Abbey Road Herron

One Month Till One Year

/ jesyisms / 3 Comments

When did my baby start turning into a toddler? Maybe it was when she started getting her two bottom teeth. Or maybe it was when she started walking at almost 10 months old. But today for sure when she started saying “Ugh-oh” and “Oh yeah” while walking around the living room and kitchen only stopping to see me for the occasional bite of our shared banana.

Not only is Abbey turning into a toddler but she is becoming so independent during the journey out of “babyhood.” She has such a great mix of George and my personality. Outgoing, talkative, independent, spoiled and a bit stubborn (you can decide which character trait belongs to who). She is trying new foods, loves to hear herself sing (or screech), gives herself kisses in the mirror, gives great kisses to mommy, daddy and the occasional stranger, loves her dog, boy cousins and all her care-givers, keeps us entertained and keeps herself entertained by reading books, playing with wooden spoons or hugging one of her baby dolls. I’m ready for my baby to turn one but I’m going to cherish every little moment of “babyhood” for the next 30 days!

Here are a few pictures of Abbey at 11 months old:

Madness on the Weekends

/ jesyisms / 1 Comment

I’m sure like many other families with both parents working, the weekends become madness with cramming all family time into just 2 short days. Our family is no different except for the fact that my family includes me! I want to do so much that I’m literally dragging George and Abbey all over the place and come Sunday night we are all extremely exhausted. Luckily we are all having fun and creating great memories together. Here are some highlights of a typical Herron Nest weekend. 

Friday:

  • Dinner out at McAlister’s
  • Ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa Bird to celebrate 39th wedding anniversary
  • Shopping at Carter’s for Abbey (spoiled by above grandparents!)

Saturday:

  • Started the day with a morning run
  • Head downtown to wait in line for Bengals practice tickets
  • Brunch at Taste of Belgium in OTR
  • Meet up with old co-worker and his wife to play at Washington Park
  • Head home for Abbey’s nap while I weed the front garden
  • Cousin and kids pop over for lunch and play with Abbey and George and friend go to Bengals practice
  • Aunt Jami came over to spoil and watch Abbey crawl
  • Met up with friends and their kids out for dinner at El Pueblo’s
  • Came back to the house to give everyone a tour of Kat’s amazing remodeled home (totally HGTV looking)
  • The kiddos played at our house
  • And then everyone went to bed!

Sunday:

  • Clean up around the house
  • Laundry
  • Abbey nap time = George and Jesy get things done or nap a bit (LOVE naps by the way)
  • Laundry again
  • Pool time
  • Dinner
  • More Laundry
  • Abbey gets a bath
  • Put Abbey to bed
  • And more laundry
  • THEN CRASH!

As George and I have said, this is what its all about. Feeling exhausted on Sunday knowing that we had a great weekend filled with lots of Abbey playtime and getting some stuff around the house. I know that we are not the only ones that jam-pack our weekends but I’m also curious as to how the rest of you balance family life. How often and when do you and your significant other do date nights? What is your typical weekend like? Maybe we are the only ones that go 100 miles per hour from 6:00p Friday night to 8:00p Sunday night. Any and all comments welcome!

Abbey the Convict

/ George Herron / 11 Comments

Look at her, all sweet and innocent. It’s exactly what she WANTS you to think.

Awwwwww, isn’t she cute?  Isn’t she a sweet ball of innocence and sweetness glazed with adorableness?  She’s so playful and cuddly that it almost makes you diabetic!  She is entering a phase now where she likes to screech and scream at everything, which for right now is cute, but I can see it becoming a problem since we always laugh at it.  But how can you not laugh and smile at this little ball of cuteness?  She’s an angel….right?

FALSE.

As most of you know Abbey is the light of our lives, the apple of our eyes, but she is NOT all that sweet and innocent.  I will even go a step further and tell you that she is a hardened criminal in the making.  Hard to believe I know, she conceals it well in front of others, just like any sociopath but if you can catch her alone, she forgets to act nice and gentle.  As I was playing with her the other day I noticed some odd and disturbing behavior that I thought that I should share.  This isn’t the liberal media here folks, I am fair and present you with all the facts, and the fact is that if Abbey were 18 she would be likely spending the rest of her life in jail.  From what I saw she not only will be in prison, but they might not let her in general population once there!

