I just had my 24 week ob appointment, and all looks good. She's got a good pulse (157), my blood pressure is good (110/60), I gained 2.5 pounds (go me!), and my uterus is measuring 25cm. Dr. Brandon is very happy with me.  I talked to him about my insomnia, and he said I'm free to use Tylenol PM when I'm really feeling desperate - it's non-habit forming, and it doesn't cross the placenta! I'm pretty excited about that piece of info. He was unconcerned about our trip to 9,000 feet this weekend, so that was also reassuring. Next month: the dreaded glucose screen...yuck. Then I shift to appointments every two weeks  - I can't believe how fast this is all happening! He also warned me that now is the month to start looking at nursery furniture since it takes a long time to be delivered - one more thing to add to the craziness of July! Daycare hunts, nursery furniture, my graduation. What a summer this is going to be.

I love road trips. I really enjoy driving, and I love looking out the window to see new things. Good music, good scenery, good conversation  - and of course, good snacks. My family is a snacking family, but nowhere is this more apparent than in the car on road trips. Twizzlers are an essential commodity for a long trip, and a cooler with cold soda in the back seat is also fully expected. (A funny side note: we always had cans of soda, but my mom was such a nut about ice in her drinks that we always had a cup so that she could pour her soda over ice - in the CAR for pete's sake!) On our drives between Rochester and Chicago when I was growing up (~11 hours) we always had a laundry basket with the various things needed to survive such a trip: the Twizzlers, of course, but also chips, Gardettos snack mix, cookies sometimes, extra soda cans to refill the cooler, wet ones, garbage bags...on and on. Claire and I were the purveyors of the food, but somehow I don't think we ever got too carried away pigging out on all the snacks that were within reach. My parents bought a Toyota Corolla in 1986 or 87 - I was ~10 and Claire ~8 years old. The car wasn't big, but we fit just fine in the back seat. The cooler would sit on the seat between us (or we'd squeeze it behind the passenger seat if we needed the center to be open), and the basket of food was...somewhere. Sometimes it was in the trunk, so to get to it while we were en route we'd pull down the seats and shove our bodies into the trunk. That was a great traveling car for kids that age. We almost always left Rochester by 5am, so we'd climb in the car in the dark and promptly pass out on each other. We'd take turns laying across the seat - I don't remember if we put our heads on each other's laps or our feet - all the while managing to stay buckled in. The sister not laying down had to make do with the window, but we always each had a pillow to cushion that position. We made that trip, I think, about once a year - sometimes twice in one year, sometimes only once in two years - and I think we did pretty well at not driving our parents crazy and keeping ourselves occupied. I'm sure that those trips are the reason I love road trips as much as I do now. I think it's good that Anna and Molly will grow up driving the 7 hours to Rochester - although they have DVD player, so who knows how much they'll appreciate the open road. I think the love of road trips is uniquely American; after all, we have a big country to traverse.

 

So, anyway, I made a quick trip to the store tonight to stock up on snacks. Jay will laugh at me as he always does, and maybe I did go overboard (although I highly doubt that anything will remain when we get back to Seattle next week), but it's better to be prepared, right? I've never been on a road trip that was this long, so I don't exactly know what to expect (oh, except when we drove to Disney World when I was 11). Besides, part of the point of the snacks is to have some food in the hotels as well as the car (another one of the tricks my parents taught me). And, just think, if the car breaks down in the middle of Idaho we're not going to starve while waiting for help. So, on Friday think of me, happily driving down I-84, snacking away. It's all part of the plan.

We've finally caught a break in our weather, it seems. I woke up at 3am this morning freezing under just a sheet, so that was a nice surprise - I much prefer to have the weight of blankets on me while I'm sleeping. It looks like it's only going to hit the lower 70s today, and I'm not complaining. It's kind of fun to have it be in the 80s, but it's not all that appealing to me, really. The cats seem to be more energetic than they have been the last few days, too - I guess they're liking the break from the stuffiness as well. They're currently running around beating each other up - I think it's all just fun and games.

