phantoms hockey: some losses are hard to bear

Evenkeel picks up an assist, but the Phantoms lose their foray into the upper tier. Read all about game twelve.

why the radio silence, you ask?

Well, Overboard and I moved into the new house last weekend, and we're doing an admirable job of unpacking and getting settled in. Unfortunately, this means that the ultrasounds aren't online yet because our scanner is still boxed up, and the office is only half put together. But I promise to get them posted as soon as I can!

In the meantime, I can tell you that Dr. Rosenberg has begun to mix a few kicks in with his squirming and swimming around in Overboard's belly. The other night I started talking to him and he kicked in response to my voice. I was stunned and looked up at Overboard to see if she had felt what I thought I had. She was as wide-eyed as me, and we both started giggling like little kids. Which is fitting, since it was our little kid who made us laugh...

More soon!

phantoms hockey: let it be known

Evenkeel almost incites an on-ice riot during a match vs. the Unknowns. Read all about game eleven and feel the hockey love.

"dr. rosenberg's a dude"

Thus sayeth loyal blog reader Marcia F., when informed of the good doctor's sex (as discovered during an exciting ultrasound this morning). Of course, senor "Shoes" went on the record a while back saying that everything would be cool so long as the baby was "happy, healthy, and has a penis" (check out "the quotable schumann from Nov. 8, 2005).

Dr. Rosenberg was a bit camera shy during the session, and took to hiding his face behind one hand, but that didn't stop our persistent nurse from taking all kinds of incriminating photos from a number of angles. We got to see his heart, spine, arms, legs, fingers, cranium, kidneys, and of course, his "manhood."

"It's a boy!" cried Evenkeel. "And what a boy!" (as he quoted Homer...Simpson, not the old Greek guy).

Evenkeel's mother, "Grandma Jackie," is ecstatic, but one can't help but notice that incredibly feint sense of sadness, as she once again lost out on having another girl in the family that wasn't married to one of her sons. Of course, this may still just be a boon to Evenkeel's cousin, Allegra, who has been a surrogate granddaughter for going on 11 years now. "Grandma Shirley," however, now has a grandson to go with her three granddaughters. Maybe these two wonderful women can set up some sort of grandchild exchange program for the novelty factor. Hmmm...we could be on to something here. Anything to help pay for Dr. Rosenberg's college fund, right?

In the meantime, we need to find a non-cockeyed mohel, and some good deli for Dr. Rosenberg's bris. For those who are wondering what the hell I'm talking about here, refer back to the Roosevelt Island (thankfully non) incident involving our nephew Adam and his distraught father. Overboard spent a harrowing morning shuffling around Mike and Carol's apartment asking anyone if they had noticed something "odd" about the guy with the knife.

Ultrasound pix coming soon!

overboard's all a flutter

The other day, Overboard felt a "flutter." More directly, she felt Dr. Rosenberg squirming around in her belly. The baby books tell you that it should feel like the flutter of a butterfly. Overboard was starting to mope (just a little) that she hadn't felt anything yet, when she suddenly sent me an IM in the middle of the day: "Flutter! I felt a flutter!"

At first, she wasn't sure what she had felt. But when she felt the same sensation, but in a slightly different spot, she knew. After drinking a Sprite, she said that the flutter became more pronounced. Yes, a wonderful moment in any parent's life: My baby's first sugar rush.

We may invoke the sugar strategy next week when we go in for the ultrasound...

phantoms hockey: to protect and serve, 2 minutes

Evenkeel scores a goal and assists on two more in this heated match between the Phantoms and the Icemen. Read all about game ten.

my wife, the pregnant vampire

Overboard has become hyper-aware of garlic. Somehow, her sense of smell has taken a quantum leap forward, but really only when it comes to pungent condiments. In the span of two days, she complained to me that in addition to myself, three other people who stood within 15 feet of her must have eaten something with garlic in it. She emphasized that everyone absolutely "reeked of garlic" and it was extremely disturbing to her that people would so carelessly disregard her olfactory senses.

Being the supportive husband I am, I proceeded to use a sentence full of "h's" at close range.

"How's that Honey? How can you have come to that horrible conclusion? Heaven help us."

She tried to smack me, but luckily her cat-like mom reflexes haven't kicked in yet. Yet.

week 19: dr. rosenberg the zucchini

Welcome to week 19. According to our trusty baby sources, Dr. Rosenberg is now somewhere around six inches head to bottom, or about the size of a small zucchini. Hair has begun to take root and sprout on the good doctor's noggin', and the brain is beginning to develop specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Should the good doctor be a girl, she currently has SIX MILLION eggs in her ovaries, which will apparently dwindle down to less than two million by the time of birth. As a father, I can only hope she (if that is indeed the case) hangs onto all two million until the time she's married. Maybe I should go check into what kind of fashionable chastity belts they make these days...

Also, I think it's a shame that we can't remember what it was like in the womb. I'd love to know what the good doctor is doing and thinking about while floating around in there. I imagine that each time I talk into Overboard's belly, Dr. Rosenberg is wondering who turned on the intercom again, and "why don't they send down that pizza I ordered?"

2006: the year of the rosenberg

Happy New Year! If 2005 was the year of the Rolnick (new job, house, pregnancy), than 2006 is the year of the Rosenberg (Dr., that is). After all, come this May, or possibly early June, everything changes.

Of course, as far as Overboard is concerned, while 2006 is the year of the Rosenberg, 2019 is the year of the Rosenberg bar/bat mitzvah...

in memory of overboard's memory

Women "suffer" from all sorts of side-effects brought on by pregnancy. Whether it's morning sickness, mood swings, or thick ankles, there's always something going on. So far, Overboard has had a quiet and smooth time of things (knock on wood), but lately has developed an interesting new habit. Yes, the woman whose mind is often a steel trap is now acting more like a sieve.

Being a bit scatterbrained is not an uncommon pregnancy trait, but for Overboard it's a new, and not really welcomed, development. Since this past weekend, she has found herself walking into rooms and wondering what she's doing there, going to write something down and forgetting what it was by the time pen meets paper, and starting conversations that slowly drift off into nothingness, as her train of thought appears to still be boarding at the station (to quote my man Calvin).

I'm trying not to laugh, but it's kind of hard not to sometimes. It's really cute, watching her get all frustrated and knowing that it's Dr. Rosenberg messing with her head. Does that make me a mean and unsupporting husband? Or am I just getting in my giggles now, before she lies on a hospital bed, screaming "YOU DID THIS TO ME!" and trying to push a watermelon out of her uterus.

I'll go with the later...definitely makes me look better. Besides, in a few days she'll completely forget she's mad at me anyways.