"I keep writing these little meaningless blogs without much info and I'm sure it's pretty much a waste of everyone's time to read them, but I'm trying to make it a routine. Hopefully in the coming months I will have more interesting things to talk about and maybe even a few pics."

The above posted quote was written by myself a couple of months ago. I will go on record, and apologize to the loyal readers.(All 3 of you) I didn't mean to post such a bold faced lie. So anyway, on to the new post....

It turns out that ole' Burt Carl is actually a Burtrese Carlotta. We found out back in September/November that we will have the privilege of bringing a little girl into the world sometime in late March/April. We found out on a Friday and painted the Nursery on the following Saturday. I will try to dig up some pics to post in just a few minutes. I think we have decided on a name and as it stands now I guess I will start calling Burt Carl by HER real name. We have decided on Campbell Bayleigh. I want an "e" on the the end of Campbell but apparently Kara has a long standing feud with any letter "e" that has the misfortune of being the last letter of any name. So for the sake of my own well being, I am willing to compromise.

We are currently gearing up for Christmas and I think we are actually almost done with our shopping. It been pretty hectic lately. We are in the middle of basketball season so it seems as though we spend 75 percent of our time in a gym. Coaching high school girls almost makes me wish for a boy instead. I don't know if I'm equipped to deal with a pouty, whiny, smart mouthed high school daughter. If Campbell turns out this way she is going to live with some relatives until she gets out of that phase.(Audrey I'm looking at you).

That really sums up the last couple of months. The doctor's visits have gone well. Kara will have her glucose checked in the next one and she's really excited to drink the salty orange drink that is involved in that test. As things pop up I will post them. Although I'm probably not the most reliable poster based on my previous performance. Hopefully I can find some pics of the nursery.

Until the next time,

Bobby

Just a quick update today but I think the past week and a half or so or worth noting. After Kara's bout with the stomach bug, or whatever it was, she has been feeling very good. I think for the most part she has avoided most of the sickness she was experiencing before. **Knock on wood**. It is so much better living with a wife who actually feels and acts like a healthy human being.

We go back to the doctor on Wed. for the 15 week check-up. As usual I will try to update with any new info we get. I don't expect any real big news. We are about 1 month away from finding out the sex of the Burt Carl. I'm really hoping for a boy but will not be disappointed in the least bit if it turns out otherwise.

That about wraps it up,
Bobby

It's been a really long time since I've updated but there hasn't been much going on. I was thinking to myself that it had been a fairly uneventful couple of weeks and I'm fairly certain I jinxed myself big time.

We had our second visit to Dr. Williams and everything looked great. He was able to answer the questions we had and as always was very reassuring. We got another picture of Burt Carl and h/h/i's heart rate was in the normal range as well. He filled us in on all the testing that is available such as the tests that test for the genetic defects. I don't think we are going to do any of those that actually involve the fetus. We will however do the tests that are actually done on us. So overall it was a very good visit.

Friday passed without issue until the late night and Kara started getting sick. She had to get up early the next morning to attend a science kit training in service for the school system. She got up and mentioned not feeling well but went ahead and left. She returned home around 10 o'clock with severe vomiting and sore throat among other things.

She has had 6-8 confirmed H1N1 cases in her classroom alone this year and we both were pretty panicked at this point. We called the on-call doctor to see what we needed to do and she was very helpful. She called in a prescription for some Zofran along with some Tamiflu. Her mom came over and did what only moms are able to do and I think that helped big time. She medded up and rested for most of the day and was feeling a lot better by the evening.

She was even able to take part in our Patrick Swayze'athon that took place last night. It makes me sad that Point Break is actually probably better than Roadhouse but it seems as though it's true. I really dislike Keanu Reeves. Roadhouse is still better than Days of Thunder though. Thankfully she doesn't seem to be running a fever today but she is still not feeling her best but it's still a huge improvement from yesterday. Hopefully we will keep moving forward and she will be able to return to her normal self. I'm not sure I'm going to make it through many more mornings like that. I can't even imagine everything Kara is going through.

