Halloween Time!

3 weeks old!

June turned 3 weeks old last Wednesday. What a crazy few weeks! She has done more growing in 3 weeks than I have done in the past 10 years (minus pregnancy). She is locking her eyes in on faces now and turns her head to whoever is talking. She thinks that my voice is the best thing ever and I'm taking advantage of her thinking I'm so cool (this is Molly by the way).

She has met a lot of family and friends but she is very excited to meet all of her cousins next weekend.

We are starting to get into some sort of routine, all of which will change when I start working again, but it is still pretty nice. She is a champion eater and sleeper and she is pretty cute so I'm not sure that we could ask for anything more. June and Thompson have about the same lifestyle right now so they are becoming fast friends. Thompson is enjoying sneaking in licks of her toes.

Thank you to everyone for the calls, emails, visits, cards and gifts! We thought our friends and family were pretty great before, but everyone has really been impressive, thank you!

Wise words from Kurt Vonnegut

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind."

Excellet Football Weekend for a new Daughter.

June dresses as a baby burrito wrapped in a NY Giants t-shirt, turned blanket. We are moments away from cheering a game winning field goal and delighting in the tears of Tony Romo and the Cowboys.

Baby!

June Catherine was born on September 16th at 8.30pm she was 6 lbs 13 ozs. Molly was in labor for about 4 hours. We were only at the hospital for 2 hours before June was born. We have more pictures but they all seem to be on everyone elses cameras! These are good ones for now.

Babycon to the max

We might be going to Babycon-5 tonight.

(Babycon is the opposite of DEFCON, where babycon-5 means OMGWTFBBQ!!1!)

Selfish baby!

No baby yet. Basically the baby is just taking her time, hanging out, mooching, and selfishly not coming out! Molly is due on Thursday and we have an induction scheduled for Friday morning. So we'll have a baby one way or another by the end of the week!

Week 38 Molly Hides from Pictures...Unsuccessfully

BabyCon Scale for work place preparedness

The BabyCon scale for work place preparedness. C.G. emailed this out to our team this morning:

Due to a number of strategic baby arrivals potentially impacting
operations, we are standardizing on a new reporting system free of
subjective ambiguity. We no longer will rely on mushy questions like
"how are you feeling", or "any news". Instead, all baby related
information should be reported in the numerical scale described below.
Modeled after the Defense Condition (or DefCon) levels of nuclear
conflict, the Baby Condition (or BabyCon) levels will allow clear,
unambiguous communication and rapid team response.

BabyCon 1:
No baby or pregnancy. Normal operating conditions.

BabyCon 2:
Positive confirmation of pending child. Also known as pregnancy.

BabyCon 3:
Visible manifestations of BabyCon 2 are no longer concealable.
Typically accompanied by awkward elevator conversations with those not
previously aware of BabyCon 2. At this point all team members should
begin broad based contingency planning. BabyCon 3 is normally marked
by a ceremonial gathering and gifts focused on preparing for the
strategic event.

BabyCon 4:
This is where all final tactical planning should be made. BabyCon 4 is
marked by phrases such as "get this thing out of me" or "I can't get
any bigger". It is essential for all team members to reenforce
plausible deniability at this stage. Standard greetings should be
centered around "wow, you don't look big at all", or "you are
positively glowing". Any reference to actual physical appearance runs
the risk of violent reaction, and can be especially hazardous to the
strategic partner in the baby process.

BabyCon 5:
Show time. Once the flash alert of BabyCon 5 arrives, expectations are
for a strategic communications blackout. At this point the baby
delivery team will be isolated from all other operational personnel.
Assumptions and preparations should be made so that both baby
operations and business operations can continue during this blackout
period. It is likely that the baby delivery team will try to transmit
one brief communication with some vital statistics, but planning
should be in place to accommodate a blackout lasting approximately 2
weeks.

Please forward as necessary.

Waiting

When Chris starts looking for things to buy, like boat shoes, you know it is time to get the show on the road. Every day we wake up and Chris turns to me and says, "why don't you just have the baby already."

I know that we're still 2 weeks from the actual due date, but really, it is time. Not only do we want to meet this little girl, but I'm really finished being pregnant. I was just looking back at some of pictures from the first few weeks of pregnancy and I miss those jeans. I'm excited to not have swollen fingers and ankles and I'd like to attempt running without feeling like I'm going to pee my pants! So there.

Boat Shoes

I thought today that its time to invest in some boat shoes because i need to bulk up on Dad-ish outfits and accessories.

BABY WATCH!

Thats right. Two quote jokes in a row.

There has got to be a better way to say that.

Thompson helps paint by laying against the walls we just painted. You cant see it in the pic below but he has a racing stripe of blue paint.

