Some Assembly Required

Changing table in the works

The words in the title to this blog are known to all moms and dads, we soon to be parents are just getting started.  I believe there should actually be a book somewhere about having a baby that should also have this title.  We will never be through putting things together for our kids.  Whether it be furniture as in the most pictures on this blog post, or if it is trying to put together a life on the right road for our young ones.  There will be times when we mend broken hearts, or pick up broken spirits, just as our parents did before us.

Again with the changing table

Enough sentimental stuff, lets get to the meat of this blog.  Tools and little use of directions, which
came back to bite me only a few times.  We ordered all of our son's furniture off the Internet, from JcPenny, which worked out great.  We got a credit account which helped save us money, we also got free delivery... just not free assembly.  Oh no, nothing free about that, just you, your tools, and a wonderful wife there to tell you when you're doing it wrong, and to take pictures of the process, too!  Actually, Melissa didn't nag, which is true to her character, she really helped out, even while being seven and a half months pregnant. 


I decided to start with the changing table, you see there's a method to picking out which piece of furniture you should start with, especially if you plan on assembling all of it in one day.  I figured I'd start with the second most aggravating piece, followed by the most aggravating, then finish up with the easiest/ least aggravating.  According to my level of aggravation, I messed up the order.  We got everything completed all the same.

The finished changing table.

You've got to make sure you tighten everything
 down as best as you can, your child is depending on you!

We took a break after the assembly process was complete, we went to get something to eat and, I believe, we did a little shopping at Babies R Us. We purchased a Serta mattress for the crib, which was second on the list of assembly.  My sister, Joanna, stopped by and helped out with this process, which made it a little less frustrating.  Notice the glider and ottoman in the background, we didn't get any pictures, but we did have to assemble those as well, which wasn't difficult at all.  Except for buttoning the cushions on, that was a pain. 

Joanna was helping, Molly and Louie were not.
They were more interested in spending time with Aunt Joanna.

Finished product.

With blanket, which we learned in birthing class, we shouldn't
put in with Ethan, it can be dangerous.

Now for my coup de grace, the chest of drawers, I'm not even sure why I thought this would be an easy construction, but apparently at the time I did, boy, was I wrong. 

Getting the pieces organized with Louie's help.

Maybe it was the fact that I had been assembling all day, or because the first two pieces went so well, I thought I didn't need the directions this time, whatever the reason was, I know that this was a pain!

Molly and I having a moment.

Who is that handsome, handy man?

The drawers were pretty simple, so simple I could talk on the phone
at the same time!

Finished product, looks simple enough, but don't let it fool you.
I think the third drawer sticks a bit too, tried to loosen everything
and resolve problem, but, alas, I could not figure it out.

The aftermath

During my crazy month of December, I put together a few other items.

We purchased a Baby's 1st stroller/car seat.  Not much assembly required,
just attached the wheels.

The biggest dynamic going into the stroller/car seat
was learning how to operate everything.  Which
we found wasn't terribly hard.  Then again,
we didn't have a screaming baby with us at the time.

We also bought a Graco swing set.  Not at all fun to put together, but not
incredibly hard. I was finished in about 45 minutes.

It has different settings for swinging, slow or fast, it also
has different songs on it, two of which were in our wedding.
There are nature sounds and the mobile, which
isn't battery operated, it moves as the swing
goes back and forth.

We're pleased with all the items we've received so far, and I have even more to blog about later.  We've had three baby showers since the middle of November, with lots of pictures!

All Day Birthing Class

I will go on record and say that if you have a choice, never ever take an all day birthing class.  The only reason we did was because of our different work schedules.  We knocked out 6 classes in an eight hour window on November 19th. 

Each class had a different title, but since it was all day class, I don't remember any of them.  It was like a blur, so much info, so little time to compute.  The basics were fairly simple, I had no problem putting diapers on a doll that was not struggling or fighting against me.  Learning how to properly bath a newborn was informative.  I remember and firmly believe in, if you don't know if your baby is actually sick or just not feeling well, but you're not sure, call a doctor, or mom or mother-in-law. 

I know that the wife's recovery is very important and can take some time, which is to be expected.  The instructor mentioned to the guys that we might be on the hook for cooking and cleaning for the first  six weeks, which is about par for most mom's recoveries.  I just hope Melissa doesn't get tired of hamburgers, pizza, grilled cheese and such.  I'll be off for the first two weeks so maybe I can expand my menu, or we'll end up eating a lot of pick up. 

The videos we were shown were very dated, but covered everything you need to know about what happens at birth.  And, yes, guys, they are not pretty, but you need to go through this so you know what to expect in the delivery room of your own wife, or mother of your child.
Since we took the all day class, we didn't get a chance to learn baby CPR, we might be signing up for that later.  All in all it was a great day, time spent with my wife, met some new people, learned about delivery and newborns, but still suggest the night courses!

