A Week In Review

Dear Little Baby Baum,

I am so excited that you are 12 weeks old! You are now the size of a lime, which makes you considerably larger than you were just a few weeks ago when we found out you were growing; the size of a little sesame seed. You (and your mom's belly) are growing so fast!

A lot has happened the last few weeks, so I'll give you a quick snapshot:

• Duke lost to Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen
• Mom (and you) have been in Boise for over a week 
• Dad found out that the Dry Cleaner is only open til noon on Saturdays in Colorado Springs
• I think you finished developing your kidneys which is a huge accomplishment! Nice work!
• The US led coalition forces into Lybia to over throw Khadafi
• Dad went to see his San Antonio Spurs play the Nuggets and Denver, and they too lost 
• Tim Duncan did not play

Anyway, about sums it up.  That and I found out that I love your mom even more than I had originally thought. Its been hard having you guys gone for this long. Plus she took your sister Maggie with her too, so Dad has been writing a lot of love songs and poetry and falling asleep next to a shrine of your mom. If you are a boy and get lucky enough to marry a girl as awesome as your mom you'll understand. 

Speaking of Gender...we get to find out what you will be in a few weeks! We're pretty excited.  I think you'll be an angel regardless of what sex you are.

Love you,

Dad

Your Mother's Nose

I wanted to make a list of family traits that I hope to see you have and where I hope they come from. I will follow up with a list of family traits that I hope you don't get and where they come from...

Hopeful Traits

1. Sense of Humor from your Nana Rain, Uncle Jess, and Uncle Joel - Pretty much the three funniest people I know. 
2. Your mom's nose - from your mom. Such a great little nose.
3. Your mom's eyes - so pretty...coupled with the cutest nose in the world... makes your mom gorgeous.
4. Both of your Grandma Michelle's (Baumgartner & Smidt) and Nana Smidt's thoughtfulness. Always thinking of everyone else.
5. Your Grandpa Mark's sense of adventure. Ironmans, Leadville 100's, kayaking, nuff said.
6. Your Uncle Joel's Height (if you're a boy). At 6'1"-6'2" he is a few inches taller than your dad.
7. Your Great Grandpa Ed's Math Skills. He worked for Boeing as an engineer...good skill to have.
8. Aunt Britt's organizational skills.  Seriously...you don't want to inherit mine...
9. Uncle Mark's computer skills. Always good in a pinch and saves a lot of money on outsourced IT work.
10. Grandpa Rick's thirst for knowledge. He is more well-read than anyone I know - From the Bible to books on the Relativity Theory.
11. Your mom's punctuality. If you get this from me you will always be late and your spouse will always be mad at you. 
12. Your Grandma Michelle Smidt's ability to focus. This is an important one because your dad...oh! I was going to tell you about the time when I was 7 years old and I...see, we can't both be like this.
13. Your Dad's taste in sports teams. All joking aside, if you end up a Yankee fan, a Laker fan, or a Cowboys fan we will need to take a blood test to see if you are really mine. Also, a love of the Ducks is pretty important...if you ever want to hang out during football season. Just kidding...but seriously.
14. Aunt Tiff's kindness. I've never met anyone sweeter. 
15. If you're a girl I hope you're lucky enough to be as pretty as your Mom, Aunt Heidi, Aunt Tiff, and Aunt Britt. If your a guy...I could really care less.
16. Your Dad and Grandpa Smidt's love for bacon. I can't stress how important this is. 

That's a good start. Stay tuned for "Family Traits I hope you don't get".

Off-Limits Fried Rice

Dear Little Baby Baum,

I had to attend a charity event last night for work so your mom decided she would make one of her favorite dishes in the world...fried rice.  I went to to the store to get green onions, frozen peas, and some gray thread so that your mom could sew a back-pocket button back on my suit pants.  I got out of the shower and the smell of bacon permeated the apartment... mmmmmmm bacon.

