Baby Furniture & Stromboli - weekend of June 16th

We have been prepping for the baby, which includes Katie doing some of the typical "nesting" while Charlie put together some of the baby furniture we picked up over Memorial Day.  Charlie put together the majority of it downstairs so he could watch the the US Open (golf).  After going to the tournament last year in Washington DC, we just watched the Open on TV this year, so maybe he just missed watching some golf.  It must have been a bit distracting, because at one point he put the wrong screws into the back of the combination changing table / dresser.  But ultimately, it got completed and now sits upstairs.

Griffey was not too sure about this whole endeavor.  He got even a bit more nervous when the furniture made its way upstairs, encroaching his "sun room".

To celebrate, we made a drive down to New Brunswick, NJ - the home of Rutgers University.  One of our favorite show's is called Man vs. Food, which we've talked about before on this blog.  Aside from finding some of the craziest eating challenges, the host finds our kind of restaurants - he finds all different kinds of chow-down joints.  The New Brunswick episode caught our eye since it was so close, particularly a restaurant called...

Stuff Yer Face has a huge menu, with sandwiches and some really good appetizers (of course Charlie tried the wings).  But it's best known for stromboli, and it has the largest stromboli menu I've ever seen. With around 30 different stuffings, a bunch of cheeses and 3 different sizes, there are over 1 billion combinations!  Plus they have over 100 beers from around the world including Banana Bread beer, which Charlie had a couple of.  Needless to say, pregnant Katie was the designated driver :)

Paying $200 to skip the Belmont

After our family (including the dog) vacation in the Catskills, we didn't do a whole lot in the middle of June.  We had a funny story from the weekend after that vacation, though.  We went to the Belmont with some friends last year, to see the 3rd leg of racing's Triple Crown on a rainy Saturday in June.  Well, we weren't planning on going this year; with Katie being pregnant, the hour-plus drive on top of a sport that doesn't lend itself to sitting down - just didn't seem quite worth it.  Well, that changed when "I'll have Another" shocked the world to come from behind in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.  

It seemed like a lock to see the first Triple Crown winner of our lifetime (it has been 34 years).  So I bought two tickets on stubhub, and we were planning on going.  But then we heard the bad news the day before the race - I'll Have Another was hurt and wasn't going to run.  We sold the tickets for a fairly decent discount (Dad - can we write that "loss" off?).  Instead, we went up to our friends' house (Holtmeier's).  From there, Brian and I could bet at a nearby establishment, Katie could get a little more rest than she would have had at the horse track, and Griffey could practice being used to Brian & Adrienne's baby Charlotte :)

Celebrating our anniversary a little early in the Catskills - early June, 2012

Charlie told Katie back in April that he had a good idea to celebrate our Anniversary this year but said he was going to keep it a surprise and that we should celebrate a few weeks earlier than our actual anniversary so that Katie is not too uncomfortable later in her pregnancy.  Charlie planned everything for the weekend of June 2nd and told Katie that we were going on a weekend getaway and to buy a maternity bathing suit and that we will be able to bring the dog.  Katie was intrigued but didn't ask too many questions.

We left work early on Friday June 1st and once we got in the car, Charlie told Katie that we were going to a Resort and Spa that he found in the Catskill Mountains (only about an hour and half drive from our place).  We arrived at the Emerson Resort and Spa alittle bit before dinner and explored the grounds.

There was a nice pool and even a fenced in dog park (hence the reason why we brought the dog).  Of course the dog park was a big hit with Griffey and he even met 3 other dogs that were vacationing there.  The resort has a lodge type feel and our room actually looked like a log cabin, which was really cozy.

Another part of the surprise was that Charlie had booked a pre-natal massage for Katie for Saturday morning (he scored major brownie points for this ).  We went to one of the two restaurants for dinner which was a nice restaurant with views of the creek/mountains in the background.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast in the other restaurant on the resort's grounds which was very delicious and afterwords Katie headed to her massage appointment and Charlie went for a run at the nearby Ashokan Reservoir.  Katie was really thankful for the massage which really helped with some of her pregnancy aches and helped her relax.  Below are some of the pictures from Charlie's run.

Afterwords for lunch we drove into the town of Woodstock, which was only 10 minutes from the resort.  After doing some google searches, we learned that the famous Woodstock music festival was named for this town, but wasn't actually held in Woodstock.  It was held in Bethel, NY about 40 miles away.  Woodstock was a town where Bob Dylan lived, and it had a good name for the event.  The town of Woodstock was still a mecca for artists and musicians.  The town is really cute with lots of local shops some living up to the hippie stereo-type more than others.  We grabbed lunch at the Landau Bar and Grill and found a cute candle shop in which we bought several locally made candles.

After tiring ourselves out in Woodstock, we headed back to the room where Griffey was waiting for us and to go to the dog park.  For Saturday evening, we drove the other way to the town of Phoenicia, New York and found a local pizza place (Pizzeria Brio).

Sunday we hit the dog park one last time and then headed back to Jersey.  Charlie did such a great job at finding this place and Griffey agreed that it was the best family vacation ever.  (well actually I think it was his only vacation other than trips to Ohio).

