Rutabaga

It’s Presidents Day and we’re at 25 weeks. According to our weekly email update from Babycenter.com, we’re having a rutabaga. If you’re like me, I had to look up rutabaga to see exactly what it looks like. Wikipedia says it’s also known as a yellow turnip, “a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip.” Apparently its leaves can also be eaten as a leaf vegetable, and rutabaga pie is one of my dad’s favorites. Among the vegetables and seafood to which Babycenter has compared my child, a rutabaga is probably the least attractive. I think we’ll stick with “the Bean.” At 25 weeks, it’s now a pretty large bean—1 ½ pounds.

The state holiday allowed me to be at home today, to catch up on homework and buy materials for the wall that’s being constructed for the nursery. As I type, our handyman Leon is dividing our extra room in two. One half will be the guest room/office and the other will be the Bean’s room. In both a symbolic and necessary move, my desk has been squeezed out of the office. There’s barely enough space now for the guest bed and Katie’s desk. I’ll graduate in two and a half months, while Katie will dissertate in to the fall. It’s a clear sign that my days as a formal student will soon be over. The 20 hours or so per week I’ve spent studying finance and accounting will soon be dedicated to changing diapers, burping, and figuring out how I’m going to invest enough money for the Bean to go to college in 2027. Leon is busy painting primer now. The bright red we put on the walls a few weeks before our wedding will be covered by a soothing shade of light green. Not to be confused with the yellowish-green hue of a rutabaga.

Here are some recent pics of Katie’s beautiful, growing belly. We’ll send photos of the nursery as soon as its done.

A heart with four chambers

This is an email Katie sent to our parents after a visit to the doctor yesterday:

So, the Bean isn’t a Baby alligator. Nope, we aren't having a baby alligator. We are having a baby human, complete with a head, a spine, a heart, a bladder, two arms, and two legs. Last night, I started worrying that the Bean would be missing an arm or a leg, which we could deal with. Then I started worrying that the Bean was missing a head, which we couldn't deal with. Then this morning, while swimming, I thought what if the Bean is something else, like a baby alligator.

But, thankfully, the Bean is healthy and, at least, looked pretty happy. We are absolutely thrilled. The heart has four chambers, the legs were moving, the bladder was full - what more could two parents ask for?! We saw the spine and the main leg and arm bones—good to see that all the ice cream I've been eating has paid off in the calcium department. All of the measurements put our due date right on the 1st so the Bean is growing just as expected.

We've got pictures, as well. Looks more like a baby than a bean BUT it is still hard to tell what is what in each picture. It was helpful to have Dr. Youngkin tell us what exactly we were looking at. Apparently from the position of the Bean, he couldn't tell what we were having either (which makes me happy as it means that he won't be able to slip up and tell us!)

Love you all,

Katie


(The pictures starting in the upper left-hand corner and rotating clockwise: The Bean’s head smiling toward the camera; the Bean reclining with a bright spinal cord and a heart with four chambers; a bent leg in the fetal position; and a bent arm).

Uncle Don and the Circle

Katie and I are settling back in Austin after a busy couple of weeks during the holidays. Baby Tackett traveled to California for the first time during what was a very emotional trip. We flew to Los Angeles first, and then drove to Bakersfield for a traditional Wayne-Tackett “open house” holiday party on the 23rd where more than 30 people doted on Katie and her growing belly. After a quiet Christmas Eve of leftovers and Charlie Wilson’s War, the six of us (Mom, Dad, Grandma, Katie, the Bean, and I) headed back to LA to celebrate Christmas.

December 25 with the Wayne family (my Jewish side) has always been heavy on the cheer and light on the Christmas. The family custom, started by my Grandmother Mickey and continued by my mom and aunts, is to invite the “extended” family to holiday events. So, among my aunts and uncles, cousins and their children, we celebrated with a variety of politicos and media execs. My cousin’s children Sarah and Samuel seemed to have doubled in size and intelligence, and three-year old Justus dazzled everyone with his infectious smile and knowledge of obscure fish from Finding Nemo. We talked UT football with Uncle Randy and politics with Cousin Derek. In the middle of the festivities, however, Katie and I quietly ducked out of the party to fly to St. Louis.

