Let's Go Giants! (Sprout, Sprout, Sprout-Sprout-Sprout)

If you're a Giants fan, you probably have guessed that we have decided to substitute the claps with Sprout's name for this popular cheer. And there was lots to cheer about today as we took Sprout to his first baseball game! Although our little guy is still in utero, he heard the stadium noise and started kicking away. He started cheering (kicking and stretching) in the 3rd inning when Torres doubled to right center, scoring catcher Eli Whiteside. In the end, the G Men beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-7 and our little family of three walked up the stairs, happy with the victory, to the traditional crooning of Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart In San Francisco."

Mommy was particularly happy because today was "The Dog Days of Summer," meaning that dog owners brought their pups to the park, all decked out in various costumes. The first pitch was "thrown out" by famous skateboarding dog, Tillman. After the game, we saw Tillman's tour bus. Seriously. This dog has a high-end, graphic-wrapped tour bus! If you haven't seen Tillman in action, check out this video.

We also got to see mommy's favorite pitcher, Brian Wilson (not related to daddy's favorite Beach Boy). Add some nachos grandes and a couple of choco malts and the day was complete. What a day!

Note my Dick's shirt, which is the only orange piece of clothing I have (hint, hint... cough*WillClarkJersey*cough...).

Miracle Grow

As we inch closer to the Big Day, Sprout continues to grow at breakneck speed. We have an iPhone app that lets us know the size Sprout is, relative to different things you'd find in the produce aisle. When we started checking the app, he was the size of a sweat pea, eventually a corn kernel, and a few weeks later, a carrot. Right now, Sprout is the size of an ear of corn! (Supposedly he's 1.5 lbs and 8.5" long.) The anticipation is killing us for the 40th week: will the app compare Sprout to some baby-sized fruit/vegetable, or will it say that Sprout is the size of, well, a baby?

Two weekends ago we made the trek down to Lullaby Lane in San Bruno to pick out a crib and matching dresser. The store was great: three large warehouse buildings on the main strip of San Bruno. The environment was a bit busy with 747s roaring overhead as they took off from SFO and a swarm of anxious parents tugging on crib joints, collapsing and reassembling strollers, pushing music box buttons and feeling fiber qualities.

Despite the crowds, Lullaby Lane was a great place and we settled on Sprout's crib: "Ocean" by Baby's Dream. We snagged the matching dresser, too. Here's a picture of what the set looks like (minus the pink girly highlights):

On the health front, we had another doctor's visit and confirmed that Sprout's heart is thump-thumping away at a great clip. All appears healthy, but we don't think we needed a steady heartbeat to tell us that. Sprout's newest favorite game is to kick his mommy really hard to the point of startling her. He can kick way harder than other ears of corn we've seen, so we can rest assured and proud that he is ahead of his peer group so far.

Sprout will be on a miracle grow pattern over the next four weeks, supposedly, growing to twice his size. Watch out!

Entering Munchkin Land

Int. Farm House -- MCS -- Dorothy enters from l.f.g. and opens the door to reveal Munchkinland -- CAMERA BOOMS forward through the door and around to the right -- to shoot down on FULL SHOT of Civic Center of the Munchkin Village -- Dorothy looks around confused by it all --


MLS -- Dorothy with Toto in her arms looks about the Village and speaks -- 
Munchkins rise before camera in f.g. and watch her -- 


     DOROTHY
   Toto -- I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.


This is a snippet from the Wizard of Oz script (did I really need to say that?) where Dorothy first enters Munchkinland in her trip to the Land of Oz. We definitely had a similar trip this past weekend as we spent numerous hours researching all of the gear we're going to have to amass for our own little man.


Who would have known about all of the specifications surrounding baby stuff? Mattresses need to be firm, but not too firm, but not too soft. And definitely not made in China. No, nothing can be made in China because of the lax standards and high recall rates. Brands with seemingly European names like Babi Italia are actually made in China. And then there's baby furniture, which is like adult furniture, but about 70% more expensive because it's baby furniture. You could get adult furniture for cheaper, but not many people make cribs in adult furniture stores.


Enter an army of car seat options, strollers (three-wheeled monsters that could easily trek up the face of Heavenly Valley, or four-wheeled buggies with compatible docking systems with car seats) and things called "combo units" (I'm still not sure what those are). And don't even think about broaching the taboo subjects of cloth vs. disposable diapers or (shudder) breast pumps. You're likely to not make it out alive.


Here are a few pictures of us in this strange new land. The day started off in our old, familiar Kansas (brunch at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville), and then jumped into Munchkinland (Babies R Us). To the right is a picture of me trying to find out the difference between "normal" Method soap and "baby" Method soap. What is the difference? The baby soap is organic and bio-degradable, but isn't that the Method brand promise? Something must explain the price difference... ah, it's the other ingredient on the front: baby.


As we passed through the aisles we were confronted by what mommy could only label as an "over-stimulation machine" (and then she mumbled something about if the baby is as wild as its father...). I was able to capture the excitement below on my iPhone. This thing was able to bounce, play music and throw a giant giraffe head in front of the baby as he crazily spins a clear cylinder stuffed with two elephant heads and rolling balls.

Perhaps our favorite moment in Oz was seeing some of the more exotic breeds. Not quite animal, not quite mineral, not quite vegetable. In this case, we believe we came across diapers modeled after the denim short-shorts worn by those werewolf teenagers from the Twilight Saga. We know Edward and Jacob are very popular names right now, but somehow we can't see the denim diaper fad catching on. Or can we?


To the right is a picture to prove I'm not kidding, as well as an Amazon link to confirm this is indeed a real product, and we did not dream the entire Munchkinland trip up.


