Seems this has been an issue for some...
It should be fairly simple. You should click the comments link at the bottom of a blog post. Type your comments into the box. Then choose "Anonymous" from the drop-down box. Unless you have an account here, or a URL of your own, your only option is anonymous, so please put your name/signature in the comment box itself. Hit "Preview" to check that it's right, then "Post Comment" from there. It should send me an e-mail to confirm your comment and I can publish it from there. I had it set up with a word verification box, but I removed it since it wasn't showing up for everyone. Maybe that was the problem? Anyway, it's gone now so please try again!
Mama, Daddy, and Baby
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Adam's blog on Opportunity
This world is so unpredictable and jacked up, yet I feel so lucky to introduce another human being to the madness. As all of the positive thoughts of opportunity for the young lad come to me throughout the day, I can't help but think of the serial-killing, balloon-animal-making clowns wandering the playgrounds, who will potentially infect my kid's brain. Well, if you have kids, you have thought of the same crap. No really...you have.
I know in the "perfect world," I will always have enough time to teach, groom, and teach some more. Throwing footballs, playing instruments, coaching soccer teams, enjoying field trips, and reading the books that government schools don't provide—these are all great opportunities for...well, me. My "Dad" picture of myself has alluded to those activities from my perspective until recently. However, now that mini-me is taking shape and Kimmy and I are discussing the foundation for his childhood, I have started viewing these things from his point of view.
Essentially, I have taken the term "Opportunity" and transitioned it from my opportunities to his opportunities.
Think about it. Little dude has no preconceived ideas, biases, opinions or hatreds (yet). So he will be completely impressionable, clean and ready for action. So, what are the things I can teach him?...hmmm?...
How about Scientology?...those people have clean bodies and an original though process, I guess.
How about a street performer? They are creative, independent and popular (for two minutes at a time).
The reality is, with years of expensive training and determination, he could become a paper salesman. Not just any paper salesman—he could become the #1 paper salesman in the Southeast! I once had a college professor who used to sell needles and thread for a living. Somebody has to do that stuff!
So, in the "perfect world," my kid is going to be the next Brett Favre. However, in reality, I know he will find his place in society with a boring job where his main concern is to not get papercuts from his own product (there are a billion Chinese kids who would love to know what that feels like).
There is so much opportunity out there! He could be the next Hugo Chavez! What?...Hugo made it to the top, baby! Hey it's MY kid, he can be a dictator if he wants to. You gotta have goals, you know?
I know in the "perfect world," I will always have enough time to teach, groom, and teach some more. Throwing footballs, playing instruments, coaching soccer teams, enjoying field trips, and reading the books that government schools don't provide—these are all great opportunities for...well, me. My "Dad" picture of myself has alluded to those activities from my perspective until recently. However, now that mini-me is taking shape and Kimmy and I are discussing the foundation for his childhood, I have started viewing these things from his point of view.
Essentially, I have taken the term "Opportunity" and transitioned it from my opportunities to his opportunities.
Think about it. Little dude has no preconceived ideas, biases, opinions or hatreds (yet). So he will be completely impressionable, clean and ready for action. So, what are the things I can teach him?...hmmm?...
How about Scientology?...those people have clean bodies and an original though process, I guess.
How about a street performer? They are creative, independent and popular (for two minutes at a time).
The reality is, with years of expensive training and determination, he could become a paper salesman. Not just any paper salesman—he could become the #1 paper salesman in the Southeast! I once had a college professor who used to sell needles and thread for a living. Somebody has to do that stuff!
So, in the "perfect world," my kid is going to be the next Brett Favre. However, in reality, I know he will find his place in society with a boring job where his main concern is to not get papercuts from his own product (there are a billion Chinese kids who would love to know what that feels like).
There is so much opportunity out there! He could be the next Hugo Chavez! What?...Hugo made it to the top, baby! Hey it's MY kid, he can be a dictator if he wants to. You gotta have goals, you know?
The Story of Sprout's Room
Well, from what I can remember…the fumes in there were killer!
