Strange days indeed.

So this morning we woke up (that’s always a good thing).  The sun was just starting to peak over the ridge.  Fire up the coffee maker.  Take a look at the thermometer.  Wow!  59 degrees!

Pinch, pinch, pinch.

Nope – I’m really awake.  And it’s still 59 degrees.  And it’s still August.

Well then!  Let’s load up the coffee cup and head out on the deck.  I certainly need to take advantage of this little slice of heaven before the work week begins.

Ahhhhhh.  The smell of fresh coffee.  The dogs running around the yard.  The sun just coming up over the ridge.  A gentle little breeze.  This is the life.  I could get used to this!  If only EVERY August in Knoxville were like this!

And for those of you following the countdown – 97 bottles of beer on the wall.  97 bottles of beer.  Take one down.  Pass it around… (to be continued).

The final countdown begins…

The day has come.  There are now officially less than 100 days until baby Mike’s due date.  What started out as 40 weeks – 280 days – has now been drawn down to a mere 99 days.  What seemed like a near eternity has flown by and has certainly become something that seems so close!

Of course, we had to do a little celebrating.  We already have a few things for Mike.  A few clothes, some onesies, bibs, hats, and some other little things that we’ve picked up at some consignment sales over the last few weeks.  But now there are less than 100 days.  Now we need to start getting serious!  We need to start making a list and checking it twice.  Wait a minute – that last thing is something for Santa…

So what did we do to celebrate?  We bought a baby bed!  Nothing says “oh my gosh there is a baby that is going to be living here” like having a baby bed.  It is so exciting!

Here’s Mike’s new bed!

 

 

And here’s a little tune to help you keep track of the number of days remaining until Mike’s due date…

“99 bottles of beer on the wall.  99 bottles of beer.  Take one down.  Pass it around”…  (to be continued)

Milestone crossings

It seems that there is always another milestone to cross during a pregnancy.  And today we are officially crossing another on.  There’s not a doctor’s visit, or an ultrasound.  There are no test results or classes attended.  Yet, this particular milestone seems to be among the more significant ones.

What milestone could it possibly be?

As of today, there are only 100 days until the due date!  100 small days.  The last “triple digit” day.  Only two weeks and two days until the third and final trimester.

So – starting tomorrow, the “official” countdown begins.  We want it to be something snappy.  Something that will stick in your head.  Perhaps a little tune where we can all whistle along.  I’m sure you can all thing of a “countdown” song that starts with 99.

Can’t think of what song it could be?  Tune in tomorrow!  And all posts from tomorrow until “due day” will end with the next line in the song!!!!

Unusual Weather

I’ve lived in Knoxville nearly 13 years.  For the previous 12, if you were to say the word “August”, I would associate it with 95 degree temperatures and 95% humidity which would combine for a heat index of 195 (with evening lows dipping all the way down to 85).  Brown grass.  Sweating just walking to the mailbox at 6am to get the morning paper.  Red ozone alert days with the weatherman telling “healthy” people to not be outside more than an hour and “people with breathing problems” to not go outside at all.  That’s August in Knoxville.

Except for this year!  Blame it on El Nino or El Nina or jet streams or Martians or Saturn’s moons or whatever.  This year has been absolutely wonderful (other than a little wet!).  We’ve only had 11 days above 90 this year (most of them in June) as compared to thirty-some-odd at this time last year, and sixty-some-odd at this time two years ago.  So you can say it’s the jet stream – I think it’s mother nature giving us a break…

So what should you do with this unforeseen gift of nature?  Why you should go outside and enjoy it of course!  And that’s just what we did.  A little backyard campfire.  A couple of cold beers (or lemonade if you happen to be pregnant!).  Sitting around and enjoying the company.  What a night.  We just might do it again tonight – especially since it’s going to be back down to 62 degrees…

The weather is great – wish you were here!

Our most recent doctor visit

Yesterday afternoon, we made our regularly scheduled visit to the OB.  The doctor continues to be pleasantly surprised with how smoothly everything is going!

Sure – it is certainly more exciting when you go to the doctor and get an ultrasound or a battery of tests and those results all come back normal.  But it is really comforting when the doctor says that everything is so normal that there is no need for any special tests or ultrasounds.

So she poked and prodded a little and she answered some questions.  She used her little portable doppler to measure Michael’s heartbeat.

That was the most exciting.  She put the goop on the probe and started listening.  Immediatly we heard the heartbeat – no rubbing the probe around and searching for little Mike!  The monitor said the heart rate was a healthy 140 beats per minute.

