Recently in Kids Category

Our little bundle of joy is now 7 weeks and a few days old.  Today, she progressed from milk to baby food.  She has been stealing bits of food from us for the last week so we figured it was probably time to give it a try.

She took one nibble of the cereal and began screaming because momma didn't move the spoon fast enough between bowl and mouth.

For many people, the act of birth is revolting at best. For others, it is a blissful experience during which complete calm can be achieved.

For everyone else, it is usually something in between.

This may be a bit graphic for some of our younger readers, although I doubt it.

With just 33 days to go, more or less, the little monster is estimated to be 6 lbs, 4 oz already. I'm already expecting her to be around 9 lbs.

I know I shouldn't.  It's just cruel.  It's plain wrong.  But I can't help myself...

Little M is still 3 months in the hole and she is already getting on mommies nerves.  For the last 2 hours (and this is a nightly routine) she has been kicking as hard and as fast as she can.  During her 'resting periods' she is stretching out enough to make the belly take on an almost alien appearance.

The fact that mommy screams out in pain with each kick just makes it worse that I can't stop laughing.

Moms get to experience all of the joys and pain of pregnancy. Dads usually just get the end result (broken hand, screaming kid).

For me, I look forward to the first kick or movement that I can feel. The wife has been feeling small movements and kicks for a couple of weeks now and I know that the little monster inside her will react when I place my hand on her belly but not in a manner that I can feel. This evening changed that.

As I performed my evening ritual of poking and prodding at the little monster in an attempt to elicit a reaction I was greeted with movement. Whatever the little monster had been pushing up with (head, back, butt, foot, hand) moved across my finger and quickly vanished. Moments later, there was even some quick jabs at my hand that were very distinct.

Soon, I will have another little monster to mold and mentor in the ways of the Dark Side.

As per usual, once we found out that there might be another bundle joining us, we began using the internet(s) to see what might have changed in the last 5 years since we had the last one. Part of that process resulted in reading stories (good and bad) of the experiences of other expecting parents.

One mother-to-be was so ticklish that when her baby moved, she would burst out laughing. Another had a baby who had found the magic sciatic nerve and would choose the most inconvenient time to hit it causing numerous problems for the mom-to-be.

So far, our newest bundle has found that she can tickle momma by hitting the hip bones and cause pain by hitting the pelvic bones. My wife has already begun placing blame for these antics on me as they only seem to happen when I'm around.

I have begun jokingly referring to the tickle as the green wire and pain as the red wire.