I disabled commenting.

This is just a warning shot to all of those who might be checking in, or listening through RSS. Later tonight the website will be down for a bit while I update the server. It has been almost two weeks since I first warned you, but hey, we have a seven month old baby & poopie diapers come first.

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about some changes to the website.

Over the next week or so I'll be making some changes that may cause the site to go down briefly, and some things to be missing. If you're reading this via the RSS feed, you may want to visit the site in the near future, the RSS address is probably going to change.

When the transition is complete I'll post more info. Until then, see you on the flip side.

I'm surprised to find that motherhood suits me. Six months has gone by like ... blink and you miss it, I guess. I'm already sad about the cute pajamas that Bean has outgrown, that he is too big to take his bath in the kitchen sink, the thought of weaning. It's occurred to me recently that life only goes in one direction - of course, right? - but the thought had never really struck me so specifically before I realized that my baby isn't a newborn anymore and he never will be again. At the same time, I look at him and can't help wondering what it's going to be like when he toddles across the room, when I can hold his hand and take an hour to get the mail, when he asks me questions I don't know how to answer.

Mostly, though, I try to appreciate each moment, precious in a way I could never have imagined a year ago ... just 2 days ago, my son reached for me for the first time. And every time since, when he puts his chubby little arms in the air and trusts that I will be there, I remind myself to savor it.

The food list is getting longer, and today, Carter ate 5 - yes, FIVE! - different things: cereal, banana, avocado, squash and apples. Every new discovery is hilarious and amazing. Looks like green beans or carrots are up next.

My life got very small when Bean was born ... I take that back. Life got small about the time we found out that I was pregnant and continued to shrink until he was born. I don't think that my focus has ever been that narrow, and when my maternity leave ended, it seemed so invasive to have to let the "real world" back in. I'm getting better at juggling the things that life demands, but it's still hard to look any further ahead than the next time my little family gets to be together again, hard to think of anything more important than how we can create more time to be together in.

I did get through my first post-Bean design gig, much thanks to Gramma and Grampa and Maga and Dave. Luckily, the show this time was minimally demanding, so tech was miraculously short and changes were pretty minimal. Even so, the time away seemed brutal, even though I enjoy the work. It helped that I had a new sound system to learn; hopefully, that excitement will carry me through the spring show, which promises to be a challenge.

That's me in a nutshell tonight, quietly waiting for my husband to come home. I just finished catching up on some of the workload that's threatening to overwhelm and realized that I hadn't posted for awhile. Nothing that really qualifies as news, just random thoughts for whoever's out there. Sleep well.

... a prime number;
... the the country code for The Netherlands;
... the atomic number of Gallium;
... flavors;

... my age, as of today.

Carter had rice cereal, and a promise from daddy that his food won't always be this bland.

Bean met Ol' Saint Nick on Wednesday...

Just wanted to let everyone know what Bean is up to now that he's 3 1/2 months old.

Fall, autumn, the perfect season, not too cold, and none of that 75+ degree nonsense. If I could live where it was fall year round I'd be one happy monkey. Crisp evenings, crunchy leaves (don't forget the burning ones), apples, squash, cider, corn, pumpkins... (I'll stop)

I also seem to become more inspired when it comes to cooking this time of year. I tend to experiment more, to seek out new ingredients, or relish in old ones I haven't used for awhile.

Anyway, some of you may have noticed that little recipe link over to your left, and you may have also noticed that there were no recipes there. Well, not anymore, I added a sauce recipe tonight. I'll be adding more in the days to come. I look forward to reading your comments on them. If you have any recipe requests just email them to me.

It's autumn in Michigan, and it gets me every year.

Two in the left, two in the right, and one down the gullet. So it begins, the life-long
attempt to stave off illness. Today was Bean's first round of vaccinations. I have to say, he did
very well. It was only after the third shot that he started to complain. To be honest, I'm not sure I could have taken all those shots without complaining.

Bean marks a pretty significant milestone with the start of his vaccinations, 9 weeks. He has begun pushing himself up from his belly, and he babbles all the time. He now weighs 13 pounds, is 23 inches tall, and did I mention he sleeps through the night. He's practically ready for school.

