Belly shot--thanksgiving

Big as a house on Thanksgiving! Thirty three and a half weeks and counting.

Welcome Ella

We had a very nice thanksgiving at friends A&L's house--it was great to hang out with them and their families. And it was A's birthday--a bonus! We took a belly shot before we left, and will get that off the camera and share it with you at some point soon.

The very next day, our niece Ella emerged into the world at 5 lbs 13 oz. Brucha Haba'ah to her! It was a long and hard labor for S, eventually turning into a c-section. But Ella is well and we hear she's a beauty. We haven't yet seen pictures, but I'm sure we will soon.

Now, we're waiting for Elroy. To be fair, we've been waiting for quite a while, but at 4 plus weeks to go, it feels more imminent now. We took an infant CPR class today, which made us feel that we're more prepared. Just one more class to go, some chair reupholstery, some cleanup and we'll be ready. Right. Ready for our lives to change? Argh. I'm pretty excited to meet him though, and watch his transition from a moving lump in my belly to a genuine lump outside my belly.

Anyway, check back soon for another picture showing my ever-increasing girth....

Copley Square at night, in the rain

Last night, it poured. Dark, chilly, and wet. Yuck. But apparently gorgeous in Copley Square, Boston.

This comes from a pretty neat Boston photo blog.

Third Trimester song

Hi everyone.

Josh says I need to blog about the pregnancy since I haven't in a while. So, I'm adding in a picture of me here (32 weeks in all its glory). Its not the best picture in the world, but it was taken just before I tweaked my back this morning.

I tried to post the picture here but was having trouble, so y'all will have to click to see.

In general, I'm feeling good, though I'm beginning to get a bit tired. I'm trying to learn how to slow down, but its hard, because I'm used to just powering through things and doing a ton. Can't do that anymore. It catches up with me, and I do things like hurt my back putting on my jacket in the morning.

People tell me I glow, though I'll have to leave that up to others to decide. I certainly have been doing well and am in general quite cheerful, if anxious about Elroy's impending arrival.

Josh and I have been busy preparing the house for Elroy, as well as preparing ourselves. This weekend we start some classes--lactation, CPR, infant care. We've bought furniture, blinds, a new sink and faucet, and have been getting our financial house in order. Furniture will be delivered this week, and I have lots of laundry to get done....

And, we're getting used to the idea of being parents. Wow!

Anyway, I'd love to hear from everyone. Write when you can.

Love,
Steph

Last words about Seattle

Last pictures, actually. If you want to see my pictures from my Seattle trip, I've posted them for you.

Making beer, finally

On Sunday, our friends A & L came over to help me make some beer. (Actually, L mostly had some quality time with Herman while A was more into the brewing process.) We made a hoppy pale ale -- my parents' fave -- using a recipe I've used successfully in the past. With only one brew day per year these days, sure success is important. The beer didn't start fermenting immediately, but was happily bubbling away in the closet when I got home from work.

Below, you can see the beer (actually called wort in its prefermented state) in the glass fermentation container at the right of this picture. Emerging from the glass carboy is some blow-off tubing to carry foam away from the beer when fermentation is at its most active. The other end of the blow-off tubing is in a bowl of iodine solution to keep any odd things in the air from getting back into the beer.

Best sign, period.

Doesn't it seem that I only blog when I'm on the road? Well, today I get to buck that trend. We have lots of updates -- Steph's trips to the gestational diabetes clinic, Elroy's kung fu in utero, a new & bigger sink that lets us stack more dishes (and wash Elroy more easily, of course), and more.

But I just had to share this picture I found. You can see the original on Flickr, but here it is -- straight from the end of the world (actually Boston's Wharf District Parks) to your town.


And anyone who can recognize the lyrical reference in this post gets extra points.