Furniture fit for a Prince!

Hello once again...

At one point in my life I had this delusion that I would one day be "head of household" when I had a wife and family. It was a much simpler time then, before the hard cold wind of reality blew in and slapped me wide awake. Nowadays I accept the fact that I rank #4 in a household that contains my wife, 2 dogs, and me. Basing things off past experience, I have a pretty good idea how this will play out as we prepare for the arrival of our son.

I've come to the decision it is no use trying to fight this upcoming demotion from #4 to #5. And honestly, is it really a demotion if you are already at the bottom? I've decided it's best to accept and embrace. Acknowledge my position on the Glynn Homestead Ladder and make the best of it. At the top of the ladder is the Queen, which means if I am at the bottom...

So with my ego firmly tucked away in my wife's purse, and wrapped in my new found acceptance as #5, we went off to find furniture for the nursery for the arrival of the new Prince of the Glynn Household. Now in a previous entry I addressed my battle for supremacy over my self-confidence between Babies-R-Us and my head. It was this "furniture trip" we took to Babies-R-Us a while back that gave me this false confidence...that was subsequently torn to shreds by my second visit.

Being a typical guy, I didn't realize all that was coming into play when selecting the furniture. Color of the walls, color of the bedding, if the baby was a boy or girl, can the furniture expand for many years of use, etc. Here I thought it was as simple as buying furniture that fit in the room. Fortunately for me, I at least know what a crib looks like and what its function is. Same goes for a dresser and armoire. And the name 'changing table' pretty much gave its function away. I was also comforted by the fact that Babies-R-Us doesn't vary much from these pieces...and the fact my wife would make sure I didn't make any stupid suggestions or selections.

So we selected our furniture, they delivered it, and it looks great in the nursery. Wanna see the furniture?






As you can see, we still have a bit of work to do on the rest of the nursery. But now that we know we are having a boy, it has started the dominos falling: We can select the bedding, which will help us select the color of the walls, which will help us determine what and how to decorate. So stay tuned as I am sure I will post pictures as the room progresses.

I do think I will change my outlook on my position in the household. However deluded this outlook may be, I think I will choose to see myself as providing a solid foundation for the rest of the household to rest upon....that or the fact they all walk all over me.

Yeah, let's go with the 'solid foundation' angle.

Knowledge: Babies-R-Us - 1, Mike - 0

Hello again...

Ya know, I like to think of myself as a fairly educated person. I also like to think I can handle most things that come flying at me. And for better or worse, I also have a healthy dose of self-confidence. So armed with these "tools," I accompanied my wife to Babies-R-Us to open up and fill out a registry. Now my previous experience with infants and babies has always revolved around playing with them, holding them, and then giving them back to mom/dad when things started going awry. I never really got involved with the "behind the scenes" aspect.

So as I entered Babies-R-Us, naivety soon became the best word to describe the situation. No-Scratch Mittens, SwaddleMes, Halo Sleep Sacks, umbrella strollers ... how many bottles do we need? Do we really need a bottle warmer? Plain bottles versus drop-ins? I have learned that a "Diaper Genie" is probably the single best invention on the planet. And I can't wait to use a nasal aspirator!

I knew I was in trouble when the fine folks at Babies-R-Us gave us a map of the store, then gave us a phaser to run around the store and zap things. You only need a phaser when there are going to be too many things to write down. WAY TOO MANY. So off we went... Bassinet *ZAP!* Bibs *ZAP!* Bumper Pads *ZAP!* Bath Ring *ZAP!* ... *ZAP!* ... *ZAP!* ...and so things went for hours. I was completely stunned by how many things we needed...and how often we needed multiples of each item. Did you know they have a whole wall about 100-ft long dedicated soley to bottles?

Of course this immediately led to the thought, "I have no idea how to use this stuff, or what some of it is actually for." A scary thought indeed.

I feel sorry for Courtney. I have a steep learning curve coming up, and she's going to be the one poised behind me to push me up the hill. Yes, Babies-R-Us had won the battle. The store had shown me that I have none of the knowledge it takes to care for a baby...yet. If you're heading to church, keep Court's patience in your prayers.

Babies-R-Us - 1
Mike Glynn - 0

Maybe I'll hit Barnes & Noble. There's got to be books for this.

IT'S A BOY!!!

Hello, Mike here again.

So I left things off yesterday having you wonder whether it was a boy or a girl. I guess the title of this post sort of spoiled the surprise for everyone. Oh well. IT'S A BOY! It didn't come as much of a surprise to us though. Court has been dreaming about having a boy for many weeks now. She seems to have this weird sixth-sense when it comes to people and pregnancies. But she was correct. The ultrasound techie said there was no doubt it was a boy.