Bean... I mean, Carter, was two weeks old on Friday; yesterday, he celebrated being at home for two weeks. Thanks to my amazing husband and amazing mother, I am surprisingly well-rested and healing well from the surgery. We did have to see the pediatrician five times in Carter's first two weeks due to borderline weight loss, but he'd surpassed his birth weight and attained a whopping 8lbs. 15 oz. last Thursday, so now we can be certain that he's doing well too.

Surgery was, hands down, the most frightening experience of my life. If it hadn't been for our midwife Jodi (who reminded me of Carrie Nelson in the best possible, earth mother sort of way), who got right in there and held me while they gave me the spinal, I think that I might have had a full-fledged meltdown before the surgery even started. Laying on the table, starting to feel my legs sort of disappear, and waiting for them to let Dave come in, I think the only thing that kept me sane was that the surgical team was listening to Tracey Chapman; funny the things I remember so clearly. But I can say with absolute confidence that I would do it again if I had too. The moment I heard Carter's first yell (and it was a doozy!), I forgot everything else, and when I saw him for the first time, the OR and all the people in it except he and Dave completely disappeared.

While I remember most of what happened in the OR pretty clearly, I don't remember much about being in recovery at all. I remember being able to hold Carter for the first time and trying to nurse a little, but not a whole lot else until they moved us to our room (yea, private room and bathroom!). The hospital stay was... well, it had it's ups and downs. My first shower was a pretty spectacular experience, and I don't know what I would've done without the support staff who helped us get the hang of nursing. However, the food (once I was allowed to have it) was pretty terrible, and, while it seemed that the staff would've known that what I really needed was sleep, someone woke me up just about every time I managed to drop off. And not only me, but Dave too, who was sleeping in a "fold out" chair that didn't really fold out into anything remotely resembling a bed, even if there had been space in the room to actually fold it out. For three nights, he bravely curled up into tiny, contorted shapes trying to sleep in this torture device and immediately leaped to his feet every time Carter made a sound. He sat up with us every time we nursed in the middle of the night, and thanks to him, Carter only spent about 30 minutes total in the nursery during our 4 days in the hospital. If our parents hadn't bullied him into it, I don't think he would have slept, eaten or showered the entire time we were there, he was so busy taking care of us.

All in all, it's a relief to be home. Dave's back at work now, and we're falling into something resembling a routine. Our little freak is already starting to make talking sounds at his fists and attempting to roll over every chance he gets. Give us a couple more weeks, and we'll be ready to take this show on the road. :)

Thanks to everyone for your well-wishes! If I haven't returned your messages (phone or email), it's only because nursing, playing and sleeping are full-time jobs right now, but it's wonderful to hear from everyone, and we really appreciate that you have our little family in your thoughts.

It's Thursday, we're at the midwives office for a non-stress test and a procedure to encourage labor (not induce, but encourage). They hook Tess' belly up to the monitor and suddenly we have an uninterrupted stream of heartbeats and uterine state. Well what do you know, Tess is having contractions. She's not really feeling them, no pain, etc, but they're coming about every 8 or 9 minutes. I start to think to myself that this gel the midwife is going to apply to her cervix is going to really get things moving.

I'm handed this gel to hold in my hands to try and warm it, a little syringe full of a clear gel that I'm trying hard not to fidget with too much. Before they apply the gel they have to do a cervical exam. I remember clearly 80% effaced, 1 cm dilated (still? I think to myself), and then the midwife makes this face, the best way I can explain it is slightly confused and a little nervous. She pokes around a little more, and then says "I'm going to do a quick ultrasound to make sure I'm feeling a head. I'm always a little paranoid about that, but it's the kind of thing that you want your midwife to be paranoid about." Out comes the machine, and I get a sinking feeling when the midwife starts moving higher and higher on Tess' abdomen, obviously looking for something and not finding it. Then, "Well, we won't be doing any gel today, your baby is breach." It's 10:30 am.

