They say babies don't come with instructions, well Andrea's co-worker Connie found some for us (well mostly for me).



Now here is a book that any first time, tech savvy parent could relate to. I'm used to looking at specs, connection options, functions etc when setting up stereo equipment and building/working on my computer. This wonderful book has detailed information about the parts, instillation, general care, feeding and the power supply, sleep mode options, emergency maintenance, and much much more.

All of this for the two distinctly different models of baby; boy and girl. It explains how the baby will work using clear diagrams, flow charts, and step-by-step instructions. It's filled with operating instructions, trouble-shooting tips, and advice on first-year maintenance, because we all know, once you get it through the first year the baby basically takes care of itself...right?

I'm using this wonderful manual to augment the classic book, "What to Expect when You're Expecting." I just relate better to the baby manual for some reason. More about the book.

I found it especially appropriate to post today, being Valentines' Day and all. So Happy Valentine's Day.

I've had a few requests from friends and family to get a picture up of the proud parents to be. I guess some of you either haven't met one of us, or simply haven't seen us in a while. To appease the masses I'm putting up a picture of us from this past Christmas. We were visiting my parents in Denver during the second big snow storm. This was the same time we told our parents their titles needed a new prefix. Oddly enough, the grand parents are all looking for alternative titles. But that's a whole other blog post!



Health update: Andrea is doing well, the morning sickness has all but disappeared. Although she hasn't felt the baby yet, and really isn't showing, her jeans are a constant reminder.

Andrea and I went in for the 12 week checkup. We were looking forward to hearing our baby’s heartbeat. When the midwife came in with the device, we jokingly mentioned that we only wanted to hear one heartbeat. Back story: A lot of our friends have had twins lately so we had that going through our minds.

The midwife found the strong 165 bpm heartbeat right away. Andrea said it was weird knowing that sound was coming from her. We then found Andrea’s heartbeat and compared the two. Very cool.

The midwife said she didn’t hear a second heartbeat but she wanted to confirm since we mentioned it specifically. She went into the other room and came back with a portable ultrasound machine. I held the monitor up while she spread the goo. A few seconds later, there he/she was. One head, one set of stumpy arms, two tiny legs/feet. Phew. The cool thing was that because the baby is still so small you can see all of him/her in one picture. When we have the main ultrasound the baby will be too big to fit on a single screen. Very cool for a week 12 visit. Too bad the small ultrasound machine doesn’t give pictures.

There are few secrets harder to keep than being pregnant, especially from the mothers, of which we have three. My mother was easy since she’s in Denver, but the other two were much harder, especially with casual conversations that began with “so when are you two going to have kids?” Andrea tends to get a little red when she’s nervous and especially when she has to lie to her mother. Not that I would ever advocate lying to your parents, but in our case we had a good reason.

Our goal: To let all the new grandparents know in person on Christmas.

The Plan: Wrap up baby bibs and give them as the last gifts for Christmas.

The Execution: Flawless. We surprised all six new grandparents with the news. We created a memory as well as a memento. Check out where our little bib ended up.

I think the picture says it all. We’re doing our part in contributing to red haired supremacy in the world.