Hey everybody! Dad here. Yep, gotta get used to that one! Ran into an old college friend at the Doc's today, he and his wife are expecting as well...they are at 18 weeks. Little Olaf will be 16 weeks on Sunday of this coming weekend.

Funny how everything changes, yet stays the same. My old friend and I lamented about how 15 years ago, neither one of us could imagine being a dad. Yet now, we both know, whether girl or boy, the room will be painted Carolina Blue...his is done already, with little clouds on the ceiling. Yes, his family DID let him put a little "NC" cloud in the corner!! Small battles, you know.

Mum Bonner flew for the homeland yesterday. We will find out today if she made it back alright. At this point, she is probably on a bus out of Dublin, headed for Donegal. We had a great visit. Mum is great. Not only is she a full time Mum, but she runs a successful B & B, just this year winning an award for the Best B & B in Ireland according to "Homes of Ireland." Quite an honor...though I hear Neily (dad in law), is helping out a bit these days!

Safe weekends to all..."don't count the days, make every day count."
(just like these two gentlemen in Glenties, Co Donegal...with a pint at Maureen's Pub.)

Mum in town!

Katt and her Mum have had a good time so far. Puzzles put together, a little shopping, and one Dr. check up for Katt and little Olaf! Yep, that's the name (well, up until birth that is.)

Dr. check up was fine, and the next blood test will be in a couple of weeks, with an ultrasound the week after. Things are going well, so far so good. They heard the heartbeat yesterday! The other thing they heard was a kick! (I think Katt had been watching some rugby or something...) Of course, Katt had to ask the doc "was that a fart?" Those of you who know Katt, know that she was channeling her dad on that question :-)

Her dad says I can't return her...she's all mine. (He threatened me in the pic above, so I guess I'm stuck.)

Bye-bye nausea--maybe!!

Seems that starting week 14 means the dissipation of Katt's nausea (we hope). Little less nausea, a little more fruit craving--that's alright, it could be pickles in peanut butter...

We are looking forward to Mum Bonner's visit. She flies in this Wed, and will be with us for a week. She even gets to go with Katt to the Doctor for a prenatal visit!

We went to Babies R Us for the first time--don't ever go there on a weekend!!!!!!!!!! Scary...

Ho Hum, another bowl of ice cream

I'm liking these cravings more than Katt is!!
The only truly evil looks I get these days is when I pour myself a splash of Irish mist! However, all the GOOD wine we bought from our good friend Walter "the wine guy" (who is DAMN GOOD I might add), is being put in the back of the closet until she can have wine again--that's the least I can do!!
It's my fault Katt can't drink right now, right?

I gotta say, it's been great getting this news off my chest! I had to hold it in for several weeks, and now I can explode!! Katt is going to make a great mum, or mom...we haven't figured out which she wants to be yet! Only thing we know is that the room will have a Carolina Blue hue to it, no matter what the sex will be...(the pic above is Katt and a friend's kid in Kenan's players' entrance tunnel--we are trying to convince the kid to not go to Va Tech. I know, I know, a Ram's Club violation ;-) )
Oh yeah...Katt is 13 weeks pregnant at this point.

Katt's surrogate family

When Katt came to this country, she met some wonderful people who took her in and made sure she was alright. One of those people, a lady she lived beside for a few of years named Barbara, was lost this weekend. She had been ill for almost a year, but tried, as her family well knew, to fight it off and stay as active as she and her 80 year young husband had always been. Shoot, they almost went to Ireland in August of this past year! Katt and I had planned to go see them this past Saturday, to tell them our wonderful news. We were too late, and feel sorry for ourselves.

We worry about her husband John, whose 80th birthday we were fortunate to see and help them celebrate in '07. He and I over dinner one night, discussed how lucky we were to have found the right lady--one of those conversations about love that almost never happens from guy-to-guy...for him, he had found 2 loves in his life. He saw his first wife battle, and lose, to cancer. Katt and I hope he has some fight left to survive yet another lost love.

Life is precious. Never put off till tomorrow, what could be said today.