Just posting a quick update. Nothing has really changed since the last blog. Kara has had more good days than bad recently it seems. Her bedtime seems to get earlier and earlier by the day. I think when she does manage to stay up "late" it's purely out of spite. She likes to stay awake to enjoy the nights that she feels good. We don't go back to the doctor for another couple of weeks. If nothing comes up between now and then you may not hear much from me. I don't really see any need in putting up pointless posts everyday.

Yesterday was not a good day for Kara. She spent most of the morning vomiting while trying to teach. She wasn't able to hold much of anything down the entire day. She started feeling better in the afternoon but she had her first game of the season at Oakland. This meant she had to endure a bus ride there and back. I think that plus the ride back home took it's toll on her. She pretty much went straight to bed. While in bed she nuzzled up to a trash can until she fell asleep.

She has the typical Jarboe stubbornness and wants to try to wait it out a little longer before she goes in for a prescription for the nausea. Once positive thing is that the Zantac is doing the job on her heartburn. Everyone has told her that the sickness seems to peak during week 8. We are smack dab in the middle of week 8 so hopefully she will start feeling a little better. At this point I'm going to have to beat Burt Carl the moment h/s/i comes into this earth for making her feel so bad...like I'm ever going to be a strict disciplinarian. That will be Kara's job. I will just have to be brought in to scare the crap out of h/h/i. I will take some lessons from Mr. Jarboe and his 2x4's when it comes time for that.

Here's hoping for some improvements in Kara's early pregnancy,
Bobby

You know you are married to a pregnant lady when while riding in the car, November Rain brings a tear to her eyes followed directly by vomiting. Thanks Axl & company. Pregnancy is fun.

OK, I've finally decided to go ahead and do the update that I should have done two days ago. It's been kind of busy around here the last couple of days. Sorry for the delay.

Kara and I went to the doctor on Wednesday morning for our first checkup. We checked in and immediately went to the ultrasound room. The ultrasound process went by very quickly. I would be telling a lie if I said that I wasn't nervous. I was fully expecting to see two Burt Carls but alas there was only one. My nerves were not soothed when I gazed upon the instrument they used to get the images. Once again it made me very happy that men do not actually carry the baby. Poor, poor Kara. We were however serenaded with plenty of slow jams brought to us by the fine folks at 101.1 The Beat Jams...Of all the musical selections I envisioned being played while the ultrasound was taking place Jay Z was not one of them. At least it wasn't Ja Rule.

So without further ado, here are the pics that prove there is a Burt Carl...


I think h/s/i looks like me....

After the ultrasound we waited on our Doctor for what seemed like an eternity. He had apparenlty just started a C-section right as we finished up the ultrasound. So far I've been very impressed with him. He is a bit of a spaz but you can tell he cares about his patients and wants the best for each one of them. He has me fooled anyway. We discussed Kara's heartburn issues along with the morning sickness. He gave her several options to try for each and said if neither had improved by our next visit that he would prescribe something. Hopefully this will make our lives a little easier.

After the doctor visit we met with Uncle Mac and went to Chef Wangs for lunch. This was not a very wise choice. Kara had the bowl of soup she had been craving along with about a spoon full of actual Chinese food. She did however eat plenty of pudding, cheese cake, and grapes. She spent the rest of the afternoon/evening sick and laid out on the couch. Not quite the ending we had hoped for.

Kara did feel better today. I'm beginning to think she is becoming dairy intolerant. He stomach misfortunes seem to revolve around dairy products. I don't think she is buying that explanation but I'm convinced. Our next visit is scheduled for Sept. 16th. By that time ole' Burt Carl should have an audible heartbeat.

Until Then...
Bobby

So I discovered that the smell of my deodorant burns Kara's esophagus. I was told to quit caking it on. Apparently starting tomorrow I'm supposed to ration deodorant like we are in some world war that has halted all deodorant manufacturing. Sorry Axe body smell company. I know times are tough and profits are down but I have no choice. So everyone but Kara might want to avoid me on warmish to hot days and also in the afternoons. I think pregnancy is going to be really fun.

This morning the little toxic bean known as Burt Carl was a jumpin' in his current home. It marked the first time I've actually been around Kara while she's felt that bad. She seemed to rebound pretty quickly. When I dropped her off at E-ville she at least put on a brave face and pretended she felt better.

