homely little face

For the first time in months, Baby Ender has shown his face for an ultrasound! For the longest time he was camera-shy, and wouldn't show his face for any pictures. Unfortunately, now that he's developed a real face, and the courage to show it, he looks kind of homely and a little crazy...
In this picture you can see his one long eye, his little nose, and his huge frowny lips.


Which is better than what we got at the previous ultrasound...
I defy anyone to tell me what on Earth part of my son this is, and there's a dollar in it for the first person who can successfully decipher this image.

new nursery

originally posted: 5/7/08

Amy and I finally got around to taking some pictures of Ender's new room. My sister-in-law Lisa and niece Aubriegh were awesome enough to spend a week with us, breaking their backs changing our second bedroom from office/storage space, into the kind of room your proud to put your new baby.


We went with a jungle theme, which meant they painted the walls in jungle greens, and put monkeys all over the place. They also installed cabinets, hung drapes, installed a murphy bed, and mouse-proofed the whole place.


We're very happy with the way the whole thing turned out, and want to show it off to all of our family and friends. Since most everyone we want to show it off to live thousands of miles away, this little virtual tour will have to suffice until you come to visit us. Soon.

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2 comments:

Bethany said...
so cute! we need to come see it in person before I have this baby. I need to call you guys! talk soon!
5/9/08

mike said...
that's a fine looking room. hopefully i'll see you guys in august.
5/11/08

ninety percent

originally posted: 5/5/08

Amy is adamant about not having a c-section unless it's actually necessary. This morning we had an appointment with Dr Manny, our OB/GYN, for a regular baby check-up. While we were waiting to see him, we asked one of his nurses what percentage of babies Dr Manny delivers c-section. She said, "About 90-95%". Neither of us could believe it.

When we actually got to talk to Dr Manny, Amy expressed that she's very interested in avoiding a c-section unless really necessary. Dr Manny answered us with the following:

"You're not some of those militant people from California who absolutely refuse to have a c-section, are you? Because if you are, I'll end our relationship right here and now."

Then he explained what it was like "before the lawyers took over" to us.

Apparently the lawyers came and took away bedside manner as well.

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5 comments:

Lewis Family said...
Sounds to me like you need to find a new OB/GYN. - Aaron
5/9/08

Bethany said...
I second that!
5/9/08

Shells said...
Yes, find someone else, or look into midwives or birthing centers in the area.
5/11/08

cmmg said...
Gonna put my .02 worth in! Get a new OB!!
5/29/08

Amy said...
Thanks for your advice, everyone. You'll be relieved, as am I, to know that we have found a new doctor. She is optimistic about my chances for vaginal birth...
6/4/08

camera shy

originally posted: 3/26/08

I wasn't able to go to this one, so we asked them to send back a lot of good pictures so I could see how my baby son is growing. Jerks gave us just one good picture and some lame ones. Just the same, he looks quite human, and kicks up a storm!

kung-fu fetus

originally posted: 3/16/08

I felt my baby kick me for the first time!

It was on Thursday night. He was squirming around a lot, and Amy had me put my hand on a particular part of her tummy and push in a little. A few seconds later my son kicked back at me! I was very surprised at how hard he kicked, and how big his foot was. My little man his getting big!

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2 comments:

mike said...
that is pretty cool.
3/19/08

cmmg said...
Oh, how fun!
3/25/08

man parts

originally posted: 1/29/08

It's a boy? Not according to the ultrasound tech... our baby is a man! I added the arrow to this picture, so you don't mistake his leg for his... but the tech wrote "man" on his leg, and you're supposed to look a little to the left.


He also has a very many profile, which now includes a nose, lips, and eyes.


This isn't our child, but the baby in this picture is the same age as ours. Just thought you might like to see just how much detail the ultrasound leaves out.

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2 comments:

Lewis Family said...
YEA!! We like boys at our house. What are we ever going to do with a girl?? We are very excited for you!
Sassy
1/30/08

Bethany said...
Congrats you guys. We need to get together soon. give us a call.
2/6/08

baby sasha round two

originally posted: 12/29/07




These pictures aren't better than the first ones, but here they are. The fun part about today's scan was seeing the baby's nose, and watching it jump around a lot! I wish I could show you that, but you'll have to settle for a fun foot shot.

