Monthly News

3/24/08

I got accepted into USD, and I got a denial letter from Creighton (boooo!). If you haven’t already heard, I will not be going to law school any time soon… hopefully never.

1/25/08

I recently applied to 2 law schools: USD and Creighton University. I should be receiving word of acceptance within 2 months from now. Wish me luck.

9/18/06

Recently we found out that Noah is more than likely teething at only 3 and a half months! We had to bring him in to the Dr. because he had a cold and he was all stuffy and could hardly eat or sleep. The Dr. said that we should give him some saline drops or spray every 30 mins to keep his nose nice and moist. He then felt Noah’s teeth and said he was probably teething. I hope he doesn’t teeth for 8 months like someone else told me happened to their son when they teethed at 3 and a half months.

Supposedly at day care, Noah laughed out loud… which sucks because I haven’t even heard him do that yet.

Soon I will be posting youtubes to this website so that you can sort of see the progress that he is making and there will be plenty of laughs.

Sorry it’s been 6 months since I’ve updated this…

3/25/06

Rachel and I are broke.

Other than that, there’s really no news. Well we did have to go to the hospital the other week because we had some minor complications. If you want to read about it click on the news tag on the front page.

3/05/06

There is not much for news this week other than Rachel and I went to a play on Friday. It was pretty good. It had some humor, some drama, some tears, but overall it was pretty good. Rachel’s belly is growing little by little and it is getting very close to June 02 now. I’m getting more and more nervous by the day. I’m nervous only because of the delivery. I think that will be one of the most scary things I’ll ever have to do in my life.

2/24/06

About a week ago, Rachel had to have a glucose screening at the doctor. It was weird because she had to drink this massive bottle of coke-flavored glucose within 5 minutes, and then we basically had to sit in the waiting room for an hour. We watched “Must Love Dogs” on my PSP™, so the time went by pretty fast. Then, of course, Rachel was all nervous about getting poked because she hates needles. It turns out the needle was about half the diameter of a threading needle, so it didn’t hurt her.

A couple of days later, Rach got the screening results back, and they turned out to be OK! I’m glad she doesn’t have gestational diabetes, because it could turn into real diabetes after pregnancy, and that’s no good. That’s all the news I’ve got!

2/02/06

Last night I stayed up until about 4 o’clock finishing up on what I think to be a pretty solid budget. I used Quicken™ to anaylze which months were very tight (December during Christmas, or June when Noah is born) and from that analysis I decided we just need to take more out of our savings for those months. Right now we’re looking at milking about all but $500 out of our savings fund (starting with $4200). To me, that’s pretty dang good. By next May of 2007, Rachel should be done with school and should start working full time. I will sadly still be in school for another 4 years after that.

We went to look at townhouses today! We found townhouses at East Pointe on 3rd and Sycamore and they are pretty nice. They rent for $515 and they include a garage with the townhome. We got to look through the townhome and realized that the living room is the smallest room we’ve ever seen in our lives. The kitchen is fairly large with a spacious area. The upstairs is where the 2 bedrooms are with the bathroom. One room is small (that will be Noah’s room) and one room is medium (that will be Rachel and I’s room). And yes, we’re sleeping in the same room together. If you have a problem with that, go pray or something. Just kidding!

We’ve already filled out an application (which cost $50) and we will find out within 2 days if we are eligible to live there. I’ll post pictures on here later of what they all look like.

2/01/06

It was pretty funny today. We went to classes at the Alpha Center and at the end of our session this lady sat us down and asked us a couple of questions. She drilled at us, “So, where are you going to live? Are you married?” We replied, “We’re going to live together and no we are not married.” The blue hair said, “You know, that’s not God’s plan for his people.” And then thank God someone burst into the room to break the awkward silence.

First of all I was offended. She called me Jewish… you know?… God’s people. I’m not Jewish lady, I’m Catholic. Second of all she really isn’t in the place to tell me what I should do with my life. Would I be better of raising a child in 2 separate households? I think not.

I actually started to laugh because I thought it was funny that she was judging us at the Alpha Center (where young, pregnant, teenage girls come when they don’t know how to tell mommy). I went on to tell her that we really didn’t have an option.

1/18/06

Today Rach and I went to the “Social Security Services and Information Blah Blah” place. Once we got there, it was kind of weird to see that almost everyone there wasn’t white. It seemed like we were the only white people there. In a way it made me feel bad, and in a way it made me think about how a lot of people may have it way worse than me. We filled out our Medicaid forms, since that was the main reason we were there. We had a massive amount of questions, but they were all answered by the lady with a telephone in her ear (hehe). That’s about all that happened today. Oh, and we won about 3 straight games of cards! Go us!

