Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.
You are going to be here anytime now! Due date, Feb. 20, is tomorrow if you can believe it which I cannot. That being said, we are as ready as we possibly could be!
Mom just left the doctor and she is still not dilated so looks like it will be another few days. She is handling it like a champ though.
Gotta run but wanted to check in. Love you and can’t wait to meet you!
Love,
Dad
Among the things that occurred today, your mattress did in fact arrive! There was a bit of scrutiny over which one to get you, as your mother (of course) wanted the most expensive and organic and everything below the sun in the mattress. I was a bit more reasonable, and we got you one in the 90th percentile, so to speak, as opposed to the ultimate, and most expensive, version. Here it is in case you don’t remember.
As a matter of fact if you do remember, I will be a little freaked out.
Anyway, wanted to extend the description of your nursery at the current time. Right now you have a crib, dresser, bookcase, picnic table (yes a picnic table), outfits that will fit you until you are nearly 2 years old, a glider chair and a bunch of creepy dolls that are from your mother’s childhood. In addition we have a bunch of presents from the baby shower that your mom’s friends threw for her.
The shower, which occurred just after Christmas, brought in some great gifts and just as many crappy ones.
Over the coming days we will get a variety of other items that we ordered off of Amazon and I will do my best to update as they come in.
Just for reference, your mother is 35 weeks tomorrow. As things stand that means that you could come at any minute. Any time from 34-37 weeks people have been known to deliver, although Dr. West says that she is right on schedule.
We also did a hospital tour last night so that I know where to take your mom when she goes into labor, so we are covered on that front. This is becoming a bit of a rant, so I am going to sign off.
We cannot wait to meet you!
Love,
Dad
Right now it is 12:33am on the 15th of January…and wow has time flown by. Let’s tackle this efficiently, and first let me list the developments and afterwards go into the details of each:
Let’s first start with the reason why I have not posted in so long. Work has been unreal. I recently got a promotion, which is awesome, but has lead to doing more than normal. The good part: I love my job.
Now let’s address the major items, like the fact that you are a girl!!! We could not be more excited. Let me throw this out now, no dating until 25. In addition, you will likely be spoiled simply because I spoil your mother and will likely accelerate that with you. Finally, I am hoping you will be a Daddy’s girl simply because, well, I love you more already than I can explain and can’t imagine not being close.
As far as your health, our doctor, Dr. West, is consistently shocked with how well you are progressing. There have been no issues with you in the least, and your mom is healthier than anyone I know. She is constantly thinking of you and what is best for you. I am doing the same but my decision son’t necessarily affect your entrance into the world. We hear your heartbeat every time we go to the doctor and each time it is strong and on par with the expected BPM. Your mom has has to get a variety of shots, provided a number of blood samples, had to drink some glucose crap and endure a variety of other uncomfortable things (outside of gaining 25 pounds which she carries all day every day of course) and has not complained in the least. She is a rockstar, and should be commended.
You are right on schedule. The doctor does this measurement thing where he basically measures from the bottom of the uterus to her belly button (I may have totally butchered that) and is has you right on schedule. He also projects that you will be around 7 pounds.
Dude, the nursery is looking sick! We spent a grand over the weekend buying adornments for the space but it is truly coming together. I also spent all last weekend painting the shelves, and the prior weekend painting the bookcase. Your mom spent about 2 days just cleaning the dresser (a bit over the top IMO, but you will learn about this). The majority of the items that are remaining will be arriving in the coming days, which is extremely exciting. As you can see it is still looking a bit plain, but I will add new pic very soon.
34 weeks!!!
At this point in the pregnancy you could come at any time and be perfectly healthy. The doctor projects that most first time mothers are around 5 days late, but really could happen anytime.
I promise to continue updating as frequently as possible, but the bottom line is that you will be here soon and we could not be more excited!
I love you very much and cannot wait to meet you
Love,
Dad
Things got BUSY!
Work is kicking my ass, but at the same time we are doing a lot on the house in order to get ready for your arrival. Here is a quick synopsis on major happenings occurred and in the near future:
OK, so now that you are caught up, let’s move forward. The big piece of that is that we get to find out what you are next week! We have been taking guesses, and the high majority think you are a boy, including me. We picked out paints for either, one is blue the other pink, and have not really discussed names.
