As some of you may know, Jen was actually visiting good 'ole hometown Hendersonville last week. Unfortunately, she got sick the first day and it didn't get any better. She arrived on Thursday afternoon and pretty much stayed in bed from Friday night until Wednesday morning when she left. I was seriously bummed because I had been sick the week before she left and had done everything I could not to get her sick... I mean I didn't even try to kiss her for like a whole week. During her hours in bed though, Jen did some research on the flu and found out that you can catch it from just breathing the same air as someone who has it. It wasn't a fact that made her feel any better, but I kind of felt relieved that it could've been anyone... Maybe even the high school kid that checked her out at youth the other night (not joking)... I mean, it's rude! But she does have that pregnant glow! :)
Anyway, we were worried about little Grady and Jen was afraid to take medicine even though she had a fever. But talking to the Dr. she found out that the fever was more dangerous than the medicine, so she took some Sudafed. She began feeling better, but hadn't felt Grady yet that day. Worry had set in until he started just kickin her like a mule...
Pause the story... prior to her leaving I made her spit-shake and swear on Ducky that she wouldn't let anyone feel him before I did. I mean, this kid is half me... I wanna feel him first (ok I'm a brat) But hey, it's only fair! Jen gets to feel his spaceballs-alien-like-stomach-churning-no-longer-just-fluttery kicks and punches all the time. It's only natural that I want to feel his boot scootin' boogey too.
...When she felt him, she called Gigi in. She was so excited that he was moving again that she must've had a moment of pregnesia because she said those words, "Hey, come here. Can you feel him?" (Wait just a second... I feel so betrayed!!)
Well, needless to say, as hard as he was kicking, Gigi felt him right away. :( All in all, I guess I'll let it slide. :) I mean he's technically some small percentage of her too. Love you GIGI!!!!
That being said, when Jen arrived home from her sick leave in Nashvegas, we had stopped at Sonic for some much needed pregnancy rations (It's new on the menu. Look to your right as you pull in. It's all preggo friendly.) and he started to kick again..... OH YEAH!! This was my big chance.... I channeled all of the focus I had into the synapses of my hand... and... YESSSSS!!!! Me and GradyMac had our first contact!!! He gave me five through Mommy's belly and it was awesome... so slow though... he must've been really concentrating on his form... I told him the key is to "watch the elbow". Grady, Grady, Grady, this is just the beginning of our entertain/annoy Mommy antics! Oh man I love this kid and his Mommy more and more everyday!!!
~A
Grady Lane McGowan
Jett Aubrey McGowan
February 14, 2008
February 2, 2008
Our Little Block of Cheese
Sweet Grady's Face
Profilin'
Gators are #1!!
Because they were doing a sonogram, when we passed beyond the sacred door, we were greeted with a surprise... Instead of turning right just past the frilly leopard print shaded accent lamp... we went LEFT!! We kept our cool though and just followed. It just led into the sonogram room and the lady exchanged some greetings, but we were just like.... let's get to it. It was the normal sonogram lady and a "trainee". So the four (five) of us were in this small room about the size of a pantry and it must have contained the one vent that heated the whole doctor's office, because when she shut the door and turned out the lights, you immediately felt like a human sized chocolate chip cookie baking in a really big oven. Man it was hot... for me... I thought, if I'm hot, Jen's got to be on fire over there laying with her belly exposed and her lower back clinging to that funky tissue paper that they cover the beds with.
Anyway, the real tech lady got to work and she got her measurements and we heard the heartbeat and crown and rump and circumference and yadda yadda yadda. About ten minutes later she had printed out some pictures which can be seen above. (Grady already has a sweet face and a ridiculously long index finger) So just when we thought that we would get some fresh air the lady says, "Would you mind if our trainee took some measurements and marked some things off her chart?" What are you gonna say? At this point, I grabbed Jen's sweating hand. Trainee lady was in her final year of whatever sonogram school, but for real she needed to quit school and become one of those massage people outside of Penny's in the mall. She was beating up my wife and kid with that little nubby detector thing like the Cobras came down on karate kid. And for that matter, She was so so sssoooooo sslloowww and had to repeat everything. Oh man, Grady was totally squirmin doin umbilical cord somersaults and whatever else he could do to get that lady off of him.
Well, we did make it out alive, but not before we spent what felt like two hours in the sono-oven. All in all, we had a great checkup and the fast talking lady Dr. says everything with Grady is Great! Everything is developing perfectly and he weighs 11 ounces. I got to thinking about what we could compare him to just to get an idea and I thought.... ahh the partially eaten block of medium cheddar in our fridge.... Grady, we love you, our little 11 ounce human.
