Flapjack gave me a high five

Last night when we got in the bed, Jenna said "Wow Flapjack is really moving around." So I put my hand on her belly and sure enough I felt Flapjack move for the first time!!! Its the best feeling in the world. For men the early stages of pregnancy are so different. We get to put the pregnancy out of our mind for the majority of the day but the baby is tap dancing on Mom's bladder all the time.

This pregnancy has been so different from the first. We talk more about what Flapjack's personality will be and how Noah will react, while we talked about the actual fetal development so much more with Noah. We can now visualize a child and he/she looking up at me saying "I love you Da" isn't some abstract thought in my head now. I can't wait to meet the guy/gal.

The X-Linked Bounce Out of Bed Phenomenon

A couple of weeks ago I went on my yearly guy's golf trip. The drive was 3 1/2 hours and we had to be there at nine. I was to pick up Scrumpy and be on the way. The alarm was to go off at 4:30 AM.

You know where this is going. How can I struggle to get out of bed at 645 each morning for work but I can bounce out of bed at 430 to drive 3+ hours for golf? Not only did I bounce out of bed but I was in the shower before the last note from the alarm had fully died.

What is it about the male genetic make up that makes the time or the amount of daylight outside irrelevant when faced with guy play. I think this peculiar behavior is isolated mainly to the male half of the population. I could be wrong but the women I grew up with and lived with throughout my life don't seem to have the same affliction. I was late for work almost everyday from age 24-27. In those same years I had a standing tee time in Bella Vista at 730 AM every Saturday. Not only was I up and on time after a 45 minute drive but the night before was often much later than anything I did on weeknights. I'm not a hunter, but it's an aversion to the cold not the early AM hours that I can't get on board with.

I love my wife dearly but I crawled out of the bed on our wedding day. If I had been on my way to go fishing instead of heading to the chapel I'd been 30 minutes down the road before my other self's Dr. Pepper had stopped fizzing. The thing is I was excited on my wedding day. More so than the 80th time I met Mika on the practice tee trying to kick the dew off my shoes. The phenomenon amazes me. Everyone I know experiences it either with themselves or with their spouse.

Well...I have a theory. It's not going to make my wife happy to read, but I believe it to be true. I don't think it has to do with testosterone. My thinking here is getting up to go fishing by yourself doesn't elicit the same mad dash out of bed. I think it has to do with the very nature of male bonding. Something in our DNA makes it impossible to think about letting our buddies down. I think most guys can live with getting caught lying to their wives occasionally. I mean as long as it isn't about a receipt for the 2-hour hotel room on a Tuesday afternoon. That's a tough lie to tell. I'm talking about the "Why are you 45 minutes late?" type of lie. Most guys that I know will lie to the spouse to avoid an argument but you would never lie to your buddy about this. One is there won't be a fight, but two I truly believe you don't want your buddy to think your a liar. Cheating is the same way. I don't mean fidelity type cheating. I can't imagine getting caught cheating at a sport, poker, or whatever by my buddies. The thought is enough to ensure I never do it. We had a guy abuse his commissioner privileges to post date his lineup in fantasy baseball one time. We're still talking about it 6 years later.

So I guess my main question in all this musing isn't about springing out of bed in the wee hours. It's what snaps inside a guys head to make him sprint to his car so his guy friend doesn't have to wait an extra 10 minutes before hitting the McDonald's drive through? Bizarre I know.

Congrats Holly and Mark!!!

It's always nice to see people you love happy, but this weekend was spent watching my baby sister postively glow. We came out to Tucson to watch her get married with practically everyone I'm related to. It was a unique mixing of two completely different cultures when the entire families meshed the past 3 days but it felt we'd known each other forever. We fly home tomorrow or today as I look at the clock now and of course any trip over 2 time zones is hard but factoring in Arizona in June, a 3 year old with relatives all around, and 3 days of open bars and...I can't wait to get home :)

I'm not going to get all mushy because frankly Holly wrote me the most touching letter I've ever received and the emotion of telling you how proud and happy I am for her is a little raw on the emotion meter right now. I will say the wedding was absolutely beautiful. Outside at sundown looking out over the desert was a sight to see. Watching Noah come down the aisle with the rings had me beaming from ear to ear. Seeing my Dad dance to a fast song for the first time in the 35+ years I've been on this earth still has me speechless. In fact I felt like I was in a MasterCard commercial last night.

