Merry Christmas!

Ian's first taste of applesauce

Before H1N1 hit the Bagley household, we started Ian on his first solid food. On October 23rd, he wolfed down his rice cereal, so we decided to give him a taste of Grandma Rose's applesauce. The video says it all. Any suggestions for his next solid food?

Thankfully, Ian is feeling MUCH better now, and Justin and I are slowly getting better. Silly swine flu.

Ian's latest weigh in = 20 pounds, 9 ounces!

Jumping Ian

The Rise and Decline of the Fury of Ian

Step 1:


Step 2:


Step 3;


Step 4:


Step 5:


Step 6:

BATHTIME!!!

Taken this morning.

The past month

So it has been about a month give a few days since I last wrote anything on here, so I figured it was high time. Like all of the summer the past month has been a busy one, especially keeping up with the little man.



On Little Man:
To start with, it is becoming hard to continue to call him a "little man". Okay, so he is still considerably smaller than me. However, he is growing absurdly quickly. At birth he was around 8lbs 7oz and 20 inches long. Over the first couple of weeks he continually in the 50-60th percentile of weight and height. As of his two month checkup in early July (which included shots that he REALLY did not like) he had ballooned up over 15lbs and about 25 inches. This puts him up around the 80-90th percentile for each. While it is nice to know that he won't be baby sized forever, it is a bit of a pain because outfits that included pants one week are suddenly thigh hugging shorts the next week.



On Sleep:
One piece of parenting that people always ask you about is sleep. "How are you sleeping?" "Getting much sleep?" "You look like a dog turd, go back to bed." Are all common questions/ statements I hear these days. Maybe not the last one, but you get the idea. Well I am proud to say I have developed highly evolved dad ears. These ears allow me to sleep right through any noises/feedings/cries Ian may make in a night. Elizabeth on the other hand has evolved the much kinder "Mommy Ears" that actually wake her up about 30 seconds BEFORE Ian himself knows he's awake. I guess it makes sense since she has the goods, but I'll be the first to admit it isn't all that fair. My main contribution to the long nights are technical support, by getting movies/tv shows on Elizabeth's ipod for 1 hour plus 3 AM feedings.



On Fantasy Baby:
Continuing the thread of sleep, I must mention Ian's latest accomplishment. After an uncharacteristically bad night at a local restaurant post ultimate frisbee, we were already exhausted when we pulled in to the house at 10PM, and Elizabeth in particular was dreading the night. No need to fear, fantasy baby is here. Ian fell asleep on the car ride home, then continued to sleep for a new record of 7+ hours! Go Ian! It must have been the excitement from being sooooo close to flipping from his back to his front when we laid him down naked on the porch yesterday (video below shows evidence of how close he got)! He got on to his side about 4 times in row, but his arm kept getting in the way (Warning inappropriate baby parts below). Actually, if you don't want to watch the whole thing you basically get the idea in the first 10 seconds. The rest is really just more of the same. I think it is great, but hey he is my kid. I could see how others may not want to watch 3 minutes of a baby laying on his side.



On Alopecia and evolution:
Unfortunately I must put a sad note in this entry. Ian has alopecia. Yes it is true, he is going bald slowly but surely. It doesn't help that he has inherited my tendency to play with his hair. Each morning we find more of it in his crib. Even his furry little back that was going to drive all the ladies crazy someday is slowly being cropped clean as a whistle. His head hair will grow back in a few months, probably along with other unnecessary baby attachments such as teeth and fine motor control, but for the time being it looks more and more like Ian has evolved from a goofy aquatic monkey rather than a noble grassland one:



On Big Chunks of Plastic and dancing:
We scored Ian an exersaucer at a garage sale last weekend because he wanted it. Yes we are pushovers. Ian can not talk, doesn't really want things beyond milk and sleep. But.... he smiled when we stuck him in it so we were sold. Plus you can't put a price on this (I'm not sure who is having more fun):



That is all for now. Let's hope for another 7 hours tonight!