 

Yesterday was a fantastic day. I got a huge amount accomplished on my thesis in the span of about 8 hours, and it just felt great. I'll be giving everything I have to Leo today to get his comments - and everything I have is very close to everything I need! Very exciting. I'm not really sweating about my 7/10 deadline at this point - phew! There are two points of view about how to schedule a thesis defense. The first pov is to schedule it late in the quarter so that you have as much time as you can get and then the thesis is turned into the grad school within a few days of the defense - very busy at the end of the quarter, but it all wraps up quickly. The other pov is to defend a little earlier in the quarter and then take the remaining time to tweak the thesis before it's due to the grad school. That method always made a little more sense to me, and that's how I'm set up. After I defend I'll have a full three weeks to get my thesis to the grad school, so that's ample time to do a little editing if need be. Of course, in the perfect world I'd turn it in right after I defend, but that probably isn't going to happen. In any case, serious progress towards graduation is being made!

 

'Superman Returns' opened last night, and Mike is a HUGE Superman fan, so we went with him and Melinda to see it at 10pm. The movie was excellent - Jay and I borrowed the old Superman and Superman II movies from him and watched them over the weekend, so it all made a lot of sense. The story last night was really compelling, and I can't get it out of my head...The actor that played Superman was really good, I thought - we all think of Superman as Christopher Reeve, and I think this guy got as close as possible to being him. Very good movie.

 

OK, I need one more really productive day to put the finishing touches on my intro. I have to say, and I'm not bragging, but I think it's really good - here's to hoping Leo agrees!

I grew up in a development where the houses were on relatively small lots and pretty close together - at least, what I thought was close together. Our current neighborhood gives a whole new meaning to the idea of 'close' - I could point out a number of houses where the roofs - literally - nearly overlap. Our house isn't centered on the lot, so we have a decent side yard on one side, and nothing on the other. The side yard is well placed, because the neighbors over there are wild at heart. There's always something going on over there, and Jay and I seriously have yet to figure out exactly who lives there. Luckily, that side of the house is also the side on which none of the windows open, so we aren't too bothered by them (mostly just amused). I'm sitting at the dining table now, though, with the front door open. The neighbors on the other side of the house have their front yard enclosed by a tall boxwood hedge, and there are some adirondack chairs in the yard. Someone must be out there, because I'm listening to - I think - a phone conversation.

 

I guess part of the reason that the closeness seems so extreme here is that we're so aware of it. The houses where I grew up didn't have windows on the sides, something I always thought was a shame. It turns out that that's a good thing on a small lot, because you can't look into (or hear!) your neighbors' homes. This house has just as many side windows as front/back windows, and that makes for a nice, bright home - if you want to keep your blinds open to the neighbors. I guess that if we were to buy a place like this we'd invest in those window treatments that close from the bottom -> up so that we'd still have light but some privacy as well. Actually, come to think of it, those would be great on the front of the house as well because we're not set back very far off of our heavily traveled sidewalk.

 

I'm not sure if we broke the record (88 degrees) today or not - I kept hearing 86 on the radio, so I'm thinking that we didn't make it. That's fine with me - we don't break 80 here very often, even in the middle of summer, so 86 is plenty warm. I've got the sprinkler out again - it's been a while since we've had any rain, and with this heat the ground is parched and the plants are wilting. I feel so domesticated.

When it's 77 at 9:30 in the morning, you know you're in for a hot day. I feel bad for the cats...hopefully the house won't get too hot today while they're all cooped up. They loved having the front door open all weekend (with baby gate in place, of course) - both days as soon as I opened it Cory went and sprawled on the floor right next to the gate. They really don't seem to have any intention of leaving the house, so that's been a good development.

 

So yesterday was a better day for my allergies, but last night was just weird. I woke up every 60-90 minutes to blow my nose, and then went back to sleep. Needless to say, that's a weird night of sleep. I took more medicine at 1am (after not taking any yesterday during the day), but it never seemed to make much difference - I still kept waking up that frequently to grab a kleenex. Oh, and drink some water - I have this annoyingly constant itching on the roof of my mouth (the soft part behind my palette) that I think is happening because I'm breathing through my mouth so much. This morning, though, I'm feeling a whole lot better (although that's pretty common after I shower), although I'm pretty tired. It's all pretty annoying. I'm hoping that our trip this weekend will take me away from whatever allergen is aggravating my system.

