C-Day +1

Baby Shower!

Here are a few pictures from Charlotte & Alyse's first baby shower in Tyler last Saturday, December 10. We obviously want to thank everyone for all the wonderful gifts and for making it such a special day for the new mommy!

A special thanks to Dre, Amy, and Sara for preparing the event and thanks to Aunt Narva and Shanna for taking pictures.












I will try to obtain any photos from the shower given the next day by Charlotte's sisters, mom, and aunt and post them soon.

32 Weeks!

I guess I've always had some difficulty understanding Alyse's movements—especially how hard they can be or how sometimes we can feel (what I would guess is) her back stretching sideways across the top of Charlotte's tummy.


This illustration, however, clears up pretty much all of that confusion. As I can now see, she is really cramped in there! A good thing, then, over the course of the next eight weeks she'll probably only grow another inch or so.

Provided she completes a full 40 week term, Alyse has completed 80% of her tenure in the womb.

Merry Christmas!

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(Alyse's due date is exactly two months from today!)

30 WEEKS!

Alyse has completed 75% of her stay in the womb. She truly is on the homestretch now.

Baby Registry

We've finally become sucked into Target's cooperate vacuum of registering for baby stuff so that all of our friends and family will come into Target stores, empty their pockets and scuttle off. (I put a link to the registry in the sidebar in case you are browsing the baby blog again someday and randomly decide to go out and buy more stuff!)

Fine by me, of course, so long as the stuff is plentiful and free.


As we were dutifully and greedily scanning items at will, an old friend of Charlotte's approached us and exclaimed, "Are you expecting??"

You know, as I reflect on it now, the question, "are you expecting" is one that should really never be asked. Obviously, if one is too unsure as to the actuality of the pregnancy and requires additional confirmation from the person in question, he is fiddling much too much in dangerous territory.

28 Weeks!

Twenty-eight weeks has arrived. Being the mathmatical genius I am, I made the following calculation on my cell phone calculator:

28/40=0.7

This means, obviously, we are roughly 70% through the pregnancy. This also means, also obviously, there is only roughly 30% of the pregnancy left. But something tells me, given Alyse's superior genetic makeup, she'll be ready ahead of schedule—even if it is only two days early and I get my wish of a groundhog baby!

There have been many significant changes in Alyse's demeanor over the past few weeks. What once were sporadic and quick movements have transformed into longer, sustained movements over the surface of Charlotte's belly. In fact, several times throughout the day one may feel a large solid spot (which is either her head, back, or bum), if one was so inclined. Sometimes Charlotte and I sit and watch her belly during Alyse's most active times and just watch it move, and move, and move, and move....

Your Heart is My Home

I've got to tell you, I've never felt so happy about losing. Charlotte and I couldn't be more proud. Here are the ultrasound pictures of Alyse Lenore Allen:


It's very obviously a girl. Fortunately, we were able to see right away. Also, the arrow is very helpful.


Here is a regular ultrasound image of the face.


And here's her little foot...


This is very clearly a 3D image.


This is a 3D image of her profile.


And here is an incredible picture of our daughter. Not that you won't be able to tell, but she has her left hand over her left eye.




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For Posterity's Sake...

Charlotte and I are due at the doctor's office in a few hours for the big ultrasound, the one that reveals the baby's big secret. Reflecting upon some of my final thoughts while our son or daughter, whom has erstwhile been referred to by me as simply "Baby", is still "genderless," I have one final confession to make:

I think it's a boy.

While early in the pregnancy, we were so excited about having a baby, the sex really didn't matter. Then, around the third or fourth month, Charlotte and I really started to lean towards wanting a girl as a first child. Recently, however, I've really started to feel like maybe it is a boy. I don't know, just an overtly reasonless gut feeling.

But just as everything between Charlotte and I has to be a competition, I thought this would be a great way to record the ulimate of all competitions. If history maintains its consistency, the winner shall be me. If it has a trick up its sleeve, as it has so very few times in the past, it will be Charlotte. Only time will tell.

Drew vs. Charlotte.

Boy vs. Girl.

Chief vs. McLoud.

What do you think, sirs?

25 Weeks!

Baby Journal

Interestingly, I was at Walden Books just browsing around when I happened upon this baby journal in the baby section. Although I'm not much of a baby book aficionado, I felt this one was extremely sharp—it really asks the right questions and deals with aspects of the baby's life that I think are very important. Also, in this day and age, it's becoming increasingly harder to find a baby journal that doesn't have a huge commercial theme to it (e.g., SpongeBob, Where's Waldo, McDonalds, Desperate Housewives, and—of course—the much-too-much overused Curious George line). Also, it seemed neat the "author's" name is Amy Allen. You can see something of it at http://www.humblebumbles.com/.

Big Girls Are Best

We're almost at twenty-four weeks which is told to be around the time when the higher processes of the baby's hearing become fully developed. Ergo, we've started reading to the baby every night. The first book officially read to our baby was The First of Octember! by the late great Dr. Suess. The Crime & Punishment reading (followed by other Dostoevsky works, time permitting) is scheduled to commence for the beginning of the 28th week.

Also, the fact that Charlotte's belly is larger than my head speaks volumes of its enormity.

One Step Closer to Knowing...

We had our monthly appointment with the doctor today. He is different from other baby doctors in that he makes folks wait 26 weeks before getting the ultrasound that reveals the sex of the baby. So the only time we've been able to see our son or daughter was the first ultrasound at about 10 weeks. Every month, the good doctor uses one of those doppler-type devices so that we may hear the baby's heartbeat. Charlotte and I have been fairly certain we have an extremely active child and this notion was confirmed when the doctor had to repeatedly move his instrument to hear the heartbeat, so much was the baby was moving around.

In related news, we'll finally know whether we'll be having a son or a daughter on October 28 at 1:00. Finally, we'll be able to do away with this "he or she" nonsense.

22 Weeks!

Mas Grande

Here is Charlotte 21 weeks along and only 19 (or so) more to go. The doctor told us that at about 18-19 weeks she may start to feel the baby move. It wasn't until the 20th week that she suddenly felt a little bump one night after I had routinely put my hand on her belly. A few days later, I was absolutely shocked to feel a little jolt myself. In fact, two nights ago, the baby was notably active—Charlotte placed my hand on the top of her stomach and I got a BIG kick. It continues to amaze me.

Baby 10 Weeks Old!

It's so hard to believe this was taken more than 11 weeks ago in the middle of July. It seems as though the Obstetricians of America are conspiring against us, as we will not be able to see our baby again until the first part of November. Actually, it's not so annoying now that the baby has started to flail about in the womb. It comes as a huge suprise to me that I would already be able to feel the baby move this early in the pregnancy. Those kicks keep getting stronger and stronger...

Coming Soon...

I look forward to seeing you in February.