Let's just say the next two and a half hours go by way too fast and way too slow. At one point there is discussion of attempting to turn him in utero, but that is quickly disregarded because Bean's descended into Tess' pelvis already. Well, actually, he's wedged into Tess' hip socket, a vaginal birth would be pretty risky. So the decision is made to have a C-section, not at all what we planned, and they are trying to see if they can get it done this afternoon. Eventually, though, they decide that Tess and The Bean can wait until Friday morning. We receive the requisite advice, (strangely I'm reminded of the Gremlins, no eating after midnight, etc...) and are wished a relaxing evening. Yeah, right. It's 1:00 pm on Thursday, we go to Bob Evans for lunch.

Some quick facts... Only between 3 and 4% of babies are breach; breach babies are susceptible to hip dysplasia (Go ahead, I had to look it up, too); some studies show a correlation between being breach and birth defects; a C-section is actually considered a major surgery; Tess has never had surgery of any kind; I hate hospitals.

Dinner, watching a movie, going through the motions. Trying to do everything I can to keep Tess relaxed and happy. We have to be at the hospital by 8:00 am Friday morning. At least I know exactly when I'll need to drive to the hospital, it's funny what goes through your head. Sleep... sort of.

Friday 7:00 am on the way to the hospital, no coffee, no breakfast (I'm trying to be supportive of the Gremlin rule). This is damn early for a guy who works afternoons. They take us back to the recovery area to get Tess ready for surgery. Typical hospital recovery area, rows of cubicle type rooms with just a curtain between you and public nudity. Nurses come and go, three in the first five minutes. Apparently, it is a busy morning in the maternity ward. Yes, you'll be awake for the whole procedure, no, you shouldn't feel anything, yes, you can bring your camera. And then... we wait. 9:00 am, then 9:30, Tess is bumped back because of an emergency C-section, 10:00, 10:30 am, 10:40....

The flood gates open. They're unplugging equipment, time to go, removing monitor electrodes, good luck you two, transferring IV's, remember your camera, and whisking Tess away to the Operating Room. I'll be joining her during the C-section, but first I have to wait in the hall. I'm waiting, and waiting. I wonder how long it's been, I should wear a watch. A woman walks by and looks at me, even perfect strangers can tell I'm nervous. I wonder if they forgot to come get me. I should just go in, it will be fine, I'm the husband. No, I'll wait. Hurry up and wait. Then the door opens, it 's Jodi, one of the midwives, she's come to get me. Don't run, I'm wearing paper shoes and I have no traction, I might slip and fall then I would need to see a doctor, I hate doctors. What, I was only waiting ten minutes. I think she's lying.

I have had my tonsils removed, my appendix removed, a couple of procedures on my ears, my adenoids removed, broken a leg, I'm pretty well versed on being a patient. I don't know what to expect not being the person sedated on the table. So this is what an OR looks like without anesthesia. Is that Tracy Chapman I hear playing on the stereo in the corner. Man, does the air smell clean in here, like cold steel and rubbing alcohol, but... cleaner, fresher. There she is, my very soon to be a mom, beautiful wife. She looks at me for reassurance. I can't tell her I'm so nervous I think I peed my pants but am too afraid to check. The clock on the OR wall reads 11:00 am. Damn, the midwife wasn't lying....

It seems like there is a lot of discussion going on on the other side of that blue curtain. Apparently Bean is pretty far down in Tess' hip, his head pressed against a rib, and is what they call a Frank breach (legs straight up, with his feet by his head). Sounds painful. The doctor has decided what to do now, and they're off with another flurry of activity. I reassure Tess, and try to take her mind off the fact that she is lying cut open on an operating table. Lots of suction noises now, almost here. For some reason I look at the clock again, 11:20 am. I kiss Tess' forehead, remind her how well she's doing. Then we hear a muffled squeal, then a louder one, and the doctor announces to everyone in the room and The World...

"Time of birth 11:23 am."

