Mellow Yellow Carin at 25 weeks

Here's a picture of Carin from our walk in Balboa Park last weekend. Quite rightly.

In fetal news, I can now not only feel our little guy's kicks by putting my hand on Carin's belly--I can visibly see them too. It's still a very subtle thing, and you have to be watching for it. That said, we've had a couple belly watching sessions this weekend when our guy was particularly active, and I saw a couple kicks. Cool stuff.

I'm very excited to get to share my wife and her Magical Belly of Wonder with family and friends over the holidays.

*Edited (by Carin) to add: By the way, this picture was taken December 11 in Los Angeles. And it was over 80 degrees. Before you get jealous, it is in the 50s and raining today (Saturday) and for the next four days.

What our cat thinks about my wife's pregnancy

Everybody has at least one thing they are good at. Our cat, Scottie, is really good at looking skeptical and generally unimpressed with whatever is going on (see picture above). Whether a crying baby will be enough to generate enthusiasm from her remains to be seen. We predict some initial fear and then lots more skepticism. I personally predict our son will wind up being her frenemy, particularly as he gets to cat chasing, tail grabbing age. We look forward to watching their relationship evolve over the next few years. As for now, as for our son's 26 week fetal state, Scottie is, frankly, unimpressed.

***ADDENDUM***

Since posting earlier today, I managed to take a couple great cat and belly pictures. I think they are a nice counterpoint to the post and photo above.

Here is our cat looking very comfortable next to Carin's belly ...

Slightly less comfortable but generally hilarious ...

EXTREMELY comfortable ...

Everybody say it together now: "Aww!"

Downside/Upside

When I took off my socks last night, I noticed a weird sock-indentation that would imply that the swelling has begun. Kind of like the top of the sock was a mild tourniquet. It's definitely not at the pitting phase, and to the untrained eye, it's hardly noticeable, since I started out with verrrry dainty ankles. They are still dainty, but I think I notice a difference. TBD.

On the upside, maybe my feet will swell so much that I will need larger shoes. I really have been loving those boots that everyone is wearing this season that look like a cross between riding boots and CHP motorcycle cop boots. For example, these:

Preeeeetty. We have been on budget lockdown, and it's somewhat hasty to buy shoes mid-pregnancy when you might outgrow them in a couple of months. But, hey, a girl can't walk around barefoot, right?

Pregnancy milestones I could do without

Recent developments:

• Heartburn that won't quit even after 4 ultra tums (1g each)
• Intermittent back pain
• Constant neck pain
• Sleeplessness (more so due to the neck pain than the pregnancy, but not helped by not being able to sleep on my back)
• Wedding and engagement rings are too tight.

And one I don't mind so much, though I reserve the right to change my mind in later weeks: all the kicking. :)

Week 25 update and pictures

So earlier this week, I ended up getting this red peacoat that I mentioned earlier, because I love red, and every time I wear my Old Navy red trenchcoat in public, I get compliments from strangers. Who doesn't love compliments from strangers?

And then it ended being 80 degrees here this weekend. Listen, I'm not complaining. I'm just saying - it's 80 degrees here this weekend. Hah! It's December 11! Los Angeles is awesome. (Sometimes.)

And here are a few belly pics for interested parties. (Remember: click to embiggen.)

At 21 weeks, 2 days:

At 24 weeks, 4 days:

p.s. Check out our orange tree! They're finally ripe. And delicious. That branch is hanging so heavy and low that it gets in the way of that little walkway I'm standing on (which leads to our office). It's a shame to cut it off when it's bearing so much delicious fruit. So we leave it and then just walk around it (or into it if we're not paying attention.) The tangerines (separate tree) are turning orange and will be ready soon too. Probably in early January.

Thanksgiving with Family

After some delay, I'm happy to post a few pics from our wonderful Thanksgiving week.

Here's a picture of us with Cindy, Paul, Rachel, and Jessie--our house guests for the week.

This is a sibling picture I like:

And now some pictures from the big day. First, the dramatic turkey reveal.

The spread . . .

The grown-ups' table:

The kids' table:

Some final Thanksgiving stats . . .