I rest my case your honor. Abbey has Dolly in a pile driver while eating her foot.

So here is how the story goes, and you won’t hear an alternative since Abbey can only screech and scream at this point.  Yes you heard me screech and scream, there is no “inside voice” with her.  So I was pushing her in her little swing, just having a splendid time when I thought that she might be getting bored.  Of course she was, she has the attention span of a gnat and she was having to stare at my ugly mug for the last 15 minutes.  So being the nice father I am I reached over and found one of her favorite toys, or so I thought, and gave it to her.  It is a little doll that if squeezed in the right place will light up and play music.  Abbey’s seemingly innocent and cute face lit up immediately upon seeing her toy.  I handed it to her and then could only sit and watch in frozen horror.

She punished that doll like Jeffrey Dahmer would have punished his kids.  She took “Dolly” by her arms, legs and even head and flailed her all about.  Bashing her face and body into anything and everything she possibly could with clearly little to no regard for Dolly.  Then, as if that wasn’t enough, she started to eat Dolly.  Eat her hands, eat her feet, hell anything she could get in her mouth she would eat.  You would have thought Dolly was a Jeff Ruby steak.  It was appalling to watch.  And finally after munching on all Dolly’s extremities she simply tossed her aside like garbage.  Dolly almost looked sad laying there in a pool of drool that could have just as easily been blood.  I mean thank God she didn’t have any weapons, could you imagine what kind of brutality this child could bring with any wort of weapon?!

It was bad enough to have had to witness this whole ordeal, but to see Abbey’s face the entire time was enough to turn my stomach.  She was smiling, not only smiling but laughing, hysterically.  Like it was some twisted game that she had won.  Like this massacre was fun for her.  And to think she loved Dolly, what would she have done to a stuffed friend that she actually didn’t like?  And what is she capable of in the future?  I sat there staring at her in disbelief, she just smiled coyly as if to say, “step out of line old man and you are next.”  GULP.  I feel threatened by my 5 month old.

So let’s do that math, had she been 18 what could I have expected for prison sentence?

  • Assault – Since this is a first time offense (That I know of) probably 2 years.
  • Murder – 10-25 years with a chance of probation after 10.
  • Cannibalism – Would have to be the icing on the cake.  This should get her life for sure with no chance of parole.

Is this what the future holds for my sweet baby girl?

Well the proof is in the pudding.  If Jesy and I can’t get a handle on this thing we are looking at having to pay for court costs, attorney fees and bail for a really long time.  I guess the only bright side is that we probably won’t have to worry about college or a wedding to pay for anymore.

Dear Miss Abbey Road…

/ George Herron / 8 Comments

I was thinking about petitioning to get the bottom of the sign changed to “Daughter of George and Jesy Herron”. Think they’ll go for it?

Dear Abbey Road Herron,

I’ve been thinking about a unique way to tell you what a miracle you are and what an inspiration you are to Mommy and me.  I’ve been wrestling with a way to convey why we named you after an album to ensure that when you are 25 you don’t just tell people who your Dad was a big Beatles fan and general weirdo.  I mean I AM a weirdo, but not like Chris Martin weirdo.  I mean who names their kid Apple?  Really?

For me that album was something that helped me get through the loss of your sister.  I have always expressed my emotions through music.  Not writing or playing music, that would require a talent that I just don’t have.  No, I listen to music.  If I’m in a crappy mood I tend to wallow in it.  I throw on some Staind, Metallica or some Gary Allan and just kind of immerse myself into a cocoon of  misery.  They can seem to convey exactly how I’m feeling and it’s kind of nice to know that someone else was feeling what I feel at that moment.  And I did a lot of this after we lost your sister.  Wallowed, agonized, hurt.