Seems like it would be wrong to let Bean's due date slip by without at least acknowledging it. Two hours before the end of the day, and no Bean yet. I'm feeling good (although a little stir-crazy now that the novelty of not working has worn off) and not too antsy yet. Further bulletins as events warrant. :)

In celebration of our new (and improved) digital camera (a Canon Powershot 570 IS), we're posting a couple of new photo galleries. Okay, so only one of them was actually taken with the new camera - Bean's nursery - but we had been meaning to do this for awhile, and it seemed like a good excuse.

Anyway, there's the aforementioned tour of Bean's finished nursery (lacking only some cool stuff to hang on the walls), our trip to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky (when we were pregnant, but didn't know it yet), Christmas 2006 (where Grampa and Gramma first discover that they're about to be grandparents), and The Subject Was Roses (Tess' professional directing debut and the only early pregnancy pix we have). We also added a couple of belly pix to the Bean gallery for posterity - one at around 6 months and one at 8 1/2 months. Believe it or not, the belly is even bigger now.

Another midwife appointment today, and I am officially 1 cm dilated. Apparently, the only thing that tells us is that I could go into labor anytime in the next five minutes or in the next three weeks. On the upside, I'm a tenth of the way to being ready to push Bean out, and I haven't even started having contractions yet.

"I'd like to die elated." Got a big laugh out of Dave.

So far, going to see the midwife every week has been sort of anticlimactic. I guess I thought that getting checked more often would suddenly mean that stuff was going to start happening... faster? But other than telling us where he is (which I can figure out myself most of the time now), it's pretty much the same as it was before, except that we don't usually generate many new questions in the course of a week. Getting to hear that heartbeat is still pretty special though.

I did test positive on the group B strep test, but it doesn't sound like a big deal. It does mean that I have to have antibiotics during labor, though, so I can't avoid having an IV line; luckily, I don't have to be hooked up continuously.

Oddly, he's been in the same position for every appointment since the beginning of June. Not that he's not moving around in between times, but every time we go, he's head down right in the center of my belly like he's ready and waiting to come out. Not quite, I guess.

Bean is officially full term this week, and we're ready! Even have the bags for the hospital (mostly) packed.

Thanks to the generosity of Gramma and Grampa Gallinat, Maga, Aunt Teri and Uncle Dread, Uncle Boz and Aunt Chelsea, and the rest of our friends and family, Bean has a wardrobe fit for the cover of GQ, all of the immediately essential baby gear and enough stuffed monkeys to populate a small village. The curtains are hung, the crib is made, the changing table is stocked, the rocking chair is padded and pillowed... the only thing the nursery really needs now is a baby.

One of pregnancy's many mysteries is the timing of nesting instinct at the end when it's hard to even take a full breath. It would have been much more useful if that driving need to wash all the windows had manifested when I still had the stamina and maneuverability to actually do it. Fortunately, I'm lucky enough to have a mother who loves me and understands that my neurotic need for tidiness is in hormonal overdrive. She spent the whole weekend a couple of weeks ago cleaning my house top to bottom and is coming again this weekend to do the windows. I'd like to say that she's coming to HELP ME do the windows, but considering that I get out of breath taking a shower, I shouldn't lie about how useful I'm apt to be. Who am I kidding? I'm out of breath right now, and I'm just sitting on the coach. The point is, my mother's amazing.

Ditto my Dave, who not only makes sure that I always have good food and clean clothes, but also tolerates me whining about how tired I am with patience worthy of sainthood. He gets a postage stamp-sized slice of the bed after I steal all his pillows to build my fortress, he spends his day off doing laundry and running errands, and he hugs me for as long as I need him to whenever I cry for no reason. In fact, the only thing that seems to bother him at all is my stubborn refusal to sit down and put my feet up.

I miss being able to pick things up off the floor without contorting myself. I get frustrated when I'm wiped out by emptying the dishwasher. I could do without waking up in the morning to find that both of my hands are numb and won't wake up. I LOATHE our couch and everything on network television with the entirety of my being. But all of those things (and anything else that I may whine about) are worth it, because I am still totally in love with being pregnant. I can still kill hours staring at my stomach, trying to figure out if that little protrusion is a knee or a heel. It gets better every day, because it gets easier to see and feel him; his movements are obviously more deliberate, and he's even developed a sort of routine. As excited as I am to meet our son (and for his poor father to finally be able to hold him), knowing that I'm almost done with this part of it is also kind of sad to me. I've had some pretty amazing experiences in my life so far, but this tops everything hands down.