But I digress… so far the room is perfect, and I love spending time in there already. Most of the furniture (crib and changer given to us by Mike and Jenn, thanks!) is painted and in place. I am still mulling over some different ideas for what to do with the crib in my (scatter)brained head. The frame will be black, definitely, but I might add some special green flourishes for visual interest. (I know, I know, Grandma, you think I’m crazy, but look how sharp everything else looks in black! There will be so many colors in the room eventually, you won’t even notice it.) With the room mostly done, I have about four more months to sort out the rest of the details. HOLY SHIT! ONLY four more months! Where did the time go? I need to get crackin’! Buh-bye now!
KIDDING! Lots of ventilation, folks, I promise! And lots of help and breaks, too. :-)
To begin with, deciding which room to choose was a certified Pain in the Ass. Not that the baby cares, but for me to give up the somewhat spacious spare bedroom/office? Or for Adam to give up sole rights to his instrument-laden “man room”? Decisions, decisions… and sacrifices galore!
Well, the whole thing is still in semi-transition, but as we put everything together in the room we think the nursery was meant to be, the project is starting to fit together like the pieces of an unsolved jigsaw puzzle. First, we decided to put the office in together with the drums—two things you would think wouldn’t mesh, but you’d have thought wrong, haha! Adam had the great idea last night to make the drum/computer room a sort of “learning center,” as he dubbed it, for the kiddo. What a great idea, daddy! He’s already talking about setting up baby-sized instruments in there right alongside his big guy stuff! It will be fun to see the two of them banging away side-by-side. (Get the Tylenol and ear plugs ready, y’all! I’m just sayin’…) Plus, with the computer in there, we can possibly set our Sprout up with his own tiny desk and maybe some Leap learning stuff if we can fit it all in. We’ll have our iTunes library so conveniently nearby to play along to… You know, now that Adam expressed the concept in that light, I can think of a ton of great reasons to put all that stuff in the same room together. We’re figuring it out as we go, and trying to find the positives of dealing with NOT a lot of extra space. (Less to clean, hmmm—does that count?) So that’s that.
As for the nursery itself, we agreed in terms of the room being relatively gender-neutral, so to speak. After all, how many times do you want to have to redo a room, right? What if the next time, we have a girl? I personally think that girls deserve the same exposure to the same colors as little boys do, and vice versa, so I was against using either pink or blue as the primary colors. So we (I) decided on some other colors and off I went to the hardware store for some samples. I wanted a theme that a kid could grow into, so I figured jungle animals would be a good one. Bonus: it went with the colors that Adam and I are partial to anyhow throughout the rest of our house. In his defense, poor Adam wasn’t so sure about the theme to begin with, I don’t think, but the idea grew on him. Who doesn’t like funky monkeys?
So we went from a boring beige box of a boudoir to what you see in the pictures! Ta-Da! It was quite a project that took a lot of time and patience, but the return is totally worth it. My dad, my niece Michaela and I painted the bottom half of the room a deep olive green and then installed a creamy white chair rail slightly higher than you’d normally see one. The top half we left the original color, just to simplify things a little and to leave a distinct tie-in to the rest of the house. Michaela decided, 
when presented with two options of colorful quirkiness, that the circles would look the best of my two potential paint schemes. After all her hard work, she got out a little creative energy drawing animal faces within the circles! She was such a good painter for it being her first time.
To begin with, deciding which room to choose was a certified Pain in the Ass. Not that the baby cares, but for me to give up the somewhat spacious spare bedroom/office? Or for Adam to give up sole rights to his instrument-laden “man room”? Decisions, decisions… and sacrifices galore!
Well, the whole thing is still in semi-transition, but as we put everything together in the room we think the nursery was meant to be, the project is starting to fit together like the pieces of an unsolved jigsaw puzzle. First, we decided to put the office in together with the drums—two things you would think wouldn’t mesh, but you’d have thought wrong, haha! Adam had the great idea last night to make the drum/computer room a sort of “learning center,” as he dubbed it, for the kiddo. What a great idea, daddy! He’s already talking about setting up baby-sized instruments in there right alongside his big guy stuff! It will be fun to see the two of them banging away side-by-side. (Get the Tylenol and ear plugs ready, y’all! I’m just sayin’…) Plus, with the computer in there, we can possibly set our Sprout up with his own tiny desk and maybe some Leap learning stuff if we can fit it all in. We’ll have our iTunes library so conveniently nearby to play along to… You know, now that Adam expressed the concept in that light, I can think of a ton of great reasons to put all that stuff in the same room together. We’re figuring it out as we go, and trying to find the positives of dealing with NOT a lot of extra space. (Less to clean, hmmm—does that count?) So that’s that.
