I had a delightful visit with TinyO’s mother this morning.  She talked me through all the different baby products they acquired and gave me the scoop on each now that they’ve actually been used for almost 8 weeks.  It’s so helpful to get the skinny from new mothers, so thanks to both Kerry and Jen for dispensing helpful product advice of late.  (And Karen, too– even long distance!)  We’re looking forward to the Prepared Childbirth classes and Infant Care classes that we’ll take at the hospital later this year.  There’s just a whole lot of stuff we don’t know!

Speaking of stuff I don’t know, I don’t know much about anything else interesting.  I’m looking forward to my road trip to Corning this weekend with AKH for the most laid-back high-school reunion EVER.  I’m sure I’ll know much more interesting stuff after that, although it wouldn’t mean anything to 90% of you. 

Seth will not be joining us in Corning because a) he’d be bored out of his mind, but also b) he has a scrimmage Saturday morning and would have to make the 5-hour drive up and back by himself.  We’re recarpeting the entire downstairs the week after next, however, so he’s got himself quite the project this weekend to get all the trim painted as well as the guest room that we never touched after moving in.  How liberating to be able to paint without worrying about ruining the carpet since it’s about to be ripped out!  He will not have that luxury when we finally decide on a nursery wall color…

Just had a doctor’s appointment this morning.  Seth and I had both placed bets on my weight which–darn all that Texas vacation food!–was a few pounds more than either of our guesses.  The good news is that I’ve still gained only about 10 pounds through the 21+ week process which I figure is in the healthy range.    I guess I should probably curtail the Cheeburger Cheeburger milkshakes, TCBY cups, and McDonald’s sundaes.  Sigh!

The doctor had actually just received the ultrasound report from the radiologist so we went through that together.  Apparently, Baboo is quite normal.  The estimated due date based on the sonogram is January 2nd, so we keep inching closer to a potential New Year’s baby if he were to come on time.  The fabulous news for me is that they were unable to see his lips and nose so that would count as a “medically necessary” reason for another ultrasound!!  Unfortunately, the place is booked until October 2nd but at least I will get the opportunity for one more person to confirm the Boyboo-ness.  (And you’ll be relieved to know I’m actually NOT concerned that Baboo doesn’t have lips or a nose– I think it was just a positioning thing!) 

Other than that, all is well here.  Seth’s back in the classroom as of today and is thrilled to only have 2 preps this year.  He’s teaching 2 AP Bio classes, each of which is 2 periods long, plus 1 section of Honors Bio.  So while the AP grading will be a bear, at least it’s only 3 sets of kids.  His JV football team was supposed to have its first scrimmage Saturday night but it was cancelled due to the insane heat we had over the weekend.  He’ll have to wait a little longer to see how his players look in action.

Happy Monday!

Owen is developing really cute love handles and a Buddha belly.  His butt is still fairly tiny and hasn’t kept up with his belly growth.  Now that he kicks his legs really frequently and vigorously, he can work his diaper down his body, leading to plumber’s butt and diaper disaster.  I’ve been pondering solutions for preventing Owens’s clothes from turning into a superfund site, but so far have only come up with ideas for diaper suspenders, judicious use of duct tape, or putting him in bigger diapers that will fasten above his belly (like old man pants).

So O’s new hobby is staring at his right hand and trying to get it into his mouth. This activity requires great focus and concentration for the little dude.  He watches his hand very closely as he brings it closer, to the point of being a bit cross-eyed.  It reaches his mouth some of the time, other times the errant hand hits him in the nose or cheek.  When he does get it to his mouth, he licks it and drools on it with great satisfaction.  My little boy is growing up!

It has been decided that on some sort of sporadic basis, I will feature one of you, my loyal readers, in a blog entry.  In order to obtain this honor, you must contribute at least a nickel to Baboo’s college fund.  This first one I’m doing gratis since this joker’s been on my case for weeks about seeing his name in print. 

Sung to the tune of the main stanzas of ”Yankee Doodle Dandy”….

Baboo has a friend named Joel; he is tall and runs real fast. / He named his doggie after Irish beer; Pennsylvania’s the state of his past.

In the day he is an enginerd, the kind that works with outer space./ He even caught a glimpse of the Queen, when she came to check on our arms race.

He is married to Ka(-a-)thy and they love the kabobs from Maiwand./ Virginia Tech Hokies through and through; of them, we are all quite fond.

Okay, it’s 6:45 AM.  That’s all I got.   CONGRATULATIONS, JOEL!!!!                                                                                                  

When my loyal readers mention that they refresh this page several times daily to see if I have posted updates, I begin to feel guilty for going several days without writing anything!  There’s not much going on here but I’m sure I can come up with something:

I have to drive to Arlington, VA each day this week for a training that starts at 8:30 AM.  For those of you who know Washington area traffic, it’s hard to predict just how long any given trip will be.  Yesterday, it was pouring rain (which is a great thing for our drought!) but I was very concerned it was going to take hours.  That kind of dreary weather and slow driving also makes for a sleepy Emily so I busted out my 1999 mix tape so I could sing loudly in hopes of staying awake.  I made it, so it seems to have worked.

