Week 32 Day 6 - Shower Cake

10:42am



Heading out to go to a bakery to pick out a cake style that we like for the baby shower. I am actually off of work for once on a weekend. Had to request it, because they usually aren't freebies. So hopefully we can find a cake flavor that we want, and get that taken care of today.

We also have to stop at the hospital and get her breast pump. We found out that our insurance covers most of the cost, we have to pay up front, but will get reimbursed within the next month. Those things are expensive, so this isn't a bad deal. Make sure to always check with your insurance company to see what they cover. I wouldn't have thought of this but we seen somewhere else that this is possible. We have Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Maybe I will be able to talk to my wife into letting me get some new jeans. I'm going on like 3 years on my current pairs. I'm sure I won't be able to get much of anything after the baby gets here, so time to stock up now!

Not our cake. Just a photo!

Week 32 Day 5 - There Goes My Life

9:23am



After writing yesterday's blog post, and getting sucked into YouTube videos for a good hour or two, I think I found the song that really shows pregnancy's true colors. Another emotional song, because it's very true. Kenny Chesney tells it like it is. Good luck!

Kenny Chesney - There Goes My Life

The song desribes how an unplanned high school pregnancy changed this guy's life. At first he was mad, but later on it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. I think that this happens about 90% of the time in real life. Everyone is scared at first, especially if it is unplanned. But in the end, everything always works out. Little girls always have their dads wrapped around their finger. Am I not right?

Our pregnancy wasn't planned. I was scared at first, we both were. But look at far we have come in the last 7 months. It definitely changes a person. In our case, and most cases, for the better. 

Was your pregnancy planned? How did you react when you found out? How did your life change? Comment below or on Facebook!

Week 32 Day 4 - Don't Take The Girl

9:45am


I heard this old Tim McGraw song on the radio a few days ago. I don't know if it's because I am going to be a father, or because I am older and more mature, but this song really gets to me. I'm pretty sure if anyone listens to the lyrics, it will have them choked up. Especially the end. Great song, though.

Tim McGraw - Don't Take The Girl

Another great song about being a father. Classic Conway Twitty.

Conway Twitty - That's My Job

Tim McGraw has the best father/daughter songs. 

Tim McGraw - My Little Girl

Week 32 Day 3 - Sumo-Baby

9:51am


We finally got a few better pictures yesterday. Still not great. Still not photo-frame worthy. But a better idea of how she looks.

We stopped at my mom's afterwards. My wife and her decided to dig out my old photo albums from when I was a baby, to compare. It is a lot of fun to see old pictures of yourself. I don't remember a lot of them, so it was nice to see them again. Actually, I don't know if I have ever seen some of the newborn photos. Maybe I just don't remember, which happens to me a lot. At first I thought that she looks just like my wife, but after seeing my baby photos, she does look a lot like I did as a baby.

Baby is pretty chunky already. My wife said, about me, to the ultrasound tech, "Look she has your chin!". The ultrasound tech responded, "Which one?". She already has a little double chin! My wife was pretty chunky too when she was born. She looked like a little sumo-wrestler. Don't worry, she will tell you the same thing.


My wife has had a lot more energy lately. Which is good. For a while there, she didn't want to do much of anything. That's changed and she is up to going places, and getting things done.

I think we have some 32 week baby bump stickers around here somewhere. I'll have to get those out so we can take some updated pictures!

Week 32 Day 2 - Am I Ready? Not At All.

2:18pm



32 weeks. Wow. It's coming down to the end of the pregnancy journey. But it's only the beginning of the REAL journey. Fatherhood.

Am I nervous? Absolutely.
Am I ready? Not at all.
Am I excited? You bet.

I think that writing this blog has prepared me a lot more than if I hadn't. I have learned the most from my wife, and doctor's visits. But this blog has "forced" me to read more, and do some extra research on baby-related things that I'm sure I wouldn't have otherwise. Every time my wife says "Come on Kev, your on the computer again?", I know that it's for my own good. It might seem like I spend too much time online, but I really don't. Just enough time to write for the day, maybe check up on my Facebook page, interact with some of my Twitter followers, and possibly upload a picture or two to Instagram. I can do all of that in less than 45 minutes a day. Thanks to technology, I can actually do it all from just my iPhone.

Today, we are going to our last attempt at a good 3d/4d ultrasound face picture. The last two were pretty unsuccessful. If she doesn't want to smile for the camera today, then so be it. You can't force a baby to move inside the womb. We'll see.

Notice the odd shape? That's baby moving!

Just a little movement from the baby!

Seen this cropduster flying over our house today. I have never seen anything like this before. Welcome to the country!

Week 32 Day 1 - Americans Have Never Heard Of Paid Parental Leave

7:47pm



You probably all know by now, that William and Kate had a baby boy today. There aren't any names yet, at least not released to the public. I'm sure it will be something long and obnoxious. But after reading some of the news reports, I noticed something "strange" to me, and probably every other father in America. William is taking two weeks paternity leave.

Paternity leave? What's that?

If you aren't familiar with the laws here in the United States, there is NO law that mandates any parental leave, after the birth of a child. We do have the Family Medical Leave Act, which basically saves your job position for a period of time, depending on the situation. Child birth is a situation that is covered, however only up to 12 weeks, and not guaranteed paid time.

In the UK, female employees are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave, 39 of which are paid. The first 6 weeks are paid at 90% of full pay, and the remainder at a fixed rate. The father is also entitled to 2 weeks paid after the child is born.

Sweden allows 16 months to new parents, with 2 of those months reserved for the minority parent, usually the father... All 16 months are paid at 80% regular rate, split equally between the employer and the state.

Even Canada, upped the parental leave from 10 weeks to 35 weeks, in year 2000, and the time is to be split between the parents, if they choose to do so. This is in addition to 15 weeks maternity leave.


Our lovely country, the land of the free, and the land of the unpaid leave, the United States of America, allows 0% paid maternity and 0% paid paternity leave. Now you can possibly get short-term disability, through your company, and some companies have maternity/paternity leave. But by law, there are no requirements. The Family Medical Leave Act allows 12 weeks to the mother and the father of unpaid leave.

I believe that President Obama is trying to change some of the parental leave situations in America, but that's only what I have heard. I don't know that for a fact.

There are organizations out there, trying to push for better laws mandating parental leaves for new mothers, and even fathers. Whether it will ever go into effect, who knows? They are too worried about same-sex marriages, and spying on the citizens. Canada, can I move to you?

Week 31 Day 7 - Great Ending To A Boring Day

9:49pm



Today was just another typical day at work. My wife was home all day, "cleaning". I'm not too sure what she cleaned but I've learned that it's better to just not ask. But I do know that the house is a mess. I hate a cluttered house. 


When I got home, my wife suggested that we go spend sometime at her sister's family's vacation house. Which isn't all that far from where we live, out in the country. I have never been there. It's on a big lake and the house is beautiful! It's so weird because I was just thinking earlier about how much I would love to be out on a lake somewhere, enjoying all this nice, hot, Chicago weather lately. I guess I got my wish.

We went out on the pontoon boat, first thing. I love pontoon boats. I think if I weren't human, and I was just an "object", I would be a pontoon boat....           No, not really.

Hopefully someday we can afford something like that. I would love to have a home, or vacation home, on a lake somewhere. A nice little weekend getaway.

My wife's family was there so it was nice to see them too. I haven't seen her parents in a while.