1/09/06

Nothing that exciting happened for me today. I started school again last Monday, and we seriously had class on Saturday! When have you ever heard of a school having class on a Saturday unless it was finals? I have no clue, but that’s just stupid. The class I’m in right now is called “Politics in Film” and I basically watch movies every day in there. I’ve learned a ton of things in that class already. For example I learned that Apocalypse Now was actually based on the book called Heart of Darkness. Anyhow, we’ll see how it goes.

12/31/05

I did finally get a digital camera for Christmas, so you will see lots more pics of Rachel and I in the Daily News section. I hope you enjoy. Today is New Years Eve, and I am going to church and going to Rachel’s mom’s party. Trust me boys, you get a girl pregnant, fun has a whole different meaning. You stop drinking, you stop being an idiot, you stop driving eradically, and suddenly your version of fun became more adultlike. It’s weird to think of how fast I’m growing up now that I know I will be a dad soon. It makes you walk a little more dad-like, and most importantly it makes you smile. Being a dad is going to be great. The only bad part is dirty diapers. Happy new year!

12/12/05

I’m considering renaming this section to “every 15 day news” since I have absolutely no time to post in this section very often. It is getting closer and closer to Christmas, and Rachel’s tummy is getting closer and closer to showing up! It will be interesting to see how people react to her being pregnant. I’m a salesman at Best Buy, so I often will say, “Obviously, you’re going to need a big washer because you’ve got one on the way.” I know, I’m terrible. Seriously though, I am wondering what people’s reactions will be, especially when she’s 8 months along.

I made a Christmas list today for my parents, all of which it includes a digital camera (so I can take pictures of our baby!) and lots of stuff for Rachel and I’s apartment. I was so tempted to write down “xbox 360 with games”, but I had to let it go (thanks a lot, honey). Well, that’s all the news for now! Maybe I’ll get back to this page within 15 days!

11/30/05

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, and this time I’ve got no excuse…. I’m just plain lazy. Nothing all that exciting has happened in the past few weeks. Thanksgiving was a blur, other than the fact that I lost booku money that day to my gambling-addicted uncle. Rachel is still not really showing in her tummy, which is partially a good thing, because we don’t exactly want everyone in the world to know about it. I will begin to post pictures of her progress as soon as I get a camera of my own (Hopefully! for Christmas).

11/15/05

Here are some pictures from Rachel’s Birthday [Click Images to get a bigger size]. She got a popcorn maker from my parents! Isn’t she pretty??

Here’s a fun game… how many Jesuses can you spot in these 2 pictures?

Here’s another fun trivia game. Can you spot a change made between the 1st and 2nd pictures?

11/11/05

Yesterday, we went to “Earn while you learn” classes at the local Alpha Center. Earn while you learn is a program where you watch videos, do homework, go to the doc, and then you get rewarded for it with points that you can use for diapers, cribs, bottles, blankets, and so on. It was hilarious, because the lady told us to watch the video for about 5 minutes and then to shut it off. Well, we watched the very first section, and it said absolutely nothing of any intellectual value and then we shut it off. We were very confused. Nonetheless, we still received our points for the day!

11/08/05

If you’re starting to wonder why I haven’t posted in awhile in this section… it’s because there really hasn’t been much time for me to post here. I’ve been bogged down with homework the entire week and just barely getting by on sleep. We do have some huge news for everyone who doesn’t know already. My girlfriend’s mom told the family, and the whole family knows now. If you would like to read more about how it went and what everyone’s reaction was, make sure you read my November 8th post on the main page.

11/06/05

Happy birthday honey!!!!! Today was my lovely lady’s birthday. We went out to eat at HuHot and had a fun time. It was quite uncomfortable at first for me because it was the first time I had seen her grandparent’s since they found out she was pregnant. Needless to say, I had to sit right next to them. It turned out alright, and we had a lovely time. I will post pictures of the party here once they get developed.

11/03/05

Today was our first Doctor visit. We got an ultrasound of our baby and got to see it do a backflip kung foo style. If you would like to see a picture of the first ultrasound, click here.

10/30/05

Since I didn’t post yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that, I will make up for it.

Yesterday was a halloween party that my girlfriend’s aunt was putting on. It was a blast… sort of. We spent most of our time sitting on a random couch or chair and drinking pop. She is about 2 1/2 months along now, and she was not showing so no one there knew that she was pregnant. Thank God, because most of the people there were her family and we don’t exactly want them to know yet!

