We're Parents!?!

Knowing that I get to wake up and see this precious face makes me look forward to every day!

John is such a sweet little boy and we are adjusting to our new life.

John's Diary

June 1, 2007

Today was my very first outing in public. We went to the Verizon store with Daddy to get a Blackberry for work. It was so exciting. I got to ride in my car seat and I was carried around in my Baby Bjorn carrier. I slept the whole time very close to Mommy's chest. People were looking at me and commented on how cute I am. I pretended to sleep....but I heard them admiring me! What can I say? I'm pretty darn cute. (yaaawwwnnn) Ok...I'm off to sleepy-land again...

He's Here!!!!!!!!

John Thomas Bethancourt has finally arrived! Click on the link to see the pictures

Baby John's Photo Journal

And the Innkeeper Said....

...."there is no room in the Inn". Anybody have recommendations for a reputable stable outfitted with a sturdy manger?

So here's the play-by-play:

I was supposed to go to the hospital tonight to be induced tomorrow, right? I called at 5 PM to accept my fate. "We have too many people right now, please call back at 7 PM", they say. I wait anxiously and call back at precisely 7:02 PM. The head nurse says they will have to take me tomorrow. They are just too full tonight. Now I'm supposed to call at 5 AM to see if I can come in at 7 AM. Oh, the suspense....this better not be the beginning of some crazy circle of madness, calling the hospital every 2 hours. But I have a feeling tomorrow morning I'll be headed right in since the nurse said tomorrow's schedule is quite open.

On the bright side--at least we get another night in our comfy bed. Phew! I was NOT looking forward to spending the night in the yucky hospital.

Friday: The Beginning of a New Life

Well it appears that I am going to be induced on Friday morning. I hadn't told many people about this date because, frankly, I thought I would chicken out and wait a little longer but I think we've made the decision to go ahead. It's true--Bun's eviction notice is posted and the landlord is set to kick him out! Friday is his last day in the warm comfort of the womb. I'm a little bummed about it all because I didn't want to force baby out and I was hoping to experience the spontenaity of labor. However, next week will be the last week that Kyle is home before starting work. So it'll be nice to have him around to help that first week.


Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I realized that Kyle and I met on Memorial Day weekend exactly 5 years ago. Little did we know when we met at that pool party that 5 years later (almost to the day) we would be having a baby?! We met on the 27th of May, 2002 and Bun will be born on the 25th of May, 2007. Too bad they don't induce on weekends or I would schedule him to arrive on the same day that we met! How funny would that be? OK, I think it would be funny?

Well, keep us in your prayers on Friday morning. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing. The only time I've ever been in a hospital for an extended period of time was when I had pneumonia when I was nine. And, believe me, the sights, smells, and memories of that hospitalization do not conjure up pleasant thoughts. But this time will be different...this time we will be leaving the hospital with a precious little gift! Kyle and I can't wait to meet him :) Stay tuned....

To India and Beyond!

There is something to be said (mostly naughty words) about companies who have their technical support based in some warehouse full of people in India supposedly trying to "help" you resolve your technical issues. Blasted out-sourcing!

Our first bad experience was about 2 years ago with Hewlett Packard's "tech support" regarding our wretched printer in which we talked to 3 different "support people" over the course of about 2 weeks who flat out lied to us with various promises. No issues were resolved, by the way. There's something about a man with an Indian accent telling you his name is Mike Jones that just makes you a bit suspicious. Who does HP think we are?? Idiots! Oh, and when you ask to speak to the supervisor they tell you there isn't one and that someone will call you back. There is no one in the US you can transfer me to and you have no boss? Oh, and where's that phone call, Mike? It's been 2 years and no one has ever called us back. Wish I could get away with lying to people and not calling them back when I was working. I think I'd last for about 15 seconds. Anyways, even writing about this makes my blood boil!!

Anyways, our internet has been acting up lately so I called last night to get some help and where do you think they sent me first---to India to talk to some guy named Phillip who was not so helpful. I ended up getting bounced to 3 other people for a marathon phone call lasting 81 minutes. If that doesn't send a person into cardiac arrest (or labor), I don't know what will. This morning I called back since nothing worked from yesterday and have gotten myself all riled up again. I think this time we pinpointed the problem so at least there is hope. I just haven't taken action yet because I'm worn out. WORN OUT, I tell you!!

