Sometimes I wonder where I get the “drive” to write this blog. Well, it is not too hard to figure out where I get it from, my Mom.

My mom (Grandma) has saved some of my favorite toys from when I grew up. Yes, they might be full of lead and probably would not get by today’s federal testing — but Connor has them to play with. From Major Morgan to the Weeble Wobbles, Grandma kept them for her future grandchildren.

Here is a posting on Major Morgan one of my toys when I was growing up and one of Connor’s favorites when he is over Grandma’s house.  Too me (now), it just makes an annoying sound.

And if you want to buy one, it is going for around $90 on ebay here.  (Grandma better keep an eye on those toys…Daddy might start to pay for Connor’s college fund by selling my old toys on ebay.)

Well, Grandma also kept my Christening bib and we were able to use it for Connor’s Christening at St. Jerome’s Catholic Church.  Grandma had it embroided with Daddy’s Christening date and Connor’s Christening date.  That is really special and is something we can hopefully pass down to the next generation.

Thanks Grandma!

Love,
Daddy

…to keep you interested. I promise to post more as soon as I have time.

Victoria (and Connor) continue to grow. We both thought her stomach was pretty big but in the past 4-5 days, I have noticed that it has grown even larger. Victoria started to feel some kicks in the upper middle section of her belly this week. She wondered if it was the baby positioning himself, but the nurse during our birthing class said it was a little early for that. It has been a little cold lately and it is dark quite early now, so Victoria and I haven’t had much of a chance to get out and take a walk. We did manage to take two walks today (1.5 miles each) — one in the morning and one during this afternoon.

As far as the lonely husband part…

Thomas (the orange cat) continues to be with Victoria no matters where she goes. He sleeps in between us on top of Victoria’s snoogle. If I am laying on Victoria’s lap while watching TV, Thomas finds a way to snuggle up with her and make it uncomfortable for me. I joke with Victoria and say that Thomas is her new boyfriend. He is definitely one loving cat and we are so happy that we brought him inside (from being a stray). Hopefully once the baby comes, all three will adjust fine. We believe they will because they have adjusted well to one another.

Here is Victoria on Sept 28, 2007 at Va Beach:

Here she is tonight:

Here is a funny story from our 4d ultrasound visit…

For nearly 42 minutes of the 45 minutes we were getting video of the ultrasound with Connor’s arm, hand, foot, and/or a leg in front of his face. He was covering one eye and sometimes both eyes. The ultrasound technician shook Victoria’s belly, pushed on Connor’s rear-end, and even gave Victoria a glass of water and 3 hershey kisses. Nothing could get him to move his arms away from his face. We all were getting a little tired (and maybe bored) seeing the same pictures over and over again.

Finally, my mom suggested that I tell Connor we were leaving in hopes that he would give us a glimpse of his cute face. I had tried to do a little father-son talk earlier but Connor didn’t want to listen (he was being stubborn like his mommy). 😉 Well, I think I was a little embarrassed from my previous unsuccessful attempt, so I decided not to give it another try. My mom suggested it again, but I just kind of shrugged it off. Well, she started to joke with us all and said, “Connor we are leaving. Connor we are all leaving now.” With only a couple of minutes left, the technician tried one more time to see him in 3D.

FINALLY, we saw his face without the arms and legs blocking our view! Everyone was thrilled and we got some great pictures of his face.

I warned Connor that Grandma can be sneaky like that. Grandma has been known to dress like Santa Claus and also to dress up like a ghost and horrify little kids. (Trust me, she horrified a certain little boy when she was “Casper” AND when she was Santa Claus.)

Well, here is a short video of the last 10 minutes (condensed into 7 minutes). Turn up your sound and have some patience for Connor’s debut. Around 3.5 minutes, you’ll see an unobstructed Connor.

Enjoy and we love you guys!

Donnie, Victoria, and Connor

Here is a 7 minute session of the 4d ultrasound.  Grab your popcorn, sit back, and enjoy.

I’ll put more on later, but need to edit the video a little (too long and quite a few bad shots).

I don’t have much time to post because I am heading out of town, but here are the pictures from this morning.

C.T. is a boy and the grandparents actually might know his name since I was doing a little baby talk in the belly during the ultrasound. (I had try to get him moving around.)

I’ll write more about the experience come next week!

Enjoy these for now…video next week.

We might have to scratch the idea of C.T. (Connor/Tyler) being a professional golfer or baseball player. It seems as though he has a pretty good leg (or maybe it is a right hook). Maybe soccer will be in his future.

Victoria experiences the kicks quite often, but some appear to be stronger than others. The strongest ones don’t happen much, but do get a reaction out of Victoria. Usually as we are getting ready to fall asleep or just when we are getting up in the morning I will feel Victoria jump. It is almost like she his having a restless leg syndrome attack — you know, where you involuntarily kick your legs while laying in bed. I’ll turn to her with a sinister smile and ask, “What was that?” (Knowing darn well it was my future soccer star!) And she replies, “The baby kicked”.

Since he has our attention, I take that opportunity to talk to him and try to “egg him” on some more. I’ll call him by name (wouldn’t you guys like to know the name?) and say “<baby’s name>, it’s Daddy. What are you doing? I love you, <baby’s name>.” Then I’ll just continue to say his name with my hands cupped over Victoria’s stomach and either “good night” or “good morning”.

Sometimes I tell him to “kick mommy” some more. Of course Victoria gives me a look and I just smile and ask him again. I feel him kick quite a bit now and actually had him kick me while I had my head rested against Victoria’s stomach.

Some of you either think I am completely nuts for admitting all of that or think I am just a caring father. (Most definitely a caring father.)

Victoria feels the baby move and kick quite a bit.  I can feel it every now and then and think it is absolutely amazing!!!!  We are both getting excited.

A few weeks ago Victoria say she felt some movement but was not too sure about it.  Well, the baby is now kicking/moving quite a bit now.  She says when she is on the computer he is moving.  When she was driving this evening, she felt him moving and kicking quite a bit.  I see her pushing on her stomach trying to feel it and then she invites me to feel.  It must still be a bit early for me to feel because I could not tell.

I am a bit jealous but think it is cool she is feeling the baby.  It is only a matter of time before I will be able to feel the baby.  I can’t wait.

Victoria felt the baby moving today.  We were having lunch at a Chili’s in Richmond (Short Pump Mall).

After having a turkey sandwich and fries, Victoria felt the baby move for the first time.  She says it was moving in a circular motion and felt weird.