Today will be the first real marathon day of the school year for her. She had a teacher workday and then she has a scrimmage in Summertown. I hope for her team's sake she is feeling better. I will be interested in how she feels once everything is over.

Her dinner last night consisted of Strawberry pop-tarts, a slim jim, pork tenderloin, green beans, and macaroni. She almost had a can of Spaghetti-O's for dessert. I can't tell if that's pregnancy cravings or just a Jarboe doing their thing.

I have yet to have any real sympathy sickness, fatigue, or cravings. I feel pretty good about that. I am however starting to get a gut feeling that there could be two toxic beans rolling around in her stomach. It's probably just everyone hyping twins up but it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit. I think twins would be very challenging. It would definitely be a more complicated pregnancy as well as double the work once they hatch. The more I think about it though, the more I think it could be pretty cool. I am still very far from hoping for twins but I don't dread the thought of it either.

It would be awesome to have two dominate athletes of each sex that were the same age. My luck though the female will be a dominate power lifter who looks like her father and the male will be a rhythmic gymnast that looks and is built like his father. But I keep telling myself that there are many things far worse then that. I really just hope for a healthy spawn whether it be one or two.

Reporting on Location,
Bobby

Screwing with templates. Disregard any weirdness you might stumble upon during the process.


Much, Much, Much later....

After much tweaking I think I've come up with a design I like. It were an actual representaion of my desk it would have countless empty water bottles, empty cereal bowls, and other random garbage. But this is "internet make believe land" so it stays. I think I've decided to go ahead and share the blog with everyone. I'm going to take it's private status off in just a few moments. So Rachel if you would like to link it in the Jarboe Family blog you are welcome to.

Ellis, thanks for the music suggestions. I made sure I had most of your suggestions available, which I do. If you happen to pick up that Monsters of Folk album any time soon or on the release date it would be awesome if I could obtain a copy of you. If I find it before then you will be the first to know. The same goes for the new Flaming Lips album.

Nothing new in the realm of Burt Carl. Our first appointment is Aug. 19 so I doubt there will be much new info on that front until then. Kara seems to be handling everything without much of a problem. I don't think she has experienced any severe sickness **knock on wood*. She does seem quite fatigued by the time I see her near the end of the day but I guess that's to be expected.

I keep writing these little meaningless blogs without much info and I'm sure it's pretty much a waste of everyone's time to read them, but I'm trying to make it a routine. Hopefully in the coming months I will have more interesting things to talk about and maybe even a few pics.

That is all.

OK, so it's now Tuesday. Not a lot has changed since the last post, but there are a couple things I wanted to address.

First off, I will not condone or respond to any notion of a Buck Leathers of the 25th century blog. I figure one blog space is enough and I beat you to the punch. So eat it Jean. Although if you did you could star date every post like Kirk and Picard. Secondly, I've been rastlin' with myself on the decision to keep the blog private. I'm not sure what the content will evolve into. As things occur and I document them I will make a decision then. I'm not sure I want any parents or "grown ups" stumbling across something that will cause my sparkling reputation to taint. Heh....taint.

In the realm of Kara, not a whole lot has changed. It's only been like a week now. She has had a couple of moments of nausea but no actual vomit. She says her hair is softer. She seems to be very hungry and very tired at most times of the day. I will give you a quick menu sample of what she is eating. I will use this morning's breakfast as an example. Apparently she was in the mood for eggs with tomatoes and onions in them. We had the eggs but that was all. That particular craving suddenly turned into eggs with marinara sauce....yuck. Spaghetti suace eggs were accompanied by toasted hamburger buns with jelly. I hope we are able to keep a pantry and fridge stocked better once Burt Carl gets here. H/S/I is gonna' be an eater.

About the only other things that I can think of that are worth noting is the research we've done. Sweet Jesus car seats are expensive. We are trying to decide between an initial infant seat, carry thingie or a convertible all in one seat. Any input is welcome but I can't promise we will listen. Again this is probably premature but I sit at the computer a lot so I might as well try to figure out which seat isn't a death trap. It's much easier to buy electronics and computer hardware. I need a Newegg.com for babies.

