30 weeks!!

We've hit the big time! We are at the approximate 10 week countdown to Alaina's arrival. Very exciting.

With this third trimester has come a resurgence of symptoms I didn't expect to feel again--like nausea/morning sickness and a worsening of the old favorites like heartburn and swelling (Chad and I have decided I do not have cankles, I have thigh-kles!). That pressure/pain that I was feeling last week really hasn't gone away and I am expecting it probably won't. However, Alaina is still kicking and moving around like usual so I'm not concerned that anything is wrong.

Today was a rough day. Things like putting on socks can take a lot of time and effort! However, we went to Lowe's and bought shades for the nursery. I woke up with a sore throat and just haven't been feeling well but it's hard to tell what is pregnancy-related versus if I am coming down with a cold. I've upped my vitamin C intake and have been drinking even more fluids, just to be sure. Along with a sore throat, I've been feeling stuffy, achy, and grumpy. I almost cried when I saw that we didn't have any tea in the pantry. Fortunately though, Chad ran to the store to get me some so I'll be sipping hot tea in just a few minutes! Anyhow, hopefully I'll be feeling better by tomorrow.

I wasn't a big fan of Chad's picture and it was blurry so I also took a shot in the bathroom at work.

29 weeks

As suspected, today's appointment was fairly routine. I had only gained 1.8 pounds in the last two weeks to that was my little pleasure for today. Blood pressure was normal and I was measuring right at 29.5 weeks. She said it is still too early to tell how Smudge is positioned. After the appointment (of course, isn't that how it always is?) I started having a new pain. I think Alaina must have her foot or elbow comfortably couched under my right hip. She doesn't want to move it, either! I am not concerned though; it's just a uniquely uncomfortable feeling!

Chad and I also finished up the childbirth and newborn care classes tonight. Tonight's was definitely useful. Chad was a pro at diapering a teddy bear. This class also pointed out to me that swaddling is not my strength. Looks like Madeline is going to have to be our little guinea pig for the next couple of months! :) We're pretty sure Jasper would not tolerate being swaddled. But I'm sure we'll have to try, just for fun.

Glucose Tolerance Testing & Reappointment--eek!

Today was a day of poor scheduling! As I noted in a previous post, I had to take the 3-hour glucose tolerance test today and it was also the day the faculty met regarding my reappointment materials to vote on whether or not they agreed with the report written by the Departmental Academic Review Committee (DARC). What was I thinking in scheduling that? Is it any surprise I lost sleep last night?

Just like giving feedback to assessment clients, I like to get the bottom line out first. I passed the glucose test and the faculty unanimously voted in support of the DARC report, suggesting I should be reappointed/have my contract renewed. So yay. But wow, what a long day.

Because Chad is the best (though he sometimes needs to be not-so-gently reminded...), he went along with me to the hospital for the test. We arrived around 7:15 am and got checked in. We left at 11:30 am so yea, my doctor was right--3 hour test, my foot.
In all honesty, the test wasn't the worst experience of my life. It was not fun. I did not enjoy it. However, either I had a mild experience or others are full of hyperbole. For those who don't know (and are curious), the test starts out by first assessing your fasting glucose level. I did not eat after 7 pm last night and stopped drinking water before 9 pm. I then had to wait about 30 minutes for the lab results to come in. If I failed the fasting level, they might not have had me continue. For a moment, Chad and I looked at each other, both thinking it would be nice to not have to stick around the boring, not-quite-comfortable waiting room forever--especially since I couldn't eat or drink anything (including water!). But we shook it off, knowing the hope was to pass. Once they got the results that I passed the first test, I had to drink a 100-mg lukewarm glucose solution, supposed to taste like fruit punch. It wasn't completely awful but it was the consistency of maple syrup which slowed me down a little. But down the hatch it went, in 2 minutes and 8 seconds. :) So I then had blood drawn each hour for the next three hours. I have terrible veins (I would make a horrible IV drug user) so I'm a little marked up from their digging expeditions. They tried my right arm (I warned them not to!) but I ended up getting blood drawn from my right hand and then three draws from my left arm. Between draws, Chad played on the iPad and I read for class. We also people watched and got some interesting stories. The solution definitely caused a lot of nausea but the hardest part for me was not drinking water. I seriously drink water like it's my job. It just seems so sadistic to take a pregnant lady and make her not eat or drink for about 14 hours, especially when giving her a drink that makes her hungry and super thirsty. Ah well. Once it was all over, Chad and I went to lunch which was nice.

