Back into the Autumn Swing

Thought I’d get y’all up to date as Evan has been backdating our vacation to NY….

We are getting back into working hard, teaching hard, and watching the season premieres of Angel, Alias and ER. Our other fave, Crossing Jordan is (much to our dismay) delayed until January.

Also visiting last week was Evan’s parents! A HUGE thank you goes to Evelyn and Earl for fixing up our gutters, caulking our tub, fixing our shredder, fixing our glider chair with Aunt Bev’s help (Thank You Bev!) of making the new cushions, and everything else they did around the house. It was such a huge help. We really appreciate it!

So, updates on Mommy: Doing pretty well. I am starting to notice my cycle of eating more, sleeping and growth spurts of our little one. Starting to eat more fish (halibut and cod, mainly — still can’t do salmon much yet) and doing much better at eating smaller but more often meals for a much more satisfying steady energy day. My only actual craving has been today for everything eggplant. I got some Baba Ganoush (and Hummos and fresh Pita Bread) from The Olive Tree on 80th and Lake City Way. Another fabulous tip from Junko and Jake. They made everything fresh for me this morning and he always thows in something extra. Last time it was a tabouli salad. Today it was an extra, hot from the oven, pita bread. I am also going to make some szechuan egglant stir fry this afternoon with this recipe I saw on Food 911 yesterday. It looked awesome!

Daddy: Starting a new regime of waking up at 5:30am and catching the 7:10 bus to Microsoft. And then getting back home by around 4:30! It has been such a treat to see him so early in the afternoon! So far, so good! We will see how it goes with Angel night and Game Nights starting back up this week. Plus, celebrating all last week was Evan’s birthday. He just got an Amazon package today with some of his birthday gift certificates. Lucky Boy!

Zoey: Growing bigger and bigger. She is kicking a lot and squirming and punching and growing some more. What is amazing is that she can be nicely resting (okay, I am nicely resting without the soccer game going on down in there), and Evan can just put his hand on my belly and say "Hi Zoey!" and she will respond to him with a kick or something and start it all going again! Nearly immediate! It is pretty cool.

From American Baby.com: "The fetus weighs in at 1 1/2 to 2 pounds this week, and measures about a foot from head to toe. Though still skinny and wrinkly (skin hangs loosely until the fetus develops more baby fat), she’s growing rapidly and starting to fill the space in your uterus. You’ll feel her kicks and pokes more strongly with each passing week, with kick-strength peaking in about a month when she gets too crowded to do anything but squirm."

Wow, so next week gets us into the third trimester. Week 26. Amazing.

Murphee: Starting to be a bit more calm now that it is darker outside and colder. We have been getting back to our normal morning routine of going to Lakeside’s track at 6am and running around (walking for me). That keeps her zonked out all day until Daddy gets home, then it is let’s play ball! She did play basically all day, everyday, when Evan’s parents were here. They left on Sunday, and she ended up sleeping all day long. Thanks you guys! Plus a special thanks to the Hesses for taking care of her while we were in NY!