 

The baby is kicking away these days. Jay can feel her moving and kicking, and I can even see my skin moving when it's really strong.

The picnic yesterday was a lot of fun, although I felt like crap the entire time. After Jay and I got home he headed back out to get the Camry's oil changed, and I passed out for a couple of hours. It was so nice to sleep...I took my medicine again last night before bed and slept the entire night. I was so happy this morning to wake up at 8 (after getting up to use the potty at 6, of course). I was possessed with the notion of waffles, so I made some while Jay was asleep and then headed outside to do a little yardwork before the day got too hot.  I pruned a bunch of plants and our plum tree and did a lot of weeding as well. I think the front yard definitely looks better for it. The side and back yards could use some attention, but they can wait. And, I tell you, I should start making a list of lessons learned from living in this house! Today's lesson: don't landscape with plants that have thorns! For pete's sake, doesn't that seem just silly? Jay had to help me get a chunk out of my finger at one point...

 

Anyway, it was saying something that I was feeling good enough to go work in the yard this morning, and my day has definitely been better because my head is clear. One of my ears is bothering me, though...I wonder if my ob would take a look at it on Thursday if it's still bothering me then? Not quite his specialty, but he's a doc after all...

 

After I got showered I went up to the mall to find a dress for Tracey's wedding (which I did, easily) and a couple more things. Anna's bday is Friday, and apparently she's desperate for pjs, so I got some at JCPenney. They're having a huge sale, and it was all I could do to resist all of the cute, cheap little clothes that were calling out to me. I did pick up one little flowered 'crawler' (12mo) for $3...I couldn't resist. I think I did pretty well, considering how cheap everything was. After the mall trip I dropped by Target to get a box fan - our freaking attic is steaming hot, so I'm hoping the fan will help to deal with that problem.

 

Now it's 3:00, and I'm wondering what to do with myself. My soccer team has a game at 4:30 that I'm going to go to, so there's not a lot of time to be productive...hmm...

I just went to a bunch of yard sales, scoping out the neighborhood for cheap baby gear, but no luck. I did get an adorable denim jumper for next summer, though. Sure, it's a little bit ahead of the game, but it was cute and $3...can't go wrong with that.

 

I woke up this morning at 5:00 and that was that. I'm having the worst allergy day yet, and my drugs are really taking a while to kick in. I climbed out of bed at 6:15 and started scrubbing our tub (fun, huh?). I swear, if we ever own a place with a porcelain tub one of the projects will be to have it replaced with fiberglass. Porcelain sinks are manageable, but the tub is soooo hard to keep clean and get clean once it's dirty. I've been trying various chemicals for the past couple of weeks to tackle the soap scum, and finally today I got it taken care of. Sheesh. After the tub was clean I showered and went to the store for some groceries. That's when the allergies really attacked, so when I got home I took some drugs. Finished cleaning the bathroom, went to some yard sales, and now here I am.

 

Mike and Jay thought it would be fun to treat Carmen and her family to a little picnic this afternoon (her 30th bday is tomorrow), so I made a fruit salad last night, picked up some potato salad and drinks this morning...I think we're all set. Mike and Melinda are bringing stuff for sandwiches and some snacks. It's a gorgeous day here, and we all haven't gotten together in quite a while. I'll take some pics...

 

Well, I guess that's it for now. Wish me luck with my allergies - I just wish I knew what I'm allergic to...*sigh*

Ever since Jay and I moved into our house last fall I've felt much more aware of all of the things - the practical things, I'm talking about at the moment - that I learned from my parents. And the things I'm talking about aren't specific 'lessons' that I was given, they're just things that I learned along the way. For example, I was making a fruit salad earlier and was thinking about all the times I watched my mom cut up a watermelon. Maybe there's not a 'correct' way to cut a watermelon, but there are ways that are better than others, and it's not intuitive to figure out those ways. I watered the lawn tonight and thought about watching my dad set up a sprinkler and then coming in and setting a timer for when to move it. I guess it probably sounds really sappy, but I really feel like I was incredibly lucky to have parents that not only made growing up fun but also taught me a lot of practical things. To some extent, all of those practical things in my mind have led me to become a little bit of a 'control freak,' as Jay would say, but it all stems from our family's priority on doing things right and efficiently. We think it's a good way to be.