Total number of turkey eaters: 13

Total number of Canadian citizen turkey eaters: 6

Number of Canadian residents eating turkey: 1

Weight of turkey: 22 lbs.

Weeks pregnant (wife, not turkey): 22.5

Number of televised New England Patriots games watched that week: 2

Number of clogged kitchen sinks in house on Thanksgiving day: 1

Number of garbage disposals purchased on Black Friday: 1

Number of cats: 1

Number of dogs: 1

Number of iPads: at least 3

It was a real treat having our new(ish) home filled with family for the holidays, and we look forward to hosting more family gatherings in the future.

I'll end with this picture because I like it. Here we have Carin and Deanna at Bonnie's Thanksgiving party later in the weekend.

Week 22.5 Ultrasound Pics - A Whole Lotta Limbs

I'm behind on my blogging. I hope to post some Thanksgiving pics soon, but first, here are some photos from our latest trip to the doctor. This ultrasound session was very cool, though the pictures are a bit harder to make sense of than before. Now, our little guy is large enough that we can't get him all in one photo, so you'll notice that the shots below tend to focus on one part of the anatomy at a time. For example, le foot ...


Happily, everything seems to be in order. Carin's doctor checked to make sure all the organs and extremities were looking as they should, and in his irresistable Israeli accent, repeatedly declared, "'Es pehrfect" -- much to the delight of my in laws who were with us at the time.

Here are a couple more slightly confusing images, followed by my non-expert interpretations of what is being shown:





Which, as I understand it, translates to the following:






In other news, Carin is looking very beautiful and pregnant these days, and she is feeling our boy's movements in a non-ambiguous way which I will let her describe herself in her own posts. More pictures soon, I promise. Until then . . .

First legitimate (?) pregnancy-brain moment

There's been a lot on my mind recently, but with the family in town for Thanksgiving, I've been too busy to blog. So instead I will share a recent pregnancy-brain moment that I had, and I'm sharing it now before I change my mind.

Every so often, I have to fly up to Silicon Valley for the day for my work. We have another office there, and there are certain meetings where it's just better to be in the same room with people. When we were living closer to LAX, this was a bigger pain, because that airport just takes a lot longer to get in and out of (parking off-site, security, rush-hour traffic on the 405 etc.). But now that we are close to Burbank airport, it's a lot smoother. If I take the 8:05 flight there, I'm in the office by 9:30. If I take a 5:30 flight back, I'm home by 7:15.

Last time I flew up (mid-November), I booked the later (6:50) flight home, and it was delayed over an hour. I had to eat dinner alone in the San Jose airport, which was depressing (because of the business-traveller douchebaggery of it all (a category I feel I can't escape whenever I'm travelling up there for the day)) and by the time I got home, I basically rolled right into bed. So for this past Tuesday, I booked the 5:30 flight back.

Or so I thought. I got to the airport early enough, and the monitor said that the flight to Los Angeles was 6:05. Strange, not 5:30 like my boarding pass said. But Southwest does sometimes change the flight times slightly, and since we book business travel through an agency, those changes don't always get communicated. 30 minutes later than I thought, not so bad. At least it wasn't delayed.

So I'm waiting at the gate and I even was able to snag one of the awesome super-comfortable leather wide chairs in the SJC airport. Then they start boarding (still no delays, w00t!), and I give the guy my boarding pass, and instead of dinging like everyone else's, mine buzzes. Like, Family Feud big-red-X buzzes.

Southwest Guy: Um, Carin? (calling me back as I'm already a few steps past him)
Me: Yeah?
SG: You're going to Burbank.
Me: Yes? ... OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.

You guys. I was at the gate for the flight to LAX! BY STUPID LUCK (and also Southwest's crappy on-time record), my original flight to Burbank that actually was still scheduled for 5:30, had been delayed to 6:15. I sprinted down to the other gate, and they hadn't even started boarding yet.

I heard that pregnancy supposedly shrinks your brain. That probably isn't scientifically totally correct, but I don't want to look it up, because I really want to hold on to this excuse so badly.