William Alexander. The scourge of the west. Firstborn heir to the throne of Ramme. He will fell mighty enemies and wade through his adversaries; the proverbial scythe to the dry wheat field of this world. “Parvus Leo,” they will call him. The Little Lion. Legions will follow him, so strong will his charisma be. Women will fawn over him, professing unfailing love at the mere sight of him. His initials beget his unflappable, undeniable, glorious future.

He will come. He will conquer. He will pee his pants for several years until successfully potty trained.

Yes, we are having a boy. And if you cannot tell by his (slightly hyperbolic) introduction, I’m more than a little bit excited. At the onset of this whole ordeal, if you were to have asked me if I wanted a son or a daughter, I’d probably have picked the latter.

Thinking back on it, I’m not sure why.

Maybe it was my natural inclination to be attracted to anything cute and cuddly (I did marry Toni, after all). In hindsight, however, having a boy feels totally right. For one thing, it re-balances the gender levels in the household. As you all know, I already live with two girls, and one of them is a real bitch (ba-dum, ching!). So any additional injection of testosterone can only be perceived, from my perspective at least, as a good thing. Secondly, I won’t have to worry about figuring out adverse anatomy or any weird little girl traits that I was unaware of. Instead, I get an almost carbon copy of myself. As such, when he’s three years old, running around naked, and making car noises while holding onto a disconnected length of garden hose, I won’t be in the least bit concerned for his mental well being. I’ll be able to assure all those who stare, slack jawed in mute horror, that it’s perfectly normal. Hell, I turned out fine!

Really though. We're super excited. I know this took forever for me to get up here (we found out the gender 3 and half weeks ago; sue me), so I really, really mean it when I say I'll get another update up sooner rather than later.

My (not so) Regular Update!

Hey you all (or, for Marissa and Jordan, “y’all”):

I realized that I should provide a quick update, given that not only have I fallen back into the rut of not writing anything on here, but also because Paige Fillingame started pestering me, and I figured I better do something before she decides to sue.

Okay, so, how have things been going?

Firstly, Toni is most certainly over her first trimester “blah” feelings. She’s just about 20 weeks now, and feeling great. The only reoccurring symptoms she seems to have are peeing, constantly having to pee, and peeing a lot. Did I mention she always has to pee?

Since my last posting, we’ve had 3 additional doctors’ appointments. All of them have been great. We’ve now heard Baby’s heartbeat twice, and both times were absolutely surreal. I can’t help but get totally giddy each time I hear that rhythmic “whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.”

…Aaaand there goes Toni to the bathroom. Pee time!

That crazy lady. She’s becoming more and more excited about having a child with every passing day. I think this is due to a combination of her growing belly and the increasing activity of Baby. About a week and a half ago, she started feeling a distinct fluttering, which has continued to intensify. By now, Baby must be doing little calisthenics in there or something, because she claims to feel it all the time. Unfortunately, I can’t yet feel the baby on the outside, but I guess I can take that trade off, being that I’m not the one peeing all the time.

Speaking of which, back to the bathroom! What’s that honey? Oh no no, I’d never write that into the blog. Love you too.

Ahhhh well. We have our second ultrasound on the 28th, during which we should (fingers crossed) find out the sex of Baby. And I. Cannot. Wait.

Right now, it feels like we’re standing at “V” in the road, with two possible outcomes: boy, or girl. We daydream about baby and use lots of leading “If” statements. “If it’s a boy, I can’t wait for…,” or, “If it’s a girl, isn’t it going to be amazing when…”. Come the 28th, hopefully we’ll know which side of that road we’ll take, and then our daydreaming can graduate from the “If” phase to the “When” phase, which will, frankly, be amazing. I feel like I already love Baby so much, even though I’m mentally splitting that feeling between the image of a son or daughter. I can’t wait until I know what we’re having for sure, and I can focus that feeling onto that one "him" or "her" who I haven’t yet met, but have already fallen for.

Sorry, I’ll be right back, I’ve gotta get more toilet paper for Toni. She’s peeing again.

Well, where were we? Ah yes. Yesterday was perhaps the most exhilarating portion of the whole pregnancy so far: registering at Babies R’ Us. I learned three primary things at Babies R’ Us:

1. Babies are stupidly expensive, and, as a corollary, have way too many "required" accessories. A $10 pacifier case? Better get a job, little baby Ramme.
2. We love you all a lot. Like a lot-a lot. Like the $200-car-seat-on-our-registry a lot.
3. There are a ton of cute baby clothes and toys, and if I’m as bad at saying “no” to my children as I am at saying it to my dog, I’m in a lot of trouble.
   

So that’s about it. No pictures this time. I’ll update with Toni’s profile belly shot when I have the time, and I’ll be sure to add more after the ultrasound in two weeks, when things really kick into gear. I’d keep typing, but I hear Toni yelling something from the bathroom.

Lots of love!
T&T

Ultrasound

So today, it was with much excitement, and only a hint of anxiety, that Toni and I headed into Providence Medical to have our (really "her," but I'm trying to stay as involved as possible, here) first ultrasound done.

First, a quick history. Toni and I had been to three doctor's appointments regarding Baby (the name, until we find out the sex) before today. At two of those appointments, Dr. Breeze, Toni's wonderful OBGYN and our primary doctor, had attempted to hear a heartbeat, to no avail. He had assured us that there was nothing wrong, and that by the looks of everything, Baby was developing normally, and that Toni was petite and simply too early in her pregnancy to get a "blip" on the heartbeat monitor.

Nonetheless, he realized that, aside from a slightly extended stomach, we were basically going on faith that Baby was doing fine. That in mind, he set us up for an ultrasound for today, to solidify everything.

So, we arrived at Providence Medical, which is the hospital where Baby will eventually be born. Toni, as she is prone to do lately, what with a growing child smashing up on her blatter and everything, was on the edge of peeing her pants in the car ride over. Upon arrival, she rushed to the bathroom to do her business.

Five minutes later, the ultrasound tech greeted us with a quick "So you haven't peed yet today, have you?"

Turns out, she was suppossed to do this whole thing with a full bladder. No one had told us. "Well, we may not be able to see anything," the tech says, "but we'll try." Downcast, we both concede that we may, AGAIN, be foiled in our attempts to meet Baby for the first time. Oh well.

And yet, as soon as Toni was on the table, jellied-up ultrasound wand pressed to her stomach, Baby was instantly on the screen.

(Click to Make Bigger)

I honestly can't explain how much of a shock that was. Literally the second the tech set the wand on Toni's stomach, that was the image we saw. And "image" is a bit of a misnomer, as Baby was anything but static; in fact, Baby was kicking and bouncing all over the place. Hiccuping. Stretching its legs. It was absolutely surreal to know that something so amazing was growing inside of my wife.

To top it off, everything looked totally normal. Heartbeat was in the perfect range; size was good. Baby had really long legs (wonder where that comes from?), and a really cute face (ditto). And as happy as I am for you all to see the pictures, they really don't do justice to how amazing it is to see.

Love you all, and we'll keep you up to date.

T&T

Suprise!

Hi world!

-