 

Anyway, I guess I've been more aware of the impact of parenting now that Jay and I are about to enter that realm. I probably just sound silly, but it is pretty amazing what a difference parents can make - but you all know that already.

Last night I got a very complete 8 1/2 hours of sleep, and I feel like a new person today. I popped out of bed at 6:45 this morning with no problem...ah. I was awake for multiple hours both Tuesday and Wednesday nights, so yesterday I was really dragging. I decided that I might not be getting enough exercise, so I'm going to go for a walk every evening in the hopes that that will help me to sleep straight through the night. Jay came home just as I was heading out last night, so I dragged him along with me - he also slept through the night.  Our weather has finally turned nice - take a look at our forecast! - and last night's walk was really great. I'm definitely going to make sure that I continue taking them, and maybe I'll be able to convince Jay to join me most nights.

 

I got my hair cut yesterday (that's why it was straight in the photos), and it's so nice to have it looking good again. It was just getting a bit to scraggly for my taste, and I have to make sure that it looks good for Tracey's wedding. 

 

Speaking of Tracey's wedding, Jay and I will be leaving a week from tomorrow! Holy cow, time flies. We're driving out to Colorado, and we're still debating the car choice. On the one hand, we have the Mini. It would be great fun to take it on a road trip, but I'm a little concerned about its power and ability to handle the Rocky Mtns. I have heard from other Mini drivers, though, that the car does just fine on the route we're taking, so that's reassuring. The other problem is that Jay isn't completely comfortable driving the Mini, although he's doing quite well with it - I'm hoping that he'll take it to work a couple of times next week to build his confidence. Highway driving is about as easy as it gets in a car with manual transmission, but he needs to see that to be convinced. On the other hand we have the Camry. It's got plenty of power and is roomier, but it has its own issue. A while back Jay went to get some diesel gas for our oil tank to tide us over until the oil company could come out to fill it, and in the process of bringing home the gas a bunch of it spilled in his trunk - and totally stunk up the car. He took it in to have it cleaned (which requires a fancy solvent), which helped but didn't take care of it. Over the course of months, now, he's slowly been removing pieces from the trunk, and in the last two weeks it's been stripped down to just the metal - no spare tire, no carpet, no compartment covers. It finally seems to be making a major difference in the smell in the car, and I think his plan is to take it in to get cleaned again this weekend. If, and only if, that eliminates the smell, we'll probably take the Camry on the road trip. If not, I don't think I can bear it. For one, it's a gross smell, and I've barely ridden in the car since this all happened. Second, I highly doubt that diesel fumes are good for the baby, so 19 hours in the car (one way!) just sounds like a bad idea.

 

Anyway, somehow we'll be traveling to CO next weekend. The plan is to drive all day Saturday until we get just about to Salt Lake City. We'll spend the night in some roadside motel and then head out Sunday morning for the rest of the journey (~7 more hours). The wedding is Monday, and we'll head back to Salt Lake City on Tuesday. We're going to try to catch the city's fireworks that night. Wednesday we'll do a little sightseeing (the Salt Lake, for example), and then we'll head home on Thursday. I'm really looking forward to seeing a new part of the country, and I know it's going to be spectacular to drive through the Rockies. And, I love road trips. Oh, and not to mention that we'll get to see Tracey get married!! Yay!

I was thinking the other day that it has been a few weeks since the last belly pictures, and then tonight we went for a walk - and I had on nearly skin tight clothes. I figured that this is as close as you're all going to get to seeing me in my undies - obviously the tank top is not maternity wear. *lol* It might be fun to make this my new 'photo outfit,' though, so you can really see the changes in my size. It's already pretty amazing to look at the last set of photos (in the pink shirt) and then this one; particularly from the front, you can see that I'm losing my girlish figure very quickly.

