Bumpity Bump Update

Alright, it's time for some baby updates! Since my last post, we've been to Bed Bath and Beyond, Babies R Us (twice), and Pottery Barn Kids. No, we aren't registered yet (we ARE getting closer), but seriously, have you been in Babies R Us?  That place is scary.  After our second trip I think we've kind of figured out the big things, but I'll tell you it's a bit overwhelming.  A registering party with our good pal Sara should help with all the "do we need this or that?" items, so I think we're almost there.

Registry aside, we did pick out a crib! We are not the most decisive group you'll ever meet but after staking out the crib section for a good, long while, we made our choice.  For you baby stuff nerds, we decided on the 3 in 1 Catalina crib from PB.  It's mega super duper nice to have the family discount for that nice stuff from Pottery Barn (thanks, Mom).  I took advantage of the long weekend and swapped out the guest room furniture out of what will be the nursery, so when the crib gets here in a week or so I'll get to embark on the joy of crib assembly.  We've narrowed down the bedding choices to just a couple, so once we make that pick, we'll be able to move ahead full steam on the baby's room.

As you can see from the pictures below, Baby Timmons has been growing.  Ruth Ann gets to feel the little bugger kick and backstroke pretty regularly, but he pretty much goes into ninja stealth mode every time I try to say hello.  I have been lucky enough to feel him a couple times and even see him once, which is pretty wild.  I'm pretty sure when real estate gets a little tighter in there, it'll be a bit harder for him to hide.  Ruth Ann continues to handle pregnancy like a pro, so everyone cross your fingers that things continue to go so well!

18 Weeks

20 Weeks

22 Weeks

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Remember This?

So about a year and a half ago, Mike and I decided to enter a contest.  As Ruth Ann will readily tell you, I love my iPhone.  It's pretty, it's fancy and it's gadget-y.  I like it.  A lot.  One of the best-selling apps and one of my favorites is "I Am T-Pain".  The app lets you sing along to a music track and auto-tunes your voice to correct your pitch, so if you're remotely close to the right note, you sound decent.  The end result is that kind of robot-like warble that you hear people like the Black Eyed Peas and, of course T-Pain use.  And while you don't hear it as distinctly, so do all those over-produced kids on Glee, and most every candy pop artist you can name.

The company behind this great app (shout-out to Smule) put on a 10 week contest to have people use it to recreate a video for The Lonely Island's "I'm On a Boat".  New lyrics, theme, etc. were all encouraged.  There would be a $500 weekly winner, then a grand prize winner of $5000.  The grand prize also won a full-size replica of this:

(oh my)

A few weeks went by and I noticed that the entries were not super awesome.  And not very plentiful.  My brain calculated some odds, pitched the idea of making a video to Mike and it was on.  Our first task was a theme.  We needed new lyrics and wanted to keep them family friendly (the original version is hilarious, but not something you'd want to play for junior).  After some brainstorming, we settled on "I've Got a Wii".  Everybody knows about the Wii, and c'mon, that gave us just enough ground to make some snarky jokes but keep it PG.

I took a stab at some lyrics, Mike brought his A-game for some edits, verses, and refinements and Whammy!, we had our song.  We recorded the thing in three parts.  First we had just the instrumental track, then we put on headphones and spit hot fire (aka, rap track), then I went back in to lay down the auto-tuned track.  I wish we would have video'd this process, because it was hilarious.  Picture me with headphones on, listening to the track and Mike watching me blurt out the occasional "yeah" or "shawtaaaay" in an otherwise silent room.  It was pretty awesome.  Once we got our tracks, we sent everything to my brother to mix it up in the lab.  He blended everything perfectly, added some effects and sent back the final track.

Once we had the track, it was time for our shoot.  We had a rough plan/storyboard, recruited the acting services of our good pal N8, sorted out who would play which parts in the video and got to it.  We shot most everything in a long Sunday and just had a couple filler/reshoots to finish up.  Once we got everything shot, it was my turn to pull it all together.  Believe me, it took some work to cut out the bad, grab the best and piece it all together AND sync it up perfectly with the music track.  Needless to say, there are plenty of outtakes on the official bootleg DVD.

The final result?  This little guy, right here:

30,000 views (!) and counting...

We managed to win the weekly prize, but were beaten out by some stiff (and much more professional) competition for the grand prize.  We took our money and ran, right to a Brazillian steakhouse for a big evening of dinner and drinks for the whole team courtesy of some creativity and a $3 iPhone app.  Love it.

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Now that the cat's out of the bag...

...and you all know that this baby's a boy, I thought I'd share just a little about the big 18 week appointment.  The big buzz with this appointment of course, is that you get to find out if "it" is a he or a she.  The less glamorous (but kind of scary and mega-important) part of this appointment is the general checkup on the baby to make sure everything is healthy.  Our little guy was shy (taking after me already) and snuggled up into a tight ball, so before he gave up the goods, we got to go through the paces.  Measure the head, check.  Measure the length, check.  Check the heart, spine, kidneys - check, check and check.  Thankfully, all is well with our little 9 ounce bundle of impending joy.

During the scan, Baby T started getting more comfortable on camera and started moving around.  At the risk of sounding super cheesy, it was so friggin' cool!  During that first ultrasound, you can see what looks kind of like a gummi bear.  This time not only do things look more real, but once you see the little guy moving around and kicking, it FEELS really real.  For real.

Pictures, you say?  Here you go...

Here's the profile view

This is the spooky Halloween shot

And my favorite, the foot

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