Not quite so bad...

Today we have 1 week and 3 days until our "due date," and I can honestly say that this last month hasn't been quite so bad. Yes, I'm slightly uncomfortable, feel like Shamu, and really want to yell "STOP STARING AT MY BELLY!" when I'm out in public... however, many other things have made it not completely awful.
I've been very lucky to have a husband who was able to stop travelling at the beginning of October and began helping a lot more around the house. A mom who comes up to help with household chores and the paperwork and filing portion of my job. A dad who sends food to make sure I continue to eat healthy each time my mom comes. A mother-in-law who has sent a few last minute items: an awesome jogging stroller and a hand made hanging diaper stacker . Friends who are helping me get through the day to day tasks at school, so that in the evenings I can focus on the long term planning and preparation that I want to accomplish before delivery. All the books say that start around week 36 the mother-to-be should begin to take life easy. I haven't learned how to do that yet (and I'm in week 39); however, thanks to many other people I am not having to accomplish every task that pops into my head alone.

"Has anyone told you how low she is?"

This is the quote of the afternoon from our recent visit to the doctor. Everything else was uneventful, but apparently our daughter-to-be is currently trying to help me out in the lung department.

Or Another...

Another sign...

We went to the doctor today and found out that I am 50% effaced and 1 centimeter dilated!! I'm sure it means I will still be pregnant after our due date, but it does mean the end is coming...

Signs the end is near... (or in the next 5 weeks)

Over this week and weekend I have noticed many signs that the end of our pregnancy is near...
1) It is finally October
2) Random people keep asking, "How soon until you are due?"
3) Any weird looks and Dave asks, "Are you okay? Contractions?"
4) I'm limited in what chairs work for me and are comfortable.
5) My stomach and bladder seem to be shrinking at a rapid pace.
6) Dave keeps saying, "She is REALLY big today!"
7) Dave and co-workers keep updating me on how she looks lower today than the day before.
8) My mom has left her toothbrush, in case she needs to come quickly.
9) My maternity shirts are getting tighter and tighter and don't seem to be covering the bump very well anymore.
10) I seem to be starving all of the time, but 3 bites of any meal leaves me full.
11) People seem to stare at my belly instead of my face or boobs when I walk by.
12) I'm cleaning house...

I'm a PC

In making the hiccup movie, I found that I have Windows Movie Maker. Quite possibly the most simplistic movie editing software out there, but it stretched my artistic abilities. So in honor of the 2 year old commercial spokes-kid. I'm Dave and I'm a PC.

I hope you enjoyed it. Hi-Quality here

Baby Hiccups

As I was reading Itty her evening books, she decided to respond with the hiccups on mom's bladder. So we decided to record the gyrations for posterity.

If we can catch anymore of her antics, we will try to capture them. Sometimes it looks like the scene in Aliens where the little guys are popping through chests.

Hi-Quality video can be found here

Guy Party

Sharon had a baby shower this past weekend and guys were not invited, so I decided that we would have a guy party and celebrate our independence. We would drink beer, eat red meat and watch all the preseason football we could handle. Oh yeah, baby sit the kids.





Here are the rest of pictures from the weekend.

The Little Engine that Could... (Maybe)

We all joke about how babies have it made - eat, pee/poop, sleep, play, and repeat. Life in the uterus I'm sure is very similar; however, recently each night Miss Itty has changed it up a little bit. Last Friday we found out that she is currently breech. If you think about my "bump" as a clock, her head is at 12 and her feet are tucked in nicely at 6. The doctor wasn't worried and said she still had plenty of time to spin herself around. Then this week her attempts to spin around began. I had just gotten into bed and was reading her a Dr. Seuss story when she began moving her head down towards 9 and trying to move her feet up towards 3. She tried, and she tried, and she tried. Eventually after what felt like hours of her trying to use my internal organs as leverage points she gave up. I finally understood the disappointment parents feel when their child isn't successful at a task he/she tries really, really hard at. Then last night after Dave read her another Dr. Seuss book she began trying again. This time though she was trying in the other direction, so her head was moving down towards 3 and her feet were trying really hard to spin towards 9. Dave loved watching all of her movement and was amazed at how much we could see and how she was poking out my belly button. He decided to read her yet another story for encouragement. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful again - but she did try longer this time. She worked at spinning herself during the entire 2nd story and then continued after he had left the room. We still have time, so maybe if I read her The Little Engine that Could each day she will keep trying to spin her little body.

