Sorry for the wait!

So for those that don't know, I have made the move to Green Bay, WI a few weeks ago while Aga stayed back in the ATL. I know, 8 months P.G. and all but we really did have a method to our madness. Today we closed on our first home. (yay!) We flew in 4 weeks ago, found our (starter) dream home and put in an offer. As soon as we got back to Atlanta, we packed up a moving van and I drove across country. It took me 19 hours, all by myself, all in one shot. Since then I have been crashing at a close friends' house. 3 days later I started my new job, which I happen to love, and that all leads up to closing the loan today. In the meanwhile the wife has been all alone, in Atlanta, with the dogs and cat, in a completely empty house. True, it has driven me batshit having her and my unborn hellspawn so far away. The good news is that she will be here with me wednesday/thursday so I can finally ease down. Thanks to everyone for their well-wishes, I will give another update as soon as I can. For now I am just happy to no longer be "the guy on the couch".

LATER!!!!

Our new home in Green Bay WI!

Our offer was accepted so keep your fingers crossed that we can close as planned on June 27th. These are the only pics so far I've been able to find online. Stay tuned for updates from Jeff.

The album

Here's the album with the rest of our pictures :)

Maternity Pics!

A few more :)

I couldn't resist....

Maternity photos!

We had our maternity photos taken this morning by the talented Lori Gordon at the Botanical Gardens and she did an amazing job. Here's a little sneak peak and we will post the full album later on. Enjoy!

She sure likes to smile!

These are from weeks 16, 24 and 31..

31 week 3D

These are really cool. She started off trying to cover herself but ended up smiling for the camera (literally! check out pics #3 and #6). This was the last time we're seeing her before her big entrance this summer.

Click on the album below

Something cool...

So Aga is off in the Pacific Northwest this weekend to visit friends and family. I really wish I could be there, but with the big move coming up, we agreed that wouldn't be too wise. Also, I know it means the world to her to be able to get some attention on her big 'ole belly. She does need to work on her "I'm across the country while 30 weeks pregnant which freaks Jeff out" skills. I already covered the fact that I really don't enjoy sleeping with her gone, only now I am starting to hate it. So last night, I actually got to sleep at a decent hour. This was a Good Thing. At about 2am I woke up to a bunch of noise. Immediately I jumped out of bed, ready to fight off the impending ninja attack, only to find out that it was my cell phone.

"Why in the world would she call at 2 am?" was the question that turned my stomach into a ball of stone. So I answered the phone and immediately heard Aga say "you won't believe what just happened". The ball of rock turned into ice at that point. I took 3 milliseconds to restart my heart, remember to breathe, and take off running in random directions. What followed was a lot of me babbling some gibberish in a really loud voice until Aga could calm me down enough to tell me that everything is fine, and that running around a house while naked wouldn't do the neighbors any favors either.

What had happened is that a couple of her friends had gotten together and thrown a surprise baby shower for the Wife at a restaurant out in Seattle. To Maki, Kara, and Colindra..... Thank you. I just wanted to say that those girls really made Aga a Happy Momma. Family parties are great and all, but having Friends that would do something like that is really special. And next time I see any of you will be the day of one of the best hugs you will have ever gotten.

Allergies Suck!

So today was the 3rd baby doctor visit that we have had since the last one I told you all about. As you might have guessed, they were all pretty uneventful. We have fell into a routine of walking in, Aga gets weighed, then we listen to the baby heartbeat for a minute. This is followed by some small talk, then we go home.

Oh sure there are some funny detours. The last visit, Aga got a diabetes test. This consisted of them giving her a bottle of some pretty sweet Kool-Aid type stuff, waiting for an hour, and then taking her blood sugar levels. The greatest part was when they handed her the drink, they warned her that it was pretty sweet and that sometimes it makes people feel nauseous. 23 seconds later, Aga is sitting there, empty bottle in hand, licking her lips and I kid you not, making the comment that it could use more sugar.

I always had the impression that Polish people only do that type of depraved binge drinking when there is Vodka and some sort of celebration. Although from personal experience I can honestly say that under the right circumstances, her family considers breakfast a celebration. Heck, when her people invented their shot-glasses, they didn't even see the need to put a flat bottom on them. As this would only imply that it is an okay thing to put down a full drink. I once read that the only thing that kept the Polish people from taking over all of Europe was that they learned how to make Vodka. In one of the many "My Big Fat Polish Wedding" moments I have had with her side of the family, I learned that Vodka was invented in Poland. Not Russia, as so many people believe.

Yet again, the Wife is not amused by me turning her Baby Blog into a "Tell People What You Learned That One Time When You Got Blind-Drunk With Her Cousin". I just wanted to point out to Darry that I did not forget those lessons.

Pretty much the only other cool thing that has happened is that we got confirmation that I am getting a job in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Enough of the crazy hot summers here in the ATL. But it means that we are moving when Aga is 36 weeks along. Actually, I will be going out there early to secure living arrangements (a.k.a buying a house) and then Aga will drive out around the 4th of July with her Mom. This has me just a teensy bit freaked out. Aga has had to stop me from threatening Maja on a couple of occasions. I just want her to understand that under no circumstances is she allowed to come before they show up in Green Bay and we have our own Doctor. So far she hasn't been the greatest listener, but maybe if I say it louder she will start.

