Musings of a Future Father

Recently the computers at work stopped blocking YouTube so my tech and I have been filling the slow times by watching music videos that were popular when we were in high school.  Things that were creative, relevant, and harmless to high-school-Matt are now funny, ridiculous, and sometimes offensive to the older-more mature-enlightened-Matt.  We've had some serious laughs, but seeing these old videos got me thinking "would I want my kid to see this?"

It is that very thought that has lead to the semi-serious creation of my own Fahrenheit 451esque Blacklist.  The first thing to be added to this list?  "The Thong Song" by Cisco.  While still incredibly funny and embarrassingly catchy, if it turns out that Squirt is a girl, then this song shall never touch her ear drums!  

A number of hip-hop songs have made the list for content, while other non-hip-hop songs made the list because they are just plain crap music.  My prime example of this category?  The Macarena by Los del Rio which is runner-up if not the pinnacle of bad music.  I find other song/dance combos like "YMCA" are staples at celebrations (i.e weddings) and generally harmless.  I don't know what would happen if a toddler-Colvin child got a hold of this song and then began to utter that potentially horrible phrase they are known to issue as if it was one of the 10 Commandments... "Again!".  Listening to The Macarena once is bad enough, let alone 50 times.  Eventually it would get put on a CD and played ad nauseum in our minivan.  I just added mini-vans to the list too.  Other terrible songs added to the list:  "Who Let the Dogs Out" by Baha Men as well as any and every Kidz Bop album.

I do this to protect our child, but mostly to save my own sanity.  If you've got something you think should be added to the list, then please leave it in the Comments section!  

Disclaimer: As the author and creator of this list I reserve the right to arbitrarily add and remove songs.

m@

Our first Christmas in Denver

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year! Matt and I had our first Christmas in Denver, away from the crazy family for the first time since we were both born. :) Of course I'm kidding about the crazy family part... we missed seeing all their smiling faces but I have to tell you, this Christmas was the most relaxing Christmas I have ever had. 

On Christmas Eve while Matt spent his day sleeping after working a 12 hour shift, I went to our church to serve. We had 5 Christmas Eve services that day I was able to help out in the one's room for the first 2 services. When Matt woke up we went to the 5:00 service and he helped pass out communion and take the offering. It was a great message and music as usual. Church was packed full of families and lots of first time visitors. 

Red Rocks Church Christmas Eve service

Our very talented music staff shared a new song they wrote and made an awesome music video.  Here is a link if you want to check it out: http://vimeo.com/redrockschurch/rejo...

Christmas morning Meredith and I both slept in until 10:00 and made some monkey bread for breakfast, then we Skyped with the family during their Christmas party. Later in the day we made a delicious ham  dinner that was done just in time for Matt when he woke up for the day. We enjoyed a spiral honey baked ham, cheesy potatoes, broccoflower and french bread. Meredith's friend Jess came to share in the festivities and brought over some yummy puppy chow and presents for everyone. 

yummy ham dinner

Jess and Meredith just before they booze it up with some sparkling grape juice

Matt and I getting ready to dig in

After dinner we opened gifts. This year Matt got me a Kindle, some awesome Toms (shoes) and a Pregnancy/Newborn magazine subscription. Matt got some money to put towards powder skis and a Nick Lidstrom Winter Classic (Red Wings) jersey. Just before Matt had to head back to work he put together Squirt's crib and swing. It really is starting to look like a baby is coming to our home soon!

Check out the Justin Bieber wrapping paper

Matt putting together the crib, what a great dad!

the crib is ready for Squirt

The Bump at 24.5 weeks

We Hit MI For An Early Christmas

This past week Mel, Squirt, and myself flew back to Michigan to celebrate Christmas.  We had to celebrate early since I have to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas (for the 4th year in a row).  We pretty much canvased the state and packed in a ton of great stuff in the short week.


We arrived Thursday evening and enjoyed a birthday dinner with Matt and Anna Zokoe (Anna and I share a birthday) before they took off for Florida.  Friday was my actual birthday and we spent the day finishing our Christmas shopping, seeing the new Sherlock Holmes movie, eating a family dinner made by my mom, and catching up with friends over drinks. Everyone wanted to feel Squirt's kicks so there was lots of what looked like CPR going on around the house.


