Some random stuff

Our cat Mayhem. We promise (or promise to try really, really hard) to not let this happen to our child. However, you have to admit, there's just so much more cat to love!



May's much trimmer sister Scout:



Kyle and I went to Athens, GA to watch some Ultimate:



The cool LEEDS certified hotel where we spent the night:




While in Athens, we roamed the downtown area, enjoyed sangria, had a couples massage, and Kyle got acquainted with one of the many decorated bulldogs (Mascot of UGA) in the city.




The End.

Graduation

Some graduation pics:

Week 21 (Sex revealed!)

We had our "anatomical ultrasound" during which the technician checks out various bodily structures, screening for deviations from normal. Our baby was quite active- even kicking hard enough that the technician could feel it through the probe. At some point, it was folded in half, with its feet up by its face and ankles crossed. There was also more hand sucking (I guess this child will take after its mother who sucked her thumb until she was 8!)

This was also the appointment during which inquiring parents can find out whether to prepare for a baby girl or a baby boy. Twice I referred to this as finding out the baby's gender and twice Kyle had to correct me: "It's the baby's sex, not necessarily their gender."

Touche.

I took the opportunity to look up the definitions of sex and gender and was surprised to discovered their lack of differentiation in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Sex: either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures

Gender: a: sex b : the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex

Interestingly, the World Health Organization had a great break-down on their website which I will reproduce below:

What do we mean by "sex" and "gender"?

Sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what is meant by the term "gender", and how it differs from the closely related term "sex".

"Sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.

"Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

To put it another way:

"Male" and "female" are sex categories, while "masculine" and "feminine" are gender categories.

Aspects of sex will not vary substantially between different human societies, while aspects of gender may vary greatly.

Some examples of sex characteristics :

Women menstruate while men do not
Men have testicles while women do not
Women have developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating, while men have not
Men generally have more massive bones than women
Some examples of gender characteristics :

In the United States (and most other countries), women earn significantly less money than men for similar work
In Viet Nam, many more men than women smoke, as female smoking has not traditionally been considered appropriate
In Saudi Arabia men are allowed to drive cars while women are not
In most of the world, women do more housework than men

****************SPOILER ALERT*****************

In summary and to be perfectly politically correct: today we discovered the sex, but not necessarily the gender, of our baby. See if you can guess from the photo below (there's a hint there for you):



We couldn't really see what was going on here till we were oriented either. It's like you're looking up at his bottom from underneath. So, his sex defining parts are just to the right of the label, in the center of the image.

An Epiphany of Mind and Body

So those of you have have spoken to me in the last, oh, 2-3 months or so have heard me lamenting the fact that I can no longer play Ultimate or run or do the physical things that I'm used to doing. Now, I'm aware that one can run for many months of pregnancy, but who wants to do that without chasing a plastic disc? I played goaltimate during my first trimester, but once I hit week 13 and was told to keep my heart rate below 140, I gave up contact sports and anything that makes me sweat or breathe too hard.

Not that I've had the energy to do sports much anyway. Just walking up the stairs or saying a run-on sentence can make me breathe heavily. It started with weeks 8-14 that were pretty rough on my physical stamina. Since then, despite the increasing energy levels of the second trimester, my naturally lazy personality has encourage a growing relationship with my couch.

So, the bitching was continuing and sick of myself, I started walking. My neighborhood is a fascinatingly diverse and strange world. Exploring it has been fun and a break from the boredom of pregnancy-sloth-life. But it still wasn't satisfying the athlete in me, the part of me that loves a challenge and wants to sweat and run and throw elbows.

Then I had an epiphany.

I was talking a few weeks ago to a friend who was days away from giving birth (Congrats to CJ and MA!). She started telling me about the prenatal yoga class she attended and made references to the birthing "moves" she was practicing on a yoga ball at home. As I listened to her, it was like something inside of me finally accepted the new state of my body. I thought to myself, "Duh, you're freaking pregnant. You have the biggest challenge before you- birth- and you want to run around and play with frisbees? A due date is not unlike a race day or a tournament. Labor has been compared to running a marathon a thousand times and athletes train for such events. Why would I not start training myself for birth?"

So I finally tried the yoga dvd that I had bought myself but had left on the shelf in its shrink-wrap. Within the first few minutes, I was in namaste when the video instructed me to "Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your growing baby." I was immediately in tears. It was the first time I had settled down, the first time I stopped to really feel what was happening in my body and to consider the profound miracle/weirdness that is pregnancy.

I'm now trying to do the dvd or part thereof daily. It not only helps my increasingly sore hips, but it gives me the meditative, reflective time that I need to promote a sense of calm. It's helped me think about breathing deeper, eating better, and relaxing more so that the baby will feel good. I'm not sure why I initially resisted this critical piece of pregnancy for so long; I'm just glad I found it when I did.