SURPRISE!!!

Over the past week Dave has been very vague about our weekend plans, which is strange for him - especially since if the sun is shinning we on a weekend, then we go boating. However, yesterday afternoon he came home and said I had to be showered, in my blue dress, with make up on, and my hair blown dry by 1pm today because we had plans. Through yesterday evening and this morning he kept asking me if I had any clue what we were doing at 1pm today, if I was curious, and if I had any guesses. Honestly, I was just feeling bad that I had gotten so relaxed during my summer vacation that my husband felt he needed to tell me to shower, dry my hair, and wear make up. I admit I haven't worn make up regularly this summer, but I have showered and dried my hair almost every day.
So this afternoon we hopped in the car and began driving all over Cornelius. There was road construction on a nearby road, so Dave went into major short cut and back road mode all trying to navigate up towards Davidson. In Cornelius we have this cute, old house that has been restored and turned into a Tea House. They serve a variety of teas and yummy finger foods. He dropped me off by the front door and asked me to wait for him while he parked the car. As we walked into the house I was really beginning to wonder what he was up to, this was not his normal style. He quickly told the hostess we were looking for the Priscella Room, which was when she spilled the beans and said, "Oh, for the baby shower? It is right through there." Dave's glowing face fell as he escorted me into the room. There were 6 ladies/moms from my neighborhood (and a 7th on the way) surrounding a beautifully set table. I quickly found out that 2 of my neighbors had orchestrated this gathering asking for Dave's help with the guest list and in getting me to the Tea House at the appropriate time.
We had a lovely tea time, with Strawberry Green Tea and Apricot Tea and many yummy finger sandwiches and desserts. During our time the other moms shared many stories and a lot of advice, while I told about yesterday's doctor's appointment and described our nursery and Dave's overall excitement during this time. Towards the end of our time I was directed towards a table of gifts. As I opened the gifts many of the moms explained why the items in the bag or basket were "essential". I absolutely loved hearing all of the advice and definitely received many items that I wouldn't have picked up on my own, but totally understand what makes them essential and probably would have sent Dave out for in a panic at some point after Miss Itty arrived.
While this afternoon is technically called a "Baby Shower" I did walk away feeling like it was more of an initiation to the "Mommy Club!" Yes, Baby Orr was showered with gifts, but I was showered with knowledge and essentials and got to spend time with 7 women in my neighborhood who will help me out as I navigate this new path into the mommyhood world.

Daddy - Daughter Time

Dave has enjoyed reading a variety of books each night to my belly. This began in June when a classroom parent gave me the book, Oh, Baby, the Places You Will Go! A book to be read in utero. While reading this story Dave was able to feel Miss Itty for the first time. He has really enjoyed reading to her each night he is home and watching my belly for her reaction to the story. By watching her reaction each time we have concluded that she likes to have stories read to her, but she really likes the rhythm of Dr. Seuss.

Dave's fascination of watching and feeling her move has also led him to give my belly zurberts, poke it, or give it small "baby quakes". This week Miss Itty has been a lot more responsive to this play time. On Tuesday he would give my belly a zurbert and she would immediately kick or punch the area. This continued for a few moments and Dave left the room in a strut like any proud father would. Last night he attempted to listen for her heartbeat, I had read recently that soon he should be able to hear her heartbeat as she got into position and she became more cramped for room. Unfortunately he wasn't able to hear that heartbeat, but he did get a nice kick or punch in the face by his daughter. Again he was the proud father who rejoiced in this play time and put his ear back on my belly to wait for her to hit again. Of course Dave was not left disappointed and quickly felt a little thud.