I'm not freaking out. OK? My mom and Claire apparently read my last entry as one of panic, but that wasn't what it was - it was more of a simple statement of facts. So, don't worry about me, I'm fine and handling my life just fine right now. Oh, and I mentioned all of the purchases to make for the baby, but I'm not about to embark on that adventure; we have plenty of time left to do all of that. OK, just wanted to clarify my intentions...

I feel like I've hit this point in time where everything in my life is becoming very serious. The pregnancy is progressing well, yes, but the reality of it all is really starting to hit me - I guess it's all that kicking going on. It makes me wonder just what Jay and I have gotten ourselves into. *lol* No, I guess what I mean is that I'm 23 weeks in now, so it's really starting to be time to make definite plans and lots of purchases. I had lunch with Allison and Carmen today, and I was saying to Allison that you go through life buying little outfits for your friends, but when it's your baby...you have to provide every outfit! You have to have enough diapers to get you through, enough onesies to cover multiple changes a day, enough blankets, and all the other random gear. When it's your baby you really have to be responsible for covering your bases - we're way beyond the gift giving level of commitment here (and it continues for decades!). It's a little scary, frankly. I don't doubt that Jay and I will do just fine at getting ready and then taking care of our little girl, but it's a serious undertaking, you know?

 

Then there's my graduation. My thesis is due in 2 1/2  weeks (talk about serious!), and then I'll be defending it three weeks later. Yipes! Graduate school is such a strange experience because once you're really in it (that takes a couple of years) you're really comfortable with the whole experience. As I tell people, this is my job - I don't have classes or anything else that you generally associate with 'school.' So while you know that it's a temporary part of your life (hopefully, lol) it becomes so normal that it's really weird to think about moving beyond it. Or, think about it this way: Jay has been at Microsoft for a little over 7 years now, and I've been in grad school for a grand total of 3 months less! I mean, I guess I haven't really been an adult outside of my time in grad school, so the notion of not having it as my reality is kind of hard to comprehend. The thing is that, while I call it my job, it (on a daily basis) is really nothing like most jobs out there. So this whole graduating thing is another really serious development in my life.

 

I guess I'm just in a year of transition. I'll be done with school (FOREVER, I promise!!), and I'll become a mom in a matter of months. Then a few months later I'll start up an entirely new career. I mean, really, can you think of someone whose life was going to change this drastically within a year?? (At least we're not moving across the country or something!) Certainly parenthood is a huge change for anyone who enters into it, but to have this other shift in reality at the same time...it's a little crazy to think about. I guess I sometimes wonder if I'll still be me at this time next year. That sounds kind of depressing and melodramatic, I know, and I don't really mean it that way. It's just really hard to even envision myself a year from now...

I didn't mention yesterday that Jay is home, safe and sound. He's feeling a little tired still, but he actually seems to be functioning ok in this time zone. I haven't seen his pics yet...I'll have to bug him about that. Anyway, he's home, and I'm glad.

 

I slept a whole lot better last night, and I have no idea why. Actually, I think that taking my allergy medication Sunday night had a pretty major impact on the state of my sinuses (they're still pretty cleared out, although I'm starting to feel the pressure building up), so maybe that improvement helped me to remain asleep last night. I even woke up this morning breathing through my nose! Maybe I'll start taking the medication once every 2 or 3 days just to keep the serious congestion at bay. The ob has said that it's totally fine to take it, and if I'm sleeping better with it maybe that benefit should outweigh any risk I think I'm taking. I'll have to think about it. Apparently we're entering the phase of massive brain development while the rest of her just gets bigger from here on out. Maybe I should just trust my doctor - and feel better at the same time.

 

Pat (my m-in-law) sent us an absolutely adorable selection of tiny items. The package came yesterday, and it was so fun to look at everything she included. Let's see, the list...

