Just Because

He's so cute. I took this in Sister Bay, Door County, WI. We were up over the weekend for Christmas with my family. The squirrel is eating on the back deck of the condo. He would chase away a chipmunk that was trying to get some food, too. The chipmunk would keep trying to get to the food, but he never made it while I was watching. H-bomb found it entertaining for a while but then the shiny presents caught her attention and she was lost.

First Trimester Testing...

Came back within in normal ranges. We have another set of blood tests coming up in 3 weeks, but nobody's expecting anything other than normal results for those as well. The tests were for Down syndrome and trisomy 13, 16 and 18, I believe. All are chromosonal disorders that usually include mental retardation and physical abnormalities in the baby.

Merry Christmas!

We spent last evening at my in-laws' house in Milton. We had a delicious dinner, complete with blueberry not-wine for me. There were many gifts under the tree, but I think the best one was the gift of a heifer through Heifer International, from Mema and Bapa.
Although it's not a gift to me, I've named my heifer LuLu. I believe she will be a wonderful addition to somebody's life. SuperGeek also received a heifer, while H-bomb was given a flock of ducks. She doesn't really understand what that means, but I think she's happy anyway.
H-bomb was pretty excited to see that Santa did show up at our house last night. He even found the Christmas stockings! She's been painting on the kitchen floor all morning, wearing the bathrobe he brought her.
We'll be heading back down to Milton for more food (cranberry steamed pudding, yum!) and family today.

Happy Holidays, everybody!

Baby's First Photo

We had our first ultrasound today, and everything looks perfect, according to the doctor. The neural tube is 1.5mm, which is well within the normal range (1-3mm). We have another scheduled for January 16, which seems like many years away. SuperGeek and I are both feeling a bit less anxious, although I'm still nervous and probably will be until the baby is born and everything is perfect.

Another FO

This is a phenobarbital molecule I made for my organic chemistry class. I have to give a presentation on the drug tomorrow and I'll be using this as a visual aid.
The gray is carbon, blue is oxygen and white is nitrogen. The green pipe cleaners represent single bonds, while the blue are double bonds. I left out the hydrogen atoms because I would need to make 22 of them and I don't have unlimited time.
Tomorrow is my last class for the semester and I have only 2 finals to take next week. I'm looking forward to a month off of classes, especially since H-bomb will still have preschool and I'll be able to get some much needed rest.

A New Toy

I'm the kind of person who never wins anything, no matter how hard I try. So imagine my surprise, and delight, when my name was called during the raffle at the ETC Holiday Party. I am now the proud owner of a Breville Cafe Roma Espresso machine. After checking websites and the information from my doctor, I found that I can actually use it, too!
SuperGeek and I have now won something 2 years in a row. Maybe it's the beginning of a streak?

Thank You

Thank you, everybody, for your very kind thoughts and words. We are very nervous at Chez Madisonienne right now, but we're hopeful we have nothing to worry about. We will be having an ultrasound on the 19th which will give us some insight into how the baby is developing.

For those who would like more information, here's a link to my husband's webpage.

My Birthday Present to You

Today is my birthday and I thought I'd share some good news.....



We're due on July 8, 2007, which puts me at about 9 weeks and 2 days. We're very excited and nervous about everything, but the doctor is very optimistic that everything will go perfectly for us this time around.