Happy Holidays...home at last

Sean, Stephen, and I got home Saturday finally after going to Houston, San Francisco, and then back to Houston. We have pictures to share, but some were on a memory card that got run over in San Francisco...whoops. We had an excellent time in both places and we are lucky to have a wonderful family. He was an excellent traveler on the plane and in the car, but he sure knows where home is because he has been sleeping more and better here and generally less fussy than on the road, which is nice. I told him that tomorrow is another year, but I'm not sure he's grasped that concept yet.

Stephen's milestones

We are currently in Houston. Stephen rolled over on his own last night and again this morning. This morning, after he spit up, Raven gave him a good cleaning. We had fun at the Westside Tennis Club in the Kid Zone arcade.

Common Children's Vaccine Recalled - New York Times

Common Children's Vaccine Recalled - New York Times

I usually don't pay attention to these recalls, but this one has me a little bit at least concerned considering he just got vaccinated today...

Update: I called the pediatrician and he's fine. It is not a recalled lot number that he had.

Small Kid at 2 Months, but just fine

Stephen just had his 2 month pediatrician visit today and he is 9 pounds 6 ounces, or between 5-10th percentile for his age. His pediatrician is not necessarily concerned, although he did move from the 25th percentile to the 5-10th percentile but she's a pretty laid back pediatrician (thank goodness) and she doesn't seemed to be concerned. Sean and I were both really slow to gain weight, so this is not surprising. She did say that I could tweak his feeding schedule a little and feed every 3 hours instead of every 2 during the day, which I think I will do. I have learned not to tweak with his night eating schedule and I'm fine with waking up at 2 or 2:30am to feed him if he sleeps until 6:30am.

He got his first round of vaccinations. He cried for about 10 minutes after them, but then settled down and went to sleep in the car. :)

Friday Night Lights

Sean, Stephen, and I went to see Highland Park play West Mesquite in the regional playoffs for High School football 4A at Texas Stadium. Yes, they really do play high school football playoff games in Texas Stadium. Stephen went in the Baby Bjorn and slept the whole time. We left at the end of the 3rd quarter when the score was 49-6, Highland Park. We used to go to games when we lived on Emerson, seeing Matthew Stafford at QB, but now we get to see him on T.V. as he starts at QB for Georgia. There were about as many people at this game as were at the Rice-SMU game. Sean said that he thought that Highland Park could probably give either SMU or Rice a good game.

Stephen's Photo Shoot

Sean and I were ready to go to the job site and take a look around today because it was about 80 degrees and gorgeous when Stephen was just so cute in his Dreamsacks blanket in his car seat. (made from bamboo! of all things)

Getting the hang of this

It was a beautiful day in Dallas today, 68-70 degrees and sunny. Stephen and I took a walk around the neighboorhood. He's ready to go outside in this picture. Today he is 8 weeks old, and I think we are just getting the hang of this. Every challenge kind of reminds me of communicating with my Grandma who passed away and couldn't talk for the last couple of years of her life. Once we figure out what is in his head, it gets easier. This morning I realized he wasn't hungry but tired, and this afternoon I realized he probably has more gas than I realized and needs to be more upright when nursing than I had known. We figured out that everyone gets a better night sleep if he doesn't sleep in our bed...He squirms and kicks too much and wakes us up. He sleeps really well at night in his own bassinet, from 8 to about 2 or 3 and then until 6 or 6:30.

Stephen says, "hey, that's me smiling back at me"

Looking in the Mirror

Adventures in Plano

Stephen and I set out to go to Plano this morning for a sonogram to check out his hips. I was born with Ehlers-Danlos, a genetic disorder, and have a 50-50 chance of giving it to my children. Because of Ehlers-Danlos, which affects the collagen in the body, I was born with dislocated hips. I was slightly concerned that Stephen might have this, but it turns out he's fine. In fact in the last couple of days, he's begun to put weight on his legs when I hold him in the standing position. It only lasts a couple of seconds, but I was pretty impressed.

Plano is far. Granted, it only took about 25 minutes to get home, but it took about an hour getting there because of traffic. Stephen was pretty good in the car as long as I went above 30mph. The Plano imaging place is right next to Prestonwood Baptist Church, which I mistook for another hospital because it is so large and according to its website has 28,000 members (average attendance 14,000). This is just beyond me.

