Books!

Our pregnancy is coming to a close soon so I'm assuming this blog will explode with a ton of new information on baby stuff after the babyshower....which is a short 1 1/2 weeks away. Anyway, I was watching Knocked Up again for the 100th time and I remember the scene about the baby books. How on earth did the ancient egyptions survive without "What to expect when you're expecting?" Which is pretty much a must have for any expecting couple.

However thats a couples book and more of a manual, what we need is a book developed for Dads. And with that Steph found me a book and Barnes and Noble called "Dad's Pregnant Too!" by Harlan Cohen. Its a great book for any first time dads. Its given me a lot of good information. Its filled with advice, tips and stories about the joys of parenthood. It also comments on some of the things other books wont tell you. Such as that its pretty much a for sure your wife will have an accident while trying to push your child out. Amazing huh...don't be suprised when it happens thanks to this book.

Another Baby Registry

Today after our 30 week ultrasound, Steph and I ventured to Target to register Sully.  Registration was very simple.  4 small kiosks in the front of the Target invite customers to register for their weddings or baby.  After creating a Target.com account we were well on our way to registering.  After filling in the information required we were issued our Target scanner.  It wasn't as much a scanner, but more like a datapad from Star Trek.  There was however, a small button that produced a laser scanner.  The really nice part of registering at Target was we received in the mail a coupon for a $20 gift card when we registered.  It's Target's way of saying "Thanks for telling all your friends and relatives to buy crap from us for you baby."  The selection was not as large as Babies R Us, but hey we did get a good amount scanned.  

As far as our 30 week ultrasound goes....well...lets just say we're having a big boy.  Sully is sitting at the 69th percentile at the moment with legs in the mid 32 week range and a head around the same place.  His weight is estimated at 4 pounds 2 ounces...thats about a pound more than what he's schedule to be.  Our doctor eased some of our worries and plans on doing a 37 week ultrasound just to see how big he is.  My only complaint was that we only got 1 ultrasound pic this week and its a blurry side profile.  Oh well.  We did tell him about our 3/4-D trip and must have figured we had plenty already.

4-D Frustrations

So Steph and myself went back to Insight Ultrasound in Thousand Oaks for our second attempt to see our little peanut.  Our session started off great and we got to see some great 2-D video of our little guy.  Eventually we switched to 4-D and got some decent (not great) images.  Our tech Bonnie felt we didn't receive our full "Platinum Package."  She offered us another shot to view him, however we decided not to put Steph and the baby through the stress again.  Its not proven that ultrasounds have a harmful effect on unborn children, however we're not taking chances.  They offered us a discount which we happily accepted.  Our only negative was that during our second ultrasound the DVR malfunctioned and we didn't get any of the 2-D images on the disk.  The owner Sharon was really understanding and offered to once again do another scan.  Steph and I might change our mind in a few weeks but as of now we're just going to take the discount and the images we have.  We would definately recommend Insight if you're looking for that little extra peak into your baby's life.

On the other front, many of you know I'm a recent college graduate in search of a job.  The job search is going slow and no one seems to be calling back.  I can only hope that it is due to the slow economy.

Close Encounters of the 4-D

Yesterday Steph and I went to go get a 4-D ultrasound.  We chose a location close to our house that a friend had gone to.  Insight Ultrasound in Thousand Oaks.  The location was really close to our house about 5 minutes away.  The offices are very nice and the room where the ultrasounds are given was quite nice.  As you can tell by the picture above, mom lays on the bed and dad sits in the big chair next to it.  I'm sure I could have crashed on the bed too but it was dark and there was soft music playing so I might have fallen asleep.  So at first I chose the chair but then after 10 minutes by behind hurt so I switched to the couch.  

The ultrasound is projected onto the wall with a projection unit so it is easy for all to see.  Our 2D ultrasound was going fine and we got another gender determination.  Male....very male....we'll just leave it at that.  Well wouldn't you know it.  That little bugger turned away from us and showed his back the entire time.  We were unsuccesfull at obtaining a clear 4D image!  We were sad however the tech (I didn't get her name) said we were able to come back and get a mulligan.  I thought this was nice, however with the amount we were spending they better let us come back!  Haha.  Anyway, packages are decent priced from $75 all the way up to $200.  They have two locations: Thousand Oaks and Santa Clarita.  Overall I was very pleased with Insight and would recommend them to everyone who wants more pictures.  Our Doc has been pretty light with giving us ultrasound pics...a total of 3 so far....Insight gave us at least 10.  Hopefully those will be posted as soon as I can get some scanned.

