Summer

String Bean

This kid is doing as they say, growing like a weed. Our little guy grew 2.5 inches since a month ago and gained only 6 and a half ounces! He's now measuring in at 27.5 inches long and 13lbs 13.5 oz. He's one long, lean string bean.

3 mo, 13.7 oz, big feet, long fingers

Happy Boy!

Pecha Kucha Presentation: How to Make a Baby (in 761 days or less)

Last month Liv and I told the story of our journey to motherhood at the Columbus, Ohio Pecha Kucha event. Footage of the video and a link to the Columbus Dispatch article about the event follow (it was a fluke that we got coverage in the local newspaper...Karsten got his 15 minutes early!)

A to the D

That's A to the D to the O to the R-ABLE...
Oh my god, what are we supposed to do with such a freaking cute kid on our hands? I wanted a girl at first, but I am totally sold on the boy thing right now.
He's a heartbreaker....

Big Day Out

Somehow it seems fitting that for Karsten's first day out of the house, he got to ride in style in this 1985 Chrysler Town and Country. What a lucky little bugger.

P.S. We didn't tell him it was a hooptie!

Long Drink of Water

We have fallen behind in the past 3 weeks, so these posts won't be in chronological order for now.
In any case, yesterday Karsten got a Steif Bear from his friend Monica in Germany. We named her Leona. As my colleague at work said when she saw this picture, "He's a long drink of water."
We're thoroughly enamoured...

Mini is here

It's old news now, but we wanted to post a picture of Karsten in his first hours. He was born on Wednesday, December 15th at 3:36 a.m., weighing in at a respectable 7 lbs and measuring 20.5 inches long (though we suspect the midwives might have measured him a bit short!). He was born at home, in a birthing tub, by the light of one candle. Liv was stupendous and the midwives were fantastic. All in all it was a truly inspiring experience and a blessed gift to be part of. We're delighted to welcome him to our family.

Family Swim

Last Sunday Liv and I did a family photo shoot at the Y.
Pictures follow:

T minus 7

It's seven days until Liv's due date. HOOOOOOORAY!!!!

New Digs

Our baby currently lives here:



Soon it will live here:

Strange Bedfellows

What do these foods have in common?


These are the three things I have craved during my pregnancy. (I probably would have had cravings for ice cream too, but a good friend has kept us very well supplied, which means, with at least 2 pints in the freezer at all times, I really haven't had to crave.)

The Kraft Singles cravings started first and came on late in my first trimester. At first I thought I needed more protein. Then I remembered that Kraft singles aren't really food, thus not a good source of protein, and probably I should stop eating them.

Late in my second trimester, on more than one occasion, I ate an entire pomegranate in one go while standing over the kitchen sink. I remember at one point being a little glad Julie had the stomach flu so I could justify eating 2 entire pomegranates by myself.

The dark chocolate with raspberries one just hit now. It's awesome. And I'm starting to think that the this, combined with the pomegranate cravings, are because I need all the antioxidants I can get to overturn the effects of those Kraft singles early on.

34 weeks

Mini is now the size of a pumpkin.

Coolest cake ever...

It's a little embarassing to say, but we are on baby shower #3. My supervisor at work threw a shower for us today and it was amazing. People were so generous and friendly and aside from making us more prepared to meet this little bugger, it's also getting us increasingly excited for the big day.
Super big thanks to all my colleagues. What a great group of folks.

P.S. Check out this killer cake...

8lbs

This isn't your typical 7 month photo shoot, but here's Liv's belly in costume for Halloween. Pretty priceless, eh?
More photos coming soon. Promise.




P.S. It's Chet, Alan and Mini on the Dexter Trucking bowling league!

Hand-me-downs pick me up

Not long ago, I was horrified to read that average American families spend $7000 on baby related items before their baby even arrives. Because Julie and I are doing our best to keep our expenses and stuff to a minimum, our wish list is small and we are planning to reuse as many things as we can. We have been the lucky recipient of *lots* of hand-me-downs and are super grateful for them. (Insert huge thanks here to Becky, Christie, Nicole and Elisabeth for providing me with the ability to get dressed in clothes that fit on a daily basis. Delightful.)

Recently, I received a hand-me-down bassinet that looked like this.
I was excited to have a bassinet, but wasn't completely feeling the Winnie the Pooh theme and decided to attempt a Scandinavian makeover. I started renovations on Saturday and, with the help of Meredith's sewing machine, some old scraps of fabric and leftover paint from the outside of our bathtub, I created this in 4 days, and invested exactly zero dollars in it!



After taking the rocker wheels off, the bassinet is exactly the height of our bed. The crazy part is that someone could be sleeping in it in just 98 days!

Red Racer

Regardless of the sex of our future Gjestlegate-Applevang, I kinda want to paint a version of this race car in this in the baby room. Vrooooooooommmmmmm.....

Bubble Blower

After Julie's recent Rorschach and alien ultrasound photos, I thought it might be nice to post a few ultrasound pictures that give you a slightly truer sense of who is growing in there. We're very excited to meet this kid -- get ready for your first glimpse...

I like this profile pic because it looks like the baby is blowing bubbles.

Here's a nice footprint shot. While we chose not to find out the baby's sex, we did learn that this kid is very long (no surprise, long runs on both sides of its lineage). Looks like it's got long feet too.

This is Julie's favorite. Baby lounging in the womb with its legs crossed.
Exciting!

Rorschach Baby

22 Week abstract ultrasound.



Better pictures to follow...
P.S. This little bugger is long and has boxer hands. Exciting.

Less is More

Without a doubt I tend toward the ‘Less is More’ approach to the purchase of child rearing stuff. I slept in a dresser drawer when I was an infant, played with pots and pans, had a big wheel and turned out just fine (I think?!). My 9 Aunts and Uncles grew up playing with cans and my Dad’s favorite Christmas memory was the year he got a single orange under the tree. My personal goal for our child is to fill one toy box and have plenty of books and outdoor gear, but other than that I am not interested in all the extraneous plastic stuff.

That said, I desperately want this super cool hot rod balance bike!