We had been listening to the reassuring lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB for just a couple of seconds.  Then little Mike must have realized that attention was focused on him because suddenly from the doppler speaker there was a loud BOOM followed by a lot of rumbling!  Apparently, Mikey decided to kick the doppler probe and dance a little jig.  The doctor giggled a little and said “Wow!  He sure is active today!”

After a few minutes of flipping around, his heart rate had climbed to 150.  The next thing you know – he’s going to be asking for a little exercise bike to pass the time.  And he’ll deliver a little poke to the bladder as a reminder.  He is such a bad little boy – I love him!

The foyer is complete

Hey everybody!  We just wanted to post a quick pic of the completed foyer work!  It really looks great and we highly recommend that you come and see it in person!!!!  Not bad for a day and a half of work.

And this concludes our remodeling for a while.  Are we finished?  Of course not!  There’s always more plans and ideas in the works.  But for now – we are going to kick back and enjoy the new digs.  So come on over and kick back with us!

 

The completed foyer tile marks the end of the downstairs remodel!

More Tile Work!

Zak and Mitch from Exact Tile are back at the house today.  For those of you who have been following the tile saga – I’m sure that you just gasped and are wonder what has gone wrong this time…

The answer is – nothing has gone wrong!  The kitchen tile is still absolutely wonderful and is as sturdy as it has ever been.  They are back today to replace the old foyer tile with tile that coordinates with the kitchen tile.  Since the living room touches both the foyer and the kitchen tile – it makes since to have them coordinate rather than be two different styles!  I had better watch out.  I may be working towards a new career as an interior designer.  Ok – maybe not…

At any rate, it looks fabulous!  The old tile is long gone (it only took about an hour to get it out) and the new tile is about 75% done!  Tomorrow will be the grout and viola – it’ll be done!  Two quick and fairly painless days.  Not too bad!

So once again, our thanks to the the Exact Tile crew – the owners, Marnie and Zak, and their sister Jennifer and the installers Bruce and the twins (Zak and Mitch).  If you are in the Knoxville area and need tile work – I would highly recommend them!

And the baby’s name is…

Deciding on a name for your baby is something that can be a daunting task.  On the surface it seems easy enough.  Just pick out some names that sound good together.  You’ve even got a head start – the last name has been decided for you!

So the discussions start.  Sitting around the living room.  Hearing a name on TV and saying “Hey, that sounds like a good name”.  Or asking some co-workers for some ideas.  Our favorite was “Barack” – not because that is the name of the current president but because of how it sounds combined with the last name.  Try it for yourself and say Barack Lee.  Does it remind you of a green vegetable?

So we quickly learned that we need to be careful with the name.  And we decided that we wanted to include a family name.  After all, the baby will be carrying on our family tree.  We agreed that if the baby was a girl then the family name would come from mom’s side and if the baby was a boy then it would come from dad’s side.

As most of you know, we recently found out that we are having a boy!  But we had names picked out for both.  For the girl, the name was going to be “Madison Penelope”.  We both agreed that Madison was a pretty name.  Penelope was Darlene’s mom’s middle name and fit well with Madison.  So Madison Penelope Lee.  A pretty name – it’s almost too bad we can’t use it!  Maybe will try again after our boy is born…

For the boy’s name, we agreed on Michael.  We both liked the name, and the more we talked about it the more we realized a personal connection to it.  There is a Priest, “Father Michael”, who has helped us through some difficult times.  He helped Darlene while she was going through RCIA and he was the one who baptized Darlene.  He has truly been instrumental in our lives.   So Michael it is.  And the middle name?  We decided on the name of Bryon’s grandfather, Robert. 

So the official name will be Michael Robert Lee!  His initials will be MR Lee (as in “mister Lee”).  And if he turns out to be a little redneck, we can call him “Mikie Bobby”!!!

Class Results

Our first day of “baby classes” is officially over.  This first class was on breastfeeding.  Simple – right?  Hold the baby up when it’s hungry and it’ll automatically latch on a feed until its little heart is content – right?

Well, almost.  It turns out that indeed, the baby will figure it out.  It also turns out that there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way.  Or you could rephrase that to there is a way that will be comfortable for everyone, and a way that will leave momma feeling sore and raw.  Obviously, I’m not going to summarize a three hour class – but if someone who is nursing is reading this and it “hurts” then find a lactate consultant to figure out what the deal is! 

Here is the “down and dirty”.  There are a lot of benefits for the baby.  There are a lot of benefits for mom.  Dad can even get involved too (contrary to what we thought before today).  There is a right way and a few wrong ways (and the right way is specific to the individuals involved!).  Not everyone can do it for many various reasons.  You can work and breastfeed.  Powdered formula is not sterile (and is rather frequently recalled).  If you have to pump – not all pumps are created equal.

