Stay At Home Brad

Bom Dia!

2011-10-31T13:05:00.001-06:00

That is Portuguese for good day. And also, happy Halloween to y'all. Are you going to eat tons of candy tonight? I sure am. We didn't get a single trick or treater last year and don't really expect to this year either. We did pick up some candy for in case, but I'm thinking it's all going to be eaten by us, well mostly me.

We're not dressing Eliza up in any sort of costume this year. She's just too young and tiny. But next years we're trick or treating like crazy.

Yesterday we made bagels, as seen in the post pic. They don't look too good but they sure taste good. It was fairly easy, surprisingly. I ate 4 or 5 of them yesterday.

Making your own stuff at home is fun! We have been trying, or at least talking about trying, to do this more. Most things can be made with relative ease it's just finding the motivation to do it. It's way easier to just go pick some up at the store.

We are going to make Eliza's food, once she is to the point of eating solid. Her Grandma got us a Baby Bullet, which is like a Magic Bullet you may have seen on TV infomercials, only with baby sized mixing and freezerable jars.

Ok then, have a fun and safe Halloween and I'll talk at you later. Bye!

Prediction.

2011-10-29T22:55:00.001-06:00

Hola amigos! How have you all been? We have been doing pretty good since we last spoke. Just enjoying the company of each other and whatnot.

We met Eliza's grandma at Abe's today for lunch. They have pretty good food there. I had the gyro platter. It tasted delish, but there just wasn't enough of it.

We are all looking forward to Eliza's great grandma and great aunt coming to town. They should be in next Friday, weather permitting. They have to drive through Wyoming and sometimes they shut down the whole highway and you can't get anywhere. Amanda and I know this from experience as this past spring we were met with a closed I-25, due to flooding, and a 6 hour detour through the Wyoming mountains.

So we hope they have smooth travels all the way here. It sounds like they have many exciting activities planned for their stay. The most exciting being the celebration of my birthday. We're having a shrimp boil and a shrimp boil is wicked fun. You cook everything in one pot and then dump it put on the table and eat with yer hands.

Well then, this has been a blast, but I got to go. We're watching Planet Terror and I need to pay attention so I don't miss anything. Oh and don't forget to watch tomorrow when Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos get their 3rd win of the season. Bye!

How Old Is Eliza?

2011-10-29T00:26:00.002-06:00

Here is the answer to the question posed by the title. It should tell you how old she is anytime you come back to this post. The little bear will move across the picture towards the 12. Clever! So if you ever want to know, you just bookmark this page and come on back and check it out. That is all.

Differences

2011-10-28T23:59:00.000-06:00

Well hello there. Allow me to post this and then I'll be right back to type more. Ok, I'm back, not that you could tell. I just had to post it real quick since it was 11:59 pm and I wanted to get it done on the 28th. It's silly I know but why would you expect anything different from me, I'm so silly. If a wacky next door neighbor ever made a statue of me out of pasta, he would use fusilli.

Anyways, this is one of Amanda's last days of being on maternity leave. She has been on it for almost 6 weeks now and has to go back to work on Tuesday. She's not really looking forward to it, if you can believe that. It would be pretty sweet to not work for 6 weeks and just hang out with your baby. This means for me that I will start being at home with Eliza alone during the day. The longest I have been alone with here was for 3 hours one day. I'm looking forward to it. This will be the beginning of the real adventures of Stay At Home Brad.

You may have noticed I said I would be with Eliza during the day. This is because I still have my nighttime job. I'm not a true stay at home dad, but i didn't think that www.stayathomeduringthedayandworkaparttimejobatnightbrad.com was very catchy as a website name. So that is what it is. I look forward to the day I can find some income source that will allow me to not have to go anywhere to work. Like, working from home or perhaps being a professional photographer and travelling to exotic places with my wife and kid to make photos. Or, my favorite thing to hope for is to win the Powerball. I'm totally due to hit the jackpot. Hopefully soon you'll be reading all about it in the news.

Well then, I've got to be going. It was nice chatting with you and stuff. I hope to see you around here again sometime soon. Have yourself a great day and have a great time at that event you were planning to attend in the near future. I heard it's gonna be a blast. See you all later!

Another Preemie Eliza

2011-10-27T10:41:00.001-06:00

So just this morning Amanda was watching the latest Daily Photo Of Eliza video and one of the related videos was about another Eliza who was born premature, 5 months premature. This Eliza had a brother and a sister who didn't make it. Amanda and I both cried a bit when we watched it. That must have been so hard for the other Eliza's mom and dad, Heather and Glenn.

The previous link was to a blog they have which I have started reading. It's pretty good stuff. Perhaps you will like it too, but don't like it too much and forget about your old pal Stay At Home Brad!

Green Suit

2011-10-27T09:44:00.001-06:00

Green Suit, a photo by bradleygee on Flickr.

Green Suit

New Video Posted, Watch It And See

2011-10-27T00:15:00.002-06:00

So I finally got around to getting this little video made. It's days 1 through 81 of Eliza, in daily photographs! Neat! It's getting so that there's a lot of pictures, eh? Pretty soon she'll be 100 days old! Well, here it is, watch it and see her grow up before your very eyes. It's like magic or something.

Parking Lot. Snow.

2011-10-26T18:19:00.001-06:00

Parking Lot. Snow., a photo by bradleygee on Flickr.

Parking Lot. Snow.

What Eliza Says

2011-10-25T23:44:00.001-06:00

What Eliza Says, a photo by bradleygee on Flickr.

These are the words Eliza knows right now. She is good at saying them. But usually only when she is hungry. She doesn't do too much crying for the heck of it.

Five Paragraphs Worth

2011-10-25T23:28:00.001-06:00

This afternoon I set out to put together the daily photos for to make the video. It took too long and o was not able to git r done. Tomorrow perhaps.

Eliza is probably going to see her first snow tomorrow. It is snowing right now, you see. We may take her out in it for a bit tomorrow afternoon. Sometimes I let our cats out in the snow! It is funny!

We have some warm winter clothings for her. We have what you might call some "buntings" or prams or snowsuits. They seems to be called many different things. We tried one on her today and it was so cute and warm seeming. She'll make the most wonderful snow angels someday.

Oh, I heard about this roller derby league that is for kids. Kids starting at age 6. Amanda and I think it'd be pretty cool if Eliza was a roller derby girl. That is if she wants to be one. We will have to watch the movie Whip It many times to plant the proverbial seed.

Well I better be done now. I don't want to waste all this Grade A material all in one posting. I hope you have a great day and stay out of trouble!

TGIM

2011-10-25T00:12:00.001-06:00

Hey, a picture for the day. Haven't posted them for a few days but have been taking them. Need to get them put together in the video form as it has been a month since the last.

She is getting so big. She barely fits most of her newborn size onesies and the 3 month clothes fit. Well, some of them anyways. There are such differences in sizing between manufacturers it seems.

Well, see you all later. I'll be back tomorrow night and ut will probably be snowing here in Denvertown. First snow of the season, it is. The snow will be falling down, down, down. It'll be piling up, up, up. Ok, bye!

This Is No Joke, Or Is It?

2011-10-20T23:43:00.001-06:00

Today Amanda and I took Eliza for a ride in her stroller, or pram if you prefer. It was pretty fun. Amanda said I looked so dainty pushing it around. I saw a cat down in the storm drain!

Eliza's Great Grandma Ruth and Great Aunt Wanda are coming down from Montana to see her and us all the beginning of November. We're looking forward to this as it will be fun times for all.

Eliza gets to take Synagis to help her not get RSV this winter. It is super expensive, like over $1000 a dose and 4 or 5 monthly doses. Our insurance luckily covers most of the cost of it and someone to come out and administer it in our home. We're going to pick up her first dose tomorrow back out at the Anschutz Medical Campus, our old stomping grounds.

Oh, Amanda came up with a joke while we were feeding Eliza tonight.

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Food.
Food who?
Food to go in your tummy, that's who.

Eliza laughed so hard milk came out of her nose.

That's all fer now. Make sure to get plenty of fluids and lots of sleep. See ya later!

A Visiting

2011-10-19T18:58:00.001-06:00

Howdy folk! Great day isn't it? Yes, yes it is. Well, today we took little Eliza in to the doctor for a checkup. She checked out fine. She is almost 21 inches long/tall and 9 pounds 11 ounces. So big. The doc said they are going to treat her just like a newborn and not give any mind to the fact she was preemie.

We took Eliza on her first trip into the mountains today. We drove up Highway 285 to Fairplay. She didn't seem to suffer any ill effects from the elevation increase. My ears were a'poppin though.

When we were at a convenience store there in Fairplay we were talking with a dude on a bicycle. He had ridden that bicycle from Massachusetts and was in his way eventually to LA. Quite a trek.

Alright then, I will see you another time. Have a great day and a better tomorrow.

Back Again

2011-10-18T17:40:00.001-06:00

Wow, I'm really bad at this lately. By this I mean posting new posts here at Stay At Home Brad. It seems like I say that a lot on here. Well anyways, I think I will start posting Eliza's photo of the day on here every day. Yeah, that's the ticket.

It's past time for me to put together the newest additions to the POTD video. I think the last one was September 20 or so. So keep an eye out for that. We're getting quite a collection of photos due to the fact that Eliza is getting so "old." On my birthday in a couple of weeks she'll be 3 months old in real age, 1 month 1 week in corrected age. Sweet!

Ok then, I'll be back tomorrow with a second day in a row posting and a new pic. See ya!

Spelling Art

2011-10-11T23:16:00.001-06:00

So here is that thing I was telling you about earlier. That thing where we went out and found stuff in the world that resembled letters and put them together to spell a word, the word in this case being Eliza. Pretty cool huh? This is approximately what the finished product will look like, some editing should probably be done before printing though. Anyways, we're working on making all the letters so if you want one of your own you can email me and I can make you one for a reasonable price.

A General Interest Story

2011-10-11T18:17:00.001-06:00

Oh hey again. Things have been going pretty well with Eliza and Amanda and I. We are getting pretty used to the new schedule we have, with getting up all hours of the night and all. It's not all that bad, certainly not as bad as some stories a person hears.

Eliza took a trip back out to the eye doctor the other day, that's why she was wearing sunglasses in the picture. She got her eyes all dilated so they could check for Retinopathy Of Prematurity, ROP if you will. She doesn't have it. Her eyes are a-ok, at least developmentally. Who knows what her vision will be like, most of her family wears glasses so she probably won't escape that fate.

Eliza sure has been all over town since she's been with us. We've been to IKEA, which is freakin' awesome, she's been to Colorado Springs, she's been to Flatirons Crossing mall and tons of other places. She really gets around. She travels real well, we put her in her carseat and she falls asleep almost instantly.

It's pretty cool taking her around, people sure seem to like her. The first thing most people say is that she has so much hair. It's totally true! She does have a great head of hair.

As fun as it is now to take her out, it will be so much more fun later when she can talk and sit up and see stuff. We plan to take as many road trips as we can with her and see all there is to see. We'll be like the Griswalds.

Ooh, one more thing, Amanda saw this catalog where they will sell you this cool but expensive photo product. So you see, you tell them a name, Eliza for example, and they use things found in nature or architecture or wherever that look like the letters in the name. Like for the letter "A" they might use an A-frame house. They then put all the "letters" in a matted frame to spell the name.

It's swell, but they wanted like $150 for it. So we went out and made our own yesterday. We took the pics anyways, it's not framed or matted yet, but it is gonna work. I'm going to post a photo of what we came up with later tonight if you are interested.

Alright then, I'm over and out for now. Tune in later tonight for more excitement. See ya!

Sleeping On The Couch

2011-10-06T22:41:00.000-06:00

Pro tip: If you get up in the middle of the night because your baby is crying for some food and you leave your bedroom to go to the kitchen and heat up a bottle in your The First Years brand bottle warmer, don't fall asleep on the couch while you wait. Your wife just might get mad that she was left in the room with a crying baby while you were sleeping.

The First Years

2011-10-05T00:00:00.001-06:00

This thing here, a The First Years brand bottle warmer, is a real handy piece of equipment.