I don't have any details about the reappointment meeting (it's a confidential process) other than it seemed to go fine. The next step is that the department head writes an independent report. Both of those reports and most of my portfolio will then be forwarded to a college-level review committee. I believe they write another report that the Dean reviews. Then all of my information goes forward to the Provost. So I will have official word about reappointment around June or July. Yes, a terribly long process given this all started in September. And I get to do it all again in a few years for tenure!

Tonight Chad and I went to our third class. It was one on medical interventions, etc. Chad definitely learned a lot and I certainly have a lot to continue considering in the next couple of months.

So, that's it for now! Long day to be followed by nothing new to report. Next appointment is Tuesday. I don't expect anything that exciting but I'll keep you all posted.

Third and final trimester! 28w 0d

We can't believe it. We are under the three mark month! Woo hoo.
You may notice the little ticker above which gives the countdown to Alaina's due date.

Just for comparison, here is a 15w 0d shot in the same shirt (though Chad is never able to take it from the same spot--we really just need to put an "x" on the carpet...and I am not loving today's picture).

Meh. I hate numbers.

Given that so much of my life is devoted to research and the occasional afternoon of exciting statistics (yea, maybe that is rare), pregnancy has certainly given me a surprising disdain for numbers. Today is no exception. So you may have seen yesterday that I said we were hoping for a number below 130 on the initial screening test they do for gestational diabetes. Well, I got the results of the screening test today and it was 130. Exactly. So it's important (or annoying) for me to note that last year the cut-off for the gestational diabetes screening was 140. Some doctors still use that cut-off. Not mine. Even though I am literally on the cut-off, she wants me to do the 3-hour test. Given my family history of diabetes, this isn't really that shocking to me. Just the fact that one single number makes such a difference. If it had been 129, I wouldn't even be thinking about this. If it had been 135, I probably wouldn't question it. But 130. Boo.

I have been overly obsessed and focused on this today. In reality, I want to not complain. While yes, it will likely be disgusting, uncomfortable and ridiculously boring to hang out in the hospital for 4 hours getting blood drawn every hour, I am still thankful that I've had such a healthy pregnancy. I never threw up and my morning sickness was not severe. I haven't had any spotting and no scares. I haven't even really had back pain yet and reflux is manageable with Tums. I am thankful. I have a friend who has been struggling with her blood pressure and heart rate and has had a lot of monitoring and difficulty. A girl that I went to college with was due the week before me and she had to have her little girl the week after Christmas due to severe high blood pressure (baby is 2 weeks old and from what I understand, she is making progress). So yes, I have a lot to be thankful for. I just need to keep reminding myself of that. I'm sure I'll complain on Monday, but hopefully I'll have perspective.

27 weeks: Two trimesters down...

So, we are right on the border of the second and third trimester. It's really hard for me to believe. While I certainly would not say this pregnancy has gone fast, I strongly suspect it will speed up now. Lots of excitement in finishing the nursery, ordering the essentials, feeling her move, etc. We are now in the year of her birth!

This morning I had my last monthly doctor's appointment. Now I am on the every other week schedule. Big step. I had the gestational diabetes test today. I had the orange drink. It didn't taste great but about halfway through it (in combination with eating an egg for breakfast--I'm allergic) I definitely got queasy.  Given my family history of diabetes (both maternal and paternal), I am a little nervous about the results. If the numbers are over 130, I will have to take a 3-hour glucose tolerance test which I have heard is about the least fun thing ever. If the number is over 200, that's an automatic diagnosis of gestational diabetes. I am just really hopeful the number is under 130, preferably far below so it isn't even a question. Given how picky of an eater I am, I am terrified of the GD diet. In other doctor news, I had a surprise shot as well. I didn't realize it was already time for the Rhogam shot (because I am Rh-). Always fun. The good news is, I don't have a urinary tract infection. So that's good.

