Not So Innocent.

Clyde's latest service dog trick?

Crafting a shiv from his favorite chew toy:

I'm sleeping with one eye open tonight. This is clearly the face of a killer.

(Blep.)

I should cut those talons too...

Don't Break the Baby.

It's a perfect day outside! 72 degrees, nice breeze, and sunny skies. Of course, that means that I am currently obsessing about what it's going to be like in the Winter.

We know it gets really, ridiculously cold here in Minneapolis. Factor in the latest prediction from the Farmer's Almanac that it's going to be a particularly rough winter for us this year and I'm not so sure Abuelo and Abuelita are going to want to extend their stay very long.

I've spent the last hour researching the internet in one window and browsing Amazon in another window to figure out what I should be adding to my baby shopping list. How on earth do you "winterproof" a newborn who is unable to regulate their own temperature? I hear/read layers...super-warm car seat cover...hats...but is that enough for a Minnesota-rough winter? Also, is pajamas + sleep sack enough for baby not to be cold at night when he can't use blankets? Will it be too hot?

As California natives, Man Boo and I are totally ill-prepared for our first Minnesota winter as parents. Help us Mid-Western and East Coast friends...advice requested!

The big silver-lining here is that we recently insulated our main floor (no more frost on the inside of the front door!) and the presence of tiny human means that Man Boo will allow me to turn the thermostat up past 55 degrees. I made sure he heard the nurse when she said that newborns need room temperatures between 65 and 72.

Not Throwin' Away [His] Shot.

All of you know my ManBoo, Jamie. You also know that he is one of the most optimistic and perpetually-happy people out there. It's glorious and is one of the many reasons that I adore that man. As his wife, the one teensy downside of this near-constant contentment is that I always feel the need to bump him up from "happy" to "deliriously happy" which can be challenging when he doesn't really want for much. So, I settle for those short little bursts of delirious happiness that come when I surprise him with his favorite candy from the co-op or give him a little back scratch.

Earlier this year, before we knew about Baby, I was given the opportunity to make Jamie deliriously happy to the umpteenth degree. Like, 1000x peanut butter cup happy. I was able to buy tickets for us to see Hamilton in New York. Mind you, these tickets weren't free -- they were pretty pricey, actually -- but before this opportunity came up we couldn't even find any tickets for cheaper than $1,000 each. Needless to say, I bought two tickets and Jamie was deliriously happy and the Hamilton soundtrack blared triumphantly from our speaker systems.

Then we found out about our little stowaway and of course we both were deliriously happy about that piece of news. 

But now about those Hamilton tickets...

Jamie is still optimistic (as usual) that we are able to make it out to New York with a 1-2 month old baby and somehow find someone to take said 1-2 month old for the evening while we hit the theater. I think that's a bunch of hooey. I have since looked into selling our tickets and found that we could actually make a nice chunk of change by selling our tickets because seats that are not as nice as ours are selling for five times more than what I paid for our awesome seats.

So if there is anyone reading this I must know...what would you do? Sell the tickets and continue the regular grind of trying to survive life with a newborn within the safe and comfortable confines of our home? Go on an adventure and bring Tiny Long to New York and go really big for our first post-baby date?

To sum up...

• Pros of Staying Home
• Save (and even make!) money which would be more wisely spent on expensive baby
• Less stressful
• More sleep for all involved parties (which I hear is the most precious commodity)
• More time to hone our parenting skills before taking the show on the road
• Don't have to inconvenience a New Yorker friend to take care of a very young baby
• Pros of Going to New York
• Jamie's dreams will come true and we'll see a great show
• Get out of the house (not sure if this will feel like a pro at this point in time)
• People say it's easier to travel with a young infant than an older child...
• We have lots of friends in NYC that we'd love to see

I'm sure there are more on either side but those are the major ones. Tell us what to do!

Baby Crash Course.

Man Boo and I attended a crash course in childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborn care yesterday. It had the intended effect of making things feel "real" and giving us a more accurate picture of just how much we didn't know we didn't know.  The good part of that is that we now know lots of those things.

While I anticipated feeling somewhat panicked about how ill-prepared we were for baby, I actually felt pretty good walking out of the full-day class because I realized that as ill-prepared as we were, there were so many other people in that class that were just as ill-prepared, if not worse off. Now that I type that, it sounds pretty schadenfreude-y of me...but it's totally true.  At least I knew that a cesarean section doesn't involve removing several of my organs and storing them in Pyrex containers whilst delivering baby. I'm not kidding. An adult -- and soon-to-be mother -- asked that question including the Pyrex detail.

All-in-all, money and time well-spent. And I'm very glad that we didn't enroll in one of those class series that involved several nights of information. With one day of high-level overview, I could attend with Man Boo at my side and feel really confident that while there really is no way to fully prepare for raising a tiny human, at least I have the very best partner going into this with me.

We're at 32 weeks and change, folks!

(Yes, it bothers me that I'm facing the other direction in that last picture)

I am officially restricted to maternity pants and get winded climbing up to the attic. A few days ago, Jamie told me with a note of wonder in his voice: "my book says your stomach is in your boobs now!" Not exactly, but pretty close...it's getting crowded in there.  Respect.

Hail to the Man Boo.

A lot has been going on in the last few weeks. Probably the most exciting part since my last post was the Democratic National Convention. While I'm not usually all that much of a political nerd, this year, I watched pretty much the whole thing each day through the magic of online streaming. Granted, the stakes of this election are especially high given the horror that is The Donald, but the primary reason I felt so engaged this year was because Jamie was so involved.

Not only did I get a virtual "front seat" to the convention hall, but through frequent texting, I was able to have some running commentary with Jamie throughout. I felt sort of like the two old theater guys (Statler and Walder) from The Muppet Show, except more patriotic.

(SO MANY BALLOONS!)

I don't often get to see the fruits of Jamie's labor, so it was so energizing to see it for three days straight. There were times while I was watching (particularly when the glass ceiling was shattered) that I felt my heart racing as if I was watching the final minutes of some high-stakes sports play. Jamie even got to meet Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...

...and while he did solicit a picture from KAJ for his boss, Jamie didn't ask for a selfie.  Apparently, KAJ doesn't like having his picture taken. That's fair.

For the last several weeks, Jamie had been working incredibly hard every. single. day. on the Democratic Platform. Staying late at the office, writing proposals, calling Bernie and Clinton folks, and traveling all over (i.e. Orlando, St. Louis, Phoenix, D.C.) for the Platform Committee meetings. Seeing the Platform win the support of so many at the convention was rewarding for me, so I can't imagine what it must have felt like for him. 

(Jamie in his default DNC stance)

Upon his return home, Jamie took three naps and then we went into baby-prep mode. Stuff got done! Nursery furniture was purchased, car seat was installed (and then promptly removed to preserve as many weeks of full back seat as we could), closets were organized, baby spy cam installed, etc. 

(Clyde for scale)

While we haven't really decorated per se, we have the necessary items in place for baby survival. Plus, I had the blinds installed while Jamie was in Philly so I think that really ties the room together. Exciting stuff!