Fatherhood, Ready or Not, Here It Comes!!!

On a daily basis, I check in and see how many hits I've gotten. It always either motivates or discourages me to put up a blog post. I've no idea how I get more hits today than yesterday, when I haven't put up a new post in several days. Interesting.

My house has been like Santa's workshop the past few days. On Sunday, Squirrel's best friend put on a baby shower for her. It was insane. I dropped her off at noon. I don't know what Brandy spent on that shower...but it was a lot. It was amazing. At the time there were about 20 girls there. I returned to get her, and the car load (not a square inch in my 4Runner to spare) of gifts...and there were still about 20 girls there, half of them different from the first. I think close to 50 girls attended.

They all helped me load the car...and then unload, as a bunch of them came over to the house and play cards. Girls are funny. As I sat there on the couch waiting for things to wrap up, I just observed. At no time were there fewer than ten girls all talking at the same time. Most of the time more. Do they listen to each other? Or are they just talking to talk? I kept thinking of those birds at the beach...'mey mey mey!!! Mey mey mey!!!"  Know the ones?

One thing about girls though...they sure are sweet to each other when they are friends. Oh...when they aren't? Yeah, they are nastier than the cruelest of dictators. But when they are tight? Wow. You don't EVER see guys put on parties like this. Don't see guys come over and spend 6 hours (Melissa Parker) putting together a dresser. Or even more sorting all the gifts, then painting pictures and walls for the nursery. (Claudia Crawford) My sister and her friend came down in early February with her two boys to paint the whole room, and move all the furniture around so it would accommodate Carley in her own room. I think Carley now has an outfit for every one of her first 550 days on Earth.

Here's a few pictures of 'The Nearly Finished Product'...as the girls have just left the house. The only thing missing, is the incredible pink chandelier that Claudia bought...which an electrician will be required to hook up. For those of you here for poker updates...sorry...I know you are probably just whizzing right by this post, and that's fine, I understand. But I also know there are a lot of you that are interested...that or you have done an incredible job of faking it the past 6 months!!!

As wide angle as our cameras were capable of. Claudia did that whole tree in the corner, as well as all the paintings, and assembling of the crib.

Carley's crib...and the dresser they spent HOURS putting together tonight. See the Monkey and Squirrel on the wall? Claudia painted those. Pretty cool!

Carley's changing table, hamper, and a world of necessities down below, and three separate bags to haul her stuff around with, with her name on them. No changing her name NOW!

That used to be my closet. I've been encouraged to find people to give away my clothes to.

The cute girly curtain went up today. The rocking chair was a gift from Uncle Scott and Aunt Bridgett.

Another one of Claudia's paintings. Looks much better in person. Claudia is really a gifted painter, and has already given us several works. Yes, she signed them 'Claw'

'Claw' has created a sparkly Squirrel...so Baby Carley knows who her Momma is!

Couldn't have a Squirrel and not a Monkey. Actually kind of looks like me, no?

Really a neat framed picture that Brandy put together...Carley from her 20-week old 4D ultrasound. Pretty amazing. We've determined she has her Mother's nose and hair...and my lips and chin.

Of course Claudia painted this as well! Theoretically, Carley attended her very first 'Bama game, albeit in Squirrel's belly, on January 9th...so this will serve as Carley's Bama game memory trunk.

Jasper, fresh off a shaving and a bath...taking it all in, wondering what in the hell is going on in that back room that used to be his place to go hide!

A couple nights ago, at the Beau Rivage, Jessica Barratt Hazer (recently married to Doug Hazer) hit the bad beat jackpot for a hefty score. Also getting a table share was Doug. Nice! Run good much!?? Well, Cheryl came home from work two nights ago, and told me Jesse get up from her table...walked over to her, asked for a bottle of water, and handed her a ridiculously generous tip, which really caught Cheryl off guard. Jessica said something really nice, that I always took care of her when I played tourneys there. Well, I did, but not to the extent that she 'took care' of Squirrel. That really warmed my heart when she told me that.

I have a guy who plays in my pools, who lives in Atlanta...and he took it upon himself to find where we were registered, and had a baby diaper champ sent to us. Another really nice act of kindness. And all the really encouraging emails, Facebook messages and text messages from people just have me super excited for her to get here. When they were all done with that room, I just sat in the rocking chair...taking it all in...imagining my life in 7-8 weeks, when there will be a tiny life that we created together laying in that crib. It's kind of awe-inspiring. Granted, I know her Mom is coming down, my Mom is coming down...sure all of her other family and friends will be in and out of here like the viewing wake for Michael Jackson...so there is a good chance I might not get one second of quality time with my new daughter until sometime this summer!

Tomorrow morning we go in for a 'do-over' on our 4-dimension Ultrasound...I guess the doctor felt like the first one wasn't that great. I thought it was great. But hey...at $300+ to get those, I am more than happy to get a free do-over! On Friday I go in for my blood work, to see if this new brand of cholesterol has been doing the trick over the last 5 months. If it has, I will be able to get a better life insurance policy. During my appearance at the Baby Shower, a few of the girls told me they could tell I had lost weight. That felt really nice. Been trying to keep up the good work, but damn...its hard when Squirrel brings home pizza and boneless wings from Pizza Hut to feed her friends.

I guess that's about all I have on the whole 'baby front' for today. I got a few poker-related things to talk about...probably write another one right after this one and just sit on it for a day or two. Stay tuned...and thanks for continuing to check in on my ever-changing life!!

MONKEY