Insight Ultrasound

http://www.insight4dultrasound.com

Baby Registry

Steph and I are 1 week shy of our third trimester.  I'd say it seems like time is flying by, however it isn't.  The first trimester dragged by incredibly slow.  It seemed like forever to get to our 20 week ultrasound and find out the baby's sex.  And now its 27 weeks and we're still chugging along.  With that being said its time for the fun parts to begin.  Baby shower plans are already in the works as well as that very fun past activity known creating a baby registry.  We plan on registering at Target and Babies R Us.  

So on Thursday Steph and I headed out to the Calabasas Babies R Us to register.  We chose the Calabasas store because my good friends wife works there and she helped us through our process.  The best part of registering is getting to scan all the cool stuff OTHER people will buy you!  Hehe.  Anyway, Steph and I spend about 2 hours scanning every little nook and cranny of Babies R Us.  It was a pleasant experience and would recommed it for every to be mom & dad.  One tip from our Babies R Us friend is to wait until closer to due dates to scan clothing, this prevents clothing on the list of going out of style and being out of store, because we all know most people wait till the last minute to go shopping.

Babies R Us - Baby Registry 

http://www.toysrus.com/registry/index.jsp

Fetal Heart Monitor

About a week ago, Steph and I ventured to one of our favorite places in the world....Target.  Steph was looking for a fetal heart monitor.  Target only carried one type so we decided to roll the dice and see how it works.  

The Good Things:

2 ear peices so both mom and dad can listen

Out port so that you can record sounds

The Bad Things:

Looks like a super hero belt (might also be considered good)

Not as effective as going to the doctor

We didn't look like the couple on the left

With that we could hear our little bugger rolling around inside however we could not locate a heartbeat.  There could be other factors involved such as position and so on, however we did hear him punch and kick.  Overall the product is not bad for the price on any kind of rating system I'd give it 8 out of 10.

Summer Infant™ Heart-to-Heart Prenatal Listening System

Babies R Us Debacle

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UPDATE

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Babies R Us called us tonight to let us know they infact found our changing table in the back room of the store.  See we weren't lying Mr. R Us.  We get to pick it up later this week since we're fairly busy the next few days.

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UPDATE

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I have many a friend who works for R-Us chain.  I myself at one point worked for ToysRUs in the backroom unloading trucks and managing backstock and bikes.  So I know how things can run in a store that size.  Now recently my inlaws decided to buy us a crib for our baby.  I very generous thing to do, however we get there and they're running a massive sale if you buy 3 peices you get 10% off, buy a crib get a free mattress set, open a RUs card and get 15% off and we received a 15% coupon from my good friend Dave.  So what was to be a single crib, turned into a crib, changing table, and dresser for our little tyke.  Flash forward several weeks we receive a call that our items are in the store and we need to come pick them up.  My father-in-law and I jump in his truck and make the trip out to Simi Valley.  The kid working there tells us he's pretty sure all the stuff is in and he will bring it out to us.  He brings out the dresser and the crib, no changing table.  We've already been run through the register (at his instuction) so the computer thinks we've picked everything up.  The manager on duty has no idea how to void the transaction and tells us there's pretty much nothing we can do except have her write a note on our receipt saying we didn't get the changing table.

3 weeks later.  No changing table.  Steph (my wife) has been on the phone with them all day and has been disconnected twice.  I'm starting to lose my faith in Babies R Us.  Hopefully this will get figured out.  

First Post

Hey Guys,

I've started this blog to help chronicle my journey as a father.  I noticed that there were not many blogs out there devoted to the "Geek" dad.  I plan on reviewing toys, gadgets, gizmos and other objects that pertain to the "Geek" father.

A Dad Like Mine is a more than a website, its a hope that I can be as good a father as mine was to me.

-Shaun