Trading Spaces?

It has come to our attention that sometime in the next 4 months, Baby Jeneric will (voluntarily, we hope) trade out his/her current accommodations for a somewhat larger space. Apparently, this means we need to transform a room into a suitable baby depository, er, nursery.

Eric and I are clever people (some might call us wily) and when we moved into our house nearly 3 years ago, we knew which room would become a nursery (we just didn’t know when) so we painted it accordingly – yellow. We thought we’d be on easy street when the time came – move out any furniture, replace with crib, changing table and baby.

Right.

Have you seen the closets in this house? No? Here’s a peak.

You’ll note that they are:
1. Small.
2. Lacking plaster, in parts.
3. Peeling their skin, er, wallpaper.
4. Small.
5. Unsuitable in any way for babies and their gear.

This weekend we will attempt to rectify Numbers 2, 3 and 5 on the above list. As an added challenge, we will also be renovating the hall closet, which is even smaller than the nursery closet and has larger holes.

Too bad Atlantic City is still closed – you can’t take bets on whether we’ll finish everything this month or not!

Happy Independence Day, all around!

As un-American as it might sound, we used the long weekend to head north, way north, all the way to Ontario, Canada. We
have friends who recently returned, after many years stateside, and we figured we ought to visit.

Our drive up was uneventful. We tried to stop in Jenni’s hometown, but found the region flooded.




Undaunted, we continued north, until we found the town of Kitchener, Ontario. There we did all things Canadian, including:

1. Kayaking, under duress (yes, that’s Eric draining his leaky kayak, for the 4th? 5th? time that day).



2. Geocaching. (psst! That's our 50th find, finally.)


3. Visiting Toronto.



4. Eating maple-infused products (including sticky buns and ice cream).

5. Listening to Canadians list their most notorious Colossal mistakes, in hono(u)r of Canada Day (did you know someone in Canada came up with fruit flavo(u)red potato chips?). We are told this reflects the Canadian ability for honest self-introspection and is best done on Canada day.

What does this have to do with the baby, which is, after all, the subject of this web site? Not much, except to confirm that:
1. The life vest still fits (and dare we say it? Jenni hasn’t moved the straps in 2 weeks!).
2. If we plan to visit the Canadians next year, will we need a passport for the baby?
3. We’re not sure the baby likes Canada. S/he stopped kicking for nearly a day when we first got there.

In case the maternity was in question

This ultrasound photo clearly demonstrates that Jenni is the mother. No, the baby’s not picking his/her nose (like Eric thought). Nope, s/he is doing exactly what his/her mother did for 5+ years – sucking his/her thumb.


In case it wasn’t obvious, we’ve been sharing the results from our latest ultrasound, which was about a week ago (we know – we’ve been holding out). This was the best picture of the day. You can see the spine, bladder and heart. Now, do the math. What’s the amniotic fluid composed of?

A kayak is not an ark

We had fabulous plans of kayaking the Hudson River on Saturday before attending a friend’s birthday party at the Beczak Center in Yonkers. Sadly, there was no kayaking this weekend, as the weather was uncooperative.

However, the vest still fits and may be used as a flotation device should New Jersey float away (rain is predicted indefinitely).


News Snippets:
1. Baby Jeneric is kicking like a Rockette.
2. The office is slowly turning into a nursery. We’re down to one bookshelf in need of emptying.
3. We still don’t know the baby’s gender.
4. We have not picked out any names.
5. We will be in Minnesota from August 3rd through the 7th (for those in the area who might like to catch up).
6. There is no six.
7. Did we mention the baby kicks a lot?

Crank Psychology

We’re not psychologists (although we’d be happy to play some on tv), but we think this photo tells a lot about the personality of our kid. Based on this photo, do you think baby Jeneric will be:


a. A nerd. See? S/he is already counting to one.
b. Very cool. Just like the Fonz. Aaaaaayh!
c. A hippy. Clearly, this child already knows the preferred method of transport for backpacking across Europe.
d. A style critic. As you can see, baby Jeneric is already opinionated on his/her first room.

Correct answers will be determined in approximately 18 years. Prizes to be announced at that time.

Ahoy, mateys!

Yep, still fits.

And s/he shall not go naked

For those who didn’t know, Jenni is a voracious knitter. It was only a matter of time before she whipped up a little* something for the baby.

A very warm sweater and matching hat to keep away the November chills. Check out those toggle buttons! Still to come: another sweater, some socks, and whatever else Jenni can put together between now and November.

In other news, we have made arrangements so that our baby does not have to sleep in a dresser drawer. We picked out a crib this weekend (thanks to Mom and Dad Z) that will eventually find its way to NJ.

*Eric would like to draw your attention to the size**. So very tiny, he thinks.
**Jenni would like to point out that as of today (the middle of the 21st week), the baby is only 11 ounces. We’ve got a long way to go!