This time around with the ultrasound I didn't have the huge emotional wave like I did the first time. Don't get me wrong, I still sat there dumbfounded at what I was seeing on the screen, but this time it was more awe and wonder.

One of the amazing things I've learned over these last few months is that at twelve weeks the baby is mostly fully formed. Which makes for some pretty cool pictures. Now he gets to grow, and stretch, and kick, and move...a lot.

The little guy sure seemed to move around a lot during the ultrasound. I dunno, maybe he just didn't like us invading his privacy...something he'll really hate in about 15 years!

Court thinks the above picture is a "Power to the People" type of pose.

Me? I like to think he's channeling his inner Grandpa Simpson (or Phil Stallbaumer) and is practicing his stance for when he is standing on the lawn and yelling, "YOU KIDS GET OFFA MY LAWN!"


When I tell people about the in-depth and intricate details that can be seen now on ultrasounds, I then hear stories about how 10 years they only got to see a blob. Well let me tell you, sometimes these new-fangled machines can show you stuff that if you really think about can be a bit scary to actually see.

Now I do think it is cool to see fingers, toes, my little boy's spine, tibia/fibia, etc. But we got to see a shot of his little heart just pumping away, I think it was around 140 FHR (Fetal heart rate, for you who don't know....Mom.) Ok, so that's cool. But then the tech took a picture and froze the video so that we could see all four chambers of the heart.



Which was neat for me until I realized that I was looking at a human heart. My little boy's heart. He is still 20 weeks away from being born and here is his heart, fully formed, working furiously. Simply amazing. It strikes me as funny that his current heart rate is 143, which if I remember correctly is the danger zone for this old man when I am on a treadmill. Weird (Well, to me it is. I'm certain Court would just roll here eyes at me.)

Anyway, now that we know we're having a boy, it set us off down a path. We can now decide on what color to paint the walls in the nursery. I now know that I can buy a baseball uniform for him when we visit the Baseball HoF in Cooperstown, NY next week. Fun stuff like that.

Thanks for listening!

The Human Glynn Project

Hello, Mike here.

So what is the 'Human Glynn Project?' Basically it can be summed up in one sentence - my wonderful wife is pregnant. She is 19 weeks along and so far things are as they should be. To say the least, for me it has been one weird and emotionally-wild ride so far. So let's back this up a few months, shall we?

At 12 weeks (6-01-07), we had our first ultrasound. I can honestly say, I was TOTALLY unprepared emotionally for what was to come. By my calculation, I made it about 90 seconds into the ultrasound before they were passing me tissues. After a few minutes I composed myself and looked like this for the next 45 minutes.

The images were amazing. I was amazed all of growth was happening totally in the dark (Hey, you know how hard it is to do things in the dark, admit it!). I was amazed my wife had this going on inside her, yet at the time she had no outward signs of being pregnant.

My head was completely absorbed in the wonder of it all, while my heart was a big puddle of raw mixed emotions. My father was a policeman, so my brothers and I were raised on the philosophy: 'Boys don't cry. If you aren't bleeding, you aren't hurt. If you are bleeding, brush it off and go back outside and play.' So this sudden tidal wave of emotion was surprising. I think the high point was "seeing" the heartbeat:


Now hearing the heartbeat was incredible enough, but seeing it move across the screen combined with the audio for some reason just blew me away completely. I don't know if this made it all more real to me, or if it was because we've been trained over the years to associate life with a heartbeat, or what. But I know 100% that this was the moment when I understood what was happening to my wife, and to us. I'm not sure how Courtney stayed so calm through all of this. She and the ultrasound tech were just chatting away. Me? I was glued mentally and emotionally to the monitor.

Now for those of you who know me, this next photo will not come as any surprise. If there was any doubt that my genes were in there, this removes it!


LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT FOOT! No doubt my size 13 feet are in the baby's gene pool. Actually, I find it incredible that my feet were actually that small once. Hmmm...I wonder if the baby will inherit the noggin size we Glynns possess.

I will say this, Court has been incredible through all of this. We've had bouts with 'morning sickness' (Wow is this term misnamed... morning???), sudden tiredness, loss of appetite for her favorite foods, etc. She has soldiered on through it all with a lot more determination and a lot less whining than I could ever do. I admire her spirit and grit. I don't think I could do this, period.

At the time of this posting, we already know the sex of the baby. I didn't really have a preference. I could make a case either way for what I am wishing for. But the answer to the question you are asking yourself right now will be in another entry. Buh-bye!