Good/Bad, Do/Don't,Yes/No of parenthood.

ABC song never sounded so good.

Man, I know it is a bit early for little Miss Molly to start watching any type of videos, but I am still honing my skills in the art of soothing a fussy baby. I really enjoy off-key singing to her as I attempt to rock her and quite her down. I have noticed that she is becoming more ad more alert as time goes by so I thought I would try a few videos out on her. Oddly enough I found this Alphabet seem to mellow her out pretty good and her eyes are drawn to it. I think it has something to do with her natural ability to recognize faces in objects. It also has a nice beat and has been stuck in my head.

I also have just recently bought a new video camera or"toy"and tried it out for the first time today. Katherine left me up to my own devices and alone with Molly for a few hours. I was just trying not to make her mad. I made a quick video, very off the cuff, showing how Molly likes to be held. You can see how awkward I get as she gets more fussy.

I'll get better at this stuff.

Baby on a roller coaster!

                                            Molly likes the thrills!!

Molly is here!!

"Spirit is in a state of grace forever. Your reality is only spirit. Therefore you are in a state of grace forever."

A Course in Miracles

Man oh man, what can I say. I'm a Dad and it feels great! These past few weeks have been emotional, exhausting, and extremely time consuming. I am not going to spend long on this post, but per Jake, I want to at the very least get some pictures posted. 

 Molly Grace Munson, was born on the ninth day of October, 2011. The doctor and I counted all of her fingers and toes together and were very pleased to see everything was in order. He also commented that he had never seen a little girl have such a perfectly round head after a natural birth... she gets that from me.

 Molly was born at 7:09 pm weighing in at a whopping six pounds and 7 ounces. At this time I would like to thank me and give myself a shout out for being the one to guess her body weight. So far I guessed that she would be a girl, she would be blonde, and now her weight. It's not easy being this good.

This was taken just before birth. We rushed to get to the hospital, flying down the two lane hwy going 90 mph. Louise (grandma) was busy in the back seat chatting it up on the phone as Katherine would give me dirty looks for going too fast. 

 Melissa Cooper, a good friend, had been tracking Katherine's progress through out the morning. She is holding Hattie, Molly's cousin. Louise is to the left. Melissa and Katherine's sister Elizabeth followed behind us, and we were blessed to have them at the hospital during the birth.

 Molly (right) didn't want to sit still for her first picture with her cousin Hattie (left), who is only  a month older. They look like the same size, but I believe molly was a few ounces lighter.













Just thought I'd blow a few of these up. The camera phone just doesn't do her justice.

She was so hungry for the first few days as we waited for Katherine's milk to come in, I would have to appease her with my knuckle. 

 We use Katie Mcdill for all our family photos, she did extremely well. Molly was only four days old and very fussy. Below I posted a video of me rocking her to sleep in a pumpkin. I never thought I be the type of parent that would put their kid in a cold wet pumpkin for photos. I am though.







   
On the left you get to see Molly preforming her very first "plank". This could be monumental, because I don't know how serious of a planker she might be one day.

 This Youtube video has been giving me some trouble all night, I hope it comes through ok, if not, you get the idea. You can't hear me very well but I am telling Molly I'm sorry I did this and that it was not my idea.

 Jake get ready, having Molly has been better then owning your very own masterpiece. When the Doctor handed her to me, I knew she was mine and meant for me. Like a work of art, I look at her and am amazed at her detail, her beauty, every wonderful brushstroke of genius God put  on her body. It's super cool.

The Final Countdown

Before I get started, I want to congratulate fellow blogger Ryan and his wonderful wife Katherine on the birth of sweet, beautiful Molly Grace.  I also want to get on to Ryan, not for not blogging, because we all know how busy having a newborn makes us, but for not posting any pictures of his angelic daughter on the site!  Chop chop, mister!



This is it, the last three months of pregnancy, the final trimester, the end of us being a couple and the beginning of us being a family.  We have a lot on our plate for these last few months. Not only showers soon to be here, but a full day of birthing class, bi-weekly doctor's visits, then weekly ones, and to top things off the wonderful holiday season.  Also, Melissa is going to be traveling for work soon.  Ah, the holiday season, a great time of year, a time I truly enjoy, but also the busiest we'll be at work.  I'm not sure how, but we'll make it through this season and before we know it, Ethan will be here.

Not much has happened since my last blog, we did get the baby furniture in, it hasn't been assembled yet, but it's here.  We also had a very enjoyable trip to San Francisco with Melissa's parents.  I had never been to California before, even though most of my family(me included) are huge San Francisco Giants fans, it was a tremendous treat to say the least.  We did some sightseeing and even toured AT&T Park where the Giants play.

My beautiful pregnant wife hanging from a stationary street car.

This was at the end of the street car line not far from Fisherman's Wharf.