Mom is starting to show, and sears she has felt you kick a few times! Here is a pic of how she looks now, very cute if you ask me:
I promise to update more in the future. Cannot wait to meet you!
Love, Dad
It’s been a couple weeks since I have had the chance to update things, but to be honest not much is going on. We did have another appointment yesterday, which went extremely well.
The doctor took the heartbeat, no ultrasound this time, and your beat was at 160 BPM. This caused Dr. West to pull out the old wive’s tale that the fast heartbeat says that you will be a girl. We have exercised pretty much every old wive’s tale, and every other one says you are a boy. It is a crapshoot!
One thing exciting that has happened is that you started receiving (or we started receiving) gifts! My buddies Mike and Aaron each sent something, and, well, they are hoping that they may sway your college decision before you are even born. Here are the pics:
The top image is from Mike, and pretty damn cool. The bottom image is from Aaron, and is awesome as well.
This will be a fun game between your mom and I, and currently I am in the lead! Just for the record, I don’t care where you go to college as long as you are happy. You can go to UofA or USC or any other college in the world and we will be proud of you (as long as it’s not ASU, and your mom would say the same about UCLA but that is a great school so it’s ok). But you are going to have some awesome college gear, both UofA and USC, by the time you get here and probably afterward as well.
Switching gears, your mom and I are going to go look at some paint colors this weekend for your room. We still don’t know your gender so we are going to go choose colors for both a guy and girl in order to be prepared. Boppie is going to be here the day that we find out your gender, and that weekend him and I will be painting your room! After that happens, let the madness begin. Decoration in all ways will commence.
Cannot wait to know what you are, but even more so cannot wait to meet you. It’s getting closer every day!
Love, Dad
I remember growing up, thinking to myself that there was just no way that my grandparents could have possibly worked. By the time I came they were either retired or very close and I would hear in spotted conversations about their work history. Figure here I can give you a very real observation on each one of your grandparents as they are all currently still working. I am going to use the names that I assume you will refer to them by, but who knows if that will stick or not. Let’s start with mom’s side…
Papa – Lawyer
Papa is a Lawyer that specializes in business and real estate law. He graduated from USC undergrad, and then went to law school at Southwestern University. He has been practicing law for over 30 years at this point, and works from home. He has about 3 huge clients that he handles and also is an avid investor in real estate and some stock market.
Mia – Teacher/Real Estate/Food & Beverage/Stay-at-home-mom
Mia has done a variety of different things in her career. She graduated from USC with a degree in Political Science. She was a teacher in Palm Desert when mom was little, and once they moves to Sun Valley she took on a more motherly role. Once mom got into high school, Mia started doing real estate. She has also been with Michel for about 10 years at this point who owns a high end french restaurant in Ketchum. She helps him run the restaurant and serves as a hostess as well.
Now let’s look at my side…
Boppie – Railroad Engineer
Let me start by saying that I broke the Donegan tradition. 5 generations of Donegans had worked for the railroad, I broke the trend (always feel a bit guilty about that). Anyway, Bop is a railroad engineer meaning that he drives trains. He started working for the railroad when he was 19 years old, and will actually be retiring in March (you are due in February) and will have been there for 41 years.
Nonnie – Finance
Nonnie has been an accountant since graduating college. She graduated summa cum laude from University of Arizona with a degree in finance. She went to work for Ernst & Young straight out of college, didn’t care for the corporate world, so focused most of her career in the non-profit sector. She has been an accountant, bookkeeper, controller and even a CFO. She has a masters in education and a masters in business, and currently works for Smith Optics as an accountant (could have a higher position, but doesn’t like managing people).
That is the current status of everyone. As you can see, they kind of run the gamete in terms of diverse professions. This should be a good thing because you will have plenty of experts in various fields. Hope this will serve as a reference point for you in the future and you can avoid the confusion that I experienced.
Love, Dad
Last week we made our second visit to the doctor. This one consisted of another ultrasound as well as mom getting some blood work done (in addition to our billing meeting, basically paying for the whole thing which is not a fun meeting let me tell you). We haven’t got the results from the blood work back yet, but it appears that you are a healthy kid from the sonogram.
