Cribs, Paint and Pups, OH MY!

Less than a week ago, Doug tried out his new father role...in the way that he built his child's first piece of furniture.  From the amount of cursing going on in the next room, you would've thought that he was going through surgery.  But as you can see, he did an fabulous job!  What a good Papa!

 Heather, Doug and I hung out with Jenn and Joel at the Brooklyn Mutt Show (http://www.brooklynmuttshow.com/) on Saturday.  We did some petting and loving and giggling with some pups, saw some completely rad pooch contests (Best Kisser, Most Useless Trick, etc.), and stared at some awesome kids.  Well, Doug and I stared, Heather, Joel and Jenn were way more interested in the canines.  Doug and Jenn hit upon our money maker once Pip is born:

Doug: "I think I've decided what we'll do with Pip.  We'll hold underground baby shows.  Like best spit-up..."

Jenn: "Best pee arch?"

Doug: "Good one!"

Doug asked me to clarify that this show would be very much unlike "Toddlers and Tiaras."  And that the word "underground" would not imply anything scary or financially unacceptable - just that only our friends would know about it.

We really won't do it, so disclaimers are useless at this point.

Here's Thriller, one of the crowd favorites, who seems unamused by the day's charades.

Jenn getting a smooch from Bailey, winner of "Best Kisser."

(This contest was the most stomach-turning to me.  Three judges were there to receive "kisses" from about 15 dogs.  I love houndies as much as the next guy, but gaaaggggggg.)

Lookit how much of a trooper Jenn is!

 

 

We asked the owner if Bailey was going to be in any more contests and he said no, "She's dumb as rocks.  Affection's all she's got."

We also painted Pip's nursery!  It started with hours of taping, we had to get the argyle pattern just right!

 

 

Some mixing of our old paint by genius craftsperson Heather...and VOILA!  The argyle goes behind Pip's crib with blue, yellow and tan around the rest of the room.

And no room belonging to a child of Doug's would be complete without a Toy Story picture!

 

 Pretty smooth, right? 

While I "helped" with the tape (and by "help" I mean "supervised in a rather dictatorship kind of way"), Heather and Doug did EVERYTHING else. 

They were amazing.  Thank you Heather and Doug!

Sunday, while Heather went to play in Central Park and Fifth Avenue, Doug and I went to our first birthing class.  It was a mixture of a hospital tour, Lamaze, and Labor 101.  Theresa, the NICU RN of our hospital (New York Methodist), was SPECTACULAR.  She took us through exactly what would happen in Labor and Delivery, had us practice breathing and relaxation exercises, showed us some 1970 Brazilian videos (which may have desensitized Doug and the other man in the room but made me cry), and we even saw a newborn getting a bath in the nursery.  She wanted to be the last voice we hear when researching Labor and Delivery and I don't mind that - she seriously calmed my fears.  After the other couple left, I came out of the bathroom (Pip is really doing a number on my bladder these days), and she hugged me, wished me luck and told us we'd be wonderful parents, told us she'd pray for us and that she loved us.  Sounds a little weird to people who weren't there, but I can't tell you the enormous peace that washed over me.  God bless people like Theresa in this world.

Oh and leave it to us.  Doug and I couldn't stop giggling when we had to practice breathing.  Something about "hee hee hee hoo" makes one feel a tad silly.  I'm sure I won't be feeling that way once the pain kicks in!

In other news, prayers are still welcome - "Rumpy" is back and we're heading to the doctor this afternoon to see what the heck happened.

Love you all!