The Last Hurrah

I had my last hurrah with the fellas this weekend before the baby is due. One of my undergrad friends was tying the knot in Baton Rouge this past weekend and Carrie was too preggers to attend. We flew in a few days early to check out New Orleans. I have been down there for Jazzfest in the past (which is great by the way) and it was very different this time around. For one thing everything was significantly cheaper. I don't think they are seeing a lot of tourists this time of year. We visited the 9th ward and I would estimate one out of every 20 homes is abandoned. The people who are rebuilding, shouldn't be. They are rebuilding right on the levees again. I don't understand how the government is not coming in there, buying the land, making it a park and letting/helping these folks rebuild on higher ground. They are literally putting houses within 100 yards of the rivers/lakes. It's only a matter of time before it gets destroyed again. The French Quarter looked about the same from the last time we were there so where we were staying we didn't see much change.

The wedding was fine and I got the last of the "non-family" good times out of me with the boys. My friends that got married are both professors at LSU and the crowd was made up by about 25-30 PhD holders. So there was a lot of, "Dr.? Dr. Dr.? Dr." Maybe you've seen that in "Spies Like Us." Everyone was a prof somewhere in the country.

While I was gone Carrie tracked down a pediatrician who she will interview on Tuesday. She is also keeping up with her shopping. For those that don't know, me being out of town equals Carrie at the mall. She found a boy/girl outfit to take Favrefour/Fatima home in from the hospital. She continues to do artwork adding to the nursery. Apparently I married Martha Stewart. Now that I think about it HGTV is on quite a bit these days...The comfort level for her is decreasing but she's maintaining a positive outlook. We're not sure if we should hope for an earlier arrival or savor the last few days. A few recent parents have commented, "I wish for just a few hours I could shove him back in there so I could go to the mall solo." Okay, probably not the mall but maybe a football game for me. I'm sure it will be bliss. Tired bliss, but bliss all the same.

I got trapped in O'hare for 2 days last week. Not pleasant. It did afford an opportunity for me to catch up with another college friend who I crashed with in Chicago one night on my endless airport adventure. His advice (single, bachelor) was it's just another change no different than graduating high school or college or getting engaged. You really don't know what's on the other side but that's what life is all about. It was the best I've gotten to date. There really isn't any reason to be nervous, because that kid is coming and you're going to be a parent nervous or not.

We continue to decorate so I am attaching a few nursery pics. We did get the car seat installed. The hospital folks said it would take an hour. It took us like 5 minutes. Hmm, maybe I should go make sure that thing is actually in there right. I thought I was just a genius but I probably just did it wrong. Ya, I better go take care of that...