PhotoSnack Is Alright

2011-10-03T23:00:00.000-06:00

Oh hey, I came across this site PhotoSnack what will let you make little photo slideshows, along with several other things. I took some pics of Eliza to try it out. You can do most stuff for free it seems, they do offer you a chance to give them money to get more. But the free works for me. Anyways, here's what we came up with.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

2011-10-02T23:59:00.004-06:00

Dear Eliza,
We're getting ready for bed now. I hope you are fixing to get some sleep tonight. Last night we played cry cry feed all night long.

I just took a short break between paragraphs and you fell asleep. Looking good so far. You just might get some sleep tonight. You were so tired today. You didn't wake up for more than 5 seconds today when we went to meet with your grandma.

If it's nice tomorrow I think your mom and I are going to take you for a stroller ride. We haven't tried it out yet and it's about time we did. I bet you're going to have so much fun. I know I am.

I'll be going now Eliza. I just had to drop you a line so you would know I was thinking about you. I will see you real soon. Like in a minute when I go into the other room where you are.

Love,

DAD

Eight Week Anniversary

2011-10-01T21:28:00.000-06:00

As you know, today was Eliza's supposed to be due date. We had quite the celebration. Well, not really. We just hung out at home, Eliza did a lot of sleeping and eating and diaper dirty-ing. Amanda and I sung happy birthday to her. Oh it was so silly.

Tomorrow is the 8 week anniversary of Eliza's real birth. Can you believe it? 8 weeks old. She is such a big girl. We were re-organizing some of her clothes today and we had to get rid of quite a few of them because she doesn't fit in them anymore! Very nice!

Well, that's it for today. Sorry it's so short and void of content. I mostly just wanted to try out this Facebook commenting that you will see below here. Feel free to comment so I can see how it works, ok. Hopefully it works pretty good and it will make it easier to comment and respond to comments. Alrighty then, thanks for reading and goodnight.

Eliza's Taste

2011-09-30T19:39:00.003-06:00

Eliza has not tasted many things at this early stage in her life. She has had breast milk, formula, liquid vitamins and iron. The most exotic thing she has tasted was children's Tylenol, cherry flavored.

Supposed To Be Birthday Eve

2011-09-30T19:39:00.001-06:00

Hey do you know what tomorrow is? It is the day Eliza was supposed to have been born! And it is the day her "corrected age" begins. You see, even though she was born nearly 2 months ago, we aren't supposed to count those towards any sort of milestones babies reach. Like something full term babies will do at 6 months, Eliza will do at 8. Or so they say, but we will see.

Amanda sure is glad Eliza came early. She often will look at E and imagine she was still in there and needed to come out. She's much bigger now, you see, and it would hurt more.

Well then, this second day of being back into daily posting post is over. I hope you enjoyed it. They should get better as I get back into the ol' swing of things. See ya!

I Think We Should Start Again

2011-09-29T03:31:00.001-06:00

It seems like the time is right for a return to daily or almost daily blog postings. I have gotten pretty lax in doing so lately. So I declare today that I shall make an attempt to get back on the daily postings.

We have sure enjoyed having Eliza at home. She has been out of the hospital for 9 days and it has been a blast. Having a kid is pretty awesome, if you're ready for 'em and all. There is not one thing negative about it, I have found. Sure, a few nights consisted of very little sleep, but sleep is over-rated and that's what coffee is for.

When I look at her it amazes me every time. It's not just my daughter, but the fact that people in general all start out like this then get bigger and then do whatever it is they do. The miracle of life is just that.

Here's a fun game. Name any person you want to. 100% of the time this person started out as a baby. The only exception I know of was on Saturday Night Live when Will Ferrell was born a full grown man. But that's make believe, and hilarious.

Well then, it's the middle of the night and Eliza is back to sleep so I probably should do the same. I will type to you later today or tomorrow though. See ya!

51 Photos of Eliza

2011-09-26T20:24:00.000-06:00

One for (almost) every day of her life. This is the third installment, it gets bigger every time, and so does Eliza!. It's fun!

Eliza Eats A Lot

2011-09-21T17:15:00.000-06:00

Every 4 hours or so, Eliza takes a bottle. This bottle is filled with 80 ml of milk or milk substitute. And she eats this in 20 minutes or so.
Eliza is almost 8 lbs as of her last weigh in. So it's about 10 ml per pound.

Imagine, if you you will, a full grown adult eating the same amount. A 200 lb person would consume 2000 ml, or 2 liters. Not just once, but at least 6 times a day. And taking around 20 minutes each time. That seems pretty impressive to me.

Maybe it is not so much if you are Joey Chestnut or Kobayashi, but I certainly couldn't do it. However, I am also not a growing baby who shouldn't even have been born for 10 more days so she needs all that nutrition and whatnot. But still she's a super eater. And that's pretty neat.

Eliza Is Coming Home

2011-09-20T11:06:00.001-06:00

Dear Eliza,

Today is your last day in the NICU! You are coming home! Mom and I are just waiting for the doctors to do whatever it is they do to discharge patients.

We spent the past 2 nights with you at the hospital. You even got to sleep in the same room as us! We feds you whenever you were hungry and you took your bottles so well. One thing I did find out about you is that during the day you will want food every 4 hours and you'll sleep all the way through. During the night, when daddy is trying to sleep, you like to eat every 2 hours and don't sleep "like a baby" and toss and turn and fuss about.

Last night we had you do what they call a car seat challenge. This is where we stick you in your car seat to see if you handle it well, since you usually lay flat on your back as opposed to uprightish. You passed.

So now we wait. It's been 6 weeks but these few hours today seem to be the longest of them all. We cannot wait to get started on our life at home with you. It will be quite different than hospital life where we only saw you 4 hours a day.

It is a whole new chapter and this chapter will be filled with great times and also some not so great times. There will be fun and games. There will also be sleepless nights and frustrating times. But we will go through these all together as a family, and we will remember them forever and cherish those memories.

Well Eliza, this is the last letter I will write to you as a part time parent. From now on yer mom and I are full timers so I hope you like what you get. We sure like what we got in you.

Love,

Dad

Eliza's Face

2011-09-18T18:17:00.001-06:00

It is free from tubes and tape and everything! She is eating from a bottle real good too. If she keeps this up she'll be home on no time. We are super excited.

Eliza Is Getting Her Tube Out

2011-09-18T11:17:00.001-06:00

We had just arrived at the hospital when Eliza's nurse gave us some great news. Today Eliza gets her food tube out of here nose and we are going to try just bottle feeding. And we are going off the feeding schedule and just feeding when she wakes up. It is so exciting today.

Hopefully it all goes well and we can get her home! She only needs 48 hours and she can!

So we are just sitting here waiting for Eliza to wake up. Normally we would be feeding her right now but she don't want none.

Well I have to go check some foot all scores while we wait. I will get back to you all later. Bye!

Eliza Goes Up A Size

2011-09-12T13:35:00.001-06:00

Dear Eliza,

You mom and I just left the hospital after our weekly overnight visit. We sure had a great time while we were there. You are getting so big! We tried to fit you into a preemie sized outfit but you are too big for it and we had to use newborn size. Same with your diapers, you are newborn diaper size also. Wow!

Your weigh in last night had you at 7 lbs and 5 oz. That is almost 3 lbs up since you were born just over 1 month ago. Impressive, Eliza.

I don't want to jinx it or anything, but I think you might be coming home pretty soon. The other times we have thought that, it didn't happen and we were a little let down because we want you home so bad. October 1 is the day you were supposed to be born and that is when your initial come home date was so if it takes that long it is ok.

You just gotta start taking all your feedings by nipple. We did 3 of them in a row yesterday which was pretty cool. Your nurse told us you are doing about 60% of your eating this way. So you are getting closer! Also it has been since the 8th that you had a Brady. 4 whole days!

Well Eliza, I have to get going. Your mom and I have some things we need to get done. One of them is going to pick up some more clothes for you from my co-worker Tammy. You have so many clothes!! Alright, see you later E!

Love,

Dad

Eliza Is One Month Old Today

2011-09-07T23:34:00.001-06:00

Dear Eliza,

Happy birthday!!! One month old today! Do you feel any older? Lol. Sorry we didn't get you any cake. You can't eat that right now anyways. But soon you can and you will have the best cakes when you do.

We got some pretty nice clothes recently from your grandmother. There are several pair of jeans, some vests, some sleep-ware and the neatest one is this fancy white dress. You are going to look so adorable in it Eliza. It is a size 18 months but I hope it doesn't really take that long to fit. It would make for a nice Christmas photo next year.

Your grandma also got us a Baby Bullet to use to make your food once you start eating solider food. That's a ways out yet though. But it's cool to have. Maybe we will do some practice batches while we wait. I don't think your mom is gonna like the blended up peas!

Well Eliza, I better be off to bed. You are probably doing about the same as I type this since you got your cares at 11 o'clock. We will be in early tomorroe morning to check on you. They did your latest length measurement tonight and I am excited to see how you've grown. Ok, I'm going for reals now. Bye birthday girl!

Love ya',

Dad

Eliza Daily Photo Video Number 2

2011-09-03T23:25:00.000-06:00

A new, bigger and better video comprised of Eliza's daily photos is available for your viewing pleasure! She is certainly growing up right before my eyes. I am glad to be undertaking this project as it is already fun to be able to see the change in recorded fashion. I will be there in real life to see it, but like they say, "Take a picture it'll last longer." And it's true. The old brain camera doesn't work as well as a Sony DSLR for remembering things sometimes.

Alright then, here it is. I hope you enjoy watching it. The music is silly in this one. See you next time!

Eliza Is The Cutest Baby

2011-09-02T10:19:00.001-06:00

Dear Eliza,

Once again it has been too long since I have wrote you. It seems yo be a nasty habit I am developing. I will try to fix this.

Your Mom and I are with you at the hospital again today. Did you know you are over 6 pounds? It is true. 6 pounds 3 ounces as of your weigh in last night. Pretty impressive, Eliza. And this Sunday you will be 4 weeks old! It seems like just yesterday you were born. The time sure does fly by like they all say.

We are pretty much ready for you to come home whenever you are ready. We got you your starting out supply of cloth diapers from www.eco-politan.com and you have so many cute clothes. Your Mom's cousin from England just sent you some fancy clothes. They're French. You will look so classy in them!

And we have your bed, your monitor, bottles, bath tub, blankets, medical supplies and all sorts of other stuff you may require.

We have almost everything we need for bringing up baby, we are just missing you, Eliza! You are doing pretty good on the bottle feeding. You don't take all your feedings from it, but some. You are not to keen on the breast feeding yet though. You try so hard to do it but I guess you are just too young yet. Pretty soon you will be doing only bottle or breast and you can come live with us.

Oh and they are going to try and take you off the oxygen in a couple days. You sure would like that. You are always pulling at your little oxygen tube trying to get it off your face. They did try that a while ago, when you were younger, but you couldn't get quite enough on your own. Now you're bigger and stronger and it will probably be ok. They already have it turned down as low as it goes and your levels are a-ok.

Alright then Eliza, we are just about to start your physical therapy so I best stop writing now. But I will write you at a later date. So till then...

Love,

Dad

Slideshow of Eliza Photos

2011-08-28T01:27:00.000-06:00

I have created a little slideshow with the photos of Eliza and/or Me and/or Amanda I have put on Bradmanda.com. I hope you like it. It should update with new photos as they are added so keep checking back every so often for more!

Eliza Gets A Bath

2011-08-24T23:22:00.001-06:00

Eliza Gets A Bath, a photo by bradleygee on Flickr.

I think this is my favorite picture of all the pictures I have taken of Eliza. It's real nice.

I am about getting around to posting more pics to my Flickr, Bradmanda.com, Facebook and right here at Stay At Home Brad so keep an eye out if you are interested.

17 Days And Growing

2011-08-24T21:33:00.001-06:00

Dear Eliza,

Hey there my beautiful little baby! How are you? Did you know you are 17 days old today? Wow!

We saw you again out at your hospital home. We got to give you a bath today and you seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. It may have reminded you of your old home, which was inside your mom! You barely fit in the tub because you are so big, at least for a preemie (5 lbs 4 oz, almost 18".)

You are doing very well with your progression towards coming to your permanent home. Yesterday you ate/drank from a bottle 3 times. And today you seemed to be grasping the concept of breastfeeding.

