dryer hymns plus an update

We are happy to announce that we have a dryer! It arrived last Friday morning and though I haven't used it yet (I actually forgot it was there last time I did laundry), it is exciting to see it there. Thanks to mom for fixing up a relic from her day (a lovely shade of yellow) and to her and Babycue's Aunt B (and my canine niece and nephew) for carrying it to the basement for me! Thanks also to all who offered a dryer to us! We appreciate that you thought of us and our damp clothes.

This is probably only funny to us, but we have been looking at the names of hymns (the tune name) for baby names. I have a piano student who has been working on some hymns to play in church for Christmas, and in her book they are all listed by tune name. Some of them are kind of good for real names, so when we are in church we laugh at the names of the songs we are singing. We actually start singing the song, and then notice the tune name, and laugh, and point, and then start looking at pages before and after in the hymnal. I'm sure people who notice us wonder what is going on, but there are names likes Aberswythe, Diademata, Runessan, Federal Street, Hursley, Boylston, and Darwal to laugh at. Of course, we would have to listen to the tune to decide if we liked it (how awful to have something as strange as a name after a hymn and then to have the melody be unpleasant).

Due date update: St. Patrick's Day (March 17), which means we are 20 weeks along (halfway). Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you can check out the due date countdown.

Babycue's thoughts on picture taking

"Please don't take my picture or I'll put my hands in front of my face. Ha, ha, you can't see me. Oh, so you won't give up. Well, I'll just stick my tongue out at you... Stop poking me and trying to get me to move. I like looking towards mom's spine. Now you know why the flashlight thing didn't work. I wasn't looking at you. Those two ladies kept pushing me around, while mom just relaxed on a bed in a dimly lit room and watched the screen they were showing me on. Dad thinks I have mom's nose. How can he tell? I guess it is good that mom and dad got to see all of my toes and fingers, and my heart beating. They also saw my stomach and bladder and spine. The ladies took pictures of my brain and measured my head and some bones. They say I am about the right size, and somehow could estimate my weight. 10 ounces. Mom and dad thought the pictures of my face looked kind of like an alien. I don't have much fat yet, so my face kind of looks hollow. I was wiggly for a while, and the one learning to take pictures of me couldn't quite get some of the pictures she wanted. They looked at my placenta and my umbilical cord. My heart rate was 142 today. Mom and dad brought home some nice pictures of me and got a CD with a couple more pictures, even though they took about (dad thinks) about 70 pictures altogether. I guess I'll have to get used to that."

And now you know some of what Babycue was thinking during the ultrasound today. It is fascinating that they can use this gooey stuff and an electronic thing and look inside of my belly to see this baby moving around. In a sense we got twice the ultrasound because our tech was training a new tech, so after Erica, the new one, did her part, Monica, the trainer, came in and checked everything. It is difficult to take pictures of something that is moving around and you can't control. Props to the ultrasound ladies! They can't give the official word, but unofficially everything looks fine.

Babycue revealed!

Here are the first pictures of Babycue. Everything appears to be healthy. We did not find out the sex. More details about the ultrasound later today.

Extra medium and Chinese names

I am finally reaching the point where clothes don't fit quite right. Or at all. Last week I actually bought maternity jeans (comfy, for now, I might add). Q says I am extra medium. I feel silly wearing one of my seven maternity shirts, but today I couldn't even button my favorite over-sized, ugly flannel shirt. I had to leave two buttons undone, a porthole of sorts. I tell Q that I will wear his shirts soon. I'm not upset--I kind of like it. But I am definitely in between sizes.

Tonight our Chinese friend from Nevada called us to check in and say hello. We told him the news, and asked if there were any Chinese names we should think about. He said no, but all we have to do is come up with a single syllable word and we have a Chinese name, which we found hilarious! He didn't think it was so funny (J, you make us laugh!). He then used his own and his brother's names as examples.

Coming Attractions

Tomorrow Smileycue and I will get to see Babycue via ultrasound. Tune in tomorrow to see the black-and-white, shadowy shapeshifter.

Baby names

Bittersweet posted about Secret Future Baby Names. Who knew that Neveah was so popular, or even a name? She also reveals the fantastic timewaster, babynameshub, which has a compare names function.

As you can see on the accompanying bar graph, Both Q (in green) and Smileycue (in orange) have popular names. In fact, our parents were trendsetters, apparently. However, the popularity of each name peaked in elementary school. Apparently, word got out that you don't want kids "like us." It's interesting to see how names like Tyler and Connor have from nonexistent to ubitiquous while names like Merle and Louise have faded away.