Fortunately after all that, I had some personal time for lunch so I went to a hair appointment. As many of you know, I've been growing my hair out to donate to Locks of Love. It seems like it has been forever that I've been growing it out. I have been wanting to cut it for over a year now and I knew it was close to the required 10 inches. I've been struggling at night because when I have to turn over, it's already hard enough with the carpal tunnel and the growing belly but my hair tended to get stuck under my shoulder and man, what a pain. So, off it was. I had to really, really convince Amanda that I was ready to take the plunge and we ended up cutting about a FOOT off. I like it and it's so nice to not have that extra weight. Chad is still deciding. He doesn't hate it but it's shorter than he expected.

In other news, I am SO excited because I got my diaper bag in the mail. Earlier this year, I got roped into the Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag craze but wondered who would be willing to spend that much on this kind of thing. Well, a friend told me about a crazy deal online and I was able to get it for about half off plus free shipping. I convinced Chad that it could be an early birthday present for me. I think he would have gone for it even if I hadn't said that--shoot. :) We both were very excited that it came in tonight. I am a little obsessed; I like it even more than I expected. Chad said it was the nicest bag he'd ever seen and that I better keep my eye on it so that some crazy pregnant lady doesn't steal it. This isn't the greatest picture because the design is actually yellow (not green). You can't tell in this picture but it also converts into a backpack. Yay.

We also had our second childbirth and newborn preparation class tonight. I think it is going fairly well. I am not 100% convinced they are worth it but I would rather regret going than not going. There are some interesting folks in there, that is for sure. I haven't really felt like I learned anything new but I am sure Chad is learning stuff and it is good to have it all written down in one place.

Last baby bump picture of the second trimester--with the new hair cut.

Following, subscribing, what does it all mean? Blogging 101

So technology is both a blessing and a curse. It's mostly good though, right? Anyhow, I had a couple of questions about how to "follow" a blog and given that I have next to zero knowledge about blogging, I went straight to Google for answers.

It appears to me that following a blog is basically just a way of saying "hey, I like what you're saying." And that's always nice. But if you hit follow, in the hopes that you would get updated whenever a new blog is posted, well, you're out of luck. Apparently it doesn't work that way. It's basically about as meaningful as hitting "Like" on Facebook. But feel free to follow this blog. I like seeing your pretty faces and who doesn't like "Likes". It may be important to note that you can follow blogs publicly or privately.

What some might be more interested in knowing is "but how do I know when there is a new blog posted?" I mean, clearly, you can't sit around and just hit refresh all week, waiting for an update. And if you got as far as reading this post, you probably also wouldn't want to forget all about this blog and remember next July that you wanted updates on the baby. Apparently this process is what is called "subscribing" in the blogosphere. If you're already a fan of blogs, you probably know that you can "subscribe" via popular readers like Google Reader, My Yahoo!, etc. This means that your front page (if it's your home page) or your reader site will be updated if a new blog is posted. I have added this function now (Smudge subscription via a reader).

But if you're asking questions like "what is follow? how can I know if there is a new blog posted?" chances are, you have no idea what I'm talking about right now.  What you may be interested in, is simply receiving an email when a new blog is posted. Voila! I have now added a little box on the right sidebar (Smudge Subscription! Enter your Email) that will do just that. In essence, you just type in your email address and a box will pop-up asking you to complete one of those annoying "captchas" making sure you're not a robot spammer. Once you have done that, a message will be sent to your email address asking you to verify that you really were crazy enough to want to receive my boring updates. You will then go to your email and follow the link, nodding your head that yes, you agree it's crazy but why not? That's it! Now you are subscribed to the blog and will receive an email whenever a new blog is posted. How easy is that?

And while we're talking logistics of blogging, you may have noticed that after each post there is a place where you can "comment" on that specific post. Feel free to use that function liberally. Everybody loves comments.

Finally, just a note that if you scroll to the bottom there is a button on the right side that says "Older Posts". That will take you to...you guessed it, older posts. You also may have noticed along the right hand side that there is a blog archive that indicates which months have posts in them and you can see the titles and go to specific ones through that link.

Whew. Well, I learned more today about blogging than I expected. I have no idea what people did before Google. :-)

26 weeks

Whew! Finally caught up with the history. I look forward to updating this more regularly, rather than trying to recall things and having to talk in past tense.