Oh Yeah, We got a bad ass vacuum the other day. It's a keeper.

Until next time....

30 weeks

We went to the park after our Dr visit today and took some new pics. Click on the album below :)

(Yes, we are this cheesy!)

Our bedding

We are having it custom made and it should be done in 4-5 weeks. I got the picture below from a different website that carries the fabric we chose and was able to make this little example up. It isn't exactly like what we are getting but close. Here's what ours will be different at:

- the skirt will have an inch wide trim on the bottom of it made out of the striped fabric,

- the inside of the bumper will have the striped fabric on the shorter side and the bird fabric plus another one (same as what will be on the sheet) on the longer sides,

- the sheets will be made out of a different pattern fabric but it's mostly orange so the general look will be similar to the one on the picture,

I might just go crazy

We finally picked out a glider/rocker for the nursery but realized that we won't be around when it arrives here (GA) in 6-8 weeks and shipping to Green Bay would cost $150-$200 on top of that plus we would need to arrange for it ourselves and that's just something we don't want to deal with. So I've been calling stores in WI who carry the brand trying to figure out if they can even order it.
Well, every single one of them up there called me back saying that the style/fabric combination I'm looking for isn't available and the manufacturer just won't make it. What??? I saw this chair in person... I sat in it... it exists!! and that was after I had to convince them that the style we want also exists. The chair comes with hidden footrest option but we didn't want it and everyone tried telling me it's impossible to get it without. Whatever!
Anyway,after they finally agreed that the style is in fact available, they tried telling me it only comes in leather or microfiber which isn't something we want either, plus all of them quoted us $200+ then anyone else here in GA and I even called Chicago, Portland and California!
Jeff was willing to drive down to Chicago to pick it up but I gave it one more try and called Minneapolis... turnes out they can get the right combo for us for much less!! Yeah! so tomorrow, I'll be putting in the order and he will pick it up when it's ready :).
This is what we are getting in the fabric swatch below. This chair glides (no, really... it does! it's hard to tell, I know) and the back reclines at the same time and it's soo comfy.

It's cool to see them side by side

These are from week 15, 20, 24 and 28

28 week bump

Ok, I'm a little late on posting these but in my defense our camera cord is broken so I had to go to one of those "get your pics on a CD places" :(.
Anyway, here are some from last week (28 weeks)









I couldn't resist showing off our new stroller! A wonderful gift from my bosses. We can't wait to use it :)

Klaatu Barata Nicto!

So the wife is getting pretty big lately... that is to say, even bigger than I have thought possible. This is a good thing, it means Maja is getting bigger and closer to coming out. I still get visions of Aliens bursting out the side, but I am starting to figure out how to tune those thoughts out.

I had to take off for a couple of days last week, and the night I got back, Aga couldn't get to sleep. The bundle of joy was doing a round of calisthenics all night long. Aga says that it was something she ate... I prefer to think Maja was just excited that Daddy was home.

Last night, I was able to feel Maja through the belly. And not the "I felt her kick" type of cuteness, this was in the league of "that is either the Baby's head or my Wife's kidney". I swear we should sell tickets to that show! Aga was a bit more creeped out than I was, which surprised me, I always thought she would be the tough one. That's right Maja, you Mother thought you were "Icky", Hold it against her baby-doll.

In reference to the last post about Aga being away and bed emptyness/naked mole rat tunneling, we have bought a king size bed. It wasn't so long ago that people could venture out into Oklahoma and plant a flag to claim a piece of land roughly the size of this damn bed (look up the Sooners... and read a book for Pete's sake!). We got a pretty great deal on a mattress/bed over at Ikea. And the coolest/most disturbing part? The mattress's name is Hasselback, just like the quarterback. So this just opens me up to a whole new line of gay jokes. I have the constant fear of blurting out "last night I slept on a King Size Hasselback", and that is where the mocking starts. Hell, the only reason you people think it's funny is because you have known me for longer than 5 minutes and realize that not only is that possible, it is pretty damn likely. I will give you a second to giggle and nod as you think about it.
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It's only funny because it's true.

So anyway, this bed is huge. We need an elaborate system is pulleys, cranks, and carrier pigeons just to get the alarm clock set. Yep we have made it to the big time, or so I thought. If pillows were gold, the Wife's side of the bed would be Fort Knox. She has more pillows than Kim Jong-Il has high heeled shoes. We took 3 hours to find the correct mattress, this girl was the Goldilocks of mattressdom. And when she finally finds one "just right", we get it home and within 24 hours it's too hard! So what do we have to go buy? A pillow top for our new mattress. So now she is quite literally sleeping on a bed of pillows, and I am sleeping on what is literally the area of less than a twin size bed. And the punch line is that when she goes to bed, 15 minutes go by as she jams a pillow into every nook and crevice she can find. And then when she finds the right combination, she tells me to turn off the lamp. Which is on Her side of the bed! So now I have to climb over the top of a somewhat whiny mountain of goose feathers to get at the light. And the down side to all this? When her water breaks, we lose about $324 in pillows right there.