A post celebrating the day after the day before yesterday

Okay, so every time I log on here I am massively depressed by my broken promises of a soon to appear blog post. I realize I have broken a sacred covenant with my faithful readers, all 4 of you (thanks Mom, Dad, Elizabeth, and Ian). Hmm, come to think of it if I manage to continue to reproduce at the rate of the last month I could double my readership in no time. Haha! Google ad dollars here I come!

I digress. In honor of Father's Day I have come up with my top ten things I have learned about being a Dad:


10.) Blowing on baby face is both funny and cruel. When Ian really gets worked up he tends to go on breathing strikes. To "help" him out we blow on his face. This really pisses him off, but he starts quits his breathing strike. It also gives him a funny face that makes me laugh. Are we bad parents for this? Probably. Schadenfreude.




9.) Baby knows cause and effect. I scream you serve me. You hold out my food and try to make me laugh instead with you stoopid faces, I scream louder, This is the new world order.


8.) Babies have powerful kicking legs from continually kicking Mom in the womb, but spindly, slightly structurally unsound arms (we have started to remedy this through a strict diet and exercise program).






7.) Babies can sleep anywhere, can sleep through anything (except fire trucks), and look absurdly cute doing it, but... See next entry...




6.) ...the trick is getting them to sleep. I have become convinced that any attempt to reduce CO2 emissions and save the world by driving less will be doomed to failure by sleep deprived parents who have found that sometimes a drive is the only way to get baby to sleep (massively overlong sentence). Like a good 1st world citizen, Ian loves the consumption of fossil fuels.




5.) When Ian smiles it is amazing. What comes next is not. Until recently smiling meant one of two things: a.) barf b.) poop. It is amazing how much attention is given to baby excrement. Actually, when you think about it it makes perfect sense. As much as we try to make Ian use his words, he isn't an excellent communicator so the only way we know if all is good on the inside is what comes out the orifices.




4.) Ian loves to be naked. Ian loves to pee when he is naked. Also, the following is no longer a joke:






3.) Everyone is happier when the parents get to do their things as well. Having a baby doesn't really mean the end of everything you enjoy. Actually Ian gets a little bored being in the house all the time. We take Ian all over and he seems to at least humor us with cooperating. He has become a de facto mascot for the ultimate frisbee team (Unfortunately Elizabeth overruled my naming him Prince Adam). Plus he gets to meet all kinds of interesting people like Tom Hanks(the dog).




2.) Mommy is awesome. This is a public service announcement. Be nice to your mothers. They carried you around for nine months, then push you out a very small hole. How do you repay this? By not letting her sleep for more than 3 hours at a stretch, smiling while you barf up the milk she made you (usually back on her), then for good measure drop a turd on her at 4 in the morning. I don't know how she does it. And yes I do have one more video of our new mom dancing to New Kids on the Block 1 hour before going to deliver Ian. However, I am holding it out as a future bargaining chip:)




1.) Babies are awesome dudical.


And one more thing...

For all of those of you out there wondering the correct answer to the sex poll of boy, girl, or cylon. After a month of in-home observation, it has become clear that Ian is a baby cylon. See pic below.

The blog is not forgotten!

I am working on catching the blog up on the comings and goings of the last few weeks, so some more will be up in the next few days. For now here are a few more pictures of Ian:

A Brief Update...

We made it home from the hospital yesterday in the early afternoon, and everything is going well. Baby Ian is a bit jaundiced but shouldn't be anything serious. Elizabeth and I are relatively well rested. If anyone wants to come visit him feel free, just give us a bit of advanced notice.

A couple of pics from first hour of life

It's a boy!!!

Beautiful baby Ian was born this morning at 11:24 AM! He weighed in at 8lbs 7ozs and was 20 inches long. Pics etc.... later after I get some sleep.

We are at the hospital!

Baby will be here soon. More later.

