Fat Babies, Sore Backs, and School Oh My!

Well...I have some disheartening news..  Apparently our baby has a fat problem.  According to Baby Center, our Danny is putting on weight at the rate of 1 ounce a day.  I, of course, don't want him to feel self-conscious about his weight-gain, so I'm planning to begin putting on some daily weight..you know..for the kid.  He's supposedly 5 1/4 lbs (the weight of a honeydew melon) and 18 inches long (the length of about a foot and a half).  He's certainly getting big and BOY..does he move a lot!  I get a chance to see him moving around when we lay down to sleep and I swear he's figured out how to do the pommel horse in there.  I've already put some horizontal bars on order in case he becomes a gymnast.

This 18" ruler would be perfect for measuring Danny.

Honeydew Melon compared to a measly quarter.

 
Katie is still quite healthy.  Because of the added weight, her back has become quite sore.  We're hoping this alleviates itself some, especially since she goes back to school next week.  Teaching primary music means LOTS of getting up and down, moving around, etc.  Not conducive for 9-month pregnant women.  Maybe we can get an iPod app or something that'll teach her class for her..hmmm...I'll get on that.

Two of these.  Bring it on.

Being the band teacher of the family, I began my school camps this week with percussion camp from 9am - 3pm daily.  The next two weeks are our full ensemble camps from 9am - 1pm and 6pm - 9pm.  Needless to say...school has all but started.  We're excited to return to our routines.  We both really enjoy teaching and although the time off is nice, there's a reason we got into teaching (beyond the time off I mean).  Plus, it just brings us closer to baby time. I have a feeling we'll go a bit before our due date (not too early of course).  I'm taking bets.  Not money...how about pretzels or something like that.  Two pretzels that she'll go a day before! 

We're enjoying life.  Our baby room is looking fantastic (I assembled the chair last week, so we're nearing completion).  We'll hopefully get some more pics (that's short for pictures) up soon for all our fans to see.  You'll see the paintings, animals, chair, crib, etc, etc...and so on...

So you're married to a nerd

I do not know how to break it to my wife.  I just finished working on drill for marching band and struggled to choose between whether to watch X-Men or Star Trek:  TNG (The Next Generation).  I might let her down softly by maybe leaving my old comic card collection out by accident, then the next week or so, I'll let slip by accident, "I love you" in Shyriiwook (Wookiee speak)...by the way, it's "anoohowo rooohu" by the way.

My prediction for Katie.

Baby Daniel is a whopping -6 weeks old today.  Our online resources say that babies without previous health issues can be born without having long-term health issues.  That is quite exciting.  Danny is actually participating in a wedding today.  Kate's good friend, Sarah, will soon be married and Kate was nicely asked to be a bridesmaid.  Months ago, I remember Kate saying, "Ugh!  I'm going to be 8th months pregnant at Sarah's wedding!" and it seemed so very long away.  Well, here it is and we've never been closer to unveiling our world to the little guy.  Katie and Danny continue to get high marks at their doctor's appointments.  He is even a bit larger than average!  Fat baby!  From here on out, Katie will be going weekly.  Closer and closer!

Katie has been still doing quite well.  The addition and misappropriation of weight has started to take a toll on her back, keeping her aching daily.  From our weekly online updates, however, it sounds like things could be a lot worse.  So we're still quite thankful.

Katie and Sarah focusing on the baseball game.

This week has been wedding, wedding, wedding for Katie.  I distracted myself with some obsessive World of Warcraft exploration (don't worry...it was only for 7 days) and school work.  It has been quite nice having the summer off, but I think we're both looking forward to returning.  If not for the daily routine, at least for the fact we're closer to baby-drop.  Big news! Our baby room is nearing completion.  We assembled our changing table yesterday and our rocking chair sits behind me disassembled.  Our theme is jungle.  So...many monkeys and giraffes.

Laura interacting with Katie.

On a side note...as I type this blog, I've decided that I want Patrick Stewart to read my autobiography aloud if it ever becomes an audio book...or becomes written for that matter.

Make it so.

I'm already in the midst of our summer band camps at school, but don't worry, that will not affect the readers demand for weekly blogs from the Konrads.  I cannot deal with any mob uprisings, riots, looting..and so on..  

