Making the transition...

So, not only are we having a baby boy, now he will officially live at our house.

This week marked the transition of "spare room" to "nursery". No longer will that room house unwanted furniture and suitcases. It has been called up to the big leagues. It has passed the recliner and flat screen TV as the most important area of the house.

We started the room makeover by having my childhood furniture refinished. I know, can you believe my parents held on to it for all these years? How unlike them. It was in pretty good shape to start with, but the finish was dull and had a few areas that needed attention. (I might have left a coke can or two sitting on the dresser.) We came to this conclusion after looking at NEW children's furniture. Have you priced this lately? Who knew particle board and spray paint could be so expensive? Anyway, my old furniture was solid maple and could be redone for just a few hundred dollars. Add some new hardware (plus a few nervously drilled holes) and you have an HGTV calibur bargain. Not that I watch HGTV or anything. Sometimes Shannon has it on while I'm cleaning my guns or reading Playboy.

The next piece of furniture to get was the ever important crib. When reading articles about choosing a crib one thing is clear. If your child sleeps in a crib they will be lucky if they survive the first year.

Armed with the latest in safety ratings Shannon and I did the most logical thing.
We bought a crib on clearance. Yep, pretty much the cheapest thing we could find. On the brightside...it matches the furniture very well.

Just kidding. We found a great deal on a good crib. My Dad and I put it together yesterday with out a hitch. No cuss words. No missing parts. I did not want to smash anything. (If any of you have ever worked on a project with my Dad and I you would appreciate how remarkable this is.) I guess we were too focused on the boy's safety and putting the bed together correctly. No time to worry about how I wasn't watching what I was doing. I love you Dad!

I am so excited about having a son.

Next comes paint colors, curtains and bedding. Stay tuned...

Nursery in progress...

Getting used to the idea of a boy...

We are getting used to the idea of having a boy. It sure has made some things easier. Now we can settle on decorating the nursery and stuff. It has also allowed me to purchase a few baby outfits. Of course they have things like "slugger" or "all star" on them. Not that everything I buy has to do with sports. I am comfortable with anything "boyish". (Except soccer. Sorry, I just can't make that leap.)

The last couple of weeks we have been refering to the baby as Max. We both kind of like the idea of Max for a first name. As my buddy Aaron says "Max sounds like the kind of guy you can have a beer with". How can you argue with that logic?

The question of the moment is "What is Max short for?" It might be we name him just Max. My boss thinks it should be Maximus. I don't know. Maximus Danger Minninger? (so he can say "Danger is my middle name"...Get it?)

Maybe I should discuss this with Shannon before I settle on anything.

Using the name Maximus was not the only words of wisdom my boss had. Jeff also said "Take it from the father of a teenage girl, with a son you only have to worry about one boy. With a daughter, you have to worry about ALL boys"

Okay...real ultrasound pictures

Ultrasound picture

Even at only 20 weeks the boy resembles his father.

What's in a name?

Now the task of naming the boy. It needs to be something good. I like the idea of a Daniel Arthur Minninger Jr. It has always been a good name for me. I just don’t like the idea of calling him Daniel, DJ, Jr or J.R. I could use some suggestions.

Shannon likes the name Shakespeare and her brother likes the name Amadeus. “Good idea”. While we are at it, why don’t we just take his lunch money and give him a wedgie before he leaves the house every morning.

This is gonna’ take some thought.

It's a what?

Shannon had another doctor’s appointment yesterday. It was a very big day at the Minninger household. She had an ultrasound to check the baby’s progress and to see if we could tell the sex of the baby. We also got the results back from her “quad screen” blood work.

I hadn’t slept very well the night before. I couldn’t stop worrying about the test results and the ultrasound. Up until this point, it was all still new and exciting. Shannon was pregnant, but it was too early to worry about major problems. That all changed when they drew blood last week to test for birth defects. I had done a pretty good job avoiding websites, articles and discussions about issues that can occur during pregnancy.

I remember when Shannon first told me she was going to have a baby. I scoured the internet looking for information about pregnancy. Within 30 minutes I was practically paralyzed with fear. “Does anyone ever have a healthy baby with no complications?” I asked myself. The statistics and facts are too much. 1 in 5 babies this. 1in 200 babies that. 1 out of every 2 babies explode when the father holds them for the first time.

Now fast forward to Thursday morning…

Shannon is on the exam table and her belly is greased up like a baby pig at the county fair. The ultra-stenographer (yet another word I have learned in this journey) is running the ultrasound wand back and forth across my wife’s abdomen. Shannon, Shannon’s Mom, Shannon’s sister Donna, my Mom, my Dad and I are all looking intently at this flickering black and white screen.

The ultra-stenographer is politely pointing out body parts and taking measurements. “This is this…this is that…this would be the whatever” she says. Everyone but me is oohing and aaahing. “Alright, I’ll give you the head, but I don’t make out anything else” I think to myself. “Just say that it looks fine and healthy”

“It’s a boy” she says pointing to a little spot on the screen. (I mean HUGE spot on the screen) “Wait! What!” did she say boy? I’ll be honest, I couldn’t tell anything from that screen, but I didn’t want to be the only one. It’s like those trick paintings they sell at the mall. You know the ones with the picture inside of a picture. I can’t ever see those either.

A few minutes later we met with the doctor. He said that everything was fine. So far there are no indications we are having anything other than a healthy baby boy. He did move the due date up a little to December 4th.

Now all we need to do is come up with a name…