Delivery Pun

Here's a rather relevant and funny comic from xkcd.com:



Caption:

"Ma'am, I admit that wasn't in the best taste, but you have to admire my delivery! Ha ha, get it? Oh God, don't throw those syringes! Your baby's fine!"

Not Enough Time

Last night Chris said the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me:

"It's people like you that make me wish there were an afterlife."

In future, if anyone asks me how you know when you've found "the one", I will promptly reply it's when you look at someone and realize that one lifetime is not quite enough time to spend with that person.

And I'm lucky enough to have found mine.

A Small Thought

It's so pleasant having a loved one fall asleep in your arms.

To Kyra:

I love holding you as you fall asleep.

Reading and Music

Kyra mentioned that we've been reading a book to the baby. It's called "Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go!" by Tish Rabe, based on the works of Dr. Seuss. It was a wedding (shower?) gift. I can't remember who gave it to us, but it's a great gift. (Thank you!) It gives the three of us an opportunity to bond, which is better than any material gift. Kyra and I have been alternating reading the book to the baby every night, and we both get a little choked up at the end, which says something like, "as for me, I can't wait to meet you!" Even now as I write this tears come to my eyes.

Mommy and daddy are looking forward to the day you arrive, my son. We love you.

Last night, Kyra's back was hurting again, so she decided to take a hot bath in epsom salt. While she was bathing, I decided to read the book to the baby. He kicks when either of us read, so it's a lot of fun to experience. I hope he likes to read and can read as well as his mommy does. (She reads faster than I do, probably with better comprehension, too. After all, she did better on the ACT than I did.)

The idea that inspired the book is that babies who are able to hear in utero may be able to remember and recognize their parents' voices after birth, especially the mother's voice, of course. They may also recognized words, phrasing, and other parts of language, which may assist language development. Some research has shown that, after birth, babies continue to respond to books read to them in utero. The book states that Dr. Seuss had an interest in prenatal development, so the author wrote a Seuss-based book for babies in the womb.

Thinking about this today, I thought it would be interesting to read a book like Finnegans Wake to the baby to see what the response after birth would be like. Would a baby recognize such a seemingly absurd book? If so, what would their response be like? What about learning? Would they learn any words from the book? Phrases? Would it confuse their learning of language, since it's so strange?

I hope our son likes music, too, so I'm going to try to play piano for him, as well as recorded music. Music is very important to both of us, especially me. I studied music in college (piano), and I have listened to classical music for years, albeit my grandma was the only one in our family that ever listened to it. I had a number of cousins that played piano, too, but they all stopped after a few years, and I don't think they ever had much interest in classical music. As I can recall, I was the only one to obtain a degree in music, so far. It's a mystery why I like classical music so much, but I'm glad I do. It's been a part of some of the most beautiful experiences in my life.

In other news, I'm still working on the wedding photos and videos. I'm having trouble connecting the video camera to the computer. If anyone knows why the video camera isn't being recognized via the Firewire port, please comment or email me with any help. I purchased a used Firewire card that is being recognized by my computer as a network port. I'm not sure why. At any rate, I should have some new pictures online from our friends soon. Stay tuned!

Wedding, Yoga, and Grieg

Ok, so I don't really believe in breaking up posts to talk about different topics at different places. Mainly its because I so rarely get the time or inclination to post. So once again this will be another "everything at once" post.

Being as this is the first chance I've had to write since the wedding, I'll start there. The wedding was, for lack of a better word, perfect. The weather was perfect: not too warm, not too cold, sunny. The garden was perfect, birds singing and flowers blooming. My dress was perfect, even as I was being sewn into it in the dressing room right before the ceremony. My groom was perfect. And of course, I was perfect. Seriously though, it was really beautiful. I am still amazed at how wonderful it was.

On to the pregnancy. This week I started prenatal yoga, which I really enjoyed. Not only is it a great way for me to get some much needed exercise, it was really comforting to hear a bunch of pregnant women come together and talk about their own experiences. And for the first half an hour, all we did was talk. We went around introduced ourselves, how far along we were, and any pains or concerns we had about the pregnancy. A few of the women were earlier in their pregnancy than me, many were later. There was even a woman who was there on her due date! It was nice to hear from the women for whom this was their second or even third pregnancy. Everyone was very low key, like pregnancy was no big deal. And the instructor was super knowledgeable. The instructor kept saying things like, "Don't worry, your body will adjust to these changes," or "Don't worry, your baby will know when its time to come out." It just made me feel great about being pregnant, like it's all a beautiful, healthy, natural part of the female life cycle. And as I looked at all the bellies in the room, and slowly realized I had one of the smallest, it dawned on me: I really am going to get bigger.

As for my own pregnancy, according to my book, he now weighs about a pound and is about the size of a small doll. He is also kicking like crazy. He especially likes to kick THE MINUTE I LAY DOWN. He likes when dad reads to him. And this morning we tried the headphones-on-the-belly thing (Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor). He must have really liked that--it was the most active he has been in one sitting. Chris kept worrying it might be too loud for him. It's sweet he worries about our son, even before he is born!