Spain Dad, a baby blog

April and I decided yesterday that we are still going to pick a boy name even though we’re 110% sure we’re having a girl. (Yes, we are enjoying being overconfident and presumptuous.) It’s not so much that we want to have a back-up name as much as every kid deserves to know what his or [...]

We’re happy to announce that so far our parental instincts have been working well! We discovered at the doctor today that we are for most probable certainty having a baby girl! Both of us have been thinking it was a girl since the beginning and it was nice to be confirmed in that. So we [...]

Today I remembered this poem about pregnancy by Sylvia Plath. Dave Schelhaas introduced the poem to me in one of my Lit. classes at Dordt College. You can read “Metaphors” here.

I subscribe to The Sun Magazine, and I read an essay called “Ways to Show Affection” in the latest issue (May 2006). You can read an excerpt from the essay here, or if you live in the U.S., you can buy your own copy at your local bookstore. The essay is by a woman named [...]

I squeezed the right brake handle, and my wobbly rear wheel came to a stop. No, I wasn’t braking for the stoplight on my way to Spanish classes. I was on my knees in the kitchen with my Gary Fischer mountain bike resting up side down on the floor. For weeks I had been pedaling [...]

Tonight Barcelona won the European Champion’s League in soccer/football. We were watching the game on TV with our friends Andy and Sharla, and as soon as the game was over, we all started hooting and hollering (including fireworks, car horns, and people chanting from our open living room window). “The baby’s moving!” April said, laughing. [...]

My mom has super powers. Most moms do, I’m convinced. I can’t tell you how many times I came over for dinner, sat down at the kitchen table to talk with my mom, and in a matter of maybe fifteen minutes she had a four-course meal ready and waiting. My dad is the one who [...]

Congratulations to our friends Matt & Chloe in Minneapolis who are pregnant. They just went public on their blog with their news. They were smart. They answered all the important questions right on their first post. Due date: November 26th Boy/Girl: No, they don’t want to know during the pregnancy. Names: No, they won’t tell [...]

A plate of warm pasta. The elegance of extra-virgin olive oil. The vitality of basil. The adventure of garlic. The nuance of pine nuts. And oh, bittersweet parmesan sprinkled on top—not too much, not too little, just the perfect amount. This is pesto. Who said women were the only ones who have cravings during pregnancy? [...]

…April said while we were sitting on our beach towels, warm as dinner rolls, watching the waves come in. “You know how sometimes you can feel your heartbeat in different parts of your body,” April said. “It felt like that, only in my stomach, and not as consistent as a heartbeat.” The pregnancy book we’re [...]