Uncle Don, my father-in-law Bob’s brother, had been battling a couple forms of cancer for many months. Katie and I had spent the last few weeks eagerly anticipating email updates from Nancy (my mother-in-law) about Don’s condition. Fortunately, he had access to cutting-edge treatment for his cancer and spent the last few days receiving excellent care in Little Rock. Bob and Nancy traveled to be with Don during his last few days and talked with Don’s wife and children constantly throughout the process. He died only a couple days before Christmas.

There was no question about whether we would attend his funeral services in St. Louis. Family is central to the Klinglers, and to the Tacketts. Two years ago, Don didn’t hesitate to drive to Florida for our engagement party or to fly to Austin for our wedding. He also took a special interest in my desire to work in community development, sending me information about the many charities he supported. When I showed him the family tree I’d been compiling, he wrote me a long letter about his own research and the documents he found showing that his grandfather, the Bean’s great-great grandfather, was an orphan. In only a few short years, Don had become an important part of my life, so Katie and I traveled to St. Louis on Christmas night to honor his.

Two elements of the church service and reception held in Don’s honor truly amazed me. First is the strength of his family. His children—Kathy, Don, and Jimmy delivered moving speeches in front of an overflowing crowd in their family church. A strong theme throughout their comments was how proud Don was of his family. Second is the amount of respect and admiration for Don shown by both his friends and business associates. He was a real estate developer who did one of the first mixed use deals in the Midwest. Not only was he successful financially, but also those he worked with considered him “honorable” and “loyal”—“a great leader.”
Although my own father has taught me a great deal about Buddhism, I don’t believe in reincarnation. Don’s passing and the impending birth of his great-niece/nephew, however, did make me think a lot about the circle of life. Amidst the sadness and loss I felt at Don’s services in St. Louis, I couldn’t help but think about the family in which Baby Tackett would be born. A family with roots in the Midwest where family ties are strong. A family that has enjoyed success measured not only by professional achievements, but also by love, respect, and pride. And life for this family goes on…

Don was Purdue grad. Fittingly, his football team won the Motor City Bowl on the night of his reception. All of Don’s children and grandchildren filled his house to watch the game, eat leftovers, and to laugh and cry about his wonderful life. A few hours earlier, Katie and I decided that when we flew back to California to pick up our car to drive back to Austin, we’d stop in San Diego to watch our Longhorns play Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl. The Horns played well and the Bean enjoyed her first bowl victory (see the pic below). We’re pretty sure Don would have wanted us to go.

Heartbeat

Katie and I visited our OB yesterday and heard a little and proud heart beat 152 times per minute. Some portion of Katie's midsection has also grown to 16 inches. The doc promises pictures next visit.

Although "the bean" (the first vegetable size comparison that seems to have stuck) has flown in utero several times, next week will be her first time to California. I'm sure we'll have lots to share after she meets the Wayne Tackett clan.

Daydreaming about having a girl…

We’re about 15 weeks into the pregnancy and I’ve decided that I want to have a girl. This doesn’t mean that I’d be disappointed with a boy. In fact, among my list of priorities in the pregnancy, preference for the baby’s sex is at the bottom of the list after Katie’s health, the baby’s health, an easy delivery, etc. Nevertheless, because we’re not finding out the sex, I’ve spent lots of time daydreaming about what life would be like with a daughter.

A baby girl, in some respects, would be an immediate underdog. She would enjoy more opportunities and legal rights than women in previous generations, but glass ceilings will unfortunately still exist in her lifetime. When she’s born, there will have never been a female president or female majority leader in the US Senate. Women will likely still be underrepresented in corporate leadership positions and in the engineering and math fields. If Baby Tackett is a girl, when she enters the workforce, she’ll likely still make less than a man for doing the same job. In our competitive culture, she would be born an underdog and I want to root for her to break one of the last few glass ceilings.

