Hi Mom and Dad!

Got the scanner working again, so here's the latest ultrasound photo, as promised, thought bubble and all. Not a lot new to see except a lot of ribs and a giant brain, which we hope to fill, only with slightly less pressure than that of (nerdy reference alert!) John Stuart Mill's father. In case you are not familiar, check out this link and read the second and third paragraphs under "Biography" (normally I mistrust Wikipedia, but it summed up so nicely the rigors of his childhood education). Of course, if we want our three year old to be conversant in Latin, I suppose we'll need to learn it pretty quickly ourselves. Hmmm...maybe we'll rethink this.

Our Baby Can Talk!--20 weeks, 2 days

Sorry to disappoint, but our scanner is temporarily not working, so I'll have to post the ultrasound photo later, once I get the scanner functioning. If text bores you, and you need pictures, check out the prior post with my bare belly hanging out.

As a preview: our perionatal specialist apparently has such a knack for being able to see the fine details of an ultrasound that he can even read Baby's thoughts. He typed "Hi Mom and Dad" onto the photograph so that it looks like Baby is talking. Thought bubbles aside, the photo does not appear that much different from the 18 week shot, except that s/he has grown quite a bit since then. Our little bruiser's size, which is now a manly (or womanly) 1 pound even, does not reflect his or her many talents, which include somersaulting, punching, kicking, wiggling, and waving. Constantly. I hope s/he gets it out now and doesn't try to somersault, punch, kick, and wiggle this much ex utero. Unlimited waving's okay.

For those of you who could care less about the baby and are more interested in the progress of the "beast" (fibroid), it turns out that it has not lost any weight, although it has not gained any weight either. The specialist repeated what my OB advised, which is that we'll watch it, and when birth day comes, we'll decide how to work around it.

Stay tuned for the ultrasound photo once the scanner is functioning again.

Like Father, Like Daughter--20 weeks

I've always said that I got my body type from my father, and it's never been as true as it is now.

Pete and I traveled up to Pequot for the Fourth of July to see my (entire!) family and my friend Patti and other assorted hometown characters. The weekend was one where exertion came in the forms of convincing one's self to jump in the (slightly too cold) lake, getting up to grab another beer (or slice of watermelon, in my case), trash-talking during a horseshoes bout, or deciding what number of s'mores is one too many.

Under normal circumstances, I would never, ever, allow a swimsuit shot of me to be published on the web; however, somehow it's less embarrassing to be deformed and bloated due to pregnancy than shown in your normal state of being. Blame it on Cosmo.

My mom will be disappointed that I chose not to post other photographic gems from the weekend, including one of me crammed into a rubber floaty in an unflattering posture and one of her rubbing my feet, but I thought my dignity would not be able to take the abuse.

First Belly Shot--18 weeks

Paula's got me beat for sure, but she's also ahead by 4 months, due in mid-July whereas I'm due November 22. We're on our way into Miller Park for a Brewers' game, where we sadly had no beer, but were at least treated to cookies and nachos in Craig Counsell's luxury box. Craig was Chris Fox's college roommate (Pete's brother). When I'm braver, I'll do the full belly shot, but I'm not quite ready yet. Pay no mind to the ambulance in the background; couldn't Photoshop it out.

Thanks to Urban Sense

This arrangement was sent over by Chris and Dan at Urban Sense, in Milwaukee, to congratulate us on the pregnancy. They recently moved into our Vliet Street property and have transformed the commercial space into a gorgeous shop with a workshop and consultation area. They are having a grand opening of the new place in early July, so stop by!

Profile--14 weeks

By now, Skeletor has lost its pumpkinhead, and actually looks like a real baby. You can see its ribs, ear, Sjoblad nose (yikes) and mouth. This shot was taken at a brief stint in the emergency room, which started as an appendicitis scare, but ended up, after 3 days in the hospital, being a pain from a softball-sized fibroid (generally harmless mass of tissue). We don't plan on finding out the sex of the child, so if any of you are expert ultrasound readers, keep your trap shut if you detect any clues.

Skeletor--11 weeks

Here is our second-earliest photo of the little bugger, done at 11 weeks. An earlier ultrasound was taken at 9 weeks, but it looked like an unexciting blob, so I thought I'd forgo that image for something that resembled a human. Our doctor said he or she looked "like a jack-o-lantern," which is typical at that stage. I immediately dubbed it Skeletor, from the Masters of the Universe, thus empowering our guy (or girl--She-ra was a MotU as well) as a master of his realm, rather than an empty, triangle-eyed, pumpkin head.