15 week ultrasound

Photos can be found here.
Everything on that wasn't right on Alex's ultrasounds are perfect on this baby's. We were able to see a stomach, bladder and 4 forearm bones today. All fingers and toes appeared to be there and the measurements were spot on for 15 weeks. The baby weighs 5 ounces already, and the "normal" size is usually 4 ounces at 16 weeks. I'm not sure if that will equal a big baby or not, but I've definitely got a tummy. I probably only have a couple more weeks of regular clothes, and, thankfully, my maternity clothes still fit from 5(!) years ago.

I started the spring semester at school today. Bright and early at 7:30 with blood banking. The courses this semester look much more interesting than the ones last semester, and more challenging, too.

I haven't been doing much knitting lately. I think it's the glut of gardening catalogs that I've been getting in the mail. Paired with the spring-like weather we were having until this past weekend; I was itching to get out in the dirt. I noticed that some of my bulbs were already popping up, irises, I think. They have a good mulch of leaves from the fall, so they should make it through the rest of the winter and spring back when it gets warmer. I have big plans of digging more gardens, or rather, having SuperGeek dig more gardens for me. We would also like to finally get around to putting in the patio we've been talking about for the last 3 years. My sister and her boyfriend gave us an outdoor fireplace, so we'll have to do something in order to use it, because it's just not cool to hang out in the driveway.

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.

Finished Objects!!!!

The excitement at my house is running high right now. It's a little sad that I don't have anybody to share it with, but H-bomb will be home soon.

I finished Icarus! I'm so glad to get it done. I think it took forever and 5 days. I haven't decided where I'll block it yet, but I'm thinking my dining room table. We don't use it for much anyway. I'll get some photos posted as soon as I have the cable to connect to the computer. Somebody took it with him to work...

I also finished H-bomb's Halloween costume this morning. She chose the fabric for a princess dress, and I sewed it. It was my first ever dress, with a zipper and a lining. She's pretty excited to wear it out for candy tonight. And I'm excited for her to bring home the candy!

As far as school goes, I should be checked off for the three different types of needles on Friday. And then, this knit-blogger will be able to draw blood from veins. (We don't get to learn how to do arteries in this class.) I'll have another clinical rotation at the beginning of December, just in time for my birthday and final exams. Hooray!
I just finished 3 courses, with 2 A's and 1 A/B. I was hoping for straight A's, but as SweaterGirl says, "C's get degrees", so I won't worry too much about them.

I'm off to prepare for the ghosts and goblins tonight. They should be starting their neighborhood rounds any time now. ...mmm....candy....

Neat-O Cell Video

With extra-hot DNA replication!

Video

Yes, I am a dork. I am comfortable with my geekiness. It's something that comes with maturity. Now, to get some of that fine wine that goes along with it....

Update!

Baby Madelynn has been found safe and sound in our family room closet. I guess we just need a search team of children, even though they were searching for different toys.
It was a happy reunioun for H-bomb, as Madelynn is her favorite baby. (She doesn't know that you're not supposed to show favoritism to kids. Maybe baby dolls are an exception?)

On to Icarus....
I have 14 rows left of chart one. I think I should be able to finish them either today or tomorrow at school. I'd rather finish them at home, but I have an exam to study for, so I might finish them during my breaks at school.
I cast on last weekend for the Father and Son socks in the fall IK. They're moving along pretty quickly. I like having smaller projects to work on in addition to a large one. I'll feel like I've accomplished something when they're done, even if I still have most of another project to finish.

About Right

My Personality

Neuroticism	8
Extraversion	99
Openness To Experience	71
Agreeableness	62
Conscientiousness	26

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report Bebo, MySpace Codes and MySpace Layouts by Pulseware Survey Software

Icarus Progress.... With Photos!

Ok. So blogger doesn't want to put my photos where I want them. Anyway....
I started classes on Monday. Bright and early at 7:30 in the morning. I'm not really what people call a "morning person". I like to sleep. I like my bed. I like my eyes to be closed during the dark morning. I'm sure that I'll adjust in a few weeks, but until then, I'll be dragging.
Right now, I'm taking a break from my urinalysis studying (oh, yeah) to get these photos up.




I've been spending my breaks before and after class working on Icarus. It's taking roughly 30 minutes to do 2 rows, so I'm not getting a lot done at one time, but it is adding up. I have four more rows left to do on the third repeat. I'm using Mondial La Lana Merino Fine and size 2 Turbos.
Icarus is still small enough to take with me in a small fabric gift bag and fits nicely in my backpack. I've really been enjoying talking with the random people who stop to ask about the project. Finding new people to talk to is something I enjoy doing. As SweaterGirl and IKTI know, I'll talk to just about anybody about anything.

Other than school, I haven't been doing anything new. I'm finally getting some ripe tomatoes in my garden, although my plants were really damaged during the storms last week. I'm hoping that the huge holes in the leaves won't hurt the tomatoes, pumpkins and cucumbers too much. The weeds seem to have weathered the storms (ha, ha) just fine, but my super-tall sunflowers were broken by the wind before I had a chance to get photos taken. But, thankfully, there's always next year.

Icarus Progress

I finally finished detangling my yarn for Icarus yesterday. 1250 meters of superfine merino.
I got through the second repeat of chart 1 this evening. At this rate, I might be done by December...

On the home front, I emptied out my black hole of an office yesterday and ripped out the nasty pink carpet. I'm not sure which previous owner decided on the carpets in our house, but they obviously had no taste. I spent a few hours scraping tape that was under the tack strips, and it's still not done. I have a feeling that Mema will be upset if I don't do it right, so I'll get back at it tomorrow. But until it's all done, I have a black hole of a dining room.