This week of Dave being home each evening and watching this daddy-daughter time has been wonderful; however, I think it may impairing their ability to sleep. They both seem to be wide awake after this time - Dave goes off to play on his computer or to catch up on missed TV from his time in Indiana and Miss Itty continues to swim and move around.

And the building continues...

Tonight Dave and I built the Play Yard (Chicco's version of a Pack 'N Play) from my parents. Dave reminded me of a young boy on Christmas morning. He very quickly ripped open the box and pulled out the play yard. It was neatly packaged in the travel container (which not all of the parts will ever go back neatly into this bag again). The frame came out first and was opened up, like a petite tailgating tent. Then pieces were snapped in, rings with animals were hung, parts were zipped together, and using the directions only once we had a Play Yard/Changing Table/Bassinet all in one. It was quite an adventure and made us realize that Miss Itty will be here in less than 3 months...

Jake even entered the room to watch.

HE-HE-WHOO... HE-HE-WHOO..

Well we have now completed the hospital's child birthing class!! Unfortunately our accomplishment came with no graduation or certificate, but we did learn a lot during our time and had some fun while doing it.

On Friday evening the instructor mentioned that there would be 30 people (15 couples) participating in the class, so things would get tight. Luckily not everyone showed up and we had more room than was first anticipated. Which turns out to be a good thing when 1/2 of the participants in the room feel like over sized blimps and 2 of them wishing they would POP at any moment to rid themselves of their current discomfort. This first evening was rather slow and the group sat there like bumps on a log just trying to take in all of the information and wondering when the emphasis "birthing video" would be shown. Finally around 9:00 we learned that we would watch the first portion, showing stage 1 of labor and would actually see stage 2 of labor (delivery) on Saturday morning, after of course we had all had time for our breakfast to settle down.

On Saturday we began with a Q/A session and our instructor was trying to wake us all up. Her sense of humor really began to show and helped lead up to the climax in the video we were all anticipating and dreading. Finally after our short morning break it was time for the viewing to resume. Everyone watched, prepared to be grossed out or frightened to no end. Then it was done and a classmate commented about how this was nothing like the famous tape they showed high schoolers during the sex education unit. This was the beginning of a relaxed rest of the day. Our instructor taught us many relaxation techniques and massage positions (which sent the class into chuckles), and had a 10 minute tangent about the show "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant." It was very humorous to listen to her discuss how the girls/women on this show were either uneducated or in denial the entire time they were pregnant and how we won't be so dumb to miss the signs of labor (a common fear that we would miss the signs and end up delivering in some random, non-hospital location) since we had recognized the obvious that we were pregnant and knew a due date was in our future.

While we didn't learn Lamaze like many used to learn and I assumed we would learn, we did have a more enjoyable time than expected.

Stormy Morning

Today was off to an early start. Around 5:30 this morning we had a large thunderstorm roll through town. Jake first made me aware of this storm by nudging me at the edge of the bed with each boom of thunder or crack of lighting. Then Miss Itty began to fidget with each boom of thunder. Between the two I wasn't able to continue sleeping, but just hung out and waited for the storm to pass.

I was telling Dave about this today during our lunch out, and his response was, "There was a storm this morning?"

The Nursery is done!

Well, almost. There still are some final touches left, but the major work is done.

Day 5- Today started off slowly, we didn't have any major plans until my parents arrived from Atlanta. They were coming up to enjoy the Fourth of July on the lake with us and I was getting some free labor from Mom. See, I can roll really well, but cutting in, and touching up really isn't my thing but Mom does it really well. So I decided since mom was coming up I would let her touch up the chair rail. It worked out well, while mom was painting I got to point out all the areas that needed just a few more drops of paint. (Why couldn't the whole room have been like this?)

