Baby Stuff

We got the bedding for the crib this week and promptly washed it and took some time last night to put everything together. Click on the following for some pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/seanpatrickthompson/CribBedding

or

Crib & Bedding

Oh...I almost forgot. We also got Devlin's first Halloween costume. Pic is included in that same album..... :)

Big Brother 10

As mentioned in my beautiful counterpart's own blog, we do enjoy - on occasion - a guilty pleasure of a few reality shows here and there. One we have watched pretty much every season is CBS' Big Brother. I have learned to give the show several episodes to allow myself some time to become somewhat invested in the participants, especially since most are incredibly annoying and deserving of nothing more than a few swift kicks to the head each. This season......that approach is not working. I hate everybody on the show.

Let's examine this season's contestants. We have Angie, a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative from Orlando, Florida, seemingly a very serious player, cute, with the potential to be very hot, but stupid enough to already have a habit of aligning herself with the wrong people; April, a Financial Manager from Higley, AZ, whose claim to fame, this far, is in having everyone feel her "all natural" boobs in the first episode; Brian, a Telecommunication Account Manager (i.e. cell phone salesman) from S.F., CA, who isn't really relevant anymore since he has had the distinction of being the first one voted out; Memphis (real name? who knows.....), a Mixologist (we call those bartenders out here, dumbass.....) from L.A., CA (which explains his pretentiousness of referring to himself as a "mixologist" as opposed to a "bartender"); Libra (yeah.....that is supposedly HER real name, too), a HR Rep from Spring, TX, who is actually in the running (in my book, at least) for the most annoying house guest as she left her husband and mom to not only take care of their 4-year old little girl, but also the 4-month old twin girls they have together.....can we say selfish? There is also Michelle, a Real Estate Agent from Cumberland, RI, who exemplifies everything I hate about stereotypical East Coast women (not bad to look at, but as soon as she opens her mouth I want to punch puppies.....); Ollie, a Marketing Sales Representative from Bloomington, MN, who wasted no time falling into the stereotype laid upon most black men by hooking up with blond/blue-eyed April (her with the all natural boobs), although he claims to be a "good boy" who doesn't drink or curse.....yeah, we'll see how long THAT bullshit lasts.....; one interesting turn is the inclusion of what I like to refer to as the "gray contingent", Jerry and Renny. Jerry is a 75-year old retired Marketing Executive who is also a former Marine and Renny is Beauty Salon Owner. Now, Renny is only 53, so she certainly isn't ancient on the same level Jerry is in comparison to all of the young flesh running around. But I found it rather interesting that she is a beauty salon owner.....who wears a wig. Jerry is pretty cool, overall, but you can almost feel the girls biding their time until he is voted out (which will probably happen soon) so they can cavort in their bikinis and tease the boys on the show as they attempt to manipulate them throughout the course of the game (it happens every season, trust me). Also, Jerry has the incredible misfortune of reminding Amy and I of one of Howard Stern's Wack Pack members, Gary the Retard; if you watch and know, you will understand. We also have Steven, whom I am referring to as "Token" from now on, since he is the lone gay man on the show. And yes, he has already cried; several times. He is a Rodeo Competitor from Dallas, TX. Yeah. I'm going to let THAT one just cruise on by without a snide remark......

Dan is a 24-year old Catholic School Teacher; can't wait to see HIS reactions to the bikinis and potential hormone-inspired hijinks just waiting to pounce into the house. Keesha is a Waitress at Hooters (hey Nate, she works at the one in Burbank; ever tip her?). She is actually quite hot - as one can imagine - and not an altogether annoying speaker.....but as last night's episode showed, says too much, too soon, setting the stage for her own demise. And I ave chosen to leave the best for last: Jessie is a 22-year old professional body builder from Huntington Beach, CA, who would be entertaining to watch if it were not so painful. This complete retard somehow wrangled his way onto the cast and I can only hope that the producers saw his potential for utter and complete disaster and gleefully approved him for the ratings. Imagine each and every stereotype of a "body builder" you have ever heard about; that's Jessie, all rolled into one completely vacuous, self-absorbed, narcissistic, uneducated, unworldly package. He has few language skills, constantly fucking up the English language on a truly horrendous level daily, but thinks his wins over the other house guests at chess make him a better and more intelligent person over them. At one point, during a "diary room" segment, when he was done, he actually stood directly in front of the stationary camera, got his bicep as close to the lens as possible, grunted like a Neanderthal, and said something to the effect of, "I bet you couldn't even get all of THAT on camera, all 18 inches, baby!" Funny, and yet supremely nauseating as a complete and shiny testament to his own sense of self worth. From a purely layman's viewpoint: This kid has got some ISSUES to work out.

