Alan and Amanda

Another letter to Amelie

2011-05-13T11:23:14Z

Hey Amelie! Hope you are well.

Well you are almost here and your mom and I are more than ready. Actually you could have come anytime this week and we would have been great with that. But we know you are busy with pounding on the baby fat. But you could have come anytime this week. jfyi.

We have your room all set and you have a entire wardrobe that all of our friends and family contributed to. Like honestly, you have more clothing in our house than I have owned in the last ten years! And it is all VERY stylish. As you can well imagine. So, you can show up anytime now and that would be more than fine with us.

We are all registered at northwestern Memorial Hospital and all set with the tub so you might be a water birth! Crazy right? The hospital is very swanky and the staff that we have met are very nice. Once you arrive we will have to stay there for 48 hours then we can bring you to your new home. If you have to come by C-Section we will be there longer. But don't let that stop you from coming, we are all ready what with the clothing, the hospital and the water-birth deal. SO COME ON DOWN!!!

We have special seats for you in each car all set up, you have a neat little bathtub and a high chair and a computer controlled swing that is GEEK-TAST-ICKLE!!! So, you know... SHOW UP FOR GODS SAKE!

We were supposed to start paying less attention to our dog Meili so she could get used to that idea but we failed miserably at that so she might get a little tweaked out when you come (Whenever that is.... How about now?) but I think you two will get along swimmingly!

So. that's my update. REALLY looking forward to meeting and spending the rest of my life with you in it. Don't worry about being rude, show up anytime! Like... Now? Well your mom is driving to work on the Eisenhower, So not RIGHT now. But soon OK?

Love, Daddy.

Life update

2011-03-30T07:07:10Z

2am and our dog got lost in our room. Woke up to the click, click, clicking of her claws on our hardwood floors and thought she was having a seizure. Got up and opened the door and she was like "AHA! That's what I was looking for!" I guess her cataracts have finally robbed her of her night vision completely. Well i guess this is good practice for when the baby comes. Since I am up I figured I should do an update to the blog.

We had our first (of three baby showers about two weeks ago in Ohio and it was a great success! Our friend Staci helped out Amanda's mom and they both threw a very fancy shing-ding. (Thank you all who made it possible) We got many of the big items on our list and had fun with friends and family. I had to do the baby food game where I taste twelve kinds of baby food and try to guess what flavor they are. Honestly I could have done without that and now Amanda is trying to keep me from buying a baby food making kit. Because with the exception of the carrots and the banana flavors everything tasted like un-salted cat food. Afterwards we packed up the Element (To the brim! No lie, we could not see out the windows) and headed home. We have set up most of the stuff but our house is still a mess. Amanda has her work shower Thursday and then a small one in April. After that we will get the house ready for the kiddo.

We did our first baby classes last weekend at Northwestern Hospital. The first was a breast feeding class that was very informative and the second was a "baby basics" that showed us how to change a diaper and bath our kid. I was not as much a fan of our instructor for the second one and found myself tuning out sometimes because I hated her public speaking style. She would go into this exaggerated whispery voice whenever she wanted to make her point. I think I still got the basics.

Amanda seems to be doing OK, she is not always comfortable and its a crap shoot each night if she is going to get a full nights sleep. (One of the reasons I am out and on the interweb is she was sound asleep and I can't so I did not want to wake her.) I think we are both done with her being pregnant and are ready for our kid to get here. six and a half weeks to go.

Meili has gone almost three month without a seizure and I could not be more please about it. I personally am getting a better nights sleep (since I used to have to wake up and grab her to toss her into the tub before the poor gal lost control of her bladder...) she is back to "normal" on her meds and I can tell she is feeling better too since she has become a ROYAL pain in my ass lately. I have never seen her more alert and wanting to play, or go outside or just be in my lap. It's good.