Today, I worked my butt off. I almost collapsed after work was done. The day all in all was truly uneventful. One thing that did happen was I yelled at my girlfriend for not “taking her pre-natal vitamins”. I feel bad for yelling at her now. So, if you are reading this honey… I am sorry :-). So for any of the guys out there reading this, remember – do not yell at girlfriend/wife for not taking vitamins.

10/26/05

Today was massage day for my girlfriend. It was strange because she had to let the masseuse know that she was pregnant. Now you’re probably thinking… what’s the big deal?? Well, the masseuse is a guy I work with and he doesn’t know she is pregnant yet. After it was all said and done, he was alright with it and was excited for us.

10/25/05

Today, my lovely lady is sick. She is dryheaving up a storm. Now, I am going to be a good boyfriend and make her some supper that doesn’t want to make her throw up.

–We did make pizza tonight and it tasted like spaghettios! I don’t necessarily recommend the chef boyardee pizza kit! Needless to say, my girlfriend did not throw up tonight. Good news.

10/17/05

Breaking the news (posted on: 10/25/05)
Nearly one week ago, my stomach was doing backflips. Why? Well, it’s obvious why. I had to tell my parents something I did not want to tell them: my girlfriend was pregnant! First we took the pregnancy test (a rip off for 10 bucks), and there was a definite plus sign on the device. I gulped, sitting on my bed next to her in my room. Mentally, I had already prepared myself for this so I wasn’t too terrified. My girlfriend, on the other hand, was scared to death.

It was understandable why she was so upset. Our society tells you that you are a “screw up” if you get pregnant before you’re married. And she obviously did not want to be seen as a screw up. I comforted her as best I could, but there’s really not one thing or a combination of things that I could say to her. I think just when we looked at eachother in the eye, we somehow knew that everything would be OK if we tried.

From there we went to get some advice from her friend, let’s call her “Sally”. It was a very awkward circumstance that I faced. I felt so stupid for getting into this mess and felt that “Sally” would look down on me. To my surprise, she was very hospitable to my girlfriend and I. She also gave us very great advice and attempted to comfort us as we were swimming in a sea of fear.

We then decided to have a chat with my sister, who is roughly 23 (who keeps track after 21?). She really had no idea what to say, other than “Oh…. my…. God”. Oh my God is right… and of course it’s a very comforting response when you’re in that situation, not! She went on to explain that my mom would cry and be saddened and terrified; this got me extremely nervous. I don’t know if anyone has ever seen their mother cry, but it has to be the most humbling experience ever. So needless to say, my sister was not much of a help as far as comforting goes, but it wasn’t really her fault.

After the chat with my sister, we decided to tell our parents that very night. My stomach felt like it was tying itself in a knot. It was the secondmost terrible feeling ever. The first most terrible feeling ever is the feeling of getting smashed by a garbage compactor . First we stopped at her house and sat down out in the living room and told her parents. Surprisingly enough, they were not mad. They spoke with a calm voice… although I could tell her mother was nervous because she stood almost the entire time.

There was an uncomfortable atmosphere that arose in the conversation. Her mom continually struck the note of “you have to consider all options”. “Consider all options” is of course the nice way of saying “you should probably give it up for adoption.” We shrugged off the comments because we had already considered adoption, and we decided that we would want to keep the baby. You can’t really explain to anyone why in God’s name we wouldn’t just give the baby up. “There’s gotta be a million people out there who want a child.” The thing is, is that it’s easier said than done. Handing over your child to someone else would have to be the most saddening experience ever. It would leave me wondering, every single day, what is he/she doing right now? Is it like me? Does it have my eyes? Would he/she know who I was if I passed he/she on the street?

Then we dragged ourselves to my house where my dad was watching TV (pretty typical) and my mom was doing laundry. I told my mom to come downstairs because I had to tell her something with dad. I sat everyone down together and said, “This isn’t a joke at all… I’m completely serious,” my voice cracked, “Rachel is pregnant.” The room kind of just sat there for a few seconds with nothing said at all. You could hear my hearbeat it was so quiet.

Minutes later, my dad let out his… here we go again sigh… *Siiiiiiiiggggghhh*. And he exclaimed that he was not mad, and that he was “taking it all in”. My mom, rather than playing the adoption note, played the “so you’re gonna get married” note. I nearly rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe she had said that. How could she expect me to propose (and afford a ring) plus plan an entire wedding and then have a wedding before the baby is born? Needless to say, she got over the fact that her perfect son was not so perfect after all and that we would not be getting married before having our first child.

For anyone out there reading this because you are scared about what your parents might think or say to you… know that it will be alright. If your mom or dad can truly call themself a parent, then they will understand you and listen to you.