~A
January 20, 2008
Preggo Pics - 17 Weeks
Yes folks, they are here! More highly anticipated than NFL's first perfect season and the Nevada caucus combined. Without further adieu, here are the pictures of my beautiful bride with child. Grady is growing and so is the belly. You can't help but look at these pictures and be struck with amazement thinking about how beautiful our child is going to be... coming from a mother like this, I mean! (And not to mention the other handsome half of his paternal pair.)
We'll be back soon to tell you about Grady's flutters and umbilical jump rope/somersault skills.
~A
We'll be back soon to tell you about Grady's flutters and umbilical jump rope/somersault skills.
~A
January 10, 2008
Baby Name Wizard
Now that we know BabyMac is indeed a boy, it is entrusted to us as parents to come up with a name for this child. A name no doubt that will be unique enough to make him stand out in a crowd and yet not so much so that he curses the day he was born and the parents that bore him.
There is this crazy phenomenon I have experienced during the past few months in regard to realizations. What I have found is that there are a couple stages that you go through. The first stage is titled, "I understand that at some point this is going to happen." It is in this stage that you work up a number of scenarios about the decision you will make, the emotions you will feel, and the words you will say at a particular time. Then there is stage two entitled, "This is for real... wait, is this really happening?" At this time, you kind of cock your head to the side like a dog when he hears you say something familiar, almost as if it just hit you that the moment you've imagined has now arrived. Then all the decisions you had made with your inexperienced brain come into question.
Such was the case with the name that we had picked out for our son, Grady. We had discussed that we both liked the name. In fact, about a year ago Jen and I were talking about what we wanted to name our kids and she mentioned Grady without even knowing that it was my Grandfather's name. From that point on, we were pretty much sold. But then, when the moment came last Thursday to pin the name our prized child, it was a little weird for me. The second realization had come. "Man, are we sure? This is a really big deal! Grady? Is there some cruel nickname that a Jr. High bully could make out of this? We are making a life-altering decision right here and now by giving this kid a name. This is for real!"
Even later on that day I wasn't sure if I was ready to broadcast it to the world, but not to worry, my good sister-in-law and Kim and her CIO Kelly did that for us :) Love you gals.
So Baby Mac's official name is Grady. As for a middle name, well we'll have to consult my new favorite page-turner, "The Baby Name Wizard".
~A
P.S. No seriously, it's my favorite! I would reccommend it to anyone, pregnant or not.
There is this crazy phenomenon I have experienced during the past few months in regard to realizations. What I have found is that there are a couple stages that you go through. The first stage is titled, "I understand that at some point this is going to happen." It is in this stage that you work up a number of scenarios about the decision you will make, the emotions you will feel, and the words you will say at a particular time. Then there is stage two entitled, "This is for real... wait, is this really happening?" At this time, you kind of cock your head to the side like a dog when he hears you say something familiar, almost as if it just hit you that the moment you've imagined has now arrived. Then all the decisions you had made with your inexperienced brain come into question.
Such was the case with the name that we had picked out for our son, Grady. We had discussed that we both liked the name. In fact, about a year ago Jen and I were talking about what we wanted to name our kids and she mentioned Grady without even knowing that it was my Grandfather's name. From that point on, we were pretty much sold. But then, when the moment came last Thursday to pin the name our prized child, it was a little weird for me. The second realization had come. "Man, are we sure? This is a really big deal! Grady? Is there some cruel nickname that a Jr. High bully could make out of this? We are making a life-altering decision right here and now by giving this kid a name. This is for real!"
Even later on that day I wasn't sure if I was ready to broadcast it to the world, but not to worry, my good sister-in-law and Kim and her CIO Kelly did that for us :) Love you gals.
So Baby Mac's official name is Grady. As for a middle name, well we'll have to consult my new favorite page-turner, "The Baby Name Wizard".
~A
P.S. No seriously, it's my favorite! I would reccommend it to anyone, pregnant or not.
January 3, 2008
Snips and snails and puppy dog tails...
...that's what little boys are made of!:)
That's right...Baby Mac was confirmed all boy today! Aubrey was excited that the underdog won in the poll results. I sortof felt like it was a boy all along and I guess I was right!
Hi Mom!
That's right...Baby Mac was confirmed all boy today! Aubrey was excited that the underdog won in the poll results. I sortof felt like it was a boy all along and I guess I was right!
First headshot...a profile which I was scared looked like a "Who" until Aubrey informed me that it was his hand in front of his face!:)
Hi Mom!
Definitely a Boy!
stay tuned!