Last week Chad and I went to visit a daycare here in town. We both really loved it. It seems like a good option for us for the first year (before the baby can go to the university's child development center) if Chad continues working. Man, daycare is PRICEY. Thank goodness we live in Stillwater which has such a low cost of living. I can't imagine if we lived in a big city. We haven't fully decided yet that this is the road we'll take. The daycare is great though. It is research-based, which is important to me. They also have video cameras in each room so we can just check in on the baby whenever we want. It's also practically on the way to both of our jobs.

Yesterday we went to the city to make some final decisions on registry items. We also bought the mattress which was one of the things that excited me the most! We had put the crib together over the weekend and I couldn't wait to see what it looked like! I bet you can't wait to see it either. Here is a little preview! You can also see how much the puppies love the new room.

Chad and I also start child birth and newborn/infant care classes tonight. It is going to be so weird to be the student again when I've gotten used to the role of professor! The classes are an hour a week for four weeks. It's a little early to be taking them but probably better to get them out of the way, in case Smudge makes an early appearance or February's weather makes it difficult to attend. Chad also didn't want to have to take all the classes smooshed together (there is also a breathing class and a breast-feeding class to take once these are finished).

And because everyone seems to like seeing a big belly...here are the pictures from the last two weeks:

 

12.27.11: 25 weeks

Things are going well. The big news is that last week we hit 24 weeks which is awesome because it's known as "viability week." What that means is that if our little girl had been born last week, she would have had a 50% chance of surviving (with a great deal of medical assistance, of course). Each day that passes increases her odds by up to 3%. Obviously we want her to continue growing safely to term, but it is still so nice to have a little bit of reassurance that the odds are moving in our favor every day. She currently weighs about 1.5 pounds and is approximately 13 inches long. 

Along these lines, she is still very active and this week I have started tracking "fetal kick counts" each night. You should be able to feel movement at least 10 times in a 2 hour period and so far I've been able to feel 10 movements in between 2 and 20 minutes. Maybe she'll be a gymnast or a soccer player. :-) 

No new doctor's appointments until January 10 when I have my test for gestational diabetes (yikes). Also, no new symptoms to report.

We have mostly finished painting the nursery, with only the part that was taped off being left to cut in. Here is a little preview with her dresser and the room's paint (ignore the parts that need to be filled in!). 

Here are some progression pictures so you can see there really is a baby growing in there. ;) The pictures are in order--approximately 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, and 24 weeks. The picture from this week was pretty terrible so we'll have to take another one soon or we'll just wait to hit 26. Chad just loves taking these pictures each week...ha!

Chad and I spent Christmas in Oklahoma this year due to too much travel for weddings, funerals, birthdays, and conferences in the last year. It was sad and we missed seeing family. We had friends over for a nice, casual dinner. It's probably a good thing though, given this probably will be our last chance for a calm Christmas for awhile. :-) In Chad's stocking I put a onesie for the Detroit Tigers so he was pretty excited about that. 

We both are doing well. He loves his job. My job is also going great. I recently turned in all of my materials for "reappointment" (my third year review to determine if OSU wanted to renew my contract) and just got back the initial report from the departmental committee and things look good. So that's a relief obviously but this entire semester has been a bit of a wash in terms of productivity. It doesn't help that looking at baby strollers is a lot more fun than writing journal articles or grading reports. :-)

We are planning to go look at a daycare this week. My university's child development center doesn't take kids until they are at least 12 months old. I plan to do clinical supervision starting in June a couple of days a week and then I have a course release in the fall, so I only will be teaching one class that semester (instead of my usual 2). The faculty in my program have been super supportive and will be finishing up my spring semester and submitting grades once I go on maternity leave. I feel very fortunate to have such great colleagues.

12.13.11: 23 weeks

Things are going well and progressing normally. I had my monthly appointment. Smudge's heart rate was in the upper 140s which is perfect. She was moving around quite a bit and I'm finally really starting to get a sense of when she is more active. All of the screening results I had completed last appointment (to check for things like Down's syndrome and other genetic disorders) came back within the normal range so Chad and I are very thankful for that. My blood pressure has been fine and they think my weight gain is appropriate (I'm up about 16 pounds so far, yikes!). My next appointment (January 10) will screen for gestational diabetes. I hear the orange drink is a lot of fun. Seems like terrible timing just after the holidays. :)

In terms of symptoms, really the only two issues I've had are the continued numbness from the pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome and swelling in my feet. The doctor gave me a few tips today to help me try to manage these. However, I am certainly not complaining. It would be awesome if these were the only two negative symptoms I had! :) 