As for the nursery itself, we agreed in terms of the room being relatively gender-neutral, so to speak. After all, how many times do you want to have to redo a room, right? What if the next time, we have a girl? I personally think that girls deserve the same exposure to the same colors as little boys do, and vice versa, so I was against using either pink or blue as the primary colors. So we (I) decided on some other colors and off I went to the hardware store for some samples. I wanted a theme that a kid could grow into, so I figured jungle animals would be a good one. Bonus: it went with the colors that Adam and I are partial to anyhow throughout the rest of our house. In his defense, poor Adam wasn’t so sure about the theme to begin with, I don’t think, but the idea grew on him. Who doesn’t like funky monkeys?
So we went from a boring beige box of a boudoir to what you see in the pictures! Ta-Da! It was quite a project that took a lot of time and patience, but the return is totally worth it. My dad, my niece Michaela and I painted the bottom half of the room a deep olive green and then installed a creamy white chair rail slightly higher than you’d normally see one. The top half we left the original color, just to simplify things a little and to leave a distinct tie-in to the rest of the house. Michaela decided, 
when presented with two options of colorful quirkiness, that the circles would look the best of my two potential paint schemes. After all her hard work, she got out a little creative energy drawing animal faces within the circles! She was such a good painter for it being her first time. And Dad and I managed to not kill each other in the process of the chair rail. (By the way, Dad, I will never be using that damned red chalk line again. EVER, unless it’s outside. That shit was tough as nails to get out of the carpet. Who the hell told you it would vacuum right up? They lied to you! Sheesh!)
Anyway, as you can see, after many hours of detailed hand-painting of those crazy circles in four different colors, it turned out better than I ever thought it would, and I really hope the baby likes it! Oh my God, it would be a shame if he had some seriously weird aversion to all things round, wouldn’t it?! I found myself thinking as I was finishing the last touches, ‘Geez, I hope my kid doesn’t end up autistic or something and is so bothered by the minor imperfections of my circles that he can’t even stand it!’ HA! Isn’t that an awful thought?! I swear, pregnancy makes you worry about the most random, far-fetched silliness imaginable. Of course, I let the thought pass like water under the bridge and moved on to worrying about some new detail-or-other that crossed my path that day. No really… I can’t even tell you the things that manifest themselves in my imagination. And the dreams! Completely whacked out, seriously.
Anyway, as you can see, after many hours of detailed hand-painting of those crazy circles in four different colors, it turned out better than I ever thought it would, and I really hope the baby likes it! Oh my God, it would be a shame if he had some seriously weird aversion to all things round, wouldn’t it?! I found myself thinking as I was finishing the last touches, ‘Geez, I hope my kid doesn’t end up autistic or something and is so bothered by the minor imperfections of my circles that he can’t even stand it!’ HA! Isn’t that an awful thought?! I swear, pregnancy makes you worry about the most random, far-fetched silliness imaginable. Of course, I let the thought pass like water under the bridge and moved on to worrying about some new detail-or-other that crossed my path that day. No really… I can’t even tell you the things that manifest themselves in my imagination. And the dreams! Completely whacked out, seriously. 
But I digress… so far the room is perfect, and I love spending time in there already. Most of the furniture (crib and changer given to us by Mike and Jenn, thanks!) is painted and in place. I am still mulling over some different ideas for what to do with the crib in my (scatter)brained head. The frame will be black, definitely, but I might add some special green flourishes for visual interest. (I know, I know, Grandma, you think I’m crazy, but look how sharp everything else looks in black! There will be so many colors in the room eventually, you won’t even notice it.) With the room mostly done, I have about four more months to sort out the rest of the details. HOLY SHIT! ONLY four more months! Where did the time go? I need to get crackin’! Buh-bye now! 
