With a mere 20 days left I am emotionally ready for the baby’s arrival. I am ready to be the baby’s daddy. I’m sure my burping, rocking, and diaper changing abilities will all return within days after the baby’s first appearance. As for being tangibly ready I think we’re 95% prepared. And we would be fine if the baby arrived tomorrow. Some of the things I think will still need to stock up on are more for us then for the baby. We need more coffee, creamer, sugar, and whatever else will help keep us adequately awake to perform our parental functions. I also need to hook up electric to the baby’s room. But I’ll do that Wednesday night. So with that done and nothing to do but wait, Kate and I will be leaving for the shore Friday and returning Monday evening. I hope to accomplish three things this weekend: (1) eat burritos from Surf Taco in Seaside Park; (2) go fishing on Sunday and Monday; and (3) sleep the remaining hours of the day. I’ve personally had this weekend circled on my calendar for a few months. But enough with my dreams of R & R, onto stupid thoughts from the past week:

• I decided today that I need to set-up some sort of chain system to notify everyone when Kate goes into labor. I was thinking about creating seven lists and when the time came I would just call the first person on each list and they would handle it from there. It would greatly eliminate me having to call everyone in the world. I’ll probably also set-up an e-mail that would let a lot of other people know when we were heading to the hospital.
• Tomorrow we have our weekly appointment for the baby. I can’t help but think the doctor is going to examine Kate and tell us to go right to the hospital because her water is starting to break or something. Wouldn’t that be exciting! Wait! That would ruin my grand plans for this upcoming weekend. I guess that would be alright.
• Christina and Andrew have foolishly offered to dog sit our Great Dane Tyson this weekend while we’re down the shore. Little do they know we’re never picking him up after the weekend is over. Thanks guys!
• I have finally installed the base to the infant car seat in my car. It was really strange. This morning when I went to put my briefcase into the back seat it was right there staring at me. I couldn’t help but think that in the next few weeks there is going to be a little baby girl snapped into it. Oh man!

Who really knows when this baby is going to arrive? The only thing we know for sure is that in could be anywhere from today, until six weeks from now. The due date is exactly four weeks from today. And from what we’ve been told the doctors don’t let people go more then two weeks late. If it gets to that point they will induce. With all that said I’ve decided it’s about time I release my guess as to when she is going to deliver. And I am welcoming everyone to offer their guesses by simply posting a response to this blog entry. And for the person who correctly guesses the big day, you will receive a pacifier autographed by our newborn.

So what day does the soon-to-be dad think he’s going to get to drop the “soon-to-be”? June 8th! It’s a Thursday and it would be four days early. That’s my official guess. How did I come up with June 8th? Let’s take a look at the five factors. Kate was born pretty much on time which I took into consideration. Also, we’ve been told that first time mothers tend to go past the due date. Which I felt also needed to be considered. The third factor was that I was born two weeks early! If Baby Big Head is like her father she’s going to be in a rush to show herself to the world. The fourth factor is that I plan on making Kate walk 2 miles a day leading up to the due date to help move the process along. And the final factor in choosing June 8th…… it was the date Kate and I first went out together! On Junes 8th 2001, Kate and I were set up on an informal double date with my cousin Danny and his then girlfriend (and current wife) Kristi. And of course the rest is history. I look forward to seeing when everyone thinks BBH will arrive. Now onto this weeks rumblings:

• Kate called me this morning to tell me that when she got to work it was pouring outside. And that she thought her umbrella was all the way in the back of her SUV. But instead of getting out of the car and opening the rear door to retrieve the umbrella, my 8+ month pregnant wife climbed over the seats until she got the back of her car. I tried to picture the logistics of her successfully climbing through her SUV and I couldn’t. Oh, and the umbrella wasn’t even there. She had to run from her car into her office.
• Friday night we had a graduation party in New Jersey. It was for Kate’s friend’s husband. It’s the couple who had the baby in early January. Well that baby (Cameron) spent some quality time in my arms. I was even able to feed her a little towards the end of the night. Needless to say it made me even more anxious for BBH’s arrival. I really have no fears or apprehensions of feeding, holding, or changing a baby. I’m ready!
• Last night we had dinner at Kate’s parent’s house and my family came too. The topic of changing diapers came up and I said that it had been awhile since I’d changed one. Then I turned to my now sixteen year old brother and said, “I think your diaper was the last one I’ve changed” (when he was two, not recently). He gave me a funny look and said nothing. I think it made him uncomfortable. Not as uncomfortable though as when I brought up that he crashed my car last week. I don’t think he’s emotionally over that yet.