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2 comments:

Shells said...
Looking a little less like a mouse or a bean....more like a human bean. :)

How may weeks along is she?
12/31/07

slurpeefiend said...
She/he (we don't know gender yet) is about twelve weeks old.
1/2/08

first look at baby sasha

originally published: 12/21/07

At long last, our first ultrasound pictures of baby Sasha (the name we're calling our baby until we know its gender) are ready to share with an anxious world! These were actually taken a week too soon so they're not very clear, but that means that we'll have more and better pictures in a week.


This one is my personal favorite!


Aw, Daddy's little alien ghost... wave Hi to the camera!


Little feet, tiny rump, huge huge head!

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2 comments:

Cheriem said...
Congratulations on the little alien baby! I'm actually so excited for the two of you. :-) Glad all looks well at this stage.
12/23/07

Shells said...
They all look a little like a mouse at that stage! LOL

Keep us updated though~!
12/27/07

my boys can swim!

originally posted: 12/1/07

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6 comments:

Mike said...
congratulations again! i look forward to having little Rasmussens running around.
12/1/07

Shells said...
And congrats!

Those aren't her actual sticks are they? If so, there are no false positives, only false negatives ;)
12/3/07

Susan said...
AWESOME! Can't wait for a new baby to spoil! :)
12/4/07

Bethany said...
You guys! I'm so happy for you! COngrats! We need to see you more. Talk soon.
12/4/07

Cheriem said...
Congratulations!!
12/5/07

sharbear said...
Hey Brian and wife,
You'll love being parents. It's so much fun. Congrats. In case you're wondering, I found your link through Sassy's and thought I would say hi. It's Gooch. Remember me?
12/10/07

stupid, but sober

originally posted: 6/10/07

Amy and I just got back from Yale, where we spent the weekend at her five year class reunion. I've spent my whole life¹ surrounded by friends who are much smarter than I am. My barely-above-average IQ is something I came to terms with years ago, and growing up in those circumstances I learned how to at least hold my own around the intellectual elite. This weekend was tough for me because, although the people at the reunion were on about the same level as many of my friends, there were hundreds of them. I found it intimidating, a little overwhelming, and quite humbling. The one advantage I had over almost everyone else there (except amy, for the same reason) was that I didn't have any alcohol, and therefore didn't plunge massive amounts of my intellectual credibility (inferior as it is) into a drunken stupor.

I did get a compliment from one of Amy's friends, which went something like this, "Most of the time non-Yaleies can't blend in with the rest of us, but your husband did a good job of it!"

1) With the exception of 1996-1997 & 2004.

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3 comments:

Amy said...
The exact comment was, "Your husband is fabulouts! We're not an easy group to get along with, but he held his own. He's such a nice guy and he's really cute." Yeah, that pretty much sums up my man... Plus he really stood up well to all the stick-it-to the white man humor.
6/12/07

Amy said...
okay, not "fabulouts," FABULOUS!
6/12/07

mike said...
they are the smarts!
6/18/07

pulling a fast one...

Since Amy and I created this blog to share our little family with the rest of our family and friends, and since I already posted stuff about our little family on the b-log over the past year, I'm going to transfer most (if not all) of those entries to this one. So if you see something here that you swear you've seen before, you'll know where it came from, and you'll know that you're not necessarily going crazy.

Just a little heads up...

our purpose

So, most of you must be thinking, "Hey, what the heck are you doing with another blog? Wasn't the b-log enough for you? Why bother making another one?" Well, there was an incident a few weeks ago that made Amy and I reconsider how much info I post about our family on the internet, and what kind of info to include.

And so Beginning with Ender is born! This is a blog for our families and friends, and not the general public, which is why we're going through the whole you-must-log-in-to-view-this step. It's inconvenient, but it will allow us to post pictures and stories about our life that we otherwise wouldn't.

Feel free to visit as often as you like, and comment on anything you see. And enjoy the new blog!