Wood trim must be painted!

Commute Update

Molly is about to suspend 2 day a-week commuting down to DC because the due date is closing in. Unless of course she packs a bag and can make it to GW hospital in DC.

Week 36 Side View (same shirt bigger belly!)

Week 35 Side view

Week 34: Pics 2!

Posted before Molly could delete them from the camera!

Week 34: Pics!

Cantaloupe sized!

The baby has finally reached a size of an identifiable fruit/veggie! She is now cantaloupe sized at about 4.74 lbs! Here is the BabyCenter update for week #34 http://www.babycenter.com/303_34-weeks_1615767.bc.

We have been busy lately doing summer things and getting ready for the baby so Chris hasn't had a chance to post any pictures (and I'm not complaining). I'm pretty large now. People stare at my belly on the metro, its awkward.

Week 32 Baby Center Update.

Heres the baby center update.

If you push on the right places on Mollys belly you can feel the baby. The doctor can find specific body parts but my method is a little more primitive and reduces down to something like:

Push on Belly = squishy part, not the baby.
Push on Belly = squishy part , not the baby.
Push on Belly = squishy part, not the baby.
Push on Belly = HARD! BABY!
Push on the Baby. Nothing Happens.
Push on the Baby. Nothing Happens.
Push on the Baby. Baby pushes BACK!

Yeah that loop will continue pretty much until Molly gets tired of me pressing on her stomach.

Week 32 Belly Pick!

It took some convincing before Molly would let me post this one onto the inter-webs.

Baby Name Voyager

I was into this website from a data perspective way before it was directly relevant to my interests.

Week 30: Baby center update

Week 30 baby center update.

Week 30: Sideview

Molly looking very pregnant (and Thompson charging his lasers)!

Cool thing

Cool new thing. If you put your ear to Mollys stomach you can hear the baby's heartbeat and she'll probably kick you in the head (the baby, not Molly.) I can pick it out pretty easy, the rhythm is roughly twice the rate of Mollys heartbeat.

Week 28 Strange Comparisons

The baby now weighs as much as a Chinese cabbage!

Week 28 Sideview

"I dont know if that shirt is made for a woman of your dimensions."
Mollys favorite tshirt now with her belly sneaking out at the bottom.

Week 27 Baby Center update

Check out the Baby center update!

The update says that the baby can now hiccup. Why we hiccup is also mentioned in this book, which caused multiple mind blowing moments of wonder as i read it and compared what's in the book to the sonogram pictures we were taking each week.

Week 27 Belly pic!

All belly in this pic!

Mr. Mom

Chris has been bugging me to write an entry for a few weeks now, so here is my contribution.

Chris and I have a handful of baby books that we have been reading off and on the past few months. However, every time Chris picks one up, he ends up throwing it down in disgust because of the way they talk to and about fathers. A direct quote from Chris, "they all think I'm a monster!"
He can't handle that the books tell the fathers that they need to love their wives and babies even though they might think their wives are gross after birth. And it drives him nuts that they warn the fathers that there will be a decreased amount of attention showered on them after the birth. Chris says that he doesn't think I'm gross and he is OK with less attention and is appalled that all of the baby books assume he is self centered monster.

It all makes me laugh. Here's why:

1. I love that Chris is the way he is. He tells me to embrace being pregnant and it is a no brainer to him that we are both parents to Baby Catalano and that the baby isn't just my responsibility.

2. Chris is a monster. No, not really, but he does need a lot of attention. I'm not worried about him being jealous of the baby or anything like that, but his need for attention will not decrease. I'm pretty sure I'm still going to hear a, "Molly I'm boooorreeed" a few times a week.

3. Who reads a baby book and gets annoyed with it? That is entertainment in itself.

Needless to say, Chris's favorite book is the one that has photos of a naked lady. It says a few disparaging things about fathers but he hasn't gotten to the part with words yet.

GET ME HARVEY LEMMINGS!!

This weekend is the NJ region baby shower. Dont worry, if you're the type that never misses a party, there's a DC area party in the mix for July.

Week 25 Belly Ache

Week 25 belly ache after a big lunch.

Week 25 Pic w/ Thompson

Week 25 Update from baby center

The pic is from last week but this is the latest weeks baby center update. The baby will now respond if you push on it she pushes back! Ill work on a week 25 pic tonight.

Week 24

Im running a week behind. This is the week 24 side view pic! The paper taped to the wall are the phase 1 to-do lists for the house.

Scratch that?

Actually i might scratch that last post if Mollys belly button starts popping out. It wouldnt help me understand those movies any better but it would provide significant levels of new comedy.

