good friends/new searches

Our visit with the mountain folks went great! Of course, these were the last of our friends to know about Olaf. We've wanted to tell people face to face as much as we could. This was interesting to say the least due to Katt's actually SHOWING now!! It was fun, we had a great time, and all of them said they couldn't wait to see Olaf bike riding with them! Olaf could do much worse than having these folks as role models.

Searching for this, that, and everything in between. I picked up a list the other day from Babies R Us...AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a list that parents need...I was tired after reading through it.

Now it's off to search for day care places. Visit, interview, visit, interview...we are interviewing who is going to be taking care of Olaf in the future--the most important interviews we will EVER do. I can hear it now, "Olaf, did your dad forget to pack your lunch?"
(but I did send the caber)

Life at 21 weeks...over half way there.

Little Olaf!

Things are going well with Olaf. 20 weeks as of this coming Sunday! He or she seems to be growing at a steady pace. So is mom! Pants shopping, a couple more tops, and anything for support for her "girls." I am keeping my end of the bargain...I'm gaining sympathy weight (probably more due to the lack of biking this time of year), but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

My last living grandparent (Grandma Lefler) had an emergency heart surgery this past week. She is 85, and holding on strong. Selfishly, we hope she is around a few years longer so that Olaf can meet a great grandparent. Katt's Grannies are still with us, and although one will be 99 this summer, they both are doing well. Olaf will meet them in the next couple of years. So we hope Grandma Lefler can pull out of this one. Keep your fingers crossed and prayers flying for her!

Oh, and Carolina is back in a tie for first place this week--good stuff all the way around...UNC Cycling team won their first race of the year this past weekend!! They are really excited!

Off to Beech Mountain we go, to visit some good friends.

OH NO!! (Olaf's hand is WRONG)

Butterflies...that is the feeling that Katt has described for me. Growing up, playing all kinds of sports, and being nervous getting that feeling of "butterflies," I SOMEWHAT know what she means. But it will never come close to the real thing!!!

Our latest checkup yesterday went very well. At 19 weeks, everything is growing normally--spine, facial structure, arms, legs, etc. There was only one problem, we think we saw Olaf doing the "Wolkpack" finger sign thingie!! Problems already, and we're not even out of the womb yet...oh well...the allegiance teachings will begin soon. Go Heels!!

We hope everyone is doing alright. Mom and Pop are coming in this weekend to help us move some furniture around...getting ready for Olaf! Gotta paint the room Carolina Blue!! Cycling season starts this coming weekend. Good luck to the team!

Be safe...

There can be only one...

Yep, Dook beat my Heels...oh, and Katt's nausea is truly gone, having been replaced with little tugs and pulls. Gotta stretch out those little muscles, ligaments and such!! 18 weeks as of Sunday the 10th.

The "quickening" has begun! No I don't mean that Connor MacLeod just beat the Kurgan...She is starting to feel a little movement from little Olaf! Until we know what the sex will be, we shall call the baby, Olaf...from King Olaf the Woodcutter, from Denmark. My family Curran, we have traced back to King Olaf, so Olaf it is. My mom LOVES the idea. ;-)

This week coming, we have our first baby class, of course, on Valentine's Day. Can't think of a better way than to spend Valentine's than with my lovely wife, listening to someone, lecturing, start off with, "this is a baby..."

Safe week to all!

Pint of Guinness anyone?

Movement...on offense!

The big news...Carolina plays Duke next week!! ;-)
Well, and the fact that Katt is 17 weeks along as of this coming Sunday. Nausea has past! Although now the GROWING process has started! She had to go out and get some new clothes yesterday! She's gonna be one good lookin' pregnant lady!!!!!!!
OH, and
WE FELT the baby MOVING LAST NIGHT!! That was awesome. I had my hand on Katt's stomach, just as I was falling to sleep, and felt something. So I had to ask..."is your stomach growling, are you hungry?" She said no...I waited a few seconds more, felt something else, and asked Katt to put her hand where mine was...she looked at me, smiled, and we both knew.
It's really happening (maybe the baby is doing workouts already).

For those traveling, be safe...

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.