With only five weeks left we are all but done the house and baby’s room. And the laundry room is also near completion. The estimated May 28th date of completion has been moved up nearly two weeks. Pictures should be available soon on the blog of all three of these rooms. Also coming soon is a belly shot of Kate taken yesterday. She’s huge and looks great! She‘s definitely getting into that stage where she’s uncomfortable. And if she’s on her feet too long she her ankles swell up a little. But overall she’s looking cute. Her are some thoughts from the past week:

• Kate’s mom feels the need to announce her arrival anytime she stops by the house. And when I say “announce her arrival” I mean she hollers “Mi-mi’s here!” (Mi-mi is what she wants to be called by her grandkids) Maybe the fact that Bella is the only one who gets excited is proof enough that this announcement is not really necessary. Unless she’s carrying dinner or something. And then I’ll be running to her and pawing at her leg too.
• Kate is finally starting to sleep at night with various pillows wedged into various spots around her. It’s weird when I try to cuddle with (after she’s asleep) only to find a pillow wedges under her belly and between her knees.
• The baby is not even here yet and she officially has more clothing then I do. I think I’m going to register at Old Navy and hope people start buying me clothes. It’s like my existence is already forgotten.
• The kitchen hasn’t been functional for a week yet and Kate has already moved almost everything around. Saturday night we had a couple friends over for a little BBQ and I could hardly find anything I needed to make the burgers. And then I get home last night from work to find out that everything I learned about our kitchen the night before was deemed useless because it’s all been moved. I may never be able to find the seasoning again.

Progress on the house has been moving at a lightning pace the past week and a half. The baby’s room is 95% complete. The kitchen will be having the countertops installed this Friday. And the laundry room is about 65% complete. Yesterday I installed more cabinets in the laundry room. We currently have 5 cabinets hung in the laundry room. One is a floor to ceiling pantry. Before I’m all done there will be 7 total. Only three shy of what we have in the kitchen. So before all of this work we had 5 kitchen cabinets and 2 storage closets. After we’re done we will have replaced them with a whopping 17 cabinets. Needless to say it’s a huge upgrade in storage space for our little home. Our little girl will have plenty of places to hide when we play hide and seek someday. As butterflies of excitement start to flutter here are some thoughts from the past week:

• I know we’re only six weeks away but with the weeks flying by like they have been it’s going to feel like two weeks when it’s all over. By the time this month is over the baby will considered full term. Oh how the time passes!
• Kate’s starting to get uncomfortable, especially at bed time. There is NO cuddling anymore. I try to get close to her when I think she’s falling asleep and she yells, “Get away, you’re like a toaster”. Kind of like earlier on in the pregnancy when I was not allowed close to her. It sucks!
• I think we’ve basically have come to an agreement on what the baby’s name is going to be. It looks like Grace Elizabeth Marseglia is going to outlast the other options. It’s the only one we both like and it’s been that way for nearly three months. I can live with it. I think we’re going to call her Gracie.
• Kate had the baby shower this past weekend and we got so much baby stuff its ridiculous! The baby has enough clothing to wear a different outfit every day for the first couple months of her life! For those of you who attended, thanks.
• I officially dislike our one dog more often then I like her. I know it sounds terrible but Bella wakes me up every morning by pawing at me. One of these days I’m going to launch her across the room and off the wall. If she plans on living at our house much longer she better start leaving me alone when I’m sleeping. Her needy ways aren’t going to work once the baby gets here. I heard that some dogs will get mad and jealous when you bring a baby home from the hospital. And they’ll start destroying furniture and relieving themselves in the house. If she starts to do this (and I think she might) I’ll be dropping her off behind the local Chinese restaurant.
• Now that the baby’s room is nearly complete I'm dreading the inevitable draining of our bank accounts by Kate. She tends to over decorate and there is no reason to think that the baby’s room is going to be any different. Any day now I’ll start to see strange deductions from our bank account from places like Kohl’s, JoAnn Fabrics, and where ever else females aimlessly spend money for the items that supposedly make a house a home.

Addendem to 5/2 post: This final exerpt isn't a thought nor does it have anything to do with the baby but Kate asked that I include it in my post. It's something that happened to me the other day at work. Here's the story. It's "bring your brat to work day" and I'm sitting at my desk. Two girls somewhere between the ages of 9 and 11 walk up to my desk. The one girl points at me and says to the other, "look, I told you he has a huge head". And they walk away. Kate somehow thought this was hilarious and she wanted me to share it with everyone. Thanks for the moral support honey!