We're having a singleton!

Helpful Aunt Valerie in every aisle.

33 weeks along Danny's track today and we've got some big news!  Danny's the size of a honeydew!  Off to the grocery store...  I hope Hy-Vee doesn't mind me handling their fruit so often.  They should understand it's about the children.  I know our Aunt Valerie has connections, maybe I could get one *snuck out.  (I do know she doesn't work there anymore, but these connections are strong).

We're going to get these for Kate's emergency food attacks.

Katie has been feeling "fine".  Her body gets quite hungry, to the point where she feels like she is going to "die".  I've been monitoring her vital signs and she seems to be stable...at the moment.  We just have to keep bananas around for those early morning attacks.  Her belly is becoming more and more beautiful as Danny becomes more and more massive.  Overall though, we've been quite blessed with Kate's well-being and we pray it continues this way.







Child birth class this week was all about breast-feeding.  It is truly remarkable the benefits of it.  It was a nice quick class too.  So..not much to report.  They always have great Snackwells snacks!  Partook in those for sure.

Apparently Danny is losing his wrinkles.  Unfortunate because this dog's so darn cute.

Danny seems to be doing great.  So far he's not talking back, I assume this will be the case his whole life.  He seems to enjoy Kate's left side when it comes to relaxing.  We could actually feel/see him breathing the other night.  We thought at first it could be hiccups, but it just looked like breathing.  Very, very cool.  He moves around a lot though.  Kate likes to test foods on him to see what he does and doesn't like.  We assume that he'll move when he likes something, but I'm starting to think it's the opposite.  I think of how I respond to food as an adult.  I guess I kind of get grooving when I eat something I like, but more often than not, it's food I DON'T like that actually makes me dance around.  I'll have to do some experimenting.  Check back for updates...

Kate and I had quite the adventure yesterday.  We have a "summer bucketlist" of things we wanted to do this summer.  One of them was to take stay in an offbeat motel/inn out of town.  We decided to take a road trip around Nebraska doing what Katie dubbed, a "coin flip trip".  You choose directions and flip a coin for which way to take. You do this whenever you hit major crossroads.  Well...we ended up heading towards Columbus on 275.  We snaked around and hit Norfolk.  Made our way up to South Sioux City, headed south to Fremont, and stayed in Papillion, NE last night..."oh where?" you say?
Our humble abode.  That's right, we drove 6-7 hours around northeast Nebraska only to end up home.  Our main goal was just to find a small town with both a MOTEL and a RESTAURANT...we could not make this happen.  So, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and called it a day/night.  We hope for better luck next year, but the following towns disappointed us (although they seemed great from most other facets...just needed a motel AND restaurant:  Randolph, Dixon, Homer (that's right Wimmers), Laurel, Dakota City, Oakland.  There were others, but this'll give you an idea of our journey.

Swedish Capitol of Nebraska

 

 










Looks like we're getting closer and closer to this drop date of the baby.  That's what things are really about right now.  I do want to thank everyone for the wonderful, wonderful gifts received at Kate's Family Baby Shower.  We're blessed to have such great family and although they were not necessary to feel loved, they are greatly appreciated.  The baby room's looking better and better and we're getting closer to getting some of those pictures up, posted on the blog/Facebook...and so on...



 *Apparently Blogger/Google doesn't think "snuck" is a word.  Dictionary.com begs to differ.  Zac - 1, Google 493.

Three Posts are Better Than Two

Today officially marks 32 weeks of progress made by in utero Daniel Christopher.  This means that exactly 8 weeks from today, my beautiful wife will have completed the first childbirth with zero discomfort and pain (I can't speak for wildlife.  Their contractions might not be so bad).  According to thebump.com, Danny is about the size of a squash.  Now, this would interesting if he hadn't been the size of a squash for the past 4 weeks.  My theory is thebump.com is being sponsored by S.F.A. (Squash Farmers of America).

This is a jicama.