Eliza, if you recall, the last 2 things you need to accomplish are to not have Bradys for 5 days and be solely bottle and/or breast fed for 2 days. You are working so hard at it, we can tell. You are gonna be home in no time!

We are really anxious to get you home. Going all the way out to Aurora to see you is really hard. We do love coming to visit and as soon as we get there we forget any sort of troubles our journey might have brought us. But we sure would like it better if the farthest we had to go to see you was across our house. I know you're trying really hard and it is just gonna be a lil while more but we want you home Eliza!

Alright then, I will be going now. I'm waiting for your mom at her work where I am picking her up and she should be out any minute now. We will see you in the morning time Eliza.

Love,

Dad

2 Week Birthday

2011-08-21T15:37:00.000-06:00

Dear Eliza,

Happy birthday. You are two weeks old today! Not only that but you are also over 5 pounds now. You are growing so big Eliza!

Yesterday I made a video out of the daily photographs I (and your grandma) have taken. We only had 13 days worth of photos to work with so it is pretty short, but it will get bigger and better as you grow older.

We are here with you on the NICU today. You were having a little bit of a problem with your oxygen saturation levels earlier, but they turned up your airflow and that seemed to help.

We are all still really impressed with your progress. All you need to do is start nipple feeding and we're outta here. But no rush. You will start when you are ready.

Alright then Eliza, I will be going again. We just got back from having lunch with your grandma at Panda Express and need to get back in to see you. So I will type to you later! Bye!

Love,

Dad

Eliza's Daily Photo Video Number 1

2011-08-20T22:37:00.000-06:00

Hi there, I have been diligently snapping away while Eliza is in the NICU to get her photo of the day, with a little help from Grandma C when we could not make it. Eliza is 13 days old today, tomorrow she will be 2 weeks, yay! She is doing great there, but we are really ready for her to come home. She has got a little bit to do yet before she can so we just have to wait. But anyways, here is the video of her 13 days in still picture form! It's a little bit harder with her in the NICU to get a good photo some days, they will improve when she gets home, don't worry. Ok then!

News And/Or Updates For Today

2011-08-18T17:49:00.000-06:00

Dear Eliza,

So sorry for not writing you for several days. I'm sure you will have forgiven me by the time you are reading this.

We got some news today regarding your release from the hospital. What we found out was that you need to be free from Bradycardia for 5 days and have been fed solely from a bottle and/or nipple for 48 hours. That is all you have to do! You have already been able to maintain your temperature and are above your birth weight and still gaining! You are doing so great Eliza!

Your grandma Carol stopped by last night to are you. She is pretty excited about you too. She got to hold you for a couple hours and see your fancy clothes and blanket.
Speaking of blanket, your great grandma Ruth sent you a beautiful quilt that she made. She is probably one of the best quilters around so you are pretty lucky to get one made by her. She also wrote you a letter you can read when you get older and some preemie clothes she got from Project Hope in Columbus, Montana.

We also got our second car seat from one of mommy's work friends. Now we can have you seated safely in both of our cars. You have to ride on a car seat or booster seat till you are 15! Ha, not quite but it seems like it's quite a while. You will learn to like it though.

Well baby E, I must be going now. I will write later ok. Have a great day. Bye!

Love,

Dad

We Spent Our Weekend At The Hospital

2011-08-16T09:51:00.001-06:00

Sorry it has been a few days since the last post. We have spent the past two nights staying in one of the rooms the NICU provides for families to sleep over. It's a pretty nice feature. So we have been hanging out cribside almost the whole time and I haven't felt compelled to post.

Anyways, Eliza is doing so great. She is out of her isolette and into an open air crib. She is slowly learning how to breastfeed. She is gaining weight and just generally doing well.

I guess she does still have some Bradycardia, which is where her heart rate drops below a certain point and then alarms go off and red lights flash and it's a little scary. This is the only problem we see. But this is apparently normal for preemies and should go away in time. The first line of treatment is caffeine, so it's not like she'll need complicated surgery or anything, it's just frightening when it happens (especially when I am holding her.)

Ooh ooh ooh, you know what else? Eliza has her first modeling gig lined up! She is going to pose, and I am going to photograph, for an update to the physical therapy book! Cool!

Well that's all I have time for now. Amanda and I are going to get some breakfast at the cafeteria and go back up to see her before we leave for today. So I will type to you later.

5 Days And Counting!

2011-08-12T18:12:00.001-06:00

Dear Eliza,

Wow, 5 and a half days old! You sure are getting up there in days. Before we know it you are going to be 10 (days).

We went to see you again in the NICU today. You got your IV out! The nurse had told us it wouldn't happen till tomorrow so that was a pleasant surprise. One less tube to deal with when we hold you. Now you just have your oxygen tube and the 3 monitor wires attached.

And you are wearing clothes! We brought you some of your own from home but they had you in another baby's clothes. It's ok though, nobody noticed and it looked good on you.

We have been getting to hold you for longer and longer these past couple days. Now with your clothes wearing we can go for hours. They are also supposed to be turning down the heat in your isolette gradually. So in a week or so you should be living on an un-enclosed bed.

We all, including your doctors, are so happy with your progress. Every day you make great strides towards coming home. We're working on getting you boob trained and that will be another milestone. So keep it up Eliza. You're doing a great job and I heart you.

Love,

Dad

Eliza Ruth, Gaining Weight, Growing Tall and 4 Days Old

2011-08-11T09:02:00.000-06:00

Dear Eliza,

Wow! You are 4 days old now. The time sure does fly right by! You are still doing spectacular in the NICU. You gained some weight yesterday as I suspected would happen. And it appears that you have also increased in length by .2" (point two inches!)

We are here with you again and your mom is learning you how to breastfeed and you are a fast learner. Make sure to put that on your resume and/or cover letter!

Tomorrow sometime they should be taking you off your IV. I know it must be uncomfortable so you will like that a lot. They have it in your foot right now and it is all wrapped up so you don't tear it out.

When we first got here today you were crying like crazy, Eliza. You were hungry for food and attention since your nurse was running a bit late due to a new arrival to the NICU.

You also had both your eyes wide open, the first time I have seen that. Before you would (or could) only open them a little tiny bit and usually one at a time. We thought you were beautiful before but that sealed the deal.

Also, yesterday we brought some clothes for you to wear while you are here. You can't try them on until you get your IV out, at the earliest. That will be fun wont it? It will probably be more fun for us than for you since you aren't used to wearing clothes, but you'll get used to it.

Ok Eliza, I have got to be going now so I can pay attention to you in real life. I will write later. Bye, love you!

Dad

On The Third Day...

2011-08-10T09:02:00.001-06:00

Dear Eliza,

Hey baby E, happy 3 day birthday! We are with you right now in the NICU and you are doing so good! You were sucking on a pacifier when we got here, way to go!

You only lost 5 grams at your last weigh-in. They say babies lose weight the first couple days and you did. You should be at the point where you start gaining it. I bet we see that happening when we come see you tomorrow.

Your mommy has been holding you for like 30 minutes now, that's the longest ever. She will hold you for hours and hours when you come home with us.

I have to be going now Eliza, I need to go get a pump so your mom can make you some breakfast.

I love you so much Eliza. I love coming to see you. You are the best baby anyone could ask for. Every day we get closer to having you at home in the room we have set up for you. Well, I will wrote you later Eliza. Get lots of rest and keep a growin'.

Love,

Dad

2 Days Old - Letter To Eliza

2011-08-09T04:43:00.000-06:00

Dear Eliza,

How does it feel to be 2 days old like you are right now? I bet it feels pretty neat. It's August 9 at 4:43 am as this is being posted.

We saw you again today in the NICU. You still have the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) on you to help your little lungs inflate but you should be getting that off some time tomorrow according to your day nurse. That will sure be nice huh? I see you grabbing at it sometimes, I'm sure it's not the most comfortable thing you could have on, but you need it right now. It will be cool when it's off so we can see your pretty face more clearly though.

We changed 2 of your diapers and checked your temperature also, Eliza. Real mommy and daddy things! But we're only part time mommy and daddy right now cause of your situation. We're easing into it. Your situation also give us time to get what we need for your homecoming since you came so early that we were not quite ready! We have a lot of it but not all. We did just get a carseat yesterday from one of your mom's work associates. It's used but only gently and it's fairly new.

Oh, also we got the form to fill out for your birth certificate! It proves you are real to other people and employers. You're also getting a social security number! Yay! Also we're adding you on to our insurance so we can get you doctored up once you leave the 'spital. You had such a busy day Eliza! What do you think will happen tomorrow?

Love you,

Dad

Babies Are Awesome

2011-08-08T09:43:00.003-06:00

We're still here at the hospital, today will mark one week. I was pretty worried when we first got here with all this happening so soon and all. But the more time went by and the more I learned about premature babies the less I worried.
And now little baby Eliza has been born and all is well. She is resting comfortably in her hotbox in the NICU just growing and growing. The only concern with her now is there is either fluid in her lungs, what would go away over time, or she might not have enough surfactant in 'em in which case she would need a breathing tube. The doc we spoke to yesterday was fairly sure it was just some fluid though, so we'll see.
This has been an amazing experience for Amanda and I (and Eliza too.) It is so incredible how this whole thing works. I mean, Eliza started out as two tiny things that merged into one tiny thing and then grew to be this wonderful little girl. And all this happened right inside my wife!
All the books and shows and things people say couldn't prepare me for the actual experience of having a baby. Even if I went back to school and got 7 different English degrees I could not express in words how freakin' awesome this is.
I know it will not be all fun and games the whole time. But for now, I am simply enjoying our miracle of life. When we got to hold her yesterday it was about the best thing ever. She is so small but will grow so big.
I feel like a different person now that we have her. Everything I do now has to be for her, not me. Every decision I make now effects not just me or Amanda, but Eliza. And I can't do anything what may bring her harm.
A'ight then, I will be going now. Thanks to everyone who has called or wrote to us or an intermediary regarding our situation. We appreciate your concerns and it was very nice of yous. Stay tuned to this here blog for more in the future. Things will really start ramping up once we get to bring Eliza home in the next some number of weeks and you wont want to miss it!

Eliza - One Day Old

2011-08-08T04:43:00.002-06:00

Dear Eliza,

You are one day old right now (4:43 am, August 8) and are so beautiful. Your mom and I are so excited about you. It's ok that you were a little bit early. You are in the NICU so we don't get to bring you home or anything but you will be there in no time since you are in good health and have a great team of doctors to watch after you. We did get to hold you a couple times this afternoon and evening. It was so nice. As time goes by we'll get to hold you more and even stay the night with you!

Well Eliza, I will see you later today. I hope you were good overnight and got some good sleep to help you grow big and strong and help you move on out of there.

Love,

Dad

Eliza Ruth Is Here!

2011-08-07T06:17:00.003-06:00

Not even 2 hours ago we welcomed our beautiful little daughter Eliza Ruth into this world. She is 4 lbs 11 oz and came out quick. We are so excited for her arrival. She is still early but the doctors seemed pleased with her size and all that. And she is fine healthwise so far as we know right now.
I gotta get back in the room so we can go see her in the NICU in a few minutes so I will type to you later!

No Baby Yet

2011-08-06T23:59:00.002-06:00

We had quite a scare yesterday with they baby trying to come on out. As you know we do not want the baby to come out, well we do, but not right now. She needs to stay in for a while longer, our bun is not quite ready to come out of the oven.

What had happened was, Amanda started having contractions fairly close together and also they checked to see if she was dilated and she was. Some other things happened and then the doctors said she was in labor. They moved us to the delivery room across the hall and started giving Amanda magnesium sulfate and regular IV fluids. Then they strapped her up to baby monitoring machines and we waited for it to happen.

She dilated more and had contractions throughout the day but at some point it all stopped and we had won in the fight against having a baby right now. She had to stay in the delivery room for most of today and she wasn't doing too good because of some things that were going on, the pain and the poo. Both of those have seemed to lessen as today has gone on. We are now in another room that is much more comfortable and Amanda is not hooked up to any sort of monitor or anything and can sleep when she's not having painful contractions.

Well, I left out a lot of stuff but that's the gist of it. We're just waiting now, it's inevitable that the baby is born. Probably sooner rather than later, but we'll take whatever we can get. One doctor today said that each day baby is unborn equals 3 days in the NICU, so it's been 5 days since the water broke and we have saved 15 days in the NICU. That is where preemies go when they're born if you were wondering. It means neonatal intensive care unit! Ok then, I better get going. Thanks for reading our amazing baby adventures and have a great day.