Another memory was watching my Mamaw sit on the front row crying. I've now stood for 5 weddings in our family and I can remember looking at Mamaw in each one of them. This time I knew she was thinking about Papaw and that made me happy and sad at the same time. You can argue the validity of that paradigm but I'm sticking to the story.

I did get choked up during the ceremony. I can't help it. I'm a sap when people write their own vows. When Holly got choked up at the end of hers I know I looked like a leaky kitchen sink-drip, drip, drip. I didn't wipe my eyes and my back was partially to the people so I thought I was safe, but I was wrong some of Holly's coworkers came to me during the reception to say "That was so sweet when you cried." My man pride was hurting so I went out and killed a coyote in the desert with my bare hands (obviously BS but we did see a coyote during the pictures after the ceremony).

I didn't get to give a toast. Only the best man and matron of honor got to toast after the ceremony. If I had I would have said this:

I still call Holly my "Baby Sister." My wife who is the same age finds this odd, but she's obviously a girl and doesn't know what its like to have a little sister tagging along behind you growing up. Testosterone does crazy things to the male brain and having a "baby sister" was the first thing I ever felt was my responsibility to protect. I was never the mother bear type but believe me, I hurt when she hurt. I haven't lived with my parents since I was 18. I haven't lived with my older sister since she was 18. Holly and I have lived together twice as adults. We were not always good roommates but we were always good friends. As the years have gone by I would have told you I knew Holly better than anyone else in this world. I think the opposite is true as well. After watching her and Mark's relationship grow over the past few years I can say this- Mark brings out the best in my baby sister. She has never been this happy and she has never been this beautiful. I'm proud to pass the role of her protector over to Mark because she deserves all the happiness this world has to offer and she finally found it.
Cheers!

Lefty Sullivan and the case for well-paid mediocrity

I know just the shear fact that I'm writing this down is going to jinx into not being true. Here goes anyways. I think Noah's left-handed. I don't want to break my credentials out but after 13 years of pediatric practice and being a medical expert on the upper extremity.............I really think he's left-handed.

If you don't know why this is a big deal to me, you haven't been listening the past few years. Although the world is made for right-handed people, being left-handed gets you one clear advantage. A mediocre left-handed reliever can make a good living in baseball. And by mediocre I mean-all things being equal between a right and left handed pitcher-the lefty will make more money. I have made a hundred jokes about tying Noah's right arm behind his back until he was 8. I didn't resort to that but it may have come true anyways.

The only reason I haven't declared him as a lefty yet, is because he still swaps hands a lot on fine motor tasks. Gross motor though the boy is going to shock me if he changes hands. Watching him hit a wiffle ball off the tee right vs. left is no contest. He's 10X's better from the left side. What has me convinced happened late yesterday afternoon. Jenna and I were planting in the front flower bed and the boy had had enough of us not playing with him. So he got out his golf clubs which is an instant Daddy-Pay-Attention-To-Me-Toy. He got a ball and put it on the practice mat (yes I have a practice mat). Typically I hold the club head behind the ball with the shaft where he's supposed to be and he'll walk up to it and get his grip right and then swing away. He'll hit 1/4 with the others hitting the ground about a foot behind the ball. He has a hitch on the downswing that looks like Charles Barkley (if you've never seen Charles Barkley hit a golf ball-I demand you go to YouTube right now). When he hits it I'll take the club and he'll run and get the ball and put it back on the mat. Rinse/repeat.

Yesterday was different. After about the fifth one. He said "No Dad, I'll hit over here." He walked around to the other side of the mat. I wasn't going to argue with him, so I jumped to the other side of the mat. He then preceded to hit 4 straight golf balls left-handed with the back of his right-handed clubs. Obviously they didn't go in the air but they went all the way across the yard. I had my back to Jenna so I just said "Are you watching this?" and she answered "Yes" in a bewildered-I can't believe I'm seeing this-voice. He hit every ball this way. He never whiffed and he didn't hit the ground. Every swing had some part of the clubhead hitting the ball.

