She's Here, Add the Winner Is...

Well that was fast! Lucy headed to the hospital at 9 PM last night. This morning we woke up to this email:

Your new daughter was born 4/18 at 11:15 pm last night. I have finally been transferred down to my room after they had to monitor my blood pressure for last few hours. She is just a doll. Hope you get here safely and see you soon.

So, with the Price is Right rule of getting closest without going over, the winner of the "Guess the Birth" contest is...drum roll...

Jilliebean! Guessing April 18th, at 3:45 PM. Once things settle down I'll send you the Arizona Themed Prize I haven't thought of yet!

Now to get moving...
Things to do today:

1. Have coffee
2. Shower
3. Take Boys to Pet Hotel
4. Go get a baby

T Minus 6 and Evil Newborns

Only six days to go! It's less then a week, and I think we're both back to jumpy nerves again. After going through this once before when we were looking at March 31st for delivery, I think I speak for both (OK all four) of us when I say we're at the "let's just get this over with" stage. We've been packed and ready for weeks, I keep telling The Boys it's almost hotel time, and I know Lucy feels like she's way overdue, even though she isn't. Before I move on with today's dramatic post, let's see where we stand in the betting pool. Sorry latecomers, but the guessing is officially closed now so you'll have to wait until next time or head to Michael's blog, they have a kid every year (*grin*). Anyway, a bunch of you have already dropped off, so let's see who's left:

• Kathryn, April 14, 10 PM, current leader (Also roughly the same time in 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg and started sinking...um, thanks for that Kathryn!)
• Andrew's Daddies, April 15, 9:47 PM
• April (Anonymous) April 15, 7:42 PM
• Michael, April 17, 2:42 AM
• Jilliebean, April 18, 3:45 PM
• Kate, April 19, 8:10 AM
• Carole, April 19, 11:45 PM
• S, April 20, 10:23 AM
• Michelle, April 20, 2:34 PM
• Ann-Elise, April 21, 6:39 AM
• Susan (Anonymous) April 21, 7 AM

A still to be thought of Arizona themed prize to the winner.

Anywho, last night as I was taking The Boys for our nightly walk, I was thinking about the baby being born and all that she'll do in her life and all that's in store for her. Sweet thoughts. But then it dawned on me...at the same time, somewhere out there, there is a newborn boy being born as well. The same one who's going to set his sites on our daughter 18 or so years from now with impure thoughts in his warped mind. Probably driving some souped up hoopdie, big fuzzy dice and vodka spiked Gatorade, thinking he's taking her behind the movie theatre or wherever youngin's go to get past third base. Sure he looks cute now, but you can be sure he's got pure evil on his mind when it comes to my little girl! So be warned infant little boy (or even gurl!) I know what you're up to, and I see through your veil of cuteness!

See what waiting does to you?

OK Scratch Everything and Move It Back 3 Weeks!

Yes, it's April Fools Day. No I'm not making this post up, it's true.

After two weeks of alternating knots and butterflies in my stomach, we get to do it all over again. I emailed "Lucy" tonight to say how glad I was the baby was not born today and have her birthday on April Fools. This is the reply I got:

Thank you so much Bobby. I was actually thinking the same thing. I went to the doctor today and thought the info they gave me was a really cruel April fools joke. Well as it turns out my due date has been set back. According to the ultra sound tech dec 17th reading was wrong. I was not 5 1/2 months I was about 22-23 weeks meaning my new due date is April 22. That is the 40 week 9 month mark. But with all the pre contractions and pressure she may come a little bit early. I will continue to have weekly doctors appointments until delivery. My next appt is april 8th. I will advise you of status then but earlier if she decides to make a guest appearance. Talk to you soon. Have a good night.

Arrrrrgh! No no no no no! Just when the hourglass was finally running out, it's been turned over and started again. Ugh! We have been on edge...drama over leaving town for Mema's funeral...packing bags for the "come at any time now" call...preparations to send The Boys to the PetsHotel...jumping every time the phone rings...checking email every ten minutes...and now we get to start doing that all over again! What can I say? We'll wait some more. The contest is ruined. (No Michael, you don't win by default!) So all our emotion goes back in the bottle for a few more weeks, and I guess we start the baby pool contest all over. So same rules as before. Whoever comes closest without going over. All the hints you need are in Lucy's email. Place your bets...

T Plus 1

Well we're one day over the due date, which makes Kathryn and Michael happy, since they are now the only two left in the contest. I think Kathryn has the advantage because she won't drop off for another two days since the guesses look like this:

• Kathryn, April 1, 12:03 AM
• Michael, April 3, 2:42 AM

Maybe it's good Louie didn't win. Since it's an Arizona themed prize, and he lives in Phoenix, what could I send him that he doesn't already have? My water bill I guess. Oh well.

I'm kind of keeping my fingers crossed that she doesn't decide to appear today. I know I'd hate to go through life with an April Fool's Day birthday. "Happy birthday, April fool". Shut up moron. LOL.

T Minus 13

13 Days left until March 31st...

(And only 2 days left to enter the birthdate give away contest!)

Things are so crazy right now, between work and Project Baby, I barely have any free time at all. I work for JDA Software in Scottsdale and my official title is Team Lead for the support side of In-Store Systems, but I've recently been given responsibility for the development side as well, and hope to manage both teams as my goal in the next quarter. Complicated sounding I know, but in a nutshell our department helps develop and support software products most of you use every day. Our products run or interface with retail store payment systems. (It's a fancy way of saying our software runs cash registers.) If you've ever shopped at PETCO (where coincidentally I also used to work), Estee Lauder's different brands of stores (MAC, etc), Allen Edmonds, Carlton Cards, Universal Studios, Charlotte Russe, Columbia Sportswear, or hundreds of other retailers, you've used JDA products. Right now, I'm responsible for getting two software releases out the door, and development work is planned to stop on...

March 31st.

We emailed our birth mother, "Lucy", and she's feeling good, still very happy she's chosen us as parents for the baby. She still feels the same as she did and can't really clue us in as to when the baby will be born. So we wait, without a plan for when we're leaving. Gregg's been researching hotels and kind of thinking about where we'll be staying in California, and trying to network some of our friends together for visits. But it's not like we can make any reservations. I've tried talking the PetsHotel at PetSmart into giving us a discount for an extended stay for The Boys, but no luck there. We hate the thought of leaving them there for up to two weeks, but they really are too much for any of our family to manage for that length of time because none of them are really used to high energy big dogs. Gregg mentioned bringing them with us but I can't imagine adding two excited Labradors to an already stressful trip so I think that's out. At least they like it at the PetsHotel.

So March 31st is the scheduled release date for two software packages and Finster v. 1.0.

All Jump in the Betting Pool

OK all jump in the betting pool!

I'm taking a cue from Michelle at Michelle's Path and running my first ever contest! Today we heard from our birthmom, and at the doctors today she found out her due date is March 31st, give or take a week. So here's the contest:

• Leave a comment on this post with your guess of date and time the baby will be born.
• Person who comes closest without going past the actual birth will win
• Your deadline for entering the contest will be Midnight Friday, March 20th OR if I post before then that we got the word that the baby is on the way. Then entry will close.
• I will make a post announcing the winner and I will send you an Arizona themed prize!

To help your guessing, I can say that the expectant mom is 29 years old, and this is not her first child. Apparently that matters in predicting births.

Good Luck!