Maybe Today

2011-08-05T07:26:00.003-06:00

Another day done with no baby. But as of about 4 this morning Amanda has been having contractions something fierce. Today might be the day our baby comes, but nothing certain yet. They are going to give her some IV fluids that could help. They might also not do anything.
It has been about 3.5 days since the water broke and they said most don't last more than 5-7 days so if it's not today it certainly could be tomorrow.
Well I best be getting back to see what's happening up on our room. I will keep you all posted.

Talking With Amanda - Video

2011-08-04T11:09:00.000-06:00

Hi, Brad here. Last night I un-secretly recorded a conversation between Amanda and I. What you are about to witness is the raw, unedited footage the other stations were afraid to show you. Can you handle it?

Day 3 In The Hospital

2011-08-03T17:16:00.002-06:00

Well the docs have done a good job of keeping baby from coming out. Amanda is having some contractions but they don't seem too concerned with them.
When we first got to the hospital they put an IV port in Amanda. The nurse didn't find a good place on Amanda's arm in the 3 seconds she looked so she put it on her wrist. This was very painful.
Amanda kept telling them it hurt but they kept saying, "Oh that's just the medicines you're feeling."
Anyways, this morning Amanda asked once more to have it removed and they finally did. And the pain was gone, even after another nurse put the IV back (but in the arm where it should go) and things were pumped through it. Weird.
We finally got some good sleep this morning and into the afternoon. It sure is hard to sleep in a hospital. They are always coming in to do something. I'm sure it is even harder for Amanda since she is the one they are doing the things to.
They have pretty good food at the hospital. Amanda eats it good. She shares some with me and I like it. This morning I had a bagel with cream cheese and a sausage patty that fit the bagel perfectly like they were made for each other.
They let Amanda out of her room to roam the grounds sometimes if we ask real nice. They make her ride in a wheelchair though. I think she likes getting wheeled around by a big strong man (me! LoL!) It is a nice change of scenery for her. A person can only sit in one room for so long before they start to go crazy!
That's all I can think of for now. If you want any additional info you know how to reach me or can easily find out. So take care till next time!

Important Update

2011-08-02T15:01:00.002-06:00

As some of you may know, last night around 7 Amanda's water broke. This is generally an exciting moment in a pregnancy. But when you are 31 (or so) weeks along it is not so much.
I had just got done playing the first of 2 softball games when I heard the news. We had a short intermission between games and I was walking to my car where I was going to sit and enjoy some air conditioning when I saw my mom. And it went a little something like this.
Mom: Are you done with your games?
Me: No, we have one more.
Mom: You're done. Amanda called and said her water broke.
So I did not play the second game as I rushed home to see what was going on. What was going on was just what Amanda said. She had contacted the hospital and they said you best come on over so we did.
When we got there they did some tests to ascertain whether or not the fluid sac had really busted. It did. So then it was on to the next phase which was trying to keep the baby in there. Because, you see, the baby has a lower risk of complications the longer it's in the womb.
Since basically the beginning of our pregnancy there have been some issues regarding the timeline. We were never quite sure, one doctor visit they would say one thing and the next another. So they are going by some measurements of an ultrasound which they interpret to be 31 weeks.
They recommend 34 weeks. So the plan is to keep Amanda there at the hospital for up to 3 weeks with no baby being born. If she makes it to 34 they'll induce. They say that something like 80% of persons in this situation don't make it that long but rather, deliver within a week.
So we'll see what happens. It is pretty scary having this come so early with all the bad stories you hear about premature babies. So we are praying that nothing bad happens to our baby's way and she is just tiny but with no other health problems. You can send good wishes our way too if you want.
Amanda is currently resting at the hospital. Some of the medicine they gave her last night didn't allow her to eat or drink and she finally got to about noon today so that made her feel better.
I am currently at home checking on our cats and general well being of our humble abode. Everything's alright. I have to work this whole week so hopefully if something happens it doesn't happen then because I can't miss our baby being born. Our little tiny healthy baby.
Now that things have calmed down a little bit I hope to have more time to post. I wanted to last night and this morning but there was just too much going on. So stay tuned for more updates as the says go by. That is all for now. Have a great day everyone!

Judy Hunt, 1946-2011

2011-07-30T23:37:00.002-06:00

Amanda And Her Mom At Our Old Apartment

As you may have read in the prior two posts, Amanda's mom, Judy, was very sick with the cancer. This was her second bout with it. She beat it the first time in 2010, but this time it was just too much and she passed away two days ago, July 28 2011.

We spent most of this past week with her at the Denver Hospice At Lowry. It was a wonderful place for her to be. The staff was so caring to both Judy and all of us family members.

So needless to say, this week has been pretty upsetting for Amanda and I and others. At one point in this whole process we knew it was coming to this, which it made losing her a little bit easier. Not that much though. It's never easy losing someone you care about.

So I just want to say to my mother-in-law Judy Hunt: Wherever you are, I hope you can read this. Thank you for your daughter Amanda, I love her so much. You done good, Judy. And thanks for the memories I have and all the wonderful (and some not so wonderful) memories Amanda has. We'll see you in some other place and time. Watch over us the best you can and say hi to our grandpas for us. Take care.

____________________________________

At some point in the next day or so I will make an obituary type posting for Judy. We don't have any sort of memorial arrangements made yet but will keep you posted if you are interested. If you wanted to send flowers or anything like that, we instead request that you give a donation to the Denver Hospice in Judy Hunt's name as they rely heavily on donations and we'd like to see them keep on operating. If you want or need more info you can email me at brad@stayathomebrad.com. Thanks.

Still Here

2011-07-26T18:26:00.002-06:00

We're still at the hospice. Amanda's mom is still "sleeping", hasn't woke up for any length of time since Friday. We were here until 4 this morning when we had to go home to get some sleep. We came back around 11 and have been here since (it's a quarter after 6 pm as I write this).

Last night someone died here. They have a bell that gets rung whenever that happens. I didn't actually hear it but Amanda was out roaming the halls and heard it and saw them come in with a fancy gurney to take the person away. We'll most likely be ringing a bell soon. I don't know if I want to be here when it happens though. It's not real pleasant being here with her in this state. If it's going to happen I wish it would just do it, even if I'm here. Nobody should have to go through this kind of thing when there's virtually no chance of recovery.

Well, that's it for now. Sorry to have un-happy past two postings. I usually try to stay upbeat and all that but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. I'll talk to you all later though. And have a great day.

Getting Near The End

2011-07-25T17:30:00.004-06:00

Sad day day for Amanda and I . As you may have read, we have been visiting Amanda's mom, first in the hospital and now at the hospice. Well, Amanda was sleeping in preparation for her midnight shift when she received a call from a nurse at the hospice saying if you want to see her again, best to do it now.

We'd been out to see her the two days prior and she was very "lethargic" (as one nurse put it). Meaning she didn't wake up almost at all while we were there, or since Friday for that matter. Now she's worse.

So we came out to the Denver Hospice after the call and that's where I am right now.
All her close family is here and she's as comfortable as can be but it's just a matter of time till she passes. It might be tonight or it might be tomorrow or who knows.

This whole thing has been pretty tough on Amanda but she is makin' it through as good as she can. I try my best to comfort her and be there for her. My grandpa died in January and Amanda helped me deal with that, so I try to do the same for her.

So say a little prayer or send some good wishes to Amanda and our baby and to Amanda's mom, Judy, for a peaceful transition to whatever is on the other side. If you have any left I'll take some too.

Well, I best be going but I ll talk to you all later.

Three Things To Read

2011-07-25T08:59:00.003-06:00

Well, there's not much to report in this report. So I will just ramble on for a while and see what can be came up with to write about.

One. We're less than 68 days away from the due date. I know this because of the handy countdowner located in the right sidebar of this blog. It's nice to have because I sure as heckfire can't remember how many days till something happens. When I first put that on there were about 100 days to go. So I've been watching it slowly count down, the days are seemingly going by faster as time goes by. The first 15 took an eternity. The next 15 were quicker. The 15 after that will be done before I know it, and then the rest are just going to zoom by so fast and then we'll have a new baby! Yay!

Two. I still haven't received any addresses for to send Postagrams to. It's ok if you don't, but if you want a special delivery around October 1 you could email me your postal address to brad@stayathomebrad.com and get you some. Both my mother and I have received ours and they are pretty nice. A lot higher quality than I was expecting. They're like real postcards you'd find at your favorite gift shoppe, but they have a personalized message and image on 'em. Neat! So yeah, if you want one let me know. Even if you don't want one feel free to send an email to the provided email address. I have not received any emails as a result of this site, not even Spam! What the hey!

Three. @AStayAtHomeBrad has been getting quite a few Twitter followers as of late. I don't think any of them are high quality followers, like I doubt they'll read much that I post. But it's nice just the same. Why just a week ago there were only 10 and now there's slightly over 100. Quite a jump. We'll see how this affects any of the page views on here or wherever else. I'm a little skeptical. Maybe you could follow me on Twitter also, this might help.

Four. There is no more. You have reached the end of this posting. If you feel you have received this message in error, please refresh the page and try again. Thank you.

Baby Shower Or: Brad Wears A Blanket

2011-07-24T10:02:00.004-06:00

Well, as you may have noted we attended a baby shower held by my mother yesterday. We got so much cool stuff and had lots of fun. We played the melted candy bar in the diaper game. (They all look like doody!) And we played this game where there was a bowl of rice with little safety pins mixed in with it. You were blind folded and had to sort through it to pick out the pins. Man was that hard. It doesn't seem like it would be but it is, trust me. You had only 1 minute to do it. The winner only got 8. I got 6, I was bad. The rice and the pins both felt the same to me. Very hard to differentiate between the two without being able to see. I guess it goes to show how much we rely on our eyes for things. I better start taking better care of mine, eh?

We got some totally cute baby clothes. The cutest were ones that had frogs right on the little butt part of the pants. Baby butts and frogs go together like a foot and a shoe. We also got one of the softest blankets I have ever felt. And not only is this blanket the softest, it also has a little hood to keep baby's head warm. It also fits an adult's head. I know because I tried it on to make sure. If the blanket weren't baby sized I would totally use it all the time in the winter. It really is the softest one ever made. Baby will love it for sure.

So all in all the baby shower was a grand old time. Amanda has one at her work coming up so she gets to do it again soon. Thanks to everyone who came yesterday and made it a special day for us. We really appreciate it. Well that's it for this posting. Have a great day everyone and don't forget to dial 9 to make an outbound call!

Not A Father

2011-07-22T16:21:00.002-06:00

As you know, I am an expectant father. I have been involved in the dad blogging world by way of reading and a little commenting and all that. But I'm not really a dad blogger yet so I can't get fully involved because I don't have all the same experiences. I wish there were more expecting first father bloggers out there. I guess they wouldn't last long though, 9 months tops. So I'll just have to wait till September or October and then I'll be fully enmeshed in the world of dad bloggers.

One of the best that I have found so far is
How To Be A Dad. Written by Charlie Capen and Andy Herald. Perhaps you have seen them linked on the side of this blog here. Or perhaps you have not. Either way they are hilarious and if you have any time and inclination you should go check them out. They make diagrams (hilarious) regarding whatever their crazy minds can come up with along with their regular (also hilarious) written content. They have a real slick site too. It looks so good. One day I will be at their level. But until then this is what we have. It's not too bad if I do say so myself, and I do.

Alright then, it's time for me to be going. The weekend is coming up and that means Baby Shower! So perhaps I'll let you know if we got anything super cool so you won't get it for us too. LOL. Adios amigos!

Empire Avenue

2011-07-22T09:48:00.001-06:00

{EAV_BLOG_VER:4c43a9ab53945729}

I have started playing on Empire Avenue recently and it is very addicting. It's a stock market for online activities. I am a "company" with shares you can buy. So how it works is you link up all, or as many as you want, of your internet doings, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, You Tube and any sort of Blog/Rss feed you have. This gets you your current stock value. People at this point can buy shares in you. As people buy more shares, the price goes up. Also as you do more on your social networks you also get some activity scores. The more active you are in social networks the more you are worth.

