Nine Months

A new home on the range...for this blog.

2006-08-03T07:01:00.000-04:00

I've moved this blog to an new address.

Read more here.

2006-08-01T14:37:00.000-04:00

Hot days off from work--
water main broke; suprised relief.
Tomorrow, too soon.

This morning spent out
with my wife and youngest son.
Cups of chocolate.

We learn another
son will come soon this winter.
A New year's birthday.

Sunday Afternoon

2006-07-30T13:52:00.000-04:00

The kids are outside making a muddy mess. Willy is inside still asleep making this a nice long afternoon nap. Old Radiohead is coming from the iPal. It's a Sunday afternoon. I hope yours is going well, too. Later our Atomictumor cohorts are coming over for a cook out. And to top it all the weather radar looks clear. That can change quickly, but c'est la vie.

We have a Dr's appointment this coming Tuesday and should be able to find out what Cleetus, the Newbaby, will be. I mentioned before that we have some hesitations about learning the baby's sex. I think we've moved past those are going to learn, if we can. Cleetus may be modest, you know, and not show off.

Our Mundane Journey

2006-07-23T21:30:00.000-04:00

The Missus has moved into the 2nd trimester now and life seems a smidge easier for her. She's not so tired now and she's not so sick in the morning. She said to me the other day that, she "could really start eating now."

I'm struck by how different each of the pregnancies have been. They've all been unique and singular experiences. This isn't how I anticipated a pregnancy to be. Certainly I never gave it that much thought before I became a father. Now that I am one I am in awe of the fact that you can't reduce a pregnancy to some abstract of itself. Each is an experience that has a beginning. There is a progression, then comes a culmination. The culmination is not an ending though, by any means.

But I catch myself watching this whole thing sometimes. I Listen as my wife describes what she is going through. I bear with her through most all of it. I am a part of the experience, but I am not of it. It is something other than myself. It's hard to know what to do about that lack of agency, the inability to affect change.

I am reminded of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and I wonder how he felt. We're not told much about him in the Gospels. How bizare it must have been for him to watch as this strange life grew inside his wife. He probably did just what fathers always do when their wife is pregnant. Then he may have realized that each pregnancy is simply a mundane journey, but to someplace new. And that is really amazing.

On our anniversary

2006-07-17T10:06:00.000-04:00

Today is the seventh anniversary of mine and my wife's marriage. I'd like to wish my love a wonderful day. It's a time to think about the places we have been and the people we know and have known. I'm truly blessed to be able to make a life and home together with my wife. May God make his face to shine upon us.

For my love,
Bosphorus

Blue plastic pool

2006-07-15T21:47:00.000-04:00

Here's a picture of the youngest Cemestos Gardenite. He's playing in the little plastic pool we got at Kmart. These are a great and cheap investment for hot summer days with kids. It is, however, imposible to keep grass and etc. out of them.

Now, I have to admit I uploaded the picture's file using picasa, which is great, wonderful, easy to use and all the rest. That may seem unremarkable to you (unless you are my only reader, AT), but I'm suspicious of google's all encompasing efforts at information gathering/organizing. They seem to know computers like santa knows kids. That's another story though and unrelated to a kid sitting in a blue plastic pool that even google could not improve upon.

I'm a homebody

2006-07-03T23:23:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking somewhat about home and what that means. It seems to me that that a good answer for how to live with four kids is to stay close to home. That got me to thinking about how that's a good answer to many questions that float around in my head. Perhaps it just that I'm a Cancer, and they're notorius homebodies, so I'm destined to love my lazy boy. I think there's more to staying close to home however and I'd go so far as to say it's even a good rule of thumb.

How is my life changed if I stay close to home? It certainly affects how I shop, or what I do on the weekend. It could even affect what I eat. Just consider the effects of a garden, if one chose to grow some of their vegetables at home. To do a garden well, you begin to think about your free time differently. You have to spend your evenings home tending the little garden, cussing the critters that help themselves and wondering what the weather tomorrow will be like. See, you're already well on your way to becoming an old man.