For those of you who think Elizabeth must be pooped out these days:

Elizabeth was excited that she passed her prelims, and umm, I don't know what to say but I think videos speak louder than words:

In other news we have less than two weeks to the official due date.

Update: Less than a month to go!!!

Well the title really says it all. This means several things. First off, if baby was to be born today it would not be considered premature. Actually it could have been born several week ago and not be premature. Crazy. Second, we are no longer allowed to travel more than 100 miles from Madison (well we could but insurance would not cover the birth should it decide to happen then). Third, we now get to go to the doctor's office every week to see how things are progressing. One factoid I had no idea about was that women who are in their last month could possibly be walking around several centimeters dilated for several weeks before they pop. One more thing to add to my list of evidence that women are really Decepticons (or frakkin cyclons).

Last week Elizabeth rocked her prelim exam and sent the final version to her committee, so all she needs to do now is defend it on April 14th. So baby, you need to stay in till then. Okay. Good. I'm glad we got that straightened out.

Beyond that, things are going well. We are trying to save up on sleep and get ahead in work stuff + get in things that may be difficult once baby shows up, plus Spring ultimate started yesterday. Sore today but Yay!

One thing that has been rolling around in the brain cavity is thinking about the implications of being a parent. Yeah, yeah, I know I probably should have thought about that a while ago, but what I mean is, there always seemed to be a division between people who are somebody's parent and those who aren't. Why is that? Is it that they are more mature? boring? responsible? sleep deprived? old? What is it that makes parents different? And the answer is... 42.

Okay I have no idea, but I'll be interested to see if I can find out in a month or so. I think the answer has something to do with this:

From http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4464/1227663902457.jpg

We have also made at least a partial decision on diapers. We decided to go with cloth diapers so that poll is now closed. However, these aren't your parents cloths diapers. These are like Star Trek the Final Generation diapers. I mean these diapers are so good they defecate for the baby. There are several brands of these diapers, and they supposably adjust for various size babies (up to a point, some people we have talked to have had their baby's cute chubby thighs get a bit too big for them after a year or so). Actually, we will probably be using disposables for the first month while the baby poops out black tar and pees every few minutes, and then convert over. We've collected about a dozen of these cloth diapers off of Craigslist, but need to get about 10 more. Elizabeth was so excited about them she couldn't wait and tested them out on her "practice baby", I figured I'd get enough practice later:



Well baby may not have a name yet (although a slightly paired down list for boys & girls does exist), but it can't hurt to think about its place in this crazy universe of ours. We went to one of our friend's concerts last weekend and she gave some advice on what to do when things get overwhelming. When this occurs she says to herself "I am on a spinning planet." That is all fine and good, because yes no matter what you do the planet will keep on spinning. On the other hand if we look at the history of the world to scale...

1st 60 seconds via: http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_evolution_of_life_in_60_seconds/


So yes Baby Bagley you are the culmination of 4.5 billion years of progress on this planet. No pressure.

The Ballad of Justin versus the Pack and Play

There once was a gift called a Pack and Play
For those of you who don't know it is where a baby can lay
This is its ballad without delay.

From the Valley of Spring did the beast rise
back to Madison peregrinated; a box was its guise
Inside was a demon. At least in my eyes.

Pandora's downfall was opened and no instructions were found
I looked for the instructions, in the sky on the ground.
The instructions were missing I realized and frowned.

"No problem" says I, I have an engineering degree
Surely a Pack play will be no match for me
It'll be up in a jiffy for sure you'll see

And so the pieces were strewn from wall to wall
It was going so fast and then slowed to a crawl
Clearly, the crux piece was five sizes too small

"We could look for the instructions on the internet." Said the pregnant one
"That would admit defeat and Pack and Play will have won"
But after 10 more tries a drawer was sounding like a good bed for a future possible son

Justin was cursing and stomping about
Pieces were bent and twisted as if with the gout
The Pack and Play was winning, it looked like a rout

With a paradigm shift it turned in a flash
"I've got it!" I said. "I can build this so it won't crash!"
The key is the edges, they must lock BEFORE expanded or its trash

"Who's your Daddy!" Justin bellowed as it came to fruition
And quickly mellowed as he lost the need to take use more ammunition
Pack and play was no demon just a child looking for some action

It just needed some guidance it needed some love
It just needed some pliance to fit like a glove
Few things rhyme with love, this poets must not be fond of.