Like, I started out at $10 per share as everyone does, yesterday I was up to $11.72 and now today there was a flourish of activity and I am up to $17.92. This is a result of massive buying of (e)SAHB and my activity yesterday. It's pretty fun and a great way to get me more motivated to keep up with my blogs and writing and photo uploading. So anyways, I just had to post that little code up there in order to get this site verified as being owned by me so I can start getting credit for it.

That is all for now. Take a look at Empire Avenue and see if you might be interested in playing. It would be much more fun if there were people I know in real life on there, which there aren't right now.

On The Road To Baby Time

2011-07-21T11:33:00.002-06:00

A couple days ago we went off to the hospital for our monthly checkup. The doctor was so impressed with Amanda's blood glucose scores. I think she almost was about to say that it seemed like the diagnosis was incorrect (as I still think) but she didn't. That's ok though, I'll get over it. I know I've said this before but being diagnosed with gestational diabetes isn't too bad of a thing. I have already lost about 15 lbs using our low carb low sugar diet. My beer/food/sitting around/sympathy pregnancy belly is shrinking daily!

We also are now on what was supposed to be 2 week doctor visit intervals, however due to their having no openings it'll be 3 weeks. That's how you know you're getting close to baby time.

Another way to know you're getting close is when you have baby showers, which Amanda is having this Saturday over at my mom's house. I guess some people have already dropped off gifts there. I just love opening presents early but we were given the thumbs down to doing it in this case. (My mom always had to double wrap and super tape my Christmas gifts cause I was super good at peeking inside)

If you wish to participate in this baby shower or just want to help us out with needed baby items, don't forget you can check out our baby registry at Babies-R-Us and see what's on there you want to get. You don't have to though, so don't feel obligated or anything. I guess our baby can do without nice things. LOL.

Alright then. I'll talk to you later.

Floppy Humped Camels and Other Delights

2011-07-18T20:51:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Amanda and I went to the Denver Zoo. What a grand time we had. We both hadn't been there for some number of years. It was fun getting to see all the animals. Who doesn't like to see cute little animals in a safe setting? Nobody, that's who. We plan on having spending quite a bit of time at the zoo when we have a kid because kids definitely love the zoo. And if you get the family pass it's quite affordable.

Although the zoo animals are pretty cute, they also can be pretty gross.
Like the Giraffes who were getting amorous in front of God and everyone. They did draw quite a crowd however. I have to admit that we watched them for a while. It was funny hearing the people who just showed up figure out what was happening. They were like, "Oh look giraffes, they are so...Oh my!" And then they would laugh much the same as I was. I even got my picture taken with them as you can see below.

There was also a bear who was scratching his or her butt and then smelled his or her paw! Ewww. Animals can be so nasty. People never do that.

Also you will see on this page a picture of Amanda. You probably can't tell but the sign she is posing next to is for a 4 eyed fish of some sort. And you see Amanda wears glasses. Some people call this having "four eyes" so it seemed appropriate. I have four eyes too but my third and fourth are little pieces of plastic I wear right on my eye. I don't like wearing glasses out in public. I bet our kid is going to need glasses too! I assume that the parents' DNA has something to do with that. Both of our moms also wear glasses. So I guess unless something miraculous happens we should plan on having (a) bad sighted child(ren).

Well then it's about that time. You know what time I mean. I mean the time when we must part for the day or days. But don't fret. I am feeling very bloggy lately and that could mean that you might see me here more often posting my clever anecdotes or whatever it is I do. So thanks for reading and have yourself a super fantastic wonderful time until we next meet. Stay At Home Brad, over and out.

Saturday's Alright...

2011-07-16T23:51:00.001-06:00

For Blogging. Yeah, that's right, I took a classic rock song title and changed it to meet my own needs. Deal with it. Ha. Anyways, how are you all doing? This has sure been an exciting week or two. Several things have gone on. One, I got Hulu Plus which has made me decide to cancel my subscription to Dish Network. Two, I am on Google+, or Google Plus, and three, I have just yesterday been invited to Spotify via Klout and it is awesome, and four, we are ever closer to having our baby.

Why just today we were at a birthing class, part two of two. Today wasn't as good as last Saturday because both Amanda and I had to work till real late and the class was real early. So we were both super tired during it. The class itself was alright though, we were just sleepy and fidgety .
We learned quite a few things that will help Amanda when the baby comes. Breathing techniques and birth partner (me) techniques, Lamaze class, if you will. Here is me during a break in class, and here is Amanda.

Oh yeah, I also found this new (to me) app that is supposed to be sort of like Instagram, but for Android. Because I don't have an Iphone and never will. This sure has been a tech week. A nice break from future stay at home dad-dom, or Stay At Home Brad-dom. We'll have plenty of time for all that once we get nearer to the baby's arrival.

Anyways, I should stop cause I could go on and on about all the cool internet things I've got but we don't want that do we? Well, maybe just one more. I happen to have some invites for Spotify. It will be a while before it is open to the general public. If you want one you can have one...on one condition...you must support the sponsors of SAHB by viewing their advertisements they have so generously placed on my website. So send me an email at brad@stayathomebrad.com after you have completed your task and you will get your invite to Spotify. Supplies are limited so act now to secure your spot in the most awesome music service you have ever seen.

Alright then. I'll talk to you all later. Have a great day and a greater tomorrow.

Postagrams Need Addresses To Be Sent

2011-07-13T14:32:00.003-06:00

Hi again. Just stopping by to add a little bit regarding my last posting. I figured I might as well make a whole new one as opposed to adding on to the old one. So here's the deal. I am thinking about sending out the Postagrams right after our lil' baby is born. The thing is, is that I don't have very many people's addresses.

So, if you are interested in getting one of these awesome postcards/pop-out pictures,
please to send me an email at brad@stayathomebrad.com with your address. I can't guarantee you will get one, like if a thousand people send me their address it's not gonna happen. But send in your address anyways, if you want. You might just be so lucky as to obtain a typewriter typed letter! I've been itchin' to type up some more letters on my new-to-me typewriter.

Ok bye!

Postagram For Mongo

2011-07-13T09:49:00.000-06:00

Hey there. Yesterday I found this neat service available from my Android phone. It's called Postagram. It's a free app that lets you send a postcard with a picture of your choosing and a short message to anyone for 99¢. (Alt 155 is the cents sign). It seems pretty cool. Also, the picture, which is 3"x3", pops out of the postcard so you can have just the picture if you want. I sent one to myself and to my mom to test them out. So we'll see how they look in real life. They say it will arrive in 2-5 days which, if true, is pretty fast. I'm thinking of sending these out after the birth of our baby as a way of introducing her to everyone. So don't be surprised if you know us and get one in the mail.

Tuesdays With Brad

2011-07-12T23:33:00.003-06:00

Oh hello there. Been a couple or few days since we last spoke. Well, since I spoke. What has happened? We finished our birth class or the first of 2 birth classes. We go back Saturday for part 2 where I guess we'll be viewing some videos of real life births.

Amanda and I have watched some videos on YouTube and it is not very pleasant to see. It is part of nature and necessary for life and whatever. But it's kinda gross. I imagine that my baby's birth won't be as bad to see since it will be mine and not someone elses. Like a fart. Lol.

Another thing, we had a crazy storm tonight. It rained so hard and lightninged so much seemingly right over my head as I was coming home from work. There was one that I know was only blocks away, it was so bright and so thunderous. But I made it home safe and un-electrocuted.

Well, my time is almost up here so I best be going now. I'm typing this on the Blogger app and the picture looks like it might be sideways. If it is I apologize and will fix it in the morning on the real computer. I'm then, have a great day!

[Ok, I fixed the picture. The Blogger app sure doesn't do photos well.]

At The Baby Class

2011-07-09T10:04:00.002-06:00

Hey there! We're at our baby class right now. We almost didn't make it due to I-225 being shut down to one lane. That is my least favorite road ever.
Fortunately another couple was in the same situation so we got to walk in late together.
We've just barely started, we go till 2 today. We have all introduced ourselves and now we're getting down to business. We're looking at pictures/drawwings of what a baby does to the inside of a lady and all the lady parts. Ewww. JK. It's nature.
Well I better get back to paying attention in class or I'm gonna get in trouble. Type to you later!

A Taste of Coke

2011-07-08T18:23:00.002-06:00

I haven't had any soda pop for a couple or few weeks until tonight. A nice glass of Coca Cola sounded like it would be delicious. It turned out to not be the case. It wad not actually good tasting at all and I had to dump out most of it. Weird. Over and out good buddy.

Hulu Plus ?

2011-07-08T05:30:00.004-06:00

Hey again, an early posting from me for a change. It's actually late when I'm writing this but thanks to the magic of the internets it will be early when posted!

I just wanted to see if any of you had an opinion on this very very important matter. You see I currently subscribe to Dish Network. I worked there for a short time and got suckered into it. I didn't have pay TV for quite a while before and it wasn't too bad. But now after having it I like it. But I don't like paying the bill every month. It's not quite as bad as it would be with Comcast from what I see and hear but it's bad nonetheless. So I'm thinking about dropping it. The good thing about getting Dish as an employee was that I was not entered in any sort of contract with them.

I have been seeing on my XBox the big push for Hulu Plus in the past couple months and today I finally gave in and signed up for the 1 week free trial. It seems pretty good so far and you can't beat the price. It's only about $8 a month. Way way less than Dish. Do any of you have Hulu Plus? Do you find it comparable to regular pay TV? I haven't had a good chance to look through the shows that are offered. Do they have a wide selection of shows that aren't completely horrible?

I'll do some more checking around on the Hulu regarding programming offered during my one week trial period. The two shows I have watched so far have been good quality, at least in regards to picture and sound and no buffering problems. So that's a uh, plus. I think that Hulu Plus combined with Netflix streaming may suit all my tv viewing needs. Because as you know every stay at home dad watches loads and loads of tv.

Well, respond in the comments if you've tried it or know anyone who has and they've told you about their experiences, good or bad. And thank you for taking the time to respond to this most important of questions.

LTC

2011-07-07T23:52:00.000-06:00

Howdy there buckaroos. It's your old pal Stay At Home Brad again, back with another exciting entry into the hottest blog site around.

So Amanda and I have been dealing with her mother's very bad sickness. Like I said a prior day, she's not doing too good. She has been in the hospital for about a week now and she won't be going back home. She'll be moving into a nursing home, probably tomorrow or at least in the next few days. She had been at her house being "taken care of" by her husband but that wasn't working out too well for various reasons we won't go into here.

Anyways, she'll be moving in to the nursing home where they will take good care of her and keep her comfortable and whatever. She will then at some point move to hospice care when it comes closer to her time. The thing is is that I guess it is going to cost $200 per day at the nursing home, and this is even after whatever insurance they have.
Wow! I knew they were expensive but I had no idea it would be that much. Which makes a person believe that having some long term care insurance would be a good idea. I'm not going to be rushing out to get some for myself or Amanda, but when we get older it would be a good idea. Because, that's outrageous, and it will probably seem cheap by the time we're ready for anything like that. So that's the moral of that story I guess, either be very rich or have insurance. Or both.

And thus concludes episode 32 of the soon to be best stay at home dad, Brad's blog. This was another entry that may not necessarily be dealing directly with baby things, but it is something we're going through while pregnant. So I want this to be a reflection of all that transpires both before and during my staying at home. If you were wondering. Well, stay tuned for more. They'll keep coming and coming even if you're not reading them. You can't stop the blog, it almost writes itself nowadays. Have a great day and a great night and then do it again the next one. Bye for now!

Another View

2011-07-06T23:44:00.002-06:00

Hola amigos. It's been a long time since I rapped at you, about 24 hours. Let's see, what to type about...
I don't remember if I told you all but since Amanda got the gestational diabetes, they have to do ultrasounds to make sure the baby isn't getting too big. You see, the G.D makes the baby get too big, resulting in premature and/or non-traditional birth methods (c-section). So they have to check it visually.
What this means for us, I assume, is that we should get a for sure look at if we are having a boy or a girl. They thought girl but weren't sure earlier, it would be nice to know for certain which we probably will. So that's another good thing to come out of G.D. I know i've mentioned the other in another post so I won't go into it here.
Well then, it's well past when I should have gone to sleep so I best be going now. Keep on keeping on and make sure to tell at least one person about SAHB.com tomorrow. Have a good one ya'll.

