First real snow!

We woke up to several inches of fresh snow this morning!!! It's our first real snow of the 2007-2008 season and just in time for a white Thanksgiving!

Naturally, we both took snow days (driving in Colorado on clear days is bad enough!) and decided to work from home. But, before settling down to a long day's labor, we decided to take the belly out to enjoy his first powder day!

Tomato helped Marisa make a snow angel while Sean showed off his incredible balance...

We hope that the little guy will enjoy both these activities when he gets a bit older.

Stay warm and happy Thanksgiving!

33 week OB visit

We went for our bi-weekly appointment last Thursday and met with Dr. Jensen, the OB who will be on-call during Christmas (in case Baby Boy Raymond decides to come early). Everything seems to be going great. The baby was head down but, according to the doctor, he can still turn around if he feels like it. So far, though, it seems like he is more interested in stretching out his legs and arms (right into Marisa's kidneys and bladder!) than in flipping his whole body. His heart rate was great! It was in the 130s until the doctor "shook his head" to see if he'd respond and, sure enough, his heart rate went up to the 170s as expected. This little boy doesn't like to have his head shaken!

We also got to go on a tour of the birthing center where BBR will be born. There is a TV with a DVD and VCR in the labor room and a jacuzzi tub. You'd think it was a hotel! There is also internet available in the postpartum room so we will be able to post pictures right away. Stay tuned.... only 7 more weeks to go!

32 Weeks - time to start getting ready!

We are officially in the third trimester! Sean and Marisa are starting to get excited and nervous for Tomato's arrival. No more procrastination about fixing up the baby's room....

Sean building the new computer desk for the nursery/office:


Marisa resting on the couch... watching Sean work can be quite exhausting! Though, so is trying to get up off the couch! :)


We also went to Babies R' Us this weekend to look at furniture and other stuff for the little guy. We spent about 45 minutes test driving the strollers before deciding that we liked the first one we looked at the best. It was fun but exhausting so we also tested out some rocking chairs while we were there.

We have a doctor's appointment on Thursday so we'll post more then.

Enjoy your Sunday!
M, S, and Baby

Back from China

Hi everyone,

Sean here. I am back from my long trip -- a few days in Seattle (taught two classes and gave a talk), a meeting in Suzhou, China (outside of Shanghai) and a few days with Alex and Laura in Hong Kong. I missed Marisa and her belly quite a lot while I was gone, so I kept this photo on the camera and looked at it a lot:

Her belly is now 3 weeks bigger than it was when I took this photo, and she can't stand upright anymore.... it makes the baby angry. :)

Anyhow, my trip was fun. I had a really fun time in Shanghai and Suzhou with a few good astronomy friends. The conference was really interesting -- all about the latest developments in extra-solar planets. I even stayed up really late one night trying to get World Series tickets while the Rockies' server crashed. But China changes you -- being around thousand mile-long canals and 2000 year-old pagodas wakes up something deep inside you and makes you contemplate things and be very serious. In this photo, Kaspar and David and I are caught in the "Suzhou trance". We were rescued 2 hours after this photo was taken by a passing beer salesman.

My last stop was Hong Kong with Alex and Laura. An interesting place, HK. Mountains in the center of the island, and huge buildings everywhere that it is flat enough to build. In this photo, Alex is talking business on his cell phone up by "the peak", a pretty spot to view HK. In the background you can see the jungly mountain-side, some of Hong Kong, and Kowloon in the distance across the bay (still part of HK, but not on HK island -- I was told it's like Brookyln is to Manhattan: part of the city but not quite the "city").

On my second night in HK, we went to Halloween party. In the spirit of becoming a parent, I dressed up like a pregnant lady. I did my best to look like Marisa. Alex was a Monkey and Laura was an angel. We were the stars of the party!

HK was lovely. We saw a humongous Buddha on Lantau island the day after the Halloween party. Then Alex and I went bowling and we met up later with Laura and a friend (also called Laura) at a Belgian restaurant. Schnitzel! I had to include this photo of A&L in front of their apartment building, the Happy Mansion. And Alex wanted me to announce to everyone the big news: he is also pregnant! Very noble of him to carry the baby.

I had a good trip, and I was really happy to get home to Marisa and the baby. Alex and I watched the start of game 4 at Happy Mansion but it wasn't until I arrived in SF that I heard the excellent news, that the Red Sox won! Hooray! I didn't get to celebrate like in 2004 (lots of shouting and tequila and knocking over chairs), but it warmed my heart. I would have rooted for the Rockies against anyone else.

Ooh, dinner is ready

Cheers!

Sean