Happy Halloween!

Baby Van decided to dress up as a skeleton for Halloween.

Jackie got dressed up as well.

It Kicked Me!

While Jackie has been feeling the fluttering for weeks now, tonight I felt my first kick! And let me tell you, it feels great to be a dad! Below are pictures of our little kicker at 21 weeks, 5 days. I guess it's fitting that it kicked me. Earlier in the evening, I walked across our bedroom carpet to feel some kicking. Unfortunately, my socks collected some static electricity along the way and I shocked Jackie's belly. My first failure as a father! Sorry baby Van.

Half Way There

This week marks the half-way point. While nausea is no longer visiting, sleepiness has moved in. If Jackie is in a sitting position for more than a few minutes, you can expect the eyes to close and a nap to begin. Then again, as I'm constantly sleeping, I only assume she is too. Regardless, we are at 20 weeks, and everything is proceeding nicely. Baby Van (not to be confused with mini van) is about the length of a banana and weighs about 10 1/2 ounces. We won't be finding out the sex until the delivery, but we could have found out during this past Friday's ultrasound. All of the results from the ultrasound were positive, so Baby Van is trucking along right on schedule. It was a little weird to know that our doctor, ultra sound tech., and our nurse knew what we were having and we didn't. However, that wonderful surprise at the end will help Jackie through that one last push.

Jackie's commented a few times regarding how she's not quite sure what to feel since her body doesn't seem to belong to her anymore. It'll only get harder as from here on out she'll gain about 1 pound per week. Now she knows how I felt in college. And every year thereafter. But that's beside the point. Anyway, we've been kicking some baby names around, but it's a good thing we still have about 20 weeks to decide. It may come down to drawing one from a hat. I won't tell her that I just wrote my favorite name down 10 times and that's all that's in the hat. How can you say no to Hermanus Barinson Van Inwegen? It just has a ring to it. I'm sure after getting his butt kicked on the playground daily, he'll have the time to reflect on how wonderful it is to have a family name.

With the 20 week ultrasound going so well, Jackie gave me the green light on the nursery. I'm pretty sure that means I can watch football for the next 19 weeks and then work 24 hours per day the last week to get things ready. Then again, the pregnancy is affecting my judgement, so it could just be the hormones. At any rate, I'm going back to sleep now. I'll check back in next week.

Headaches and Remedies

Anyone have any good suggestions for our mom-to-be regarding headaches? Jackie needs some good advice as to how to avoid them or treat them once they hit.

Do I Look Pregnant?

This is a simple question, but has significant weight behind it (pun intended). We've all been asked, "do these pants make me look fat?" and no one answers that with a yes even if Dumbo is squeezing out the seems. So when faced with, "do I look pregnant?" I panicked. Noticing the look on my face, Jackie assured me the correct answer was "yes." Yes because she's been waiting soooo long for this to finally happen. Yes because it's such a happy time for both of us. Yes because there are lots of cute maternity close yet to be purchased. But most importantly, yes because she is FINALLY showing...

Labor Day Golf

My folks were up in Spokane over Labor Day, so after their babysitting gig, we hooked up for tee times at the Coeur d'Alene Resort and Circling Raven. You can see the famous floating green behind us at the CDA Resort in the picture below. Be sure to congratulate my dad on parring the hole.

Andy and Jackie at Circling Raven. All smiles in spite of the score card.

Kiel and Gloria from the tee boxes on the 13th hole at Circling Raven.

Here's a shot of the Putter ferrying golfers out to the green.

Making an honorary appearance on the blog - Eddie (below in white). Our beloved fore-caddie at the CDA Resort, Eddie had the patience of a kindergarten teacher to put up with our shenanigans that day. It was the first experience with a fore-caddie for the Van Inwegen's, and we've collectively decided to adopt Eddie.

Baby Van

At the 13 week ultrasound, we were able to snap these photos. In the first, you can see a hand. I think the baby is waving, but it could be a karate chop. Is Baby Van doing a little kick and chop action? Or maybe it's pretending to drink a beer. These are all likely inherited attributes from dad. Does that mean Baby Van is a boy? We'll have to wait until February to find out.

The second picture is a profile of Baby Van laying on his/her back looking up. On the left, you can see the large head (gets that from mom), a tiny little nose, a slightly open mouth, and so on. I think you can see a foot in there too. Either that or something mom ate. At any rate, we passed with flying colors and everything checks out normal. Well, as normal as my offspring can be. Poor kid is doomed from the start.

Miss Massage

Having a baby changes everything. Jackie has now added massages to her list of things she'll never do while pregnant after getting violently ill following today's Salish Lodge Spa package. The list now includes:

1. daily caffeinated Starbucks
2. boxing
3. raw egg shots
4. rugby
5. raw egg and vodka shots
6. Grecko-Roman wrestling
7. Russian roulette
8. fencing
9. massages

It's in the mail

First of all, let me welcome you to the Van Inwegen family blog. Before I begin "blogging" I should first take care of some house keeping details. As this is my inaugural blog, please expect some novice mistakes and accept my apologies for lack of zeal with the site. Hopefully I'll learn to enhance the site once I've traversed the myriad options in this new world of communication (new to me, that is).

In learning from friends and family, it appears the appropriate time to begin blogging occurs at one of two points: 1) you've got a political rant inside you that must erupt from the world wide web's version of a soap box; or 2) your family is doing something much more interesting than sharing your own viewpoints. Luckily, option 2 has control of my keyboard.

To get to the point, Jackie and I are expecting our first child, so we'll document the process through these web pages. Jackie's with child status included with morning sickness, with cravings, and with sleepiness. As we enter the second trimester, the sickness has subsided, but the sleepiness remains. For someone that tried to sleep in on her wedding day, this comes as no surprise.

As Jackie naps, I'll be occasionally updating this site. We'll need advice on just about everything, so we welcome your comments and guidance. We're in the process of converting the office into a nursery, so future blogs will most likely involve the trials and tribulations of nesting. Stay tuned, and thanks for your interest in our family.