April 4, 2006 Walter Dylan Burke was born by Caesarian section. He was 7 lbs. 11 oz.- a good healthy weight. Walter, the former "Peanut," now has to be named "Walnut." It has taken forever and many sleepless nights to get this blog updated. Its still really hard after nearly 4 weeks to believe that he is here at last.

M and I had another sonogram this past Wednesday. Everything and everyone is doing well. The baby is growing fast. The baby's estimated weight is at 2 lbs. and 13 oz. Almost three pounds and still 11 weeks to go! The pics are starting to show more and more detail. We can now see the baby's face and chubby cheeks better and hands and feet with toes and fingers. Our first little Mainer!

More sonogram pics. The baby is growing fast- 13 oz., up from 9 oz. a few weeks ago. Heartrate 144 bpm and still kicking up a storm.

Our first Thanksgiving in Maine and M and I spent the day together. A quiet rainy/snowy one. The baby's first Thanksgiving, though he/she doesn't quite know about it. The tryptophan has probably caught up with baby as it has me.

The turkey after.
The mincemeat pie after. A good time was had by all five of us...

...though maybe the boys had too much to drink...

We even had some snow yesterday afternoon. The snow continued into this early afternoon, but by now (4.30pm), its mainly rain and the snow has been washed away.

Another day, another week, another sonogram. M and I had a third sonogram this past Friday. The baby was at 19 weeks, 1 day. Everything was as should be with the baby. Baby now weighs 9 ounces and measures somewhere between 7 and a half and 8 inches long. During the first sonogram, the baby could have fit in the palm of my hand at just 3 inches long. Don't they grow up quickly? The tech showed us the little kidneys, long legs and long toes and the little heart beating furiously along at 154 bpm. Through most of the sonogram, the baby hid its face with its hands held in front of its face... camera shy, I guess, wonder where that came from?
And once again, the cats are willing participants in my attempts to learn baby related skills like swaddling.

Attention, the nor'easter has left the building... Some pictures this late afternoon from the end of our little street that dead ends at the jetport.


























Apparently there was a little house here at one time. You can still see the foundation and white picket fence. Surrounding the property and the jetport are miles of cat tails and fields before you cross the Fore River and jump over to Portland.

This was the sonogram that we were presented with on Sept. 28, 2005. I had meant to put this up sooner, but got carried away with emailing it (unsuccessfully, I think, judging by the lack of response and by the fact that my friend, Byron told me that it simply didn't exist in the email as an attchment...) and forgot. But here, Baby Walter or Charlotte is in their first pictures at 12 weeks, 6 days and about three inches long, heart beating about 161 bpm.

So, M and I spent part of our shared day off starting the arduous task of beginning the search for and the shared approval on baby things. Not too hard, the crib was the easiest thing to pick out, but the search for the perfect baby stroller is going to be fraught with many perils.



All of this hunting for and talking about baby related things led to the cats getting diapered, of course.
M asked me if I knew how to diaper a baby. Of course, I said and she wanted me to prove it.

Our cats are just so incredibly patient with our shenanigans.

But of course, diapering the cats wasn't as satisfying as when we had put them in an old jock strap before we moved.



But then the diaper served other comic purposes.

The fog had rolled in unexpectedly today. I was leaving the downtown area on Commercial St. (more waterfront and tourbus area...) and heading towards the Prom when I could see the fog enveloping the uphill area of the prom. As I got there it was a completely different scene from the warmish early fall day that I began with.

Some photos from today on the eastern Promenade overlooking the bay as the fog rolled in. Everything had that ominous end of the world feel as people gathered around and tried to see the distant tugs and tankers through binoculars.



There is alot of history here... guns from the U.S.S. Maine of yellow journalism fame and memorials to the WW2 vets from a later U.S.S. Maine.