Saturday was one of my favorites!  We got up early and headed out  to the Great Lakes Crossings outlet mall in Auburn Hills and then to Detroit to watch the Detroit Red Wings play the LA Kings.  The Wings dominated the Kings right from the start scoring a goal ~90 seconds into the game and then again 15 seconds later.  LA had to pull their goalie (named Jonathan Quick) not even 10 minutes into game, which prompted Amber to say, "Boy, that was Quick" (pun fully intended).


We got back to Grand Rapids late Saturday night and were up early again on Sunday to run a 5K with my family.  Everyone participated in the event (except Mel) and had a great time!  Sunday evening/night was spent with Mel's mom's side.  We had pizza, a visit from Santa, went on a hay ride to see Christmas lights and sang Happy Birthday to baby Jesus, before doing the gift exchange at Aunt Linda's house. It was really nice seeing the cousins and Aunts and Uncles with their growing families, Mel and I each got to hold the newest addition, Mia Koenes (only 3 weeks old).


We crashed at the Arver (Mel's Mom and Steve's) house and on Monday morning we had a big breakfast and exchanged gifts with Kim and Steve before the ladies went off to do some shopping. Squirt even got some nice gifts from Grandma and Grandpa A.  I went with my sister to our grandma's house where we helped her setup for the Christmas party that night.  We had some great food and played some pretty fun Bingo (I won $5!) and did a consumable/food gift exchange.  Grandma was really happy with her new sunglasses and the load of kielbasa she got.


Tuesday we slept in and then headed out to the Hendriksen (Mel's Dad and Marybeth's) house.  Jamie and her two daughters met us out there also and we all hung out for the day.  Sadly, the lake they live on hasn't frozen over yet so there was no playing on the ice.  We received some more gifts for little Squirt, one gift was a book called Good Night iPad, it's like the book, Good Night Moon but much more high-tech. The girls and Melissa made "cookies" with play dough and later that night we played some cards and shared great conversation.


Wednesday started with Monkey bread courtesy of MB.  After breakfast we spent the rest of the morning packing and then met all the parents at Red Robin for lunch just before our flight.  With as much as I ate, I'm surprised the scanner guy at the airport couldn't see my food!  Despite our best efforts our suitcase was 2 lbs. over the 50 lb. limit, but the airline lady "let it slide" and didn't charge us.  Our connecting flight out of Minneapolis was delayed a bit due to weather, but we still got out.


We were pretty surprised when we landed in Denver in the middle of a blizzard!  Looking back, I'm surprised that the flight even left Minneapolis.  Denver got about 14 inches over night, so we'll be celebrating a white Christmas here!

Created with flickr slideshow.


m@

My first public observations

Well, it's official and I LOVE it, I look pregnant! It no longer looks like I over ate. 


Just before our flight home from Michigan I went unnoticed by the gate attendent and was handed 8 free alcoholic drink passes because she liked Matt and I. But while on the flight the attendant who was serving our (non-aloholic) drinks looked at my bump and back at me and asked "are you feeling okay?" Most women would take that as a insult as in 'I don't look good' but I could tell she was noticing I was pregnant and wondered how I was feeling. Then a few days later at the Salon I had someone else's client ask me when my due date was! I told her thanks for noticing and that she was the first brave person to say something to me about my growing bump. 


In addition to the growing bump I thought I should share some more of my symptoms so I can remember what pregnancy was like when we read this blog to Squirt some day. I have had at least 4 nights of horrible leg cramps! They wake me up in the middle of the night and I have to scream out from the pain. They usually only last about a minute but it feels like I'm going to die. Also, my sciatic nerve has been feeling 100 times better the last couple weeks since Squirt as moved closer to my belly button. Because of the move forward I'm feeling him a lot more, even while standing. It's just a little pressure that I love right now but I'm sure as he gets bigger and stronger I will not find it as cute. Just this week I started noticing little pokes up by the my rib cage that feel really weird and my heartburn is back in full swing. I have learned to not even mess around with it anymore, Pepcid Complete is now my new best friend. For a while I thought I could just drink water to 'put out the burn' but I can't avoid the drugs any longer. As my body keeps changing to get ready for the growing baby so does our nursery.


While we were in Michigan last week our crib, mattress, swing and highchair all arrived at the house (all thanks to the grandparents). On Christmas Matt and I hope to put the crib together and post more some pictures. I can't believe how quickly these last 6 months have flown by, we have a lot to prepare before the little one arrives. We are currently planning 6 baby showers for the month of February and I've been updating the registries almost daily as I read about something else we can't live with out or as we change color plans due to finding some fabric for the window valances and a bed skirt. I'm so excited and happy things are coming together!