It's come up in a few recent posts that I've had problems falling back asleep recently, and that trouble continues. In fact, I think it's getting worse. I woke up last night - for no obvious reason - about 5 hours after going to bed, and was up for the next 2 hours. UGH. After about an hour and a half of tossing and turning I decided to take a two pronged approach: one, read something boring so that I'd doze off, and two, take some allergy medication. Luckily I always have plenty of scientific papers on hand that are guaranteed to put me to sleep, and my allergy medication is an antihistamine, therefore sleep-inducing. About a half hour later, I conked out. I've never had any kind of insomnia (and have been very grateful of that!), and man, it stinks. I was laying there, yawning constantly because I was so tired, but not actually able to fall asleep. I slept really well once I was back to sleep, and I let myself sleep late to make up for my overnight wakefulness. And, I have to say that it was really nice to wake up able to breathe through my nose and with clear sinuses. I'm still going to resist the urge to take the meds every night, but it's good to know that it really is that effective in such a short period of time.

 

Oh, the other thing I noticed - it's partytime again around 3am. I guess I normally sleep through it, but not last night.

Jay's coming home today.  It's been about a week and a half since I've seen him (remember I went to Tucson before he left town), and I'm definitely missing having him around. His flight out of Hong Kong was pretty delayed, so he's catching a different connection in Vancouver...he should land around 3 in Seattle. I hope he doesn't get too hung up in Customs - after so much time on planes going through that whole process wouldn't be so much fun, I'm sure. It occurred to me this morning that I forgot to remind him to get frequent flier miles for this whole trip...maybe he remembered on his own. If not, we'll definitely be filing for the credit - Earth is almost 25,000 miles around (at the equator), so I figure he must have flown at least 15,000 miles. That's quite a boost to the mileage accounts, and since so many airlines are partners now, the credits can essentially be added to just about any account he has open. For all the traveling we do, you'd think we'd easily get some free trips by now. Not yet, anyway. My dad bought his tickets for him, Linda, and my grandma for my thesis defense: the tickets were $5 each! He's traveled from NY to Japan and Taiwan a lot of times over the years - those international trips really pay off quickly. Anyway, Jay's coming home and I'm excited about it.

 

I went to Babies r Us yesterday morning to check out the store and get a couple of presents. I wasn't all that impressed with the store, honestly. Yeah, they have a lot of stuff, but it felt so...sterile. Anyway, I was looking at the adorable little clothes and was bummed because everything that's out right now is for the summer. I was hoping to get some adorable little outfit, but I wasn't about to buy an outfit for next year. I guess the cute clothes will have to wait for another month or two until the fall clothes show up. I was a little disappointed.

 

After watching the US game live (crossing my fingers for a win against Ghana on Thursday!), I went to see my women's team play in their championship game. It was a lot of fun to see my friends, but the game was just tragic. We placed first in the division this season during regular play, but there has been a bunch of turnover - I'm not playing anymore, and two of our best players were pretty injured and have stopped playing. As a result, the roster that was playing yesterday was not the team that came in first place, and it showed. The game was a rout, unfortunately. The manager requested that we play the summer season in the lower division, and I think that was definitely the right move - it's no fun to struggle every week. It was a beautiful day, though, and it was fun to see the ladies.

 

OK, I guess that's it from me. Oh, Happy Father's Day!!

Time is going by too quickly, isn't it? Sheesh...

 

One problem with the new weather module is that Seattle forecasts are notoriously inaccurate: we haven't had rain yet this week when it's been predicted. Today is supposed to be rainy, but it's actually just overcast. So, Tracey, don't go thinking that the weather in Seattle is all that bad!

 

Life here continues along the same trajectory. I worked Tuesday night until about 11:00 when I ran into a technical problem and had to stop. It was just as well because I was getting to be so tired that I don't know if I could have made it through the two more hours of work that were necessary. I ended up in bed on Tuesday at about 11:45, so I decided to sleep in yesterday so that I could function. Well, my sinuses had a different idea. I woke up at 6 for a potty run, and I have this problem that as soon as I stand up my sinuses start to drain for the next hour or so. Once that starts there's no laying back down comfortably, so I ended up getting up at 6:30 and having a miserably tired day. I took a long nap in the late afternoon yesterday and got some decent sleep last night, so that was good. I'm going to be back on the microscope tonight again, and hopefully it'll go smoothly (my images from Tuesday are spectacular, btw). I'm hoping that it'll only be a few hours tonight...maybe I'll get home before 11 tonight. Fingers crossed!

