It’s Almost Time!

Holy crap, everybody. It is almost time for the baby! Yesterday, Allison and I went out for a drive to go exploring around Livermore. Along the way, we passed a little park off the side of the road. But this park wasn’t just any park – it was a park with a little bridge. And it wasn’t just any bridge – it was the bridge where I got down on one knee and bribed Allison to marry me with a shiny ring. We both thought it would be fitting to take some pictures there, so that is what we did.

Things are getting super crazy around here as we are getting ready for the baby to come! Like all big things we anticipate (like graduations or traveling or weddings) it still feels a little surreal that this baby is actually happening.

We were so fortunate and humbled to have the out-pouring of generosity from friends and family members showering Allison and Baby (and me, too!) with gifts and advice to prepare for our little girl’s arrival. A lot of major things that we need have been taken care of for us by our loved ones, and Allison and I (and our budget) are very grateful. When I came home after Allison’s baby shower, I was absolutely floored by all the help we received in getting ready for this kid. I wish I could give everybody a hug, but thank-you cards will have to do from this distance – I hope that is okay!

Baby girl’s arrival date is January 31st. The Doctor said to expect her to get here a wee-bit late, so it seems like we’ll be having a February baby. I wonder if she’ll be upset with us for not planning this out properly and making her have a birthday so close to Christmas? I’ve teased Allison with the idea of us having a “birthday week” where we celebrate everybody’s birthdays the week of June 25 so that it is exactly half-way between Christmases. She said no.

BUT Allison is involved with this Facebook group of near-future expectant mothers (she calls it her “baby group”), and there are a lot of people already having their babies a couple weeks earlier than expected. This means Allison and I need to be ready for this baby at a moment’s notice. I understand that we should have already thought about this, but we’re first-timers over here and it wasn’t as real as when it was happening with Allison’s imaginary Facebook friends. SO we’re like chickens with our heads cut off getting the baby room ready and the car seat and pre-washing all the clothes and packing our hospital bags and the diaper bags and getting all that fun stuff ready.

We’re still a little stressed on picking a name for her, but our huge list has been narrowed down to a smaller huge list. But we just keep telling ourselves that after Baby is born, we’ll feel better about choosing a name that our little purple elephant baby won’t hate us for.