We've made significant progress around the house. We finally finished moving all of the furniture out of what will be the nursery into what will now be a guest bedroom/office. We decided to wait to put the crib together and order the glider until after we finished painting. We are hoping to do that this weekend! The bedding that we chose has purples, pinks, and greens in it and we think we want to paint the room a light green color. Chad plans to buy a pretty purple roman (window) shade to coordinate with it. We feel very fortunate. Family and friends have already been giving us gifts and awesome hand-me-downs so Smudge is well on her way to having everything she needs! We are tremendously excited if you can't tell. I can't wait to send you guys before and after pictures.

As for the name, we are still thinking about it but leaning toward Alaina Marie. Hopefully we'll decide before we have to sign her birth certificate. :)

11.23.11: Lots to be thankful for!

A lot happened in the last month!

I started feeling very sporadic and slight movement this month. The first time was on 10.21.11, on a plane on the way back from my friend, Aimee's wedding. It felt like my stomach was dropping, like on a roller coaster. Later movements felt more like an eel swimming around. I loved every time it would happen!

In this time period, I also had a conference in Toronto which was fun but a new pregnancy symptom popped up at this time--pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome. So bizarre! I also had to give a job talk to my department. I could tell Smudge was excited because I felt her moving around a bit after I was finished!

I also had my 20-week anatomy scan. We were so excited to see the baby doing all kinds of flips, kicks, and jabs, most of which I was shocked I could not feel! However, we were even more excited to hear that everything was looking perfect. The baby's heartbeat was approximately 160 bpm and she appeared to weigh about 11 ounces, which is right on track. The tech tried hard to get some good pictures but it was hard with such an active little girl!

10.26.11: Homecoming + Smudge is a....

The university where I work has a really huge Homecoming celebration. I was so excited that Chad's sisters, Traci and Amber, were able to come visit. They hadn't been to Oklahoma yet and they were also able to go to the biggest homecoming festivity of all--Walkaround. In essence, walkaround is where about 60,000 people descend upon Stillwater to view all of the stationary floats that student organizations have spent months working on. These are made of chicken wire and tiny little pieces of tissue paper. They are really amazing. Walkaround is a lot of fun. Here's a picture of me with my fabulous colleagues--many of the junior faculty.

However, before we went to Walkaround, we took Traci and Amber with us to find out the sex of the baby. Technically, my doctor wanted to wait until I was 20 weeks along to do the anatomy scan (which would include telling us the sex) but knowing that I could know a month earlier had been killing me. Chad finally agreed for us to go to a private company to find out early. My mom and sister, Kristin, thought for sure I was having a boy. My dad and friend, Ricki thought Smudge was a girl. Chad and I went back and forth. We knew that we had a slight preference for a girl (no real reason why) but thought it might be a boy. In fact, we were much more settled on a name for a boy and had been looking a bit more at boys' clothing and such. However, the day of the ultrasound, I really just thought we might be having a girl. And....we are! In addition to finding out we were having a girl, it was just so nice to have such a long ultrasound. Smudge was super active but we were able to get some great pictures!

09.28.11: Hearing the heartbeat

The previous weekend I had gone to a conference and got to tell the last friends and colleagues that I wanted to tell the great news in person. It was pretty weird talking about having a baby. Very surreal.

We finally got to see my regular doctor. She and her nurses were so fantastic and so happy to see us with such great news. The nurses actually hugged me which I think is adorable. This appointment was really just a baseline appointment but the doctor first pulled out the doppler and allowed us to hear Smudge for the first time. We were so excited. Sometimes it's been hard to believe that a baby is really growing so it was pretty surreal to be reminded.

We also decided it was time to make the news really, really official by posting on Facebook: 

is very excited (and a tad nervous) to announce to the Facebook world that...Chad and I are having a baby! We had two early losses this spring and are ecstatic to have made it past 12 weeks and have seen and heard a heartbeat with this little smudge. Due April 8--Easter Sunday. :)

We were thankful to all our friends and family for their positive responses!

09.12.11: Smudge is a baby!