(Instructions were found shortly after the "Who's your Daddy" attached to the underside of Pack and Play)

Weekly Update: Spring Arrives and More

The last couple of weeks has seen Spring finally arrive in Wisconsin. It has been amazingly nice out with a couple of days even getting up into the 70's. However, the arrival of Spring also means the arrival of baby. The countdown is now at t-minus about 5 weeks. At this point we get to start going to the doctor once a week. Also, if baby was born tomorrow it would not be considered premature. Whoa. Lets try to stay in there for a few more weeks. For the record, I believe that May 3rd will be the due date(the official due date is April 28th), and the baby will be 7lbs 10oz's. Make your guess known in the new polls!!!

A couple of weekends ago, we got to go to Spring Valley for a baby shower. Thank you lots to everybody for the generous gifts. In addition, last weekend Elizabeth's Mom came down to help us get the baby room ready. This was a huge help. And while it is still not quite done, it is looking much better (It also gave me a chance to mess with stitching photos together.) For those of you who have seen the disaster that was the baby's room before will hopefully will be impressed:



Baby has become a little less violent in its movements. We think this is because it is running out of space to sprawl. In fact in an effort to get more room, baby has pushed out Elizabeth's belly button from an innie to if not an outtie yet at least a flatty. However, it is still very active and has definitely mastered the bladder squeeze. This makes for some restless nights for Elizabeth, but its all done in love.

weekly update: Making baby mobile

NOTE: I started this last week and never got around to posting it so some of this stuff is slightly out of date... Hopefully, the next weekly update will be closer to a week, or maybe I'll just call it an update so I'm for the hook for the whole "weekly" thing:)

Phew! So this has been a relatively busy week. Elizabeth is powering through her prelim, and I have been busy being a good code monkey. Although the process of accumulating baby stuff began many months ago, in this past week it has really taken off. The focus of this week has been making baby mobile, in order to not just sit around the condo staring at each other all day. I never thought I would be saying this but stollers are waaay cool.

The first step toward mobility is a stroller. Unlike what the above picture of Elizabeth at "the beach" may imply, Spring really is coming to Wisconsin and that means emerging from our Winter hibernation (and baby is nearly here). Since leaving baby at home while I head outside probably isn't the best option, a stroller is necessary. There are a ton of options out there, but we went with a BOB stroller, and it is a beast. We also bought an overpriced piece of metal attachment that allows baby car seats to snap into it. This allows us to use just one stroller for both babies and small humans. That thing will be capable of mowing down the young, old and weak in our future strolls.

Also, the liberal media noisemachine has implanted in our brains that a mother's arms are not a suitable restraint for a baby in moving vehicle, so a car seat has also been acquired. Not as nearly as hip and cool as BOB, but necessary for mobility nonetheless. Actually, if we want to take baby out of the hospital they require you to have one installed in your car. Probably a good plan.

As a result of the new baby schwag the UPS man has become a regular at our house. I believe he showed up 5 days straight in the past week and a half. On day 5 of 5 Elizabeth met him at the door, and he asked if we were having a baby or getting married or something. Elizabeth gave the answer of baby, and he replied that that made sense because this box was playing Beethoven for the last few hours in his truck. Ha ha!

The end result of all our efforts to stimulate the world economy through baby gear is that our spare bedroom/soon to be baby bedroom is beginning to look more babyish. In fact, I believe we had our first Elizabeth nesting instinct sighting. Just the other day she came to me with a magazine of a baby room with a tree and birds made out of wallpaper, and said that she would like to do this in the baby's corner. How cute.