So here I sit at 12:15 AM about 30 hours after all of this has set in. Figured I'd post this news on the blog since I couldn't sleep. I fixed some water, came to the living room, and sat down to tell you about all of this and to order left-handed clubs for my son from Golfsmith :)

The cat's out of the bag-----Jenna's pregnant!!!

Yes it's true, Noah's going to be a big brother. We've known for awhile now but Jenna wanted to share with family only until we heard the heartbeat. Well we heard the heartbeat yesterday so we are officially shouting it from the rooftops. We're going to be a family of four. We have officially designated this baby Flapjack. Noah will always be Biscuit and what can I say-we like breakfast food. She's due on December 2 which means she's 10 weeks pregnant.

I have some cool media to share with you.
First the cool part. Here's an MP3 of Flapjack's heartbeat.
Click here to download Flapjack's heartbeat.
The sound of static at the end was actually Flapjack moving around. Jenna has already started feeling the 'flutters' of him/her moving around. She's also coming out of the first trimester 'sleepy time blues.'

You'll like this video of Noah. I made the video for all of our immediate family. The first bit was unique to each person so I'm posting the 'generic' greeting. Just click the frame below and it will load the movie. If it doesn't play right away just give it time since its kind of big.

[qt:http://macadactyl.com/media/video/noahsannouncement/noahsannouncement.mov http://macadactyl.com/media/video/noahsannouncement/noahsannouncement_poster.jpg 320 240]

Happy Mother's Day

I'm barely sneaking this in, but I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day. Mine was spent building the Panama Canal (Noah's clubhouse has to be close in scale) with my son and his mother. We had a beautiful day and...I'm glad its over. My back is shot. Of course I only got 1/4 of the playset built but that's why we have Daylight Savings Time right?

I hope everyone had a great day. The value of a mother can be a cliche but only because it's grounded in truth. Without Mom, apple pie, and baseball; I don't know the purpose of us being here.

Happy Birthday Noah!!!

Although the party was a couple weeks ago, today Noah officially ends the terrible twos and graduates to the terrible threes. If the 3's are similar to the 2's we really have nothing to worry about. Watching Noah grow isn't near as much fun as watching his little personality develop. His favorite question is "What that do?" I explain everything to him in great detail. Sometimes he cuts me off "Stop talking Da" and others go in a never ending cycle of "Why?" and "What that do?" The funny thing is since I'm always the one to give in-depth answers he doesn't think Jenna knows anything. If Jenna tries to answer he'll say "No, no, no; I askin my Da. Da, what that do?" It's pretty funny. Of course, she has her things too. If he hits his head and I try to pick him up, he looks at me like a leper and screams "I want my Mommy!" I guess that's why he has 2 parents.

We are taking him this afternoon to pick up his new playset for his birthday present. I haven't figured out how we're going to explain the boxes are his playset, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The plan is for he and I to work on it this weekend around the Mission for Mercy. The weather isn't going to cooperate but I bet we have fun nonetheless.

Noah, in case some years from now, you sit down and wanted to see what your parents did when you were little; know that I've thought about you all day and I hope you have a great birthday. I love you Biscuit.

The Breast Brigade has big day

The race went great for the Breast Brigade. Most of the team was able to meet up and race or walk together. The feedback from everyone was great and the best part is we were able to raise over $2000!!! It was great to see you guys there to support Jenna and our cause. I thought I'd share this picture taken by the Morning News. It is of Jenna and next year's team captain, Valerie. It didn't make the paper but it did make their website. Thanks again to everybody. Next year we hope to be bigger, better, and raise even more.
Jenna and Val with sign

Now pitching for the NW Arkansas Naturals...