That mean ole Seth, who is back at school for in-service this week before the kiddies start on Monday, gave me his case of the sniffles which of course exploded in me to become a big mess.  I’m hoping the nose-honking will cease today since I’m sure my fellow trainees love listening to it, but now it appears they’ll be treated to a hacking cough serenade instead.  Lovely.

We haven’t gotten a call from the OB this week, so I’m guessing all of Baboo’s measurements, etc, looked okay from the ultrasound once the radiologist read the images.  We did definitely see all 4 major leg bones so my most recent fear of him having no legs has hopefully been avoided.  What should my next worry be?  I can always use some new worries. (HA HA HA)

And sadly, that’s about it for the Kentons so far this week.  Oh, some of you may have noticed there was no vegetable comparison late last week and that’s because the 20 week update did not include one.  Here’s hoping for an exciting veggie for tomorrow’s 21-week newsletter!

I’ve had some requests for belly pics.  So here you go–20.5 weeks and suddenly way preggers!

(Not sure why it’s a bit blurry.  I prefer to think “soft-focus”!!)

I think the whole Boyboo thing was a good kick in the pants to take some action in the nursery-planning arena.  (Of course, Seth would much rather I devote time to finding places for all the papers that are covering every square inch of the nursery-room floor, but I’ll get to that eventually!)  I had a wonderful day yesterday cruising “The Pike” (as in Rockville Pike or MD 355) hitting up all the baby stores.  I had a classic Moore family experience of finding the absolute perfect bedding amidst the cast-offs in a somewhat sketchy store, but the great bargain aspect of it only makes it better!!  I decided to go ahead and buy the bedding set and bring it home to show Seth and it was a winner all around.  So then we could determine that we did indeed want a wood finish crib after all (the original bedding I’d picked out–which was not quite masculine enough for Baboo–would have looked faboo with a black-painted crib.  I then had an intermediate plan that would have featured a white-painted crib, but alas, we’re sticking with the conventional Chestnut finish.)

So after church today, we cruised back over to the Pike and placed an order for the crib and dresser.  I’m pretty pleased that we took care of this all in about a 24-hour span!  (I also picked out carpet samples yesterday and we made a decision about what we’re going to use to recarpet the downstairs so it was seriously a productive weekend!)   After doing the furniture ordering, we hunted down Bob’s Noodle 66, which is a Taiwanese restaurant that has been on Washingtonian magazine’s Cheap Eats list for several years.  I hang the list on the fridge every year so I can try to go to new places and check them off so I was very excited to take care of another one!!  Cheap eats it was– Seth and I both had noodle dishes and an authentic Bubble Tea (not that it was called that) for $15!!  And we probably have 3 servings of leftovers in the fridge!!  To complete our adventure, we went to the Penzey’s store that recently opened as the first in Maryland.  Many of you have heard me sing the praises of Penzey’s spices (or seen my special collection that I keep in the hall closet) so it was very cool to walk around and smell all the spices rather than simply ordering them from a catalog.  We came home with a few new treats so I’ll have to find some good recipes to try them out!!

Ah, the Pike.   Such good times.  (AKH– we realized we have so many Rockville memories of/with you!!  Wish you could have been with us!!)

The ultrasound tech seemed much more intent on completing her “medically necessary” duties rather than identifying Baboo’s identity–and Baboo wasn’t helping much, apparently–but she finally got a shot that allowed her to say she’d “take it to Vegas” that Baboo is indeed a Boyboo!!!   So there was some serious clairvoyance out there on the part of the huge number of you that told me you sensed it would be a boy!!!

We’re excited, of course, but it’s kinda funny– even Seth thought it would be a girl!  So we’re getting used to the fact that it appears to be a boy. I’m only having trouble because I’d picked out a whole bedding/crib combination that I was super excited about but it’s a bit more on the feminine side.  So back to square one with the nursery planning!!   But how fun that we’re going to have a buddy for Thor Sogn and TinyO Dunbar!  The three of them can be Molly Sellers’ protectors! 

I’ve made it back to Maryland and was deposited to my door not too long ago by the best chauffeur service ever, the Christy Express.  (Thanks, Christy!)  I can now turn my attention to the pressing matter of Baboo’s identity.  Tomorrow afternoon is our ultrasound appointment and hopefully (s)he will cooperate.  And yes, I’m looking forward to ceasing the use of (s)he!!

WHOM WILL BABOO RESEMBLE?

  OR    ????