Nursery Preview

We ordered a crib and armoire for the nursery this weekend, as well as the bedding for the crib. Here's a picture of the bedding, for those of you that have asked about the colors and style of the baby's room. We're thinking about yellow or green walls to match the fabric. Also, the crib and armoire we ordered are a dark "espresso" color, rather than the white seen here.

These things should be arriving in the next week or two, and then we'll really be able to get started on the room.

(Click on the picture to enlarge it for a better look.)

Rare Picture of Pregnant Kasey Released!

Due to intense demand from readers of the Blaze Baby Blog, Kasey graciously agreed this week to have her belly photographed so that people could see how she progresses over the next few months. This picture was taken at the 20 week mark:

It's cold here so Kasey wanted to keep her sweatshirt on. When it warms up a bit we'll try to get some pictures in a t-shirt.

Halfway there!

Today I am 20 weeks pregnant, marking the official halfway point (yes, we know the due date is just an estimate, but this still feels like a milestone). I figure it's time for a status report.

Kasey: Definitely starting to feel and look pregnant. I feel a bit like a science experiment at times, and it so strange--wonderful, but strange--to feel her moving around inside me. I have also pretty much recovered from my emotional breakdown in the dressing room of Mimi's Maternity on Saturday.

Matthew: Handled said breakdown in Mimi's Maternity dressing room extremely well, especially since it required him to go into the dressing room of a maternity store, where no man can reasonably be expected to enter. Matthew and I are both starting to work on getting all the things one needs in the house when a baby arrives, i.e. crib, changing table, flat-screen LCD HD-TV.

Baby Blaze: Making her presence known, with her movements and by rudely making her mom look chubby. Seems to be doing very well. Crossing her fingers that we're kidding about the whole "Mattina" thing.

Aunt Kelly: Already spoiling her niece with basketball pacifiers and pink clothes.

Grandparents: Enjoying their webcams, impressing us with their ability to use them.

I think that's enough for now...we'll keep you posted. I start prenatal yoga classes tonight, which may provide some entertaining material.

Smile for the camera!

Here are the promised pictures of Baby Blaze from Thursday's ultrasound. My favorite is the one of her profile (lower left), where she looks like she's smiling. I also love the ones where you get a good look at a hand or a foot. We're biased, but we think she's pretty cute!

Hoosiers in Mishawaka

Just when you thought yesterday was a great day with the news of a daughter, it got a lot sweeter. Most of the readers of this blog are familiar with the trials and tribulations of the Dunder Mifflin basketball team I play on in the Mishawaka City League. Last night we won our first ever regular season basketball game, defeating Trevino Insurance, the only 4-0 team in our league, on a last-second shot. Up by one with five seconds left, we fouled their big man who had missed many free throws throughout the game. We called a timeout to ice him and sure enough he made both to put us down one. We called our last timeout to set up a play and the boys didn't get "caught watchin' the paint dry."

Michael "Speedy" Choinacky in-bounded the ball to Dave "I have the back of a fifty year-old man" Miller. Dave spun and hit Phil "I can bait anyone into a flagrant foul" Smoker who took a couple dribbles and found a wide-open Choinacky who had sprinted from the other end of the court. Choinacky made the lay-up at the buzzer to stun the undefeated team that actually had a nine point lead with about three minutes left in the game.

After the game, Andy "Big Shot" Kinnuncan said "This is the greatest moment of my life. Getting married and having my first child were both kind of neat, but nothing compares to this feeling. We just beat Trevino Insurance when no one believed in us." Steve "The Hawk" Noto added, "My wife will never believe this."

In the words of the great Coach Norman Dale, "I love you guys."

It's a . . .

GIRL! At least, probably. The ultrasound tech said she was about as sure as she could be at this point, giving it an 85% probability (so hang on to those receipts if you buy pink!). Of course, onesies with basketballs and footballs on them are still appropriate, since Baby Blaze will be a sports lover whether she likes it or not! By the way, looks like I was totally wrong on this one--won't be the last time our little one throws me for a loop!

The ultrasound was absolutely amazing. We got to see some incredible images, some of which we hope to post tonight. She was moving around like crazy in there! The doctor will go over the images in the next few days, but the ultrasound tech said she didn't see anything that concerned her. That, of course, was the best news of all--it looks like we have a healthy, active little girl!

(Anyone wanting to take the long odds on it being a boy after all should contact their bookie.)

Hamstrings Pulled Everywhere!!

This is a very strange and somewhat disturbing image, but Anna convinced her uncles, Matthew, Jonathan, and Andrew, that playing with your feet is a great way to unwind after a big meal and opening lots of presents. I'd have to agree.

You can see that the younger brothers had a much easier time stretching than their 30 year-old brother did.

Christmas Recap

I'm not going to bore everyone with a detailed recap of our wonderful Christmas with friends and family, especially since most of you were there. However, I have to share a few of our favorite pictures.
My favorite gift this year was my new driver. Kasey had fun wrapping it and you can tell by my reaction in the picture below that I had no idea what it was before I opened it. Of course Doug had to be the wisecrack that asked me if that meant I would now be able to hit my drives further than 180 yards. No worries - I'll still swing the club like a little girl. it just means that I'll have a better chance of making solid contact.

Kasey's favorite gift this year was the pajamas I bought her. These weren't just any PJ's. These are footie pajamas with non-skid feet and a drop-seat back. That's right. Not only will she not fall down when she runs around on our hardwood floors, but she can stay warm while sitting on the toilet (I'm gonna pay for writing that on our blog). No pictures of the drop-seat back are available for publishing. Have you ever seen someone so excited?

It's been a tradition for many years in my family that my brothers and sister give each other gag gifts. These typically are things from around the house that we know will cause the person opening it to laugh. In recent years I've opened everything from a Vanilla Ice cassette tape to a white-trash graphic for my car. This probably sounds weird to most people, but it's a lot of fun. This year, my brother Jonathan thought everyone in the family needed a new hat.

Validity of Governor Visit in Question

It has been brought to my attention that many of our loyal readers are questioning the validity of the governor visiting our house and bringing us champagne. We are not talking about the current governor. To clarify, the person we are talking about is both the former mayor of South Bend and the former governor of Indiana, Joe Kernan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Kernan

As you can see he has deep roots here in South Bend, and happens to live in our neighborhood. Next year we’ll try to get him and Digger Phelps to pose for our Christmas card.

Latest Doctor's Visit, 17 Weeks

We had another visit to the doctor this afternoon, and it went well. It took the nurse a while to find the baby's heartbeat because he or she was moving around a lot, but we did hear it and everything sounds great! Hearing the heartbeat is really fun and reassuring. We also scheduled our ultrasound appointment for next Thursday (January 10), so if the baby cooperates we should know at that point if we're expecting a little Matthew or a Mattina. Check back on the 10th or 11th for the news.