My improv life of late has been really good. I am still on hiatus from performing but I got picked to coach an amazing group called International Stinger. They are a great fit for me and I hope I am doing good work for them. Overall I'm really happy to be coaching again I forgot how much I enjoy it. I think I am happier teaching and coaching improv than I am performing it. I don't know why that is but I know that finally after almost three years in Chicago I feel good about what's going on with my "improv career". In October we will be going back to Fresno so friends and family there can meet the baby. I picket up a new high school bringing my total stable up to five and GCP wants to put up three adult workshops this time around. I would really like to see a community pop up there and I think it is getting started as I type.

not much else to report I guess.
-Alan

Diaper Party!!!

2011-01-28T22:27:06Z

THe happiest baby on the block

2011-01-21T13:19:43Z

I have been reading The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp (sitting next to one of my trash Sci-Fi books). It's all about how the only cultures that deal with Colic in babies are western cultures. It is a VERY interesting read! The idea is that babies are born three months sooner than they are ready to but since our heads are big they have no choice but to leave the comfort that they have enjoyed inside of mom for the last nine months. He says that other cultures create through swaddling and a combination of shooshing and suckling a kind of fourth trimester and that this triggers a "calming reflex" in babies. So far its been VERY informative.

In a few weeks we will take the first of three parenting classes. We are taking these at Northwestern Hospital -

CPR & Safety: Infant & Child
Great Expectations
Newborn Baby Care: The Basics

Should be a good start for us.

Everyone has been asking "How does Amanda feel?" I guess my wife is made of pretty sturdy stuff since besides from being tired most of the time she seems quite normal. Amelie has been a busy baby in her belly. Night time push-ups and jumping jacks. Ti-bow practice at noon and such. But other than that she is pretty normal. her baby belly has popped out but she has implemented a "NO BELLY PICTURES" rule. So I can not document that for you good readers (all two of you... Hi Kate Wiswell!!!)

In other news the our crib is on the way and that is exciting!

We are pretty happy with our choice. I have no idea how parents used to pick out cribs and strollers and such without the help of internet reviews! We did a lot of research and found this one by Stork-Craft that had great reviews and was just in our price range.

Not much else to report. Saturday will be 23 weeks!

Oh my!

2011-01-15T19:51:29Z

A baby?

2011-01-12T22:22:08Z

A letter to Amelie

2011-01-11T18:56:16Z

Dear Amelie,

Hi. I'm your daddy. We have not met yet but you live in the same house with me and I hear about you all the time. not that you have been a bad neighbor! I don't have the best hearing so you can party and make all the noise you want. I won't notice.

In five months we get to meet face to face. I hope to have the house all ready for ya but we still have a chair your mom had before we got married. If you know anyone that wants a chair... I guess have them email me. I mean no pressure. I know your busy growing and you have a day full of kicking my wife. Just if you know someone that could use a chair. Oh! And it has a ottoman too. So, that's a bonus...

I hope you like your name. Your mom and I think its rather cool. (Just so you know, we did not name you after that French film. We have never seen it.) We gave you the middle name of Joy because it sounded nice paired with your first name. I thought about saying "Because you will bring the world a lot of joy" but decided that sounded corney. So yeah, Amelie is the name you got. Hope it works for you. If not when your 18 years old you can go in front of a judge and get it changed. (If you change it, can I suggest you go with something like "Chainsaw" or "Ninja" I always say GO BIG! Plus the name "Chainsaw Hawkins" is pretty cool.)

I'm really excited to show you things. I don't know what things but I feel like I will have a lot of them once your here. Amanda has told me that it might be a while before you appreciate what a Badger is or a X-Wing Fighter or my fake magic tricks. But I can wait. Trust me, you're going to LOVE my fake magic tricks! I pretend like I have a deck of cards (but I really don't.) and I ask you to choose one... Well, you get the idea.

We went shopping for you this weekend! And we got you clothing!!! I know, right??? COOL! my favorite is a brown teddy-bear suit that you can wear next winter. (We live in Chicago. I know, it gets cold.) Your teddy-bear suit has a hood with little bear ears and feet that have bear tracks on the bottom! Honestly if they made them in my size we would both have one. We also got you some groovy clothing that was on clearance for next winter. See your mom and I are good shoppers. We are very frugal and have a savings account. Which is pretty cool. Anyway, I was very excited to buy outfits for you. It never occurred to me that it would be fun. But I promise you will look VERY cute no matter which outfit you wear.

