suggested a name that almost meets all of our criteria. It certainly has my father's name contained within it, and it's close to the letter 'C' - Darren. It's certainly a possibility, I think. The coincidental thing is that I actually know a Darren Lee that works in Louisiana. I did promise my BIL that we won't use the names he has reserved for his kids - Angus & Hildegaard. Believe me. Those names are safe. ;)
Nearly. And we're still sans boy's name. Although we did get a couple suggested this week that we kind of like. Connor and Ender. Connor has definite possibilities. Ender, while I think it's a "cool" name, it's not very practical. Someone else pointed out that Andrew has the letters of "Ned" as well, but I'm not completely thrilled with Andrew. We'll keep thinking...
I'm also debating whether to try & blog as much as I can (when I can) during Jen's labor & delivery, that way y'all can keep as up to date as possible. Another thought was to have someone else (who is less involved) do the blogging for me to keep everyone posted. We'll see....
We watched a couple of waterbirth videos last week at our birthing class. Jen is definitely considering trying that. The babies we saw born via waterbirth were all very calm and peaceful & content. Plus it's supposed to be a lot less painful for the mother.
Here are some more links to homebirthing:
The Homebirth Choice
Dear competing Ebayers,
Please, please, please do your "homework" before bidding on fencing items on Ebay. I'm trying to acquire enough equipment to start a children's fencing class and you are making it more difficult than it should be. Don't you know that you shouldn't pay more than half of what this used stuff costs brand new?? Don't you know that a brand-new fencing mask sells for $55??? And when you jacked up your bid to $40 (+$10 shipping) that you're virtually paying full price for a USED mask??
If you'd also done your homework, you would have noticed that seller of the PRACTICE FENCING FOIL FRENCH GRIP has multiple ones of these for sale that he continues to list over and over again, so there's no reason to bid more than the starting bid of $9.99. And there's certainly no reason WHATSOEVER to bid over the Buy It Now price of $14.99. So when you won the auction with a final bid of $15.51, you actually paid more for it than you could have gotten it for right at that moment! If you see me with a bid of $9.99 on a foil, please skip it and go and bid on the next one he has with NO bids on it. That way we both win.
It doesn't take a lot of time to look at completed auctions or to look at all the fencing foils on sale at a particular time. Please do your homework and save me some heartache and frustation. And finally, please think of the children in this matter. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Disgruntled Ebayer
After much more grumbling to Co-worker Buddy this morning at work, I think we finally got the battery problem licked. It turns out that the contact between the battery cable & battery posts was not great, and after some cleaning, the truck started right back up. Lesson to be learned? If your engine clicks at you when you're trying to start it, it's probably a bad connection to the battery. If the battery is low, it'll probably at least try to turn over.
The worst thing about this is that I probably bought a battery last night that I didn't need. *last grumble, I swear*
But at least now I have a kick-ass sound system.
Today was supposed to be perfect. The weather was perfect. My plans were perfect. Unfortunately, my truck decided to be imperfect. After spending nearly 5 hours installing my new Pioneer amp in my truck, we thought we had everything perfect. After all, we double and triple checked the connections coming out of the head unit. We made sure all the cables & speaker wires were hidden perfectly. In fact, when we finally hooked everything back up (not even having spare wires or screws), the amp worked just fine after some fine tweaking. So everything was perfect, or so I thought. The sun was still shining brightly. The temperature was still unseasonably warm. What would be a great ending to a perfect day was an hour or so on the driving range w/my new golf clubs.
But as fate or Murphy would have it, my truck wouldn't start. It just sat there clicking at me like I had somehow defiled it by installing my amp. So later tonight I'm off to Walmart to get a new car battery. *grumble*
So thus endeth the excitement and perfect plans I had for today. Off for a nap, methinks.
Damn. Where has the time gone??? It seemed like just yesterday that we found out Jen was pregnant. Surely we still have several more months, right?? I guess that's why I added the little countdown bar - so I could be reminded every now and then how little time we actually have left.
At our birthing class last night, we watched a neat video about calming a fussy baby - based on the book, The Happiest Baby in the World by Harvey Karp. That book would have been worth its weight in gold had we had it for Braden! The author basically talks about 5 strategies that work in calming a fussy baby - swaddling, side, shushing, swinging, and sucking. A definite must-read for parents who are getting frustated with a fussy baby!
