Place Yer Bets

So the big question lately is of course, “What are you having?” A chipmunk, yo. I think right now it is about the size of a chipmunk. Seven inches? Something like that. I know that as of this week we begin measuring shim* from head to toe instead of head to rump (and Karla thinks I don’t pay attention). Anyway, right after we tell the asker we don’t know yet, they give us their opinion as to boy or girl. I think I’ve mentioned on here that we’ve both wanted and felt like we’re having a girl. Aside from a couple of online Chinese astrological quizzes that Karla has taken, there is really no scientific or logical basis for the latter, it’s just what we’ve been feeling. However, nearly everyone has told us they think we’re having a boy and considering every other pregnant gal we know is having a girl, the law of the ratio would dictate that we are having a boy. Right? Probably not.

I’m curious to know what YOU think. Some of you have already told us, but let’s get it down on permanent record. So roll some dice, draw straws, flip a coin, consult the stars, do do that voodoo that you do so well or just go with your gut. The results will be in on Monday, August 25 and the winners get bragging rights. Is there anything better? Effrin just told me he thinks it’s a girl, so you folks all pack it in and go with that ‘cos I’ve never known him to be wrong in matters of this kind.

*Shim is a pronoun blend of she/him/her/he, etc. Did anyone else have Dr. Johnson at Lipscomb and if so, do they remember how he’d come up with those unisex pronouns on his assignment instructions? That man was a revolutionary.

Hearts and Paints

Not too much to report that’s directly baby related, and yet some things to speak on as result of the pending bundle o’ joy. So…first off, everything is fine…however, when I was down in FL visiting Thelma Dearest (that’s my mother), Karla was having some heart concerns. Basically her heart beats hard/quickly/irregularly at random intervals. This has happened a bit in the past, but usually it’s every few months. Here it was happening every few minutes. So, I coaxed her into setting up an appointment with a specialist this past Monday who thought it might be sinus arrhythmia and set her up on a heart monitor for 24 hours. We got the results on Friday and basically she has a symptom called PVC where the lower chambers of the heart fill up with too much blood and so have to pump extra hard to get all the blood out, etc, etc (any of you medical jocks out there who want to expand on this please feel free). This occurs about once per minute. However, this is the only symptom she has and she has no other symptoms related to sinus arrhythmia or anything else. So, basically everything is fine and it “should” go away after the baby comes. Thankfully this issue has calmed down the past few days and has made her able to help out with the following…

…Friday and Saturday we painted our bonus room. Few have entered this domain of sweat and cat litter where I had all my work out equipment and the cat had called its lair until making the fateful trip to FL a couple of weeks back (btw, TD, that’s Thelma Dearest, says Pye is doing just fine for those of you concerned). We’ve been trying to sell my treadmill and Bowflex for the past few weeks on Craig’s List and finally this past Thursday a bite came through on the latter and we used the brass in pocket (man, I really hate that song) to purchase the paint for our adventure. And adventure is a bit of an understatement. The famed Lewis and Clark would be hard pressed (and were vastly more qualified in their field) to overcome more harrowing obstacles than the dreaded slant walls, shifting drop cloth, sticky roller, oppressive heat (this room is not very well insulated) and of course the proverbial fumes. But with roughly 11-12 hours of work, some paint in the hair (well, basically all over) and one cd case (that’s about 1500 cds) spilling all over the floor later, we beat the odds and conquered the beast. The color is “silver screen,” which is just a fancy way of saying gray. We’ve spent this afternoon cleaning up and I’ve attached a few pictures to show you the progress thus far. We have an electrician coming in to do some rewiring (more on that later) and other tricks up our sleeves for this room, which will basically become my office (the baby is taking over my current work locale)/a play room (complete with fridge)/recording studio (complete with groupies)/hang out room in general (complete with me).

Oh, I almost forgot, we picked out and purchased our crib/dresser/changing table set at Babies R Us (sorry copyright folks, I can’t make a backwards ‘R’) this past week. We went simply intending to look and, well, you know how that goes. But I’m happy with our purchase for safety reasons especially ‘cos it all has flat corners and nothing that the little tyke can easily bust its little head on…you know, for when it gets to the head busting stage. They’re white, which isn’t my favorite, but will go perfectly with the babies room, etc.

Karla has a baby appointment tomorrow morning. There’s no ultrasound scheduled so there may not be much to report, but anything worth reporting will be (or maybe me simply making random observations because that’s essentially my life).

It’s Doris Day today on Turner Classic Movie’s “Summer Under the Stars” and if you’re not watching that you should be watching the Olympics. Go Sweden! (I mean USA.)

I’m gonna love ya, I’m gonna miss ya…