But The Beatles came to the rescue.  Specifically the album, Abbey Road.  Even more specifically the song, Here Comes the Sun.  Like a rescue diver that song and album single-handedly pulled me from the abyss of my own self pity that I had been drowning in.  Here Comes the Sun, was written by George Harrison while playing hooky from work at Eric Clapton’s house.  He sat in Eric’s garden and almost effortlessly belted out the one song that could make me smile even in my darkest hour.  The only song that I could find any hope and salvation in.  The only song that would allow me to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

“It’s all right, It’s all right”…..

It’s not lost on me all the symmetry either.  Abbey Road was created in probably the most turbulent time for The Beatles.  They were in the middle of doing a documentary for the Let it Be Album that was going disastrously.  The whole band was starting to feel the pressure of being business men and musicians plus most of them were in relationships that were pulling them in different directions and on top of all that they were still trying to deal with the fact that their manager had died and they needed to replace him somehow.  And despite all that swirling around them, they were still able to record and produce one of the greatest albums of all time.

Much like you, my sweet angel.  You were conceived as soon as the Doctors gave us the thumbs up to try again.  Despite not completely being over the loss of your sister and still trying to find ways to cope and deal with that loss, we got the biggest boost we could imagine, you.  Not that we will ever forget Hope, or minimize her significance in our lives, but I think we needed you, a healthy you to help us get over that.  To help us mend.  To help us know that ….

It’s all right.

Abbey Road also has a wonderful combination of songs that seem to capture all the aspects of The Beatles that any fan would love.  Something, also a George Harrison song, might be one of the greatest love songs that The Beatles ever recorded.  It’s more mature than their early love songs that ring more true to infatuation songs considering how young they were when they wrote those songs.  Octopus’ Garden is a little goofy and maybe even a little trippy.  A light-hearted song at a time when light-hearted was exactly what they needed.  It’s something that you would have expected to find on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack.  Oh Darling! and Come Together give all the rock fans something to be happy about on the album as well.  Both have a bluesy-rock feel to them, but are still the strongest songs on the album to be sure.  And lastly there is the medley ( You Never Give Your Money Away through The End).  Something innovative and creative, something different.  Almost the entire second side of Abbey Road is like a stream of conscientiousness that takes you all the way, appropriately, to The End, which includes the only drum solo that Ringo ever had.

This is my hope for you.  That you can encompass so many different traits and emotions that you will be able to shine no matter what life throws at you.  Like any hopeful parent I want you to be the best version of you.  The Beatles were able to put away all the crap and do what they really loved doing, making music, one last time and in doing so created something beautiful and timeless.  I just hope that your mother and I are as lucky with you!

And lastly, something that is very close to my heart.  I wanted you to be unique.  I was named after my father, which is a great honor, knowing the man who your grandfather is.  But let’s face it, George Robert Herron II isn’t exactly a unique name!  I just want you to be special, I mean you already are to me and your mother obviously, but I wanted you to have a sense of uniqueness right out of the box.

My fear is that when you are in your teens and hate my music and hate just about any opinion that comes out of my mouth that you will hate your name too.  But on the flip side I hope you get enough of your mothers positive disposition and enough of my weirdness that you love your name and realize the power that your name has.  I want you to own the name and make it yours.  Make sure that people know that there was no way you could have had any other name.

You’re not here yet, but already the excitement is too much to handle.  You have a big name to live up to little girl, but given your pedigree you will surpass every expectation and keep shining as my little light at the end of the tunnel.

And I hope that one day you will understand, I write stuff like this down, because I am much better expressing my feelings on paper than face to face.  I don’t think it’s an intimacy issue, I think it is a my brain just functions better when I can have a stream of thought and capture it.  Like a picture with words.  Regardless I love you already.  Hurry up and get here!

The baby is kicking…..Correction, pushing.

/ George Herron / 6 Comments

When I start seeing this on Jesy’s belly I think it will be time to go to the Dr.