Attack of the Incredible Expanding Belly!!!

So, It's been a while since I last sat down to do this. Aga's bosses took off for a vacation and left their kids behind with her. So I have had a big empty spot next to me in bed. For some reason, while she is there I lay perfectly still at night. I have always attributed this to my time spent on a ship in the Navy. If you move too much there you fall out of your rack, because it is only slightly wider than you are. But with Aga out of our bed, I must have tunneled around in my sleep like some naked mole rat looking for her. I would end up waking with my head not even in the same time zone as where it started, covers strewn about and all the pillows on the floor.

The advantage to this, is that I am really able to see Maja growing. I know that Aga is going to get bigger, but I just wonder how? Where do her kidneys and things go? Is it some kind of March of the Penguins thing where all her internal organs leave the equatorial region and head to the poles? It's no wonder her eating habits have changed, her stomach just became close, intimate friends with her lower intestine. And the result has been picky little Aga eating anything. I don't mean to say that she eats a lot, more like she has only turned down cilantro. No really, thats it, just cilantro. We went to the Cheesecake Factory last night, where she had this chicken/mushroom/pasta dish. Now for years I have complained that my wife doesn't like flavor, that dish was actually very good, she topped it off with a good portion of a chopped veggie salad. This being the South I saw okra, cucumber, onions and all sorts of things that wouldn't have passed those lips 7 months ago. A dish I made was once labeled as tasting "too green". TOO GREEN?!!? What the heck does that mean? I can see too spicy/salty/garlicky/etc., but green is NOT a flavor that I am aware of. Imagine, if you will, that Nadia Comaneci is about to get her historic perfect 10 at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, but France holds up a scorecard that says "orange". You get what I'm saying?

Today we went to something called the "Taste of Marietta". It is a lot like the "Bite of Portland" except I had more fun here. It was definitely leaned toward the barbecued side of life, but that is quite all right. The only odd thing was that they had a tent where Domonique Wilkins was signing autographs. I ate like a fool, as in a round of sushi, fish taco's, grilled tri-tip, and beer. Aga has been in a quest for a good kielbasa ever since we moved here. While I am firmly in the belief that if it says "polish sausage", just keep walking sister, they can't even get the name right. So Aga's eyes glaze over as soon as she sees the sign, so she orders up one that is about as big as a tube of crest, covered in these onions that I couldn't have paid her to eat a short while ago. Yet for some reason she is eating those as well. I know that all I have been wanting for so long is someone that will eat anything with little to no alterations. And now that I have it, I stay pissed because I see she now has the capacity to do it all along. All that other crap was just empty posturing on her part that she can no longer get away with.

Cat Tossing 101

Hey all, This has been a week to be grateful for. Started out good, got better, then finished out fantastic. That's right, we're talking about a whole other level here. First off, I need to fill you in on a little back story.

We own a cat named Rigby, she is a sweet cat by all means, but at night she becomes somewhat.... annoying. Ok, Ok, amazingly annoying. To the point that she was once incarcerated overnight in the bathroom by some of the soon to be grandparents. Shortly after she was rolled up into the hide-a-bed as some kind of retribution by none other than my own father. I honestly find it hard to blame him. Due to this, we play a game with the cat in which she sneaks into the bedroom as we are getting ready for bed, and we then have to trick her into letting us catch her so we can put her out. Sounds simple, right? "Oh just keep the door shut" you might be saying. That cat will stay hiding for over two hours just to pop out after the lights go out. Strategy was what was needed in this case. We have had some great luck lately in that we worked up a tactic in which I would get into bed first and lure the cat out with some sensuous massage. Then Aga would come in and grab the cat and show her the door. After a while, the cat got hip to the idea and would try to bolt out of the way, but the Wife has some incredible cat wrangling skills, and would always make the grab. So the other night, I am working the magic on the cat and have her good and hypnotized, Aga goes for the grab... And finds out she can't bend the 90 degrees necessary to achieve full cat-capture. I don't know about her, but I love this pregnancy. Comedy Central should just start devoted a full night to nothing other than pissed off pregnant chicks... catching cats. I found myself cheering the cat on. It seemed that the only reason Rigby was even caught was that she was out of breathe from laughing at the sight of Aga's arms wildly swinging about 6 inches over her head.

That whole experience was like a gift from God, with a pretty bow on top. There really is only one thing that could make it better.

That's right, you've been RickRolled, bitches.

Maja's new photos!

What a cutie pie! but let me tell you, this girl is the most uncooperative child ever... not only did she not let us double check that she in fact is a "she" but she tried covering her face almost the entire time! We ended up with some good shots though and below is the link to the album. You can see how in some of those she is literally folded in half! Her legs are straight up on the left side of the frame and arms are folded on the right side. It's kinda cool but looks really uncomfortable :).
Stay tuned for week 34 updates :)

3D ultrasound April

Our crib and hutch

This is what we got but it's still at the warehouse until we decide where we want it delivered!

More pictures

We had some fun taking these after our Dr. visit. Click on the slideshow and it will take you to the online album.