I hope that we share a love for bacon when you get to the point where you can eat real food. I'm sure we will, you're mom loves it too. Maybe we'll make it a tradition that when we talk about important things like where babies come from, and why you should always respect your teachers, or how important keeping your elbow in is while shooting a jump shot, we'll make a big plate of bacon and talk through it. "Alright [son/daughter's name], I got your report card...let's make a plate of bacon and talk about what happened in geometry this semester."

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked... So at this event I had a decent meal, but was thinking about your mom's fried rice the entire night.  So much so that I even thought about how good the peas looked when she was mixing it all together...and I hate peas. Hopefully we also share a disdain for peas, then your mom will never make them and I don't have to pretend to eat them but really feed them to Maggie. Oh, by the way, maggie is your half-dog-sister.  She's sweet, but she'll eat your food if you're not keeping an eye out for her. You'll like her, she's the color of santa claus' beard.

This is your sister, Maggie

Man, I get sidetracked easy.

So all night I'm thinking about how I'm going to have some fried rice when I get home.  Never get between a pregnant woman and her favorite meal. I asked if I could have some and was told no...in so many words. I knew through trial and error that it was best to just let this one go - if it's all that sounds good to your mom right now, she won't be able to eat anything else. So dad had a glass of water and went to bed - dreaming of fried white carb-loaded kernels of goodness mixed with the wonder-meat (bacon) and lots of other delicious goodies. Rice is great to eat when you're hungry and want 2,000 of something.

I had bacon this morning, so that helped.  Keep growing little angel, and try to have mom crave something that she doesn't mind dad eating too. If at all possible, have her next craving come from this list:

Things that Dad Wants Mom to Crave

1. Buffalo Wings
2. Cream Soda
3. Razzleberry Pie
4. Bacon Cheeseburger
5. Fruit-by-the-foot
6. Dried Mangos
7. Strawberry Shortcake
8. Cheesecake
9. Pizza
10. Thai Food
11. Action Movies
12. Basketball Games
13. NFL Draft Coverage

Thanks for your help. Talk to you soon.

Love,

Dad

Things that Your Mom has Craved

So here are a few things that your mom has craved through this whole 4-5 weeks since we've known about you.  Might I add that I am on a no-carb/low-carb diet and it's absolutely driving me insane.

1. Frosty's from Wendy's - this one almost killed me
2. Chips & Salsa
3. Brownies
4. Chocolate
5. Pepperoncini
6. Tim's Cascade Style Jalapeno chips
7. Nachos from a Shell Gas Station
8. Mozerella Sticks from Sonic
9. Peach Soda...and there isn't such a thing so we mixed juice with Sprite
10. Egg Salad Sandwiches...and she HATES those
11. Turkey Bacon
12. Bagels with an egg on top
13. Cadbury Chocolate 
14. M&M Cookies
15. Jalapeno Poppers
16. Jalapeno Bagels
17. Cheerios...just the plain kind (your mom is weird and doesn't like honey nut cheerios)
18. SmartWater - regular filtered water is not good enough for her (or you) but your dad drinks it and is totally fine...just sayin...
19. Foot rubs - this is not a food but it is worth mentioning.  Your mom always craves these, but since you've come around it's harder for your dad to say no.
20. French Fries with LOTS of Salt

I'll keep adding to this list as things pop up...as I'm sure they will :)

Heart Rate as a Gender Predictor? Britt... you little stinker...

Scientific data to counter the theory as found in multiple studies, the latest being 2006.

Our baby had a heart rate of 170 at 8 weeks, 5 days...

As the old wives' tale has it, if your unborn baby's heart rate is higher, above 140 beats per minute, that means you're carrying a girl. A lower heart rate below 140 bpm means you're having a boy.

It's hard to resist such an easy test, and ever so tempting to over-analyze the pitter patter of that tiny heart. In early pregnancy, the reassuring sound of that heartbeat is just about the only thing we've got to show a baby's even there. 

