Almost there!

The end is in sight! As I was drinking my ONE cup of coffee this morning, it hit me that the end is near. Soon our lives will be changed forever. Our actions reflect that reality - we have been running around getting stuff ready - putting finishing touches on the nursery, polishing up the new budget, going to baby classes (check out John in the sympathy suit), etc...
I guess they call this nesting. At any rate, for every one thing we get done, I can think of five more that I want to do. Plus, we are trying to do stuff now that we may not be able to do in a month - go to movies, hang out with friends, catch a baseball game (we tried to go to a local game last night but opted out because of the rain) or whatever we feel like doing. It's very fun and exciting. Check out pictures from our latest outings.

Mother's Day Surprise and Boot Camp for New Dads

Nicole went to see her family in Erie over Mother's Day. Since she stayed through Sunday, I remained at home. With a few friends' help, that was all of the time I needed to get the nursery done! Thanks to Dave & Cheryl Murray-Miyamasu, Mark & Lorien Boyer, and Rob & Cori (Winter) McCabe (well, they will be McCabe in 2 weeks!)



We're probably going to do one more coat of paint, and have lots more decorations to do. We also still are going to get a glider of some sort. We haven't picked it out yet, but will add it to a registry when we decide. Anyhoo...there it is! Can't wait until you can come over and see it - with a little baby in it!

27 Weeks as of today! Time is going super fast! Nicole has Dr. appointments every 2 weeks now. They say she's doing really well.

Classes are all scheduled for June & July, except for Boot Camp for New Dads, which I went to on Saturday (in the middle of the construction chaos!). There were 6 'rookie' dads there. Mark Boyer and a co-worker of his went along with me. The other three guys were from Zanesville. Two were due in the summer, but one had just had a baby girl. There were also 3 'veteran' dads. One was the director of Forever Dads. The second was the facilitator of the morning. The third was a new 'veteran.' He brought his 5 month old girl in for the morning.
We talked about everything from diapers and feeding, to adjusting sleep & hobby time, to car-seats and diaper bags, to how the moms will change and how we can be good dads and husbands. One of the most fascinating things was watching most of the guys (including Mark) sit in a room with a baby 2 hours and watch how the 'veteran' dad took care of her while she got hungry, got tired, got scared, played, laughed, cried. Most of the rookies probably hadn't seen a baby away from their mother, or another woman, for more than 15 minutes, if ever.

Well, that's about it for now. We have a huge garage sale this weekend and next weekend we head out to Chicago for our anniverary, and to visit Granny and the Prinkes and to go to a Cubs Game!

Love you all!
John