Old Photos, New Fun Format

Thanksgiving

We all enjoyed our Thanksgiving at our friend Sarah Smaardyk and Eric Bell's house. We had 20 people for dinner. I cooked my favorite, sour cream apple pie, that I've been making now for 16 years, Sean smoked a turkey, and Nancy made wonderful stuffing. I made corn souffle, but someone inadvertantly turned off the oven and the souffle fell in route to dinner, but it turned out o.k. regardless. Stephen did really well, sleeping a lot, and enjoying his own turkey dinner. Sean's turkey just keeps getting better by the year. We might have to have a turkey-off to see if the oven roasted beats the smoked. We have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Reading Declines

During my daily reading on the New York Times online, I came across this article:

Study Links Drop in Test Scores to a Decline in Time Spent Reading
By MOTOKO RICH
Americans appear to be reading less for fun, and as that happens, their reading test scores are declining, according to a new report by the National Endowment for the Arts

As someone who came from a family where we all read the paper every morning and all enjoy reading as adults, I find this very troubling. Granted, I probably didn't read much for fun until I graduated from law school, but that has more to do with the fact that I had to read volumes of stuff for school and relished the opportunity when I graduated to read stuff I actually liked. Reading case law is entirely different from sitting down and devouring a book. I'm lucky that Sean likes to read too. We get two newspapers every day and the New York Times on Sunday in addition to reading books. I guess we are in the minority.

We plan to read to Stephen every night and have him read the newspaper with us once he's old enough to read.

Into the Wild

I'm listening these days to Eddie Vedder's (Pearl Jam) soundtrack to the movie version of Into the Wild, the book by Jon Krakauer about the true story of Christopher McCandless. Christopher graduated from Sean's and my alma mater, Emory University, in 1992, sold all of his possessions and went on an adventure that ended in Alaska, where he died, probably poisoned by a molded berry that he ate. Sean and I both loved the book and really enjoyed the movie, although of course the book is better because it is more comprehensive. He explores that while Christopher's quest was probably rooted in some elements of mental illness or family trauma, many men and/or boys take off on big adventures which turn out to be of importance only to themselves. It is then that they tend to get on with life. This view of male coming of age is shared in a similar way by the author of another book that I read this year, Wonder of Boys by Michael Gurian.

Granny Smith gives Stephen a bath

Granny Smith came to Dallas from Virginia to take care of little Stephen. I got my nails done for the first time since his birth, went shopping for new clothes, and even got a date night with Sean at Stephan Pyles restaurant, which was wonderful, even though he might spell Stephen wrong. ;) Granny Smith also helped us give him a bath. He doesn't mind the bath too much, but really does not like being cold afterward. Thanks mom for a wonderful weekend. It was so nice to be normal people as well as parents.

On another note, our townhouses are set to go on the market on Monday even though they are not yet ready to be occupied yet, we are putting them on the market anyway. So exciting. As you can see, Raven likes visiting the job site.

Lola likes tummy time too

More on Growing

In response to some of the comments from the last blog entry and just in general from a public health standpoint, I think the concept of "normal weight gain" for infants is very interesting, especially when we are living in a country where over 50% of adults are overweight. I'm not particularly concerned as to whether or not Stephen is of 'normal weight' for his age, but merely as a concept for public health interventions.

Studies have shown that breastfeeding may lead to less obesity in later stages of childhood and beyond (Owen CG, Martin RM, Whincup PH, Smith GD, Cook DG. Effect of Infant Feeding on the risk of obesity across the life course: a quantitative review of published evidence. Pediatrics. May 2005, Vol 115 (5): 1367–1377). Even though the U.S. Surgeon General recommends nursing for at least 6 months exclusively, the rate of breastfeeding exclusively at 6 months as of 2003 was only 14%, partially because of maternity leave (mothers who return to work full time are less likely to nurse exclusively).

I wondered if these charts were considering that the majority of US children are not exclusively breastfed and found this on the CDC website for frequently asked questions:

The 2000 CDC growth charts can be used to assess the growth of exclusively breast-fed infants, however when interpreting the growth pattern one must take into account that mode of infant feeding can influence infant growth. In general, exclusively breast-fed infants tend to gain weight more rapidly in the first 2 to 3 months. From 6 to 12 months breast-fed infants tend to weigh less than formula-fed infants.

