Silence is Golden

Looking forward to a quiet weekend at home, resting and helping Helen get over her cold. Hard to believe that in a couple of months, we will no longer have peace and quiet at home. EVER AGAIN. Enjoy the silence...

Baby Grading System

My Korean hairstylist knows about Norby's arrival in December and asked me if we were planning on having more than one child. I said it would be great if Norby had a baby brother down the line, and she said 'Yes, that is the best combination.'

I asked her to elaborate and she told me that (some) Koreans believe there are certain combos of children's' birth order that are more desirable than others. Based on the assumption of a two-child family, here's the grading system:

Girl then boy = A
Boy then girl = B
Girl then girl = C
Boy then boy = F

I pressed her to find out how one comes to this conclusion and why this alleged system graded the sibling combos like this. She explained that an older girl would help raise the baby brother, but the brother would carry on the family name. There was also the belief that daughters, once grown, take care of their parents when they age, while sons leave them to help take care of their in-laws.

I am not sure if I believe that any one combo is better than another, but I guess my parents get an 'A' for having Caroline first, then me. Even if they're not Korean.

Has anyone ever heard of a grading system like this? If not, do you think there is an optimal birth order combo, or does it not matter?

Baby 101

Pretty soon, Helen and I will be going to the hospital to begin the final preparations of becoming parents. There will be the delivery room visit, birthing classes and learning how to get around so we're prepared when she goes into labor.

In a lot of ways, it'll be like attending the first day of school, except instead of a diploma, I'll be getting a baby at the end. I hope I remember to bring my protractor and Trapper Keeper notebook.

Which classes are good to take? Which ones are a waste of time?

Seeing the World Through Blue Eyes

Attending J&J's shower for their baby boy over the weekend was lots of fun. We played baby games, ate lots of food and got to watch the parents-to-be open up gifts in baby blue. I even won a prize for knowing celeb baby names (thanks, Us Weekly!)

It was also a chance for me to see what it would've been like if Norby had been a boy (like many people had predicted.) You never want to say woulda coulda shoulda, and I'm perfectly happy that we're having a girl, but I think it's natural to wonder about the 'other' scenario.

I remember being elated when we learned our baby's gender, but also feeling a little sense of loss that 'she' wasn't a 'he.' It was totally illogical because, of course, we couldn't have both a boy and a girl in same child, and I didn't really have a preference but I still felt that way. It's sort of like wondering how good the steak would've been if I had ordered that off the menu instead of fish. Does that make me a bad almost-dad? For wondering about steak, I mean?

Third Trimester

We have just started week 28, which means we are either at or near the third trimester of the pregnancy (depending on how you count the weeks.)

I commented once to Helen that this process has gone by really fast, and she burned a hole through my head with the lasers coming out of her eyes before saying, 'No, this process has NOT gone by quickly.' Oops.

She's already commented that she can't wait for Norby to get out of her, and for as good as the second tri went, I have a bit of trepidation about the final 1/3, since I'm told it can get rough. Our pregnant friend Ji, who is due a month before Helen says she could tell immediately when she went from second to third trimesters, because she suddenly felt much worse, got heartburn, and lost the good vibes from earlier. Yikes!

I'm preparing for a rough ride from here on out, for Helen (and thus by extension, me.) But the good news is there's a light at then end of the tunnel and by December, we're going to have a little baby girl!

Sing Along Sunday

I found this clip on Youtube, and it reminded me that the new season of Glee starts on Tuesday (Owen reminded, too.) Have fun singing along to this classic KISS song.

*FYI- the name of this song is NOT any secret/subtle hint of what Norby's real name will be. It's 'apropos of nothing,' as Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan likes to write...

Waiting to Exhale

It's a fiery topic to be sure (see what I just did there, referencing the above pic?) One of my friends Laura and I discussed this a while back, and it was brought up again in a conversation I had with my boss: I'm talking about the issue of new parents, where one works and the other stays home, but BOTH feel like they deserve a break at the end of the day.

Some of you live this existence, while others can probably understand/appreciate it:



Parent A is at home all day long with a screaming baby, with no adult interaction other than the Wiggles on TV (which doesn't count.) By the time parent B comes home, A is ready for a break from the kid and says 'Oh good, B is home.'