Can't go to SF without going here.

Great shot of the street car line, and the very steep hill we came down.

Gotta go here too, they make some pretty good chocolates!

We took a boat tour of the bay, I got this shot of the Golden Gate Bridge on my iPhone.

Yours truly sitting in the Giants dugout, Melissa kindly pointed out that the Giants behind my head with the s covered made it an accurate description of my noggin.

Full House houses, aka the Painted Ladies.

Can't see it very well, but that's the 18th green at Pebble Beach

My lady standing in a Redwood.

Biggest trees I've ever seen, I'm sure they make a sound if one falls and no one is around.

Alcatraz, or as Sean Connery would say "The Rock"

The traveling baby bump is back! Notice, it's grown a bit since Florida. 

Baby Bump at the ballpark.

Baby Bump cruising the Bay.

Baby Bump at the beach in Monterey.



Baby Bump at Pebble Beach, which in this photo is not so pebbly.



There, I'm done channeling my mother, for those of you that don't know, she loves to take and share pictures! Speaking of mom, before we left for San Francisco my parents were in town for a few days on their way through to Illinois to visit more family.  We had a great time, which to my family is hanging out and eating, especially Guadalajara Grill.

We had a doctor's visit this past Monday, a check up and for Melissa to take her sugar test, which she didn't pass.  Therefore, she's going back in a few hours to do an even longer test, I think they said it will take three hours for this one.  We're hoping things go better this time.  I got quite a few responses when I posted this on facebook and most were mothers who had gone through this a few times during their pregnancies and everything turned out fine, but we still have our fingers crossed.  For the first time the nurse had no problem finding our boy's heartbeat.  Every other time he's either turned away or hiding some how and they have to chase him around, all the while smearing jelly all over Melissa's tummy.  Other than the test, everything checked out just fine on the visit.  I believe Dr. Chauhan said he's on his way to being better than seven pounds before he's born, which Melissa blamed on my large head.  What can I say, I come from a family of large noggins.

That's about it for now, I'll have more in a week or so (baby shower next week), and definitely pictures of baby furniture assembly party! We call it a party so people will come help us, hey, promise some food and you can get folks to come out.



Overwhelmed

It's not always easy to admit when you're wrong, right guys? Well, I know I've been wrong by not blogging as I should.   So, this could be a very long blog or a Reader's Digest abridged version. Let's see, it's been over two weeks since my last post, a lot has happened since then, well it seems like a lot. I know Ryan has his hands full with last minute details (Katherine too!), the countdown is on for Molly's big arrival!  Can't wait to see her.

Let me get straight to it, Melissa and I went to register at Babies R Us and Target, this is where the overwhelming sensation hit me.  It was fun at first, I, being a total dude, enjoyed the little scanner (which also double as a phaser in between scanning) just as much as I did when registering for wedding showers.  We looked at awesome outfits on clearance, where we bought his first beach attire for next Spring or Summer.  I picked this out, and am really pleased with myself.

Drink it up ladies, he's going to be the coolest little guy at the beach!

Then, after the playfulness and clothes shopping, things started to get a bit more serious.  This is when I started to feel overwhelmed.  I had no idea what or how much of anything a baby needs.  There is so much stuff to consider!  What kind of diapers, what kind of bottles, what kind of lotion for diaper rash, are we going with formula or does my wife think she wants to breastfeed, if we need formula, what kind, if breastfed, what kind of pumps, we need first aid supplies: thermometers, the little bulb thingy that squirts stuff into the nose or is it the ear, I don't even know what it's for, tiny finger nail clippers, etc, etc, etc.  I thought this was going to be a walk in the park, but there is so much stuff I didn't even consider about having to, well, consider.  They gave us a list of most common items, which was helpful, but I'm a guy, we don't ask for directions, do you think I'm going to follow a checklist?

Melissa sensed my frustration, and she already knows this about me, which is something I am learning of myself, if things don't go smoothly, I get detached, also known as A.D.D. I think. This is a self-diagnosis, or wife diagnosis, I skip around to different attractions and I can't focus on any one of them.  This is something not new to me, but I have a new awareness of it.  So sometimes when blogging, which is a typed form of thinking, I can get off on tangents, chasing rabbits is how some people put this, not that I'm frustrated about blogging or anything, it's just the way the ol' noggin works.  So she stepped up, which she does so well, and took the reins, which she already had anyways, and we started through the checklist.  Just to point out, I was never leading this venture, I was just kind of meandering around, so really what she did was put me on track, which apparently happens often.  So I tried to focus on the baby bottles.  There are many different types and we actually registered for a couple different sets, but one brand drew me in,  Tommee Tippees. 

I'm not sure what it is about them, they claim to be closer to nature, so they work much like the real deal.  They look neat, but there are mixed reviews online.  If any of you have tried them, please let us know how they worked out for you.  I will of course review them myself once Ethan arrives, hopefully I will find the time. 

