Previewing Our Upcoming April Release

I work at a college. So, when people ask me if I have registered yet, my automatic reaction is, "for Spring term classes?" I finally figured out that they meant: "have you signed up for a baby registry yet because I want to buy you gifts but I don't know what you need."

I feel kind of weird signing up for a baby registry. Partly because I feel like I'm dictating what someone should buy for me as a gift. That seems sort of demanding. But mostly, I feel weird because I don't really know what I need! What I really need is parents to give me a short list of their "Favorite Things." (Where, here, "Favorite Things" is capitalized and in quotation marks because I am referencing Oprah's "Favorite Things.")

Don't get me wrong--I totally appreciate gifts. I welcome them. But even more so, I welcome any ideas of what things you just couldn't live without and would recommend for a new, clueless parent. (Feel free to comment and tell me your favorite things!)

Anyway...I'm registered at Target now.

Also, while we were walking up and down the aisles scanning cool stuff, we saw a prenatal baby eavesdropping device. It's cool, because it was cheap and isn't an ultrasound--so no controversial waves are bombarding baby. It's kinda lame because it was cheap and isn't an ultrasound--so it's kinda tough to hear the heartbeat. But, it does come with 2 sets of earphones and a recording cable. Which, of course, we took advantage of right away. So, you can preview our upcoming April release at our website:

www.myspace.com/kalaloch

It's not the first loudish bumps, it's the very soft, quick, regular ticks in the background.

Running out of Room...

Here is our little fellow all squished up and happy at 31 1/2 weeks ("7 months")! The ultrasound went great today. The placenta is definitely out of the way...so no problems people! He is (as he has been for months) head down and snuggled in tight. Here are some super cute pictures of his face:

I know...it's tough to see. But in the picture above, you see his head (turned sideways) and his face is looking right at you. His eyes are the two dark spots and you can see his nose and mouth. His head isn't round-looking in the picture because he is really snuggled down there--so you can't see his whole head.
This is from the same angle as the last picture, but his little mouth is open wide in a yawn.

So cute!

And there's his little foot. It was pushed right into my side, so you don't get a real clear outline...but there it is!

Everything is going very well with this pregnancy. I'm a little sore--but for the most part I have no complaints. I got a whole 8+ hours of sleep last night...I know those days are numbered, so I'm trying to enjoy them! Mostly, I just love growing this little guy inside of me. (=

"Unnecessary"

"Thank you" to Mr. David Shelley for linking to the "blog" about "unnecessary" quotation marks. I "laughed" so hard at work today that I had to stop reading...out of fear that my office mate would think I was completely "crazy."

So...find a moment when you can laugh in "private" and "enjoy" the site! (I highly recommend reading through the older posts as well. Some of my favorites are not on the first page)

http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com

Blessing in Brookings

Last weekend we carpooled with Alex's mom and my brother-in-law's mother down to Brookings, OR--a little beach town right on the CA/OR border. We went down to see Gavin & Amy (our niece & nephew)'s new baby girl blessed. Emily will be just around 4 months older than our little guy...I imagine they will be the best of friends (=

I had a lot of fun and REALLY enjoyed the peacefulness of the beach. I do admit though--I was a bit whiny. The 6 hour drive down, 2 nights on HARD hotel beds, and the 8 + hour drive back really took their toll on my sore hips and back. Still...I wouldn't have missed seeing that baby girl and I'm glad we went!

Here is sweet baby Emily and her mama Amy with Gavin in the background.
Four generations. See the sun?? It was SO beautiful! It felt like spring with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s. We had a campfire on the beach and thoroughly enjoyed the weather.

My niece Greta was wonderful! She painted mine and Amy's toenails. I really needed that! I've been wearing flip flops for the last 5 months and my feet were looking pretty sad!

Alex had a great time wrestling with his nephews. I'm so excited that we are having a boy! Alex is going to be such a fun daddy. I know he is looking forward to having another guy around the house (=

Here we all are! Top row: Jen & Alex, Joyce, Lon, Amy w/ baby Emily, Gavin, Laura, Marva, Glenn & his fiancee Megan. Bottom row: G & A's friends (David, Kathy, Aaron, Ryan), Garrett, and Greta

Latest Recording Session

Robots Reel-to-Reels

Preggo Rock Star

Rockstar in utero

Alex (the spouse) here.



I must say, our little unborn baby appears to be considerably cooler than we could ever be.



For instance, we tried to count up the number of rock concerts that our young fetus has attended -- Our best guess is somewhere around thirty. That's more than most adults! Now, I understand that the young one's ears haven't been fully formed through all of that, but considering he kicks Mom's bass guitar when she plays, I suspect he hears something. Either way, he can brag about being on tour and making his mother morningsick and craving cold cereal in the middle of the night in the worst neighborhood San Francisco.



Another case in point: On the night of January 17, I went alone to see a show with Finn Riggins (Idaho) and Jared Mees and the Grown Children (Portland); two of our favorite new bands, as well as local heroes Mill Race. Jen had church obligations, which I tried to taunt her out of by randomly chanting choruses to Jared Mees or Finn Riggins songs. I must say, she was very tempted, but she's more faithful than I am. Anyway, Jen came after her activity and caught the last Finn Riggins song, but was absent for most of the (exceptional) show.



Before the show, I ended up talking with both bands (we're acquaintances, I guess? It sounds really geeky or something to say that the touring bands recognized me and came up to talk). In the whole "what's new?" category of conversation, I had to mention that Jen was pregnant. I think we weren't telling anyone last time we saw either band.



Anyway, in the normal line of questioning-- "how far along is she?" "boy or girl?" "do you have a name picked out?", I happened to mention that our name for the baby is tentatively Edgar Alexander (unless meeting said baby convinces us otherwise).



So, Jared Mees dedicated one of his songs to "Young Edgar Alexander, wherever he may be"...



And proceeded to play a song entitled The Tallest Building in Hell.



...So that's another thing to brag about to his schoolmates in a few years. I wonder what it's going to be like when this kid starts to rebel against his parents... "Mom and Dad, I hate rock and roll. I only like classical. Plus also, sports."



As long as I'm long-windedly typing, album update: We're nearly done. Finished recording on another song today before some of the vintage analog equipment decided to become temperamental. We only have finishing touches left to do on a few songs. We plan to mix the album sometime around March, just before baby comes.



We have 12 songs; most are pretty long. We haven't decided whether to do a CD, or release an LP (that's a record, people) and offer a free digital download with the LP for those poor souls without record players. If we do the LP, we're probably going to have to cut down to 8 or 9 songs, so we'll just have to see.



The record will be ready to be released by this summer or fall, but we have no idea what our lives will be like once we're parents (no really, we have NO idea), so no plans to tour to promote the record, or really no plans for anything at all past April.



Ah well, we had a good run. Thanks for listening to my rant. I now return you to Jen's regularly scheduled blog.

6 months

Not sure if I really want a picture of my bare belly on the internets...but if I don't post it, I know Alex will.

This is the result of allowing Alex to attack me with a sharpie (=

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Life is SO BUSY! I'll update soon. But...not right now.