Barack hasn't caught fire yet, and it looks like Brittany has had its moment.

(Thanks to Bittersweet for the tip.)

17 weeks and some awkward pregnant moments

Yesterday we had our 17 week OB appointment. There isn't much exciting. I gained 2.6 pounds. Dr. B had a difficult time finding the heartbeat. He started by my belly button and worked his way down until he found it. It seems Babycue is chilling on my bladder. I can think of better places to be. Baby Center says the baby is the size of a 5 ounce turnip, so imagine that sitting on your bladder. Apparently where we live, ultrasounds are optional, and they have to come up with a reason for getting one. We could have said, no, we don't need one, but really, I want to see this little critter inside of me. So our reason: large for dates. Whatever that means. The ultrasound directions say to come with a full bladder. Like that will be a problem.

I have had a series of awkward pregnant moments...here are a couple.

Not even eight weeks along, we announce in church because the pastor is afraid she will burst from holding in our exciting news. So we announce. One lady says to me after church, "I thought I saw a belly there." But at least she didn't try to feel my belly like two ladies at a recent funeral visitation. Or compliment me on how "slim and trim" I am looking after I have just spent five days throwing up everything inside of me.

Then there's the camper from the camp where Dan and I counsel in the summers. He works at a local grocery store where we go mostly because it is open latest, and we like to check up on him. He tells me that his girlfriend was pregnant, but had a miscarriage. What do you say to that? My first instinct was to tell him about this thing called Planned Parenthood, and although I don't condone his choice to have sex just now, he should be using some kind of contraception. But I held it in, and just say I'm sorry to hear that. After all, he told me in confidence and it isn't my place to say or do anything else but listen. The next time I see him though...

The Babycue interviews

Reader maggie, proprietor of Sketchbook Maggie, has asked questions about Babycue. We felt that Babycue was best suited to answer the questions.

What are we doing with this new baby?

My parents have been feeding me and keeping me warm. The other night there was a bright light; I turned away.

I frequently hear sound. Sometimes I hear the voice of my father. Occasionally there is music. More often, I my mother's voice.

Are we going to find out sex?

I'm too young for that! (rimshot.)

Seriously, I've developed my "business," but my parents are respecting my privacy. I can't hide it from the ultrasound - it's Naked Time all the time here - but they promised me they wouldn't look.

Baby shower?

Why do I need a shower? I'm soaking in amniotic fluid 24/7.

Have you decided on a decorating theme?

I've thought about a decorator blankie. There are no windows. That rules out any draperies, but I have thought about a nice lamp and maybe a poster of my hero, Super Grover.

Maggie, there you are, straight from the mouth of Babycue. Readers, what questions do you have? Post them in the comments. We'll ask Babycue and share them in a future post.

coffee, er, milk snob and one less worry

Well. It seems I have become a milk snob. Now, I used to be a coffee snob. Starbucks=bad, non-corporate coffee=good, and certain drinks from certain places are better. I can tell you my favorite coffee at many places in Las Vegas, and now in our small area of Iowa.

But my coffee drinking has been limited (just don't tell Dan about the single shot latte I had on Wednesday). So I have become a critic of milk instead. Dan and I compromised long ago and buy 1% instead of skim or 2%. But last Saturday I accidentally bought the store brand. And it was not good. It tasted funny and I had a difficult time drinking it. I finally finished the gallon, and bought my Anderson Erickson 1% and life is good again. I have become a milk snob.

One less worry...we had been trying to figure out how to get a wash machine so that we could do laundry at home, instead of our once a month trek to the laundromat. We technically have a washer and dryer, but they reside in our condo in Las Vegas. Yesterday my mom brought us a washer. She got it from this guy who buys appliances at auctions, and then resells them for very decent prices. It is a Maytag, and works well. Somehow she and Dan got it into the basement too. Now we have to get our landlord to fix the water pipes so it can use cold water as well as hot...Thanks mom!

New Ben & Jerry's flavor: La Leche?

This news item is something I'd normally write about in my other blog, but it's more apropos here. PETA has suggested to Ben & Jerry's founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield that they begin to use human breast milk instead of cow's milk. While Smileycue enjoyed Ben & Jerry's until she discovered that most of their products contain the soy derivative soy lechitin, she is not interested in providing base ingredients for them.

PETA has also posted their press release and a blog entry.

(Thanks to David DeGeest for the tip.)