For the last week Jesy has been on a mission to have me feel Abbey kick.  Jesy swore up and down that she could not only feel her kicking on the inside, but that if she was still she could feel it on the outside.  In the beginning of the week I was willing to placate my wife and try to feel her kick.

I felt nothing.  I just assumed that Jesy was feeling phantom kicks.  I thought because she could feel it so much on the inside that she only THOUGHT she could feel it on the outside.  But last night as we were sitting down to watch some TV for about an hour before we went to bed she begged me to try again.

Reluctantly I tried again.  Why reluctantly?  I’m a big personal space guy.  I know that there are a ton of people standing in line to rub on Jesy’s belly.  Jesy is NOT a personal space person and doesn’t mind people coming up and saying Hi to Abbey, so it is happening more and more now that Jesy has a beautiful little baby apartment protruding forward.  And for that reason I try to give her some space at home.  I was also reluctant because as I explained before I thought Jesy was off her rocker.

Neigh.  Man was I ever wrong.  After I finally got Jesy to shut her yapper, she was asking me ever 10 seconds, “Did you feel that?  Did you feel it this time?  OMG there it is again!”  Over and over and over.  But once I staple-gunned her lips shut and could concentrate…..

I felt it.   And it was incredible.  Proof of life!  Tangible proof of life!  Yeah sure I have seen pictures, heard a heart beat, been to all the doctors appointments and I saw the all important pee stick 6 months ago, but this was different.  I could feel her.  She was talking to ME in her own little way.

Although, I have to say, it was not what I was expecting.  Kicking is such an inaccurate term, at least right now it is.  It’s really more like pushing.  Imagine that you are in a giant thin rubber ball that is just slightly too small for you.  That is what I imagine it’s like for Abbey.  She is in there just trying to figure out where her “walls” are.

The rest of the night I would leave my hand on Jesy’s belly, every once in a while getting a little push from my daughter just to let me know that she was still there and still wanting to talk.  Great, just like her mother.  So occasionally I would do that thing that Jesy hates, I would tap my fingers across belly playing my “morse code game” with her.  And she would intermittently reply with a little push, or what might be farting?

Oh, thank God, you can wear it as casual wear. I was worried that I would look silly!

This is a bit of a side note and me thinking out loud, but last night as I was feeling Abbey pushing and turning I felt something else as well.  I felt the “flutters” that Jesy was talking about too.  I thought about what could cause a sensation like that and I think that I came up with the only possible answer.  Farting.  Let’s face it, Abbey is at least 50% Wenstrup.  And if Abbey turns out to be half as gassy as her mother then I’m going to have to start walking around the house in a gas mask just to survive.  I might even have to install a warning siren to go off just to warn the neighbors!

But all joking aside, it was amazing.  Such a small thing, such a little part of this whole journey, but so important as well.  I wouldn’t say that it made it more real for me, but there was a definite change.  Now I know I can say hi to her and she can say hi back.  Of course she might not, but it’s cool that she and I can communicate in some way.  Jesy gets to talk to her all day, so it’s cool that I finally can as well.

And of course this makes me more anxious to meet her for real.  But I must exercise patience we still have a 1/3 of the way to go!

24 weeks – I can still shave my legs!

/ jesyisms / 8 Comments

{24 Weeks}

Now that my belly is getting bigger (oh it is…just take a look below) I’m finding that some simple tasks are getting more and more daunting. I’m entering my 6th month this week and tying my own shoes wears me OUT! Never thought that day would come but its here and so I’m quickly learning my limits. Can’t take super long walks in the neighborhood anymore because the hills are killing my back, can’t really reach up in the cabinets anymore when putting away dishes because my belly will bang the counter, can’t stand for super long periods of time because my feet swell, need to hang on when I’m entering the shower…oh wait, that’s just because I’m clumsy! Either way you get my drift of the do-not’s and can’ts of the last 100 or so days of pregnancy. HOWEVER I can still shave my own damn legs!! Mass kudos to me and super plus for George, haha.