But after the touch up work by mom. The room was DONE! Finished! Completed! Over!. 5 days of hard work and some frustration and we have a wonderful place for our Itty to come home to. In four months.

So, while the paint is drying we took a little walk to the lake and watched the dogs play in the water. All the while the anticipation was growing. The paint was drying. The crib just sitting in its box.

So upon our return home, with the anticipation so thick you could cut it with a knife we carried the crib box into the nursery. And, the with a flourish of a pair of safety scissors the box was open and Itty's crib saw its first light of day.

It took a couple of more cuts, and tears and pulls to finally free the crib from its packaging. The crib was securely wrapped and probably could have withstood an air drop to a remote village in the Sudan. It was pretty simple to put together, but with 4 Orrs in the room, you would have thought we were building the Eiffel tower. Even with all the experts we managed to get the crib together and after some minor surgery (One hole in the spring frame need to be drilled out to accommodate the bolt.) the crib was complete.

After placing the crib in its new home, we brought the rest of the furniture back in the room and the room was done! Finished! Completed! For Now!





Full visual record of the nursery project. Here

Previous Days:
Day 4
Day 3
Day 2
Day 1

Project Nursery (continued)

Day 4 -

Today started with a slightly more relaxed start. Dave actually took some time to sleep in before admiring his great second coat and beginning his new adventure with hanging a chair rail. He began by installing his new, fancy miter saw blade. Then after careful measurement (he lives by the motto: "Measure twice, cut once!") the first piece was cut and ready to be installed. Unfortunately it wasn't going to go up with quite the ease we were expecting. After a few choice words and some aggression Dave finally found his groove with hanging the chair rail. Unfortunately, there was another bump in the road when it came time to cope the joints. That's when a very smart decision was made, break for lunch and revisit coping the ends after a nice yummy lunch. We met a friend I work with at Big Bit'z (same place we began Day 1 with) and had a very tasty lunch. It was just the right meal for Dave because he did a fantastic job with the three remaining joints which needed coping.


Dave coping a joint!


A completed joint!

At this point I was thinking we were finished with our home improvement project until Dave's parents arrived the next day, but of course I was mistaken. Dave decided he was going to try to caulk the chair rail himself and did a fantastic job (by far his best ever)!! So at the end of our fourth day Miss Itty has a beautiful moonlight painted room, a freshly painted ceiling, super white trim paint, and a chair rail hung 100% by her daddy's love!!


Dave caulking his magnificent chair rail!

Project Nursery (continued)

Day 3 - (a.k.a. Day 2c)
The morning started like yesterday's with a quick entry into the nursery that is slowly forming in front of our eyes. We were eager parents wanting to see our "moonlight" in the morning sun. Dave plugged in the two halogen lights and began to second guess his task of the day. He wasn't sold on the idea that one coat of paint was good enough for his princess-to-be. So together, we moved the light around, squinted our eyes, took the light to another room we had painted in a very pale color for a comparison, and finally Dave decided the nursery needed a second coat. (I was trying my best to avoid having a vocal opinion since all I could help do was bring lemonade during his breaks... but now, I must say that I agree 100% with his decision!) This second coat went up a lot quicker, thank goodness for his sake, and only one battle wound - a callus on one of his fingers.

Later in the afternoon he then proceeded to paint a coat of super white paint on the chair rail in preparation for tomorrow's big task of hanging it.

After Dave's third day of "vacation" and home makeover we wanted to feel like real progress had been made, so we had a little fun with the camera and nursery accessories we have already purchased for Miss Itty!!

Project Nursery (continued)

Day 2 - Today began with an ambious start. Dave began the day sanding down all of the spots he had spackled. After this chore I was finally able to help some by cleaning the walls and base borads to prepare for him to paint the trim and eventually the walls. Dave then began painting all of the trim in the room, along with the closet doors and bedroom door. Unfortunatly the heat did catch up to him since he had to open the window to help prevent painting it shut, but he pushed through with lemonade and my humorous way of trying to sneak in to take pictures of all of his hard work. This workaholic daddy then moved his work to the garage and began sanding and priming the chair rail!