We are still trying to figure out what to do about diapers, but that will probably be a blog post of its own. The disposal of post-fetal defecation is more interesting than you might think. Actually, the disposal of fetal defecation is probably even more fascinating, but I have absolutely no idea how that works.

Finally, I have accepted that I may not be the one person on this planet who will buck the odds and live forever. Yes we took the step and did the responsible thing and talked to our slightly sleezy but surprisingly thoughtful insurance dude about life insurance. Haven't figured out final solution of what we are doing with it, but Elizabeth has assigned that job to my plate so it is on my list of things to do. Sometimes having to be an adult is horribly depressing.

To close things up here, THE COUNTDOWN IS ON! Elizabeth is now 32 weeks pregnant. As I have been informed several times, 40 weeks is full term. Putting my higher education to work: 40-32 = 8. Therefore, I conclude there are approximately 8 weeks until baby Bagley arrives. Slightly frightening but exciting.

EDIT: This post has taken so long to post that there are now 40-33 = 7 weeks left.

Just because I think it is quite funny and makes me wish I had a dog:

New Camera = new photos!!!

After the sad death of our old camera, we got a new one today along with some sweet lenses from my dad. So that means new pregger Lizzy photos. Yay! After spending way more time playing around today today than I should have, I've added a Flickr photostream above the polls so check it out for new picts. A more extensive update this weekend hopefully... For now just pictures.

P.S. Elizabeth starts her prelim tomorrow (actually today since it is now past midnight), so wish her well!

Lately I've been thinking

Which is always a dangerous thing to do. Specifically, I've been thinking about how babies perceive the world. I hadn't realized that babies eyes don't really work normal when they come out. In fact they can't really see more than a foot in front of them, they haven't figured out how to track something with their eyes, everything visible is in black and white, they can see like Predator in the near infrared, and can see the zzzz's coming off of soundly sleeping humanoids so they know when to wake them up. Okay, so maybe not all of that is true, but I think that is the general gist. However, even with these limitations/superhero abilities people have found that they can recognize Mom's face. Weird.

So why have babies evolved to only be able to see a foot in front of their face? Is it a defense mechanism to ward off predators, a cosmetic trait to lure a future mate? No, in fact it serves as a bait to attract victims much like the venus fly trap. By only being able to see a foot in front their face babies attract larger people who must get close in order to be recognized by baby in order to satisfy their "snuggle" desire. This allows perfect placement for the barf mechanism. Once the humans are stuck close to baby, it emits the day's food directly on them. This has proven through the years to be extremely entertaining for the baby by providing instant stimulation and commotion. I will soon be publishing this theory in the New England Journal of Medicine so please don't steal it.

Then there is their hearing. People tell me that they can hear you in the womb. Now I believe this. However, can they really recognize my voice once they come out? It seems like voices in the womb would sound to a giant baby kind of like being underwater in a pool full of jello. This is the subject of video below.

Allright, I've got to run. I'm sure there are spelling/grammar errors all over these two posts that I may clean up later, but that is all for now.

The very late weekly update.

So I was originally planning on posting every week or so, but it has definitely been longer than that.  Essentially the last few weeks have been Elizabeth and I trying to get ahead/ make progress in work stuff, so we can focus on baby stuff in the near future.  In addition, Elizabeth has designated the blog as "mine" so I take that as meaning I get to post whatever I feel like (as you can see in the header).  Actually, as far as the header goes, I was just messing around and forgot it was there, but now it has a life of its own so I think it will live there for a while until I get a better picture.

Speaking of pictures... Unfortunately our camera died a horrible death due to sitting on the table.  Seriously.  It just lived on the table taking not even a picture a day.  It had a good life.  Just sitting there on the table with all its needs taken care of.  It was rarely taken outside, never rained on, protected from the elements, loved and cared for, and it had the audacity to just die for no reason.  It can rot in camera purgatory as far as I'm concerned.  I'm getting a fancy new one soon, so hopefully we'll get some new pictures soon.