You are 2.9 inches long right now. That’s it! I’m looking at a business card on my desk right now bigger than you. But the cool part is that you are developing at a rapid rate. The first trimester, which is now complete, is the most important for a developing baby. Major complications are more likely to happen in the first 13 weeks than at any time during the pregnancy. You made it through and with flying colors!
You are developing bones. In the ultrasound we could actually see your spine, skull, fingers and toes, nose and other appendages. You were actually touching your face and kicking mom’s belly while we were watching you. It was incredible! You are growing by the day, and getting closer to the point when we can tell if you are a boy or girl.
We were also given another photo of you, this time with some labels.
As you can see you are startling to loom like a real baby. You looked so big on the screen, we couldn’t believe that you were in reality so small. You can see the pics that label the hands and there is another without a label of your toes. It was a pretty cool thing to watch.
At this point, now that everyone knows, we can share the pics of you. Our next appointment isn’t for another 3.5 weeks or so, at which point mom will get a little more blood work done. We are so excited to meet you, and soon I will update you on the preparation of your room!
Love, Dad
Today we told everyone about you! This included from mom’s side: Papa, Aunt Kate, Tita and the remainder of mom’s friends. On my side we told Boppie, Aunt Madeline, my Nonnie and Boppie and all of my friends. We also put together a photo to post on the various social networks and send out to friends:
Pretty damn cute right?
Now that the word is out I am sure we will be inundated with questions and status updates, but it’s all good. Just glad that we can finally talk about it freely!
We are more excited than ever to meet you, and love you already.
Love, Dad
You are now the size of a lime!
Well, the length of one, you only weigh half an ounce.
Some of the more incredible developments this week include that you now have reflexes. You are able to open and close your hands, curl your toes, clench your eye muscles and even make sucking motions with your mouth.
You are also at the point where your kidneys are developed enough that you can create urine, which is just weird. Here is an image of what you kinda look like:
Look like a little alien in there!
We have a doctor’s appointment next week where we will get our next look at you. We will also get to tell everyone soon after because the chance of a miscarriage will be so low.
Next Thursday when we meet with the doctor you will be 13 weeks, and I will have another update on how big you are at that point. Can’t wait to get another picture of you and see you squirming around in there. Can’t believe how much you already mean to me.
Love, Dad
The last couple of days have been pretty exciting for me, as I was a contributor to a pretty major inbound marketing piece that was put out. Figure at this point it is a good idea to fill you in a bit on what it is that I do. I am very excited because I work in a field that changes it seems by the day, so by the time you are old enough to read this my role will likely be completely different.
In a nutshell, I help companies optimize their websites so they show up higher in search engines (primarily Google). I do this a variety of ways which I won’t go into, but it is a combination of code changes in addition to off-site factors that help to create basically an online reputation for the company website. My current title is SEO/Product Marketing Manager and this encompasses a few other things as well.
In addition to SEO (which is explained above and stands for Search Engine Optimization) I also manage web analytics, social media product development and PPC strategy. Let’s start with analytics.
Web analytics track everything that happens within a website, from traffic to time on page to the links that are clicked on. It has thousands of metrics that are accounted for, and I use these to draw conclusions on how we can better optimize and arrange the sites as well as report out to the brands that we work with.
On the social side, I manage the product strategy in what we develop. For example, we recently built a Facebook product that allows major brands (Wendy’s in this case) to post in geo-targeted areas on their national page. We are working on Twitter and Pinterest product currently.
Finally, on the PPC side (pay-per-click) I work with new clients on their strategy in terms of paid search. I work on what their approach should be in each market and then we have a team that will execute on making it happen.
It is almost guaranteed that I will not be at this company by the time you get this, but I currently work for a company called Balihoo that works with Fortune 1000 companies to help them market on a local level. Some of the clients that I do all the above for are Aflac, Pearle Vision, Kohler, Wendy’s and Behr.
The goal, and one that will hopefully be reached within the next decade or so, is to become a CMO or VP of Marketing for a company. I aspire to be an executive that runs an entire marketing department, or at some point possibly a company in general.
Anyway, thought I would fill you in on what I do now at the age of 29 and see where things are in the future. Can’t wait to see you!
Love, Dad