The 2000 CDC Growth Chart reference population includes data for both formula-fed and breast-fed infants, proportional to the distribution of breast- and formula-fed infants in the population. During the past two decades, approximately one-half of all infants in the United States received some breast milk and approximately one-third were breast-fed for 3 months or more. A Working Group of the World Health Organization is collecting data at seven international study centers to develop a new set of international growth charts for infants and preschoolers through age 5 years. These charts will be based on the growth of exclusively or predominantly breast-fed children.

Perhaps the growth charts when Sean and I were children did not take into account exclusively breastfed children. Now, the CDC recommends that breastfeeding promotion be a part of obesity prevention campaigns. Apparently, public health and science are catching up to common sense (breast fed and formula fed babies gain weight differently)

What's Normal for weight gain?

I am pretty sure that every new mom is concerned about how much food their baby is getting and if it is "enough." It is hard to tell through breastfeeding how much food is actually getting in there and that just makes it harder. For Stephen, there are good days and there are not so good days at nursing. There are times when he just wants to suck the life out of me and then there are times that he just wants to hang out there and cries when I take him off, while I'm thinking to myself, "I need to take a shower." Thinking about it, the same thing happens with adults...there are times that I'm really hungry and days where I'm just not that hungry; there's no reason to think that the same thing doesn't happen with children.

Today, I went on the CDC website and looked at the growth chart for boys ages 0-36 months, and he is doing fine. At 3 weeks, 5 days, he was 8 pounds, 6 ounces, in the 25th percentile. Considering I have had challenges nursing for the first week at least, this is normal. It's good to reassure myself that he is not going to be undernourished and that he is just fine.

Stephen questions whether or not it is easy going green

This morning Stephen read the Wall Street Journal special section entitled, "Consumers Guide to Going Green"

Greening of America

How are you contributing to the Greening of America? Here's some of the ways that my family has contributed:

• This past week, my sister attended the Green Build conference in Chicago


• Mom and Dad both drive hybrid cars


• I am trying to remember to use reusable grocery bags when going to the grocery store


• I have added a signature to my emails: "Please think of the environment before printing this email"


• I recycle everything Dallas County allows


• David has only put 7,000 miles on his car in the past 2 years


• Sean and I have owned (although not currently) one car for a total of almost 2 years


• Sean and I get our electricity from a company that puts wind and hydroelectric power back into the grid for the electricity we use.

Boys Weekend with Stephen A.

This weekend, my brother David and my dad Stephen B. came to visit and take Stephen A. to his first Rice football game. Of course, mom and dad came along and we had a great time. Sean first showed us around the progress of 4144 Emerson project, which makes me quite proud that we had and have the guts to go through with the project. There is something about seeing the physical results of the project that is very satisfying. Now that it is November, we've been conceiving of this project and planning for about 11 months now, so it is rewarding to see the work continuing on. The Rice/SMU football game was very exciting and very well attended by Rice alumni. Rice won by a last second field goal after SMU thought that time had already expired from the previous play. Stephen was very good all through the game, although I think he may have been a little over stimulated by the noise and excitment, but he was a true champ. Sean and Dave grilled a fabulous meal of gorgeous steaks and shrimp from Central Market paired with a 2003 Katheryn Hall wine that we had saved from the Smith family trip to Napa during Christmas 2005. A perfect end to a great boys weekend (with me, as new mom attending). Today, the boys played golf and at least tried to watch the Redskins game before leaving.

First Trip to Houston

This weekend, we took Stephen for his first visit to Sean's parent's house in Katy, just west of Houston. Nanna Eidson, Aunt Summer, and family friend Millie Smaardyk had a baby viewing/shower, gathering 25 adoring women to look at Stephen. His adoring fans were just thrilled to get a look at him and he took it all in stride.

Ridiculously large haloween costume

If you can't tell, he is supposed to be a pea in the pod.

More Cute Photos

These were the best of today's pictures:

Uncle Joe comes to Dallas

Uncle Joe came by to see Stephen last night.

3 weeks...things learned

I'll post more pictures here soon. Stephen is three weeks old today, and I feel like reflecting on that time a little to record what we've learned.

