Stroller and Car Seat

While in Greensboro over Christmas Candace and I decided to visit Babies R Us and look at strollers and infant car seats. These are the ones we picked out and are going to buy. They are both from Peg Perego. While they did not have these actual models with the Polk-A-Dots at the store this is the one Candace fell in love with online.

Pre-Xmas Post

It's the Thursday before Christmas and I really should be packing up for the next 5 days we will be spending in Greensboro, but in all actuality I should only be packing sweatpants for the amount of food I will be consuming over the next 120 hours (that's 5 days in case you cannot do the math in your head.)


With regards to the blog layout I added two more polls. They both cover the name game for our baby. Please vote and if you have any ideas for cool names please post a comment. I all ready received votes to have an Eric or a Thomes to be used for a name from a good friend that had twin boys named Walker and Westin (I think it's spelled like the hotel.)


Other great news come all the way from Sarasota, Florida. Candace and I just learned that our good friends Erik Bass and his future wife Ame (again no idea on spelling but her name is pronounced Ah-May) are expecting their first child. She is 9 weeks along and they are both very excited. I guess something is in the air?


Candace, I, and the future little Ham want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year.

More Ultrasound Pictures

Here are some more pictures from when Candace and I went to the doctor last Wednesday. These are just profile pictures as Candace did not get any that showed the male parts we think we saw.

It's a Boy!

Maybe…

Yesterday Candace and I went to the doctor to have some scheduled test done and an ultrasound. While doing the ultrasound (which is freaking awesome) the doctor showed us different angles and views of the baby. Per the doctor everyone looks to be healthy and progressing nicely. That was really good to hear and made both of us relax.

While administering the ultrasound one of the views she showed us was a view from the rear end of the baby as if the baby were lying on its back with legs and arms in the air. So we would be looking pretty much at the baby’s butt and that is where the ultrasound specialist/technician said she saw what she thinks are male parts. Candace confirmed that she too saw the same thing as did I. Immediately I think Candace then began to think about all the trouble our son would get into if in fact our baby is a boy. Lord knows if he is anything like I was (or still am depending on who you ask) then we do have our work cut out for us. We will provide picture proof later this week once I can get the pictures scanned in and posted.

After all that I was excused as Candace had some more tests to do like pricking her finger and some other stuff that I was clearly not needed for. I got to go back to work. Later that afternoon, Candace called me and told me that her doctor said that it was way too early to tell the sex of the baby (Candace is almost 15 weeks) and that we were most likely having a girl. Either way we are both really excited about everyone being healthy.

We go back on January 9th (day before I leave for Vegas) and we will know 100% then the sex of the baby. If in face it is a boy we have decided on William Connor Ham. If it's a girl we have decided on Ella Taylor Ham. Also, our friends Greg and Lori are on schedule as well as they are due 1 week before we are and will know the sex of their baby exactly 1 week before us.

Upcoming Stuff

Just to keep you all informed Candace and I go back to the Doctor next Wednesday at lunch. They are going to do the Down's test. There is also a SLIGHT chance they will know the sex but we are not getting our hopes up. However, if we did know before Christmas that sure would help everyone out with buying gifts for the baby for Christmas.

Also, in case any of you are interested we will be moving furniture on Sunday and hopefully cleaning out the guest room to convert it into the nursery.

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday that Candace, Jared, and Keisha (future Mrs. Proctor?) gave me Guitar Hero II for my birthday the other week. I know a lot of people will give me crap for this, but trust me until you play it you cannot hate on the game. It is really addictive. I all ready beat the game on easy level (which is really easy) and tried to go up to the medium level and cannot play any song in it's entirety. They add a fourth button and it's really tough to go from pinky finger to middle or pointer. Maybe I have poor dexterity or something. Nevertheless, it is a lot of fun and I am excited about getting better at the harder levels.

First Baby Pictures

AKA Ultrasounds in case you all did not know. Candace had to stop by her doctor the other day because she was not feeling well. Her doctor assured us that everything is okay and to not worry so that was a relief. While there the doctor did an ultrasound on the baby and we were able to get the first pictures of our new baby. You can clearly see an arm in one of the pictures and the legs in the other one. No sex of the baby yet. However, it looks like people seem to think that we are having a girl. Read one of my previous posts to understand how I feel about what sex we are having. We will most likely not know the sex until after Christmas. We are both REALLY excited over the first picture of our new baby.

So the other night I decided to start moving furniture around the house to see where things would go and what would have to go when the baby comes. For those of you that do not know what our house looks like or how it is layed out we have a 3 bedroom 2.5 bathroom house that is just under 1800 sq. ft. Somehow all of our closets are full of clothes and other stuff with only two people. Basically, I have my work cut out for me to reorganize our house, but luckily my good friend owns Affordable Custom Closets http://www.acclosets.com (Ask for Chris Bradley and tell him Walker sent you) so hopefully he can help us with re-doing our master closet so Candace and I can both fit our clothes in there.

