Hey Amelie! Hope you are well.
Well you are almost here and your mom and I are more than ready. Actually you could have come anytime this week and we would have been great with that. But we know you are busy with pounding on the baby fat. But you could have come anytime this week. jfyi.
We have your room all set and you have a entire wardrobe that all of our friends and family contributed to. Like honestly, you have more clothing in our house than I have owned in the last ten years! And it is all VERY stylish. As you can well imagine. So, you can show up anytime now and that would be more than fine with us.
We are all registered at northwestern Memorial Hospital and all set with the tub so you might be a water birth! Crazy right? The hospital is very swanky and the staff that we have met are very nice. Once you arrive we will have to stay there for 48 hours then we can bring you to your new home. If you have to come by C-Section we will be there longer. But don't let that stop you from coming, we are all ready what with the clothing, the hospital and the water-birth deal. SO COME ON DOWN!!!
We have special seats for you in each car all set up, you have a neat little bathtub and a high chair and a computer controlled swing that is GEEK-TAST-ICKLE!!! So, you know... SHOW UP FOR GODS SAKE!
We were supposed to start paying less attention to our dog Meili so she could get used to that idea but we failed miserably at that so she might get a little tweaked out when you come (Whenever that is.... How about now?) but I think you two will get along swimmingly!
So. that's my update. REALLY looking forward to meeting and spending the rest of my life with you in it. Don't worry about being rude, show up anytime! Like... Now? Well your mom is driving to work on the Eisenhower, So not RIGHT now. But soon OK?
Love, Daddy.
2am and our dog got lost in our room. Woke up to the click, click, clicking of her claws on our hardwood floors and thought she was having a seizure. Got up and opened the door and she was like "AHA! That's what I was looking for!" I guess her cataracts have finally robbed her of her night vision completely. Well i guess this is good practice for when the baby comes. Since I am up I figured I should do an update to the blog.
We had our first (of three baby showers about two weeks ago in Ohio and it was a great success! Our friend Staci helped out Amanda's mom and they both threw a very fancy shing-ding. (Thank you all who made it possible) We got many of the big items on our list and had fun with friends and family. I had to do the baby food game where I taste twelve kinds of baby food and try to guess what flavor they are. Honestly I could have done without that and now Amanda is trying to keep me from buying a baby food making kit. Because with the exception of the carrots and the banana flavors everything tasted like un-salted cat food. Afterwards we packed up the Element (To the brim! No lie, we could not see out the windows) and headed home. We have set up most of the stuff but our house is still a mess. Amanda has her work shower Thursday and then a small one in April. After that we will get the house ready for the kiddo.
We did our first baby classes last weekend at Northwestern Hospital. The first was a breast feeding class that was very informative and the second was a "baby basics" that showed us how to change a diaper and bath our kid. I was not as much a fan of our instructor for the second one and found myself tuning out sometimes because I hated her public speaking style. She would go into this exaggerated whispery voice whenever she wanted to make her point. I think I still got the basics.
Amanda seems to be doing OK, she is not always comfortable and its a crap shoot each night if she is going to get a full nights sleep. (One of the reasons I am out and on the interweb is she was sound asleep and I can't so I did not want to wake her.) I think we are both done with her being pregnant and are ready for our kid to get here. six and a half weeks to go.
Meili has gone almost three month without a seizure and I could not be more please about it. I personally am getting a better nights sleep (since I used to have to wake up and grab her to toss her into the tub before the poor gal lost control of her bladder...) she is back to "normal" on her meds and I can tell she is feeling better too since she has become a ROYAL pain in my ass lately. I have never seen her more alert and wanting to play, or go outside or just be in my lap. It's good.
My improv life of late has been really good. I am still on hiatus from performing but I got picked to coach an amazing group called International Stinger. They are a great fit for me and I hope I am doing good work for them. Overall I'm really happy to be coaching again I forgot how much I enjoy it. I think I am happier teaching and coaching improv than I am performing it. I don't know why that is but I know that finally after almost three years in Chicago I feel good about what's going on with my "improv career". In October we will be going back to Fresno so friends and family there can meet the baby. I picket up a new high school bringing my total stable up to five and GCP wants to put up three adult workshops this time around. I would really like to see a community pop up there and I think it is getting started as I type.
not much else to report I guess.
-Alan
Dear Amelie,
Hi. I'm your daddy. We have not met yet but you live in the same house with me and I hear about you all the time. not that you have been a bad neighbor! I don't have the best hearing so you can party and make all the noise you want. I won't notice.
In five months we get to meet face to face. I hope to have the house all ready for ya but we still have a chair your mom had before we got married. If you know anyone that wants a chair... I guess have them email me. I mean no pressure. I know your busy growing and you have a day full of kicking my wife. Just if you know someone that could use a chair. Oh! And it has a ottoman too. So, that's a bonus...
I hope you like your name. Your mom and I think its rather cool. (Just so you know, we did not name you after that French film. We have never seen it.) We gave you the middle name of Joy because it sounded nice paired with your first name. I thought about saying "Because you will bring the world a lot of joy" but decided that sounded corney. So yeah, Amelie is the name you got. Hope it works for you. If not when your 18 years old you can go in front of a judge and get it changed. (If you change it, can I suggest you go with something like "Chainsaw" or "Ninja" I always say GO BIG! Plus the name "Chainsaw Hawkins" is pretty cool.)
I'm really excited to show you things. I don't know what things but I feel like I will have a lot of them once your here. Amanda has told me that it might be a while before you appreciate what a Badger is or a X-Wing Fighter or my fake magic tricks. But I can wait. Trust me, you're going to LOVE my fake magic tricks! I pretend like I have a deck of cards (but I really don't.) and I ask you to choose one... Well, you get the idea.
We went shopping for you this weekend! And we got you clothing!!! I know, right??? COOL! my favorite is a brown teddy-bear suit that you can wear next winter. (We live in Chicago. I know, it gets cold.) Your teddy-bear suit has a hood with little bear ears and feet that have bear tracks on the bottom! Honestly if they made them in my size we would both have one. We also got you some groovy clothing that was on clearance for next winter. See your mom and I are good shoppers. We are very frugal and have a savings account. Which is pretty cool. Anyway, I was very excited to buy outfits for you. It never occurred to me that it would be fun. But I promise you will look VERY cute no matter which outfit you wear.
Oh, and I should tell you about Meili. She is our little Pekingese dog. Huh? No, that's a Shiatsu. A Pekingese is also a Chinese dog but a little bigger... Huh? No, that's a Pug. Anyway, you will see her when you get here. She is 13 years old so she might not be real playful but she likes kids so you guys will hit it off I'm sure.
I know you're closer to your mom right now (since you guys spend SO much time together. Its cool, I get the whole mommy-daughter deal) but I have good news! You and I will spend our days together! Yep, see I work from home and... Huh? No, I have a job. I make graphics and web pages for companies that... Well no, I don't have an office or anything. I work in our living room and... Hey, I help with the bills! No, I'm not a hippy. It's considered a "White color job"
So where was I? Oh yeah! We get to spend all day together during the week. So you will not have to go to work with your mom everyday once you get here. Cool right?
Lets see, there are your grandparents also, your Grandma Hawkins lives in sunny California with your Uncle Eric. She's pretty cool and does a lot of neat things like builds her own laptops and makes things like blankets and such. Then there are your grandma and grandpa Widmer. They are great too. Grandma is a lot of fun and puts up with grandpa and I joking around. They are all excited about meeting you too.
I guess I better let you get back to what you are doing, kicking my wife in the belly. I just wanted to tell you I love you and I hope you are having a great day! See you in five months OK?
Love, Daddy.