On the opposite side, parent B has had a long day and is stressed and tired from preparing TPS reports at work all day. By the time they get home, they're excited about having time to decompress and relax.

This is where they butt heads. Who deserves to exhale? Who gets to rest? How can this issue be solved? Without ever having been in this situation, I imagine the answer is simple: being a parent means you NEVER get a break. No matter which parent you are.

The Baby Effect

A little bit of a medical scare for my dad recently. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing serious. But since he's getting older, one of my immediate thoughts was that it would suck if Norby didn't get a chance to meet her four grandparents, who are thankfully all still alive.

In addition to the great benefits grandparents can have on a baby (mostly spoiling them and buying them stuff), I believe there are equally important positives that a baby can bring to his/her grammies and grampies. Not only does having a grandkid infuse new energy into the extended family (and the g'parents, specifically) but I think youngbloods increase the will for an elder to live- long enough to see the baby grow into a child, then an adult and to see all the fun things that happen along the way (first words, first steps, ballet recitals, soccer games, birthdays, weddings, etc.)

It's a mutually beneficial and special relationship. One that I hope both Norby and her grandparents are all around to experience for a long, long time.

P.S. Feel free to include a caption for the photo above in the 'comments' section. That pic of the chillin' baby slays me!

Welcome to the Club

We are just days away from going to our friends J&J's baby shower. They are the couple that is having a boy a month before Norby is due, and we've joked that boy may marry our daughter someday (if he's handsome enough, j/k.)

I've found that we are starting to get invited to more of these social gatherings, being drawn into more baby conversations and befriending people who either have kids or, like us, are parents-to-be. This is the very thing a friend of mine once warned me not to become, at least around her.

But I've realized no matter how hard you try to avoid it, it's difficult NOT to have this happen, since babies are such a great conversation starter and parents experience so many of the same things. It's like we're becoming part of a club, but not a club like the ones the guys below frequent.

Sick Mommy = Sick Baby?

All the travel we did in recent weeks must've wore Helen down, because once we came home she had a temperature, the chills, a sore throat and generally felt sick.

She drank lots of water, OJ, ate cough drops and took Tylenol, and after a couple of days she started to feel better, much to our relief. The fact that Helen was pregnant added to the normal anxiety over having a cold, since we were worried about the baby, too.

It got me wondering about how Helen's health affects Norby's. At one point I asked Helen- if she was sick, did that mean Norby was, also? She said she didn't think so, and that when she called the nurse to get some guidance they said Norby probably enjoyed all of Helen's coughing and maybe even thought her mommy was playing with her.

Since I'm too lazy and tired to Google it, I was hoping a loyal reader of this blog could answer that question for me. Either one of you.

Baby Shower #1

Has it really been nearly two weeks since I last posted? I guess that's what happens when you attend a wedding out of town, visit family, start a new job and spend all of Sunday watching football ;)

Helen and I recently returned from a whirlwind trip in which we definitely ended up with more stuff than we left with. That's because my family threw/attended a baby shower for Norby.*

Nearly all of my relatives, from both sides of the family, showed up in full force. And while historically some of them have been a little....frugal, they went all out for our daughter. It was like the girls' section of Babies R Us exploded. So much cute pink stuff! Special thanks to mom and dad who hosted the event and big props to Lori, who traveled across the country to be there, then left the next day.

Luckily, Helen has the foresight to recommend bringing an extra suitcase for our trip. Amazingly, we fit all the baby presents and clothes in there, and didn't have to send anything back via FedEx. Now, Norby is all set for clothes until she's 15 years old...

*For those who haven't been following this blog closely, Norby is short for 'Norbit,' the nickname we gave our baby. It is NOT going to be the real name of the girl. Apparently some people thought it was.

P.S. Happy 41st Anniversary, mom and dad!

Laugh Out Loud Funny

Just saw this and it made me giggle a bit because of Adam Scott. To see the full screen of this or any other video, just click on the video itself and it'll open up a Youtube window.

My sister says that show Scott is in, 'Party Down' is great. We've put it in our Netflix queue. This dude was also in 'Step-Brothers' with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, which was hilarious.