Tuesday Night Writings

2011-07-05T23:42:00.002-06:00

Oh hello there. Nice to see you again. After those 3 days off it sure seems hard to get back on that horse and write. But I shall give 'er a go and do it, I will get my groove back like Stella did.
We celebrated our post hospital 4th of July by cooking up one of our butcher shop T-bone steaks and it was so good. One of the best steaks I have had ever. We also grilled up some mushrooms, onions and Anaheim peppers (spicy). We got to see a fireworks show from our porch and it was pretty neat. This is the last child-free 4th of July we will have. Next one we'll have a 9 or so month old baby!
All of our holidays will be different from now on (except Labor day 2011) and I think they will be different in a good way. It will be more, or all, about our kid. And we'll soon be able to go on Easter egg hunts and fun things like that. Also, trick or treating. Finally I can have free candy again! Because candy is bad for kids and great for adults. Unfortunately we will have to wait for two Halloweens from now because I don't think 1 month olds should go trick or treating.
A'ight then. That'll be all for today. More tomorrow. Have a great time at whatever you do.

Three Days Missing

2011-07-04T10:50:00.001-06:00

Oh how quick the time goes. It has been 3 whole days since I last posted. Did you miss reading the brilliant postings here at SAHB? I know I sure did miss posting them. But between working late, Black Op's double XP weekend and our frequent visits to Amanda's mom in the hospital there just haven't been enough hours in the day.

I'm actually posting this from the hospital. We were here most of yesterday and probably will be a good part of today. Her mom is pretty sick from the cancer and now an infection has set in so it's not real good right now. She probably isn't too long for this world.

This is or will probably be the second death in our family since we knew about our baby. My grandpa died in January, right after our baby was created.

I guess things like this will happen more and more as we get older. It is a part of life and all that, but it's definately not the best part of life.

So we're (probably) about to witness the beginning of one life and the end of another all within a short period. Amanda is handling things real well. She is doing whatever she can to help out her sick ol' mom. It will be tough for sure, but we can't do anything about it.

Well uh, happy 4th of July! I hope you're having a better time than we are here. We plan on leaving at some point and going home to cook our steaks Amanda's brother got us yesterday from Wheat Ridge Poultry and Meats. They're some nice looking T-bones and we're super stojed to grill them up.

Ok then, don't blow off your fingers playing with the fireworks. The doctors here say this is a very busy weekend for them because of such things, so don't be one of them. I for one will not be blowing things up (although I would like to) because if I lose my fingers, how will I type this?

Wordly Words

2011-06-30T18:00:00.001-06:00

An earlier than usual greetings to you all. (I assume you read this right after it is posted, that's right, right?) We're inching ever closer to the day it happens. Every day the excitement grows, when it stops nobody knows.

I went into our baby's room today for the first time in a week or so. We keep the door closed to keep the cats out so I don't get in there much...yet. But when I was in there I was just day-dreaming about how neat it will be when the little baby moves in.

Amanda's blood glucose levels continue to be at or exceeding their goals so that is nice. One thing I'm finding hard is the fact that where I work there is a lot of food, food with a lot of carbs. The type of food I am avoiding on our current eating plan. It's so tempting but I haven't broke yet.

Well I better be going for now. I will type at you later though. Make sure to patronize all of the sponsors Google has lined up for me if you don't have ad-blockers on. It helps out our baby by making money for me. Pennies at a time but even pennies add up don't they. A'ight then, see ya.

Untitled Post

2011-06-29T23:01:00.001-06:00

Hey y'all. Just a quick update on goings on. Today was the first real day of blood sugar monitoring and whatnot. Amanda totally aced all her tests. Hopefully she'll do the same tomorrow.

We've greatly healthified our diet in the past few days for to combat gestational diabetes and it looks like we're winning so far. If these blood glucose numbers keep up I'll have to wonder if the diagnosis was accurate in the first place.

I have been eating basically the same diet as Amanda and I have enjoyed it alright. I have almost lost the weight I picked up when we went to Montana a few weeks ago. I have eaten more veggies in the past three days than I did for weeks before that. And that's probably a good thing. We saved all the scraps from the vegetables in a generic ziplock bag and I made stock of it yesterday and it is yummers.

Alright then, I am done with today's post and am off to listen to Coast To Coast AM with George Noory. Here's a gift idea for me, a "Coast Insider" subscription. I sure do love that show. I fall asleep to it every night but never hear the whole thing. Anyways, I'll talk at you all later. Have a super day.

Late Night Streak Keeper

2011-06-28T22:53:00.001-06:00

Oh hey again, it's me Brad. I sure need to get some real posts posted. I've been doing these miniature posts a lot lately. Oh well.

Today we went to the doctor's office for our gestational diabetes class. It was a one on one (2 including me) thing which was nice. We learnt a few things, like how to use a gluco-meter and about how much carbs to eat when. I guess it was worth going out to Aurora early in the morning for. And we went and picked up the gluco-meter and did a test test. We will start testing for teals starting in the morning.

Ok then, that's all for tonight. I'll try and come up with something better here in the next day or so. Have a super time at whatever you do and I'll type at you later.

Nightly Posting

2011-06-27T21:20:00.001-06:00

Oh hi there. Just a quick posting here on Stay At Home Brad. Tomorrow morning we'll be going to the diabetes class. It'll be nice to get some info from reputable sources. I've read a lot on the internet about it but you know how you can't believe anything you read on the internet (except for this site!).

We've been cutting and/or limiting sugar and carbs for the past few days and it is hard to do. So many things are full of it. Well, I best be going as I've got to go count some sheep. Have a grand day.

And On The 20th Day He Rested

2011-06-26T22:55:00.001-06:00

By my calculations, today will be the 20th day in a row of posting here at Stay At Home Brad. Amazing! But tonight's post will be unremarkable.

Here's a brief rundown of what happened today. We went to see both of our moms early this morn. Mine first, we had a delicious breakfast. Amanda's second, she's got cancer real bad. Then we came home, made pad thai and watched The Adjustment Bureau.

Also got a comment from Anonymous on yesterday's post. Thanks Anonymous, I'm glad that worked out for you. But I think your case might not be applicable to me. I'm often reminded of when Judge Smails says to Danny Noonan "Well, the world needs ditch diggers too" when faced with thinking about/looking for work. See, I'm like a ditchdigger, Anonymous. I have pretty much figured that out by now. So I'll just keep my night diggin' job and stay at home during the day and raise our baby.

Allrighty then, Stay At Home Brad over and out.

A Dog, A Car And Avanza

2011-06-25T23:32:00.000-06:00

Today our little baby had her first traumatic experience in the womb, as much as an unborn baby can have a traumatic experience in the womb. We had gone to Viet Hoa market to check out all the exotic Asian items they have there. We got some good stuff, they have super great prices as well. My favorite pick up was the chile sauce or sause as it is spelled on the bottle. It's so good. I don't really know what brand it is, it's possibly Ớt Xay brand but I don't know. Oh they also have live frogs you can purchase to eat. They keep them in a tank in the back by the fish, it's weird man.

Anyways, we left Viet Hoa and were going to Avanza. We were going south on Federal Boulevard just a few blocks from Alameda when we spied a dog running full speed heading across the road. It was only like 40' in front of us. The dog crossed the lane we were in and proceeded to the other lane where a car happened to be and the car hit the dog. The dog got thrown in our lane and the dog barely avoided being hit for a second time. The dog did get back up and was running down the street so it wasn't dead or anything but it certainly had some sort of injuries. It was scary though. Amanda and I were both pretty upset about seeing it. And since the baby, we assume, can feel the emotions of her mother the baby was upset as well. Traumatized momentarily, if you will.

And that's the story of how we saw a dog get hit by a car and our baby had her* first scary times in this world. Hopefully we all won't go through that again for a long time.Ok then, have a great night or if it's morning or afternoon have a great one of those. And I hope you finally finish that puzzle you've been working on.

A Test's Results and A Baby Registry

2011-06-24T23:39:00.000-06:00

Tonight's episode is very short. You don't know that yet because you just started reading. This is why I'm telling you, so you're not too surprised when you get to the end and it had only just begun.

So Amanda got her test results back and it appears that she does have the gestational diabetes. We should have studied harder. But, we'll make it through ok. Just a little change in diet and there should be no problems. It's not all that un-common. I think one place I was reading said something like 7% of ladies get it. So 7% of all ladies who have children is a pretty big number and if real bad things happened you'd probably hear about it. I haven't. I didn't even ever know there was such a thing until these tests. You learn something new everyday.

Amanda is going to the hospital to take a class on how to deal with it, like what to eat and whatever else. I'm gonna go with her so I'll know as well. With our powers combined we'll defeat the evils of high blood glucose levels during pregnancy.

And that's it for tonight. Oh wait, one more thing. We have updated our baby registry at Babies "R" Us if any of you are interested. I know how you all have piles and piles of cash just sitting around with nothing to spend it on because of you lack of confidence in the economy, so I'm offering up this opportunity to you. You can be confident that any purchase you make will be put to good use by us and little Eliza*. In lieu of purchasing something from the registry you can also just send the cash straight to us. Unmarked and random serial numbers please. LoL.

Well, it ended up longer than I thought it would be. I sat down here at 11:25 PM expecting to just type a paragraph and that's that. I do go on and on sometimes. Ok then, I'll type at you later. Don't forget to Like SAHB on Facebook and I hope that you find that sock you've been missing.

Amanda's Interview

2011-06-23T21:46:00.000-06:00

Tonight we'll try something different. As I was sitting on the sofa trying to come up with a topic for tonight's blog entry, I had the wonderful idea of an interview. And as luck would have it a perfect interviewee was sitting on the loveseat right next to me, Amanda! So here is how it went. It's my first interview ever so don't worry if the questions aren't as hard hitting as the ones you see from professionals, I'll get better though. Ok, enjoy.

SAHB: Hi Amanda, thanks for being the first interviewee on Stay At Home Brad's blog. I thought it was
appropriate for you to be the first one since you are the other half of SAHB, being his wife and baby's momma and all.
Amanda:Thank you.
SAHB: So are you like totally excited about the upcoming birth of our little bundle of joy? I know I am!
A: Yes.
SAHB: Would you care to elaborate?
A: I'm pretty excited to meet the baby. And I'm excited to see how your blog expands as you are truly "Stay At Home Brad."
SAHB: Do you feel like me staying at home during the day with Eliza* is going to be beneficial to you and me as well as the baby?
A: Yes, I think not only will it save us a lot of money, but it takes a lot of the pressure off of leaving the baby with someone I don't trust or know. I don't even have to worry because I know the baby will be safe and cared for.
SAHB: Thanks, that's very kind of you. I look forward to keeping her safe and well cared for. Are you nervous about the whole birthing process? Do you think watching it on "A Baby Story" helps you be prepared for it?
A: I'm not really nervous, I know it's gonna hurt. I'm more excited for it. I know it's not something I can't do. I like watching "A Baby Story" but I don't know if it prepares me or not I just like watching the different experiences. I'm scared about it lasting a really long time and not being able to eat.
SAHB: How long do you have to not eat?
A: What I hear is from when I get there.
SAHB: Until..?
A: Until I deliver
SAHB: Have you heard stories about women having a baby for like 2 days?
A: Yeah I have, your sister I think. Your dad was saying your sister was there for 48 hours.
SAHB: Oh, I did not recall that. At least we will have a private room for it.
A: Yeah that's cool.
SAHB: Well, it looks like we need to cut this interview short for today, it's just about bedtime. But thanks for being interview subject number one and I love you.
A: I love you too, and thank you.

And there you have it. SAHB's Interview Number One. Stay tuned for more in the future. Who knows who will be the lucky one selected for other installments. It could be you!

Early Morning Testing

2011-06-22T22:57:00.003-06:00

Hello there, you know what time it is? It's time for the newest installment of Stay At Home Brad!!! Yay. Are you ready? Good, let's go.

Amanda and I are going out to the hospital in the morning for another round of testing for the gestational diabetes. I guess her score on the last one was borderline for having it.