Will we breastfeed?  We are planning on giving it a whirl.  We’ve got some homework to do from the class – but we have four months to get it done!  It’s just one of the many exciting things we will do between now and “the big day”!

Off to school on a Sunday?

That’s right.  The proud mom and dad are going back to school – and on a Sunday! 

But it’s not nearly as bad as it may sound (especially to any nieces and nephews that may be getting ready to go back to school).  For us, it’s only 6 days – and it’s only 1 day a week.  And it’s not math or science or spelling or reading – it’s a series of classes on how to take care of babies…

You see – we realized that our new baby won’t come with an instruction book.  And our old trick of “hand the baby back to mom or dad” won’t work when WE are the mom and dad.  So maybe we better get some schooling…

This first class is on breastfeeding.  We aren’t sure if we are going to breastfeed or not.  Actually, Bryon is sure that he is not going to breastfeed (it would be futile).  And if we aren’t sure, then maybe we need to take a class to see what it’s all about.

So it’s tomorrow at 2:30 they are going to tell us all about it and we’ll decide if we want to breastfeed (and pump – that’s part of the class too) or if we want to go with formula.

We’ll give you all of the details tomorrow!

More sad news…

Some of you may have noticed the short hiatus.  We had another sudden death in the family.

Darlene’s mom passed away this past Monday morning.  It was very sudden and certainly unexpected.  Sure – she had a variety of health problems, but had always beaten everything that was thrown at her.  And she had been feeling better in recent weeks and had actually spent a week in Knoxville with us just three weeks ago.

Anyone who has lost a parent understands the grief.  And anyone who has lost both parents can understand even better – both the sense of loss and being lost.  It is nothing that could be put into words.

So we try and focus on the good times.  Her wry since of humor (our baby will always be “little waa waa”).  How happy she was at the fact that both of her daughters were pregnant and she was going to get two more grandchildren.  How proud she was of the two grandchildren she already had.  Oh the stories we could tell.  We could go on and on but that’s for another time.  Someday you will be able to read all about it in “The Adventures of Penelope”…

Sure, we’ll be sad.  But every sad thought will be followed by a happy one (yep – she even called our dogs her “grandpups”!  See, there is another smile that she put on your face).  And we know that she is with Ernest right now, looking down on us and making sure we are ok.

And we would certainly be remiss if we didn’t express our absolute sincere gratitude to Carl Wells, David Davis, and everyone at Wells Funeral Home, Tony Luttrell and every one at Stanton Baptist Church, and all “Granny’s” friends and family who called or stopped by to check on us, made sure we had plenty of food, flowers, and emotional support.  As difficult as this time is, you cannot imagine how much your love and support has made it easier.  We love and thank you all.

 

And the ultrasound says…

Today was the day.  The continuation of the level 2 anatomy scan.  It started just like all of the others…

Appointment at 7:30am?  Check.  Signed in?  Check.  Co-pay?  Check.  Weight?  Check.  Blood Pressure?  Check.  Urine sample?  Check.  All systems go!  Turn on the ultrasound machine!  Warm up the belly goo!  Dim the lights!  Wait a minute – quick potty break…

Dim the lights again!  Select the correct magic wand and here we go…

Let’s start measuring.  Good sized head.  Nice arms.  Long legs.  Strong heartbeat and all four ventricles look good.  Spine looks good.  Everything in the abdomen looks good.  Everything looks great!

So lets get a look at those “private parts”.

Now – here’s the part where you need to remember that we began this scan back on July 8th.  If you don’t remember how “modest” our baby was, you may want to read that post again…

And here we go.  There’s the torso.  A little lower.  There’s the legs.  Oops!  That’s a little too low.  Back up a little bit.  HEY!  Why is that little section blacked out!!!!

Well – it turns out that ultrasound machines have significant difficulty “seeing” through a belly button.  And our baby had positioned the “private parts” right behind momma’s bellybutton.

Never fear.  Our sonographer was not going to be foiled a second time!  She poked.  She prodded.  She moved this way.  She moved that way.  She had momma roll over.  At last!  There it is!  Congratulations!

To the untrained eye, it looked like white blobs surrounded by other white blobs.  We couldn’t even tell that we were looking at baby parts – much less baby “private parts”.  But our sonographer assured us that she was a highly trained professional and that this was indeed proof that we are going to have…..

 

 

 

A BABY BOY!!!!

 

 

Because of the crazy looking picture (trust us – it looked like a bunch of static), we don’t have a picture showing the sex.  But we do have this one for you to look at!  If you look, the baby’s head is on the right side of the picture, laying on his back and looking towards the top of the picture.  And if you look close, you can see the ear, eye, nose, and mouth.  If you are really good, you can make out the chest and spinal cord.  And if you are training for an ultrasound job, you can probably make out much more than that!

