Grandma’s Angel: Victoria’s grandmother referred to her as “my angel”. Well, watch as baby Victoria spreads her wings. (5 secs into the clip)

Alright, here are a few 8mm videos from September 1972 where I am rolling over for the first time on video. More 8mm videos of me and hopefully some of Victoria in the near future.

Please don’t overload the website with beautiful baby comments… 😉

Video #1 — Donnie in his playpen. Is that what they are calling a pack-n-play today? Is it JPMA certified? Is that made of organic materials? SAFETY, SAFETY, SAFETY…

Video #2 — Donnie playing with his feet.

Video #3 — Donnie rolling over.

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.)

I know that most of you feel I have been quite involved with this pregnancy.  I’ve been keeping up with the blog and been helping to educate the both of us on the pregnancy and so on.  But honestly, I didn’t feel like too much of a “partner” until tonight.  I’ve been there for every doctor appointment, read things I wish I would have never read, viewed pictures/videos I wish I would have never viewed, and been there every step of the way.

Well, we went to our first Childbirth/Infant class tonight and now I feel as though I have been playing (and will play) a very significant role in the pregnancy and birth.  It was our first class and I left there feeling that I have done a pretty good job preparing to this point.  Now the preparations have shifted into a new gear.  I will be there with Victoria during her labor and now realize how much of a coach/support person I can and will be during the labor and delivery.

We are looking forward to learning more from this class and I am looking forward to the support role I will play for Victoria during labor.

GO, TEAM WOODRUFF!

Here are some pictures and videos of our current babies…

Kuddles, Maggie, and Thomas

Video:

I just realized that we are inside of 15 weeks to go.  We’ve been holding out on furniture and the crib for sometime now but finally decided on what we are doing.  My mom still has the furniture (dressers and bunk beds) that my brother and I grew up with.  It is in excellent shape and when we have two boys (I’ve jinxed myself now), they can room together like Danny and I did.  (They can have nightmares and then the oldest can jump off the top bunk when the youngest experiences a night terror.  Danny — I loved those days, thanks!  😉 )

No, we are not going to put our baby in a bunk bed, but we will use the dressers that my mom has.  We found a crib that matches the furniture pretty closely and have purchased it.  I pick it up next week.

We FINALLY decided on a baby’s theme…  We went back and forth for a few weeks.  Sports, airplanes, sports, airplanes, winnie the pooh, and finally decided on a sports theme.  Believe me when I tell you I searched long and hard for a baby golf theme — they just don’t have much to choose from with regards to that.

I’ve talked about how Baby Woodruff is going to be an Olympic gold medalist, so Victoria and I are thinking about painting the following mural on the wall…

Gotcha!

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.

We haven’t picked a name yet and we have talked about waiting until the day he is born to decide.  I’ve joked we might hold out a couple extra days after the birth.  Mainly to torture the Grandparents.  😉

I’ve been calling the baby ‘CT’ for short — Victoria is not thrilled with that.  She calls him Connor and then I throw in Donald the III.

One thing for certain, James will be the middle name.

with Victoria’s baby shower, the photography business, visiting our new niece (congrats Chad, Catherine, and Brenna), and getting the baby’s room ready. Honestly, I have been taking pictures and videos that I intend to post in the next week or so.

More postings will be coming, stay tuned…