All of Jenna's worry was for naught. On Friday night, she was asked to throw out the first pitch for Pink in the Park at Arvest Ballpark. The Northwest Arkansas Naturals wore pink jerseys for the event and auctioned them off to benefit Komen. I'm not sure what the grand tally was but when I left the jerseys totaled over $2000!
Back to Jenna, she and Elaine went out on the field and Elaine held Noah while Jenna threw the ball out. She threw a perfect strike. I videoed it and her Dad was to take a picture. Unfortunately, a man walked in front of Weldon as it was transpiring and he didn't get the shot. On the fortunate side, a local photographer named Eric Molle did capture the after moment and put it on his SmugMug page. I bought the digital version so I could share it. In case you can't tell; the emotion on her face is a mix of relief and joy. She really was nervous about throwing the ball out, even though after practicing, I assured her she has quite the cannon for a 5 ft. ballerina.

Noah was pretty good for the game. We had several friends on hand even though weather didn't cooperate with cold winds and on/off misting rain. I also had to do a live newscast from the game. This is probably my 6th time on TV this year and it was by far my most relaxed. The difference? I had a baseball in my hand. I have to go on the radio in the morning and they're going to be surprised when I show up with ball in hand.

Here's the pic of the smile that won me over 8 years ago.

Jenna's pitch reaction

Race Day is Saturday!!

This is the final push. If you haven't signed up for the Race for the Cure on April 25th, you better get a move on before I get wind of it. Sign up now! Then peer pressure a friend to-Sign up now! It's gonna be a great day and you don't want to get on my list. One of the perks of being vice-chair is I have access to the database of all participants. So I will know if you're shirking.

Jenna should be coordinating with the Breast Brigade for T-shirt plans and race day meetup. If you aren't getting her emails, its probably your spam catcher. Call one of us and we'll give the low down. I'd give it now but I don't think I'm on the email list and she's asleep right now so you all know more than I do. If you don't know more than me then you are in bad shape and should call her tomorrow.

Psst!!! Hey buddy, got a stamp?

I may have committed a felony the other day.

On April 15th I had to mail a letter and every possible ill fate conspired against me. As we all know, the taxman cometh on the 15th. I knew the lines at the post office would be longer than...I can't think of a family friendly way to finish this sentence so I'm just gonna leave it alone.

The first stamps to elude my grasp were in my SUV. You see I keep a big roll of stamps in my SUV, only I wasn't in my car this day. No, Jenna's car was in the shop getting a new heater core to stop the incessant leaking of antifreeze into her passenger floorboard. So Jenna was in my car and I was in a friend's truck.

I asked everybody I worked with all day long for a stamp but no one had any to spare. I asked the checkout girl at Harp's when I was getting lunch (I swear some grocery stores sell stamps I just can't remember which one).

I stopped at the Johnson Post Office (its small and no crowds) but he was already gone (closes up before noon). I asked my 2 private kid's parents that afternoon and neither had a stamp.

Short of skipping work and going home to the large roll in my study, I was completely out of luck. It was now 4:45 and I had just enough time to get to the Post Office.

When I arrived, my worst fears were fully realized. The line was out the double doors and down the building. I went in to see if by some miracle the machine was working (the PO on Joyce has never had a working stamp machine to my knowledge). Not only was it not working-it wasn't even there. They probably took the thing out back and shot it. I looked at the door and realized they were going to close at 5:30 and I really doubted that line could be done before that.

So I did the only thing I could think to do. I pulled out a dollar and announced to the room that I would pay $1 for 1 stamp. I imagine the initial drawing of guns by bankrobbers generally get the same look of disbelief that greeted me. I know people in line at the PO are there because they lack sufficient postage but with the certified mail/return receipt/etc. of tax day surely to God somebody has a stamp for a dollar!!!!! When no one said anything I walked outside and announced my intentions to give a whole dollar for 1-42 cent stamp. I faired better outside as a gentleman stepped forward and without a word exchanged between us I handed him a dollar and he handed me a stamp. I went in and put my mail in the slot and left feeling very good about myself.

Then things took a turn for the surreal. I held the door open for a man leaving at the same time. As we walked down the same sidewalk to our cars he said to me, "You do know it's illegal to sell stamps for more than their face value right?" I had a moment of-panic is way too strong of a word but I'm drawing a blank for anything else-panic before my brain processed what he said. I retorted something like, "No its not. Stamps go up in value and its not illegal to sell them for more than you paid." He shook his head and replied, "That's only for out of print stamps. I think its actually a felony."