And yet I watch. I even TiVo it. But last night, I think I came to the decision that this is surely the worst season ever. I care nothing about any of these people and am really just waiting to see the Hooters chick in a bikini. Does that make for good TV? I guess in America, it does. What's WRONG with me?

The Line Between The Devil's Teeth

I am actually a little surprised that no one has commented on my choice of title for this blog. I guess those few who read either a) already know where it comes from or b) don't really give a shit. But in an effort to clarify, it comes from one of my favorite Peter Murphy (also on Wikipedia.com here) songs, The Line Between The Devil's Teeth (and That Which Cannot Be Repeat), which - besides being a very cool song - I think is a really great free-flow poem. Decide for yourself:

A white light blazing deep
Through the wasteland searching we
Soaring birds now hunt the brow
As thirsty gripped with hunger now
Clear sighted painful ends to win
The battle of the me so wafer thin
The line between the devil's teeth
And that which cannot be repeat

Push me in take me t'ward
The subject in the subject taught
A war without a war within
Join head and heart for to begin
Bemused we flinch no easy work
For invited me are loath to shirk
The line between the devil's teeth
And that which cannot be repeat

War
Work
War
Work
War
Work

Hey man, how will you feel
When all you have and all you own
Is your only true friend
When above you in the firmament
Flow the blood of the prophets
Out of your reach
From your aching speech

If you have never heard the song before, click here to check it out.

Countdown. Sort Of.

On Sunday, July 20th, we hit the 30-day mark. If Devlin bakes until his expected due date of August 20th, we are counting down from the 30-days now. Of course, Amy (as well as myself) are hoping he decides to pop out early, but we shall see. Currently, Amy is in her 36th official week of pregnancy (well, as of tomorrow, at least). A baby can be considered "full-term" if they arrive anytime between 37 weeks and 42 weeks (most doctors base their estimate on a 40-week pregnancy, which is why we always hear "weeks" instead of "months", really). On Friday we had one of our regular check-up visits and found out that Little D is "in position" (i.e. head down toward the birth canal with a very very slim chance he will move from that position, as Amy and her kicks to her ribs can attest to.....). Also found out that Amy's tests for Group B strep came back as "negative", which is very cool because it means she won't have to have any meds or antibiotics administered during delivery to protect Little D (check out info here if you are curious about this). So, over all, thus far, this has been a pretty uneventful pregnancy, no morning sickness, no real discomfort except perhaps some minor aches and pains and a wee bit of normal fatigue (mainly in the first trimester and now in the final trimester). We have converted a good portion of our bedroom to accomodate the space we will need for Devlin (thankfully our bedroom is about the size of a studio apartment, so that works out well; will take some pictures tonight or this week to give everyone more of an idea). All in all.....everything has been very cool.

Work is work, getting progressively busier as we slowly but surely grind our way toward the fourth quarter. Obviously I plan on taking some days off immediately following Little D's arrival, but my bigger time frame off will come in October (I will have at leas three full weeks of paid time off available and will try to arrange to work from home the other days if I can.....). We have CrueFest coming up on the 6th and I think we are both alternately between keeping our fingers crossed Devlin will wait until AFTER that date and actually sort of wondering and slightly hoping that he might arrive on that day (think of how cool a story THAT would be....."Yeah, your mom went into labor at a Motley Crue show while she was rocking out to Buckcherry.....").

Here's some amusing pictures for ya. I laid out all of the cool onesies we have purchased on our own or received from friends who know our style and took some shots. Devlin s gonna look so cool in these:



I just get a kick out of these, even though he won't be able to wear most of them for a little bit. Maybe we should see if they have something like a onesie when we are at CrueFest.....

Be sure to check out Amy's blog by going here.

See ya ~

A House Full of Screaming Girls.....

.....and not in the way you might be thinking!

This weekend we celebrated my daughter Sloan's 13th birthday. Her actual birthday was earlier in the month, but during the week, and since we also had to share the closest weekend with her mom, we decided to wait until this last weekend to do anything. We had bounced around ideas of miniature golf and other party ideas, but in the end she decided to have a day of BBQing at home. Squirt guns, BBQ, drinks, billiards, Guitar Hero contests.....and then most of the girls also stayed the night and were treated to Amy making everyone pancakes the next morning. Our friends Scott and Renee as well as Josh came over to entertain me and Amy while the girls took over the neighborhood.

Sunday was a nice lazy day that involved pretty much doing nothing. Lots of nap time!

Anyway, pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/seanpatrickthompson/SloanS13thBirthdayPictures