What I've learned:
-I will do things I've said that I will never do (co-sleeping)
-Breastfeeding can be very hard, but when you get it right, it is a relief.
-You have to demand service from the nurses in a hospital
-A good night sleep is golden
-I have a pretty good kid who sleeps very well
-I don't react well to narcotics
-Meconium is gross
-I can still read a book while feeding
-I can be a pretty good mom
-Now in the third week, I'm finally becoming myself again
-I have a very loving family and family of in-laws who will help and support me, and put up with me through a lot
-I have a wonderful husband who cares a lot for both Stephen and I and who swaddles better than I do

What Stephen has learned
-He can smile
-He can pick his head up from your chest
-He doesn't like his diper being changed
-He is learning how to breastfeed without crying
-He likes being close to people
-He does not mind loud noises
-He can open his eyes more
-He does not mind dog kisses

see mom, that's a smile, not gas

Playing around with the camera

I was playing around with my camera today, while having Stephen in the sling that I have for him. I thought this picture turned out pretty well and was the best of the lot.

Second week at home

Every week tends to be a little easier than the last, but also brings some challenges. Stephen is a little more alert each day; we've caught a smile or two, and we are trying out some bedtime routines. He continues to get up only once during the night which is nice for us. I'm now allowed to drive again and Sean and I were able to take advantage of his parents here to go to an alumni watching party of UVA football. Even though they lost, it was good to get out of the house a little. Cousin Patti and Aunt Kaitlyn came to visit along with Sean's parents.

Kudos to my friend Amy who ran the Marine Corps Marathon with her husband for the second year in a row. :)

More Pictures...Visit with Aunt Lilli

My sister Lilli came to visit this weekend and we had so much fun with her and Little Stephen. As always, she's much better at documenting things with a camera than I am, so there are lots of pictures here. I'm learning from her, so we will have a lot of pictures of him on here in the future. We had such a nice visit...We spent a beautiful day having a picnic at the Dallas Arboretum and then Lilli cooked enchiladas that Sean loved while watching both UVA and Boston win their respective games on TV.

Precious Sleep

So, how has the first week been? Once some breastfeeding issues were resolved, or at least on the road to resolution, it became a lot easier. He sleeps, eats, and poops, while we try to sleep, eat, read, and relax and catch up some on what's happening in the real world. We are beginning to catch up on sleep and that makes things a lot easier to deal with. I'm beginning to go on walks with the dogs and Stephen, although we are taking it easy with this, just going around the block basically, while I still heal from my c-section.

Stephen Arthur Eidson has arrived

Stephen Arthur Eidson finally arrived to Shelby and Sean October 10, 2007 at 5:30pm, exactly to the minute that we were married, three years prior. He arrived via c-section to be a very healthy and strong 8 pound, 1 ounce baby boy. We came home from the hospital on Saturday and are adjusting well. I'm very tired, but very happy.

Sean went to Atlanta to be the best man in one of his best friend's wedding on Friday and Saturday, while I had plenty of help from my mom, a wonderful mother, my father in-law, sister and brother in law. It took four people to replace Sean, but we are very happy to have him back home where he's sleeping on the couch with his son.

Lola and Raven have been wonderful with little Stephen. Lola is his protector and guardian and does not leave his side. Raven has been allowed by Lola sometimes to smell and lick his head, but Lola will not allow Raven to lick little Stephen very much. They are with me through breastfeeding trials and tribulations, down by my feet during nursing.

Headed to the Hospital Finally

Well, the estimated due date of October 6th is past and no baby boy in my arms. Dad has come and gone with no baby in sight and both mom and mother in law are here waiting with us. I'm headed to the hospital tonight to be induced in the morning. Hopefully Stephen Arthur Eidson will be here tomorrow, October 10th, also our third wedding anniversary. In the mean time, we took the opportunity this weekend to relax with family and check on our house project, which has the first floor of the framing finished.

WAITING

I'm feeling a little bit more uncomfortable, less able to sleep, and contracting every five minutes, although not painfully, so I thought that I would have made progress from last week, but apparently not. I'm pretty discouraged. I'm setting up my expectations now to be induced next week on Wednesday, and if the baby comes between now and then, that's great, if not, then I'll be induced and it will be fine. Now, if we can just get some sleep between now and then, it would be fine. I'd rather be sleepless with baby instead of sleepless without, but I can't really do anything about it except just wait.

