Many months ago, Dan gave Kevin a book to read called The Expectant Father. Like a maternity book, it walked the dad to be through the pregnancy month by month and brought up topics that might interest the father-to-be. For the last few months, this book has sat, untounched, on our coffee table until last night when Kevin decided to pick it up and thumb through it. He was amazed.

Over the next hour or so, he’d turn to me and say “did you know that pregnant women have these hormones that cause mood swings” or “would you like it if I vaccumed the house without being told?” I’m telling you, he learned more in that hour than in the last five months combined.

For example, he learned that one should not call his wife “tubby”, “fat”, or “big momma”. He learned that pointing at her belly and yelling, “oh my gosh it’s huge!” is not appreciated. Also discovered was that the mother would be going through mood swings and a little patience goes a long way instead of rolling the eyes and muttering “you’re crazy”. My favorite was, after a moment of quiet reading, he turned to me and said, “you know, I love you.” Sweet music to my ears!

I don’t know how much actually sunk in but I’m hoping something stuck. I think Kevin’s favorite chapter was the financial planning part. I heard him muttering about the cost of college tuition and t-bonds and we got ready for bed. I’m thinking that’s the sign of a great dad-to-be, don’t you?

Last week just flew by somehow. Kevin was working crazy swing shift so he was home during the day and working the night hours. Having him around in the morning was wonderful, and he was quite the little woodworker.

In preparation for Mini-Me, I have placed some very tall orders with my very own personal craftsman. Last week, Kevin completed project one – custom made bookcases and drawer units. And I must say, they look fine. Take a peek yourself….

Here’s the bookcase in its unpainted form. Pretty nifty, eh?

It sits on top of the drawer unit like so.

Finally, the bed is flanked by two units on either side. Aren’t they sweet? I’m still decided on a color for them and once they’re painted, I’ll show you the results. Kev’s next order is a closet organizer for the baby room to store all those cute little outfits. Baby clothes… yeah!

Even though the dust was flying and the power tools humming all last week, at least one member of our household was unimpressed. We’ve started calling our dog The Piglet because he spends so much time lying on the sofa with his fat round belly protruding skyward. Funny enough, I don’t thing he really minds his new nickname.

Mini-Me has been very gentle on me lately but the coolest thing is that I’m beginning to feel movement. Here’s an update of me at the beginning of month five. Nothing too dramatic yet but I hear the best is yet to come.

So I’ve pretty much had CNN on in the background all day and I’m just fascinated. Unlike most of the other “wars” that have happened during my lifetime, this one is strangely unique. Bagdad is a very large city. It’s not some ravine in a desert or a random oil field somewhere. And I can watch the city in my own living room. How strange is that?

I’ve seen apartment complexes, street lights, pedestrians, and city parks all on a live feed direct from the other side of the world. I find the whole thing very surreal and I just can’t tear myself away. I mean, aside from the movies/tv I’ve never actually seen anti-aircraft defenses in action. And while, for the most part, it’s just dark with occational flashes, the fact that it’s real time is almost unbelievable.

Welcome to the 21st century?

About four years ago, I adopted my two cats, Wicks and Fatty, from a friend of mine who could no longer keep them as pets. I had cats growing up so I pretty much knew what I was getting into – bascially, lots of fur and litter boxes. One thing I remember learning somewhere in my childhood was that a cat’s whiskers grow as wide as the cat itself. This means the kitty can stick its head into a hole and know whether or not the rest of its body will fit. I thought this was a very neat trick.

Now, this part isn’t for the faint of heart and please don’t call the ASPCA on me. But one day as I lay in my apartment, staring in wonderment at the sheer breath of Fatty’s whiskers, I found myself wondering if that whole whisker thing was true. Before I knew what was happening, I found myself with a pair of scissors in my hand and one side of Fatty’s white whiskers were shorn. (This has happened to me many times before. Thankfully, the victim of my impluse is usually my own hair but on this particular day, Fatty was in the wrong place and the wrong time.)

Fatty was an indoor cat at the time so I wasn’t too worried about her getting stuck down a well or trapped under a log. I figured, the worst that could happen was she’d get herself wedged under the sofa. I don’t recall her getting stuck anywhere and my curiosity must have waned because next time I checked, her whiskers had grown out and she had learned to fear the scissors. (Smart cart.)

So the other day, I was at a stamping party and it was time to gather around the table to watch the demonstration. The table was next to a serving buffet so you couldn’t pull the chair out too far. However, I glanced at the space between the chair and table and felt confident I would fit. What I had forgotten is that Mini Me has done the equivalent of shaving my own whiskers. I headed for the space and my belly hit the chair. Surprised, I tried the old tummy suck technique. The air went in but the belly remained out. No matter how I squeezed, I couldn’t make it though. At this point, I was turning blue and there was a definate back up forming behind me. Embarassed, I had to climb over the chair and then settle my large self onto a seat way in the back.

After that incident, I’ve noticed other alarming situations. Opening the kitchen pantry, I find the door wacking my belly and I have to take a step back. Same for the refridgerator. Distrubed by this I ran to the nearest mirror to check myself out and I could only gasp in shock. My belly is now bigger than my bust. My mental “whiskers” know just what distance I can clear and now, all of that is kaput. I think this may be some sort of charmic revenge for my experiment on Fatty and I can tell you, it isn’t fun quite so funny this time around.

So next time you see a pregnant woman who’s belly inches past her chest line, give her a little extra room. Odds are, she may just need it!

Kevin and I got to take a look out our baby the other day and it looks it the McNugget is a girl! I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. Knowing the gender, I have decided to re-name her Mini Me for the next few months. Just think, another Chrissie roaming the world, terrorizing the innocent.

I do have ultrasound pictures but I think, personally, they’re kind of wierd looking and freaky. Also, unless you have someone who has a good eye, you can’t really see much. I prefer to think of Mini Me as a little sweet baby and not a skeleton blob floating in a sea of black.

Right now she is a whopping 10 oz or, as Kevin likes to call her, a coke can. How sad is that?!?! Four and a half months of suffering and all I’ve made is a mere 10 oz. Of course, in the next four and a half months she’s going to go from 10 oz to 7 lbs or so. Now that’s scary.

We are officially open to female names if you have any in mind. My only requirement is that is must be a name that has an easy nickname available to names like Mary or Beth are out of the running.

Well, that’s all the news for now. More on Mini Me as she develops….

I’m still breathing. Barely. It seems that the McNugget and the germies are playing tag team with me. Right when baby M settles down, I get hit with a cold/flu that lays me flat on my back. I thought I’d miss coffee, beer and wine the most during these nine months but to be honest, what I really miss is my Night-time Alka Seltzer Plus, Robitusm Cold & Cough Syrup, and good old aspirin.

Kevin, angel that he is, nursed me all last week. To repay him, I passed on the germs so now he’s got the chills, shakes, cough, stuffy head, etc, etc, etc. Basically, we’re a pair of pathetic sickos.

So please forgive the lack of updates but I can sum up the last week below….

Crumpled kleenex, moaning, watery eyes, barbwire throat, and general misery.

There, you’re all caught up. I’m hoping to kick it for good by the end of this weekend but we all know what that means, right? Time for baby McNugget to decide to act up. Sigh. Only 4 more months…only 4 more months.