Katie and I both come from families of strong and prominent women. On the Klingler side, there are three daughters. All of the women, including Katie’s aunts, are professionals with more college degrees than I can count. They are nurses, teachers, and lawyers. The Wayne Women dominate my side of the family and include my mom, her sisters, my cousin Ann, and my cousins’ wives. They are also nurses, teachers, and lawyers. If we have a baby girl, my daughter can look to her family for models of independent women who have served as Peace Corps and Vista Volunteers, fought AIDS and polio in third-world countries, cared for the sick, and taught future generations. If she wants to become a lawyer she can look to women on both sides of her family (an aunt and a great-aunt) who both served as judges at a young age. Sure, a boy could also look up to these women and would also have amazing male role models in the family—teachers, attorneys, elected officials, business leaders, and bankers. But this is a family of strong women.

When I daydream about having a daughter, I also enjoy picturing her with all the strengths and attributes of my amazing wife, and without all of my faults. Math was always a challenge for me and too often appeared as Bs and Cs on my report card. Katie was one of her high school valedictorians and excelled at every subject, including math. In middle school and during the first years of high school, I had a speech impediment that caused me to struggle speaking hard consonants at the beginning of sentences. Katie was always fluent and impeccably articulate. I’m apt to make off-color comments and occasionally find a foot in my mouth. Katie is well-mannered and diplomatic and to put it in Colbertian terms, she is the it-getters’, it getter. Yes, I know I have amazing qualities. Self-confidence has never been my problem. There’s also no reason why a baby boy couldn’t or wouldn’t also have all of Katie’s amazing traits. But when I daydream, my daughter is much better than me and a lot more like my wife.

We’re in the second trimester now and Katie seems to be feeling much better. Among all the phenomenal aspects of the pregnancy, I was amazed to learn that if we are in fact having a baby girl, she already has millions of eggs in her body. The baby can barely see and can’t eat on her own, but she’s already starting to produce future generations of women, who I picture as strong underdogs who are good at math and don’t stutter.

First Baby T Blog

There is nothing in the world like finding out you’re pregnant. About three months ago, I came back to our house after an evening work meeting to find Katie “practicing the video function” of our new digital camera. Perhaps because I was more concerned about how Vince Young was playing during his debut on Monday night football, I ignored the fact that she was following me into our bedroom with the camera. As is typically the case after a long day of work, I complained about the fact that I had schoolwork to do and that I was too tired to start working on it at 9 o’clock at night. Katie assured me that I wouldn’t be doing work that night, and then it clicked. We’re pregnant. She had taken four home pregnancy tests (three different brands) and confirmed. After trying for almost a year and a half, it finally happened.

Fast forward three months, past the “not out of the woods yet” first trimester when it’s not safe to broadcast your pregnancy to the world (like in a blog,) we’re having a shrimp. Every week, Katie gets an email that’s timed to her due date (June 1), which among other things tells us what fruit, vegetable, or crustacean approximates the size of Baby Tackett. This week, it’s a shrimp. Who cares if that’s not the most kosher description for this cute little Jewish fetus? It’s bigger than last week’s lime. Our baby is growing.

We look forward to using this blog to share updates such as the future fruits and sea life to which the baby is compared. We’ll post some pictures (like Baby T’s first shot below) and promise they won’t always be in uetro. I’m sure Katie’s going to ask me why my former political associates from California need to see her womb. Well, I’m pretty proud of the baby inside and the amazing woman who is carrying it.

I apologize if anyone is having difficulty reading the blog with a black background. Because I want Baby Tackett to live in a world that is more energy efficient, I was inspired by Google’s Blackle www.blackle.com/about/. Research has shown that an all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts. Hopefully the baby will live in world where he or she doesn’t need to worry so much about global warming or foreign oil used to fund terrorists. More thoughts from a new father soon….