His & Hers: Another Miller boy on the way

Husband-and-wife journalists Bob Miller and Callie Clark Miller use this space to offer their views on everyday issues.

SHE SAID

We'll be just like the Tool Time Taylors, was stepson Drew's response to our ultrasound results this week. That's right. I'm resigned to being the only source of femininity in our household.

I figure if my grandmother and Bob's mom can survive three boys with their mental faculties in place and all limbs attached, then so can I.

The big downer from the ultrasound -- and we went through this with Dawson, too -- is that the new guy is small. So small, the doctor pushed my due date back two weeks, from June 28 to July 10.

It's like running a 20-mile race, crossing the finish line and having someone say, "You have to go back and run that last two miles again!"

I am focused on what is best for the baby, always, but by golly, I earned my 20 weeks! Don't take two of them away now!

So once again, I've fallen behind in the pregnancy race and am feeling a little deficient. I'm wondering what I should be doing differently to help my baby grow at a normal rate.

When I was in kindergarten, my teacher told me I had a glue problem. No, I didn't eat my glue, but I did tend to glob it on so thickly that it stuck to the desk, my clothes, the teacher's hair. So she gave me a "special" red glue cap that really stood out amongst the sea of neon orange caps, clearly labeling me an incompetent gluer. This situation smells like Elmer's to me.

But, red cap or orange, as long as he comes out healthy and happy, then that's all I can ask for.

HE SAID

Callie has complained recently of having pregnancy brain.

She forgets things, is a little less sharp than she normally is. In other words, she's becoming more like me.

So forgive her if you're having trouble understanding the glue analogy.

She's told me the glue story a number of times. She said it was embarrassing to be singled out and punished that way. However, I hardly see that situation as deficient, like she states. In her kindergarten days, I'm sure she just wanted to make sure whatever she had cut out was going to stick properly, so she applied more than necessary.

She's doing the same thing now. She's worried that she's not doing enough, so she's doing more. More worrying, that is.

The latest ultrasound revealed we're having a boy. It also revealed a few things that doctors are going to keep an eye on. Callie's wonderful doctor tried to calm her fears, but it didn't work. Not 100 percent, anyway. She's had bad dreams and has read way too many pregnancy books that only add to her worries.

Callie's kindergarten project didn't turn out so well with all of that glue. But you know what? She ended up being really good at crafts. She can make scrapbooks and fancy homemade cards like nobody's business.

Callie may have had two weeks "stolen" from her, but I believe the end project will turn out great this time.

So we're having another boy. We're picking out names. It's going to be another long debate with her wanting something "original" and me not wanting our boy named after a fish part. Finn is the name Callie is hung up on right now.

I'm not too excited about that one.

We may need those extra two weeks just to find an agreeable name.

Reach special publications managing editor Callie Clark Miller and Southeast Missourian editor Bob Miller at cmiller@semissourian.com and bmiller@semissourian.com. Write now, before they come unglued.