 

My thesis is coming along (slowly, but coming), and Lauren's thesis is just about done. We're just about ready to submit the paper (early next week). Whew, too much writing! At least it's about to get narrowed down to just my thesis again. I've got a bunch of labwork going on, too - the nemesis of productive writing time - so it's been pretty busy around here.

 

The World Cup is fabulous! I love turning on the tv in the morning and catching up on the day's action with the studio show that airs between each of the games. I recorded the Brazil game from Tuesday and watched it yesterday - it was so fun to watch. I recorded the England game from this morning, but who knows when I'll get to watch it - probably tomorrow evening. Saturday is the US/Italy game...eek! The US game on Monday was just atrocious and pathetic, so I'm really hoping for a better showing on Saturday. I remember that during the '02 WC the play on my little rec team really improved - I guess we were all so inspired by watching so much pro soccer that we translated it onto our own fields. I distinctly remember some of my teammates making fancy moves and our plays in general were just more sophisticated. (It was a short lived change!) This weekend my women's team is in the championship game, and I wonder if they'll play better because of the WC influence. I can't wait to see the ladies and cheer them on! I wonder if I'll ever stop playing soccer...

 

OK, back to the real writing. I have plans to head to the pool at 4:30, so I should get some more work done in the next hour. Then, a long night in the dark and quiet of the microscope room...

Well, it's not that it's that late just yet, but I'm going to be working late (very late, I fear). I'm up on my least favorite microscope for a few hours this evening; it's booked solid everyday this week during 'normal' hours. The good thing about working in the evening up here is that it's just me, and there's no pressure to be done by a certain time - I generally run out of time during my daytime sessions. We're trying to get a paper out in the next week, and one of my figures could stand to be a little better - this is a last ditch effort to try to get some spectacular images together. I've really got my fingers crossed here - so far things are going well. I had a really productive day in lab, so I'm proud of myself that I'm still plugging along.

 

I did take a break to go for a swim in the campus pool. It was pretty good especially considering that I haven't been swimming in a few weeks. It was also the first time that I've swam laps in my maternity suit; that was a little interesting. It's a 'cute' suit, and I guess there's a reason that people (including me) own 'exercise' suits. The material on a cute suit just isn't intended for laps, I guess. It was fine, of course, but I think I'll tie my straps (halter neck) a little tighter next time to minimize the movement. Of course there's going to be extra fabric on my tummy, and that's fine. Anyway, I was kind of cute in it, I think - I definitely look quite pregnant in it.

 

I guess Jay's on his way to Hong Kong now. He loved flying in business class to London - I'm sure he'll be glad to have it for this 12 hour leg of the trip. I don't think he got to see much of London in the last couple of days, unfortunately. He was supposed to be free this afternoon, so maybe that worked out ok. He was up crazy hours, so I'm betting he's really going to be hurting in HK. Hopefully he took his melatonin this evening.

 

Alright, I guess I don't have much to say. Things are going well on the 'scope so far, but a little slowly...hopefully I'll pick up some speed here soon. If I extrapolate at the rate I've been able to collect images so far I'll be here past midnight, and we all know that that's a bad thing for both of us girls.

In my uterus, that is. It seems that every evening around 6 or so, the little girl really gets going. I keep reading that people often find that babies move around at night while mom-to-be is in bed. I'm finding that I rarely feel her moving while I'm laying down, and just intermittently during the day. There's a three or four hour stretch in the evening, though, when that all goes out the window. The ob suggested at the last appt that it would be another month or so before I would really start feeling 'kicking,' but there's no other explanation for what I'm feeling now during these busy periods. We're way beyond any kind of fluttering here. I guess that's good - it certainly doesn't seem bad. It's funny to actually feel the kicking - you always wonder what that must feel like, and really, it feels exactly the way I've always envisioned it. It's definitely a slightly surreal reminder that there's a person inside of me. Oh, and at this point, she's getting pretty big: 10 1/2 inches long (almost the length of a piece of paper) and a pound in weight! Development is amazing.

