It begins . . .

Greetings friends and others! With the c-section scheduled for the afternoon of August 11, 2010, we are now about two-and-a-half weeks out from the arrival of Reagan Marina Pavloff. The time therefore seems right to kick off our blog dedicated to her arrival and to the impact (good, bad, and exhausting) that our second daughter will have on our lives.

If you've been receiving (and reading) the updates and pictures we have sent out about Amanda over the past three-ish years, you should have an idea of how this blog will develop. Hopefully, the blog format will make it easier to create more frequent updates (at least that's our thinking).

From a logistical sense, we believe we are almost completely ready for Reagan's arrival:

• Amanda has been transitioned to her new room (with its fresh paint and new big-girl furniture) with very little drama.
• The nursery has been reset for Reagan (with its same old paint and hand-me-down furniture).
  
• We've got a closet and dresser full of clean baby clothes.
• The car carrier has been cleaned and stands ready to transport the newborn.

We're holding off on stocking up on diapers because we plan to liberate as many as we can carry from the hospital. Also, there's currently a little controversy over the new Pampers (our preferred brand) and their alleged tendency to cause diaper rash. We'll consult with the hospital folk before purchasing a giant box of potential chemical burns.

From a biological sense, Susan is beyond ready to have this baby. Unlike with Amanda, she has been experiencing pretty serious carpal tunnel symptoms that have limited her ability to type or write for longer than a few seconds at a time. So those of you who have received an e-mail or a note from her recently, please know that she suffered greatly in preparing it. Along with the carpal tunnel syndrome, Susan has battled heartburn, backaches, and a snoring disorder that verges on rending her throat asunder on a nightly basis. So, Tom is also ready for Reagan to get here.

I guess that's about it for the introductory post. Feel free to bookmark, subscribe to, or otherwise follow us. And if you don't, then you're worse than Hitler.