The Cost of Having Someone Else Raise Your Child...

Week 34 | With 42 days left until Emily’s arrival, it’s almost impossible to put into words how excited we remain anticipating her arrival.  Jennifer continues to glow and I continue to glow with RED as I build the remaining items for baby.

We started looking at daycare centers and in-home care this week.  WOW, what a process!  I promise not to spend the entire thread complaining about the cost of daycare but I think I may need to take out a 3^rd mortgage to pay for it!  We met some nice people yesterday and visited a center in Rocklin that we liked so we definitely have some options.

Please no more, my fingers hurt! :)

Week 33 | Anyone that reads this blog regularly knows I encountered some problems while constructing some of the furniture for Emily’s room. Well last night, with the help of my sister Michelle, I assembled the final piece of furniture. The dresser is now in place and it looks wonderful.

We had our final “Preparing for Child Birth – Newborn Care” class. Our Nazi instructor made a point of making all the men in the class feel inadequate. Ok, maybe she wasn’t that bad but Jen agrees, she was kind of brash. We learned how to swaddle and I must say, I think I’m pretty damn good at it. We’ll see how “good” I am when a squirming baby is inside the blanket instead of a plastic doll.

Instructions? Who Needs Instructions?

Week 32.5 | I start off this blog entry with a fact about assembly instructions. Some companies do a wonderful job at including assembly instructions while others appear to be written in Greek or some other foreign language. More on this later…

This past weekend was Emily’s baby shower and my “Man Shower”. I’m not sure the title “Man Shower” sounds good but oh well. We had a great time, played poker, ate Carne Asada (provided by Pedro’s dad – it was awesome Pops) and I won a lot of money. The baby shower was a huge success. Special thanks to Alana Welz, Jennifer Denzel and Johanna Martinezmoles (wow, my hand hurts) for all of their hard work in organizing it. Jennifer had a GREAT time and got some really great stuff. Much of which needed assembly.

Now back to the instructions or lack there of for these items I had to assemble. I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical when Jason Denzel (my God son’s daddy) told me what “he thought” the hardest item to assemble was going to be. Jason, I hope you’re sitting down because you were 100% right!

I’ve used a 1 to 5 scale (1 – not difficult / 5 – extremely difficult) to rank the level of frustration I felt while putting stuff together

Crib = 3
Mobile = 1
Swing = 2
Stroller = 1
Hamper = 0.1
THE CHANGING TABLE = 19

OK, it wasn’t that bad but the instructions were WORTHLESS! For your enjoyment, I’ve uploaded some pictures from the weekend…

Click Here For Nursery Pics
Click Here For Baby Shower Pics

Done Breathing... For the time being at least

Week 32 | I should probably start with a public announcement… Baby Smith’s name will be… <<INSERT DRUM ROLL>> Emily Grace!

Jennifer and I finished the first part of our Preparing for Childbirth class last night.  Next week is the official last class (on Valentine’s Day I should add) for newborn care.  I think it’s kind of funny that our last class is on the last Valentine’s Day Jennifer and I will have as a childless couple but oh well. J  I’ve learned interesting new words like “Perineum”, “Effacement”, “Vernix” and of course “Apgar score”.  Yes, I know what all of those mean!

Jen’s feeling pretty good.  Emily is kicking like crazy and often gives mom a kick to the ribs or bladder which in turn makes mommy a little uncomfortable.  Emily is so strong; you can easily see her kicking and moving around by just looking at Jen’s belly.  It’s truly frightening.

Jen’s baby shower is this weekend and she remains excited to see everyone.  I remain excited for the “Man Shower” which is basically a bunch of guys BBQ’ing, smoking cigars, drinking beer and playing poker.  It should be a fun weekend!

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