So a lot happened in just a few weeks. Unfortunately, my cousin, Brandon Mullins, was killed in Afghanistan on August 25, 2011. Very devastating news to my family. Chad and I knew that we wanted to go back to Kentucky for the funeral but it was tricky with his work schedule. He was able to get off work so that we could go but while we were waiting to find out, I decided it would be best to tell my family why we weren't able to commit to coming right away (I did not feel comfortable making the trip by myself). Getting the news out there made me more than a little nervous and most of the family was pretty cautiously excited. Brandon's funeral was on September 11, 2011. A very sad day to remember Brandon along with the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States. His funeral was beautiful and devastating.

For a video of the memorial service: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17217242

Unfortunately, we had to quickly leave Kentucky in order to make it back for our doctor's appointment on Monday afternoon. We drove most of the night on Sunday and made it to the city just 30 minutes before our appointment.

I was now 10 weeks and 1 day so we knew we should be able to see more detail, including the heartbeat. We very quickly were able to see that Smudge looked less like a smudge and more like a baby. It was such a relief to see that little heart beating away! It seemed like one really nice glimmer of hope after such a sad weekend! The doctor released us to go back to my regular doctor at home. We now felt ready to begin telling friends and family the good news. Though still not quite ready for the big Facebook announcement. :-)

08.18.11: Smudge!

And now for the moment we had waited so long for: ultrasound day. I was 6 weeks, 4 days so Chad and I were hopeful that we would see the start of a baby and maybe even see a heart beat. On the drive to the city, I was sick to my stomach. Not because of morning sickness but out of anxiety! I knew it was still early and that maybe we wouldn't see much of anything.

We got to the doctor's office and went back for the ultrasound. I was so glad that Chad was there with me! When the ultrasound started, the doctor and nurse were quiet as they looked around and then, I thought I saw something, just a dark dot. And--there the baby was! Literally like a smudge. Looked like a smudge of a fingerprint. And then we saw the flicker. The nurse had to point it out but there was Smudge's heartbeat. We were both so excited. It was real. We really had a baby growing! We went to lunch with friends of ours and it was really hard not to tell. Chad especially was bursting with excitement. But we decided it would be for the best to wait a little longer. Melissa told us a bit later that she had suspected something was up. :-)

The ultrasound did make Chad a little nervous though because he had seen pictures of what babies look like in the womb and he was expecting to see a baby, not a smudge. So when we got home, I showed him lots of other ultrasounds (thank goodness for google!) at 6 weeks which made him feel better. Three more weeks until the next appointment to make sure Smudge was still growing.

All about the numbers

Because of our history, we went to the doctor the following Monday (08.01.11) to have blood work done. Our fingers (...and toes...and eyes...) were crossed, hoping to have good, strong numbers. I feel so fortunate to have compassionate and efficient nurses at our doctor's office to tell us the great news. The levels of hcg and progesterone (pregnancy hormones) were so much higher than we were expecting. I had hoped that my hcg would be at least 30 and the progesterone would be at least 20. Imagine my amazement to find out that my hcg was 197 and progesterone was above 40. Chad and I were over the moon. I could barely believe it!

Numbers in and of themselves don't really mean that much. What needs to happen is you need to see an approximate doubling of hcg within 48-72 hours. We went back to the doctor on 08.05.11 to be retested. My hcg levels were 386 and progesterone was 49.5. This made me a little nervous because it meant my doubling time was approximately 71 hours, which is on the high end of normal. However, thank goodness for those compassionate nurses because she was very reassuring and told me this was great news. They were not at all worried. So now we'd just have to wait another 2-3 weeks for an ultrasound. So nerve-wracking!

07.30.11: Sharing the news

I was very excited to see the positive test! Since Chad was at work, I immediately started thinking about how to tell him the news. I even took three different pregnancy tests--just to be completely sure.

Because the baby was supposed to be born on Easter Sunday, I dyed several Easter eggs and put them in an arrangement with a "unisex" onesie (great suggestion!). When Chad got home, I gave it to him and he was very surprised. It actually took him a few seconds to understand what it meant. He became very excited and a little tearful.

Babies do crazy things...like motivate you to write a blog

I had recently started sending updates regarding Smudge to family and friends. I thought this might be a good time to start a blog so that rather than flooding the inbox of those I love, people could instead just subscribe and read when they felt like it. I'll try to go back through the major highlights and then just update it as exciting (or not-so-exciting) things happen in our lives.

Here goes nothing. :-)