Anyways, the point of all this is that one of the websites I can't reach is my Yahoo mail. So if I'm not responding to you that's why. Bun is not here yet but maybe if I keep talking to these tech support retards he'll decide the tension inside is too much to bear and come on out. Could be a blessing in disguise?

Eviction Notice

Do not be fooled by the ticker on my blog. Bun has supposedly crossed the finish line and it states "Hooray! I've arrived!" but that is not reality.

We went to the doctor appointment today and she said I am 2 cm dilated now and about 90% effaced for all you people who know what that means. Basically, he can come at any time. Since I'm going past my due date the doctor wanted to do another ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid level (which is OK). They also hooked me up to a fetal heart rate monitor to make sure his heart rate was OK. So we listened to Bun's heartbeat for 20 minutes. Everything's good so I'm all set to keep cooking him up for another week. I sure hope he comes out looking like a fat, juicy baby since he's been in there for so long. No thin, elderly looking babies here...if he's gonna stay in there the least he can do is work on getting plump, rounded and squishable.

All day today people have asked me when I'm due and I say "Today. I am due today!" and they all remark about how I am out and about among the rest of the world. Still gotta live, people....still gotta live.

So here is a picture from yesterday. I'm hoping to send Bun a little message with it....

Notice the figure in the picture is RUNNING to the exit. Run means fast, Bun. Your rent is overdue and your eviction notice is in the mail.

A New Addition to the Family!

Yes, this Thursday morning at 11:30 AM we welcomed a dear old used Acura TL to the family. Weighing about 1500 lbs and, oh, maybe 84 inches long. How sweet! It's sporty yet sophisticated--just like Kyle :) This will be his work commuter car.

HAHAHAHA! I am so evil!!!! :) I bet you thought there was gonna be a baby announcement :)
Kyle and I woke up bright and early to pounce on an estate sale at 7:30 AM. It turned out to be fruitful for Kyle since he purchased various and sundry garden and lawn tools. I, however, found nothing of major interest but it was nice to be first in line. I felt like I was getting ready to run a marathon. Waiting for the garage door to open, surrounded by other salivating early-morning estate sale chasers. What a thrill!

So back to the car story. We were headed back home from the estate sale and I pointed out that we should pop in a used car place since we were out and it was soooo early in the morning. We'd been out a few times to look at cars but weren't in a rush for anything. We had quite the experience at one dealership which I meant to blog about but don't think I ever did. Classic used car salesman experience: Shady vultures...beady eyes...raspy voice and as soon as we'd step outside to look at a car they'd light up a cigarette and blow smoke in our face in 100 degree weather.

(um...yes sir, this belly isn't from excessive donuts. I'm actually trying to grow a baby in here that isn't addicted to second-hand smoke---do ya mind?!)

Anyways, to make a long story longer, we now have another car which was the last thing on our To-Do list. Not much else to do now except have the baby!

Retirement

No, Bun is still not here.....we took a long walk yesterday in the neighborhood and this morning we ventured out to the Galleria to get Kyle some clothes for work. I'm hoping to force Bun out by vigorous walking. Yesterday as we strolled through the neighborhood I was in a little bit of pain and, oddly enough, I was hoping it would get worse....but it never did.

Everyone's been asking if the house is set up and for the most part it is. I can't really do too much more frivolous shopping for the house since neither of us is working at the moment. I was talking to a friend about our situation and she remarked that it's kind of like we're getting a taste of what retirement will be like for us. How true is that?!

In fact, there are several retired couples in our neighborhood and I notice that we do the same as them: Kyle finds projects to do around the house....watching the garden progress, power washing the driveway, car washing, making sure the smoke detectors work and generally maintaining the house. Kyle reads. I hang around inside doing small odd jobs, organizing things, cleaning, doing laundry, running errands. We come and go throughout the day. We go to the mall in the middle of the weekday. We spent Saturday morning chasing down every garage and estate sale sign that we saw in the nearby neighborhoods. And when we went to Target later on Saturday I thought Kyle might lose a screw because we actually had to deal with traffic and crowds in the stores. We ARE retired people?!

I think tonight for entertainment we'll play some cards or we've noticed a Bingo hall down the street too. Maybe we should try that out? It's nice being retired but it also means living on a tight budget when your cash flow is only going one way and that's OUT!!

