Zero Station

I need to apologize for the lack of posting lately- I've been a bit lazy with the writing so my bad. We have continued the fast pace this spring and have had another busy couple of weeks. We've had 2 child birth classes, a surprise baby shower, and pretty much no pictures to prove any of this actually happened. So I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. I will be posting some new belly shots soon so stay tuned for that. In the meantime...

I'm still struggling with the concept of taking 10 hours of child birth classes over two Saturday afternoons, when the goal of the class is to give birth in 6 hours or less. Shouldn't they be able to teach you how to give birth in less time than it will take to actually deliver? Oh well, math was never a strong subject for me (thanks Professor Oden) so I'm not complaining. So for the past 2 Saturdays Kelly and I have been learning from Nurse Kathy about the wonders of childbirth. This was much better than our early child care class because our group was fortunately missing the loudmouth jokester and the super cool guy who wears shades inside. We had 5 other couples in our class who were all nice and funny. The classes covered everything from our biggest fears and hopes as future parents to variuous extreme closeup birthing videos. I can safely say we've both seen enough crowning for the rest of our lives and other than grabbing our little guy and cutting the cord I'll be up by Kelly's head coaching away.

The class was detailed but very loose and the teacher really encouraged the men more than the women. I guess the thought it that childbirth is natural for women but men need the help to be good support- I couldn't agree more. We learned the basics like what positions will help Kelly relax, how to breath, and what to do when Kelly reaches the transition stage of labor, or as I like to call it, Go Time. I think we both left feeling more confident in our abilities to go through the birthing process and in the decisions we've made about how to get there.

In between the weekends we had one last baby shower here at Convio. I got to be the setup man to surprise Kelly as her coworkers gathered for a lunch in her honor. Luckily my lame excuses worked and I was able to get her to the room on time and without a clue and she was happily surprised. The Convio folks gave us lots of cool gifts, clothing, and cards and we are very appreciative of all the Convio love :) So somehow I ended up going 2 for 3 on baby showers. I have to say I never thought that would be the case and I've been golfing for the past 2 weekends with the guys to try to prove that I'm still a man and my card should not be revoked.

This past weekend was a holiday and we spent it doing pretty much nothing. We did manage to get a few last items from Babies R Us so now we are pretty much fully stocked with gear. I say that knowing full well that we will be spending the rest of our lives collecting crap that we never thought we'd need. But at least I think we're set for now. We also got to see our friend Courtney swim, bike, and run her way through the Austin Triathlon. It was really amazing to watch athletes of all different ages, sizes, and backgrounds competing against their bodies to finish the race. Actually, nothing has ever made me feel like less of a tough guy than watching those folks so a big congrats to Courtney for finishing her first triathlon. You made us proud! Pics to come as soon as I figure out how to get them off my camera.

So that leads to this week, which has been full of Cavs losses. Hopefully they can turn it around and pull this thing off but if not I guess I can hope that our little guy gets to Witness a championship in his first year. This weekend we're out on the lake and going to see Marc and Sarah's new early arrival, Anna. And I promise I'll bring the camera.