And it's worth saying that without the outpouring of generosity and support from everyone in my life, I would be stressing about all the stuff we need or obsessing that the house isn't ready or pushing myself to exhaustion trying to do things that I shouldn't instead of reveling in how amazing it is to be pregnant. And I am so grateful for the gifts, for the help, for the peace of mind that have allowed me to concentrate all my attention on how much I love carrying this little boy.

I was never happy with the Photos section of the website, so I've decided to change it. When I get some time maybe I'll sit down and actually code something I like. In the meantime, instead of trying to rewrite the original, I've installed a script called EasyGallery. It is much more user-friendly, and has the added benefit of being free. Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think.

I added an RSS feed for those of you who might be interested. If you don't know what an RSS feed is, don't worry, you're not missing anything. (or are you?)

Here's the url - http://www.thegallinats.com/rss.php

Finally converted the ultrasound video from VHS, you'll need the quicktime plugin to see it. He was moving around a lot that day. If you notice, he has Tess' nose.

So, without further ado...

It has been awhile since either of us has had the time to post something, but rest assured, things are going well. We finished the childbirth class, it was less useful than we thought it was going to be. The nurse mostly recited things from a dated workbook. Fortunately, Tess and I have been on our own educational journey all along.

Only about a month left to go before Bean's due date, and I'm starting to feel impatient. Strange isn't it, we've been waiting for 8 months, what's a few more weeks? I feel lucky that Tess has, for the most part, enjoyed being pregnant, and that things have been going smoothly. Pretty soon we'll get to meet our little creation (I almost wrote creature), I hope he likes me.

Tess is amazing, I'm not really sure how she's been doing it. Directing, designing sound, working full time, growing Bean. All the while taking care of me. I should get her some flowers or something. I hope she knows how much I love and appreciate her, and that I will always protect her from The Pillow Monster. I can't imagine life without her.

Things at the restaurant have been going pretty well for me, despite the cold review from one of the local monthly magazines. Everyone has pretty much filed it under the "she's an idiot" category. She's one of those reviewers that believes people want her opinion, and not an honest review of what the restaurant is striving towards. I won't deny that there are kinks, but for gods sake, the place had only been open for 2 months, things are still getting situated. The menu has been tweaked three times, and we're still looking for our stable core of waitstaff.

Nothing else seems to matter. All I can think about is that Bean will be here in a few short weeks.

As the world's 3rd worst painter, I am happy to say that Bean's room is almost done, at least the hard parts. We picked up the furniture this weekend, and put it in on Monday, and everything looks good. Take a look at it so far, we'll add more pictures when it is complete...

Well, it might be kind of a stretch to go THAT far, but the midwife did call this afternoon with the results of yesterday's blood test... so I may not be normal, but my glucose levels are. Thank you to everybody for the support, advice and reassurance - crisis averted! :)

Dave and I went in for my glucose screening test yesterday. Yea, having more blood taken. :P

Funny how my heart stopped just hearing the words "your doctor's office is on the phone," when they called the theatre today. Seems my results were higher than normal, so I have to go in for the sit-in-the-lab-for-three-hours-and-have-blood-taken-four-times glucose tolerance test to confirm or rule out gestational diabetes.

I won't lie - I'm freaking out. Everything with my pregnancy has been so idyllic - I didn't even have any gorram morning sickness, the most common pregnancy symptom EVER - that I got kind of cocky about it. Now I've got one abnormal test result, and I can't stop thinking about the worst case scenario. Research is alternately reassuring (very common, easily managed, usually disappears after delivery) and frightening (long term health implications for both Bean and I), which doesn't help, and I have to have three days of a special diet before the test, so I have to wait until at least Monday for any definite answer.