Jen also went & bought all the supplies/items she'll need for the homebirth, as well as getting out all of our cloth diapers. So now that I'm surrounded by mountains of diapers, it's becoming more of a reality for me. :) Still no boy's name, although my MIL suggested "Denny". I vetoed that idea as I've already developed a negative association to "Denny Crane", the high-powered eccentric lawyer played by William Shatner on Boston Legal.
The latest table tennis ratings should be up on the USATT website, but the page isn't loading, dammit! I'm dying to find out what Co-worker Buddy's starting rating is! (And mine, as well!)
Been a busy busy busy week at work this week, but it's been productive. Definitely will be catching up on sleep this weekend.
I'd also like to wish my nearly lifelong friend, Scott, a very happy 34th birthday today!! Can you believe our friendship has lasted 28 years now???
According to the National Retail Federation, "the average consumer is cutting back spending for the holiday this year, but more people are planning to celebrate. Average Valentine's Day spending in the federation's survey is expected to be $97.27 per consumer, down from $99.24 last year. But holiday participation rose to 61.8 percent of consumers, up from 59.8 percent a year ago. In all, 2005 Valentine's Day spending is expected to reach $13.19 billion, making it the third-highest spending season of the year behind Christmas and back-to-school."
Egads.
Talk about an *overly* commercialized holiday. Who benefits? Certainly not the loved ones in our lives. It's more certain to be the florists, chocolatiers, and Hallmark stores. I mean, who else in their right mind would purchase flowers that are marked up 500% because they are out of season?
I'm sure most of you are saying, "Why are you so cynical, Cliff? You must have forgotten this year or your wife wasn't pleased with what you got her." Au contraire, mes amis. In fact, I remembered weeks ago, and to be a rebel in the face of retailers shoving their V-day wares in my face, all I got for the two women in my life today was a single red rose and some yummy ice cream, the total cost ($8.23) well below the national average. And they were thrilled and surprised and overjoyed. And I didn't have to spend $97.27. In fact, if you know me, you know that I'm a pretty romantic type of guy when it comes down to it. So for me to say, "Down with Valentine's Day, up with non-obligatory demonstrations of affection," it must mean something, right? I would like to think so.
You want to show your loved ones that you truly love them? Then boycott Valentine's Day. After all, nothing says "I love you" more than *having* to do it on a day when you are *expected* to do it. Instead, do something surprising on one of the other 364 days of the year that will wow and woo them. Guys, do something that the woman in your life normally does when she least expects it. Not today, but someday soon in the near-future, beat her home early from work and do the dishes, and run a bath for her so she can slip into it first thing. Or on a night when she is tired and stressed out, take the kids on an outing and leave her some peace and quiet. Gals, take his car and have it professionally detailed one day when he is sleeping in late. Or find a babysitter for the kiddos and take him on a surprise trip to the driving range.
Trust me. If you do some of these things on any day other than February 14th, it will mean THAT much more because then it's not obligatory romance. You aren't telling your significant other that you love them because you're supposed to. You're telling them because you're not supposed to, and that means infinitely more than the $97.27 that you spent on Valentine's Day.
Now since I didn't meet the national average, what can I buy for myself with the remaining $89.04? ;)
So after some *serious* persuasion from Jen & my MIL (because they thought I would enjoy watching it), I sat down to watch the US release of Shall We Dance? last weekend. Even though I did hear that the Japanese version was infinitely & superiorly better in nearly every regard. Even though Richard Gere, who I have dubbed, "wuss man" plays the leading male role. Even though my ballroom dancing days have gone way of the dodo.
I'm somewhat embarassed to say that that movie moved me emotionally more than I would have thought. "No, honey, those weren't tears you saw me wipe from my eyes. My contacts were bothering me." "But you don't wear contacts, honey." Oops. Busted.
In my defense, I don't think it was the ballroom dancing that moved me the most, although it did elicit some *very* fond memories of my ballroom dancing days while I was at UT. I was emotionally stricken with the relationship of John Clark and his wife, played by Susan Sarandon. Don't ask me to explain it - I just thought their relationship at the end of the movie was very sweet.