However, as you can see above the video camera still works it just takes a bit more work to use since my home computer tends to choke on the files.  Plus since Justin is in charge of the blog he can post almost anything he wants as long as it doesn't put him too far in the doghouse.  So this weekly updates includes a brand spankin new production from Bagleyworks Productions above attached to the post "lately I've been thinking".

Well on to news about our future tax write off, which is really the only reason people come to this site anyway.  He/she is continually growing.  You may even call it a "giant baby".  Basically he/she is a fighter.  We are really considering post-natal Tae-Kwon-Do based on the beatdown it puts on Elizabeth each day.  She commonly gets awakened from a dead sleep by a hungry baby.  Then for the rest of the day the pummeling continues.  If we watch the belly for a few minutes, there are obvious movements.  No hand/footprints sticking out yet, and Elizabeth still as an "innie" for a belly button, but there is still time.  

Yesterday Elizabeth passed 30 weeks of being pregnant, so the countdown is on.  The days are getting longer which means baby is coming.  I think it is T-minus 11-12 weeks now.  Whoa.

Finally, strangely enough Elizabeth hasn't taken full advantage of her condition and had me run out for random food cravings yet.  I was prepared for midnight runs to the grocery store for salt flavored popsicles or some such travesty, but so far nothing.  On the subject of food cravings, hopefully this lost in translation item doesn't make you hungry (Thank you David Zaks)....

Hah! or maybe this failure of a license plate:

Update:  I have been informed that 30 weeks means you have 10-11 weeks left max, NOT 11-12 weeks.

Research in the seemingly obvious

Via newscientist.com:

"Babies often bounce or clap to a rhythm when they're less than a year old. But scientists were unsure whether they learn beat perception early in life, or whether they're born with it.

To find out, a team led by István Winkler from the Institute for Psychology in Budapest, Hungary, and Henkjan Honing from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands tested beat perception in newborns using EEG. This can measure their electrical brain responses to sounds, even when the babies are sleeping.

The team played a rock drum rhythm to 14 sleeping babies two or three days old. Sometimes the sequence skipped a sound without disrupting the rhythm, while other omissions made the rhythm stumble.

When a missed note broke the rhythm, the babies had a key brain response indicating that their sensory expectations were contradicted. This suggests newborns can sense a rhythm and know when to expect the next beat. "Beat perception is there right from birth," Winkler concludes."

Right, babies have probably never heard a rhythm before. Oh wait, they just spent nine months listening to and relying on an approximately 90bpm rhythm of their Mom's heart. They may not know such societally imposed niceties such as pooping in public is bad form, but rythym (still can't spell it) they should know.

In addition, a follow up study to this found that playing rock drums to 2-3day old sleeping babies pisses them off.

February 2, 2009: The week in review

Well not much to update this week. Basically more of the same, baby grows and kicks some more, Elizabeth goes to doctor appointment, Elizabeth gets tested, poked and prodded, Elizabeth has to drink some nasty orange cocktail after fasting for too many hours, Elizabeth traumatizes poor Somali nurse by making him think he's done her in after taking a bit of blood, all tests come back good. Yay! A more or less standard week in the life of a pregnancy. At least I can say that since I am not the one being kicked, poked and prodded.

Meanwhile, preparations for "The Arrival" continue. Elizabeth is starting to jump into her prelims by telling me about some dude named Braxton-Hicks who trains her to contract and push. Sounds like fun. Back in non-baby world she really is also getting ready for prelims of the grad school flavor as well. A two month test sounds like lots of fun while pregnant. Yuck! Meanwhile, I am spending lots of time in Fortan world trying to figure out the best way to model how much moisture a tree gives off in a day if you only have fake trees in the model. It is very metaphysical or something.

