Siting!

What does Santa Claus do on the day after Christmas? He goes to Young's Dairy for lunch.


I think I see his suit in the back seat!

The things I hold most dear

Santa Baby

Lilies and Roses

One thing I promised to Allie is that after Sam was born, I would buy her a beautiful arrangement of flowers.


Today I followed through on that promise.

Week 1

Sam has been here a whole week now! We're having lots of fun with him and enjoying his pleasant, patient temperament. As long as we keep him well-fed, he stays happy and sleeps well, so we're doing our best. Both he and mommy are doing well, and we're all getting as much sleep as we can. He's also enjoying the visits of family and friends, and if everything goes well in the morning, he'll be coming to church.

In my "spare" time, I've been having fun taking photos. You can see them at my photos website.

Samuel Griffin

10lbs 5oz, 21-1/4in

In other strange news

Since we've been married, Allie and I have never had a "home phone." We've each relied exclusively on our cell phones. With a baby on the way, we talked over several options and decided to add a third line to our family plan so that we could leave one phone at home as a "home phone." We didn't think it would cost us more than $9.99 a month plus fees, which made it cheaper than signing up for traditional phone service.

I went through the process of adding the line this afternoon and much to my surprise... it now costs us LESS with three phones than it did with two! That's right! The cell phone company gave us the phone for free, activated it for free, and added it to our plan (which we had to renew for 2 years... no problem), and it now costs us $2 less every month than we've been paying.

I wish we would have known about this sooner!!

...And counting

The one birth scenario that Allison and I did not prepare for is now upon us. We did not expect to get to Sam's due date without him being born. We prepared for very early, sort of early, and only a little early. We have had suitcases in the trunk and a car seat installed since the second week of October. We've had our hopes up for the last month since the ultrasound showed that Sam looked to be much bigger than expected. At the last doctor's appointment, we thought the 8 1/2 to 9 pound estimate meant he couldn't wait much longer. I've had my phone on every minute of every day in case contractions began, and I've lived in a perpetual state of "ready-to-drop-everything-and-drive-Allie-to-the-hospital" in order to be prepared for any scenario.

I was not ready for Sam to stay put this long.

He's so uncooperative.

No news is good news?

My worst fears did not come to pass over the weekend. The Northwestern home football game against Ohio State came and went without our needing to drive to the hospital, and we didn't have to rush to the hospital during the wintry mix of rain and snow that passed through on Friday and Saturday. In fact, the weekend was fairly uneventful, with Allie and I mostly staying at home and watching DVDs.

"Officially" Sam is closing in on 39 weeks, although November 7 was the due date determined at the very first appointment we had with the doctor. It was revised a short time later to November 19, where it remains. The official date does not change because predicting the due date is more of an educated guess than an exact science. Only about one in twenty babies arrives on the due date. Anything two weeks earlier or later than that is considered "normal," so all we know right now is that we're in the prime baby-having window. The doctor has also assured us that they will not wait longer than a week past his due date to induce labor, if it comes to that, so we will have this baby by Thanksgiving.

I still love Al's Deli

There's a small, French cafe a short distance from Northwestern's campus, just west of the Noyes "L" stop. Al's Deli makes THE BEST sandwiches in the state, if not in the country. Allie and I stopped there for a lunch date this afternoon. Waiting fifteen minutes in line and another fifteen minutes for the owner and his brother make our sandwiches was a small price to pay for the uniquely superb culinary experience that is Al's Deli. They are only open for a few hours each day at lunch, but if you are ever in Evanston, you must stop in.

Savings Adventure

Last Friday, Allie and I did some shopping to finish picking up things for Sam's room. We still needed a changing table, a dresser, and several bedding items. We went to Nods and Ends, the outlet store for the The Land of Nod. It's the same store where I purchased Sam's bassinet. In addition to their scratched, dented, and returned items, they carry a selection of new or unsold items from their stores. We had a 25% off coupon from being on the email list, and needed to keep our total purchases under $300. Here's a selection of the items we found:

Dresser
Original price: $479
Marked down to: $89
After discount: $66.75
Savings: $412.25 (86%)

Changing Table Topper
Original price: $119
Marked down to: $52
After discount: $39.75
Savings: $79.25 (67%)

Changing Table Organizer
Original price:$39
Marked down to: $21.45
After discount: $16.09
Savings: $22.91 (59%)

Crib Bumper
Original price: $89
Marked down to: $49
After discount: $36.71
Savings: $52.29 (59%)

Baby Food Organizer
Original price: $24
Marked down to: $13.20
After discount: $9.90
Savings: $14.10 (59%)

Total original cost: $750
Total spent: $169.20
Total savings: $580.80 (77%)

Weekend Recap

I've finally added MANY photos to my online albums, as well as posting some of my favorites on this blog. I've arranged related photos into separate posts as follows in order to help you navigate. Enjoy!

Friday, October 10
Red Wing, Minnesota
Shades of Autumn
The Angry Squirrel

Saturday, October 11
The Wedding
My Love
Church Windows

Saturday, October 18
Baby Shower
Bears

Red Wing, Minnesota

Shades of Autumn

The Angry Squirrel

The Wedding

My Love

Church Windows

Baby Shower

Bears

Ramblings of an expectant father

I forgot to mention that we were blessed to have another ultrasound this morning. From what I understand, it's typical for women to get only one, maybe two, ultrasounds during pregnancy. The normal one usually falls around 20 weeks so that the doctor can check the baby's health and, if desired, look to see the baby's gender. Allison also had one when we found out she was pregnant to help determine how far along she was during the early stages.