I first started by moving our office desk to another part of the room to see if the guest bed would fit in that room along with the desk so we would not have to buy another desk or convert to a laptop (which is really what I want to do if we have to). After moving the desk to the wall that I thought the desk would fit on it is clear that the bed and desk will not fit. I also realized we have an entertainment unit to put in there as well so there is really no way to make it fit. We got a lot of furniture, but I guess that's what you get with two parents who have worked in the business all their lives.

After all that I moved the desk back and left the room just like it was before, and bought a Macbook Pro off eBay yesterday. I am really excited about making the switch from PC to Mac. With the baby coming I look forward to making DVDs, picture albums, and posting videos on youtube for everyone to see. I promise nothing of the birth will be on there rest assured.

I think this weekend I will move the guest bed and entertainment unit so we can go ahead and have that done. I am also planning on putting some wood above the garage to store more stuff like our now useless office desk. That should be tons of fun, but at least I can drink some beers while I do it I guess to make it more challenging. We are also planning on getting our tree this weekend and decorating the house. Most of this will be done on Sunday since I have Coaching Education Friday night and most of the day on Saturday.

I apologize for not posting enough so I will try and be more active in posting everything that happens. Candace has still yet to post so maybe I can get her on here to talk to you all.

Random Post and Advice

Last night, Wednesday the 20th, Candace and I had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen in South Park Mall. They have really good pizzas, salads, and other items. I don’t care for the sandwiches because they are all made on that really thick Italian bread that is like eating a brick.

Nevertheless, I learned a REALLY valuable lesson white eating dinner. Don’t comment on what your wife or significant other orders pregnant or not. I will not go into details to save myself more embarrassment or harassment from friends of my wife, so don’t ask. Just know that you should never ever do it. Even it you have good intentions, which I did. Just shut your mouth and talk about anything else. Case closed.

The reason we went down to South Park was so I could look at the new Apple MacBooks and mess around with the new Leopard operating system. I think I want a Mac. I mean I am pretty sure. Everyone I have talked to except Greg Whitcomb say that Macs are great, and are especially great for making videos, invitations, announcement, webpages, etc. of your baby for everyone to see. That is really the reason I want one. I have heard nothing but good things about iLife. Plus, we really only use our computer now for web browsing, online shopping, reading www.DennyDeaton.com, and email. That being said all computers take you to the same internet. I think I am getting a Mac.

Next month we get to have the Down’s test and then first of the year (maybe earlier) we will find out the sex of the baby. Everyone so far is saying girl and I think Candace secretly wants a girl. We both say we only want a healthy baby, but let’s cut through the BS statement that everyone gives. I think I want a boy sometimes, but then I think of all the awful stuff I used to get into. So I do not want to have a heart attack when I am 35. Not sure how mom and dad did it with 2 boys. The older one was much worse than the younger if I do say so myself. Then I think I want a girl. Then I think about all the horrible girls I used to date and grew up with. I also think about having to work until I am 90 years old because I will not be able to say no to a pony, Barbie mansion, more shoes, more clothes, $300 jeans. Crap, I just passed out thinking about it all. It’s a lot to consider and I figure either way I have a tough job ahead of me that I could not be more excited about. So, yes I only want a healthy baby; nothing else matters.

It's Official!

Candace and I were very happy to hear the baby’s heartbeat yesterday at the Doctor’s office. Between my Blackberry vibrating every two seconds, my racing heartbeat, and Candace’s racing heartbeat I am truly surprised the Doctor was able to hear anything. But when she did it truly was amazing. The heart rate was 160 which is good I guess. It sounded like it was beating really fast which freaked me out, but again that is natural.

We go back in another month and I think they do the Downs Syndrome test then. Which means we should be able to find out the sex of the baby by first of the year. And yes, we are going to find out the sex of the baby in case any of you were wondering. That way Candace can paint the room either blue or pink, and start shopping for baby Air Jordans, baby Pumas, and basically any other kind of baby shoe they make. I just hope they make baby Copa Mundials. The good news is I did see that Xbox just released a pink and a blue controller so that is pretty perfect, too for the little game we are bringing into the world (Candace is trying to deny it but I am crossing my fingers).

Thanks to everyone that helped keep it a secret for as long as they did. As soon as Candace told me I wanted to tell everyone (imagine that), but we (she) decided that it would be better to wait until after the twelfth week so we could hear the heartbeat.

Important Countdowns

As you can clearly see I added a baby countdown widget on the upper left-hand corner of the page. I am not going to lie; the picture is a little creepy. Looks sort of like an alien right now. Candace is going to kill me for saying that, but had to say it. If you click where is says "Open Week 10" it will take you to another website that will give you information on how big the baby is and other cool information. We are only 207 days away now which is just under 7 months.