But really, I'm intrigued by the ethic of staying close to home. Wendell Berry, no surprise, can shed some light here. He was asked what are some little things people could do to live more consciously of their home. Berry answered:

I think this starts with an attempt at criticism of one’s own economy, which may be the same thing as good accounting. What are the things that one buys? How necessary or useful are they? Almost inevitably when one asks these questions, one discovers that they are extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to answer. That frequently is because the things we buy have been produced so far away as to make impossible any stewardly interest on the part of the consumer. And this recognition leads to an even better question: How can these mysterious products brought here from so far away be replaced by products that have been produced near home? And that question, of course, leads to all manner of thoughts and questions about the possibility of a better, more self-sufficient local economy. What can we neighbors do for one another and for our place? What can our place do for us without damage to us or to it?

Wendell Berry has of course been at this sort of thinking and living for some time, so he asks some pretty well developed questions. His starting point is important. Living close to home means we have to take responsibility for how we live in relation to where we are, so we have to be very conscious of ourselves in relation to those around us. Our self-consciousness, though, has to be guided by some sort of principle and that's where the homebody attitude comes into play.

Nonplused

2006-07-03T23:07:00.000-04:00

A mother and her four children came into the library today to collect their summer library club prizes. She didn't seem too harried and that's good for her, I suppose. They were a well behaved bunch. That gives me hope.

I mentioned that I'm expecting my fourth child this coming January. Now that I think about it she didn't seem overly impressed by the addition to my family. Her reaction was more akin to what I'd expect if I walked up to a fellow Toyota truck driver and said, Hey I drive a Toyota truck, too.

Oh, well.

2006-06-09T21:03:00.000-04:00

I won't be posting for the next week, or so.

In the meantime go over to Atomictumor dot com. You ought to find one hornet's nest or another being kicked around.

It's good fun.

Sleep

2006-06-07T09:09:00.000-04:00

NPR's All Things Considered reports on studies of various methods to get babies to sleep.

Research published Monday offers some of the first strong evidence-based advice on what approach is best at getting a baby to sleep through the night.

We've been fortunate with our babies's sleep habits. Far be it from me to jinx anything at this point, though. Who knows how new baby will sleep.

I do remember that our littlest one was always active in the womb around 9 pm which continued on after birth for several weeks. I also remember pacing the kitchen floor in the wee morning hours with said newborn.

Who knows what makes a baby sleep? At best, sometimes all you can do is sit to sit up with the little boogers. Sometimes that's all you can do.

Mad Run

2006-06-01T21:21:00.000-04:00

I made my first mad run to the grocery store for my pregnant wife tonight. She wanted an ice cream sundae, so an ice cream sundae she got. I got vanilla ice cream, butterscotch and hot fudge syrups, cool whip and cherries. mmmm good. Ate too much, though. Three scoops each about did me and the missus in.

It's funny, but I love these runs. They're missions really. I have purpose when the wife sends me out into the world to for food. I might even turn on the truck's hazard lights next time and run every red light.

Need A Crib?

2006-05-29T21:53:00.001-04:00

The Yardsale Crib Project has come to an end. I'm no longer stipping it and in fact we resold the crib at our own yardsale Saturday. I suppose that's all right, especially when I think about why the Missus and I decided to keep the old crib.

All three of our babies have slept in that old crib as rickety as it is. It's hard to get rid of piece of furniture with that has been through all that. It's a part of the family and I have our middle child to thank for that realization.

I'm a little disappointed, too. It would have been nice to refinish that crib and put it new into the baby's room. I'll have to find something else to fix up for Newbaby.

The story continues, however, because the Yardsale Crib is still here waiting on its new owner. She paid us for it, but never came back in her pick-up to take it home.

Anybody need a baby crib? Its sturdy, partly stripped and free. Just come and pick it up.

Crib Shots

2006-05-25T21:55:00.000-04:00

Here are some shots of the crib. It's slow going, but I've learned a few tricks.

Well, really I've only picked up one trick.

You've got to slather on the stripper for it to work really well.
That's my trick.

My Thumping Heart

2006-05-24T10:11:00.000-04:00

The Missus just had her first OBGYN appointment this morning. Seems all's well.