The last test was what they call a one hour test. The one tomorrow is a three hour test. This means that when we get there she will drink the gross glucose drink. Then one hour later they will draw her blood for testing. Then she drinks it again and waits one more hour, then they draw blood. Then she drinks the drink, waits an hour and they take the blood for testing. You see, they call it a three hour test because it takes three hours. Clever.

[Edit: Although this is what Amanda said would happen, it turned out she only drinks it once. The rest is the same.]

So basically we get to spend three hours or so just sitting around the hospital tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a real good time. Maybe we should bring some cards or something. Or a book. It's been a couple months since I have read a book.

Ok folk, I must be hitting the hay as we're getting up very early for testing. So you have a great night and morning and I hope you get to enjoy your favorite food very soon. Goodbye!

Getting Later Every Time

2011-06-21T23:14:00.000-06:00

My oh my, where does the time go? It's almost 11 pm as I start to write this. I have almost missed a day. Oh no!! I don't want to do that now do I? I've been so good about it. I started on the 9th I believe and here we are on the 21st and I have made at least one post per day.

Some of the posts are sort of filler (like this one) written just to write something, but that's ok isn't it? It is proving to be quite difficult to come up with something to write about every day. I think it will be a bit easier once the baby comes. There will be lots of things to say about what she does and we do and whatever. But right now, sometimes stuff doesn't happen for days and I have to come up with something to help fill up the pages of the internet.

So I'll just keep on keeping on with the blog posting. Sometimes they will be full of information and education and fun, sometimes they will be just these silly space fillers, like when I had to write in my Big Chief in high school and sometimes I would just write the same word or words over and over in order to finish a page.

Ok well, I'm about done for tonight. Just one more thing before we part. I did a Google search for the phrase "stay at home dad" (no quotes) just to see if I could find this site. I did...on page 54!!! I guess that considering how many times it appears on the internet, it's not all that bad. I have got to get higher ranked though. All in due time. As long as I keep cranking out the blogging gold, like this post, I'll be number one in no time!!!

And now we again must go our seperate ways. We will see each other again in the morrow. I hope you get a royal flush the next time you play poker and have a great day.

Baby Photo

2011-06-20T23:04:00.000-06:00

In the mornings when I wake, TLC is playing "A Baby Story" and sometimes I catch the last 10 minutes or so. It's fun to see other parents dealing with what we'll be dealing with in a few months, seeing how they handle it and whatnot. Some of the ladies scream real loud! Some of the husbands are such good birth coaches too. I hope our baby just pops right out with no fuss and I can be of some assistance while it's happening. I know I can't do too much, but I can be there to say encouraging words and hold hands and stuff.

I'm also going to have to take some pictures. It'll be fun to see them later. We can laugh at how insane and in pain Amanda looks! LOL. Just kidding, Amanda. You'll look marvelous the whole time. But seriously, I've got to get some pictures of the whole process. I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to, but then I was looking around at some photo books people made and some (at least one) of them were of when a guy's wife had their baby. It was pretty neat and a great keepsake. I can't find it again to link you to it, so bummer.

Another idea I had regarding photos was that I thought it would be pretty awesome if every day I were to take a picture of our baby. At the end of the year I would then put the still photos together into a video showing the changes from day to day over the course of that year. I would do this for as long as I could, preferably for 18 years. Then all the years' videos would be put together and you could look back on her whole life in a matter of minutes. Oh, I found one on YouTube that is little baby Ellora's first 1100 days. Yeah, it'll be just like that one.

Well, we'll see if that all works out. It seems like it would be a hard thing to do. But really, it's just taking one photo a day. That would take what, a minute tops, to make sure her eyes were opened and whatever. I should be able to do it. I will do it, because I want to and it would be fun.

Ok, I've got to be going now. I'll see you all again tomorrow for another exciting chapter of Stay At Home Brad. I hope you have a great day and find a quarter in a parking lot. Bye.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T21:08:00.001-06:00

The title sums it up. A tiny posting late tonight for a cheap way to maintain my posting streak. A real one to come tomorrow. Have a great night.

Eco-Politan, The Visiting

2011-06-18T18:38:00.001-06:00

Today Amanda and I were out doing weekend things. Things we don't have time or desire to do during the week. We went to Auto Zone and got some new brake light bulbs and put them in. We went to breakfast at Village Inn, since the Perkins by us closed this week.

We then decided to take a little trip over to ecoPolitan and check it out in person. Wow, what a neat place.

They have everything one could want for cloth diapering, as I suspected in a prior posting. The ladies working there were very nice too. They get to bring their kids to work!

One of them in particular was super helpful. I didn't catch her name but she has a 9 month old she was carrying on her back. She answered all the questions we had and lots we didn't have. She pretty much got us all set, information wise, on what we need for cloth diapering. It was a very good experience. I don't think we can afford to get completely outfitted there but we will definately be doing some of our shopping at ecoPolitan in Lakewood City Commons. I highly recommend it.

We then went to Target to check out what they had in the baby section. That was not as good.(I think we'll stick to Babies r Us for our non-garage sale brick and mortar baby item purchases.) Although we did pick up a diaper bag on clearance for only $9. We're bargain hunters for sure!

Well it's time for us to part again. Have a happy weekend with whatever it is you're doing. Adios for now, amigos.

Phoning It In

2011-06-17T18:04:00.001-06:00

Another late day post from Stay At Home Brad, how exciting! It's not gonna be much, I'm really phoning it in. Literally. I'm writing this on my phone, haha. I kill me!

Not much to report in the baby front. It's just one day closer. Tomorrow will be one more day closer (and since today is Friday tomorrow will also be Saturday).

I found some more people selling "lots" of baby clothes on Craigslist for pretty cheap. We will have to check those out. I'm always afraid that whatever ad I respond to, it will have been posted by the Craigslist Killer of Denver. I know it's a silly fear and unfounded but it's just how I feel.

Alright then, that's about it fir today. We've got the weekend coming up and no real plans. The Rockies are playing at Cooed Field on Sunday, maybe we'll go check them out if there are any Rockpile seats left.

What are your plans for this upcoming weekend and Father's day??

Doctor's Office Testing

2011-06-16T17:52:00.000-06:00

Today we went out to the hospital for our monthly examination. We went for the regular pregnancy checkup, which could basically be phoned in (weight, blood pressure, "Any pains?"). There was one other thing though, Amanda had to get her blood drawn for a diabetes test.

You see some ladies get a form of diabetes called gestational diabetes while they're pregnant. She had a blood test one of the first appointments and she was borderline for having it. So they had to do another test to see if she do got it. She had to drink a glucose drink called Glucola, orange flavor, and she doesn't like it. I tried a few sips and she's right about it being no good. We'll know the results in a couple days. We're crossing our fingers hoping she doesn't have it. It wouldn't be the end of the world if she did but it wouldn't be the beginning of the world either. So I'll let you all know what happens.

We also got set up for our next appointment. It should be the last monthly appointment and then we'll go to bi-weekly (from what I read) since we'll be so close to the end of pregnancy and beginning of having a baby. So that's pretty cool. We did a little bit of looking over a calendar and found that October 1 as a due date would make it 38 weeks. That sounds reasonable I guess, so it may be then after all.

Well, happy rest of Thursday and a real great Friday and I'll be writing to you later. Byebye.

Elective Ultrasoundery

2011-06-15T16:13:00.001-06:00

This blog has been around for 9 days now and I've posted on it all 9 of those days. That's a personal record. Go me! I hope to keep this streak up. I sure hope any of you who have been reading this have gotten some sort of enjoyment out of what has been written so far and will continue to do so in the future.

So have you seen those 3D ultrasounds? They're pretty neat. When we were at our doctor appointment last month we asked about us getting one and the doctor said they only do those if there is some medical need. She did say there are some independent facilities what will do it for us, for a fee. So today I took a look on my new default search engine, Bing, and this is what I have found out.

There are (at least) a couple in the Denver area, First View Ultrasound and Baby's First Imaging. They seem to be fairly similar, they both offer 3D and even 4D, which I guess is 3D but with video, ultrasounds as well as traditional 2d. They both claim to have certified sonographers. So I guess if we were to go get one of these it would come down to mostly price. Here are the two most similar priced packages from each of them.

So Baby's First has a less expensive package but it includes less. But, what it doesn't include isn't that important. If I want a printed photo I can do that for pennies. They both provide a DVD and I don't need the Babypeeks website or to be upsold on lots of things. So it looks like Baby's First wins the price war. Also, Baby's First is closer seeming to our house. I haven't mapped it and checked the mileage, it just seems closer. It's in Littleton and the First View is way up at 90th and Sheridan.

Well, it looks like if we chose to have an elective ultrasound we would go to Baby's First based on what I have gathered from the internet. We probably won't do it though as we have many better things to spend $139 on. But if you're from Baby's First Ultrasound and would like to provide the "Peek-a-Boo" package to us free of charge we would gladly accept it and I would promote you heavily on Stay At Home Brad and wherever else I could.

And that's today's posting on Stay At Home Brad. I hope you have a great day and a great night. I'll type to you all later.

Pediatricians and Tony Hawk

2011-06-14T14:25:00.001-06:00

So since we're going to be having a baby and that baby will need to see a doctor, we're going to need to find a pediatrician for her.

~~Ethan~~ Tony Hawk has kids too and needs a pediatrician, at least in the following video which is pretty hilarious and produced by CBS Sports(What The H?) It's called "Hawk Eyed" and stars a guy who is a Stay At Home Dad who takes his kid to the doctor and sees Mr Hawk in the waiting room with him. The dad is having a case of mistaken identity and hilarity ensues!

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So I did some checking on the website for our insurance to see where available pediatrician's offices are located. You know what I found out? I found out that there's a whole suite of them just blocks away from where we live. How convenient is that? We'll have to go in and make sure they're alright people and whatnot, I'm sure they're fine. I checked out the Automated Licensure Information System Online (ALISON) and found nothing bad about the doctors. So it'll be up to how we get along with them or whatever when/if we go in and check them out as is recommended (with about a month to go in the pregnancy).

That will be so nice, our doctor is located pretty far away from us so it makes it a pain to have to go there (plus they suck as doctors). I could even walk there if I had to, but I'm not planning on doing that, Amanda. So if little Eliza needs to get to the doctor post haste there will be no problem.

Well, that's it for now. I'll see you all later and don't forget to "Like" Stay At Home Brad on Facebook if you haven't already. Take care y'all

Forgotten Photo

2011-06-14T13:53:00.001-06:00

I was looking around on my phone's pictures last night to see what I could see and this pic is what I saw. It's from the day we found out about being pregnant. It's our little pregnancy tester that says positive!

Hey here's a helpful tip, don't buy your pregnancy testers from the regular store. Get them from the dollar store where they're only one dollar and they work just as well as the more expensive ones, as far as I can see.

Like Me On Facebook

2011-06-13T16:00:00.001-06:00

Another thing I forgot to mention in my last posting was that you can now find Stay At Home Brad on his own Facebook Page. One way to find it if you don't do it from this post is to look to the right, there's a little Like button you can press and like me. Or you can just search Facebook and you're sure to find me, I'm on there man. And I'll be removing the feed from my main FB page so anyone who is friends on both won't get double messaged about a new posting.

Baby Names

2011-06-13T15:42:00.002-06:00

Well as mentioned in the Welcome post, the last ultrasound we had seemed to indicate that the baby is going to be a girl. We had both been sort of wanting it to be a boy, but girl was a strong second! We had been creating a list of possible names for either sex and just waiting to get some sort of confirmation on which one it would be. Speaking of that, did you hear the one about the people who won't tell whether their baby is a boy or a girl?? Weird!

Anyways, so we think it's going go be a girl baby and that's what we're going with. We have picked up quite a few little baby clothes from the thrift stores and/or garage sales we frequent but most of the clothes could be either sex. We're keeping away from pink and blue and sticking to more neutral colors so if it happens to come out a boy we can keep most of our stuff and not have a pink boy baby (not that there's anything wrong with that).

We've also picked out a name for our little baby girl! And that name is Eliza Ruth. We think it's a pretty name, we didn't have it focus grouped or anything but it passes our own personal test and that's what matters. I like the old fashionedy sort of sound it has. A classic name if you will.