When I landed in Seattle yesterday afternoon, it was a perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky, 75 degrees...gorgeous. Today...back to 65 and rainy. My allergies are bothering me more today, too - it seems to coincide with the rain. I've been lucky that this summer (so far) isn't as bad as last summer - I was on Claritin for months last year, I think. Can't take that this year! I can take antihistamines, but I'm trying to do so as little as possible. So far that plan has worked out ok, and my sinuses have only been mildly irritated for the past few weeks. Anyway, the rain is back.

 

I came home yesterday to an empty house - Jay landed in London safely yesterday morning. I finished the book I started on the plane in Tucson, talked to my mom, and then mowed the lawn. The yard is looking pretty good right now, although it's definitely not as green as it was earlier this spring. My geraniums are thriving, and two little azaleas are finally blooming as well. My dahlia bulbs have come up in a serious way, and the plants are starting to get pretty big. I also saw that there are buds on the jasmine out back - they'll be pretty, I'm sure. Can you tell I have a preference for flowering plants?  Oh, and one funny thing - we have a tree out front with purple leaves that our landlord once referred to as a plum tree (that's the one that was blooming earlier this spring, remember?). I don't know, I guess because the word 'plum' also refers to a color, I was stunned to see that there are actually little plums all over the tree now! I have no idea if they're edible, but I love that we have a fruit tree.

 

OK, I'm off to write. I've already gotten a lot done this morning in the lab, so I'm hoping to keep it up.

 

The first US World Cup came started about 2 hours ago, and at half I heard some bad news...I hope they recovered! I am recording the game to watch tonight.

My trip to Arizona was fantastic. I know I wrote about this last year during this conference, but my audience has grown since then, so I want to reiterate a couple of things. My thesis project has been focused on studying a rare childhood disease called Niemann-Pick Type C. Children begin to display symptoms typically around the 1st grade age, and most of those children die before the age of 14. There are no therapies available, and children go from seemingly perfectly normal to being unable to speak, eat, and move their eyes; they're wheelchair-bound for years before they die and become severely demented. I can't even imagine what this must be like for a parent, can you? I doubt there are words that can do it justice. There are parents in Tucson that have started a foundation to promote research into the disease, and every year they host a conference for all of the researchers they fund and others in the field. Their story is so sad. Their oldest child, a boy (~22 now) is totally fine, but his younger brother started showing symptoms toward the end of first grade. After a couple of years of investigation (one of the hardest things is actually getting the correct diagnosis), Michael was diagnosed with NPC and the parents found out the sad truth about it. They also had two younger daughters (~2 and 4 at the time) who seemed totally normal but also tested positive for the disease. Michael and one of the girls both died at age 10 1/2, but Marcia, the second girl, lived to be 16. She died in August. Can you even imagine?? Every year there are other parents there that are monitoring the state of research, and this year there were 4. One of them comes every year (amazing man from CT), and his daughter was diagnosed a couple of years ago - they found out last year that his younger son (4 kids total) also has the disease, but currently has no symptoms. I guess it's just overwhelming to me to think about what it must be like to care for one really sick child and see him die, but to go through it multiple times...it's truly tragic. These parents are so strong, but they're so grateful to the scientists. It's really been a great field to be in.

 

OK, that's enough sadness...The conference, scientifically, was great. Leo and I had a great time together (we didn't miss Steve AT ALL), and he gave a nice talk yesterday morning. I gave the talk last year because Leo wasn't there, and it was really well received and really raised my level of recognition among the group. This year was even better; people remembered me from last year, and I've gotten some really cool results since then. It was very nice to have the work be so well received. Leo announced that I'm graduating soon, so everyone wanted to know what I was going to do next. Let's just say the whole leaving science thing doesn't go over very well among academic scientists. It's like betraying your kin or something! It's old school mentality, so I expect it, but it's still a little exasperating to constantly feel like you have to justify yourself. Otherwise, the conference was great. It's nice because it's a very intense, focused couple of days on the research in the field, and it's always good for coming up with new ideas.

 

OK, that's a lot of writing. I'm going to take a break for now.