Third Grade Flashback

By kate on October 18th, 2005

I need computer glasses!

Since the pregnancy started, I’ve noticed I’m very susceptible to eye strain. By the end of the day or week, my eyes are tired and focusing is very difficult. I finally went to an eye doctor today, who hadn’t seen very many cases of pregnancy-related eye strain. She did find a mild farsightedness and some astigmatism, though. Because my insurance covers it, I decided to give computer glasses a try. I’m hoping it’s temporary, and that it’ll go away after Zippy’s born.

As you may know, I wore glasses for my formative years and detest being seen in them. However, the intervening years after my laser surgery has softened my outlook a little, and I’m willing to give it a try. They stay at my desk, though! I’m not wearing them around the office (or further afield)!

UPDATE: About a year after the birth, my vision returned to normal and I found wearing the computer glasses was making my eyes tired, so I set them aside for good.

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Kate needs…

By kate on October 18th, 2005

I don’t do memes very often, but this one from Molly sounded fun.

Do a Google search for “Kate needs” (insert your name instead) and give the top results. Like Molly, I chose some of my favorites instead of the top ones. Interestingly, several of the top results were for other Kates posting this same meme! (I ignored those and didn’t look at their lists.)

Kate needs to be able to reload a file automatically when not modified in Kate but modified externally.
Kate needs knits!
Kate needs to trust Angel.
Kate needs a shave.
Kate needs to hear about my victories over temptation and about my sexual feelings for her.
Kate needs to be exposed for *everything* evil she has done.
Kate needs to sell her locket to get money for the shell game and to buy the items she needs to rescue Lucky.
Kate needs crew & projectors.
Kate needs to explore her innermost nature, and she likes to analyse her every inclination and decision.
Kate needs better keyboard usability.
Kate needs to continue to develop her skills in drawing valid interpretations from experimental data.
Kate needs to go back to the fishing boat!
Kate needs to be about 20 minutes faster to beat my time.
Kate needs to meet the mayor of Israeli Arab town Umm al-Fahm.
Kate needs to learn a lesson about possessions and respect for her servants by being treated lower than a servant and being deprived of material comfort and respect.

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Instant Cool

By steve on October 14th, 2005

[this entry by Steve]

One of the new-baby ideas that Kate and I are excited about is to make all kinds of custom onesies.

Our plan is to buy a big pack of plain white onesies and a bunch of inkjet-compatible iron-on printer paper, and then go nuts. For example, I’m pretty sure we’ll make one with the Aerialistas logo on it. And probably many with pictures of Mom and Dad (and grandparents!) making silly faces. Funny slogans will work too, although they might be tiresome after awhile. Also, I’m not interested in baby clothing that purports to give our baby the attitude of a spoiled 15-year old. We’ll have plenty of that to deal with in 15 years.

So, think of this as an invitation to start sending us pictures that you’d like to have emblazoned on our baby’s innerwear. Silly, cute, abstract, weird, or just plain endearing are all fair game.

Here’s the first candidate of many:

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Almost Halfway

By kate on October 14th, 2005

I’ve almost finished my 20th week, meaning I’m about halfway through my pregnancy. This is a great milestone to reach, because it feels substantial.

We had our monthly midwife appointment on Wednesday, and there’s not much to report. All tests so far (ultrasound, blood, urine) have come back normal and healthy. Most of the appointment was spent just talking to the midwife about how I’m doing, and getting some questions answered. I’m really enjoying the midwifery model of care so far – the appointments feel like we have plenty of time to cover anything we want to discuss, as well as for her to ask me about specific things and do an exam. We like both the midwifes in the practice we chose, and so the appointments kind of feel like chatting with a friend (albeit a very experienced and knowledgeable friend).

The one lingering question, about the unusually small size of Zippy, was not answered yet. It seems that all the bad scenarios (malnourishment, disease, defect) have been mostly ruled out because of the positive results of the tests. For example, if my placenta had been too small, that could be causing Zippy to be malnourished and small (but that’s not the case). There are two likely scenarios: Zippy is a week younger than we thought, or she’s just small by nature.

It’s not a big deal to us at this point, although if it’s the former, that will affect the due date (making it about March 12th). Tracy, the midwife, explained that it’s actually pretty important to know the age of the fetus, because of the strict limits of midwifery. Midwifes can only practice in statistically “normal” births that occur from 37 weeks to 42 weeks. Suppose I’m getting to the end of what we think is the 42nd week. It’d be good to know if it was actually the 41st week (giving us another week before having to have a hospital birth).

To that end, a second ultrasound was recommended for us, so we’ll be getting it in about two weeks. I’m looking forward to another glimpse of Zippy in action.

Filed under: pregnancy | 1 Comment »

Autumn Belly

By steve on October 14th, 2005

[this entry by Steve]

I was raking the leaves from our two maple trees late this afternoon, waiting for Kate to come home, when I had a good idea.

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August Wilson

By kate on October 6th, 2005

As most Seattleites are aware, playwright August Wilson died this week. I’ve always wanted to read his series of “decade plays”, and I thought now would be a good time, to honor his passing.

The Seattle Rep is putting on the last one, “Radio Golf” (1990s) from Jan 19-Feb 18. It would be cool to finish the plays before then, and end by seeing “Radio Golf”.

That’s about four months to read 8 plays (skipping “Radio Golf” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, which I saw performed last year). I’d have to read 2 plays a month. I’m not sure it’s feasible, given the holiday season.

Is anyone else interested in doing this with me? Any feedback or ideas?