She's Funny, Dad's Running and Bloomington Here We Come

Well...at least for the last few days anyways. Monday and Tuesday of this week she was really really inactive. Enough so that I called the doctors office to ask them what a reasonable amount of movement at this stage would be. Turns out I'm golden and she's doing fine.

From Wednesday evening on however she's been a little motor in there. On Wednesday night Jason got out of the bathroom and I asked him to press on the left side of my stomach and then on the right side of my stomach and I asked if they felt different. He said, Holy hell the right side is way harder than the left. So he pushed a little harder and Lucy pushed back. Then he started feeling around and thinks he could feel a foot or something. Something was kind of pointy and rounded off. So that was kind of crazy. Then last night my stomach looked like an ocean of waves. I still think she's calmer than a lot of babies, but that's ok with me! I mean if it's true that behavior in utero translates to behavior after birth. But she's funny to watch and I'm getting more and more excited to see her! Actually..because my blood pressure has been on the high side we have to get some extra ultra sounds meaning that we get one this coming up Wednesday, so we'll get to see her then! I can't wait to see how she's changed in 8 weeks!

Today we are at 12 weeks to go. 12. weeks. to. go. Wow. that's crazy. I need a list. Because there is a lot to do before the big day. And really it could be a little as 8 weeks. Right. Need to make a list. I'll start it with, "Throw your shit away so there is room for the baby's stuff".

My Dad and Sue have finally gotten their apartment drama settled and found a great place just south of Belmont on Sheridan. They are about exactly one mile from our apartment. AND apparently their building has a pool on the roof deck. Look out Summer 2010.

As I have mentioned my dad is going to run the Chicago marathon in 2010. Right now he is dealing with a cramp popping up in his right calf about one mile into his run. I suggested he ice and rest it until next week. Everything else feels good so I know how frustrating that can be. He looked great running last Sunday though. He's a smooth runner and doesn't look like he's straining too bad. If you want to follow his Chicago running trials and tribulations and also I'm guessing grandchild updates in the near future please check out and subscribe to his blog at: http://runmarathonmaybe.blogspot.com. He loves tips, advice and comments so go say hi!

This weekend we are going to Bloomington, IN for a belated anniversary trip. On Sunday night we are going to have dinner with one of our favorite people on the planet, our old advisor. I haven't seen him for...well shit, a year? When I defended I guess. Wow. Yeah, so that should be a great visit. Hopefully the rainy forecast is wrong and we can just enjoy the town and walk around and read and relax and just enjoy the only small town that we like :). Maybe we'll go bowling in the union, where Mrs. LeahCStraightBall can actually beat JasonRFortWayneCityBowlingChampion because apparently they don't wax the lanes right...or they wax them too good...or whatever. And I'm kidding I'll never come close to beating Jason at bowling..except the one time he bowled a 94, but we like to pretend that didn't happen.

So that's all from Chicago. Thinking of a new project that could combine photography and me needing to know how to develop a Rails site from scratch as this front end only stuff has gone on too long. We'll see how that turns out and more details to follow.

Quick Week

Wait it's Friday already.

And Hold. The. Phones. Today is August 28th. Ok so then. September 28th = 1, October 28th = 2 & November 28th = 3. Shit. That means 3 months from right now Lucy could be here. Knowing my luck she'll being enjoying herself too much not joining us and so I'll still be large and round and just hoping she comes out soon. Either way. 3 months. That's crazy! I feel like we found out we were pregnant like just a few weeks ago. Time flies!

To ring in her 3 months to go she's been moving like crazy. After the Software Craftsmanship North America conference we went out to a meetup and I stood around and chatted with people for oh about 4 hours. When we got home and I had the chance to lay down the child went crazy. Jason looked at my undulating stomach and then at me and asked, "What the hell is she doing in there?" Who knows...what do the babies do in there. Maybe she's like her father who can never get comfortable (seriously..have you ever sat next to him in a movie theater? It's infuriating.) and so she's just trying to find that impossible perfectly comfortable position.