Oh, and I should tell you about Meili. She is our little Pekingese dog. Huh? No, that's a Shiatsu. A Pekingese is also a Chinese dog but a little bigger... Huh? No, that's a Pug. Anyway, you will see her when you get here. She is 13 years old so she might not be real playful but she likes kids so you guys will hit it off I'm sure.

I know you're closer to your mom right now (since you guys spend SO much time together. Its cool, I get the whole mommy-daughter deal) but I have good news! You and I will spend our days together! Yep, see I work from home and... Huh? No, I have a job. I make graphics and web pages for companies that... Well no, I don't have an office or anything. I work in our living room and... Hey, I help with the bills! No, I'm not a hippy. It's considered a "White color job"

So where was I? Oh yeah! We get to spend all day together during the week. So you will not have to go to work with your mom everyday once you get here. Cool right?

Lets see, there are your grandparents also, your Grandma Hawkins lives in sunny California with your Uncle Eric. She's pretty cool and does a lot of neat things like builds her own laptops and makes things like blankets and such. Then there are your grandma and grandpa Widmer. They are great too. Grandma is a lot of fun and puts up with grandpa and I joking around. They are all excited about meeting you too.

I guess I better let you get back to what you are doing, kicking my wife in the belly. I just wanted to tell you I love you and I hope you are having a great day! See you in five months OK?

Love, Daddy.

I see a LOT of pink in our future.

2011-01-07T03:59:02Z

We are having a baby girl! our visit to the UltraSound went great and the HUGE question we have had these last few months was answered.

We were a little stressed. Someone asked Amanda today what she thought she was having and she started getting sick. I had a bad dream that the appointment was delayed another week and DID NOT want to wait that much longer.

BUT! We got in and half way through the tech said "OK, are you ready to find out???" and she showed us what was unmistakably a littler girls privets. So know we know we have a girl and her name will be Amelie Joy Hawkins! Has a nice ring to it don't you think? She is also 3 of 3 in the grand daughter Dept. My mom and Amanda's mom both had giggles and screaming fits and after we sent texts to everyone and made our calls I let it go on facebook. So far we are up to 65 very happy comments. And yes, this little girl will have us wrapped around her little finger.

The Green Machine

2011-01-02T03:56:11Z

Amanda and I got a new truck this week! A Honda Certified 2007 Element. I have named it after my BIG WHEEL that I had when I was a kid THE GREEN MACHINE! My mom used to say that I would tear like heck all over Albuquerque. Once she was sitting at the kitchen table and a police car pulled up with my BIG WHEEL tied to the top. I guess I decided to ride down the side of the freeway.

Back to our new truck! Since we have a baby on the way we needed to become a two car family again. This time we needed to get something that was fuel efficient, roomy and AWD or 4WD. Not many trucks or crossovers fit that bill but Amanda suggested the Honda Element. Honestly I had never paid much attention to the Element except to make "Rolling toaster" jokes. But the more I did research on them the more I liked Amanda's idea. Now every time I found one I would call to check what it was like and if we could come to take a look at it and each time I got the same response "Yeah, we just sold that one..." it got to the point to where I gave up on finding a nice used one.

Cut to Amanda and I shopping in the suburbs for maternity clothing and a plan to stop at CarMax to see what they had. I'm not going to go into the whole story but suffice to say we will not be going back there anytime soon. On our way home we found the 07' Element in the picture. And after some haggling we managed to walk away at a price we liked and a 7 year or 120,000 bumper to bumper warranty at a price we liked. And the place we went (Schaumburg Honda) was an actual "No pressure" deal!

Now in the tradition of many married couples Amanda gets the new vehicle and the Nissan Frontier goes to me. (Which works great since I love the truck!)

Driving the Element is AWESOME! It really is like a little version of a Chevy or Ford mid sized van. Not like a mini-van or a SUV. You set up high in the seats and the visibility is good. Even though the the engine is a 4 cylinder its very peppy. And the "Real time 4WD" works well. Storage is also plentiful the seats can fold up against the wall or be removed completely. And I love the color.

