The Good Husband of a Pregnant Wife

Last night was Punch Drunk Wonderland's (a fantasy football league enjoyed by several of my friends and friends of friends) had our draft. 30 minutes before the draft started, I realized I didn't have any milk, and thus couldn't make hamburger helper -- I promised my wife a cheap/quick/easy meal before she got home from her after work, work meeting. Not wanting to disappoint, I ran off the grocery, knowing that if I was held up, I might miss the start of our draft. Thankfully, I made it back with a few minutes to spare and started dinner. I did pretty well, I think. I picked up TO and Randy Moss with my first two picks, not bad I think.

Somewhere between rounds 4 and 5, the timer on the oven went off and the door bell rang. I ran to the door thinking K forgot her keys, but when I opened it her co-worker was standing there saying, "your wife is throwing up in the street!". I ran out to console her, but by the time I got there she was already laughing at the situation. Our neighbor, Mike, somewhat shocked at what he just witnessed, offered a bottle of water. Kristen announced to the small crowed gathered around the vomit that she's pregnant, since of course that's the only socially acceptable excuse for vomiting.

Mike and his girlfriend, Jennifer drove off and left Melanie, K's coworker, and the two of us still standing around the pile of almost digested virgin daquiri and various appetizers talking about the usual: pregnancy dos and don'ts, where to deliver, morning sickness and all of the other things I didn't think I'd ever be talking about. Melanie and K took a shower...

So like a good husband, I cleaned up the street while picking the greatest fantasy team ever assembled and finishing up dinner. I'm a catch, aren't I?

Our FIRST Decision as Parents

As I am a working girl and not the stay at home mom type(too much work as a stay at homer), we need to find a good daycare!!! This is a really tough decision for Matt and I, but we have to get on waiting lists by then end of this month if we are going to have a spot when it is time to go back to work. SOOoooo...Matthew and I went on our first tour today. We both walked in a little excited and anxious. I gave myself a pep talk before we went in. I told myself not to be too anal retentive about it. As most of you know, I was a development coach at Eli Lilly's child care center in school when I was a Development Psych major. The center was amazing. Everything you would expect and more. 4 Large infant rooms, small ratios, nice toys, clean, structured, and accredited! It is also a little over $1000 a month for an infant. Wowsa! The center we visited today was recommended to us by one of my co-workers. She just came back from maternity leave and her son started daycare 2 weeks ago. She did a ton of research in the area before she chose, Peace for Kids. As I was giving myself the pep talk, I was really trying to not compare...We went in and were greeted well. The manager took us on a tour. We went into the infant room and it is connected to the toddler room(separated by a half wall), which concerned me at first, but then I started to think that if our baby can sleep through a room full of toddlers then VE can sleep through anything. We interrogated them for an hour and fifteen minutes. She answered all of our questions to our satisfaction. The lead infant teacher was great! They keep the ratios one under the limit, and it seemed very organized. Why am I still concerned? Is it because I am comparing it to Lilly's center or is it because there was a red flag somewhere that isn't right out in front of me? Peace for kids is in a gorgeous old building across the street from a huge Catholic Cathedral in the Central West End(which is our neighborhood). What is holding me at bay? We have another appt. on Friday for a place near our work, but we are allready 8th on the list and it is a Federal Center(like Lilly's). This means that even if we are 1 on the list and a Federal employee has a baby, they are pushed in front of us. Concern:( It sounds exactly like what I expected, but with that comes a 12oo a month price tag!!! DANG!

Needless to say, we are contemplating and will hopefully make a decision soon. This is sooo important. Our child will be there more than VE is home during wake hours...

FREAKED OUT!!!

OH PS...I think I felt the baby move tonight. It felt like little burps in my stomach...The time is supposed to be 16 to 18 weeks depending on a lot of stuff, but it could be earlier...Who knows!?

First Trip to Babies R Us

This morning we crawled out of bed around 11am, the night before we had a long leisurely bike ride and consequently stayed up until 4:30am. We didn't have any plans. We went to target mainly to get a new tube to fix my flat tire and while we were there we were distracted by the shiny baby stuff. The excitement started to set in and we decided to seek out the nearest Babies R Us.

Babies R Us is the mecca of baby supplies, toys, tools, clothes and furniture. It is incredibly overwhelming -- especially, if you just stumble in and start browsing. Anxiety sets in. One starts to wonder, "what do I really need?" There's a reason these things exist, somebody thinks there is a need, somebody's buying it. But do I need it? It seems like Babies R Us sells solutions to every problem you could ever have with a baby, except they still haven't fixed the whole babies-can't-clean-up-their-own-poop problem. Or what about the babies-keep-you-up-at-night-problem. And then there's the uncomfortable anxiety reached when little Liam gets an erection while you're changing him, or when he pees in your face while you lean over to pick up a diaper. I think whoever is behind the gadgets at Babies R Us should have another look at the real problems with baby raisin'...