I left thinking, could I have possibly walked into the Post Office to commit a felony? I'm a big believer in what I call my "newspaper morality" code. We've all seen articles in email or on Leno where someone does something so stupid you think the newspaper made it up. I always like to choose my actions by thinking "If this goes wrong, how stupid is my name going to look in the paper." It's a simple code but its the reason I'll never put a .22 bullet in my fuse box if my headlight fuse blows out on a dark night. Do you know how stupid that guy looked? Now I'm driving home thinking about Matt Lauer saying "Remember that story we covered last year about the idiot who went to the post office and offered more money than the stamps were worth? He was sentenced to 10 years in a federal penitentiary yesterday."

I arrived safely home with no arrests and went immediately to Google. There is actually a lot of debate over this on the internet. Many stores apparently offer stamps as a courtesy and charge more. However, just because people do it doesn't mean it's legal so I delved deeper. Many people claim it is illegal and yes most say it is a felony. All of these people agree it only applies to 'current production' stamps.

Finally I realized I was an idiot for reading other idiots on internet message boards. I went to the authority and did a search at usps.com for "selling stamps." There in plain English is the following:
"The Postal Service sells stamps at face value to everyone. We have no control over the pricing policies of private entrepreneurs, companies or agencies who resell our products. A charge at a higher price is most likely imposed to earn a return on their investment of capital and effort. The prices they charge are, no doubt, established on the basis of their needs and market evaluations."

So there you go, a round about long version of the morality lesson-Don't talk to strangers.

Breast Brigade Update---Up to 48 peeps!!!!!!!

Wow, the Breast Brigade has really taken off. When we realized the deadline had snuck up on us we panicked, but you guys really came through. We have 48 people signed up with the Breast Brigade. There are a lot of new people this year so we wanted to give them the chance to get a T-shirt as well. If you'd rather wear the Race for the Cure T-shirt you get with your registration that is fine. We had T-shirts made last year and we made them generic so they wouldn't have to be repurchased every year. We'd rather see your extra money going towards your fundraising goals.

BUT.....if you want a Breast Brigade tee we set up a storefront on Cafe Press. This allows you to make individual purchases delivered to your home.

http://www.cafepress.com/breastbrigade

We also have a few of the olive T's from last year. Email me and I'll tell you the sizes if you're interested.

Race Day is fast approaching so look back here for news from Jenna about where we'll meet on race day, how we'll get the race shirts/bibs to you, and whatever else we need to talk about.

Don't forget to recruit everyone you know for raceday. Ask people to either sign up for the race or give them the komenozark.org website and tell them to give whatever they can. 5, 10, and 20 dollars can add up in a hurry if the community pulls together. The Ozark affiliate's goal of $1 million is lofty but if we rally these last 2 weeks I'm sure we can pull it off.

Sign up with the Breast Brigade here!!!!!

Deadline to sign up extended

Hey Friends and Family,
Komen has extended the deadline to sign up for teams this year. So,
if you were concerned you missed the sign up time, you didn't! In a
week, the Breast Brigade has raised $1,467.00. I am amazed at that.
There are 22 days left until race day. I set my goal for $2500, but I
would love to get $2000.

Join, pledge, or scare up some other friends to continue to support
this organization that has done so much for so many women.

Plan to come watch the Naturals April 17th as I throw out the first
pitch at Pink in the Park!!

Here is the link to sign up below, I think. If it doesn't work, go to www.komenozark.com
and click race, join an existing team, and search Breast Brigade

http://race.komenozark.org/site/TR/Race/General?team_id=7780&pg=team&fr_id=1070&et=iCpDUiZ9h5iiQySX-m4XeA..&s_tafId=2820

Thanks so much. I hope you all have a great Saturday!
Jenna

How to not jumpstart a car

When we got back from Dallas we realized we'd left Jenna's car door open for 3 days and of course her battery was dead. The next day I pushed her car out of the garage to jump it off. Her terminals were marked "+" and "-" instead of red and black and when my first attempt to jump start the car failed I noticed I had read them backwards. Probably due to the fact I was trying to keep Noah out of the engine compartment and it was starting to rain. I fixed them and the car started...except the dash no longer worked. I had blown the 120 AMP main fuse to the cabin. The one that powers the internal fuse box. So no electronics on the inside of the car worked.