Sesame Street Rocks!

If you know me, even a little bit, you know that I'm a little obsessed with Law and Order. All of them. Even the repeats on USA and TNT and every other channel that plays them.
So, imagine my delight when watching Sesame Street with H-bomb on Monday night and this clip came on. I had to turn it up and tell my family to be quiet so I could hear what was going on. SuperGeek and I were left wondering where Ice-T's character, Finn Tutuola, was though.

On the knitting front, I've finished Sister Amy's shawl. It's thinner than I thought it would be, but that will probably change with blocking and gravity.
I've started the second repeat on Icarus. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm a little concerned because it looks like a blob of yarn right now. The pattern looks much more complicated than it is, but I've found it to be a nice "watching TV" project to work on.
I've also been making baby hats, since everybody seems to be reproducing at an alarming rate right now. They're nice and easy and can be finished in a few hours.

The painted bedroom floor looks so much better. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I think, though, that I will get the primer tinted next time to cut down on the coats needed for good coverage. I'm thinking that I could spend a few days this week working on fixing the "Black Hole", as SuperGeek calls my office. I'd love to rip out the nasty pink carpet and organize everything. I'm just not sure where I'd put the 'puter while I was working, since our house is so cozy....

One more thing.....
We had an awesome dinner party on Saturday night, and I'd like to thank everybody that was there for making it so wonderful. We're planning on putting in the dishwasher that's been hanging out in the garage before we have another one. Although, eating off the paper plates was convenient.
We were all missing the Honeymooners2006 a few minutes after they left. Come back soon! You don't need a reason to visit us!

Fabuloso

I found this cleaner at Target, and I love it. If you haven't tried it, spend the $1.49 on it. It took off who knows how much dirt from under the carpet. And it smells good, too.
Awesomeness in a bottle.

Update to Waiting

I got my grade via email yesterday afternoon....

I got an A!!!!
I was very excited about it, since I hadn't done as well on the first lecture exam as I would have liked and I was worried that I would do the same the second time around. But I only missed 8 points!!

So to reward myself, I pulled out the carpet in my bedroom. It was old and gross and stinky. Now we have the nice asbestos tiles showing. The plan is to paint them until we can afford to recover them with wood flooring. Or laminate. Or tile. I'm sure we'll figure something out....

Lolla was a blast, too. We saw Death Cab, Built to Spill, Calexico, Sonic Youth, Dresden Dolls, Flaming Lips and New Pornographers.
We were all getting tired after spending the day in the heat with sweaty, sticky people all around, so we went back to Amy 2's house for a dinner of ice cream and chips and dip. That's one of the fun things about travelling without children...

I'm almost done with the first chart of Icarus. I'll start on the first repeat in roughly three rows. I'm near the end of Amy 2's shawl, with plans of embellishment dancing in my head. I'm thinking a fringe with a bead on the end at the short edges, but she seems a bit wary of that idea. I'm going to try it and see how it turns out and if she hates it, I can change it.
I'm off to check for ripe tomatoes in my garden. We'll be using them for dinner if I can find some.

Waiting is the Hardest Part

I'm sitting here waiting for the email from my A&P instructor giving me my grade. I had my final exam this morning. I felt more prepared for this test than the first one, but I could only miss 23 points to get an A in the class. I could, however, have gotten only 17 out of 200 for a C in the class.

Later this afternoon, SuperGeek and I will be heading down to Chicago for Lollapalooza. I'm pretty excited to go, as I've never been before. We're planning to see Death Cab, Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley and New Pornographers. And whatever other bands sound good.

On the knitting front, I've made progress on Amy's shawl, but not as much as I would like. I also cast on for Icarus last night during a study break. I've only finished 15 rows, so I'm not sure how it will look when I'm done. I also need to finish untangling the skein of yarn that I'm using. Perhaps yarn stores wouldn't go out of business if the owners were more neat with their product?
I'm not sure that I'll be able to make it to any yarn stores this weekend, but I will post about them on Monday if I do.

I hope you're all staying cool!

I'm Busy!

Wow! I'm almost done with my summer session of A&P. It's a bit harder than sociology. I can't knit during this class, because I need my hands to write. I suppose I could get a voice recorder and take notes at home, but I'd rather knit in the comfy chairs at home.
I just found out that I can start the clinical lab tech program at MATC this fall. I went from #20 on the list to #1. Which is a much better place for me to be.
On the knitting side of things, I finished the prairie tunic a few weeks ago. I love the reactions I get from people who think it must have been incredibly difficult to make it. But if you don't know how to do something, it can seem very hard. Plus, it looks like it was hard work. (photos aren't working right now, so will try to post on flickr.)
I was in Chicago over the 4th of July weekend. The ladies and I went to a yarn store near my SIL's house in Wheaton. She chose a ladder and an eyelash yarn for me to make a shawl for her. It's nice working with a "good" novelty yarn. It doesn't feel like it's cutting into my skin when I work with it.
I'm also working on another baby blanket. It's the Oat Couture spiral baby blanket that was the inspiration for the grumpecue. I'm using cream Cascade 220, although I took a break during the heat wave last week. The last thing I wanted in my non-air conditioned house was a pile of wool on my lap.
I'll be cleaning up from the storm last night and spreading mulch later today. It was a very thoughtful gift from Mema. Or maybe more of a trade, since she's taking the landscape rock to use in her rain garden. Either way, I appreciate it!