A near zero change in comedy levels

Im going to shoot from the hip here (pew! pew!) and it may be to early to call, but overall there isnt a lot of additional comedy to be had from pregnancy. What i mean is, i didnt understand pregnancy comedies before this and now i understand them even less.

Front View Week 23

This is a dark and not so detailed pic for week 23. Ill be looking out tonight to take a replacement shot. Its not clear here but there's a very noticeable increase Mollys belly.

I like the background. Our niece Brooke is in the hot tub and Mollys brother Mike about to wing a heavily saturated nerf football at me.

Beach Harassment

Sorry for the pic delay we were in Florida last week on vacation. Here is a video shot from my camera of me harassing Molly at the beach.

Comparison Pic

Comparison Picture! Week 6 versus week 21.

First poster

I picked up the first poster for the babies room.

Week 21 from Baby Center

Baby center link. I can feel the baby moving around a bit now! Molly said she moves around a lot during the day.

Week 21 Pic!

I missed week 20 because molly was out of town for work. Here is an ambush pick to get a 21 week picture.

Girl!

Girl!

Doctors appointment @ 9.30 this morning.

Finding out the baby's gender at 9.30 this morning!1!

Week 19: Baby center update

Heres the baby center update.

Molly also said she can feel the baby moving around at times. Something 'like gas, but not really gas,' is the way she described it. On Thursday we'll be half way!

Week 19: Pics

Week 19 side view pics! Molly has taken drastic measures not to be photographed. In this particular instance she postponed showering trying to avoid pics to no avail.

These are a little late. We're moving into a new place and i didnt coordinate having the camera and the mini-USB cable at the same place at the same time.

Week 18: Baby center update

Baby center update for 18 weeks.
Next week we'll find out the gender!

Week 18: Sideview

Week 18 side view pic!

Molly, Bayes Rule and French Fries

Imagine it's about 20 years ago, it's elementary school picture day, and you decide to wear your favorite outfit. For instance a shirt decorated with hamburgers and french fries. Now suppose as an adult you're the spokesperson for an entire hamburger chain.

Even without exact calculations I'd say the you fall safely in a select and fairly slim probabilistic group: Those who are a spokesperson for a hamburger restaurant AND who also wore a hamburger and french fry shirt on elementary school picture day.

Who knows though, maybe it's only people who wear their favorite things on tshirts that can grow up to do that particular thing. In that case new baby rule: Buy a lot of tshirts with kick ass things on them.

Check out Bayes Rule for more details.

I was a strange looking baby.

We saw some of my baby pictures and objectively speaking, i was pretty freaking weird looking. Sorry Mom. So theres some history for strange looking babies. Ill get the pics scanned and posted.

Week 17: Baby Center update

Baby center update here.

Week 17: Picture

A little late. Now with stomach pic!

Far reaches

On the image you can see the GE logo. The influences of the sheinhardt wig corporation are far reaching!

We listened to Pink Floyds 'Echoes' during the whole procedure.

Baby pic from the ultrasound on Thursday! A little 2001: Space Odyssey-ish (but id probably say that with any profile image.)

The image doesnt requires a lot of commentary. It's pretty freaking cool.

More Goggles.

Also i may have inadvertently submitted that picture of Molly with the goggles to icanhascheezburger.com. Actually, i most certainly submitted it by accident.

Baby Center Update!

Baby center update! The baby can now detect light!

Goggles.

Week 15: Molly tries to escape new pics

Week 15: Molly tries to fool me by sucking in

Week 15: Gets Busted for Trying to Suck In

Week 15: Actual Pic!

Welcome to Earth!

Ben and Carrie Markowitz had their baby girl on friday! Hannah Catherine Markowitz, born on 3/19 at 1.54pm. Congratulations!

Always a good time to use one of my favorite Vonnegut quotations:

"'Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies -- :
'God damn it, you've got to be kind.' "

More sabotage

The main rule for pictures is that Molly needs to have at least showered. And so Molly is exploiting this rule to continue her subversiveness. That is, not showering until late in the afternoon/early evening when my motivation to take pictures is at its lowest point.

Week 13: Baby Center

Baby center update for 13 weeks. This is the last official week of the first trimester. We've passed a critical milestone in terms of baby health, from here on out the risk of miscarriage decreases significantly.

Week 13: Ambush pics

Week 13 pictures. These were ambush pictures so Molly didnt have a chance to prepare. You can see a slight shift out in the stomach area of the side view pic. You can also see the bottom of the white 'belly band' sticking out. The band is an elastic piece of material worn under shirts to help clothes fit and to let pregnant woman can walk around with their pants unbuttoned.

Galileoscope

I just ordered the first accessory for the babies room.

