Have Stroller will Roll

Exhaustive research (way too much research), endless nights in front of http://www.daddytypes.com/, pushing, pulling, folding, stowing, hefting. If we ever have to buy a car, I doubt I'll do as much reading as I did before buying baby's first set of wheels.

Like any high-strung parent-to-be, we were dutifully looking at the Bugaboo line (I almost sent a resume to them for a job in Scotland, but Kristin's reply was cooler than the icy wind billowing Sean Connery's kilt on the Grampians) when a woman at Babies 'R' Us saw us staring at her infant transportation system (no kidding, some of these are really called that). While not a salesperson (so she said), she did wax evangelical about the stroller and proceeded to pop off the car-seat and with a one-hand grab, folded that thing flat. Slack-jawed, Kristin and I stared at each other with that "oh, there be more hours on the computer to check this out" look.

My father will appreciate the fact that Orbit is an American company, those with a mechanical mind will appreciate the elegance of the engineering that makes this thing so simple yet so strong, and the rest of us say, "Gee, the Bug comes in so many cool colors...."

We were nearly swayed by the mesmerizing colors of the Bugaboo line, but working them in the store was all it took to see how much simpler life would be with the Orbit (random thought: why don't they throw in a free pack of Orbit gum with this thing?). We haven't seen many around, so we don't know if we're on the edge or being left in the dust, but we'll keep you posted.

Big Baby?

Kristin's latest visit with the doctor today was actually with the nurse practitioner. Everything is generally good. Those swollen ankles are normal, but she needs to watch the salt intake a little more just in case (I guess she won't be eating anything Alison prepares).

The big surprise is that the nurse continues to think that this is going to be a big baby. When the doctor sees Kristin, he doesn't have any feeling either way, but this nurse is sure Kristin is giving birth to Kong. To that end, she's got to have an ultrasound done in the next two weeks so the doctor can have a look to see whether there's just a lot of amniotic fluid or Paul Bunyan growing inside. Let us know how big you were. Family history might come into play here, so 'fess up, folks. How much did you weigh at birth? How long were you? Kristin wondered if the doctor got her due date wrong--will the baby be coming earlier than we thought?

Paul, Kong, Leif? The name thing is still posing problems. Boy names seem to be more of a challenge. Luke was actually a possibility, but we figured too many people would blame me and my Star Wars habit for that one. Since we've both been teaching for thirteen years, we've got a combined lot of nearly 800 student names between us. It seems that nearly every name has some baggage. Something will click, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen as we flip through "60,000 of Last Year's Top Baby Names!"

Suggestions are welcome here in the comments section. If you're going to go through the trouble of giving suggestions, remember to include a middle name. Your thought process would be appreciated as well, so if you suggest George Alexander Yates we don't have to guess, "Did he want our kid to get beat up on the playground because his initials spell 'gay'?"

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See the Amazing Expanding Belly!

What dad-to-be can resist the need to purchase electronic devices in preparation for the new baby? The baby belly is revealed:



So this is what happens when you only spend five minutes clipping and editing an impromptu video. Don't worry, the editing should get even better as we get less sleep.... Trust me, Kristin was smiling at the end of the shot!

The First Post

Kristin is 33 weeks pregnant, she's past the first baby shower, and we're wondering if we'll ever get the nursery ready in time, but before I clean out the basement to make room for all the incoming baby gear, I wanted to make sure we had a way to keep all of you up-to-date with Womb Central.

We're about 41 days away from her due date (December 24), so take this opportunity to put your psychic abilities to the test by voting for whether or not we're having a boy or girl. You can vote in the box in the lower-right of this screen (you might have to scroll down a bit). No, we do not know ourselves--we asked the doctor to keep that secret. We'll probably be able to figure it out once the baby is born.