I finished one book this weekend, so maybe I'll just try to finish another one before the baby comes.

Maternity Leave Taxed? Who knows

While I won't turn this post into a rant about the lack of available paid maternity leave in the US, which is chronicled very well in other settings, I'm still trying to figure out if the short term disability payments that I will receive as part of my maternity leave will be subject to federal income tax (Texas has no state income tax :) ). I should note: yes, giving birth is a "disability" according to the law. I'm rolling my eyes right now.

Disability insurance is different from other non-taxable insurance payments from accidents since it is part of a benefits package from my employer. It looks like if the employer pays the premiums, then the insurance payments are taxed, but if employee pays the premiums after tax, then the payments are not subject to income tax. I pay a portion of the premiums before tax and my employer pays a portion. My HR person says that it is subject to tax and that the insurance company will take care of the withholding, but I guess I'm just trying to figure out a way around it and I'm not sure I understand the logic behind whether to tax or not.

While I don't agree with the flat tax proposals, one should be able to figure out his or her own taxes.

Still Pregnant

Yes, the baby is coming...sometime. The doctor's visit today was good. Dr. is on call all this weekend, so hopefully baby will come some time while the dr. is on call.

In the meantime we are trying to distract ourselves. We did a good job by going to the Dave Matthews concert on Saturday night and will go to arboretum on Thursday night for Cool Thursdays, for a picnic and concert with some friends. We are both having problems sleeping some nights, so hopefully we can both rest up.

Lola has found her favorite place under the bassinet in our room, it is quite cute.

Night in the Kitchen at Abacus

About a year ago, Sean and I bought at an auction the opportunity to spend a night in the kitchen for three hours and then have dinner at Abacus, one of the best restaurants in Dallas. Since then, their chef de cuisine, Tre Wilcox, was featured on the Bravo Show Top Chef, Season 3. It was a fabulous experience. I arrived at about 4:45pm, to get a tour of the kitchen and watch final preparations for that evening's meal. Last night they served about 130 people, with their weekend nights serving around 300. I started the evening shadowing a sous chef, Jason and then ended the night talking with Tre.

Tre was all business, I really didn't talk much about Top Chef, of which Sean and I are fans. I really enjoyed seeing how they operate, how they prepare the food, who manages what and so forth. They do sales analysis of what dishes are selling; if something is not selling, they take it off the menu immediately. The menu also changes on what seafood or meat is available. A type of fish might only be available for one or two days for example. Tre does all of the seafood ordering with auctioneers, preferring that to wholesalers. He really has to have a relationship with them because he deals with them over the phone and can't see the product before it is delivered by Fed Ex. He lets his other chefs order their own meats and what they may need for their stations. He really encourages chefs to have their own dishes on the menu as well as most of the dishes he creates himself. Tre did mention that they do have a couple of dishes on the menu with foams, which is the new "in" thing in cooking, but they don't call them foams, but emulsions, because foams would not sell marketing wise in Dallas.

Sean and I both had the tasting menu, which was fabulous. Sean's favorite was the Duck Three Ways, while mine was either this salmon over blue corn cheese spicy grits or this pork dish with a green puree of goodness. Tre eventually wants to open his own high end restaurant, but for right now, we're glad that he is in town. :)

Parenting

Sean and I went to our first night of our child care class last night given at the hospital. It was full of "This is what the American Academy of Pediatrics says..." type of stuff, but it was interesting none-the-less. Tonight, we go for round 2 including CPR training. Even if I was a psychology major in college, I had forgotten the stages of child development, and I still feel as though I need more of a reminder and a primer for Sean, who never had a child psych or even regular psych class. I'm trying to find a good child psych or child development primer, without all the "You need to do this for your child to be a good person later on in life" type of book on Amazon. Any recommendations of that type of book and a basic family medical guide would be helpful and please feel free to send this way.

