2nd doctor's appointment

Em and I went to her doctor's appointment yesterday. We heard the baby's heartbeat again. This time it was about 150 beats per minute. So far, so good! I was more than a little concerned, however, when the doctor was trying to find the baby's heartbeat because it seemed like she couldn't find it for a minute. Then, after what seemed like an eternity (even though it was only about 15 seconds or so) the heartbeat came through. The ultrasound is scheduled for July 20th. I can't wait.

One more favorite memory to share

I waited to tell my brother that Emily was pregnant. I wanted to wait until I could tell him in person. Dad and I went to Illinois to visit them at the end of April. The way that I told them was pretty fun. I took my 4-year-old nephew, Colin, into another room and whispered into his ear, "Go tell mommy and daddy that Uncle Aaron and Aunt Emily are going to have a baby!". His eyes lit up with a gasp and he ran out to Heather and whispered it into her ear. He whispered loud enough for my brother to hear it across the room. Heather, as I expected, said "It's about time you got that thing workin'!".

Oh yeah, THAT

The real reason I wanted to start a blog was to chronicle our pregnancy and the events leading up to what I'm sure will be our happiest day. From time to time I would like to post some highlights.

My favorite memory thus far, was telling Grandma and Grandpa Morr. Emily and I went over to their house and we were sitting on their back patio, just chatting. Grandma said, "Well, what's new?" almost like she knew all about it. So I just smiled and said, "Well...", and I started tripping over my words because I never really thought about how I'd actually tell them. And she asked, "Is it what I think it is?". So I confirmed it. It took Grandpa a minute to figure out what we were talking about. Then I looked over and his mouth fell wide open when it occurred to him. Then he jumped to his feet quicker than I have ever seen him move and gave Emily a big hug. There were hugs all around. It was a great memory that I'll cherish forever.

I told my Dad first, though. We went out to eat at the Red Robin and had a burger. He and Mom had just signed their divorce papers earlier that day and he was not in the best of spirits. We chatted a bit and I waited to tell him until we were on our way out of the restaurant. I was eager to give him some good news that day to lift his spirits a bit. I told him, "I want to give you a little good news since you've had a hard day...Grandpa." I knew it wouldn't have quite the same effect since my brother has already had 2 kids and he's already a grandfather, but I figured he'd get it. And he did. He put his arm around me as we walked to the car saying, "fantastic!". I was happy to give him some good news that day.

When we got back to his house, Mom was sitting in her car in the driveway waiting for him to get home so they could talk. We all went inside and that was a great time to tell her, too. She needed some good news that day, too. She gave me a big hug and got kind of teary. It was quite the bittersweet day.

Black Cloud, Go Away

Holy cow, what's next? After a week of bad luck, it continues.

I blame all of the following on cold weather: I lost my jacket last week. I think I left it at a restaurant. What's worse is my checkbook was in it. I NEVER carry my checkbook with me, but it was a Sunday and I was running late for church, so I threw my checkbook in my jacket so I could write a tithe check at church. It was the last cool day of the season. If it was warm, I would have just put the checkbook in my pants pocket.

• Stupid black cloud event number one: Cold weather in late MAY
• Stupid black cloud event number two: I never carry my checkbook with me, but I did this day

So about 6 days after it's gone, I need to write some checks to pay the bills and notice it's gone. I backtrack to the last time I remember having my checkbook and remember the restaurant. So I go to the restaurant and the manager offers to check his security camera tapes to see if I had my jacket with me at that time.

• Stupid black cloud event number three: We were sitting behind a partition and out of the camera's sight.

So I go home and fret about who has my checkbook and how many plasma TVs they are buying with it. Then I do a bunch of laundry and during the 2nd or 3rd load of laundry,

• Stupid black cloud event number four: The washing machine's drain hose decides that it would like to come out of it's hole in the wall, spilling water all over...
• Stupid black cloud event number five: ...the new wood laminant flooring that my brother-in-law just laid about a week before. Now the boards are a little warped where they come together.

Now I'm in the middle of the week and at work, I'm having a pretty bad week. I'm getting bad calls that I couldn't sell if my life depended on it. I sold a renters policy yesterday after spending alot of time with this lady and...

• Stupid black cloud event number six: ...she calls back no more than 30 minutes later and tells one of my co-workers to cancel the application. This was my only sale of the day. Our goal is 4 per day.

I called her back to see if she had any questions and her kid picks up the phone and I hear her in the background saying she's not home. We were $100 less per year than her current policy. I don't understand.

Anyhow, there are some good things (I'm not a completely gloomy person).

• Our baby is healthy as far as we know. It's heart was beating at about 160 bpm, which the doctor said was great. I can't wait for December 6th.
• Tivo stock is rising.
• It's a new day.

The Grand Entrance

I haven't kept a log since I had a diary (but we'll call it a journal) in my youth around 1984 or so. We'll see what happens.