31 Weeks and Boston

We're now at 31 weeks and counting. It's kind of funny to look back at all the pictures and see the progression. We might have to put all the pictures together in one post near the end.

Junior's been doing great. He's been moving around in there a lot lately and is getting stronger every day. Yesterday Allison thought he must have been practicing his basketball moves because she said it felt like he was dribbling something.

He's had the hiccups twice now. The first time Allison noticed it she had me feel her stomach. Sure enough every couple seconds there was a little tapping feeling. About a week later Allison received her weekly newsletter describing what the little tike is developing each particular week and it said that our baby was just starting to practice breathing. The newsletter is a free service she found on some website and is pretty cool. I guess Junior's practicing breathing by inhaling the embryonic fluid to get his lungs in shape. He must have got a little too aggressive and gave himself the hiccups.

Here's Allison and Junior at 31 weeks:


Do you think it will fit him?


Last weekend we went out to Boston to visit Aunt Steph and Uncle Mike. Allison had some frequent flier miles we thought we'd use up since we probably won't be taking any vacations for a while. We had a great time out there -- it was a relaxing weekend.

Steph and Mike have a nice house in Jamaica Plain. Here's Steph on their deck.


Steph is an excellent cook. We ate like royalty while we were there. Thank you for being such great hosts.

Corn on the cob was on the menu Friday night.


The sisters on the stairs.



Saturday afternoon we spent some time in the Larz Anderson Park.




Saturday night we went out to eat at an Afghani restaurant. We've never had that type of food before but are willing to try anything at least once. It was very good. Here we are after dinner. What a nice looking group.


Monday morning we took the red-eye home. I went straight from the airport to work. Boy that was sure fun.

I apologize for there being no humor in this post so I found some childbirth jokes on the web. Enjoy.

Things Not to Say During Childbirth

• Gosh, you’re lucky. I sure wish men could experience the miracle of childbirth.
• Do you think the baby will come before Monday Night Football starts?
• If you think this hurts, I should tell you about the time I twisted my ankle.
  

Later,
Tall Guy

Labor Day Weekend

Junior apologizes for me not posting for a while but there hasn't been too much going on. This weekend was jam packed though. Grandma and Grandpa V were down for the weekend so he got to hang out with them.

Grandma and Grandpa stayed at Josh and Christy's in Fargo Thursday night and drove the rest of the way to the big city Friday afternoon. We grilled some big manmaker ribeyes that evening and then sat around and visited the rest of the night.

Saturday Allison and Debi went shopping and Steve-O went along for part of the trip. He's a lot braver than I am I guess. Belle and I stayed home and had a long talk about food, walks, and tennis balls. Brett came out for some pizza Saturday night and after dinner we watched the Ryan vs. Mohall game from my junior year which was Brett's sophmore year. We lost that one. I would have preferred to watch either of our games with the Yellowjackets from the 93-94 season for obvious reasons.

We thought we better sneak in a picture of Junior at 30 weeks.

Grandma and Grandpa V bought Junior a stroller on their Saturday shopping trip. Between his two wonderful sets of Grandparents and all his other family and friends he feels very fortunate to receive all the gifts. I think Junior already has enough stuff for 4 kids. Thank you everyone! (He also thinks he's pretty darn clever to be the first grandchild on either side.)

Here's Dad and Grandpa.

Mom and Grandma.

The whole crew.

Kyle was also in town this weekend. He and his friends Jessie, Danielle, and Cole went to a couple of concerts in St. Paul Saturday night. Chad hosted them Saturday night.

Here they are in Chad's basement. Notice the unsophisticated computer equipment in the background. One of these days someone should teach him something about electronics.

Sunday night we went to Big Bowl. It's a little Asian restaurant in Edina. I've never been there before -- it was pretty good.

The crew's never seen our house so they decided to come over and stay the night with us on Sunday. We played a spirited game of Loaded Questions then hit the hay. Monday morning we had some breakfast and they were on their merry way.

Here's Kyle and me. In case anyone hasn't noticed we're tall.

Monday evening we brought Junior over to our friends Mike and Michelle's house for a Labor Day barbeque. Paul, Jaime and Carson, and Buzz &Tara were also there. A little bocce ball and a few burgers later we called it a night. It was a very fun weekend!

I better get to bed now since it's a school night.

Adios.