We also think she's really shy because I'll be sitting there reading or knitting and she'll be moving and I'll call people over to look at it or feel it and then she stops. All together stops moving. So there, she doesn't like to be looked at and already wants to be left alone. When I was a little girl and I would get mad I would always shout, "DON'T EVEN LOOK AT ME!!!!" As if not looking at me would solve all the problems and thus I would win the fight. I never won the fight.

Great day at work yesterday. Finally was able to help the code base a little and fix a teeny tiny part of it. But baby steps is what it's all about. Hopefully people pay attention to the e-mail about where to keep parts of the code so that we can keep things nice and neat!

We have another packed weekend this weekend although I'm about 1/2 through The Hunger Games and I might have to cancel everything to finish it. My cousin Lisa has been telling me to read this for about a year now and wow is it good. I already highly recommend it. Looks like book 2 in the series is coming out soon and I'm already itching to read it. But other than the reading we are meeting friends for breakfast tomorrow morning, then we have a wedding for the rest of the day. Then on Sunday we have the cloth diapering class and that's about it.

So yeah. We bring in the third trimester and we keep up with the busy. I think that next week will be pretty calm which is nice. Also if you live in Chicago start using the Chicago Public Library online holding system. You can search for books and then send them to whatever the cloest library to you is. Then you get a nice e-mail telling you when your book has arrived. I have not taken advantage of the library like I should have been and so it's been a nice find. Also the Lincoln-Belmont branch is very nice and I highly recommend it.

Rainbows, Bellyaches and Kicks...Oh My!

I have become enamored with my new iPhone photo apps. They are obviously no replacement for my real pictures (not even close) but I have become much more inspired to get moving with my real photos on a more consistent basis. I use the regular camera on the iPhone and then I use two programs that I mentioned here earlier, CameraBag and Photogene. Then I use Flickit to push the photos up to my flickr account. I don't use flickr for anything except these iPhone photos because it's so fast and it's a nice way to keep a record of places I've been. Or at least scenes I've seen. Like these two:

I took those while I was waiting for Jason at the corner of Clark and Madison for our afternoon coffee meetup.

So with my new found inspiration, Jason and I went for a walk out to the lakefront path after dinner so I could take some photos with my real camera of the rainy evening.

As we were walking out there my stomach starting to hurt really bad and my skin on my belly felt really hard. I was like..hmm..that's annoying and a little worrysome. But it wasn't anything really bad like a contraction or anything so we just stopped for about 5 minutes. Later I was realizing that I ran out of the house right after eating dinner. I'm wondering if my stomach and Lucy's home were fighting for space and the baby had to get pushed to the outside. I have no idea, but I only ever get that feeling after I eat and so that's what I'm saying the deal is.

We almost cut the walk short (because as Jason told me I didn't have to be a hero) but kept going to the lake front and when we got to Sheridan Road we saw a FULL rainbow! It was 180 degrees and amazing! We continued walking to about Diversey and then headed back home. It was a great evening walk even thought things started a little on the rocky side. Here is one of the pictures I ended up with (click on the photo for a bigger version at my photoblog http://leahcphotos.wordpress.com):

I need some work with low light photography. I tend to shy away from both low light stuff and pictures of people and so like with everything practice makes perfect. When I got my camera it was hard for me to take any kind of picture with it and I just practiced and tried things until I had the hang of it. I have to do the same thing with low light photography. As far as people goes..well I'll probably start with Lucy and go from there :).

Speaking of Little Lu, she has been a little calmer during the day. I had gotten used to her doing a little dance around 10 or 11 in the morning and I don't know if it's because I've been a little more on edge or what but she hasn't been doing that as much. The last two mornings as I am just waking up, however, she's been a crazy baby. This morning I grabbed Jason's hand and put it on my stomach. He was like. oh holy hell there she goes (I might have been sad the night before because I hadn't felt her move as much). Maybe she's turning into a night baby...or a morning baby. Oh who the hell knows. I just know I love when she wiggles in there.

Tonight I am going to visit my friend Jean who is 35 weeks pregnant. Apparently her baby will stick a foot out the side of her stomach and kick back if you push on it. I hope he does that when I'm there, I'm guessing it's painful for Jean, but fun for spectators!