Overall Amanda and I are pretty happy with our new buy.

Baby heartbeat at 16 weeks.

2010-12-06T20:38:16Z

Amazingly Amanda let me video tape this.

Can we go 3 for 3?

2010-11-24T06:36:50Z

So the news came down the wire that Emily (Amanda's sister) is going to have a little girl. That will mean two out of three so far for grand kids on the Widmer side! Amanda and I find out January 6th what we are having. Honestly we really don't care (Insert sappy over used line about the baby being healthy and whole) but I do find myself wondering if there will be three girls or one little boy who ends up getting pink hand-me-downs?

In other news I am in Fresno for two weeks to see my mom and little brother and enjoy some Thanksgiving dinner at Marie Calendars. I also did seven improv workshops in five days. That was a bit exhausting to say the least. This week has been a little more relaxed. I still have work and of course just before a holiday and on a three day work week everyone wants projects that were on the back burners now. YESH!

Tuesday I head back to Chicago, We will be doing Christmas home this year and visiting Amanda's parents the week before since Amanda has to work. I'm excited for 2011, with the exception of everyone telling me about baby barf, baby poo and baby piss. I get it folks. Babies are gross and do gross smelly things. I'm sure I will be miserable. I will post pictures if you like of how miserable I really am. But I can't let that get in the way of how excited I am to be a father.

Other than that have a great T-Day people!
-Alan

Baby names

2010-11-09T20:09:04Z

First a update: We heard the baby's heartbeat (which sounds like sqwoosh, sqwoosh, sqwoosh! sound and WAY more exciting than I expected.) We are going into week 13 and Amanda is feeling better and starting to get the munchies.

OK, names!

Amanda had wanted to have twins (so she could get it all over with at once) but after figuring out what names we both like I'm kind of glad we didn't! It would have been a lot harder. I do like that Amanda is with me on the idea of our kids having unique names. Nothing quite like "Moon Unit" or "Apollo Starbuck Hawkins" but something more that Bill, Joe or Frank. We did have a few moments of disagreement but over all we are happy with our choices. I've never been the biggest fan of my name. One I am a Jr. and that is a ROYAL pain in my butt. (Plus it once let my father steal my identity when I was 12 years old wrecking my credit for YEARS!) so I think these names are great! Hopefully our kid thinks so too.

Ready?

subject to change upon seeing the child or we find out there was a serial killer named one of these.)

Finneas Parker Hawkins - Boy

Amalie Joy Hawkins - Girl

Names that did not make the cut -

girl:
Lucy Skye
Madeline Grace
Phoebe Rayne
Abigale Bess

boy:
Elliot James
Micah Walter
Parker Lee
Shay Parker

(You can tell we had a think for the name Parker) Jan 6th we find out if we need blue sheets or pink.

Yep. We're going to be parents!

2010-11-05T18:59:05Z

Amanda and I decided we should start the "thinking about, maybe someday bringing a small human into the world." Amanda told me that it may take a few years since she had been on birth control for so long. Our idea was that she would go off of "The BC" and we would go into the mode of "Not trying but not, not trying" If it happened sooner than later then great but if it took longer than a year we might have to start looking for some help.

Swing the calendar around three times to one night where I come home from my bass guitar practice and I find her standing in the hallway. "I think I am going to use one of these pregnancy test." Oh! "OK" So she goes through the process of peeing on a stick and I ask how long does it take to get a result? "Two and a half minutes... Oh crap!" Yep, took thirty seconds to get a positive! "OK, not to worry. I will get a new one tomorrow night and we will double check" the next night she tries two at the same time. And again, 30 seconds is all it takes.

We spend the whole night not sleeping but trying to sleep. Occasionally we say things like -

"I guess we need to buy a second car."
"We can turn the office into the nursery"
"Remember when we thought it would take a year?"

Two weeks is a LONG time!