I eventually convienced him to take a break for lunch and to run some errands, on the way home we stopped at Benjamin Moore and Home Depot to buy the supplies needed to paint the walls. After returning home shortly after 5:00 this eager father-to-be got to work. Hours later, Dave had a stiff shoulder, a sweat soaked shirt, and all four walls painted in Moonlight (a pale yellow).



Throughout the night we both walked through the room admiring his hard work and thrilled with how everything was coming together and matching!

Day 1

Project Nursery!

Day 1 (Monday night after leaving Seabrook and visiting with Mimi) - We began our remodel adventure with a trip to Big Bit'z for dinner followed by a shopping trip to Lowes. After getting the necessary supplies we were back home to begin clearing out the room. While clearing out the room Dave realized two items we forgot to pick up at Lowes - so off to Home Depot we went. Upon returning home he began to spackle some irregularities in the wall and sanded some areas I had spackled last week.



Our excitement led into a 9pm decision to start painting the ceiling. So off to Wal-mart I went to get a rolling pan (yet another thing we seem to have forgotten or thought we had at home and of course after 9 Wal-mart is the only option). While driving home with the rolling pan an anxious daddy-to-be called asking how my trip was going and informed me that he had finished cutting in the entire ceiling. (I was only gone for about 30 minutes total.) So at around 9:40 Dave began rolling on the ceiling pant.


The finished ceiling!!

The Crib Adventure

It started out like any other weekend trip to Columbia, SC except this one had a purpose. We were going to come home with the sales reciept to a new crib for our little bundle of joy to arrive. Why so early you may ask? Well, Sharon has been dreaming that she will be put on bed rest any time (No worries, there haven't been any issues), but she wants this crib and wants it yesterday. So, back to the trip. We left home around 8:30 on the hottest day of the year heading to the hottest city in the South East. (If you have been there you know Columbia is at least 5 degrees warmer then the surrounding areas.) We had an uneventful trip down to the store and started looking around. Well I have never seen so many cribs and so many different types of cribs in my life. If we didn't know what we wanted from our research, we would have lost our heads. Looking around, we finally narrowed it down to 2 models, and both we quite nice and a were bit more then the typically Babies R Us models we had seen early. Being a cheap and indecisive guy, I wanted to recheck out the cheap models thinking that after seeing the higher end models, they would look better. So we pack up Sharon, Mrs. Hinson (who had joined us in the search at this point) and myself and headed over to the other store in lunch time traffic at a crazy busy mall.

Needless to say, it took a bit longer to get there then planned. After looking at the cribs and remembering why we didn't buy one from there, we decided to take a look at all the other fun stuff you can buy. Strollers, stroller frames, infant seats, pack and plays and the other options that didn't exist when I was growing up and now it seems like they are must haves. For the record the tick isn't baby toys related. I was just dropped repeatedly. :) By this time we got a call from the Hinson men saying they were on their way to Lunch. So we looked around for a couple more minutes and then headed over to lunch.

The trip to Lunch - Remember that crazy busy lunch traffic I mentioned,well it got busier while we were in the store. Instead of taking 10 minutes, it was more like 25. It is a "No, no" to keep the Orr men from eating, but that is easily match by the "No no" from keeping the Hinson men from Rush's. We need hamburgers and frys stat. We made it and got food in everyone and no one starved, but it was a nail biter. But during lunch, we made good progress, we picked out what we were going to buy, and since it was in stock, how we were going to transport it from the store. Now Sharon's happy meter was way up. I was the greatest husband of all time, not only were we going to have the sales reciept in hand, but we were going to have a crib in the back seat. So, after lunch we went to the Hinson house to put into action Operation BUY CRIB.

