Going inactive

 

So this isn't exactly new news, but this blog is going inactive. With trying to create three new classes to teach in the fall and another two new classes in the spring, working on writing my thesis, and taking care of my now 6 month old Frankiebear – I have no time for myself, let alone this blog. I'm keeping for a future possibility of restarted it, but who knows. Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!

Still need help

So, we still can't decide on a name for the baby. :-( We've got it down to seven that we like, but none really jump out. We'd like to narrow it down to two or three and wait until the baby is born before choosing one. If we can get it down, we still probably won't tell anyone just because we've heard too many stories of people telling family and friends the name, the family and friends hating the name, then prejudicing the parents against the name. Once the baby is here, no one can say, "Aww what a cute baby with such a crappy name." At least, we hope no one can. So, long story short, give us your feedback and ideas now so we can think more about these names.

Spoiler Alert!!!! - Post includes baby gender

Out of respect for family wishes - I am not revealing the baby's gender immediately. Basically, I know this gets posted to Facebook, but I'm not sure how much of the actual text shows up in the ticker window. So, I'm delaying all announcements and links until I don't think they'll show up and ruin someone's surprise. So SPOILER ALERT!!!! - don't keep reading if you don't want to know the gender.







Okay, I think I'm in the clear - hopefully. So on Tuesday we had the big ultrasound. And by big I mean BIG - the things lasted 30+minutes. The tech did all kinds of measurements on the head, brain, heart, arms, legs, found all the internal organs to make sure everything was where and developing as it should be. THankfully, it all is. Not surprisingly, the baby was measuring a week ahead of schedule. But since Gene and I are so tall, the tech just figured we were going to have a tall/long baby.

Okay, I know I am definitely in the clear now. So the first thing we saw let us know we were having a boy! He was displaying all his boys parts very proudly so there was no question about it. Gene was really happy when he found out. He couldn't go with me to the ultrasound since he had just started his new job. My mom was there so I was nice I wasn't alone. I'm glad it was a boy, because all the stuff we had bought and planned was kinda boyish, so I guess it was providential or karma or something. The thing we're stuck with now, is a serious lack of names. I had all kinds of names I loved for girls, but I cannot for the life of me think a good ones for boys. I like older names, but everyone else thinks they sound old manish - which granted some of them are. Gene just doesn't like a lot of the 'cute' names because he doesn't think they sound very adult when the baby grows up, and I definitely agree. So, we made a new list and I want people to tell me what they think, because I seriously need help getting excited about these. Here's the link


Email me or leave me a message on Facebook if there are any you love or hate and why. Maybe that'll help. Thanks!

State Fair Fun - Salad-on-a-stick

Gene and I went to the Iowa State Fair today since he hadn't been since college and until last week, neither had I. It also helped that Gene got free tickets from Kaplan, because there was no way we were paying $20 to get into the fair. I don't care how much you love food on a stick, it isn't worth that!

We walked through some of the livestock barns, and we saw the Avenue of Breeds so my city boy would know there was more than one type of cow. Of course the only one he cared about were the Angus beef cows and wondered where they were selling cuts of last year's losers.

We walked around the Varied Industries building and registered for a free water softener, got a free Iowa Democrats fan. It was interesting the the Iowa Democrats table was bustling, but there was only one couple at the Iowa Republican's table, and they were just registering for the give-a-way for free ISU footbal tickets. We saw the prettiest and uglist cakes, rode the SkyWay thingie, and saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat done to interpretive dance. We went through all of the Cultural Center and were wowed by all the cool photos and paintings.

But, of course, the most important thing to do at the fair - we ate, we ate a lot. Between the two of us we consumed: a gyro, a giantic cone of cotton candy, a corn dog, two Mt. Dews, an iced tea, a lemonade, a salad-on-a-stick, and a funnel cake. I'd like to point out that I had the salad-on-a stick, though Gene did have to pull me away from the dill pickle-cream cheese-corned beef thingie on a stick - it sounded really, really good :).

Now, I am blogging and looking at baby clothes patterns and my big, strong man of a husband is completely comotose on the sofa! Wow, the pregnant lady completely wore out the 6'4" husband to the point of sheer and utter exhaustion. Ahhh the fun of the Fair.

Most wonderful husband ever!

So, I just ate:

• garlic stuffed olives
• Jarlsberg swiss cheese
• and
• Goldfish crackers

Then decided to down a bowl of Golden Grahams before bed. Gene just smiled and nodded. Best husband ever!!

Baby Names

Gene and I made a list of names at Babynames.com, but we can't figure out how to get it to show up on Facebook, so I'm posting the code here:



Just give the names you like a thumbs up and the ones you don't a thumbs down. We like really old names, mainly because then there won't be 50 million of them in the same grade, also we wanted to use some family names to honor our loved ones. Have fun!

Cool Photos

So, true to my usual form, it's been over a month since I last posted. I've been insanely busy with school and being sick. BTW morning sickness does NOT just occur in the morning; also, I can't eat chicken anymore - two bites and I want to hurl. Also, ungodly tired - ALL the TIME! But, at my second ultrasound I undrestood why. in the course of just two weeks, the baby went from this:

basically not quite a cm long grain of undifferentiated rice, to this:

YEH actually baby!

On a side note, I also got my hair cut and colored today for a change. I like it; it moves :).