Why They're Called Peanut

We had our second-trimester ultrasound yesterday! We're having a boy! Here's the ultrasound picture, just to share:
This is the baby's profile. That first bump is the nose, I assume it's followed by lips. It was a lot easier to tell yesterday when he was moving around.

And here's our first-trimester ultrasound.
As I recall, he was actually on his side, but turned his face for this one. It was funny because he was in perfect position for the picture the whole time, but when it came time to take pictures, he rolled over. "Done!" So getting his little profile took a bit of prodding.

Imagine, only another 15-20 weeks until we get to see him on the outside!

White Christmas

Being in Wisconsin, you'd think that a white Christmas is a no-brainer, right? Well, on Christmas day Aaron sprung on me the following idea: that a truly white Christmas means that it actually snows on Christmas day. Now, I'm not sure whether I agree with this. After all, the only other time I've experienced anything remotely close to a white Christmas was in 1984: I was 10, living in Ridgecrest, CA, and it snowed on December 22nd or so. Snow in Ridgecrest is extremely rare, occurring every 4 years or so, and even then it usually shows up in February. Then it melts by 10 a.m.

That year we'd built a snowman in the front yard and not all of it had melted by Christmas. So for years I counted that as my (tongue-in-cheek, of course) white Christmas. I'll let you decide, based on the pictures below. After all, it snowed on Christmas Eve!

Here we are, touring one of the lighted parks near our home:
You can see our building in the background of this picture. Every time we come home we look to see if the kitties are hanging out in the windows. :)
And here's a sweet scene we saw on Christmas Eve. You can't really tell here, but if you click on the pic you can see that the guy had written "Will You Marry Me?" in the snow in red letters. I hope she said yes, but it was really funny because they were walking a dog, and he kept leading her back to the snow to admire his handiwork. It was all gone in a few hours -- the snow filled it in!

Cute Kitties

I have way too many cute pictures of my cats to post here -- I don't want this to become a cute cat blog! But I had to share these photos:

This is Taco, fascinated by the snow falling. Sometimes he tries to catch the flakes. Oh, that darn window always gets in the way!

Taco has always been a "window cat;" in San Diego he loved to sit by the window and watch the birds, or hang out on the balcony and watch (or attack) the birds. Our new apartment doesn't have a balcony and we were really worried he'd be too bored. But we haven't had much of a problem, and the snow helps! I wonder if he'll still be interested in spring?

No real story to accompany this one, I just love that our kitties are hanging out in their matching beds. Plus the look on Taco's face is priceless.

Vent

I hate it when you can only communicate with someone via email. Here's what happens:

Me: Hey, I'm really interested in doing this thing. You're in charge of assigning people, so let me know what I can do.

Her: Great! I think there's something coming up real soon. I'll check with the others people, but we may be good to go.

*silence for 1 week*

Me: Just wanted to check in, is that assignment available?

Her: I thought you were assigned.

Me: Um, no. At least, no one told me.

*silence*

Me: Hey there! Am I assigned?

Her: Hey, I'm attaching this document that will help you with your assignment.

Me: Thanks, that will be helpful. Once I actually have an assignment. Can you let me know when I'll be assigned?

*silence*

Me: sigh