Operation BUY CRIB - Calls for 2 cars, 3 people and one credit card. I head over to the store early to buy the crib, while Sharon and her mom followed in the van talking about baby stuff, crib stuff, more baby stuff, other people's baby stuff and finally more baby stuff. I was very happy to have a car to myself. So, I get there and sales lady can see it in my eyes, she has got the sale. She rings me right up and I whip out my card and bam, I am the proud owner of a new crib and chest of drawers combo. Right about this time the women show up to celebrate victory, while I head out to the car to go move it to the loading dock.

I get to the car and hear ".......", no click, no radio, no nothing. The car is dead. Yes, it took us from Charlotte, to Columbia, baby store 1, to baby store 2, to lunch, home and back to the store and nothing. It wouldn't start and by this time Sharon sees I am not moving and wants to urge me on. Plus we were going to need both cars to get it all. Now, on the hottest day of the year, in the hottest city in the Southeast, we have just purchased out crib and I have a stressed out wife, worring mother in law and car that won't start. Well, Sharon calls AAA and her Daddy to get a jump and Janet backs the Van up so I can help load up the crib and chest of drawers. All of which fit with maybe 1/2inch to spare. Thank goodness.

At this point, everything is ok, AAA showed up and got us running and Sharon's Daddy showed up to follow me to the Autozone, and we where off to get a new battery. Sharon's Happy meter is up again and I am close to being the best husband in the world again. Life is good, we are back moving, all loaded up and headed home... Almost. it wouldn't be much of an Adventure without a few more bumps, or today dead cars. We get to Autozone, one limping car, one truck with F-I-L and one car happily talking baby. We just was we were about to pull up ... nothing ... no power steering, no power brakes and worst of all no a/c. Dead again, blocking half a dozen cars in the lot and an Autozone employee telling me to move my car. Explaining to him, I can't he tells me to put on the hazzard lights. Which by the way were on, but with no battery they aren't so bright.

Sharon Happy meter: Definiately better husbands in the world, but hey she had a crib so I was still a keeper.

At this point we have a set of jumper cables so we jump the car, can decide it is the alternator so we head over to the dealership which was closing in 45 minutes. We were only 15 minutes away, so no big deal. The women left the cars to the men and drove off to the baby stores in town. They had had enough of the car saga. It was an uneventful drive, no catastrophic failures, no crazy mid train track, with train coming jumps, just a nice slow drive over the the dealer. We got to the dealer, tested the car, and yes the alternator was bad. No big deal, extened warranty is on file, after all they purchased the car there... Nope. Ok, no big deal its in the car, with every single possible piece of paper ever printed after a service, inspection, oil change this car has seen in the 97919 miles since it rolled off the lot. Talk about a needle in a hay stack... So I called... And Sharon came...

Happy Meter: Not going up, what sort of husband can't find a piece of paper in something the size of the glove box?

Vindication at last, it wasn't there. Mom looked, Dad looked, Sharon looked. Husband isn't complete idiot after all. But we did find the name of the warranty company on a service contract. Finally saga over. New alternator, warranty over... Not so fast, no alternators in stock, and the warranty company is closed for the weekend.

Sharon Happy meter: Hot, hot and more hot. Husband is not complete idiot, but it is hot.

Well, it all ends well from here, we left the car for a Monday repair. We got back to the house, in the air conditioning had some father's day cake, and ice cream and mellowed out. It had been a day. In the end, we borrowed the Hinson's van, so we could get home to Jake and get the crib to Charlotte. With luck, we will trade cars Tuesday and we now have a fantastic tale to tell the future little Orr about the day we picked out her crib.

Sharon Happy Meter: Air Conditioned; Husband not soo bad.

PS on the way home we stopped and picked up the car seat with a coupon that was going to run out.

Sharon Happy Meter: Air Contioned: Crib: Check Car Seat: Check - Husband is on his way back up.