Four days until the kid is predicted to grace us with his/her presence. Of course, given the internal pummeling Kathleen has been taking for the last few days, the sooner the kid shows up the happier we will both be! We can now clearly feel the kid’s hands and feet moving around, and the last weight prediction was about 7 lbs 12 oz as of last Wednesday. The doctors say that Kathleen is ready to go any time now, so it’s just a waiting game.

In other news, Kathleen’s mom has been here with us since last Sunday. Violet adopted Mom within about 15 seconds of her arrival – the major conflict now is Violet trying to elbow in on Mom’s pillow at night. We’ve been showing Mom around Ann Arbor, enjoying some of our favorite restaurants, and running errands to clear up the last few odds and ends before the kid shows up. In addition to all this, we have been trying to get Mom to stop working on grading and evaluating her students’ science fair preparations. Watching Kathleen lecture her mom about working too much, I’m resisting the urge to start calling them Mrs. Pot and Mrs. Kettle. Oh, to be surrounded by people who like their jobs, what a burden to bear… ;)

Dom will be coming in tonight to spend the next week with us. He had requested that Kathleen have the kid before he showed up so he could skip the day in the hospital and go right to playing with his new niece/nephew, but oh well. It will be very fun to have all the Paluso side of the family here for the holidays. Now we’re waiting for just one more person, a very small person, to show up.

Happy holidays to all, and hopefully we’ll have big news to email out soon!

Posted by jhougland at 5:07 PM CST

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A couple new belly shots are up here - I had to post them on Flickr because Photoshop decided to not work today. The one with the crib is 37 weeks; the one with the Xmas tree is 35 weeks. I put the tree up right after Thanksgiving, thinking I'd probably never get to it if I waited :)

In the crib shot, you can see the cool fish mobile - it has a nightlight, plays music, and has a light show feature. The top lights up and spins and makes it look like fish are swimming on the ceiling. On the wall is the cross stitch I did and the painting my aunt did.

Other than that, not much to report... Counting today, I have 4 working days left... My mom will be here on Sunday & my brother the following Sunday. Of course, since we've been telling Mom for months about how cold Michigan is in the winter, she's going to get here in the middle of our unseasonably warm weather... We're all just hoping the baby waits to make his/her arrival until at least my mom is here!... Unless I go into labor today, I'll have made it past the three-week early mark (which seems to be, historically, when my family has kids)... According to the doctor, the baby is now 6 lbs 12 oz, so I'm hoping he/she makes an appearance before too long :)

Random TV musings: I loved the BattleStar from two weeks ago (with the boxing), but mainly because it explained all the weirdness between Apollo & Starbuck. If you're not watching BattleStar, you should be - it's definitely one of the best shows on TV. Gilmore Girls, on the other hand, which I would have put in that category a couple of years ago, has gone way downhill this season, since the show's creators are no longer doing any writing. I still have to watch, of course, but it can be painful at times (what the heck was that random, pathetic fight between Luke & Christopher last week?).

That's all for now... time for some lunch!

Posted by Kathleen at 12:25 PM CST

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Mood:  happy

Wow, we've been swamped lately... and we've still got over a month until the baby is due!

The past few weekends, we've been taking baby-readiness classes. I think we're about as knowledgable as we're going to get until the baby shows up (at which point all our book learning will be pointless, I'm sure, but at least we feel prepared).

Jimmy's lab threw us a baby shower on Sunday. Since these are, after all, Jimmy's co-workers, it was a co-ed shower. It was great - very relaxed, and lots of good food. Those chemists can really cook :) Photos are up on Flickr.

Yesterday, we went for our final sonogram - that's right, the next baby photos will (hopefully) be the real deal! The sonogram photos are up here. I also have another belly shot posted on this page.

Other than that, we've just been trying to get the house ready for the baby, and I've been busy trying to get things set at work for my maternity leave, which has meant working late practically every night.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope that those of you who are traveling have safe trips, and that everyone has a good, relaxing weekend.

Posted by Kathleen at 2:12 PM CST

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Mood:  cool

I snuck out onto our porch into the snowstorm today to take these shots. I think we've accumulated about an inch today.

Posted by Kathleen at 2:18 PM CST

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Mood:  happy

It’s been an eventful few weeks for us. On Oct. 14, Jimmy’s sister Mary was married to Josh (yay, finally!). We drove out to Rock Island Friday night and back Sunday – 16 hours in the car in one weekend. But it was really great to see their wedding – very romantic.

Last week, I made a long trip to Chicago (three days instead of the usual two in the office) to do some training in preparation for my maternity leave, which is rapidly approaching – less than nine more weeks. Since I was there on Friday, the day of NU’s homecoming parade, I decided to stay over and leave on Saturday, which allowed me not only go up to Evanston for the parade (and march in it behind the alumni banner), but to go down to my college roommate’s wedding on Saturday. Congrats, Sarah & Gabe!

This weekend, Troy & Eulalia came up to Ann Arbor to watch the NU football team take on Michigan... Luckily, we had decided months ago not to attempt to get tickets, as the weather yesterday was horrific. Instead, we all stayed inside our nice warm apartment and watched what turned out to be a closer defeat than we expected – only 17-3. After the game, we wandered around a local mall for a while, then hit Culver’s for dinner. Yum, butterburgers and frozen custard.

Today, we took it easy - after dropping Troy & Eulalia off at the train station, we came home & watched the Bears demolish the 49ers. Go Bears!

Anyways, photos of the weddings are up on Flickr. I’ve also posted some photos of my big belly here (mostly for my mom, but take a look if you want).

Posted by Kathleen at 4:45 PM CDT

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As many of you have already commented, we got our first snow of the season today - it was coming down pretty hard this morning, too!

Luckily, Violet and I were already back in from our morning walk by the time the snow started... otherwise, I don't think I'd ever have dragged our snow-loving dog back inside. And since I foolishly left the house without a hat this morning, that could have been very bad.

Here's hoping for better weather this weekend, as we have a wedding to attend (and the bride & groom are planning outdoor photos!).

Posted by Kathleen at 5:10 PM CDT

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Warning - the photos aren't that clear. (Maybe, as the kid gets bigger, it's harder to focus?) Anyways, check them out here.

And, GO 'CATS!

Posted by Kathleen at 5:05 PM CDT

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The travel system (stroller plus infant car seat). More photos on Flickr.

Posted by Kathleen at 8:52 AM CDT

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