The Nursery

Hi Future Elora! Past Dad is writing from about three months before you're due to be born. Your Mom and I have spent the last couple of months transforming the second bedroom to become your nursery. We are proud of the transformation, and hope that you will like your time there.

It wasn't always this way. This room was originally my office - a place to work, play video games, dump all my junk, and with a special spot for your Mom to read while I did all of this. When I could be convinced to vacate, it became a (very crowded) guest room; you can probably guess that we didn't have many eager visitors. The room was blue and white - a scheme we had devised when we first moved in, while we were mere novice room painters. We had intended to put a silver stripe between the colors, but it turns out Daddy is not a good painter, so that plan got dropped quickly.

Over the years, a certain amount of... clutter... accumulated.

We started with a major reshuffle - Mom moved to the bedroom, I claimed her former outpost in the living room. Then slowly but surely we cleared all of the junk out of the room.

Clutter centralized on the Ikea shelf.

Then, the painting begins.                                                                                   

Mom didn't have to roll, but you punched her in the bladder all pregnancy, so I call it an even trade.

We went through a variety of other room upgrades.

• Replacing the house original light fixture with an antique light fixture, LED bulbs, and a dimmer switch.
• A new Ikea dresser, custom decorated by Mom!
• Moved Mom's poodle case to the bedroom.
• Stuffed animal hammocks, pre-filled with, you guessed it, poodles.
• Disney Princess crib.
• Stylish new curtains.

And now, it's my pleasure to present: Elora's Nursery!

Twenty-Eight Week Ultrasound

Normally there would not be another ultrasound for another few months, but our OB was concerned that Amber did not look big enough.

Well, turns out Amber just carries Elora well! Elora is in the 67th percentile, at a healthy 2lb15oz, above average but within the 'normal' range. At this point, they can also measure all the major limbs and digits, and thus confirmed that everything is in the right proportions to each other.

Baby head profile.

This particular facility is also capable of taking 3D images. Here is 28 week baby face!

More Fathering Advice

http://www.pajiba.com/think_pieces/30-practical-tips-about-the-horrors-of-raising-a-baby-that-you-will-never-learn-from-movies-and-tv-.php

DO NOT LOOK OVER THE BLANKET

Introducing Elora!

With the completion of our 20-week ultrasound, we now know the sex of our baby! Thus we no longer have to deal with the awkwardness of referring to "it" or "the spawning" or simply "baby", but can proudly say "her".

Or, more specifically, Elora Rose Jarrett.

Even before this pregnancy, debating baby names was a common dinnertime hobby between Amber and myself. Common ground was a rarity (more on this later), but Elora (yes, like from the movie Willow) was one of the few that we both immediately loved, and has been on our shortlist for awhile now. Rose is an homage to Amber's (maternal) grandmother, who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time last Thanksgiving when we first told our families about the pregnancy.

Thankfully, Amber and I were in perfect agreement - we wanted to know the sex as soon as possible. Not only does it solve the naming/reference problem, but also allows us to shop for gender-specific gear (read: Amber can buy pink stuff now).


Administrative note: Now knowing Elora's name, I've moved the blog to http://elora.knottypoodle.com/, and with Amber's help significantly upped the pink in the theme.

Healthy Baby!

An examination of the images from the 12 week ultrasound, combined with blood tests, have shown no signs of birth defects! Hooray!

While this is by far the most probable outcome in our situation (particularly with how young Amber is), it is still comforting to know that everything is going well so far.

Twelve Week Ultrasound

Baby is still going strong! Not only does baby look like a baby, but baby also moves around! Baby does not approve of being probed, responding with an Amber trademark armwave "Wah!", then turning away from the probe.

Kids are Easy

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/01/04