I am also realizing that my go-go-go full steam ahead personality is going to need to come to a screeching halt soon enough. It is in my DNA to cram as much as I can into one weekend, day, evening or just one hour and I am still doing this now. It must be pretty obvious that I’m in super go-mode still because my brother, Matt, said something to me about it. Yes… MATT actually said to me that I am going to need to slow down, but why is it so hard to do? I love pleasing everyone, doing everything and being the super wife, daughter, friend, aunt and soon-to-be mom which means I tend to be everywhere all the time for everyone. But again let me emphasize that I LOVE doing it. I love spending time with George in whatever he wants to do, my family, friends and especially my nephew Mason and I truly want to keep up with all the events going on with everyone. I just keep telling myself that since its the summer time there is more going on but as soon as September hits it will all start to slow down. Let’s see how I am doing with it all come third trimester (Labor Day), maybe JUST maybe by then I will have learned to slow down from light speed to mach speed or whichever is slower.

{Belly Updates}

24 weeks and seriously popped out...no other place for her to go!

{How far along?} 24 Weeks exactly

{Total weight gain} Doctor appointment today with a gain of 6 pounds…in 4 weeks…woah! My nurse, Amy, said that it was normal to have a jump in weight right around this time as Abbey is probably going through a growth spurt. Current weight gain = 12 pounds total

{How big is baby?} According to the website updates that I read each week, Abbey could weigh anywhere in the 12-20 oz range and length wise, she should be as long as an ear of corn. I’m thinking that she is having a growth spurt because I have just recently had a hunger spurt.

{Maternity clothes?} YES!

{Sleep?} My sleep is wishy-washy. If I was going to answer this question last week I would say that my sleep is going pretty much A-okay. But after Sunday morning and Monday morning I’m pretty much not sleeping well right now. I feel as though I can fall asleep pretty good (once I put my book down – side note: Have you read The Help? Super good book) but if I’m woken up in the middle of the night then all bets are off. Sunday night going into Monday I ended up on the couch at 3:30am and reached a new level of exhausted Monday morning.

{Best moment this week?} Last Monday Abbey full-on kicked me! I was getting ready for work and reached down in the bathroom cabinet for my hair dryer when she kicked the top of my belly. I stood straight up and probably made a squealing sound because I was so excited and nervous about what just happened. Then I reached down again and she kicked me again! It was great to feel.

{Movement?} As noted about the big kick above last week and most recently this weekend I think I’m feeling her movements more and more. I still feel flutters but occasionally I’ll feel other movements on the outside as well. I’m trying to get George to feel Abbey too but I think I’m feeling her more because I mostly feel it on the inside and so I can anticipate where she is and what it feels like. I’m certain in the next couple of weeks he’ll be able to feel her too. Plus she has hiccups a lot!

Happy 6 months old Belly!

{Food cravings?} I think I’m slowly getting over my pepperoni and single cheese calzone from LaRosa’s but then again as I type this I can feel my mouth water and might have to talk George into this for dinner tonight. I can’t think of other new cravings except for maybe grapes. I will say that I’m learning when I love to eat and when I don’t. I’m a big lunch eater and I can never seem to get full enough throughout the day. But I’m finding that I need to eat dinner early and not that much of it either. There just seems to be no more room towards the end of the day plus I don’t want to feel uncomfortable at night. I have enough trouble sleeping as it is.

{Labor signs?} Nope!

{Belly button in or out?} In

{What I miss} sleeping on my back or stomach (still true since I’m sick of the one position I’m sleeping in now)

{What I’m looking forward to} I scheduled a 3D ultrasound at the Becoming Mom Spa in Deerfield. We are going to be there between 27 and 28 weeks which I was told is a good time to see the baby in 3D (thanks Lauren!) I was talking with Jami who I share my doctor with and she told me that with Dr. Caligaris she went from a 20 week ultrasound to 36 weeks. I just felt like I needed something to break it up and it will be so neat to see Abbey in 3D and compare her features from those pictures to when she is born. (Also, still true)

Something else to look forward to would be purchasing our crib, I think we might do that in the next coming weeks. I can’t wait to get that all set up in the nursery and I have a feeling that it will really hit me when its there.

