Announcement!

[RStar]

I've been wondering for the past couple of years when you guys were going to settle down and get domestic! You both will make great parents! Congrats!

[Disneyphile]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Such a great theme - and it does double time being at our house.

Would love to help in anyway I can too. Just gimme a call.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by Disneyphile

Would love to help in anyway I can too. Just gimme a call.

Ditto, ditto, effin' ditto that!

[LashStoat]

Dearest Happy Haunts,

OMG…Congratulations !!!

I just had to stick my head out of the (deep) work trench I’ve been in since my return to say YAY !!!

…and while I’m momentarily AWOL, I was looking to send you my Instruction Manual for Raising Children…but then I realised that it’s a terror-byte [sic] in size, and your young’n would be 21 before you finished downloading the PDF, so I had to give up the idea.

Pity really, because it contains gem chapters such as:

• Selective hearing: Daddy deafness.
• Food and how to wear it.
• Stuffed Toys…and ones that work.
• The Slumber Party oxymoron.
• Chauffeuring: No ball game.
• Sex and booze…them not youse.

…ahhh, I remember it well. The feeling of stepping barefoot on a Lego Block concealed in shag-pile carpet in a pitch black room when you kiss them goodnight. The sense of satisfaction when you navigate them through a Supermarket Checkout without having to buy them every candy set at their eye level. The tears in their little eyes when they discover the finch splattered against your car radiator when you come home.

It’s all worth it though…and Uncle Stoat will watch lovingly from his side of The Big Pond, as he wonders what the hell they put in that gefilte fish bottle.

With all my love,

The Stoat XXX.

[RStar]

gefilte fish bottle?

[Nephythys]

SQUEEEEEEE!!!! Congrats and happy happy baby tidings!

Please let me know when the shower is- so I can sends our luvs to you and the baby (since being there in person is not likely)

[flippyshark]

That is such wonderful news. Mazel Tov, Omedeto, Felicitaciones, Glückwunsch!

Now, if you can just train Munchkin to change diapers.

[Moonliner]

Oh, and of course we need to quote the latest in parenting protocol... XKCD:

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Thanks to all of you! I'll mojo you when I can. Each post is like a reassuring hug.

Originally Posted by Betty

Any food cravings? (I thought icy cold cantelope was, pretty much, the best food there ever was.)

Any weird dreams? (I had a few strange ones involving kittens instead of babies.)

When do you start feeling the wiggling around? I forget. I don't think it's for another month or two is it?

The food thing is weird. Fruit is always appetizing. Often meat can turn me off. Most things I can eat anyway, I just stop looking at it and suddenly I'm stuffing it in my mouth like a chipmunk. I don't usually eat without thinking, now I do.

My initial hormone overdose seems to have mellowed out (or rather, my body is used to it now) so now I "crave" whatever I see. I see an ad for pizza, I want pizza. I drive by a chinese restaurant, I want chinese. I almost feel like pointing at the sign and saying "THAT!"

I have had some very vivid dreams (which I didn't used to) but I tend to wake up about 4am and go back to sleep intermittently after that (which I didn't used to either) so I forget the dreams in the process.

Wiggling won't be felt for a while. It's only about 3 inches long now.

Originally Posted by Moonliner

What to expect when your expecting

This was the first book I picked up, and I liked it. In reading reviews online and as evidenced in the conversation here, it seems that people respond to it differently (same goes for all other baby books). I prefer encyclopedic, biological books instead of emotional support ones, so I also picked up the Mayo Clinic book, which is awesome. I seem to be ok with reading about all the things that could go wrong - in fact I feel empowered with the info. My biggest annoyance with What to Expect was the cutesy conversational tone. Then my sis-in-law gave me a stack of her books, including the Girlfriend's Guide and Chicken Soup for the Crazy Pregnant Lady, so now I'm set if I have an emotional onslaught (which I probably will eventually).

Originally Posted by Alex

Also, as happy as I am for you, I'll find your children as uninteresting as I do everybody else's. So don't take it personally.

I would take it very personally if you thought my kids were interesting. It wouldn't be very Alex-like.

Originally Posted by flippyshark

Now, if you can just train Munchkin to change diapers.

If Nana can take care of Wendy, John and Michael...

[Promo-Man]

Congratulations!
and enjoy