(By the way, for small projects like the circles, the little jars of paint they sell at Ace hardware are just perfect. They call them Paint Pods or something, and they come in a ton of colors, so that’s what I used.)
Quote of the Day
“Nothin’ like a pregnant bartender! The only thing better is a pregnant stripper...” ~Adam
After Adam being away for a week on a business trip, I wondered if he’d be able to see the difference in my belly… Well, top off a week’s absence with a new, more maternity-fitted (and way cuter, if I do say so!) work shirt, and boy, was he in for a surprise when he saw me at work last night. Haha, his eyes were bulging out of his head, and that up there ^^^ was practically the first thing he said to me when he stopped by for a visit! Until last week, there were still people around work who couldn’t tell and didn’t know I’m 100% knocked up. And now, there’s just no hiding it. I figure, at 21 (almost 22) weeks, it’s about time I started truly showing! I mean really, even I was starting to wonder where this so-called baby was actually growing. In my butt, maybe?! That’s certainly grown a bit in the last couple of months. *eyeroll*
Now that I can “see” the baby, I’m all about wearing clothes that show off my growing belly-in-motion, heehee. (Ya like that subtle reference to my blog title, dontcha?) And maternity clothes now are so much cuter than they used to be! I did have a hard time finding a black, long-sleeved, button-down shirt for work in maternity wear seeing as there is so much freaking pastel out there, but thankfully, my bosses are pretty awesome and let me wear what I’m comfortable in, so long as it’s conservative enough. As if, what? I’m gonna go in there with a shirt cut down to my bellybutton or something…sheesh. Anyway, I found a couple of shirts that sufficed and are super comfy, while at the same time definitely scream, “Oh my God, the bartender is totally pregnant!” Haha, yes, many thanks to Jose Cuervo, yes I am. Hey, in order to sell, you have to know your product intimately, right? I guess you could say I do…heh.
An aside: It seems that I have a love-hate relationship with the color pink, but I actually really like it! I just hate that being a girl = pink everything. Yeah, I’m difficult like that, and yes, I realize it’s a battle I’ll never win, but c’est la vie…
After Adam being away for a week on a business trip, I wondered if he’d be able to see the difference in my belly… Well, top off a week’s absence with a new, more maternity-fitted (and way cuter, if I do say so!) work shirt, and boy, was he in for a surprise when he saw me at work last night. Haha, his eyes were bulging out of his head, and that up there ^^^ was practically the first thing he said to me when he stopped by for a visit! Until last week, there were still people around work who couldn’t tell and didn’t know I’m 100% knocked up. And now, there’s just no hiding it. I figure, at 21 (almost 22) weeks, it’s about time I started truly showing! I mean really, even I was starting to wonder where this so-called baby was actually growing. In my butt, maybe?! That’s certainly grown a bit in the last couple of months. *eyeroll*
Now that I can “see” the baby, I’m all about wearing clothes that show off my growing belly-in-motion, heehee. (Ya like that subtle reference to my blog title, dontcha?) And maternity clothes now are so much cuter than they used to be! I did have a hard time finding a black, long-sleeved, button-down shirt for work in maternity wear seeing as there is so much freaking pastel out there, but thankfully, my bosses are pretty awesome and let me wear what I’m comfortable in, so long as it’s conservative enough. As if, what? I’m gonna go in there with a shirt cut down to my bellybutton or something…sheesh. Anyway, I found a couple of shirts that sufficed and are super comfy, while at the same time definitely scream, “Oh my God, the bartender is totally pregnant!” Haha, yes, many thanks to Jose Cuervo, yes I am. Hey, in order to sell, you have to know your product intimately, right? I guess you could say I do…heh.
An aside: It seems that I have a love-hate relationship with the color pink, but I actually really like it! I just hate that being a girl = pink everything. Yeah, I’m difficult like that, and yes, I realize it’s a battle I’ll never win, but c’est la vie…
The Nameless Baby Antell
Adam and I both feel as though we might as well get it out of the way right off the bat to say that, no, he does not have a name yet. And even when he does, we’re not so sure we’re going to share it with everyone until waaaaay later on… so, sorry! Such is life.