While watching the competiton portion of the movie, I thought back on my first and only ballroom dance competition. I had only been dancing for about four months, I believe, although I was dancing on the order of 4-5x a week between the PE classes offered at UT, taking lessons with the UT Ballroom Dance Club, and going out to ballroom dance studios over the weekend. Someone mentioned that UT was hosting a ballroom dance competition near the end of the semester and asked if I was interested. I said that I was, and they paired me up with another novice woman named Heather(?). I found out that she had been taking some private lessons as well, so my work was definitely cut out for me! We ended up practicing together on weekends in addition to dancing with each other as much as we could during the club. Ah Heather, you're the one who gave me my first ride EVER in a convertible.
Come the day of the dance, I was pretty nervous but excited. We had entered in all the dances I knew (waltz, foxtrot, east coast swing, rumba, and tango.) To make a long story short, not only did we qualify for the finals in the novice division for ALL of those dances, we placed anywhere from 4th through 6th place out of over a dozen couples in each event! Considering that we had only been dancing together barely a month, and that both of us had less than half a year of experience, going up against people who had been dancing a year or more, we did awesome! At some point, there was a team competition, and I remember dancing in that event with a way more experienced woman from our club, and we ended up taking first place in that event! So for all of my efforts, I did come away with a 1st place ribbon.
At one point during the competition, I remember seeing my PE teacher there with some of my classmates. They were PRETTY surprised to see me competing! I guess they didn't realize I had been doing some dancing "on the side." Heh. I remember hearing them say, "isn't that Cliff from our class? Wow! Look at him go! Go number 34!!!" You know all the goofy shouting out of numbers during competitions to cheer on your favorite couples? A la Strictly Ballroom? That is not some goofy made-up thing. It really happens.
So while I have since hung up my dance shoes, after seeing Shall We Dance?, Jen & I are committed to finding a ballroom dance studio sometime after the baby is born. I'm fortunate that she took some ballroom dance at BYU, also known as the "granddaddy of ballroom" (well, that's my moniker anyway).
*****
My other recent obsession has been trying to acquire fencing equipment off Ebay. Jen mentioned a while back that she wished there was something for some of the older boys to learn while attending the Homeschool Zone, a group of homeschoolers that meet twice a week for various activities. That got me thinking about my fencing days while at UT, and the fact that I was a teaching assistant for almost two years. Could I actually teach fencing to kids? I still had my teaching manual & notes. I still have my own equipment. The more I thought about it, the more confident I thought I could pull it off. The only limiting factor was obtaining enough equipment for the kids to use. So I hit Ebay and started monitoring auctions for fencing equipment.
So far, I've managed to procure two masks, and trying to stay patient for fencing foils. The problem with the foils is that people keep bidding more than I want to pay, and more than the initial "buy it now" price! Go figure. But it looks like I may be able to start a 6-week class with around 4 kids and charge enough to offset my equipment costs. If this turns out to be a success, I may consider teaching fencing here at our local community center as well. We'll see.
*****
And since I'm such a good guy, I'll leave y'all with this funny video:
Geeky white boy lip-syncing to Dragostea din Tei
And after you see it, you KNOW you want more, so here's the original:
or Original linked to RealPlayer
Just so you're warned, I am not responsible for any ill-effects resulting from having that song stuck in your head all day. ;)
...possibly Caleb? That is, IF we have a boy. We are still in the process of picking out a boy's name that we both agree on. So far Jen likes Caleb, Andrew, Nathan, and Ethan. I'm not totally against any of those names - there's just not any boy's name I *really* like. Plus I'd really like to stick to our tradition of naming our children after relatives.
Ariel is named for Jen's dad, Braden is named for Jen's mom, and if we have a girl, her name will be Alison, named after my mom. So that pretty much leaves my dad, but it's hard to do a variation of 'Ned' other than Ed, or Edward (which I don't like). Actually, in retrospect, I just realized recently that if we spelled Braden's name backwards, it would be Ned(arb)! But I can't claim that we did that on purpose.
So we're still thinking....any suggestions?
