Pregnancy Update

Things are moving along nicely with the pregnancy. We have entered into the 3rd trimester (where things get difficult again) and the baby is busy punching/kicking Janel frequently. I think I hear the phrase "I can't breath" about 10 times a day now. I am glad I am not the pregnant one :P. Janel is really starting to show, and will really start to put on the pounds over this final stretch.

We will be starting baby courses and such later this month (common question), so that should be both useful and painful.

I posted a bunch of photos of Janel at different points in the pregnancy. Here is one from today. You can click on the album name (below the image) to see more.

From Pregnant Janel

Parents Visit

My parents came out to visit for the weekend, and we had a busy one.

Saturday we spent much of the day doing some shopping getting ready for the baby.

Sunday Danny and Anna were hosting a Chicken Roast at their place in the afternoon/evening. So, we headed downtown and spent some time at Hoyt Arboretum and Pittock Mansion (we had never been to either place). Nothing particularly amazing -- but definitely a nice place for an easy walk (great for a pregnant Janel).

Here is a photo of some flowers with Janel in the background.


Here is a photo of my parents.

From hoyt arboretum

And one of Janel and I:

From hoyt arboretum

After walking around Hoyt and Pittock Mansion, we headed over to Danny's Chicken Roast. Apparently this is a popular thing down South. It was definitely a good time :). Here is a photo of all the chickens on the spit. You basically just shove a bunch of chickens on a big long piece of wood held up by two car jacks, spread coals out on the ground, and let 'em cook a few hours. Tasty.

Organic Beer Festival

We went to the North American Organic Brewer's Festival (www.naobf.org) with some friends yesterday (no -- Janel did not drink anything if you were wondering). I am not a huge fan of Organic Beers -- but we really enjoyed this beer festival. The beer was only okay -- but the "other" parts of the festival were great. It was not incredibly cramped like the winter beer festival (which is still my favorite because they have the best beers). It was not dusty like the "big" beer festival on the river-front. There were lots of places to sit and relax, shade, and a good number of little kids running around with their families. It will probably be our best-bet for beer festivals in the future (after kids show up).

My take on Oregon Beer Festivals:

• Holiday Ale Festival -- very cramped (tents on Pioneer Square); best "dark" beer festival (stouts, porters, etc)
• International Beer Festival -- small festival; good variety of beers that you don't usually see
• Oregon Brewer's Festival -- biggest summer beer festival; lots of good IPAs; dusty; not very well setup to relax with friends
• Organic Brewers Festival -- Okay beers and decent variety, great setup for relaxing with friends on a nice summer afternoon
• Spring Beer and Wine Festival -- Indoors; not the best selection -- but you get both beer and wine

Netflix for Ebooks

This year I started going to the library instead of buying books, and I have really come to realize (1) what a waste of money buying books is and (2) that public libraries are an amazing resource.

As many of you probably know, the release of the iPad (which I think is a waste of money) has caused eBook reader prices to drop like a rock (Kindle is now only $189). I really would like to be able to "rent" books (similar to netflix) on an ebook reader, but there does not seem to be any good services like this available. My library has ebooks, but the selection is pretty poor. I read that the New York Public Library was supposed to have a decent selection (and you can pay to become a member if you are out-of-state) -- but it looks pretty poor to me as well. Does anyone know of any services that provide this? I would be happy to pay a small monthly fee as long as the selection was good.

Ultrasound Photos

Here are a couple of our ultrasound photos ...

Arms and Legs

From ultrasound 1

Yawning

From ultrasound 1

It's A Girl!

We had our 19 week ultrasound last night. It's a girl. We are looking at a due date of Sept 21st.

I have some more ultrasound photos to post. Hopefully I will find some time to scan them before I head to South Carolina this weekend.

For those of you who do not know ... ultrasounds take a LONG time (like 45 minutes). I expected it to be over and done in like 15 minutes. They take a ton of photos of all sorts of stuff that all look like strange blobs.

Falls Creek Falls

We went up to Falls Creek Falls in WA for the first part of Julien's bachelor party. The falls there were gigantic and well worth the long drive up from Portland. The hike to the falls was pretty short and easy. We also climbed up on top of the falls. This was a bit more difficult, but nothing particularly challenging. However, the views were not particularly exciting, but we made it worth our while by screwing around in the snow :).

Here is a photo of Falls Creek Falls itself:

Falls Creek Falls 1.3s @ f/22, 12mm, ISO 100 From Falls Creek Falls

Afterwards we went to Walking Man brewery in Stevenson, WA. I had heard good things about the place, but none of us were particularly impressed. There was a lot of beer options, but it was nothing all that exciting. The pizza was pretty crappy (but, I am a pizza snob, and am never impressed by anything more than 150mi outside of Chicago).