blog – Page 18 – THOMnottom

Kayleigh Sarah

Amazing. Really, it’s just amazing. Having now witnessed the birth of my own daughter I still can’t get over the fact that this process works. Lisa was incredible and pushed through a long labor to produce the most beautiful baby there ever was. Am I bit biased? Perhaps. But judge for yourself – introducing Kayleigh Sarah Slattery:

That’s right, only a few hours old and already sticking her tongue out at the world. That’s my baby girl. She made her grand entrance at 11:25 this morning weighing 7 lbs and 13 oz even though she’s only 19 inches long! I love her with all of my heart even though we’ve just met, and I certainly am enjoying the “proud newborn dad” feeling. Lisa is still recovering from a rather long and difficult 20+ hours of work. Fortunately her bonding with Kayleigh is making that recovery a good process.

The full story, and lots more photos, will follow once I am truly back home. In the meantime, thank you for all of the congratulations that have already come in and will continue to come in.

From there to here

I have to admit, I’m really going to miss the belly. I know that may seem weird – honestly, I really look forward to being able to hug my wife closely once our baby girl comes along. But it truly is beautiful to see and hold:

As I sit here in bed wondering if today is the day I’ll meet my new daughter, I realize that it is time to begin shedding my inhibitions toward posting photos. I have several projects that are in the works, but it’s time that I at least start sharing. So while some more editing is necessary, here is a view of The Woman’s belly from about 4 weeks to 39 weeks. Just click on the right arrow and watch her grow!

Soon I’ll add music and dancing hamsters – you know, to class it up…

WALL-E

Holy crap… Me? Seeing a movie? While still in theaters? Who would have thunk it? The far more surprising fact is that it was me AND The Woman. I’ve at least caught a few of the more guy-friendly flicks in the couple years. She can’t even remember the last time she stepped foot in a theater. But today made for a nice change of pace as I had taken the afternoon off and we were both excited to see WALL-E.

So, the verdict?

Wow. Awesome. I’m truly impressed with the depth of the future dystopia they created for a children’s movie. Yes, I know these films work for adults, too (I’m a BIG Pixar fan), but this one had a truly bleak look for a good portion of time. And the minimal dialogue through the first half somehow does not hold anything back. Instead we get some impressive character development just by watching WALL-E go through his daily grind of stacking garbage broken up by his occasional find of a “treasure”.

It’s hard to judge this film in comparison with the rest of the Pixar catalog as it is a very different beast. While it contains many of your typical fairy tale/kid’s movie elements, the cold and inhuman environment and storytelling that is dominant in the first half separates it from the rest. But in spite of that and the odd, speech-limited characters, it is their first true love story. And it works surprisingly well in this context – I honestly started to feel a real connection with these supposed buckets of bolts.

I’m a big fan of Pixar’s work, and they certainly lived up to the expectations once again.

A sneak preview

The work around the house should be coming to a close this weekend. Believe it or not, but photos will follow shortly. In the meantime I wanted to give people a preview of the new look for our kitchen:

And, of course, the theme for the nursery:

It’s hard to believe that after 2 years this house is truly coming together…

Pink

Work on the nursery is finally coming to a close. Hopefully this weekend the tremendous task of removing inch-thick velvet wallpaper, washing off 30-year old glue, sanding down the “textured” ceiling, skim-coating everything with joint compound, priming all surfaces, painting the walls and ceiling, and installing wainscotting will come to an end. And hopefully a good one.

Of course the fact that we’ve got a baby girl heading our way soon is bringing out The Woman’s inner princess. Not that she hasn’t always loved the color pink, but the nursery has given her an excuse to really use it as a primary color. Her last attempt was in our stairway. She didn’t even get halfway through by the time I got home and could only tell me, “It’s really pink.” I concurred and eventually covered it up with a somewhat burnt orange color that I originally wanted (win for me!).

Since she is currently limited to painting in 2 minute increments, the task of “pinking” the nursery fell to me the other night. It’s a rather emasculating task – even for a closet metrosexual such as myself. I have a love/hate relationship with the color. On one hand it can look absolutely fabulous when used right, but on the other hand it isn’t used right 95% of the time. And let’s face it, I’m not necessarily manly enough to pull off pink (and a skirt) like some guys. Thus I remain torn on it’s use.