Lamaze Classes

Charlie and I have been very busy getting things ready for the baby, in fact we just finished up our 5 week long Lamaze classes.  The class actually started on the Thursday before Mother's day and Charlie surprised me by giving me an early Mother's Day gift and to start off our classes with a gift.  I was very surprised when he laid a big box from my new favorite store (Motherhood Maternity) on my lap to open.  I opened it to find a very nice nursing night-gown and matching robe that he had picked out himself.  It was very thoughtful of him and I plan to pack in my hospital bag to use at the hospital after the baby is born.

Actually the class was called "The Ultimate Birthing Experience" and they covered everything from Lamaze breathing techniques to medical interventions and what to expect during labor.  The class was really useful because it was us and 6 other couples who were all in the same boat, not having a clue as to what to expect/do when the laboring begins, so we all had the same questions and the instructor gave lots of advice to the husbands as to how help your wife and keep her calm and relaxed when the contractions start.   The class was taught by a Douhla, who we learned is a person that is trained to be a female helper during the birthing process...basically if you are worried your husband will pass out, then the Douhla will be there to help you keep breathing, some people hire Douhla's for the extra help, but Charlie and I are doing it the old fashion way...just him and me.  

Now all we have to do is wait for Baby Mowry to arrive.  

Memorial Day Weekend 2012 - Wedding in Cincinnati for Charlie

We mentioned in the last post that I (Charlie) came back from Cincinnati before we went to get our baby furniture.  I had a quick trip to Cincy for the first part of Memorial Day weekend - probably my last trip back to Ohio before I'm a dad :).

This trip was by myself, since Katie was now 32 weeks along and travel isn't very comfortable any more.  The trip back was for the wedding of my college friend Travis and his wife Cynthia.  I flew in to Dayton on Friday night, though Memorial Day is some tough travel - and I was delayed about 2 hours.  I was a little nervous I'd make it at all, as quite a few flights were getting cancelled.  But I got into Dayton, picked up my rental car, and met my sister Abby and parents for dinner just a little later than expected.

We went to the Pine Club, which is right near the University of Dayton campus.  My parents had wanted to go there as it was supposed to be the best steak house in Dayton.  It's been around since 1947, so this was their 75th anniversary.  The steak house didn't disappoint - I got the "Bone-In" Ribeye and it was one of the best steaks I've ever had.  They also had a great caesar salad and we all got a side of their signature stewed tomatoes.  It was good to see my family, and also good to eat a great steak!

Saturday morning my friends Greg and Ryan went out to nearby Mimi's Cafe for Travis' "final meal".  We were staying up in Mason, and apparently Mimi's is a local chain.  They do have excellent breakfast - everyone walked away stuffed and happy.  The wedding was in Sharonville, and it was great to see my friend get married - he's also the first friend I can remember seeing introduced as "Dr. and Mrs." (Travis is a dentist).

The reception was at Manor House in Mason, just a little ways away from the hotel.  Paul Otten band, which was a staple in a couple of bars (notably, CJ's) back from our time in Miami.  I had a great time and made my way back to the Dayton airport with a bit of a hangover.  Katie and I prepped for the day of getting the furniture Sunday night by watching Johnny Depp's newest movie, Dark Shadows - which was different to say the least, but a very good movie nonetheless!

Baby Furniture & First "Lamaze" classes

After getting back from our baby showers in Ohio, we realized that we needed to go buy some baby furniture to store all the new presents.  Since Katie works at Babies R Us headquarters, there was no need to shop around at different stores.  She gets a discount and every little bit helps.  So a few weeks ago, Katie tricked Charlie into going to Babies R Us to pick out the furniture by telling him there was one just down the street from his favorite wings restaurant in White Plains (Candlelight Inn).  So after having some wings, we went to the store, thinking that this shouldn't take too long.  2 hours later we left the store with no furniture.  Although we did narrow it down to the furniture style that we wanted, we left the store a bit confused with what the best deal was.

Another week later, we went to a different Babies R Us location closer to our house (unfortunately no buffalo wings for Charlie this time) in Paramus, New Jersey.  Since we knew the exact style of furniture we wanted, this trip was a lot shorter, but we still left the store with no furniture....however this was just because they did not have our style in stock at the store, so we put our order in and the waited for a call in a few days when the furniture would arrive.  The store called a few days before Memorial Day to notify us that the furniture had arrived and to arrange a day to pick it up, so Katie called and confirmed that we would come on Memorial Day, when Charlie was back from a wedding in Ohio, to pick up our crib, changing table and dresser.

Now making it our third trip to Babies R Us for furniture, we figured this would be the shortest trips of all, because all we had to do was hand them our receipt and load up the boxes in our car...oh wait...our truck.  Obviously a crib, changing table and dresser were not all going to fit in our Mazda 3 or Nissan Altima, so Charlie rented a truck from Home Depot.  If you didn't know about this - it's a great deal!  You can rent a truck for 75 minutes for only 20 bucks!

However, when we arrived at the store it wasn't that easy.  We handed them our receipt and waited while they went to the back to retrieve the boxes and waited and waited....apparently they misplaced the boxes and couldn't find our order.  We were about ready to give up and return the truck empty handed, when after 45 minutes they found our boxes...thank goodness!  So Charlie go the boxes home and unloaded them all by himself......now all he has to do is put the furniture together :)  Stay tuned on how that goes.