PeePee TeePees & BooBoo Bunnies

I kid you not...these are real products. As one who has made the rounds to every baby superstore and boutique in the metro DC area, trust me there are things out there that you never imagined for kids.

The PeePee TeePee is obviously my favorite. I was trying to figure out why I had never heard of this marvelous little invention until now but I guess it is because most of my friends around here have been girl makers. I am a boy maker.....so you have to learn about PeePee TeePees and things of that nature. Apparently this is an essential element when changing the diaper of a boy. Christine's friend Diana was the first to tell us about them as I guess she had some interesting experiences. We just sent these in a care package to our friends Charlie and Jen and he could not wait to call and rave about how nice they are. Who knew that spraying pee was such a hazard to new parents.

I am sure that throwing a washcloth over baby Delo's package will do the same trick, especially since we received 800 baby washcloths already, but you have to appreciate the creativity. It's like a little dunce cap for his wee-wee.

Another apparently necessary item for the young these days is the BooBoo Bunny. Now this one I was against but Christine had to have it. If you know anything about my wife and her obsession with bunnies then I guess it makes sense. I did finally break her of the habit of screaming "BUNNY!" while we are driving back to West Virginia since she almost made me wreck a couple of times.

But back to these new age little devices that even have there own jingle:

If a boo boo has you feeling crummy,
Stick an ice cube in my tummy.
Hold it to your boo boo tight.
Soon everything will be all right!

And that is how they sell you. Who wants to stick just an ice cube in a rag an put it on your kids cuts and scrapes when you can take the time to freeze a little plastic ice pack and then try to find this miniature stuffed bunny when your child needs first aid. I am quite certain that BooBoo Bunny will be programmed into my child by my wife and I will be looking everywhere for this one little bunny all the time. I can't wait for that.

There are so many fun items when you really start to go shopping and you just know that half of them don't work, the other half are only practical for a month or two of your kids life but what are baby showers for other than getting items that you would never buy yourself. One of my other favorites is the spillproof bowl. I am hoping that one comes at the shower.

I wonder how many of these things are created by parents just like us that got tired of improvising with other things and remembered the old Schoolhouse Rock song:

"Mother Necessity where would we be.....Without the inventions of your progeny?"

Which reminds me, I have been putting together a list of all of the DVD collections from my childhood that are must owns:

H.R. Pufnstuf
Lidsville
Land of the Lost
Speed Racer
Johnny Quest
Scooby Doo
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters
Schoolhouse Rock

I can't wait to sit around and watch all of these old time classics with my boy. Mix in a little of the new stuff and he will be a renaissance man by age 5.

We are fast approaching and the final touches are being put in the nursery. I really wanted to do a Calvin and Hobbes picture but they are impossible to find anywhere. I loved Watterson committment to not commercialize the brilliance of Calvin and Hobbes......until now!

I Love My Wife

For those of you who have had children there is a new respect that you have to have for women as they go through pregnancy. I can't express how much I love my wife and how proud of her I am for carrying our child and doing all of the things she does.

I know that her, and all women, go through so many changes in their bodies during pregnancy that it is hard for men to really appreciate the experience.

In all actuality it has been a pretty smooth. We are so grateful that everything has been going so well and that she has had a healthy pregnancy. While she was nauseous a lot she barely had any really bad morning sickness. At 32 weeks and going strong she has still only gained about 20 pounds and she looks great but she is starting to feel uncomfortable.

Through the first two trimesters, Christine has literally glowed. While I don't always share her enthusiasm for looking through catalogs of baby stuff all the time, watching her nesting habits, now in full swing, and how she talks about all the little outfits our son will wear (and continues to cry when she sees the tiny socks), has had a profound effect on me. I do now catch myself comparing children's clothes and toys everywhere I go and of course saying, "I would never put my son in something like that."

Christine is worried to death that I will let our son wear outfits that don't match or just run around with nothing on but a diaper or a onesie.....hey, I hope he takes after me.
It also never gets old how excited people are to see us and Christine's growing belly.

So with seven months down, things are starting to get uncomfortable. She never did quite make it to the yoga classes and workouts have fallen by the wayside (mostly because I have not been the drill Sergeant I promised to be). The most mundane tasks have become a bit of a comedy routine (for me at least). Her struggles include rolling over, getting up and bending down, and pretty much doing anything that requires a lot of movement.

I know that she is ready for this baby to come out as she constantly tells him to quit kicking her and she is starting to have a lot of trouble sleeping..fun fun.

I am sure she will kill me for writing this but she will now snap about little things that in the past would have just rolled off her back. But no matter what may upset her, you can be assured that a half hour later, she will come to me with a sheepish look and say that she's sorry.

And then there is the stuff that all guys know about but I am probably not allowed to write about here.....oh what the heck...the gasiness, the indigestion, the belching, the peeing when she sneezes, the new hair growth.....and all the while she looks more beautiful to me everyday.

I write all this because it is just amazing to me what a woman she is. That she is able to work and do things around the house and still carry our child. She eats well, she takes care of herself and I am sure this will all help our baby have a smooth delivery.

So I just got an IM from her that said she had "hobbit feet" so she was going home. See that is the best part of all of this..Christine is very funny and we do constantly laugh together about all of these things.

It is just amazing in and of itself....but going through it with my soul mate makes it even better.

Honey....I LOVE YOU!!

The Lessons of Life

Did you ever stop to wonder how it is that you know all of the basic things that you know? All of the little life lessons that have kept you out of harms way, free from embarassment, and curious about the world around you.

• Look both ways before crossing
• Fire is hot
• Ice is cold
• Always say please and thank you
• Don't pee into the wind
• Don't swallow quarters (that is a personal one)

It just seems like from the time we were born that someone was always teaching us how or why to do something. How to be a better person, why you need to study, how to meet a girl (LOL).

So much information that we take for granted. I thought about this yesterday as I darted between two parked cars and jaywalked across the DC streets. I guess that is not accepted behavior when you are either pushing a stroller or have a kid in tow.

Am I now a role model?

Oh my god!

I know that my father is up there looking down at me and while I am sure that he is very proud, he is laughing as hard as he can. All of those years of "I told you so's" and "I hope you have one just like you!" are now coming to fruition.

We were talking with Mom last week about whether or not we could survive a child that was anything like I was. Not that I was bad....I was actually a good kid and good student, but I was hell on wheels and I did have over 300 stitches in my body before the age of 10.....please help me if my son is anything like that.

While I was happy that we bought a home near wooded area with trails and creeks, now all I see is danger....from the tree my son could definitely fall out of, to the rock formations that I am already certain he will skin his knees on climbing, to the old rope swing hanging over the creek........it is very much the type of area that I grew up around. If I had a dollar for all of the times that we went to play on "the cliff" after all of our parents expressly forbade it I would be able to take my wife on a nice vacation!

But I guess the important thing is knowing already that he will be a typical boy, and he will disobey, and he will do things that he is not supposed to, and he will, unfortunately get some boo boos along the way........all I can do is teach him how to climb, how to fall, how to run....and oh yeah, those other important things that I mentioned before.

I really can't wait....................to go sled riding!!!!