Tomorrow is Wednesday the 14th and we get to go to the doctor to hopefully hear the heartbeat. Per our good friend Lena there might be a good chance we do not hear anything because with smaller women like Candace the heartbeat is harder to hear or locate. That makes absolutely no sense to me at all. I mean where else could the baby hide? It's not like Candace has a lot of places for the baby to move around to. One would think that it would be harder to hear or find the heartbeat on someone that is larger.

Also, tomorrow is the release of an exciting new video game called Assassin's Creed. That is the other exciting countdown that Ham Family has right now. Well, really it’s just me. I am really excited about this game being released as I have played Skate and Halo 3 pretty religiously the past couple of months and need something new to play.

Candace and I also recently learned that our good friends Greg and Lori Whitcomb are having a baby around the same time we are. Their due date is June 1st, 2008 and our due date is June 7th, 2008. Pretty crazy stuff there.

Walker's Education

You know I think I am pretty good at a lot of things, and I oftentimes know or fake like I know what I am doing or talking about. For example: I am good at being a friend, video games, soccer, watching TV, drinking beer, eating, golf when no one is looking, my job, and being a husband/brother/son/nephew to my family. I have no fear in any of those things and if I do I hope most of you cannot tell when I am completely full of you know what.

I am honestly scared out of my pants here. I think and hope it is most likely a good fear and might even be anticipation more than anything else. Plus, everyone has told me that I will be a good father so that is reassuring. I only hope that I am as good of a father to our baby as my father was to me. To help overcome my fear I have started reading some books to educate myself (along with what Candace tells me and I learn from Phil when we talk in the mornings before work) so I can be better prepared.

The first book I had the privilege to read was brought over by Kim. The book was written by Jenny McCarthy and is titled Belly Laughs. Jenny McCarthy is a pretty funny lady (most of you guys know her from her various Playboy spreads). Jenny is also very graphic and does not hesitate to tell it like it is regarding pregnancy and childbirth. I am now scared that I will either vomit or pass out during delivery after reading about some of the things that happen. Do they offer epidurals to men? That would be great. Nevertheless, Jenny (yes we are on a first name basis now) does a great job of describing what you will go through as a woman and what her husband went through (because of what she was going through). Kudos to Kimmy (as she will be called by our baby) for bringing that book over.

The other book I am reading is called The New Dad's Survival Guide: Man-to-Man Advice for First-Time Fathers and was written by Scott Mactavish. This book is more my speed because it uses big font and only has 100 pages. If this book had some more pictures and some pop-up stuff that would be great. In all seriousness, the book is written extremely well and focuses on making sure you are cool as a man in order to make sure your wife is calm and as relaxed as possible so that things go as smooth as possible during pregnancy and the birth of the baby. I guess it's a pretty smart idea to keep the pregnant lady happy. Actually, pregnant or not it is always a good idea to keep your wife happy.

The third book I have yet to start is titled Mack Daddy: Mastering Fatherhood without Losing Your Style, Your Cool, or Your Mind, and it was written by Larry Bleidner. I have yet to start this book as I all ready said, but how could it not be a best seller? I mean look at the cover? The stroller has dubs on it for crying out loud. I am eagerly anticipating reading this book. I am taking my time in reading all the books because I honestly just got a new video game and that has been commanding a lot of my attention at night. Honesty here people. They say it's the best policy.

Where we are now

Candace and I started "trying" to have a kid early this fall. I think it was August or maybe even September. Whenever it was I can tell you that it did not take long. Why you ask? That's just how the Ham Swimmers work...

Candace found out the first of October I think on a Friday, but could not tell me because I had agents in from Ohio all weekend for the FIG Golf Tournament. Good call on her part. The way she finally told me was while we were celebrating our 3rd Wedding Anniversay on October, 9th. Neither of us had bought a present for each other yet, so we made plans to go eat dinner in Charlotte at some new restaurant and buy a gift for each other that we really wanted while down there as well.

Before we left the house Candace and I exchanged cards. Candace handed me a card and a slim box wrapped in tissue (the kind of boxes they put bracelets in), and informed me she just got me a little something small. I honestly first thought she got me a bracelet and had flashbacks to the episode of Friends when Joey got Chandler a really awful bracelet so they could be bracelet buddies. That was not the case here, thank God.

I opened the package and opened the case to see an EPT test that said the word "pregnant" on it. NOTE: Apparently Candace had taken numerous tests and after all that went back to purchase a pregnancy test that used the word "Pregnant" on it as an indicator since I most likely would not know what a "+" sign or happy face would mean. After opening the package the first thing I could say was, "Is this yours?!" Serisouly, that is what I asked. Like Candace would hand me a pregnancy test some other woman used the restroom on. That's right pure genius from me.

Candace and I have a doctor's appointment set for Friday, November 16th to hear the heartbeat which is when we will formally announce to everyone we have not told yet. That will put Candace at 12 weeks pregnant with only 6 months left.

All that brings us up to now and announcing to the world that we are having our first baby. More posts to come as our journey continues.