Ok, I'm off to see if I can figure out how to use the sewing machine Debbie gave me. That's a good project for me to work on because it looks like it's about to rain! Oh, and as I write this Kyle just passed by me in the window. He's clutching a hoe in the front yard, staring down the flower beds like he's daring the weeds to come up! The thrill of retirement!

Quote of the Day

"They're revolting, they look like monster's feet."

--My loving and always-honest husband's response when I asked what he thought about my swollen feet at Lamaze class yesterday. Ah, the refreshing air of truth....

I went to the doctor today and there is still no change. Bun is in the head down ready-to-evacuate-the-womb position, 1 CM dilated (been that way for 4 weeks now). Bun could arrive any day. Even my doctor mentioned my fat ankles today. Now she's seen swollen ankles so am I that bad that it was worth mentioning?? Yikes.

Monday Night Special: Steak & A Big Ol' Side of Coincidence

We don't get the newspaper at our new house but we were at my parents' the other day and an article about a new steak house in town caught Kyle's eye. Being the steak-lover he is he started reading the article and said to me "Do you know who owns this new steak place?" I said no I didn't and Kyle said "Ed Toles, do you know who Ed Toles is?" and I thought the name sounded familiar but couldn't figure it out. For all of you that know the story: Ed Toles is the man that fulfilled Kyle's wedding day dream.

Flashback to February 2004: Besdies marrying wonderful me, Kyle's big wedding day dream was to drive off in a Ferrari from the reception. After researching the cost to rent one of these luxury cars we decided it was a near impossible dream. Soon thereafter Kyle met Ed in his apartment complex and after one brief conversation in the parking garage Ed told Kyle he was welcome to use his 1984 Magnum PI Ferrari to drive off in our wedding. Everyone thinks this story is crazy because Kyle literally met this guy once about 4 months before the wedding and he said he would lend us his Ferrari?!

Back to May 2007: So tonight John is in town and Kyle suggests we go to Bob's Steak & Chop House...maybe we'll see Ed Toles again and we can tell (and show) him how far we've come since that wedding day Ferrari ride. We show up at the restaurant and lo and behold Ed Toles is actually dining there with some friends. He comes over to the table to say hi and of course he remembers Kyle and the whole Ferrari-wedding thing and we all have a good chuckle. He is still one of the nicest guys ever (obviously, if he lets strangers borrow his fancy car after only meeting them once??) Kyle mentions that he is about to start work here in town at DE Shaw, blah, blah, we chit chat for a while then Ed goes back to his table. He comes back to Kyle about 5 minutes later and says that his dinner partner's son is one of the managing partners at DE Shaw! How crazy is that?! No one has ever heard of DE Shaw....much less in Houston. So Kyle goes over to meet this guys' dad and it turns out his son is the #3 guy in the whole company and lives in New York. Could the story get any stranger?

Maybe it could if I said I went into labor at the restaurant after eating too much chocolate cake so they rushed me to the hospital in the same Ferrari that we drove off in for our wedding.....but that didn't happen because I'm writing this blog :) Gotcha!

By the way, the food was delish. So go to Bob's Steak & Chop House if you're in the mood for some real good steak.

Still Pregnant - Where Are My Ankles?

Cinco de Mayo has passed with no sight of Bun. It looks like he will not be called "Cinco", "Cinc", "Five-er" or anything else related to the number 5 (sorry, Cami...nice try!)

We continue to press on until he arrives. I must say that I miss my ankles and feet. It appears my legs have succumbed to the dreaded "stovepipe syndrome"....one continuous circumference from knee to ankle. Or as some call it, "The Cankle" (calf-ankle).

I saw it happen with other people and I was hoping to be spared but, alas, Stovepipe Limbs is here. I look at my feet and see sausage link toes and a resemblance to Shrek. I think it's time for Kyle to give me another pedicure. Maybe that will make me feel better?

It sounds like I'm complaining here but really I know it's near the end so I'm not too concerned. I know I'll get my feet back.

On a better note, Granny & Papaw are here visiting through the weekend. Papaw is showing Kyle how to take care of our landscaping and Granny and I play games. Granny has some mysterious ankle swelling too so we have similar cankle issues and are both quite distruaght by our symptoms.