Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!

By kate on July 7th, 2005

Here’s a little art project I did at work recently (click for a bigger image):

If you’re interested, they are radish plants and have been growing (from seeds) for five days.

Filed under: handiwork, technology | 1 Comment »

It’s official: Blogging is OVER

By kate on July 6th, 2005

I came to this conclusion on Sunday, when I saw not one, but two references to blogs in distinctively NON-cutting-edge places:

The Lockhorns contains a reference/word play about Leroy reading blogs.

Parade Magazine, that Readers Digest of the Sunday paper, has a column on how to make your own blog:

“Have you thought about creating a personal Web site but been discouraged by the technical hurdles? Perhaps it’s time you discovered the power of the blog. You’ve likely heard about the blog phenomenon and wondered what all the hoopla is about….”

Doonesbury backs me up on this:

Filed under: meta, pop culture | 2 Comments »

Name

By kate on July 6th, 2005

We need to figure out a temporary name for the child until it has a gender and an actual name (which may not be until after birth, in the latter case).

“Tim” was in the running, except now I know an actual Tim in real life, so it would be too weird.

My new idea is “Giblet”, because the baby is kind of like another small organ. I’m going to run that by Steve to see what he thinks.

Other suggestions (not from me): Hector, Garrison, Gene/Jean, Hansel, Gretel, Warren, and Melanie. (Apparently, they’re mostly plays on words, which I’d rather avoid.)

EDITED TO ADD: “zippy” is beginning to stick as the name. I like it, especially when it’s not capitalized. (The capitalized way reminds me of Zippy the Pinhead.)

Filed under: pregnancy | Comment now »

What to Expect

By kate on July 6th, 2005

Steve and I looked through all the pregnancy books at Big & Chain bookstore this weekend, looking for one that might somewhat share our attitude. (We are trying to eschew all the fear-based advice and long lists of things to avoid.)

One book that I dismissed out-of-hand was What to Expect When You’re Expecting, based only on the fact that the cover featured a quilt-like background and cheesy illustration of a mom-to-be. (Wouldn’t you put this book down, too?) I know that the book is a classic, but I’m also trying to avoid all the irritating lovey-dovey books. Anyway, my parents chose that book to buy for us, and a good thing it was!

Once I finally started reading through it, I found it to be very balanced and useful. Much of it is in a question-and-answer format, and last night a few of my actual current questions were addressed.

The most important one was the fear I mentioned yesterday of the embryo just slipping out unnoticed. According to the book, once the embryo is implanted, it doesn’t leave without a fight. Namely, if you’re going to miscarry, you generally experience lots of pain and bleeding. That was a relief to hear.

Another related question was something like, “I don’t feel pregnant. Is everything OK?” The answer was that many women don’t experience many symptoms at first. Surprisingly, almost half of pregnant women experience NO morning sickness, despite what everyone thinks. I guess I should just start enjoying my (so far) easy time of it.

Filed under: pregnancy, reading | Comment now »

Beauty

By kate on July 6th, 2005

This baby has been eagerly anticipated by both our families (there was a lot of happy screaming when we shared the news). My mom in particular can’t wait to go through this experience with me.

When I saw her for the first time on Monday, she said, “let me look at you,” and held me at arms’ length. After a moment, she declared tearfully that I was “already more beautiful”, that she could see a difference.

I don’t think it’s really true, but it’s a nice idea.

Filed under: family, pregnancy | Comment now »

Learning

By kate on July 6th, 2005

I was poking around a bit on BabyCenter, which is a big, mainstream baby site. Because of its size, it has a lot of useful info (despite my resistance to the mainstreamness).

According to their calculator, our due date is March 6, 2006.

I also found out that it is THIS WEEK that the baby forms its heart and the heart starts beating. Wow! It’s hard to be cynical or dismissive of something so fundamental.