Everybody told me not to worry about having gained more than the recommended amount of weight, but that's the only risk factor that I have for this condition, so I can't help thinking that this is my fault. Then, I have to remind myself that I haven't been diagnosed with anything yet. I don't have any symptoms either, except the ones that are inherent to being pregnant - like fatigue - so that's only mildly reassuring. There is one statistic that I keep coming back to: only 15% of women get an elevated result on the initial test, but of THAT number, only 15% actually turn out to have gestational diabetes. Which gives me an 85% chance of having gotten all worked up over nothing... I think. Math has never been my strongest subject.

So, I'm going to spend my birthday weekend trying to focus on the LARGE chance that there's not actually anything wrong, and sometime next week, we'll know for sure. In the meantime, I have a favor to ask of all of you out there: whatever your personal beliefs are about bending the universe to your will - prayer, meditation, magick, intention, thinking positive thoughts, whatever - please send a little of it our way.

Working on Bean's room listening to Blind Melon and thought of this.

Enjoy.

For a month now I've been trying to feel Bean move to no avail. The other night I'm trying again, and all of a sudden...THUMP... it's like he dropped kicked Tess' liver. Either that or he knew I was trying and thought he'd make sure I felt him (Bean with the kick save). Tess said it was the hardest he'd kicked so far.

It made me ponder the fact that there's a little mini-freek in there. And then it made me ponder that he has come out....how the hell.... um, through there....how the hell....OK, if you say so, but....um....um....oh, man that won't be comfortable. Now I studied plenty of physiology back in the day, and I understand the process, but really, how the hell. We got a small watermelon last week, and at the time I didn't think about it, but now I'm staring at the garden hose and wondering if that old saying is accurate. (sorry honey)

Almost six months along now, and I'm still in awe.

Couldn't sleep tonight, so I thought I might ramble a bit.

Started the new job this week. It's a new restaurant, about 10 minutes west of Ann Arbor. Everyone seems like good people. Haven't done any actual cooking yet since the kitchen isn't finished. Supposedly it will be ready by Saturday the 14th, when we start prepping for the pre-opening training and events.

The menu seems pretty good, nothing I haven't done at some point in my experience, oysters, steak au poivre, steak Diane, swordfish, yellow fin tuna, some nice pastas. One nice thing, the owners are really concerned about food quality, not just the numbers. Produce comes in 6 days a week, meat and seafood 5 or 6 times a week, from some top suppliers. Shiny stainless steel, and new knives, good stuff.

I also started working on Bean's room this week. We got the deal of deals for the month when we found new carpet for $36. Not really sure how it happened, we were in Lowe's and there it was, exactly what we were looking for, just sitting there. And did I mention it was only $36! Everything is coming along nicely, we have the paint, the carpet, and probably next week we'll go pick up the furniture. The cats are very curious about what we're doing to their house.

Tess is showing more and more everyday, it makes me smile everytime I look at her. It doesn't seem like that long ago when we found out we were going to have The Bean. Now that we know he's a boy, everyone is asking us if we have a name picked out. The answer is ...... maybe. But he'll always be Bean to me.

And it's April, and there's snow. Seems like Al Gore may be right.
Movies to watch instead of cutting the grass:

1. Fast Food Nation fictionally based on Eric Schlosser's book;


2. The Pursuit of Happyness, yes I know it's Will Smith, oh well;


3. Trust the Man with David Duchovny of X-Files fame.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we added the latest ultrasound pictures to the Bean section of the photo gallery. If you look closely you can see him waving.

Yep, I'm a boy.

Got all my fingers and toes too. Kidneys, lungs and stomach are all where they should be, and heart is pumping a mile a minute. I even gave Mom a couple of kicks while I was waving at her - made her giggle.

Dad says that I'm gonna play left wing, but I'm thinking I might be more the goalie type. We'll see. Those two crazy grownups are definitely going to have to come up with a better name than Bean, though. No way am I gonna deal with the kids at school calling me "Pinto" or singing the musical fruit song at me all day long. Yeesh...

So, we're at the hockey game on Friday the 9th - the Wings beat LA in overtime - GREAT game. It was about five minutes into the first period, when some really loud music came on after the whistle, louder than usual, and all of a sudden I get this very strange prickly sensation right below my belly button.

