Welcome to Anticipation Station...

I can feel the enthusiasm....yes, the baby is coming but so are the BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES!!!! Yeah, baby! Kent State will be crushed this Saturday night on ESPNU. Very exciting times indeed. One of the greatest gifts will be sharing this magical BC season with our new child. I am certain s/he will feel the same. I know Molly is on pins and needles as the season approaches and doubtless many of you are as well...for the latest up to date information on the Eagles, join the family on http://www.eagleaction.com/. Molly posts under the name "Flutieisahottie."

Today we had a surprise shower thrown by our office. It was really fun connecting with everyone from work and we had a great time. Dianne introduced me to goat cheese and honey on a cracker and it may go down as the life changing experience of this year (so far the baby experience has been very good but damn the cheese and honey combo...wow). Molly is doing great and is growing the baby (8+ pounds or bust!). Right after Molly started working from home, Princeton slipped from #1 to #2 in the US News rankings. Coincidence? I don't think so...I am glad for Princeton's sake that our mortgage requires her to return to work promptly in December. In the interim, I think she is going to work a "maternity job" at Larry's Sunoco up the street. She can put the baby in the Baby Bjorn carrier and have two hands free for unleaded pumping and cigarette sales.

The Olympics has still left a void in our pre natal lives, and we find the Democratic National Convention a poor substitute. We did enjoy catching Chelsea Clinton roll her eyes when her mother passed her a plastic American flag (Stanford grads don't do synthetic fabrics) to wave during her dad's speech. Does it make us bad Americans if we turn this off and watch our Tivo-ed Project Runway? To be fair, that show does have a democratic form of voting. Pat Boone just did a mortgage refinancing ad...are dead people doing endorsements now? We HAVE to change the channel.

Molly is reading something about the delivery process from a baby website- something about wearing men's briefs post delivery. Excuse me while I lose my dinner...man I cannot express how glad I am to have the dad role in this madness!

BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUTS- Matt Bracken yesterday and Patrick LeMay today. Two of the finest men walking the planet. Baby Dunne is lucky to have guys like this in the family...awesome role models.

We still have it....

Tonight Molly and I went to the wedding of two Princeton grads, Maureen Monagle '04 and Spence Miller '02. It was a great experience to see a wedding in the chapel-- the music was amazing and Spence and Maureen looked very happy.

After a quick "feet-raising" therapy session at our house we were off to the Cherry Hill Country Club here in town. I am pleased to report that we took a number of turns on the dance floor...which was closed (for us at least the party was raging on when we left) by the classic New Jersey Trifecta...."Rosalita" by Bruce Sprinceton followed by "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi, and closing with "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. Now, Journey is from Canada, but since this song closed the Soprano's series it has become an honorary anthem of the Garden State. Molly and I represented ourselves well on the dance floor although we had to learn to leave room for the baby during the slow dances.

She was elated when people were surprised to learn she was two weeks from her delivery date...lots of praise was coming her way. I didn't point out that the black tent dress is Houdini-like in disguising things, and if they saw her in a t-shirt this morning they would have thought she was having quads. Since I am the one pushing for an 8+ pounder, I kept my mouth shut (if only this sound judgement could apply to blog entries as well. Oh well, the internet has always been confessional since that Lonleygirl15 ruse five years ago.) It was a great night and we had a ton of fun...still babysitter free which is really nice. Spence's Navy SEAL friends were great table mates and it was fun catching up with some Princeton alums. There were a number who graduated in this decade who were on their third child, had been to grad school, mortgages, etc. All were solidly into their real lives. What the heck have I been doing for the last fifteen years?

Lactation Juijitsu

Last night Molly took me to a lactation class. She promised me that I could leave if I was the only guy there (unfortunately there were four other empathetic male souls trapped there as well.) Can't think of anything more emasculating than a guy going to a breast feeding class? How about holding the class in a gym....I got to walk by the check-in desk and say "no kickboxing class for me, I am off to learn proper latching techniques." The class was very strange and I couldn't follow much other than discovering that there is a war out there, and the Breastians and the Formulists are battling for our souls. Did you know formula can turn your baby to stone? That sugar water in a bottle is a gateway drug to heroin?

I did learn that we will be keeping a diaper diary. What a keepsake! Frequency, color, consistency, etc. I know the color choices are black, green, and yellow, which in light of our Olympic fever, caused me to daydream about the Jamaican track team (their flag colors are black, green and yellow). We are considering Usain if the baby is a boy...anyone who does "the running man" dance during introductions and then smashes the world record can serve as a role model for our child. He is very fast and very cool.

Molly tells me the baby is the size of a Chinese gymnast so I know we are getting close to the big day. I just hope the baby is prepared to watch about ten hours of tv a night because due to the Olympics that is pretty much our routine.

Update: We just watched the US lose to a French rider (womens) and a Latvian rider (mens) in the BMX Olympics race. How the hell did BMX bike racing make the jump from Mountain Dew comercials to the Olympics? I do know we need to get the Balco Labs open as we keep getting smoked in events, even in sports we invented a few years ago? Can we get a US team together forOlympic Reality TV watching? I think we can sweep that one.

two years and counting...

Today we celebrated our 2nd anniversary. It can't be all baby all the time, right? We celebrated at our very favorite restaurant, the Blue Bottle Cafe in Hopewell (and very best restaurant in NJ according to us) and had a fantastic meal. It is where we first broke the big news to Molly's parents and brother Kevin back in January. Molly made me bring two bottles of wine for dinner. Initially I was worried about all Molly's drinking during the pregnancy...the gin and tonics with breakfast, etc., but she tells me that the prohibition against alcohol during pregnancy is just an old wives tale. She has read alot of baby books so I trust her.

Molly is looking radiant and I count my lucky stars she agreed to marry me two years ago. I've always wanted to take a woman with bigger ankles than mine to dinner. Tonight I lived that dream. Hey Molly, Fred Flintstone called and he wants his feet back.

Inside of one month....

This is our first foray into blogging. I don't think we are that interesting, but we figure this is probably a good way to get pictures out to our friends and family. Frankly, I am already a little bored with what I have typed here. This may not be a good sign...hopefully content will pick up once the baby arrives.

We are still solidly in our nesting phase, which is actually code for "All the home improvements Molly ever wanted done grafted onto the pending arrival of the baby." Basement cleaning? A newborn will be down in the basement at some point doing his/her own laundry (That actually would be worth cleaning the basement)? Gutter cleaning? It's all tied into the arrival of the baby.

The guest room has been relocated to the third floor and we are almost ready to go. I am staining the changing table/dresser this week which sounds like a very dad-like thing to do. Maybe I should start smoking a pipe as well...

Molly has to elevate her feet all the time now which unfortunately limits my food options. Capt'n Crunch dinners here we come!