Squirt's first Red Wings game! The Bump at the Joe (24 weeks)

The fabric Matt picked out for the valances and bed skirt.
Behind it is the ABC quilt we will be hanging on the wall

Our newest ornament for the tree!

23 weeks and Matt's surprise

Today we had our 5th appointment. We were able to hear Squirt's heartbeat again (135 bpm) and ask some questions about the upcoming months. I was told I needed to get a tetanus/pertussis (whopping cough) vaccination and I made it, without a lot of drama! The nurse allowed me to lay down and was quickly in and out (literally) and when she was finished she offered me chocolate! I hope Squirt doesn't have the same anxiety as his mom does about needles. 

23rd week at our doctor appointment

Last Saturday I was able to surprise Matt with an early 30th birthday gathering with our friends in CO. We will be in MI for his real birthday and celebrate again there. If you know me at all you know that I have a really hard time keeping surprises from my husband or lying to him for that matter. So I was so proud of myself about this one. I had told Matt earlier in the week that I would like to go out to dinner on Saturday night since we would be going to lots of parties back in MI and I really would like to have some quality time with him here. When Saturday came Matt had a different plan, he wanted to go to the gym and train for the 5K that he and some family members are running in next week. I had to stand my ground since our friends were all on there way to the restaurant as I tried to convince him we should just go get dinner instead. He gave in to the pregnant one and asked "Where do you want to go?" and I said, "I don't' care. Let's go somewhere near by." It was so funny that he suggested Olive Garden or Outback and I told him that steak sounded really good. Thankfully he picked the right place where everyone was waiting for us. Upon arrival Matt noticed the parking lot was packed and complained that there was probably going to be a long wait for a table. I smiled and told him that if that were the case we could just go somewhere else. When we walked in the door the host asked us how many and for our name. All the sudden I was stuck. We didn't need to put our names in because we had a group there waiting for us; so I told the host that I thought I saw someone I knew and went running in the direction of our friends. After a slight pause Matt followed me and was so surprised! After we ate our steaks we came back to our house for cheesecake and candles. I took some amazing pictures of Matt with his blazing cake but they seemed to have disappeared into cyberspace so this picture of Matt eating a cake he made for himself earlier this week will have to do.

Why have a slice when you can have the whole cake?

Vail Weekend and Then Some

A couple months back I purchased a Groupon for a swanky hotel in Vail, so Melissa and I headed up this past weekend to use it.  The hotel was really nice and situated at the western base of the ski area.  It even had its own lift so you didn't have to shuttle to the main village, but since Melissa can't ski this season I thought it wouldn't be very nice or fair to ditch her at the hotel and ski.  Instead, we had a nice relaxing night watching the Red Wings and Lions each fail in their respective games at a local sports bar.  

I woke up a very hungry man the next morning and when we got to breakfast I put in some serious work at the buffet.  The waiter even made mention of how much I had already eaten when Melissa's food arrived.  Never underestimate a Dutchman at a buffet, especially a hungry one.

Our original plan was to take advantage of the recent high-country snow and do some snowshoeing, but since not a single town in Summit County was supposed to get warmer than 8 degrees we did some Christmas shopping instead.  The biggest shocker about this little trip was that despite bringing both cameras... I didn't take any pictures.  Matter of fact, the cameras never even made it out of the car.  Fortunately I took at least one on my phone.

I'll let the Grandmas fight over this one

Keystone on a blue bird day - Yes, I skied on my off week

m@

Christmas Comes to the Colvin House

First off, yesterday was a great morning as I was able to feel Squirt kicking for the first time.  I had my hand on Mel's tummy and he gave me a big one right in the palm of my hand!  It was amazing and kind of alien at the same time, but I can't wait to feel it again!

After kicking off the day (Ha!  See what I did there?) like that, we followed it up by picking out our Christmas tree.  Sadly there just weren't enough hours in the day to get it decorated before our Couples Bible study that evening, so it got tabled until Saturday.  Meredith helped us decorate and the extra hands were very welcome once I realized how many ornaments we had!  If you don't know me, then let me tell you that I love the holidays, but when it comes to decorating... I'm a grinch.  Check out the finished product + baby bump action!

(21-22 weeks)