Nearly 11 hours after I left home this morning, I'm finally home after spending a long, FUN day at the 2005 Arkansas Closed Table Tennis tournament. With exception to my last match (which I lost), I played very well - and basically beat the people I should have, and put a good showing to the people who were MUCH better than me. The fruit of my efforts? A 1st place trophy in the U-1200 rated event. :) As far as my rating goes, it probably won't change a whole lot, but that's better than losing rating points, right?
The most fun I had was being able to hang out with Co-worker buddy for most of the day, as he came out to play in his first tournament. And he even took home a first place trophy in the U-800 rated event! Congrats man!!
The birthing class on Thursday night was very worthwhile - sure learned a lot about the physiology of giving birth and the philosophy of the midwives as far as home births are concerned. It really set my mind more at ease with the whole having a baby at home thing. :D
Now what I wouldn't give for a foot massage as my feet are *extremely* sore from me being on my feet for almost the entire day. I think I'm going to go kick up my heels and let these tootsies cool off.
Another fun day planned tomorrow w/the Super Bowl in store!
More once I get the entertainment center straightened up & then you'll get to see them in all their glory!
Can I tell you what a JOY it is to get a prime directive from The Boss telling me to drop whatever it is I'm working on & to assemble a couple of computers? After sitting almost all day in front of my computer yesterday, my boss told me and Co-worker Buddy to "get busy" putting together a couple of computers that were needed desperately in our Baton Rouge office.
Yessir. On the double, sir. You don't have to pull my arm, sir.
Whereas 15 minutes seem to drag by when I'm working on flood mapping, the two hours it took to assemble the computers went by lickety split.
There's nothing like ripping the pull-tab off of a brand-new, retail, Pentium-4 3.6GHz processor, I tell ya! I just LOVE the smell of circuitry in the afternoon.
Yep, it doesn't take much to make me happy. Just give me a computer case, a box full of computer parts, hand me a screwdriver, and I'll be entertained for a little while.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
That's the sound of the new year starting off for me. We're now twenty-six, err.., twenty-seven days into '05 and I must admit January has shaped up very nicely so far.
Productivity at work has been at an all time high.
Jen graduated from The Andrews School and got her certficate of graduation for Medical Transcription. Even better, she was hired by Transolutions a few short weeks after graduating, and is now working part-time from home!
Co-worker buddy & I swept our opponents during our last league match, going 5-0 in singles and our doubles match.
Using some of my Christmas money (thanks to my in-laws & Mom & Dad!), I have some Sanus Steel Foundations speaker stands on order and they should be arriving on Friday.
I have weekly birthing classes to look forward to starting tomorrow! Jen is at 31 weeks, leaving only two short months to get ready for the baby. And no, we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl. Already having one of each, we thought we'd let this one be a surprise! Only this time, if all goes as planned, we'll be having a home birth, assisted by a midwife from Birth Works Midwifery Services.
I also have the Arkansas Closed Table Tennis tournament to look forward to on Sat. February 5th.
The Kiddos had a wonderful Christmas having been surprised beyond all expectations with the new Gamecube. We've been enjoying that as a family as well!
I must conclude by saying that shopping malls are evil, horrible places. Either I'm getting old or I'm getting even more antisocial because after having to go to the mall over the weekend for Jen to exchange some maternity clothes, I couldn't care less if I didn't set foot in a mall ever again. I felt severely uncomfortable, and felt like any minute I was going to run screaming out into the parking lot. Mostly I felt like I didn't *belong*. It was a very foreign, strange world to me. I felt like I was surrounded by people I had *nothing* in common with - mostly punks. Or at least that's how 80% of the people acted. Sure there were other families like ours, but we were definitely in the minority. Ugh. I don't have a problem going to Target or Best Buy or Walmart. But the mall literally scares me.
This year has also seen a revival in movies - that is, watching all the "blockbuster" hits of '04 that I refused to see/missed in the theater and chose to wait until they came out on video. In no particular order:
Garden State
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Troy
I, Robot
The Bourne Supremacy
The Village
Dodgeball
Spiderman 2
Napoleon Dynamite
The Terminal
Taking Lives
Busy busy busy. That's me. That's good, right?