We also went to the bookstore so Kara could pick up a journal and a baby name book. I'm insulted that she is totally disregarding Burt Carl as a serious name option. Steph bought her a book that's called What to Expect when Expecting, or something of that nature. She also gave her other reference type books to go along with that. I bought the Slash book

http://www.amazon.com/Slash/dp/0061351431/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249405268&sr=8-1

Ok maybe I'm dumb but it pisses me off that links apparently don't work in the blog post. That's stupid. I wish I could have lived in Hollywood and LA in the late eighties...minus the heroin addictions. Axl really needs to write a book. I figured reading from Slash's point of view would change my opinion of Axl but so far it hasn't. I love that dude.

Burt Carl Axl Rose Leathers has a good ring to it. I would probably settle for William Leighton as a boy's name though. I think Will Leathers isn't too awful bad. Burtrese is the only girl's name as far as I'm concerned.

To finish this uninteresting blog post up I will pose a question/poll for the many(5) readers. I've been thinking about what music I should send through headphones to penetrate the womb(That's probably a bad word choice but it's staying). Burt Carl is not going to grow up on crappy music or any sissy Matchbox Twenty(Steph I'm looking at you) or Train (Kara the stare is now yours). I associate music with many events in my life so I figure the pregnancy needs a soundtrack. Suggest away.

I'm currently listening to the new Portugal. The Man album it's very good but I'm not sure if it will last. Nothing else notable has caught my ear as of late. Come on Ellis I know you have some new goodies stashed away somewhere. I promise I will give the Grizzly Bear cd back to you soon.

Signing off

I suppose most of these postings will be from me (Bobby). I figure it might be interesting for people to hear from the male viewpoint on a pregnancy blog for a change. And by people, I mean the few privileged people I invite to view this.

At this point we've known for less than a week and I fear/hope that we haven't jumped the gun in the rising hope department. It was very hard to to contain the initial excitement we experienced after the 7-8 month wait. We thought about not telling anyone immediately. We figured it would be good to make it past the certain point in weeks where it becomes more certain. This lasted for about 5 seconds. By now I think every citizen of the huge town of Eagleville knows as well as each and every member of our families. At least the ones we like.

In my mind the child/single cell already has a name. I will refer to him/her/it(My hopes of what the sex will be in that order) as Burt Carl in all my posts. I will not tolerate anyone calling Burt Carl by any other name, especially Buck. I'm looking at you Jean. H/S/I (he/she/it) will not answer to Burt or to Carl alone. It will be Burt Carl. If at a later date we find out it is in fact a she I may accept Burtrese Carl instead, but probably not.

And that concludes the formal introduction part of this post. The tl;dr(to long;didn't read) version is as follows...

H/S/I's name is Burt Carl and a don't you forget it.

9 months seems like an eternity. Everyone keeps telling us that it will fly by but at this point I don't think I believe it. I'm an instant gratification type of guy and this whole human 9 month gestation period seems ridiculous. What ever happened to evolution. But...if it isn't broken don't fix it.

Burt Carl is destined to be a child of epic proportions. I figure at least 30 inches long and 15 pounds at birth. Poor, poor Kara. I just hope and pray that Burt Carl will take after it's mother if h/s/i turns out to be female. Kara keeps wishing the Devil's curly hair upon Burt Carl but I secretly hope for the straightest hair ever seen.

I've never been a very optimistic person. I've always thought, "If you expect the worst, you won't be disappointed." I realize that 48 hours of labor and a 30 pound newborn are far from the worst things that could happen. I have just decided that's going to be the extent of my worst case scenario. I will continuously pray for the health of Kara and little Burt Carl. I figure if I expect 48 hours of labor 12-16 won't be as bad. I know, easy for the man to say.

Hopefully when it's all said and done Kara will still be able to tolerate me. God knows I will probably have my short comings during the pregnancy and after the birth. Hopefully they will be things that I'm able to correct. Kara can be scary when she's angry. Poor, poor Bobby.

I will wrap it up here until the next bit of interesting news comes about.

P.P.S Stephanie get off my back for grammar mistakes.

Your typical preggo blog.