In all seriousness, we are really enjoying ourselves preparing for our little guy and are thrilled to be taking each successive step into parenthood. We're truly over the moon. 


Or over the rainbow.


P.S. - Right before publishing this, I opened Google to see that today is the 71st anniversary of The Wizard of Oz. What a coincidence. Just this past weekend during Uncle Danny's birthday celebration we were talking about Pee Wee's Big Adventure, which coincidentally had its 25th anniversary the next day. What's up with the movie serendipity? My guess? Sprout is going to be a famous actor, director, or writer. And he will buy us mansions and Porsches. 


Here is a clip of the Google doodle:

Caught on Video

On Friday, July 30, we took our second journey to the super-hi-tech ultrasound joint in Berkeley to take a look at Sprout. Daddy especially likes these trips because he can't yet feel Sprout's Muhammad Ali impression that Mommy is now feeling on a daily basis. No, instead of feeling Sprout, both of us got to see him on hi-res, ultrasound video.

Yes, him.

Sprout is a boy!!

We are so excited to know more about our sweet little man, and this was such a glorious moment. The ultrasound tech was able to grab a few fleeting moments of Sprout on video.

The folks over here at Sprout Shout Films were kind enough to work over the weekend, leaving their families and sleeping on the cutting room floor, to bring you this first ever short film on Sprout. Enjoy!

Taking Shape: A Visitor From Another Land

Early in the morning on June 7 we rolled into the uber-hi-tech scanning facility on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. We had the first appointment of the day and were ushered in for what would become the coolest private screening we had ever seen. Avatar stunk compared to what we got to see. Sorry, Mr. Cameron. Just tellin' it like it is. No offense to the planet Pandora or those blue aliens you created.

That doesn't mean we didn't get to see alien-esque footage. Using the facility's sophisticated machinery and the sticky goo they rubbed on Brittani's belly, we got to see Sprout in its new shape: humanoid. Gone were the images of a blueberry with a heartbeat, bouncing along like a singalong ball.

When we first came across Sprout, it was sleeping on its back, motionless. With a jostle of the ultrasound wand Sprout sprang to life like a crazed marionette, bouncing its legs and arms to tell us we had just woken it up from a very comfortable slumber. We had never seen sprout move before!

In a seemingly aware sense of the camera's adoration, Sprout immediately developed a 'tude and shoved its newly-formed hand into the "lens," as if to say "No paparazzi! I'm gonna take that camera and smash it!"

Sprout then flipped away from us onto its side, tried in vain to get comfortable and then rolled onto its back again. It immediately started sucking its thumb and returned to the Land of Nod, dreaming things it will never tell.

Amazing. Simply amazing. Although Sprout's ears were still migrating to the sides of its head, and its eyes were getting into position, we could clearly see our little one taking shape. We may have glimpsed on an evolving character in an alien landscape, but we knew it would be all too soon that we would be holding the fully-evolved baby in our arms.

The surprise of the visit? The tech said "Hmmm. I think I know what sex the baby is. Do you want to know?"

We didn't want to know at the moment, but her question gave us a pretty good guess of Sprout's gender. Although most family and friend bets were on "girl," we had a hunch we might be seeing a little boy soon. Only time would tell.

Enjoy these first "humanly" pictures of our little one!

The Baby Bump: An Evolution

While we haven't been taking pictures every week up to this point (tomorrow, August 2 will be 21 weeks), we do have a few and are planning on making this a weekly event.

Enjoy these pictures of Sprout's beautiful mommy as she graciously lets Sprout sleep and eat 24/7 for nine months for free!

Movin' Right Along

By the time three weeks had passed from our first Sprout sighting, we were assured all was well, meaning that Sprout was growing right on target.

During this visit we got to see the steady heartbeat flicker and the now familiar image of Sprout bobbing up and down, left and right around the womb. Our doctor snapped up this third-ever picture of Sprout, which we named "Despicable Me" because it looks like Sprout has a huge, crooked nose like Steve Carell's character in 2010's movie of this title. In reality, that's not a huge beak; it's an arm. Or the beginnings of an arm. An armlett, if you will.

The whitest part of the photo is actually Sprout's face in profile, and the little hook thing is its left arm coming out below the head. Can you see it?

Gimme A Beat

Mom and Dad went to visit the doctor a week after the first Sprout sighting to make sure it was growing smoothly and that all was well in the world of womb.

Not only did we get to see that Sprout had grown a week's worth in a week (which in Sprout terms is its first major accomplishment), but we also were treated to something unexpected: a quick little flicker on the ultrasound screen in the middle of the blob that turned out to be a heartbeat. This little embryo was not only thump-thump-thumping away for our visual entertainment, but it was also bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful, briny sea that will be its home until December 16.

Yes, after a week's worth of confirmed growth, we were now certain we'd have a Christmas Baby. Oh, tidings of comfort and joy!

At First Glimpse

This was the first time Mom and Dad got to lay eyes on our little Sprout. We were less than two months along and had a whole world ahead of us that was measured in terms of weeks and days, in centimeters and heartbeats.

Although we needed a full tutorial from our doctor to understand what we were looking at, we were able to clearly make out the yolk sack and the tiny 1cm blob that would become the new love of our lives. At this point, Sprout was measuring a bit small, but we had faith it would grow nicely.

A Beginning

Welcome to Sprout Shout, our family blog that will follow the growth and adventures of our own little Sprout!*

We will try to keep this blog updated frequently, and if we get into it enough, we might even add some fun bells and whistles, too. In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy the digital chronicles of our little one as it grows from pea-sized to me-sized. Mini-me-sized, that is.


* Sprout and the Sprout Shout blog name are unregistered trade terms of our nuclear family. Sprout and/or Shout are not indicative of the actual child's name. Names will remain confidential until the birth event.