{Milestone} I’m 6 months pregnant!

Let’s Talk About Sex!

/ George Herron / 9 Comments

I just hope Lefty doesn’t show up to burn down my house!

No, no, I don’t really mean let’s talk about the Salt ‘N Pepa song, “Let’s Talk About Sex!”  I meant let’s talk about the sex of my baby!  Yesterday was yet another HUGE milestone in our second pregnancy.  It was time to go in for the third ultrasound, the one that will reveal the sex of the baby.

Of course if you are reading this then you probably already know our story.  You already know that this was the point last time where Jesy and I got the horrible news that something was very wrong with our baby and that in all likelihood it would not make it full term.  And she didn’t.  So, as you  can imagine Jesy and I were feeling a wave of emotions as the witching hour approached.

  • Nervous – check
  • Anxious – check
  • Scared – check
  • Excited – check
  • Spaced out – check
  • Ready? – Double check

But this time we were going to do things a little different. I know weird right, George Herron wants to do something differently.  So we explained to the ultrasound tech that we didn’t want to know the sex of the baby, we wanted her to write it down and put it in an envelope. I’ll get to why in a minute.  The tech was more than happy to oblige after hearing our heart wrenching story from last time.

“Thumbs up mom and dad!”

Sarah, the tech, had to get all the boring stuff out-of-the-way first: checking ovaries, checking heartbeat, measuring the head…blah, blah, blah.  But it was actually great because as she was doing all that we got to see the baby move around and resist Sarah trying to take pictures and just be a kind of pain in the ass for her.  Yup, must be a child of mine.  But there was a point when Sarah was taking pictures and our little 13 ounce bundle of joy gave us the thumbs up, as if to say all is good in here, no need to worry!  (Thanks kiddo, it was a HUGE relief!)

Then it was time to find out the sex of the baby.  Sarah was great she gave us the heads up and we looked away and closed our eyes.  Sarah silently took the pictures and wrote what our baby was and put it in the envelope and gave no hint whatsoever as to the sex.

But who cares at this point right?  WE MADE IT!  We made it through the 19 week ultrasound unscathed and with a happy (I presume) and healthy baby!  For like an hour after the ultrasound and before the popping of the balloon I almost forgot that we still didn’t even know the sex of our baby.  I was just so relieved and happy that it was healthy and that we were going to make it to the finish line this time!

So, yeah, about having the tech write down the sex and put it in an envelope.  Jesy wanted to do something totally different since the last time we were at this point it was an awful, disastrous mess.  So we opted to throw a party.  A reveal party.  Most people do it with a cake.  They have either a blue or pink inside the cake.  Jesy couldn’t wait that long, she needed something instant, so we decided to have a black balloon filled with either pick or blue confetti and then we would pop it at the party with our friends and family.

Man, I bet those of you who still don’t know are DYING to find out, right?  Too bad, should have been at the party!  Looks like you are going to have to deal with some more build up on my part.  Just be thankful I’m not Stephen King, you wouldn’t find out the sex of the baby till about page 529.

Due to the fact that more people wanted to come to this party than we originally thought we had to move the party from  our house to the shelter in Gower Park in Sharonville.  It was awesome to see everyone there, and I’m going to try to do something that will be sure to offend someone.  I want to individually thank everyone that was there.  I’m sure I will forget someone, but it is important to me to recognize my peeps!

Thank you: Mom, Carol, John, Brian, Miranda, Matt, Jami, Mason, CJ, Sarah, Henry, Grandma O, Grandpa O, Jack, Sue, Beth, Doug, Tom, Teresa, Marian, Anna, Karen, Carter, Buster, Jane, Glenn, Sue, Joey, Jay, Lisa, Chris, Paul, Michelle, Kennedy, Sandy, Judy, Mary Jo, Dan, Jim, Natalie, Gayle, Jill, Sherri, Liz, Mike, Natalie, Abigail, Isaiah, Heather, Aayla, Lauri, Rick, Corey, Neil, Kat, Tony, Kendra, Sheldon, Mark, Lauren, Sam, Avery, Andrew, Erin, Owen and Emma! And for our remote users:  Dad(The Big Guy), Shari, Roly, Alex, Emma, Ro and Lauren.