Sure we have a list going of a bunch of names we like, and the list is being narrowed down slowly, but a name is such an important thing! How will we know if we’ve chosen the right one? What will the initials spell? What are the nicknames gonna be? Case in point: You may know that we had the name Mia on top of our list if we were to have a girl, but as soon as I heard “Mia Diarrhea” come out of a certain person’s mouth, the name was ruined to me forever (yeah, you know who you are…). Anyway, good thing we’re having a boy!
We know we won’t be doing any succession naming, not because we don’t like Adam Tyler Jr., but because we already feel that our baby is an individual and needs to be named as such; we want him to have his very own moniker for his very own personality. Nor will the name be something people are going to have a crazy-hard time spelling. We already have to use the last name Jackson when we go out to dinner because people can’t seem to grasp how to spell Antell. (What the hell?) So, the point is, the kid is going to be spelling his last name for people for the rest of his life; we figure it’d be nice of us to give him a first name that’s a bit easier to handle, no? We’ll do our best anyway. :-)
In lieu of having a name just yet, I’m partial to the nickname that several friends came up with: the little Beansprout, or “Sprout,” for short. Haha, how cute is that?! So for now, Sprout it is… I think it fits the little dude perfectly until we have the chance to get to know him a little better.
As far as our list, go ahead and give us your suggestions! You never know, you could have the perfect name that we simply haven’t thought of yet just floating around in that noggin of yours! This may be the most important decision we have to make at this point. A name can make or break a person! I mean really, as if we’d name our kid Richard in this day and age… who does that?! So sad… (Disclaimer: no offense to anyone named Richard; you didn’t have a choice, honey…it’s not your fault.)
Anyway, feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, thoughts, whatever. We want you to be involved as much as you want to be in his life and ours; that’s why this blog is here! (Oh, and so I can keep track of Sprout’s happenings all in one place and share them with you.) Join us! Write a note to him, let him know what you think!
Sure we have a list going of a bunch of names we like, and the list is being narrowed down slowly, but a name is such an important thing! How will we know if we’ve chosen the right one? What will the initials spell? What are the nicknames gonna be? Case in point: You may know that we had the name Mia on top of our list if we were to have a girl, but as soon as I heard “Mia Diarrhea” come out of a certain person’s mouth, the name was ruined to me forever (yeah, you know who you are…). Anyway, good thing we’re having a boy!
We know we won’t be doing any succession naming, not because we don’t like Adam Tyler Jr., but because we already feel that our baby is an individual and needs to be named as such; we want him to have his very own moniker for his very own personality. Nor will the name be something people are going to have a crazy-hard time spelling. We already have to use the last name Jackson when we go out to dinner because people can’t seem to grasp how to spell Antell. (What the hell?) So, the point is, the kid is going to be spelling his last name for people for the rest of his life; we figure it’d be nice of us to give him a first name that’s a bit easier to handle, no? We’ll do our best anyway. :-)
In lieu of having a name just yet, I’m partial to the nickname that several friends came up with: the little Beansprout, or “Sprout,” for short. Haha, how cute is that?! So for now, Sprout it is… I think it fits the little dude perfectly until we have the chance to get to know him a little better.
As far as our list, go ahead and give us your suggestions! You never know, you could have the perfect name that we simply haven’t thought of yet just floating around in that noggin of yours! This may be the most important decision we have to make at this point. A name can make or break a person! I mean really, as if we’d name our kid Richard in this day and age… who does that?! So sad… (Disclaimer: no offense to anyone named Richard; you didn’t have a choice, honey…it’s not your fault.)
Anyway, feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, thoughts, whatever. We want you to be involved as much as you want to be in his life and ours; that’s why this blog is here! (Oh, and so I can keep track of Sprout’s happenings all in one place and share them with you.) Join us! Write a note to him, let him know what you think!
Welcome to our family and baby Antell's Blog!
Please feel free to contribute to our blog! It's a place for us to keep all the pictures and ideas we want to share with you all, as well as keep a running diary of what's going on in Baby's life. We'd love for anyone else who wants to write something to feel free to share your stories and experiences. In the meantime, having fun reading and looking at pics! (And don't mind my potty-mouth; I am who I am... Just wait till the baby starts beating the crap out of my insides! You might think I've developed Tourette's fercryinoutloud!)
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