Well, as our excitement was just starting Amanda was also feeling some strong cramping. We had not even known for two days before we needed to run to the Emergency Room at Northwestern. Amanda's OBGYN had told us to contact them if she felt any strong cramps and of course she did on a Sunday. But they got us right in and after a few exams, some blood work and a ultra sound everything looked good. Monday we went to our real OBGYN and got a real Ultra Sound. They could see the sack and the yolk but no "stem" which for the men out there is code for "BABY". This was the first time I heard the term "Empty Sack" pregnancy. This means that Amanda's body was doing everything as if it was making a baby just without the baby. They told us to hold tight since we were not totally sure of Amanda's cycle and to come back in two weeks.

Well, that put the breaks on any planning or talking to anyone. Meanwhile poor Amanda is going through all the fun of being preggers but none of the assurance that everything was fine. We stopped talking about names and only lightly talked about having a baby in fear that we would jinx ourselves.

Tick, tock... Tick, tock...

Finally! The Friday comes for another Ultrasound. The lady comes in and goes to work in a "I do this ALL damn day" kind of attitude. "OK! There is the fetus, and here is the heart beat... Do you want a print out of the scan?" DUH! No lady, I want to wait until it can wave at me and toss up a ROCK HAND. Can I have the scan please???

And as soon as it was printed out we were done! Two weeks of stress wiped away in minutes. We were back on track.

Congrats to John and Melissa!

2010-09-19T04:56:39Z

After ten hours in the hospital they had their baby today (I say they becuase that is POLITICALLY correct but not factually correct. I'm sure john was there for moral support though.)

Next up Emily and Mike!

Then, uh... Us? heheheheh...

Out of Bounds Festival 2010 recap

2010-09-06T15:37:41Z

What a weekend! First off let me say that if you let Priceline.com pick your arrival and departure times on a flight you a MIND NUMBINGLY CRAZY! I know this becuase I did that very thing. My plan for the festival was to come in mid afternoon Friday and leave mid afternoon Sunday. I got there Friday night at 10:30pm and left at 6:00am Sunday. 36 hours total in Austin! BLECH!

So, I get to the airport and after refusing EVERYTHING that Budget Rental Car tried to put me into I got on the road to meet Cameron at the Hideout Theater. (He had arrived at 6pm like a normal human being should) By the time I got to the theater I had already missed seeing my friends show but got to hang with them in the coffee shop and see a lot of LA folk that I have not seen in a few years. Once Cam, Mike and myself were together Mike said "Hey, we are going to hit a few bars with some friends I have not seen in forever want to come and then after that we can go to the festival after party." Ok, sounds like a good idea. And in theory it was, practice was a different thing. The first place we went had a Brady Bunch-esq voodoo theme with half naked go-go dancers on the walls and dunk U of Texas students EVERYWHERE! Cam drank a few drinks (I had decided to not drink while in Texas since... I don't EVER want a DUI, but I definitely NEVER want one in Texas!) After about 45 minutes in the club the guys decide to move on to the next on and Cam and I decide to go to the after party.

The after party was at a house and FULL of LA and Chicago friends! Much catching up was had and Cam proceeded to claim a bottle of red wine as his. I got to also catch up with my friend Tom Booker and make plans for lunch the next day at 1pm (remember this... It will be relevant to my stomach later in the story) at about 3:30am Cam and I decided we should get to the place we were staying and get some sleep.

OUR HOSTS WERE AWESOME! My wife's good friends "The Amanda's" as she calls them (since that is both their names) were kind enough to put both Cameron and myself up and they were great! Not only did they wake up to let us in at almost 4am but they then took us to breakfast for some authentic breakfast tacos! (which were honestly AMAZING!) We made plans with then to see Tom Bookers show Confidence Men which is improvised David Mamet at 7pm and then since it was almost noon went to meet up for lunch with Tom Booker. YUP! We ate breakfast and less than an hour later at a BIG BBQ lunch! YAY! Now, I should also note that Cam was not feeling 100% at this point.