That was all from memory, no cheating! Impressive right? (And sorry in advance if I missed anyone.)

Without you guys there with us it wouldn’t have been nearly as special.   You all mean so much to us and to see how happy and excited you all were made yesterday such a wonderful day indeed!  You all are the best.

just before the big reveal!

So back to the party.  Rick was a little later than expected with the balloon filled with either pink confetti or blue.  In all fairness, however we didn’t realize how hard it would be for someone to shove confetti in a balloon!  Once Rick arrived there was a hush over the crowd, and that is saying something considering the crowd we had! It was like someone had just died, or the priest was finally ready to begin mass.

The moment had arrived, it was time to find out if we would be knee-deep in pink or blue for the next couple months.  But first some more suspense!

Can you believe that I’m currently about 900 words into this mess and I still haven’t told you yet?  I’m such a bastard!

Alright, seriously, here we go.  After fooling around a while and making Jesy miss popping the balloon several times I let her go true.

POP!

Let me just say that for months now I have been sure it is a boy.  Positive.  Everything about this pregnancy was different.  Jesy’s mood was different, her cravings were different, everything.  So popping the balloon was going to be anti-climatic for me.  I just knew that as soon as it popped that blue confetti would rain down and prove me right, just like I was last time.

So yeah, POP!

PINK CONFETTI!

It’s a GIRL!

Wait, what?  Pink/Purple confetti?!  A girl?!  HOLY SHIT I’M HAVING A BABY GIRL!!!!!  Let me clear something up, it’s not that I was wanting a baby boy, I was just certain it was a boy.  Obviously the only thing I was certain of was being dead wrong.  But as soon as I saw the pink confetti fly I was just elated.  It was the icing on the cake after a great ultrasound visit earlier.  How very overwhelming!  How very awesome!

*Side note*  After the popping of the balloon a young lady named Abigail came up to me and said that the baby should have a name that starts with an “A”.  I was of course suspicious of her motivation, but I played along anyway.

I said you know what?  It does!

She was floored, but determined and followed up with, well I think that her name should begin with an “Ab.”

And I said well you know what, it does!

Flabbergasted and a little excited she was like, “No way, really?”

I said yes and then told her to sit down because I was going to blow her mind.  I told her that the little girl would be named Abbey!

Well she just about flipped out.  She was more than excited to hear that she would be sharing a name with my sweet little girl!

So here I sit listening to my playlist that I made for the baby a long time ago with an exhausted, goofy grin on my face reflecting on what a wonderful day yesterday was.  I can feel new emotions starting to creep up already.  Like being suspicious of every boy that looks at her, like wanting to make sure she stays a little princess forever and making sure she doesn’t inherit her mother’s mouth!

So now let the spoiling of Abbey Road Herron begin!

Special thanks go to:

  • Corey Thomas for his camera work and for getting the live stream of the party for all our out-of-towners that wanted to participate.
  • Rick Kreiner for getting the balloon and confetti together.
  • My mom, aka Grandma Bird for going down to the ultrasound with us and being there in case we needed the support.
  • Jami White for helping with everything before the party and covering my wife’s ass for not having time to prepare the mini hot dogs and for not killing Carson, although he probably deserved it!
  • Carol, aka Grandma for helping set up the shelter and bringing the cornhole game.
  • Brian for waiting to have his seizure until well after we popped the balloon.
  • John and Paul for getting beat in cornhole by Dan and I.  And I know John didn’t throw the game, he HATES to lose, especially to me.
  • Whoever brought skittles, awesome idea.
  • Sarah the tech for being patient with our demands and Jesy’s 5,000 questions.
  • And last, but not least my wife for having sex with me so that this whole thing was possible

Thank you again everyone, we love you so much!