First Belly Shot--18 weeks

Paula's got me beat for sure, but she's also ahead by 4 months, due in mid-July whereas I'm due November 22. We're on our way into Miller Park for a Brewers' game, where we sadly had no beer, but were at least treated to cookies and nachos in Craig Counsell's luxury box. Craig was Chris Fox's college roommate (Pete's brother). When I'm braver, I'll do the full belly shot, but I'm not quite ready yet. Pay no mind to the ambulance in the background; couldn't Photoshop it out.

Thanks to Urban Sense

This arrangement was sent over by Chris and Dan at Urban Sense, in Milwaukee, to congratulate us on the pregnancy. They recently moved into our Vliet Street property and have transformed the commercial space into a gorgeous shop with a workshop and consultation area. They are having a grand opening of the new place in early July, so stop by!

Profile--14 weeks

By now, Skeletor has lost its pumpkinhead, and actually looks like a real baby. You can see its ribs, ear, Sjoblad nose (yikes) and mouth. This shot was taken at a brief stint in the emergency room, which started as an appendicitis scare, but ended up, after 3 days in the hospital, being a pain from a softball-sized fibroid (generally harmless mass of tissue). We don't plan on finding out the sex of the child, so if any of you are expert ultrasound readers, keep your trap shut if you detect any clues.

Skeletor--11 weeks

Here is our second-earliest photo of the little bugger, done at 11 weeks. An earlier ultrasound was taken at 9 weeks, but it looked like an unexciting blob, so I thought I'd forgo that image for something that resembled a human. Our doctor said he or she looked "like a jack-o-lantern," which is typical at that stage. I immediately dubbed it Skeletor, from the Masters of the Universe, thus empowering our guy (or girl--She-ra was a MotU as well) as a master of his realm, rather than an empty, triangle-eyed, pumpkin head.

Welcome!

We've set up this blog so our out-of-town friends and family can track our hi jinks as we navigate this first pregnancy, and eventually, the growth of our child. Since we're close to the last of our friends and family to set forth on this adventure, we've had access to a lot of good advice as well as a questionable hand-me-down maternity wear.

In true Pete and Mel fashion, I wanted to open with a baby-themed poem; however, in true poetic fashion, most of the poems were either overly sentimental (i.e. seashell feet and rosebuds, folded hands and dreamy eyes) or underly sentimental (i.e. the baby died at the end). So I decided to compromise and exerpt a bit of D.H. Lawrence's A Baby Asleep after Pain, which combined the realistic view that most parents would accept (babies cry), but was a bit more optimistic than the others (baby gets hurt but lives). So, the exerpt, seen below the title above, expresses the parent-child bond that is realistic, gender neutral (in other words, it could be mom or dad holding the baby), and recognizable. The full poem is easily googleable.