This past week, her doctor said the baby seemed to be bigger than she expected, and wanted yet another ultrasound to find out just how much bigger Sam was getting. Based on the rough measurements, Sam was about a pound bigger than average, at 6lbs 7oz. The doctor told us this is still within the normal range, and the measurements at this stage are really only accurate to +/- 1 pound anyway.

If I had to guess, I would expect him to be born about two to three weeks early. Of course, I don't get to decide that, and he could still wait it out to full term. If that happens, we'll probably be looking at a 9 lb baby! My "worst case scenario," however, is that the morning of November 8, Allison will tell me we need to get to the hospital and we'll have to navigate through a sea of students and tailgaters at Ryan Field (Northwestern's stadium) right before the home game against Ohio State. Our hospital is on the same block and shares its main access roads with NU's sports complex, which will become a zoo on game day. It's the only home game within a month of the due date, so hopefully this won't come into play.

The doctor also checked everything else and said the baby looks good and healthy. We had a much better view of a few things this time, and are quite certain that we have a boy. ;)

I think the reality of the baby coming is really setting in for both Allie and me now. We already have hospital bags packed in the trunk and the car seat is installed in the back seat. (We had to be ready for anything during our trip to Minnesota last weekend.) With the reassurance that Sam is definitely a boy, we can begin cutting the price tags off of clothing and getting things laundered before he arrives. We still haven't done much to prepare the baby's room, and I think that's our next project as soon as we have time and we're both awake.

I've also found myself staying closer and closer to my phone, and I get a little jumpy when I hear Allie's ring-tone at an unusual time of day. I had the option of going out last night with some friends, but decided to turn down the offer as I realized that we have only a month left to spend together "alone." We just cooked dinner and watched TV, but it was great to be home without the pressure of trying to get anything accomplished.

I am both eager and excited, but not yet impatient, for Sam's birth. I am also conscious of how much is changing. I think that in the back of my mind I still cling to the idea that everything will return to normal after he gets here, but I know that "normal" is going to be very different from what it was a year ago and even from what it is today. Today's news that he is big, strong, and healthy is encouraging, and helps me know that the new "normal" will be great once we get used to it. For now, we're playing the waiting game.

Busy busy busy

At work and at play, we're staying very busy right now, thus the lack of posts for a lengthier stretch of time than normal. We spent last weekend at Allie's friend Sarah's wedding in Red Wing, Minnesota. They make fine shoes there. It's a beautiful place, particularly in the fall. Hopefully I'll have some time in the next fortnight to get the pictures off of my camera and onto the web.

Work will be a blur for both of this week, as I have a dozen projects all in critical stages, and Allison has the kids for additional hours, since they don't have school on Monday. The forthcoming baby is making it more and more difficult to do normal tasks. He's getting big faster than expected, and Allie has another ultrasound scheduled for Wednesday to see if he might be big enough to arrive a bit early.

We also have another childbirth class tonight, I'm playing in a CD release concert on Friday, and we're visiting her parents for another baby shower this weekend.

I'm beginning to wonder whether the transition to sleepless nights will feel like much of a change at all!

My tradition

Today I started listening to Christmas music.

The Races, Part II

Another work outing, another set of photos. We sat closer to the action this time, and the photos turned out much better.

Adam, the Hunter

I shot an eight-point buck on the way to work this morning.

Our exciting week

This past week we survived area flooding, had a reorganization at work, were blessed with many baby shower gifts, and went to Miller Park in Milwaukee to witness the Chicago Cubs' Carlos Zambrano pitch a no-hitter against the Houston Astros. It was the Cubs' first no-hitter since Milt Pappas missed a perfect game by one strike in 1972.

I wonder what makes it crunch

[Editor's note: This is a real, undoctored box of cereal]

minutia

Yesterday and today I have corresponded with a friend to whom I haven't talked in several years. We weren't on bad terms, just geographically very far apart.

In my email, I confessed to him that Facebook and other similar websites (blogs?) are "the crack-cocaine of a self-important generation, and I'm an addict."

The same day, I had lunch with a friend who works nearby, who I had not seen in several months.

In both cases, we were able to catch up over the course of a few paragraphs or a few minutes of conversation, leading me to believe that my earlier statement was correct: personal websites allow everyday people like me to turn the smallest things into a big deal and broadcast the self-important details of our lives to the world. The reality is that over the last several years, I probably have 3-4 good paragraphs of important information, including my marriage, the approaching birth of our son, working for a good company, and being involved in a great church.

I can't decide if it's a blessing or a curse that God allows us to enjoy the trivial things so much. At the very least, reflecting on all of this gives me pause to collect my thoughts and resolve to spend my time focusing on the important things.

Hey, Mickey, you're so fine...

This is an actual, four-foot-tall wood carving that sits in my in-laws' neighbor's front yard.

I love small towns.

Inspired by true events

This morning on the way to work, we saw a high school student riding to class.
...Dressed as a viking.
...On a unicycle.

He waved at us as he passed by. I think he was a very friendly unicycle-riding viking.

I wrote this haiku in honor of the occasion:

Unusual site-
A unicycling viking
Waves to passersby.

Day at the Races

On Friday, our operations group had an outing to Arlington Park race track. I decided to bring along my camera and see what it could do.