Thankfully Boris’s Pink was recently added to eMusic, and was readily available to ironically get me through the process with gusto. And if you don’t understand that, you are neither as metal nor as wannabe-hipster cool as I am…

Ouch

This weekend we (and since The Woman is 37 weeks pregnant, we really means I) had to get some painting done. That included:

Priming and painting the kitchen ceiling
Priming and painting the kitchen walls
Priming and painting the nursery ceiling
Priming the nursery walls
Priming the new linen closet
Pretending to prime and/or paint the kitchen trim

The Woman did, in fact, help out a lot. But she can’t be in the room when the primer is being used, and she can’t paint anything that’s lower than 3 feet or higher that 6 feet. Unfortunately our walls extend beyond both limits. The real shame is that she’s a better painter than I. But in the end it worked out – and for the first time in a while, I may actually be owed a tad more sympathy than she is. Holy crap does every square inch of my body ache.

To be fair, by now I’m already well on my way to recovery (until I paint the nursery walls tonight) while her feet are still ballooned to twice their usual size. And trust me, I’m smart enough not to try milking this for anything, anyway. Regardless, this was an incredibly rare weekend during which I was actually looking forward to returning to work on Monday in order to relax. Fool me once…

What?! I’m a old! I’m confused!

As I paid for lunch this afternoon, an older woman in a postal uniform walked into the Quizno’s. Without a word she reached for the largest cup behind the counter and headed for soda fountain. All three employees began to watch her. As one handed me my sandwich his mouth actually dropped open – she was filling the cup up with soda. There was a moment where everybody in the shop was frozen, wondering if we were all witnessing the lamest shoplifting ever…

Finally one of them spoke up, “So, would you like a large soda?” Of course she answered yes and eventually paid. But I couldn’t help but think about Uncle Leo and his claims that all senior citizens stole. Maybe they really do just walk into stores and see how much they can get away with. I mean, who really wants to accuse a sweet old lady of criminal behavior? It’s much easier to just assume there was a reason for their actions – something other than thievery…

And I shall call him… Bill

One day while riding my bike in preparation for the event which we do not speak of, I startled a heron who was fishing at the nearby pond. He took to flight and majestically headed towards another shore – only to be startled by a rather territorial Canadian goose and forced to double back to yet another shore. I couldn’t track where he landed, but was excited to see a bird I normally only encounter in the wildlife preserves of Florida hanging out near my house.

Flash forward to today…

An unfortunate series of events (don’t worry, nothing to be concerned about) found me driving out of my neighborhood at around 5:15 this morning. As I drive by the aforementioned pond, whom do I see standing in the water not more than 12 feet from the road? The very same heron… well… I’m guessing it’s the same bird. He’s a Great Blue Heron to be exact – which means he’s rather intimidating and awe-inspiring. I slowed down right by him to take a photo, but he was keen to my paparazzi-like motives and took to flight once again. Nevertheless, the encounter helped brighten a day that seemed destined for crappy things.

Looks like it’s time for an early morning bike ride this weekend…

Spread Firefox

Download Day is here! Yeah, kind of a dorky name – but isn’t that what you would expect from people excited about the release of a new web browser? I’ve been using Firefox 3 in beta form for a while on Ubuntu but am happy to do my part as they try to set a record for downloads with the final release today.

Unless you’re already happily browsing on the likes of Opera or Safari, please do the web a favor and get yourself a decent browser. Firefox 3 has a lot of cool features and already appears to be running much better than Firefox 2. Just take a look at Webmonkey’s take on why you should download it NOW!!!

One last hurrah

We’re taking advantage of a wedding this weekend and staying at a bed and breakfast. It’ll be the last getaway until parenthood ~~destroys our souls~~ fills our lives with joy…

Nothing big – we’re just heading out to “Western” New Jersey. But it’s an excuse to pamper ourselves one last time. Most importantly, it’s a time to pamper the expecting mommy as the intense heat has made these final weeks a tad uncomfortable. Once we get back, however, it’s nonstop again as the kitchen and nursery renovations are full steam ahead.

Maybe I’ll get to see you guys again sometime…