I wanted to go all out for the baby monitor, with the camera and and night vision capabilities, but I let myself be talked out of it.  Which is quite alright, the ones we settled on are practical and a lot cheaper, I'm not sure of the brand, but when we start receiving these items and actually start using them, I hope to start a review section of the blog. 

Let's move on to something else now.  We had another appointement this past Tuesday, September 27th.  This was one of the quickest visit ever to a doctor's office.  I mean ever, any doctor.  We showed up on time, sat in the first waiting room for maybe five minutes or less.  Got called to the back, Melissa got to do her business in a cup while I waited in the second waiting room.  She rendezvoused with me there, where we waited another five minutes, at most.  Then we were called to our room, where we waited the longest on this visit, but not as long as usual.  The nurse took Melissa's BP and asked a few questions, I was doing my best to stay awake, sipping on a peppermint white mocha (too bad we can't get Starbucks to sponsor our site, everytime we name a product we'd get paid, like those Nascar guys...random I know, it's 4 am, I'm doing my best).  She then gooped the glob of gel on Melissa's tummy and searched for Ethan's heartbeat.  This is always neat to me.  We listen to him for a few moments and then the nurse cleans up the blob and is gone. Enter our doctor, Heather Chauhan, with her usual cheery self.  She's been great so far, and I can tell, will be thorughtout the pregnancy.  She asks a few questions, Melissa replies, then Melissa asks a few questions and she replies.  I don't usually feel the need to add anything, and if I do it's more than likely an awkward attempt at a joke or in response to a question Melissa looks to me on.  This whole exchange took less than 10 minutes, I believe, and we were good to go.  Everything checked out alright and we set up a few more appointments then left.  Next visit Melissa gets to go through the glucose tolernace test, or the sugar test as most say.  Some of the ladies at work say it doesn't taste very good, and that I, as the supportive husband, should taste it as well...we'll see.  I would try to explain what the test is, but you're better off clicking on the link. 

I want to thank everyone for being here for us, I think I can speak for Ryan as well, when I say that your support and kind words and information you pass along to us is what helps keep this blog going.  That and our want to share with our kids what things were like leading up to their arrival and of course the many years after they've been here. 

I also want to thank you Ryan for considering me for this venture, if it weren't for your creativeness, I would just be bouncing along on this journey (trip into fatherhood) with no channel to direct some of my thoughts and reactions. I hope we can keep it up.

Until next time, which should never be as long as it took for this time, but can't really say it won't be.

Real men get pedicures!!-Ryan

Katherine and her sister Elizabeth both around 7&1/2  months

We hit a mile stone yesterday. As of the 18th of September, Katherine is officially one month away from her due date. We have burst through the thresh hold of cute and pregnant and landed steadily on over-sized and miserable. Tossing and turning, grunting and moaning, she can't seem to find comfort in any position at night. Back and forth she waddles to and fro from the couch to the bed. Of course I am not experiencing the physical discomfort she's going through, but my heart does go out to her. On our last visit to the doctor the physician told us that the baby has all but completely dropped. She even explained that she had to reach around Molly's head to check the cervix. We were told she is 50% effaced and 1/2 cm dilated, the Doc said at this rate there is no way we will see the due date, and for Katherine's sake, I hope it's true. Keep in mind, although Kat may be ready, I would like Molly to cook a little longer. I just want everyone to come out healthy and happy after this is all said and done.

For Katherine to feel a little more like a lady and less like a portal for human existence, I thought it would be fun to get a pedicure. You heard right, I thought it would be fun... don't judge me. So we headed on down to Rose's Spa. Rose's Spa is a old U-haul rental building turned spa. I know the owner from selling him a sectional, where he explained to me that the size of the coffee table is strictly determined on whether or not it could hold two boxes of pizza and a twelve-pack of beer (my kind of man.)

This was the kids version, but still cute.

We walked in and the place was lit up with finger nail polish. I was instructed by a pro (Katherine) to pick my color and have a seat. As I scanned the rainbow, I decided to go with my gut, "if these were bowling balls, what would I choose?" I thought. I picked out a nice glittery mustard yellow and had a seat. The seat themselves are message chairs with a jacuzzi at the bottom to stick your feet in. As I sat down, the non-English speaking woman set my message chair to a very uncomfortable cycle, and went to town on my feet like Paula Deen holding a cheese grater. I have to say, she was pretty forceful, but if I had to pedicure my feet, I too wouldn't be delicate.

I have to say I felt Incredibly bad for this woman. Although the picture doesn't show it, her cheese grater was chalked full of my bunions. I'm not proud, but it felt so good.

There you have the finished product.     I strongly recommend any man getting a pedicure. Women are making these things out to be feminine, but in reality, they are just a best kept secret.