Subversive Molly

A note about the pictures. I suspect that molly is secretly trying to undermine my picture project through subversive means like 'sucking in' or with various clothing mechanisms. Im not overly concerned because in a couple of weeks there wont be any amount of sucking in that will work.

Week 12 Baby Center update!

Week 12 update from baby center.com

Week 12: Pictures

Week 12 picture update! Tough to see any big changes in the pics, you can take my word for it. Over the next couple of weeks we should see more interesting differences.

Feeling Fat

Molly here making a guest appearance on the blog! I got roped into it. I was just reading Chris's latest post and he said, "you should write about feeling fat."

It's true. I do feel fat. All my clothes still fit and it really just looks like I gained a few pounds, but I feel like I've gained 20. That feeling is probably exacerbated by the fact that I eat all the time.

Besides that, I'm actually feeling much more energetic and I'm not nauseous any more.

So that is the update. Chris and I took advantage of being childless this morning by sleeping in until 10:30!

Week 11: Baby Center blurb

Week 11 baby status from baby center.

Week 11: Picture Update

New Pics! Some physical changes are becoming more noticeable. It's the start of a strange period where everyone who knows shes pregnant is excited that there are differences. But everyone who doesnt know just thinks she has to hit the gym a little bit more. The pregnant signs will definitely pick up over the next couple of weeks. In baby world week 11 marks the transition from embryo to fetus.

Week 10: Baby Center Update

And for completeness here is the week 10 baby update from babycenter.com. The baby is transitioning from barely recognizable dividing bundle of cells to rapidly growing human.

Week 10: Pictures

Week 10 pictures! Officially 1/4 of the way through the process. You cant really make it out in these pictures but there is a slight outward protuberance in Mollys lower stomach. Distangling the evidence from other typical causes like possible weight gain, onset of an early 'gunt' or pregnancy, it looks like its clearly pregnancy related. Shocker. Hopefully we'll start seeing some real difference over the next few weeks.

Week 9: Update

Molly is traveling to New York for work so no new pics today. Ill take new pics tomorrow. Heres a preview: there are some slight noticeable external changes but not many. For now this is the week 9 update from baby center.

We went to the Doctors for the first time on Wednesday. It was a fairly straight forward meeting; a strong reminder that if one is pregnant they should try not to do too many drugs or smoke too many cigarettes.

We also have the official due date of Thursday, September 17. In reality this date is only slightly better than completely arbitrary. But 'sometime in September' doesnt have the same clinical ring to it.

Cellular Protection

Im going to buy a critical piece of media with each paycheck over the next few months. I'm starting with the Pixar goodies. This past pay period i picked up Wall-E. I have the other Pixar films lined up in the queue in addition to some books and other films.

I will do my best to protect the growing bundle of cells from such aborrations as The Phantom Menace. If i get my way he or she will be never know about the latest three star wars movies. They'll have to learn about Jar-Jar from the streets.

This:

Week 8: Baby Center Summary

Here is the week 8 summary from baby center. Some really exciting stuff is happening. Fingers and toes are sprouting out and neural pathways are being formed.

Week 8: Photo Update

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Week 8 photos! Not many outward signs that something is happening. This is starting to feel like a bit of a scam but i swear something is actually happening on the inside.
Saying "Jazz Hands!" adds to the experience when viewing the first image.

Week 7.8: Update

Slow news week as far as outward signs of development. All the action continues out of sight in cellular development and specialization.

Molly is continues to be annoyed by persistent slight nausea. We've been using pregnancy as an excuse to eat not-so-good-for-you food and rationalize it as 'Molly listening to her body,' and me supporting her listening to her body.

Updated pics on Friday. First doctors appointment next week.

Week 7: Family Notification (4)

Tammy : "Max, Aunt Molly and Uncle Chris are having a baby"
Max: "Can i go see it?"
Tammy: "Not yet its still in Aunt Mollys belly."
Max: "Oh. I want a boy."

Week 7: Parents Notified (3)

Mollys Mom: "Im going to write congressmen so your children wont be forced to pay back the bailout money!"

Week 7: Parents Notified (2)

Me: "Dad Mollys 7 weeks pregnant"
Dad: "My Sons pregnant!"
*audible laughter from guys at his office*
Dad: "No, not my son, my daughter in-law"

Week 7: Parents Notified

Mom Yelling into phone after finding out:

Week 7: Visual Evidence

For an in depth description of week 7 check out the update from babycenter.com.
We now have actual visual evidence along with the baby center info, behold the 7 week ultrasound pic. The embryo is the little blob sitting in the black blob. During the ultra sound we spotted the head, the beating heart, blood flow on the color image, and the buds that will become arms and legs. Very exciting stuff!

Week 7: Update

Week 7 photo update! Not much has changed since the previous weeks visually. Most of the goings on are happening out of sight!