Also any recommendations for nice sounding children's music is always appreciated. Upon recommendation from mom, I have downloaded some Woody Guthrie and some nice classical lullabies as well as just some soothing bluegrass or folk music that both Sean and I like. Our baby will get his own playlists in my ipod so that he can have music in his room or on the go. Itunes has smartly included School House Rock and Electric Company videos, counting on nostalgia from my generation as we raise our own kids. I hope they continue this trend.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Yesterday evening, our neighbors actually invited us to curbside cocktails. We met nearly everyone who lives near us and it was great. This is a contrast to getting a certified letter 10 days after moving in to our old place telling us that one of our neighbors was suing us because of a fence. While most of them are older than us by about 5 to 10 years at least, we've come to think this is commonplace for us. We're glad to know that we have nice people in our neighborhood and that kind of community still exists.

Baby Watch Week 37

See the lines coming off of the big sun looking thing? That's our baby's hair. I know it is hard to tell on this sonogram, but apparently it is hair. We didn't think he would have hair, but he does. He is about 6 pounds 6 ounces already! Not to get too much into it, but I'm not dilated yet, but he's moving down there getting ready to be born. He's making his mommy a little uncomfortable with heartburn/cramping, but apparently he's just practicing.

Sean's birthday is today. He is getting home from business travel this afternoon and we'll have a nice homemade meal here at the house tonight. It has been beautiful in Dallas these last 2 days--cool enough to turn off the a/c and let real air circulate through the house, which is nice.

Baby Shower Time

Thanks to my good friends Maurie and Sarah, I had a baby shower on Saturday afternoon. Thanks to all who came. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law came for the weekend from Houston to spend the weekend with me and do baby shopping stuff. We're getting pretty excited and anxious about this baby coming, but we're hanging in there.

Driving

Sean, my wonderful husband, is restricting my driving as much as possible this close to delivery. It is a good thing, for those familiar with my driving record.

Constructing a Life, Edited by Mom

I have the most wonderful mom, who emails me that I have made grammatical and/or spelling errors in my blog entries, all of which I have corrected now. I thought I'd give her editorial credit so that she could have her name on here in print :)

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Today I did some "nesting cooking" as I'm calling it, trying to prepare when I don't feel like cooking and to have stuff in the freezer. This time I made Curried Butternut Squash Soup, the recipe which has evolved in the last couple of years.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2-3 stalks celery, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1/4 c. molasses

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

1 c. chopped mushrooms (optional)

2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)

1 T. Chinese 5 spice powder

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces (optional)

1 can fat-free evaporated milk

1-1.5 cans 100% fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth (2.5 c.)

2 T. or more curry powder (to taste)

salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients up to and including the sweet potato, if using, in roasting pan. Roast in oven at least 1 hour or until squash/sweet potato is a little past fork tender. Pour all roasted vegetables and juices into 8 quart stock pot. Add chicken broth and evaporated milk. Either use immersion mixer or regular blender to puree all ingredients. (If using regular blender you can skip putting everything in the stock pot) Add curry powder and salt and pepper to taste.

Labor Day

We used to own a house here (shown on the left), where we lived for 2 and a half years, but now it is gone. Destroyed by us. We are both a little sad because we enjoyed our time living here and the neighborhood, but know/hope it is for the best. Yes, we are crazy for undergoing a project developing three townhouses to sell on this lot while we are having a baby and while the housing slump may or may not come our way, but apparently we like to have a lot going on. :)Fortunately for us, we choose the lot in the best area we could, rented out the upstairs to make money while living in it, and hopefully will sell the townhouses by this time next year. We've learned a lot already in our short time as homeowners and developers. Mainly, that local government is full of bureaucracy.

On the baby front, I'm feeling a little more uncomfortable physically, but I guess that is to be expected. Sleeping is getting a little more difficult too. Early this morning, I got some laughs by watching Bill Cosby's "Himself" about natural child birth. The guy is a genius and his comedy is still relevant and hilarious 24 years later.

Baby Watch Week 35

I am 34 weeks pregnant, meaning I'm in my 35th week out of 40. I'm looking forward to getting my body back and getting this baby out. We have a name now, but no we aren't telling; we have to have some surprises. At our last sonogram, on August 9, Baby Eidson was 4 pounds 7 ounces and we found out he has a huge head, just like his dad. :) Here he is in all his prenatal glory at about 24 weeks...

I just got a new camera to replace the one that was a replacement one for the one that got messed up in China. (I went back to Canon from Lumix because I bought the Lumix on ebay and...well...) I love the Canon. My favorite subject right now is Raven, but that will change soon.