The accumulation of baby gadgets continue. It is absolutely amazing how many things you need that you never knew about. For example there is at least a google of different ways to transport a baby. There are wraps, straps, car seats and strollers. Front facers, rear facers, backpacks and cart covers. And I would be remiss if I left out the mythical daddle:



Then there is the big decision of what diapers to use. (See new poll to the right) Do we go with the cloth diaper service, even though childcare isn't allowed to use them? Just stick with disposables the whole time? What is more enviro friendly? Can the disposable people really be right when they say that the soap and water associated with washing cloth diapers really outweigh the environmental cost of throwing a diaper in a dump every time you think a baby did its thing? If so why don't we wear disposable clothes? Is a baby's caboose adaptable enough to handle the stress that goes with switching diaper types throughout the week? Will Boudreau's butt paste (Right up there with gator on a stick, and turducken on the short list of best things to come out of S. Louisiana) solve all of our worries or are more extreme measures necessary for our baby's derriere? Luckily, I was watching television on Saturday night and there was an ad on that may solve all our problems (see below).

Then there is was the first surprise from the Child Retention and Internment Basin (CRIB). Evidently you need and Child Retention and Internment Basin guard to keep a baby from chewing/gumming its way to freedom. Who knew? Certainly not me.

Allright. Back to work.

Finally! A product that solves the age old problem of keeping track of baby while playing video games.  Status: 5 ordered in preparation(one per door).  (Thank you www.cracked.com/traumatizing-intants)

Update:  Not our baby.  It is not here yet (1-24-09)

More than meets the eye

The human body is a fascinating piece of equipment, but little did I know it is also a transformer.  Although baby will still probably rather play with Optimus Prime than Pregnant Prime, with the popularity of realistic dolls these days (pooping dolls) it may be marketable.  So without further ado, the top ten things (in no particular order) I have learned about transforming preggers.

1. They need new bras partly because the rib cage actually physically expands to fit everything in.  This includes...
2. the uterus which starts about uhh small grows to 1000 times its original size :0
3. Pregnancy pants have fake zipper 
4. A sperm and egg makes more cells and magically some becomes a cute little baby, and some becomes the disgusting but necessary placenta.
5. You actually have contractions all through being pregnant not just in labor.
6. A sit up appears to be physically impossible.
7. Women's blood circulation patterns permanently change to get more blood to the uterus.
8. Pregnant women don't fit in bed as well, partly due to the massive number of specially positioned pillows to keep parts propped up.
9. Pregnant women mucus production increases greatly.  This can lead to barfing.
10. There is A LOT we don't know.

Here is Elizabeth at the doctor at the end of her second trimester. The swooshing sound is the baby's heartbeat.

Update:  The video is now public so people can see it. (1/24/09)

The thumb sucker at 20 weeks

Here are our ultrasound pictures from 20 weeks.  In the bottom picture we could see the baby going to town on its thumb.  Its activity was a preview to the pummeling that Elizabeth is receiving from the inside these days.  You can also see its very large thigh bone.  At this point we could have found out the sex, but decided to leave it as a surprise.  In retrospect this has had several unforeseen consequences.  

1. Justin now has to distill decent names from both halves of baby name books from the simply unfortunate ones (astird anyone???) and good names that are unusable du
   e to their previous acquisition by either all our family/friends (sorry Davids) or people we would rather not be reminded of every time we say our child's name. 
2. I haven't totally figured out how to capitalize monetarily on this second consequence yet, but yesterday all the people in Elizabeth's building decided that a pool based on baby size/sex/due date(and one guess on race, they were a little confused) would be an entertaining way to spend lunch.  Those who are nice to Elizabeth guessed around 6lb 5 oz's and April 25th(official due date is April 28th).  I'm not nearly so nice, my guess is 8lb 6oz's on May 3rd.  Vote in the poll on the right side of this site!
3. Stresses me out.