Namaste.

Halftime! (Week 20)

What's happening with baby:

- 6-7 inches long, or the size of a cantaloupe, 10-11 oz
- Nerve cells for smell, taste, touch, seeing are developing in the brain
- Sense of taste developing such that what I taste she can taste
- Hearing things outside the womb and can recognize parents' voices
- Heart getting stronger and may be heard with stethoscope
- Antibodies transfered from mom to baby, developing his immune system

What's happening with mom:

- Top of uterus approaching the belly button (or a little lower if one happens to have a freakishly long torso)
- Weight gain of approx 10 lbs
- Abdominal itching may begin due to skin stretching over belly bump
- May begin to feel baby's movements for the first time


We have movement people!!


So, I was in the car with Kyle two weeks ago, when I felt an abrupt, focal little jolt in my lower abdomen, just behind my seatbelt. Then it happened again. And again. It was undoubtably the first few fetal movements that I've really been able to feel. Ever since, I've been noticing them daily, but only once or twice have I been quick enough to put my hand over them and actually feel a kick into my hand. It's unlike anything I've ever felt before, but is most definitely a movement that feels.. joyful.

(The image above is fake, by the way.)

My First Mother's Day Gift

Much like my own changing body, this mug's functional utility is questionable and it's shape, awkward and comical... I love it!

The Naming of Things

So, Sara, started this blog off by discussing my obsession with baby names. I can't hear a person's name (or city, river, pet, or most other things) without tacking on the name Weisbrod or Gravelin and lolling it around in my head. I'm particularly amused by bizarre athlete names. I like to imagine little LaDainian or Jerious Weisbrod. I've always loved the names of the Bailey brothers from UGA (Champ and Boss). My favorite though is Plaxico. In fact, I've talked about it so much, I'd be surprised if my friend Jason Simpson doesn't call our baby Plaxico. If we don't name our child Plaxico I'll be creating a plaque preventing mouthwash with that name. Or a plastic manufacturing company.

(side note - apparently this is not just me. Once I told the girls I coach that Sara was pregnant they began suggesting names. My favorite suggestion? Fabuola)

And it's not just people names. I've already got ideas for our pet names. I'm going to put these out here, in the circle of trust, believing that no one will steal these names. At some point we'll have a hound dog (beagle or coonhound) named Tugaloo (after a lake in N. Georgia), a Rottweiler named Avon Barksdale, and cat named Secretary of State Hillary Kitten (hat tip to Shimmy who came up with president elect Bark Obama for a dog).

And truth be told, it's not just people and pet names. I really enjoy creating and implementing structure and organization in areas where there is no structure. It's what I did at the UPA and what I do at EyeWonder. It's why I coach and write about Ultimate.

At the heart of organizing is creating definitions; identifying groups of like things, identifying common criteria, giving or creating words that make it easy for people to understand. Naming something is the core of communication. Good naming not only demonstrates a deep understanding of what you are naming but also an understanding of those using the name. You give something a name that helps make things clearer, is easy to remember, and "fits" and it is an accomplishment.

But naming something is a big responsibility and can sometimes be scary. Defining something creates permanence - it prevents (or slows) change. Most of the people that were at our wedding said that they couldn't hear my vows. Truthfully, I don't recall exactly what I said. I didn't write it down. The gist of it was that I didn't want to describe or define our "love" because what was important was that our relationship could continue to grow and I didn't want to put any limits on it. I think I threw something in there about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the Observer effect - something about how observing our love would change it so I wasn't observing it (yeah, you were probably better off having not heard it).

Anyway, for as much as I get excited about naming a child - it's also somewhat frightening. I mean, this kid is going to be stuck with the name for Champ's whole life. Trying to think of names that fit with our family names, can't be made fun of, is flexible to allow for both a fun and professional life is a challenge.

One of the Tom's (Sara's dad) idiosyncrasies that I really appreciate is his penchant for nicknames. Sara has gone from "Silky" to "Tumbleweed" to "Silk" (the grown up version of Silky I think). In the time that I've known her, Diana has been known by "The Standard Master" and "Dideedejee" (sp?) or just "Didee" for short. Laura is "Laura-bud."

The beauty of nicknames is that they can evolve and change. They can adjust to capture the essence of the person as that essence changes. And the nicknames, as a collection, can provide a fuller picture of a person than just the name that they were given on the day of their birth. So here's to nicknames.

Oh, and as for actual names, while I was cool with sharing them before Sara was pregnant, now I feel like it would be bad luck to talk about them. But we've got a few in mind.