Meet The Wee One!

As promised, here is a first look at Baby F., or as s/he is currently known, "The Wee One." We thought it was kind of funny that ultrasound technician kept referring to the baby as "The Wee One" ("... and there's The Wee One's arm ... and there's The Wee One's bladder ...") but it's really grown on me. I think it fits for now. It sounds much nicer than "Baby," or "It," or, as Chris suggested, "Alien Robot Shrimp."

Here's the side view at 13 weeks

Compare it to the view at 8 weeks. Pretty amazing how much s/he has grown in just over a month.

Back to 13 weeks. You can actually see a face!!! (Though perhaps this helps you understand where the"Alien Robot Shrimp" moniker came from.)

Good looking kid, but then again that's no surprise ...

Up the duff*

We're having a BABY!!! That's right, devoted readers. There will soon be another member of the Fonze clan, scheduled to make his/her debut on May 1. Exciting and hard to believe!!!

I took a home pregnancy test on my lunch break on August 20, after I felt a little queasy and suspected something might be up. Still, I was rather shocked and astounded when it actually turned positive. So I went and bought two more. They both turned positive, and suddenly things seemed a bit more real and exciting. I called Chris at work and asked if I could come by to bring him a present. He thought I was bringing him candy, so he was pretty speechless & excited when I plopped the pregnancy tests on his desk. Definitely the most fun surprise I've ever been a part of!

Sorry to have held out on you this long, devoted readers, but we wanted to get through the first trimester before spreading the word. Baby Fonze is now at 13 weeks and looking good. We just had a great ultrasound today and all of the measurements were in a healthy range. I promise to post new sonogram pictures in the next day or two.

So far I've had a pretty easy pregnancy with only a few symptoms -- extremely tired, acne (gross! no one warns you about that one!), and little waves of nausea, but no serious sickness. No crazy cravings -- no crazier than usual, anyway -- although I do swing from eating super healthy one day to wanting burgers and chips the next. No cute baby belly yet, though my pants are getting tight from bloating (and from burgers and chips).

We are planning to learn the sex of the baby at the next ultrasound, which will probably be around the first week in December. (Not so much because we have any preference, or because we want the nursery dripping in blue or pink, but because I am painfully impatient.) We will not be sharing Baby's sex on the blog, however, because our two most devoted readers (Hi, Moms!) have both specifically requested that they don't want to know until s/he is born. But if you are not our either of our mothers, and you don't want to wait until May, pop me an email and I'll hook you up with the highly classified info once we know.

I think that's about all of the exciting news to report for now, though I suspect there will be lots more where that came from. Looking forward to meeting you, Baby!

* Kiwi slang for "preggo."

Awww.

I looked up a minute ago to see Chris konked out in the chair, still listening to whatever is on his headphones. It is super cute. He will probably be mildly annoyed when he wakes up and learns I put this on the blog, but fortunately he is generally a good sport about such things.

Boo.

Every day at work, I spend about a twenty minutes engaged in a cultural dialogue with the other researcher in my department, a Kiwi who was born and bred in Dunedin. She is quite bubbly and outspoken and she has travelled rather extensively in the U.S., so we regularly have a little back-and-forth about our two countries.

Our conversations about the United States tend to go like this:

Her: Help me understand the electoral college. It hardly seems democratic that your presidential vote has no effect if you are in the political minority for your state.

Me: Look thoughtful and try to remember what they told us in 12th grade government class. Give up. Shrug.

My questions about New Zealand tend to be much simpler. (e.g. Me: Is there any good American-style pizza in Dunedin? Her: No. And I agree that the pizza I had in America was much, much better than anything I've had in New Zealand. Sorry. Me: Will you proofread this letter I wrote to check my NZ English? Her: You forgot to put a "u" in "behaviour.")

Today I wanted to know if Kiwis celebrate Halloween. Our conversation went something like this:

Q: Do Kiwis celebrate Halloween?
A: Eh, sort of.
Q: So, I should expect to get some trick-or-treaters? I should have some candy on hand?
A: Eh, you may get a few, but don't worry if you forget. They don't necessarily expect it.
Q: What do you mean? Isn't candy the whole point of trick-or-treating?
A: Well, they know that some people won't have it, so if you don't have it, they won't care.
Q: You just answer the door and say, "Ooh, nice costume. But we're not giving you candy." ?
A: Basically.
Q: And that's okay?
A: Well, yeah.
Q: Nobody eggs your house?
A: No!
Q: Do people carve pumpkins? (in retrospect, I now realize this was kind of a stupid question, since we are going into spring here and pumpkins are going out of season)
A: Nah.
Q: Do people have costume parties, like for adults?
A: Nah. I mean, if you want to have a costume party it wouldn't be the weirdest thing ever -- especially since you're American people might expect it from you -- but generally, no.
Q: So it's just a handful of kids, wandering the neighborhoods, maybe or maybe not hoping to get some candy?
A: Pretty much. What day is Halloween again, anyway?

I don't know why this conversation depressed me as much as it did. It's not like I'm a huge Halloween person. In the States I was usually digging through a thrift store on October 30, frantically trying to find something to pass for a costume. Last year we had to shut off the lights on our house and sit in the dark because we ran out of candy at 7:30 (except for the peanut butter cups which I saved, of course). But still, it is an important day to mark the season, act a little silly, eat miniature candy bars you would normally never buy, and drink beer with your friends. I believe I am going to miss it. Eat a Reeses cup for me.

A very happy birthday to my dear Daddy-o! I love you!!!