New York Visit

Holiday visit to NYC. We had fun and had a chance to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.

Rocco definitely knows he has a baby brother on the way - he likes to cuddle up to mom and rest his head on my belly. Baby is becoming very familiar with the sound of bulldog snoring!

Bathroom Renovation: Day 24

Happy Feet and Sonogram Profile at 18 weeks

Bathroom Renovation: Phase 1 (Shower)

Finally the bathroom renovation is underway. This is pretty fun. 

A beautiful fall day, perfect for pumpkin picking....

Rocco wanted to be a frog prince for Halloween - wouldn't you want to get a kiss from this mug?

Rocco.

Nicole thinks we're neglecting Rocco. So we decided to dedicate a quick post to the Italian Stallion.

We were watching the debate the other night and Rocco was very focussed on John McCain's response about working class families. Rocco saw/sniffed right through the Joe the Plumber guy and thinks he's a McCain plant. He's not even a licensed plumber.

We finally had the chanced to capture Rocco's superdog ability of curling his toungue. He does it whenever he's bored or anticipating a treat. I think its part of his dog hypnotism to get his way.

Baby Update - October 6

The sonogram technician viewed about 20 different angles of the baby for us. We saw the spine, fingers, arms, legs and hands. Some views gave us a side profile, front facing image and a top view. The machine was so fantastic that we were even able to switch intensity and view the right and left hemisphere of the brain.

Most notable was the bridge of the nose. According to many studies and hospital material, two early indicators of Down Syndrome are a lack of definition in the bridge of the nose and a thickened neck.

This sonogram was mainly to view the bridge of the nose - if possible, measure the nape of the neck.

According to the technician, the baby has a phenomenal nose. This isn't the first time Tony has heard that. So from a layman's perspective, the nose looks good and the other measurement of the back of the neck will be examined by a doctor.

The four pictures attached are from October 6th, 2008. At this stage, Nicole has just finished her 12th week of pregnancy. According to the length of the baby, he/she is a little bigger, measuring 13 weeks and 5 days.

Bathrooms (Home Construction)

We have a pretty large task in store for us. The previous homeowners did an incredible job of turning real simple do-it yourself projects into wreckless patch-jobs.

We plan on renovating our current full bathroom and adding another smaller bathroom for the purpose of adding value and giving Tony someplace to get ready for work as I hog the main bathroom.

The current bathroom situation is a disaster. Poor ventilation, humidity clings to the walls and the bathtub has an inch of water that does not drain but is under the bathfitter. The previous owners put a bath covering over the old tub and now water seeps in between the tub and the covering. It's like showering while standing on a water bed.

We're going to go to Home Depot with our measurements and see if we can create a nice clean feel in each room.

The Bucket List

As an Anniversary present, Nicole purchased a flight lesson for me at Fitchburg Regional Airport. 

This was very exciting to me and because danger is my middle name it served as an opportunity to cross another item off of the bucket list. I can assure you that I bent over and kissed the ground upon my terrifying and turbulent descent to the ground.

Prior to this lesson, I had high hopes of taking flight lessons on a quest to receive my private pilots license. The plane (Cessna 172), weighed about 900 lbs and you could tell. It took about 3 seconds from leaving the runway to experience the sort of turbulence that can hang a plane in a tree. Very scary!!! Once we got to 3,000 feet above sea-level, I reluctantly took over the planes controls and practiced 45 degree bank turns over Route 2.

???

I wonder what she's smiling about?