Lucy Schwartz –  When We Were Young

So the big first trimester is officially over.  The kid is growing fingernails and toenails, and the last time we checked in, already has the ability to cause frequent urination, which for my wife always happens overnight.  What I don’t understand is what the baby world has against standard units of measure like 25%, 50%, etc.  Apparently our baby is 33.3333333336% done with growing, which as you can see is a ridiculous thing to type out.  The other item with baby tracking that I’m going to try and break the habit of right off the bat is counting the baby’s age in months, especially after the first year is over.  My kid isn’t going to be 16 months old, it’s going to be 1 year and 4 months old.  I feel like it’s cheating the child’s common society benchmarks by only counting in months and not in full years.  I may even make him/her a t-shirt for every month after the first year just to correct the common practice of people asking “How many months old are they?”, or “What month clothing size should I buy.”  This may even start off prior to the first year with the following: “Excuse me ma’am in the clothing department.  My baby is not 6 months old, he/she is half a year old?” or at 4months: “My baby is 33.3333333336% of a year old, or in your terms, 1 trimester into life.”

Either way I will say that we’re starting to see more and more everyday.  We’ve fully announced the pregnancy to anyone that asks, and even had our first big social event with friends at a wedding this last weekend.   We also have our first set of Baby making friends (that sounds bad), with another couple that is due just a few weeks before us.  Strangely, this is also the couple that got engaged the same night that we did over 4 years ago, and whose house we partied at the next day for St. Patrick’s day, aka my Christmas.  Like us they are also not looking to find out what sex the baby is until that magical day when they pop out and say “You got that college fund set up yet, I hope you don’t think I’m going state school?”.

All in all we have a big week ahead of us.  We have our 12.5 week checkup where apparently they are going to give us the run down on all the fun parts of pregnancy.  They made clear in the last appointment that Dad’s attendance is recommended. So again, I get to go to the lady doctor’s office and feel completely out of sorts while my wife glows in anticipation for another listen to the heartbeat or ultrasound pictures.  I wouldn’t mind a picture with a little more definition than our 8.5 week visit.  I mean, if they midwives on that show about polygamists in Vegas can see something at 10 weeks, I don’t see why we couldn’t snap a quick photo while we’re in there.

FYI, if you’re wondering why I picked the song that I picked when I’m in such a fired up mood…it’s my first attempt at using music to change my attitude while at work.   When I’m frustrated or over opinionated about baby age calculation, I’m going to go to a much more calm music selection and remind myself that I too like chick music and that it’s ok.

Oh yeah, the baby already has its first computer all ready to go.  For those of you that know me better, this is no surprise.    I figure we’ll need it on the late nights when an episode of Game of Thrones on HBO GO will be the only way to get the little one to bed.  Nothing like the sound of sword fighting or ancient English rhetoric to put a baby to sleep.