He had almost no sleep and was a little tender from the wine and booze, so since I had a little time I let him sleep while I walked around the "Lake" that looked like a "River" but I was told in no uncertain terms not to call a "River" becuase it was in actuality a "Lake". Well to me it looked like a river and I walked round it while Cam recovered in the car. At 1pm we went to Iron Works BBQ for some Texas style cooker meat in sauce. It was really good and for some reason I was OK with eating again less than an hour after I had just eaten two of the mess you see in the picture next to this text. It was great to catch up with Tom but there were also some Portland people I knew there and a lot of LA and Austin peeps as well. FUN!

I could not help myself... Had to take a picture. Cam was a wreck and I was not helping matters much. We then made our way back to our place and I took a two hour nap and Cam did some video editing.

We then made our way to see the show. After some parking miss-haps we got in and it was a great set! But what came next was some of the best improv I have every seen. They festival had paired the improvised Mamet with a troop from LA called "The kindness of strangers" which was improvised Tennessee Williams I know it's futile to try and write about an improv set. But there was a father-son wrestling match that ended with the "father" full on slapping the "son" so hard the guy had a hand print on the side of his face into the next day. Now normally I would frown on such a thing. BUT DAMN THAT WAS THE MOST EPIC THING I HAD EVER SEEN IN A SET!!! Anything less and the whole feel of watching a improvised Tennessee Williams play would have felt off and fake. These guys had there stuff together!

We then went to dinner with the Amandas and then made our way over to where Extra Shelves was playing. When we got there I made arrangements with the Stage manager to film our show. "Here is the RECORD button and here is where you turn on the mic. PLEASE don't forget this or our set will have no sound." He looked at me with a smile and said "Got it!" (Yeah, I'm not going to talk about this anymore... He was doing us a favor and I'm sure he had a lot on his mind. No sound for our set though. Sad faces all around)

Mike introduced us to his mom and as we warmed up we said "OK, Mikes mom is here, lets keep is clean." Now Extra Shelves is not know for doing dirty shows, we get weird once and a while but dirty is rare. The Amandas were also there and my LA friend Joetta and her boyfriend also came. The crowd was decent but not packed and the theater was small but nice. I introduced us and asked "Can I have a location that would fit on this stage, like a tire store or a kindergarten?" .... Nothing, silence... I can hear them thinking almost. Finally some guy in a bored voice says "Sperm Bank" now normally we would have a few suggestions that we could choose from if only to avoid "Sex Room" "Torture Chamber" and "Sperm Bank" but after this guy spoke it was like everyone said "That's good enough for us... Dance monkeys!" and I thought to myself "Sorry Mikes Mom... Sperm Bank it is..."

Well, this show was one of those shows that reminds me WHY I LOVE doing a Extra Shelves show. We had a Sperm Bank dealing with a failing economy, husbands and wives dealing with infertility and mom's and sons dealing with the idea that "I don't really know who your dad is, only that I love you." it was really a great set! And after Mikes mom came up to me and said "Thank you for being such a loving mother to my son." and gave me a hug. HUGE SUCCESS!

After the show and saying goodbye to our most wonderful hosts and friends we made our way over to the after party. Which was in a "UNTZ-UNTZ" club called the Speakeasy. Which was way to load. So many of us ended up in the alley by the dumpsters chatting and generally avoiding the college coeds that were busy puking and or pissing in the alley. (God bless them, one and all) Cam and I had decided that since we were to be at the airport at 4am we would just stay up. We then made our way to a real speakeasy and chatted with our good friends Chris Compton and Stephen C. James about life, the festival and general geeky subjects. I really miss those guys so it was nice to just relax and catch up.

After Chris and Stephen decided to call it a night we went to the OOB Jam at the Coldtowne theater and hung out, Cam did a few games and hung out (I was done and ready to go home) at 4am we made it to the airport and had some last breakfast tacos then went our separate ways. My wife had some friends in from out of town and Cam was on his way to San Fransisco to meet a friend. All in all with the exception of no sound on our tape I am VERY pleased with my 36 hours in Austin and think that the OOB folk put on a wonderful festival! I hope to do it again one day!