 

Howdy everybody!

So enjoy the picture!  It will probably be the last one we get for several weeks.  The pregnancy is so stellar that the next several doctors visits will just be “question and answer” sessions.  But we’ll keep you informed about everything we find out!

 

Kitchen Update

It is officially the end of the fourth day of the “kitchen floor redo”.  The two guys Mitch and Zak have been doing a stellar job.  Here’s the grueling detailed breakdown…

Wednesday, they came and started taking out the old tile.  Just like we already knew – the tile had not been installed correctly.  It appears that the mortar had not been mixed correctly and did not have enough water.  So instead of the tile sitting down in the mortar and the mortar holding the tile to the floor – the tile just sat on top of the mortar and never adhered.

To make matters worse, the detra mat had not been installed correctly either.  Of course, that means that it all had to come out too.  And just to add that extra measure of difficulty, everything had to be cut around the cabinets because the cabinets were sitting on top of the tile.  A real bummer.  But Mitch and Zak had no trouble and got it all done in a day.

Thursday, all of the new subfloor was delivered (using the more traditional “backer board” instead of the detra this time…) and Mitch and Zak got it all cut and installed (using mortar to hold it to the original plywood subfloor and about 1000 screws just to make sure it stays put). 

Friday, the first half of the tile was put down.  They couldn’t do the entire floor because they didn’t want to work themselves into a corner and have to spend the night.  Although when I offered some beer, they briefly considered it.  So the stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher were moved out of the way and the kitchen portion of the floor was put down.

Today, the refrigerator and stove were moved back into place and the remaining tile was put down.

All that is left is to put down the grout (should get done tomorrow) and then I get to re-install all of the trim work.  Of course, I haven’t even bought the trim yet so that’s going to cause a small delay!  But I should be able to pick it up this week and get it painted and have it all ready to install this weekend.  If everything goes well, it’ll be completely finished by the end of the weekend!

 The new tile with the stove and refrigerator back in place!

Grout and dishwasher – kickplates and refrigerator panel – baseboard and quarter round – then it’s done!

Camping!

So.  What do you do when your kitchen is all torn up.  The floor is only half put down.  The dishwasher is in the bedroom.  There is an inch of tile dust in every nook and cranny in the entire house.  And you are already depressed because this is the second time in three months that you’ve had to do this.

What do you do?

You load up the family, hitch up the camper, and hit the road!  There is no better way to get away from your kitchen problems than to load up your fully functional “portable” kitchen for a weekend getaway.

We had a great time.  We walked the dogs all over the campground.  We road our bikes around the loop.  We sat around the campfire and sang songs.  We slept in.  We even enjoyed the few hours of rain this morning.

So we are relaxed and recharged.  And if everything goes according to plan, the tile will be done on Wednesday and all of the trim work will be finished by the weekend.  Cross your fingers!

Kitchen Remodel Part 2

Many of you are completely unaware of this next topic.  It is certainly a bit of a “sore spot” and we don’t talk about it much.  But now it’s time to let everyone know…

You see – we had a bit of difficulty with our new kitchen.  The cabinets are still beautiful, the appliances are still shiny and new, the layout is perfect (how did we live with the old kitchen for so long?).  It’s all still beautiful!  Except…

We started this whole kitchen remodel earlier than we originally anticipated.  The tile in the old kitchen was starting to crack pretty bad (which is why we didn’t buy “cheap” tile for the new kitchen) and we knew we were going to have to do something quickly.  And instead of replacing the floor and then turning around in a year or two and replacing it again when we remodel – we decided to do it all at once.

So the whole premise behind remodeling the kitchen is that the old tile was cracking and starting to come up.

Imagine our disappointment when our BRAND NEW tile was already coming loose!  AAARRRGH!!!

The folks at Exact Tile in Knoxville have been wonderful!  If you remember – that’s who we purchased the tile from, but we had our GC lay the tile instead of having Zak and Marnie at Exact Tile do it.  Lesson learned!  If you want tile – let the tile people do the installation!  And if you live in Knoxville, I highly recommend Exact Tile – Marnie, Zak, and Jenny are absolutely great!

So the work began today.  Our brand new tile (only been on the floor for around 4 months) is being ripped up as I type this.  They are about 3/4 of the way finished, and they were able to lift up about 6 tiles in whole pieces (just to let you know how well they were attached).

It will ~hopefully~ only take a few days to get it all done.  Better to do it now than wait until the baby arrives…

 

Part 2 – The Saga Continues.  And Izzy’s exact thought is…

“Didn’t we just finish all of this?”