Where do the names come from you might ask. Well, Eliza doesn't have any special significance that I know of, it's just nice. Ruth is the name of my grandma and Amanda's great grandma, so it's a family thing. Putting them together creates a whole new name for a real neat little girl.

If you go to the baby name popularity chart you can find that, in 2010, Eliza was the 240th most popular girl baby name and has been steadily increasing in popularity over the last 20 years as you can see in the chart. The data the Social Security people have goes back to 1880 where Eliza was the 85th most popular name. So, we're picking a main name that is growing in popularity but not the most popular. Do you want to know what the least popular name was in 2010? Me too, so I went and found it. It may not have been the least popular but they cut off the rankings at 1000 so it's the least popular for all intents and purposes. So without further ado, the least popular girl baby name in 2010 was......Dania. Suffice it to say that was not on our list!

Now I bet you really wanted to know what the most popular baby names were for 2010. And once again I will oblige you and give you the answer you seek. I'm going to just list the girl names since that's what we care about now.

Isabella
Sophia
Emma
Olivia
Ava
Emily
Abigail
Madison
Chloe
Mia

And there you have a little bit about baby names. To recap for those of you just now joining us: We're probably having a girl baby and are going to name her Eliza Ruth. Eliza is an up and coming name in the name game. Mitch Hedberg is hilarious. And that's the name of that tune.

eco-Politan

2011-06-12T21:24:00.001-06:00

Happy late Sunday to you all. I just wanted to get a post up today so I can maintain my streak of daily postings here on Stay At Home Brad. It's been real fun so far learning and writing about baby related things.

One thing I have learned just today is that right here in Lakewood, Colorado there is a cloth diaper store! It's called eco-Politan and is in the Lakewood City Commons shopping center (which is like 7 minutes away from our house). They appear to have lots and lots of supplies not just for cloth diapering but other things like baby slings and bags and the like. And it's eco friendly stuff, hence the eco on the name. Sounds like a pretty neat place. The seven reviews on Yelp have all been what might be called "rave" so that's a good thing.

We'll have to go check it out one of these days. We'll also have to make sure not to check it out too often, or we could end up spending all our money there since there'll be so much fun stuff to look at and whatever. Oh yeah, they also have a cloth diapering 101 class what is free of charge. We'll definately be attending one of those in a short while.

Well, I better get back to watching the Sex And The City movie with Amanda. I sure hope Carrie and Mr. Big get back together again. LOL.

Thrift Store Shopping

2011-06-11T13:45:00.001-06:00

Hello and welcome to Stay At Home Brad's weekend fromm the phone edition. I'll keep it short since typing on the phone screen is more time consuming and I'm a busy busy man.

Today Amanda and I went to the new ARC thrift store what just opened up in the Green Mountain area of Lakewood. It was the grand opening and almost everything was 50% off!

We've been doing quite a bit of thrift store and garage sale shopping for baby items and we've found some great bargains. So many in fact that we can't even think of paying full retail price for new baby items. We've been ruined on regular store shopping. Which is a good thing. Baby clothes and other items are only good for so long and then they're outgrown and whatnot so why should we be the obes who pay full price. I'm glad that people do though otherwise we wouldn't have used ones to buy.

I read an article on www.parenting.com that said the average new parents spend $6000 on baby related stuff. Wowzers, that's too much man, too much. So needless to say we won't be spending that much.

Anyways, thanks ARC and other stores for providing us with inexpensive baby stuff! And, see you later blog readers.

The Cost of Raising A Child To Adulthood

2011-06-10T14:01:00.000-06:00

This morning I was going through my usual routine of catching the latest breaking news (Anthony Weiner again???) on CNN and they had a story about the cost of raising a child born last year to the age of 18. I couldn't find an article on CNN.com so here's the official press release. This was based on an annual report the U.S. Department of Agriculture releases.

The report takes how much parents spent on raisin' their kids (in 2010) and extrapolates that out for 18 years however statisticians do what they do (magic). They came to the conclusion that a family making under $57,000 per year will spend up to $163,444 to bring up a child. With an income between $57,000-$99,730 a family can expect to spend $226,920. The more you make the more you spend on your kids (and everything else usually) Those numbers includes housing, food, transportation, clothes, healthcare, child care, education and miscellaneous expenses.

These amounts come out to $9080-$12,610 per year depending on income (DOI) but this does include child care costs. The report itself has annual child care costs at $1950-$2640 DOI for people in the "Urban West" of the USA, where we live. I don't know where these people are that can get it that cheap though. Just figure you have your child in someone's care for 8 hours a day for 5 days a week for 50 weeks a year (2000 hours), that comes out to $0.97-$1.32 per hour. What a bargain! I realize these are averages and some probably only have their kid in care one day a week.

I have found some postings on Craigslist that offer child care at $4/hour. At that rate it would cost $8000 per year (or $666 per month) for full time child care. And this is just from some Jane Doe who may or may not provide great care. So I don't know how accurate this report is just based on that. I am gonna go ahead and say that the actual cost would be far greater than what they have reported.

Which makes having a "Stay At Home Brad" an even greater proposition. Sure I could get a day job and make lots of money (LOL, thanks economy!), but I would have to just go ahead and give that money to someone to take care of our baby. Plus I wouldn't get to spend quality time with her (or him).

And that concludes another post on why it's great that Brad is staying at home with his and his wife's baby when it is born. Stay tuned for more later.

Anschutz Medical Campus

2011-06-09T14:28:00.000-06:00

Photo by Jeffrey Beall.

Well, we're one day closer to having a young'in round here.The good doctors at our hospital say the due date is October 1. That's only 114 days away! And those days are going to speed by like the first however many have. Why it seems like just yesterday we learnt of this happening (it was actually January 31).

Speaking of our hospital, it is really really far away from where we live. We go to the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus way out in Aurora, Colorado. It's a really nice facility, they have everything you could think about ever having in a medical campus and it's only a few years old so it's all new and stuff too. Also with Amanda's insurance it is really affordable. Like almost free, which is nice. They also have classes for us to take, we're taking at least one, the Childbirth Preparation class. This will give us a basic understanding of the labor and delivery process and will include relaxation and coping skills what surely be needed.

But I digress, the hospital is far away. How far is it? Just on the complete opposite side of town as you can see from the map to the left. It takes about 40 minutes to get there on an average day. We usually take Hampden and the good part about that is that the stoplights are set up so that you have to stop at all of them, along with the thousand other cars trying to go the same place you are.

The hospital is where we have to go when we're ready to have the baby. So I'm hoping that when that time comes it is not at a busy or "rush" hour of the day. The rush hour is actually several hours in the morning and then several hours in the evening so there's a decent chance it happens then. But, it sure would be easier to have less traffic when I have an almost to give birth lady in the seat next to me.

One thing I think would be cool is if we could know fairly exactly when the baby is coming and we could stay at a hotel/motel out there so we'd be just minutes away instead of tens of minutes away. I don't know how to deliver a baby and I don't think the class we're taking is going to go into so much detail on that matter as to make me qualified to do as much. Perhaps there is an anonymous benefactor who would put us up in a hotel for several days in late September or early October (I'm talking to you SpringHill Suites by Marriott).

Well then, it's time for us to part ways again, it is such sweet sorrow, but don't worry we'll meet again tomorrow.

Diaper Decisions

2011-06-08T15:33:00.000-06:00

One of many things we had considered about our upcoming baby was whether to use cloth diapers or disposable ones. The disposable seem like they would be easier due to not having to clean them after use, but the cost is higher in the long run and we would have to keep purchasing them forever.

The cloth diapers require cleaning, but we keep and reuse them. The upfront cost would be more but it would only be a one or two time cost. Also, we would always have a diaper if needed. I wouldn't have to run out to the store in the middle of the night if we had run out of the disposables for some reason.

Amanda is all for the cloths. I am a little hesitant but we're going to go with them to start out. If it doesn't work we may switch to disposables but I'm sure I'll learn to love them after a very short while. They have all sorts of neat things nowadays for cloth diapers which make them easier to use.

There are flushable liners to help keep the doody off the diapers and hopefully me. They have wraps what go around the diaper and help keep poo and pee in. There are Snappis that make closing a diaper a breeze! So it should be alright.

One way to help me see it's a better idea is to take a look at the cost of cloth versus disposable diapers. I won't go too in depth with the number crunching because I don't want to bore you. But let's take a quick look.

So with some numbers I got from this site, I have found an approximate number of diaper changes we will have to make.

So you can see by the chart to the right and up a little that we will need to have approximately 1950-3750 diapers through the first two years. Now let's see how much for both types of diapers.

I am using info from Clothdiaper.com and Walmart.com to get the prices for the following comparison. Clothdiaper has a package deal that includes (so they say) all the diapers we would need to take our baby from birth to 30 lbs, or about 2 years. This package costs, as of today, $224.95. We would need to get Snappis and other unknown as of right now items to complete the package, so I'll just say $300 to get set up on the disposables for two years.

Now at Walmart I found Pampers Baby Dry diapers for sale. They are different prices for different sizes so I used the above linked chart to determine what size and whatnot and made a little chart of my own to determine the cost. What I came up with was that it would cost between approximately $471.10 and $853.20 for the first two years of disposable diapers. I imagine it would be somewhere in the middle in real life. This is a sizeable difference, a $171-553 difference. Not too bad.

The monetary savings is nice, but some would even say the environmental savings is even better. With the cloths you don't have to throw them away and help fill up landfills with human waste and plastic. I don't have any specific info/data on that matter, but you can imagine how much impact 2-4000 diapers would have on the precious Earth. So we would be environmentalists by using these cloth diapers. Maybe there is a tax break or something for it. If there's not there should be. We'll have to start lobbying our Congressman and Senator to get this enacted.

Well, I've got to get going now but I'm sure glad you stopped by and had a look. I'll be back tomorrow with something else interesting to read. See ya later.

For Future Reference

2011-06-07T15:24:00.001-06:00

Autositz / Car Seat, a photo by only_point_five on Flickr.

Here's an article I just came across about ways to avoid installing child car seats incorrectly. This may come in handy at some point. Apparently it's not as simple as it should be. Consumer Reports did a little experiment and 95-100% of the people put the infant car seat in wrong. That's almost all of them to all of them!

Car seats are really complicated. We were at Babies R Us a couple days ago looking at the car seats. They have so many straps and whatnot. I guess I can see how this could happen. I didn't know the attaching it to the car would be so difficult though, I was more worried about getting the baby tightened up in it. I guess we better hurry up and get one so I can practice hooking it up.

Welcome!

2011-06-07T13:31:00.000-06:00

Hello there, I'm Brad. I'll be your main host here at Stay At Home Brad. This website will be your guide through the life and times of a soon to be father. I'm sure it will be very entertaining and you will love it.

Let me tell you a little bit about the current situation. My wife Amanda and I have been married for just over a year now and we are all in love and stuff. We are expecting a baby in either late September or early October and are so excited. We are already in love with our little bundle of joy and it's only almost 6 months developed!

We don't know for sure if it is a boy or a girl, but at our last ultrasound they said it is probably a girl. So we're going with that tentatively. We may get a surprise in the delivery room though like happened to one of Amanda's friends. She had to send back all her pink stuff, o' the troubles!

So like I said, we're having a baby, just like millions of other people are doing. The thing that separates this instance from many others is that the father (me) will be staying at home with the baby, at least during the day. This is because Amanda is the one with the good day job and the insurance and all that. I have a low paying evening job with no benefits and it wouldn't make sense to have me be the bread winner because we'd be having moldy bread.

We also don't want to send our little baby (probably) girl to any sort of daycare. This is for several reasons, one being the cost. From what we've seen the costs are astronomical. Like $800-1000 a month at least. We would have to be making quite a bit more than we are to be able to afford that. We don't even pay that much for our condo.

Another reason is that we just don't want to trust the baby to a stranger or strangers. We want to know what happens all the time. They are so fragile and voiceless when they are small. We also want to build a great relationship with her from the very beginning and having at least one of us with her at (almost) all times will help this.

Well I probably don't need to explain anymore because you know all the reasons they say for having a stay at home mom and I tend to agree. It is a good thing, assuming it is possible for you to do, and with my job being at night and Amanda's during the day it works out perfect. I'm sure I'll be super tired most of the time with working two jobs but it'll be worth it and you can read all about it here.