She called and told me that the Doc took an ultrasound of Newbaby. They were able to hear its heart beating! Think about that. Newbaby is six weeks along and they heard its heart beating.

I keep thinking about this Joseph Conrad quote I read the other day. Conrad talks about,

that part of our being which is a gift, not an acquisition, to the capacity for delight and wonder... which binds together all humanity--the dead to the living and the living to the unborn. (Quoted by Saul Bellow, It All Adds Up)

Newbaby is there, the size of a bean, with a beating heart.

A Place Out of the Wind

2006-05-23T20:50:00.000-04:00

Raisins are wonderful! I especially love these "Golden Raisins" that the Missus bought for me the other day. My Dad used to go hunting with a bird dog. He and the dog, Jane, would go out in the woods looking for grouse. Dad would take along those little snack boxes of raisins and the two would eat them. Jane evidently loved raisins. I think the both of them only ever brought home one grouse for all their work. It was enough to get out in the woods.

I always liked Jane, but she wasn't a pet. Her dog house was off from my house and so she'd stay in the pen. Dad would take her out to work her and go hunting, then she'd go back to her place. Dad had definite notions about how a dog house ought to be made. It should never have the doorway in the middle like you see in cartoons. The house ought to be rectangular, with the opening on one of the long sides. This way the dog would have a place to get into out of the wind. It's important to have place to go where you can get in out of the wind.

I remember when Jane died. Dad buried her not too far behind our house, near the garden. There were trees that lined a west facing fence row. Wind blows ahead of the storms that come up the valley from the South West. The trees kept the wind out of the garden, but it didn't do much good for keeping out the critters. He dug a hole and put her in it. I stood there as he worked. I cried and missed her even though she wasn't really my dog.

Names

2006-05-19T22:42:00.000-04:00

Naming this baby is turning out to be a hard thing to do.

I realize birth is a long way off, but you've got to get a head start. I'm a slacker, and if I'm not careful, I'll end up thinking way harder the week before the due date than I ought to. The missus won't put up with any of this, but I could end up bringing a bunch of three-legged dogs like Enus, Leroy, Sueann, and Sue Anne to the name table.

We found a great book at Books a Million tonight titled, The Baby Name Wizard. Each name entry has a little graph that shows you just how hokey or run of the mill your favorite name is. The name du jour for me turned out to be "cutting edge hip." I didn't mean for it be, really.

Thoughts?

My Sunday Strip Tease

2006-05-14T22:17:00.000-04:00

Stripping a crib isn't easy. The family and I went out yard sale shopping Saturday and ran across a crib. It's in good shape and the price was right, five dollars, so we bought it. The plan is to paint it a variety of colors, but first the old finish has to come off.

The stripper goes on easy enough. It's thick and doesn't run everywhere. You let it dry for 30 minutes and then scrape. The instructions led me to believe the old varnish would come right off. It doesn't. It only comes off in parts, here and there.

Looks like a second, or third, application is in the works.

Nine Months

2006-05-13T22:21:00.000-04:00

This is a blog about the next nine months, from May 2006 until mid-January and maybe right into February. You see, my wife, the Missus, is expecting our fourth baby. How amazing and what a surprise! It struck me the other day that I should keep track of this time, because that's something I didn't do while the Missus was carrying our other three.

But it still may not be obvious why I want to start a blog just about this little bit of time. The best blogs, or rather those I enjoy most, are all very focused. Their authors do allow for some variation and what-not, meandering through whatever catches their attention. I hope I achieve that here. I also want to keep track of what goes on during the pregnancy, from my point of view. I want to help my memory along. I want a place to keep my memories. But as a Dad, what happens during a pregnancy? I'm wondering about that, too. I think this blog will help to find that out.

I also want to share this time, so that's why a blog and not simply a journal. A journal might be better in some respects. It has a romantic charm and writing, the physical act of it, pen on paper, is so much less serious than typing. I don't know if it's the sound of the clickety-clack keys or the fact I can't pull my hair out and type at the some time, but typing is solemn business.

I suppose I will keep an old fashioned journal as this blog's basis. That would make this blog my paper journal's front porch, so come sit a while. Let me know who you are. I think the next nine months will be very... interesting and blessed, too.