There's another uncomfortable thing about Babies R Us... For who may not know, for the last couple years, I've developed sort of a thing for pregnant woman. I think "hot" is the usually the word I use. And who shops at Babies R Us? You guessed it. Hot. Pregnant. Women. Woah. Every turn, every isle, there they were, taught bellies, tight t-shirts, waddling mothers-to-be. It's pretty much what I imagine heaven being like. Thankfully, I get the shag the hottest of them all. ;-)

Midnight Bikeride - Fully Clothed, Mind You

At work, this week, there was a lot of talk about the "moonlight ramble", a bike ride that takes place annually at midnight on the Saturday closest to a full moon. The ride started in the 60s, when Dick Leary told all of his friends he was going to ride around St. Louis at midnight and all those wanting to join should meet him at Tower Grove park. Saturday night came and no one showed. So Dick did the ride by himself. The following year he managed to talk a few friends into it. And it's been growing each year since. This year, an estimated 12,000 riders showed up.

The moonlight ramble is quite a spectacle and a whole lot of fun. Kristen was nervous about the ride, fearing she might get some motion sickness. She did great though. We only stopped a couple times when we were both exhausted from the previous hill. It was so much fun. Next year, I plan to be one of the Dads with a trailer hooked up the rear axle, pulling his kid all over St. Louis.

Of course, all things fun must eventually start sucking. After 9 miles or so, I raced down a hill, hoping momentum would take me up the next. Just as I reached peak speed, a tiny pothole only big enough to fit a bike tire got me. I saw it at the last second and managed to wheelie across (I'm awesome cuz I can do a wheelie for like 10 feet at least), but alas, my rear tire hit the concrete corner. All of the momentum in the world can't beat a flat tire. About half way up the hill, K passed me, and I immediately started looking for excuses. Turns out I had a pretty good one. To be fair, K was hauling ass up that hill and I don't think my tire deflated until well after she passed me.

We waited for the "lag wagon", the vans that follow all of the riders picking up the sorry blokes (I've been wanting to use that word all week) with flat tires. One passed, but it was it was full. We waited at the corner of Market and Compton for another lag wagon to come get us, never happened. Apparently, there was a bit of miscommunication and we were nearly left stranded about 4 miles from our house and 4 miles from my truck. The phrase, "up shit creek" comes to mind. Thankfully, one of the ham radio volunteers picked us up and drove us back to the car. We were too late to enjoy a refreshing free Fat Tire -- New Belgium Brewing Co was a sponsor. So, now I'm home, blogging and drinking a hero.

St. Louis Naked Bike Ride

Imagine you're me... K asks you to go fetch a movie from hollywood video. Of course you do. It's 10:39pm. You drive off, first heading south on Taylor then east of Manchester. You drive a couple blocks toward the corner where the Atomic Cowboy superbly serves beer, texmex and rockabilly 5 nights a week. As you approach, you notice some commotion, police, baracades, etc... When you're forced to come to a stop, you start realizing there are hundreds of people on bikes. Naked. Most of them were in their underwear, and a few as naked as the day they were squirted out. Naked.

What do you do? I'll tell you what I did. I stared. I tried to take pictures. I gawked. I called Kristen. Then I turned around, because those damn hippies weren't going anywhere. After making 2 wrong turns that put me on the highway headed in the wrong direction, I finally was able to get headed in the right direction again. While waiting at a light. Two people rode by. Again I stared, I couldn't help it. The dude was totally naked except for a red hat, and his bare ass was mounted on a cruiser with a banana seat. How could you not stare. His girl saw me staring and returned the stare, breaking it only to wave at me, as if to say, "I caught you."

Turns out these hippies were protesting our dependence on oil and promoting a positive body image. Sounds fun. I think I might join them next year.

I'll leave you with this thought: what about their asses? Wouldn't there be some serious chaffing? That'd be something terrible. I think I'll leave my underwear on.

kupple.com

This actually happened a couple weeks ago, but my renewed sense of boredom reminding me of it.

As K and I moved to this wonderful city we were so excited about meeting new people and experiencing new things. "Maybe we'll get into kick ball, or go see baseball games with our neighbors who happen to be a perfect match for us," we thought. Turns out that meeting new people is much harder than I remember it being in Indianapolis. Or maybe, I'm only remembering the 50 days that I met people who later became friends, and I've conveniently blocked out of my memory the other 3602 days spent in Indianapolis not meeting friends. Meeting people is hard.

So, as Amber usually does, she suggests a brilliant web site idea, only this time it already exists: kupple.com... Where couples meet couples for friendship, not swinging... I thought of it much like I think of dating sites, there might be some desparate loser couples, but surely there'll be a few couples that are interesting and have similar tastes. I figured 80/20... 80 percent totally suck, 20 percent could be tolerable for a 1 hour dinner.

I registered for an account, waited 24 hours for activation and began searching for our new friends. As it turns out... We're the coolest couple in St. Louis. Actually, all of Missouri and most of Illinois too. There wasn't a single couple within driving distance worth having dinner with. Now I know what it's like to be the prettiest girl in a room. It's lonely.

The best part about St. Louis

I started thinking the other day... I haven't seen a Walmart since we left Indiana. I'm sure they are here, but frankly I'm not terribly interested in finding one. On the other hand there are 3 trader joes that we pass regularly, two near work and one near our house. There's also a Whole Foods and I like it, but it seems to be very expensive.