Now, I'd been lying quietly on the couch after I eat dinner for a couple of weeks, just like all the books said I should, concentrating on feeling Bean move, reading about how I should start feeling it any time now... and nothing. Bean making his first move in the middle of a hockey game - enough for me to notice it - was the last thing in the world I was expecting. But I guess baby likes hockey; I shouldn't have been surprised. :)

Since then, I get that weird tickly feeling at least a little bit every day, usually late in the morning while I'm at work. No fun when I have to just sit there and keep working. :( Much more fun when it happens at home while Dave's here, and we get to sit together and giggle. Dave hasn't been able to feel Bean move yet, but soon. At least on Friday, Daddy-to-be will be able to SEE Bean at the ultrasound. Here's hoping that Bean's not camera-shy, and we can finally start using pronouns.

The lab work (the tests for Down's, etc...) from the midwife came back negative, which they say is a positive thing. And in other developments (I swear, no pun intended), Bean now has a coating of vernix caseosa...

This "cheesy" substance, thought to protect baby's skin from long exposure to the amniotic fluid, is shed just before birth. - WebMD

Had a midwife appointment last Friday, everything looks good. Bean was kicking like crazy while the midwife was listening. On March 23rd we'll hopefully find out Bean's gender. Maybe then we can start using pronouns.

I think we've decided on how to put together the nursery. We found some furniture that both Tess and I liked at IKEA (dammit, I feel like a tool just typing IKEA), and it looks like we found the paint color, and the carpet we like as well. Actually, the paint is a bit similar to the green here on the website. So now the project begins...

Work sucked this week. A quick recap of events... on Wednesday I fell (yes, I'm OK), Thursday - I tore my pants, and, on top of that, it was unbearably slow all week.

Tessa's show is going well. She has gotten some pretty favorable reviews from the various press. And tonight, she is giving a lecture at the Ann Arbor District Library on Directing.

In other news, The Wings "traded" for Bertuzzi. Normally I wouldn't feel the need to say anything about this, but I have to admit I'm pretty pissed. Not only is he worthless for the next few weeks, if at all, but why Detroit would sully themselves with a dirty player such as this is beyond me. Even before the Steve Moore incident I thought he was a dirty player. Normally Ken Holland makes some good decisions, and some of his risks have paid off, but If they wanted some "grit" then they should have kept McCarty. Yeah, yeah, Chelios wasn't a popular choice when he came to Detroit either, but at least he had never ended someone's carrer with a dirty on-ice assault. I only hope that if Bertuzzi pulls some moronic antics, on or off-ice, Detroit throws him in the river out back. Hopefully I'll have to eat my words later.

And now it's March. Seems to be coming in like a lion...

Well, not only is the show finally open, but I'm getting pretty good reviews, so it's finally time to sit back, feel good about my directorial debut and focus on being preggo.

And that means starting to outfit the nursery! Is everyone aware that cribs cost $900?!? Luckily, Dave and I decided to visit the Ikea store (BTW, I'm not much for shopping, but that was THE coolest store!) and found stuff that's much more reasonably priced and environmentally responsible, etc. Just have to check on the safety certs.

And there's SO much stuff to learn about being responsible for a little person... trying to juggle that with getting re-aquainted with my much-neglect husband. Like going to see some hockey games while I can still get up all those stairs. :)

Starting to show, although not sure if I'm feeling movement yet or not. There's definitely SOMETHING going on in there. More news on the Bean front after our checkup tomorrow...

Well, it's finally finished. I've been trying to get the website up and running for awhile now, just never seemed to find the right motivation. Now, with Bean on the way it seemed like a good time.

Over time we'll be adding some more photos and such. Everything is pretty bare right now. So, I guess when I say the website is done, I mean that the backend coding stuff is done. If you find any issues, let me know.

Over on the left there, is the Bean Counter. That's how many days are left until Bean's due date. And before you ask... Yes, we are currently calling the baby "Bean". The kid is stuck with a nickname before s/he's even born. I'll take the blame for that one.

So, thanks for visiting, come back soon and all those other niceties.