Long Absences and Nesting cont.

Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for... kitchen pics:

Okay, In looking at the blog I noticed that it has been nearly 3 weeks since I last posted... Sorry about that. I tend to be a man of single focus and as of late, that focus has been turned to work and home repairs rather than blogging.

There is both good and bad in that because while I have been away from posting for a while there is a bit more to catch up on. So... baby wise, we had our 13 week check up. It was a bit of a scary time considering that most of the advice that we had gotten was that we shouldn't even tell anyone until that point because the risks were much greater beforehand. Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about as they said that everything that they can see with the ultrasound looked perfect. The baby is right on schedule with growth and development, the heart rate looks good, and the spinal cord seems to be developing appropriately. I wish you could see the video as the fuzzy pictures don't do it justice. You could see the little arms and legs, the skeleton was clear, and it looked like it was having minature hiccups. In the week and a half since Austin is feeling a bit better, so there is hope that her sickness won't be the 8 1/2 month kind.

Home improvement wise, we have taken several steps forward. The tile floor is in, and I think it looks great! I spent virtually the entire day yesterday watching and talking with our Romanian installer, Ray. The guy really knew his stuff and worked the entired day straight with no lunch break from about 8 to 8 to get it finished. I will hire him again in a heartbeat.

I stained the quarter round for installation when he seal the floor on Wednesday, and the Lewis's officially have their first permanent kitchen floor. The improvement is dramatic. Dramatic enough that I decided to replace our flourescent lighting with new track lighting to compliment it, and am having a really hard time avoiding the "self install granite slab countertop" websites even though everyone I talk to (including Ray) says it's a bad idea.

Also, in the intervening time since my last post, you have missed my trip to my grandmother's memorial service in California. She recently passed away at the age of 8

9 and my family got together to celebrate her life. It was both a sad and happy time, and a great reminder of what a wonderful family that I have and just how important family is.

Oh, and back to the baby... Austin's sister sent us a Massive amount of clothing from both their boy and girl from the ages of 1 to 3. I think it is going to make a tremendous difference for the baby. If I have my way... this baby will be in nothing but hand-me-downs. :-)

For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath. My visits to the aquatic center now total 2.... not quite the 10 that I had planned on.

Power Mad with Blogging...

Okay, okay.... I know that I opened this blog by indicating how much more Austin was going to post than me, but now that she is too sick to post I am drunk on the thrill of online publication :-)

So today my thoughts are centered on sheer number of items that are available for babies...

Last weekend, Legacy Park, a very large and somewhat affluent neighborhood near where Austin teaches school held its annual communal yard sale. This event is apparenly known far and wide for its veritable treasure-trove of high quality lightly used baby loot, so we both decided that though we are months away from needing most of the items in question, it would not be wise as cost-consious parents to skip it.

I think that the trip was a successful one... as we picked up a jogging stroller, bouncy, Baby-Bjorn, and Pack-and-Play for veritable peanuts... my only problem is that I have no real idea whether these items are useful or not.

While doing our yard sale rounds I was struck by two things: The first was that there are a whole lot of baby items out there that look like they cost a lot but that don't look like they were ever used. The second was a comment from the woman that we bought our jogging stroller from when we were looking at her car seat. She was an athletic and alert looking woman who struck me as a bit of a friendly type A triathlete. "Eight weeks along!" she said,"Well then I am sure you have read that book on all the baby items that you actually need." Austin and I nodded knowingly while she went on to describe the reasons why car seats that hook in directly to the floor are much better than the "death traps" that just use a regular seat belt around them. In truth, we had no idea what she was talking about.

So my questions to anyone who is reading are these... What is this mythical book she is talking about? How will I know that I have the book that is steering me around the crap that I don't need and not the one that is a marketing ploy to direct me right to it? and In the absence of said miracle book, what are some items aside from those mentioned above that are indespensible to parents to be? On the opposite side...what are some that are completely useless?