Well today I get an appointment at the Mitsubishi place to fix it. So I take Jenna's car and start down the road. It's a 15 minute drive and I just figure I'll have to be careful. My blinkers, brake lights, and whatnot all work. Just the dash, interior lights, etc. don't.

I get to the Fay business district exit on 540 when it starts to rain. No big deal, except the windshield wipers don't work. No big deal, because the Rain-X has the windshield where I go see. Then the windshield starts to fog. No big deal, except the defrost doesn't work. No big deal since I can still crack my window, except the windows won't roll down. I end up pulling off the road to open the door long enough for the windows to clear up.

I eventually arrived safely. The guy said the parts company delivered the wrong fuse so I had to wait 45 minutes. While I was waiting he offered to change my battery wire to a red one. I was very thankful.

Keeping up with the Cruises

Last weekend we had an unbelievable weekend. Jenna's aunt works at the Four Seasons so I sprung a surprise weekend on my lady. We had a villa on the 18th green at TPC Las Colinas (where the Byron Nelson Classic is played) and the amenities only a Four Seasons can provide. After a weekend of the spa, PGA caliber golf courses, and a room about the size of our first house, Jenna made the comment "I could so be rich." I replied, "I don't know, it would get old trying to keep up with the Cruise's."
We had a couple of celebrity sightings but nothing to crazy. The best part is being anywhere on the premise and everyone knows your name. I envision some crazy Big Brother back room with a guy looking at 12 monitors and radioing to doormen, concierge's, and bar staff whose where on the grounds. We also had crawfish while we there so it made the weekend perfect. It was also nice to get away at the beginning of Spring Break instead of the end.

There's nothing like a 5-star experience for a 3-star price--except for the bar tabs. If my senses hadn't been dulled, the sticker shock would've been pretty bad.

Sign up for the Race!!!!!

Hey Guys! Here we are at Race time again and I would be honored to have those of you who joined or pledged last year participate or give again. This year it has become even more personal for the Sullivan family as Chad is the co-race chair. We have both learned a great deal more about Susan G. Komen for the Cure and what the Ozark Affiliate does for individuals with Breast Cancer in our community. Last Friday, Chad and I attended the Heart of the KOR Luncheon where the Ozark Affiliate announced its 2009 Grant Recipients. In total $750,000 was awarded to various local organizations all to aide in the fight against breast cancer. In addition, $190,000 was given directly research. An overwhelming majority of the money was raised by individuals participating in this race.

Personally, I have had a great year. Surviving breast cancer has made me a stronger woman. On April 25, 2009, I will be participating in the 10th Anniversary Komen Ozark Race for the Cure® with a great team of dedicated people. At the Heart of the KOR luncheon, I was honored as the #11 overall individual fundraiser. Join me this year in the fight by registering as part of our team or by supporting our efforts with a pledge contribution. The money raised through the Race will fund vital education, screening and treatment programs for underserved women in our own community and support the national search for a cure.

We need your support! Every step counts!

Thanks to you all,

Jenna

Click here to visit my personal page.



Click here to view the team page for The Breast Brigade


Click here to view the company page for Individual


P.S. Check out the cute kid at the top of the sign up page.

The Breast Brigade is Up and Online!!!

Okay the team finally got registered tonight. You can logon on at komenozark.org and put in 'Breast Brigade' but I bet Jenna will post better instructions.

This year's race is going to be great. Between the new Bark for the Cure and the revamped Kid's for the Cure area it would be great, but the new venue will be awesome on its own. I cannot begin to tell you what an amazing group of people volunteer their entire year to make race day a success. How they have the energy and passion to do it while holding down jobs is a testament to the human condition.

So get you some new laces and get fired up; we are only 46 days away.