But don't get your hopes up, or have your hopes dashed, based on your baby's heart rate, because it has absolutely nothing to do with what your baby has between its legs. This particular old wives' tale was found to be completely false by a medical study 20 years ago. Another medical study in 2006 confirms that fetal heart rate has nothing to do with the baby's sex.

Here is a cool chart that shows the weeks of Pregnancy/heart rate (bpm), with a blue box for a boy and a pink box for a girl studied over 500 births... looks like it's still a coin-flip at this point.

Ultrasound Appointment #2

A little bit of stress before this appointment because there has been some bleeding; however, the doctor says everything is looking perfect. Which was more than a relief to my little stress-ball (coley) and me. We got to see the baby moving around, dancing really, and it was too cool for words...so I'm not going to try to explain it in this post. I'm so thankful that our prayers have continuously been answered and the baby is doing just fine.  The baby is about the size of a kumquat right now.

On a side note, I've decided to start measuring everyone by CRL (crown to rump length) the way they do babies. I am 3'4" CRL.

Prayer

I felt like I needed to write this because the more ups and downs Coley and I go through with this pregnancy the more I am driven to my knees; and the more I pray the more I come to realize the impact of prayer in my life. 

I remember my dad talking to me about prayer when I was a teenager, and how believers are to go “boldly” before God in times of need.  Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  The word “boldly” has always created a mental image for me of a guy that’s not sufficed with setting an appointment, he just barges through doors, that house Christ and His throne, with desperation.  A relationship like Christ had with his disciples. I picture myself busting through those doors, carrying my wife to the throne of grace, and pleading with God to hold Coley and our little baby.  James adds that God is ready to pour blessings on us abundantly and that He “upbraideth not”, he doesn’t get annoyed with our constant prayers!  The greater the amount of conversation (prayer), the more relevant and timely, the more we will see and feel the impact.

Our relationship with God, I’m realizing, is not dissimilar to our relationships with our family and friends. It takes spending time with one another in REAL conversation (or a similar affinity for the University of Oregon), to develop those bonds with friends and family. I will be the first to admit my prayers have a tendency to be about just giving thanks or blessing food; a superficial conversation with a God who wants to go so much deeper. I believe he wants to talk.  He wants to know that WE want to have a relationship that goes beyond question/answer, asking/receiving, and giving thanks. I want God to know when I’m scared, when I’m hurting, when I’m happy, when I’m laughing. I want God to be the first person I “call” when good things happen. I want to be able to spend some time with just Him and me. 

There have been so many times where Coley and I have been scared and anxious and each and every time God has come through.  Our hope is that His will and our will continue to be the same.  I’m so thankful to have married into such a caring family. I’m thankful for all of the support that Coley has received, and all the prayers. For me it took a feeling of complete helplessness, and the reality that I would do anything and everything that I can, to realize that God just wants me to trade all of that fear in, in exchange for a relationship with Him.

So I'm Gonna Be a Dad

So we found out not too long ago that we're having a baby. Coley took a pregnancy test and we watched as only one line appeared. At first we thought it was negative...but I swear I willed that stupid pregnancy test to show another line and sure enough, after a few more seconds, a trip to walmart in sub-zero temperatures for more "accurate" tests (Coley thought that since the first test was bought at the dollar store that it may be faulty), and about 44 ounces of water in Coley's little bladder...I'm gonna be a dad.

At first it was a little surreal. I can't remember driving to Walmart, I remember praying a lot, I remember having gloves on that Tiff bought me for Christmas and a Hat that Dan got us for Christmas the year before, and a duck sweatshirt that I got from Coley for Christmas, but I couldn't say how long it took.  All I wanted was to be back with Coley and our little growing baby.

The next day I probably spent half of my day researching pregnancy on the internet. I read as much as I could and tried to learn about what we might expect. It was without a doubt the most exciting time in my entire life. So I'm writing this blog to have a record of anything and everything that has to do with the birth of our little baby Baum; some day, little guy (or girl as Britt suspects), we'll read this together and smile...right after you clean your room and take out the trash.