~jen
January 1, 2008
Technical Stuff
This Thursday we are going upstairs at the doctor's office for an ultrasound that may tell us what we're having. Yes, we do want to find out. We're pretty sure there will be enough to take in on BabyMac's B-day. Oh, and yes, I said "upstairs" because apparently they have an ultra-mega-powerful-magic8ball sonogram that will give us a better chance of finding out. It was really weird, when Jen called up there though. They questioned her like she was a criminal; as if she was some pregnant lady trying to scam a free sonogram off them. I wanted to tell them, "Listen here! Our Doc told us to call you so apparently he wants us to have one! So shut-up and stop pestering my emotionally volatile pregnant wife with technical questions that she doesn't have the answer to!!!" Post-interrogation we were able to secure an appointment.
In my pre-pregnancy mind, it seemed like people didn't find out what they were having, even if they wanted to, until much later. But people find out between 15 and 20 weeks on a regular basis. This is going really fast!
You know, well-intentioned people often tell us "Life as you know it is over!" But I'm kind of glad. Don't get me wrong, I love life as we know it. But this life - pregnancy, Baby Mac, parenthood - is even better!
We'll see Dr. Garner (a.k.a. The Fast-talking Lady Dr.) on Friday. So as soon as we have news we'll let you guys know. In the meantime, that means you only have a couple more days to vote in our poll while it still matters. Your baby predicting reputation is on the line...
Can't wait,
~A
In my pre-pregnancy mind, it seemed like people didn't find out what they were having, even if they wanted to, until much later. But people find out between 15 and 20 weeks on a regular basis. This is going really fast!
You know, well-intentioned people often tell us "Life as you know it is over!" But I'm kind of glad. Don't get me wrong, I love life as we know it. But this life - pregnancy, Baby Mac, parenthood - is even better!
We'll see Dr. Garner (a.k.a. The Fast-talking Lady Dr.) on Friday. So as soon as we have news we'll let you guys know. In the meantime, that means you only have a couple more days to vote in our poll while it still matters. Your baby predicting reputation is on the line...
Can't wait,
~A
Put those people on a leash!
This year already holds the promise of being a milestone in the McGowan family history books. Sometimes we go into a year with enormous expectation for what is to come while other years we have no clue what is about to happen. 2008 looks to be a year for both of these. At the same time we feel so much excitement for BabyMac's arrival, we also feel anticipation for all of the unknowns.
During the past few months and as we continue through the next 5 1/2, there have been and will continue to be rapidly increasing waves of reality that soak in more deeply as time passes. Now, even on the verge of week 15, Jen was saying that sometimes it still feels like we're just pretending. Of course, during the first 12 weeks, the frequent nausea served as a subtle reminder of "Hey, you're pregnant."
There is also the recurring reality that we are going to be parents; a role for which there are no prequalifiers. There are applications for jobs at McDonalds and 7-11, but not for parenthood. You have to take a test and actually pass it to get your driver's license, but there are no tests required by law to have a baby, although we may need to talk to our legislators about that. It's actually quite the dichotomy. On one hand it is rather hilarious (and comforting might I add) to see some of the crazy people that are having kids. Some are celebrities while others are just regular everyday kooky people whose paths you have the privilege of crossing. The other side is that it's really quite sad that their progeny will have to be raised by such crazies! From the outside, these people aren't any more ready to have kids than a couple of caged lab rats. OK, that's mean... but you understand what I'm sayin'... wait, you thought that I was referring to you... Oh no... Of course not... You're not a crazy parent... You're just protective... Hey look out! I think that leash is on too tight... no really his face is blue... no, not your dog...
Sincerely,
Baby Mac's Crazy Daddy
P.S. Happy New Year!!
During the past few months and as we continue through the next 5 1/2, there have been and will continue to be rapidly increasing waves of reality that soak in more deeply as time passes. Now, even on the verge of week 15, Jen was saying that sometimes it still feels like we're just pretending. Of course, during the first 12 weeks, the frequent nausea served as a subtle reminder of "Hey, you're pregnant."
There is also the recurring reality that we are going to be parents; a role for which there are no prequalifiers. There are applications for jobs at McDonalds and 7-11, but not for parenthood. You have to take a test and actually pass it to get your driver's license, but there are no tests required by law to have a baby, although we may need to talk to our legislators about that. It's actually quite the dichotomy. On one hand it is rather hilarious (and comforting might I add) to see some of the crazy people that are having kids. Some are celebrities while others are just regular everyday kooky people whose paths you have the privilege of crossing. The other side is that it's really quite sad that their progeny will have to be raised by such crazies! From the outside, these people aren't any more ready to have kids than a couple of caged lab rats. OK, that's mean... but you understand what I'm sayin'... wait, you thought that I was referring to you... Oh no... Of course not... You're not a crazy parent... You're just protective... Hey look out! I think that leash is on too tight... no really his face is blue... no, not your dog...
Sincerely,
Baby Mac's Crazy Daddy
P.S. Happy New Year!!
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