Hopefully my above paragraph isn't removed by the government because of its conspiracy theory implications...in any case, according to another website Danny should be weighing in at a whopping 3.75lbs.  That's as much as a large jicama!!!...don't know what that is?  Neither does my spell check.  Despite his fruit/vegetable affiliations, Danny seems to be doing quite well.  He's taken up a new style of dancing similar to the convulsions following an electrocution, which will probably be popular by the time he's 16 or so...so we're quite proud.  He's certainly moving though and the consensus is that his head is down, facing the right direction.  Although there's always the possibility he could change directions, this is a blessing because he's right where he's supposed to be for birthin' time and that seems to lessen the chance for a C-Section or other complications.  I'm chalkin' it up to him being a smart kid.  Of course I was delivered by C-Section...and I'm smart...right?

Kate has been certainly busy around the house.  You see...I'm feeling quite ill today...cough cough...and so she's been taking care of me (in her 8th month of pregnancy) because I am oh so very weak.  Our baby room looks fantastic though.  We got it arranged like we wanted and Katie has already started decorations including a fabulous set of canvases that you'll have to check out below.

...I had no part in the creativity of this process..but I did give the "OK".  

Kate is as tough as these babies.

Kate is quoted to be feeling "alright" and that she's "rolling with the punches"...punches meaning Danny's fisticuffs with her internal organs.  She's also had some trouble with back aches and minor heartburn, but she's tough..tough as nails.

Kate celebrating the 4th with FIRE!

This past weekend we celebrated the birth of our country with some explosions and brats.  It was quite a great time.  I left a rocket on a resident's roof, so we'll have to see when that comes down.  All in all, things are going quite well.  We're moving into somewhat of a busy weekend for me.  Kate excitingly has her first baby shower tomorrow and we're hoping to get those bar stools we always wanted...for the baby ya know.  It will be nice for us to get the room set up as quickly as possible for Danny so that when we go back to work quite soon, we don't have to worry about it then...and so on..

A Kiss from the Sun..Burns

A limerick about sunburns...

I once knew a man from Papillion
who camped when the sky was cerulean (that's a bluish color)
He had on no shirts
now his skin hurts
and it sucks.




Well, it's be a long week..ish, since our inaugural post.   Although the opening poetry has many of you on the edges of your seats, I must restrain telling our heroic tales until a later paragraph.  Lil' Danny

Our nephew, Jack, on his 1st birthday.

has been magnificent.  I was able to play with him the other day. Our play was limited to me feeling him kick his poor mother, but I thought it was quite fun.  I should wrap myself in a blanket, kick a little to try to get in touch with my in utero baby.  Katie officially hit 31 weeks yesterday, so the baby apparently weighs as much as 4 naval oranges.  I recommend going to the store and trying it out yourself.  I went with 5 myself because I think our kid's going to be a fatty.






Despite her recent bout with pregnancy, Katie has been quite the trooper.  We were able to enjoy the 2nd Annual Yard Olympics at her brother, Rick, and his girlfriend, Jackie's place. Without getting too specific, Katie and I are the 2nd runner-ups at Washers in all of the tournament...possibly the world. I felt like Danny gave us an added advantage.

We represented McDonald Island at the 2nd Annual Yard Olympics

We went camping a couple days ago at Louisville State Park in Louisville, NE.  GO LIONS! 

This guy's a jerk

Anyways, we wanted to work on our color so we hung out at the lake for maybe 7-8 hours.  It was close to 100 degrees out, so it was nice to be able to get all wet and stuff.  Although I like to keep my physique a mystery (like a superhero), I proceeded to burn my entire torso.  If the sunscreen we used
were a person, I wouldn't fight him, but I'd probably talk behind his back a ton so that others wouldn't like him.  SPF 30 evidently will not suffice for my white-washed mid-section.  It was so bad, that we had to leave the camp grounds in the middle of the following night. 

 

Just so we understand, my wife is 31 weeks pregnant, and we left from camping early because of my affliction.  I call them sympathy burns.  






It was a wonderful day though.  Lots of swimming, people watching, and Gambino's eating. 





 This week, we plan to Aloe up, blow up some fireworks (on the 4th of coursth), and so on..

PS:  The mispelling of course was intentional because I liked how it rhymed with 4th. 

PPS:  The misspelling of mispelling was not intentional.

This is my superhero mask.