This is one of the thousand or so pictures that Joel has had this past eight days. It has been a good time, though it has been tiring and odd. Anne's family was here with us last week (her mom all week and her dad and brother some of the week). It was good to have them here, though it feels nice to be a little on our own now. Anne has really taken to the role of mother well. She and Joel are bonding like crazy. I really like this Dad thing too. I cannot say what it feels like or anything like that...but coming home feels really different than it used to. Joel is doing well. He is doing a lot of looking around. We even found an activity that makes him smile (extend arms up while holding Joel, retract arms down (yes, while still holding Joel)). Anne was a bit sick today, but we are otherwise good.

Stuff has been happening really quickly this week. We have been worn out. We have had a lot of visitors. We love the visits and I wouldn't ever say anything else, but there have been a lot. We have gotten gifts upon gifts of clothes and blankets. The dishwasher broke. The RAID 1 array on my computer keeps breaking even though both disks check out well using several good (and OEM) programs. We have a huge church fundraiser to do soon (though Anne is officially on leave, we cannot do it without her). I got a good new computer desk for the basement for $5.26. The kitchen is painted well. I took the tape off on the night Anne went into labor. We are rid of most of the wallpaper. We need to sleep, but Joel is really agitated now (for no reason we can figure out). I guess it is time to turn in anyways. I really miss everyone. I hope you can come by and see Joel! Don't be afraid (though calling first is appreciated)!

Message from our son...

Surprise...I am a boy.

My name is Joel Thomas Berg. I have been doing quite well, and my parents and grandparents are doing well too. I was 6 lbs 14oz at birth and 20.5 inches long. I was born at 9:04 on Monday, January 16th.

My parents are really proud of me. So far, my interests include snuggling, moving my head, and sucking. My parents had a good labor experience, and since then they have been trying to read my mind. What love we have here! I cannot wait to meet you, so give my parents a call and ask to talk to me.

See some more great pictures of me:
http://gallery.salsite.com/gallery/JoelBerg1

This is the due date...and she is still hanging out inside Anne. The good news is that Anne is still feeling fine and that her body is making final preparations (effacing, dilation, staging)--and having these done now should shorten labor considerably.

Stay tuned. We are still living life like normal, but I am monitoring the cell phone a lot. Wow, we are excited!

In other news, we had a good time this weekend with Sal, Eric, Randy, and Ruth over. It was wonderful to hear that Ruth got stared at during her 3rd grade "presidents of the USA" song when people got to RUTHerford B Hayes. It makes me realize that ALL names can fall victim to elementary school goofballs. We can feel free to name her ANYTHING and she will have those problems. We are still on "Amelia" and "Gretchen" for the girl names.

A whole lot has been going on. I had a good New Year's sauerkraut and ice cream pig-out at Gerry's on Sunday. Work has been decent, but intense. We 6 days away from the official due date...and I think we are as ready as we can be. We figured out/installed the car seat in yesterday. This was the day when I was discussing the ins and outs of foundation repair, humidifiers, and after I had just installed a new range hood...but the instructions on the car seat were by far the most confusing. Those instructions though...egad, they are definitely not concise or well-organized. We eventually got it in and it appears to work well. We have practiced the labor and delivery stuff and we have some good expectations as to how it will most likely go. It is hard to wait.
Then we think of what we will name her and it seems much easier to wait.
Girl name list (in order or preference as of today in Neil's (and Anne's, sort of) mind):
Kiersten
Amelia
Gretchen

Others we liked (also in order): Sarai, Julia, Alana, Astrid. It is scary to think that the name will most likely be based more upon our mood at the moment more than anything else. At least the name seems to be fluctuating daily as of the past week.

In other news, we had water in our basement on Monday night. It seeped in from one end of the basement to the storm sewer drain in the middle of the floor. Luckily, we didn't have anything important in the puddle--by coincidence, I was down there the whole time it was leaking in. We had the company that waterproofed the basement out and we determined that the draintile system they put in is really good (we ran a hose down it on full blast and it worked well), but that the storm sewers were full. There is not one thing you can do if that happens besides draining your sump into the yard. Luckily, I can accept the circumstances that created the sewers to fill as truly exceptional (my dad has owned property in this neighborhood for 16 years and had never seen it flood like it had on Monday). We simply had downpours for days and days mixed with a foot of snow melting due to 50 degree January temperatures. Next time (if there is one) I will wetvac the draintile system and dump the water into the yard. It might be futile, but it might work. Also--IF YOU OWN A HOUSE GET A WE/DRY VAC. This thing saved our hineys yet once again by being able to remove the water from the floor.

We have a big ol' crack in the basement wall to think about. This is likely to be our clay soil pushing in on the block. The waterproofing/foundation guy recommended an interior steel beam system if the problem gets any worse--though he was clear that it was not a huge deal right now.
I also get to look forward to installing my own draintile into the crawlspace to alleviate the water that is collecting both around the perimeter of the inside walls and in the block. This will be a looooong weekend project...maybe over the summer.

Who knew that home ownership could be so much fun with a "best house we viewed" house? Anyways, I have been trying to knock as many of the items off our "to do/to fix/to remodel" list as possible before the baby comes. So far we have been installing shelves, fixtures, doorknobs, switches, outlets, hookups for appliances, carpet, insulation, scrapping wallpaper, painting, lighting stuff, reseting doors, caulking everything, a hundred small things, and generally learning everything about every system that is in the house. We have about 3 dozen things that are left to do (though most are repeats of stuff mentioned above). Oh well, they can all wait once the baby comes!

Who knows, the next picture that goes up here may be of the baby...

Big Fish Lil' Fish at the Zoar New Year's Eve party. One girl got SERIOUSLY addicted to it. We are talking 3 hours in a row addicted. It was a fun night of conversation and listening to Ramona Collins and Line One (Eric Dickey's group).

The house is clearing up. We have the paper from the entryway, stairs, and dining room down and the rooms are painted well. In addition, the baby's room and guest room (now with bed) are painted. Xmas was nice. Anne's parents and brother stayed with us for a pleasant week. They were really fun to have around and they helped us with the house improvements a lot.

The baby has only 11 more days of time within Anne before the due date. We are crazy excited. We hope she comes out and tells us her name because we cannot decide on one. Here is the short list:
Alana
Amelia
Gretchen
Kiersten
Sarai

We like Astrid, but it seems that we are the only ones who like Astrid.

We miss everyone like crazy and our house is open for stopping-by. Also, Brady left me with some Big Fish, Lil' Fish to distribute to friends--so come and grab a shiny retail-ready package containing your very own deck of cards, instruction manual, and warranty card.