22 weeks (more or less)

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Originally uploaded by misssummerblock

Congratulations, Lucas and Veronika!

Last week was spent in excited preparation for Lucas and Veronika's wedding, which was held last Sunday in Santa Monica amid a host of wedding-related events and activities. My parents and Gillian came down on Friday night and stayed through the weekend, so we all enjoyed the tea, the brunch, the reception, and all the other celebratory eating and drinking events.

And I could not be more excited that Lucas and Veronika have officially joined Team Married!

Photos to follow.

More on the Lentil

Dev and I went for my 20 week ultrasound appointment this morning. The Lentil (gender still unknown, but heretofore referred to as "he") looks great! Dr. Hartford measured the baby's head, the length of his limbs, his heart, etc., and everything looks to be perfectly average in size and spot on for the predicted due date.

A few snapshots:





Face, with arms and legs tucked up into a ball



Back of the head and spine

You can watch highlights from the ultrasound here as a video (it takes a few seconds to get going):




Plus, the requisite maternal profile shot:






Here I am at seventeen weeks; I'm a bit bigger now.

This past Saturday, I also had a wonderful baby shower kindly - and expertly - hosted by my sister-in-law Mina with help from my mother-in-law Suzan. Photos to follow . . .

Snowshoeing in Balmy Iowa City (and publications)

I'm visiting my friend Joanne Byars this week in Iowa City (actually, neighboring Coralville). This morning we went snowshoeing in a beautiful snow-filled ravine behind her house and saw deer footprints. I also learned not to over-dress when snowshoeing-it may be cold in Iowa, but the exertion of snowshoeing soon left me very, very warm.

Meanwhile, another one of my short stories was accepted for publication, this time in the Hamilton Stone Review. It'll be up in February. I'm also adding a Fiction page to my professional website with all my published stories in one place, for people who just can't get enough of my work. I assume there are many such people, all over the place.

New Year's in Yosemite

Dev and I are back from a wonderful and very relaxing four days in Yosemite with our friends Sam, Lilli, Monty, and Melissa.

Check out some of our photos here.

You can also see some photos taken by Sam here. And by Melissa here.

Yosemite on Dwellable

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas here is winding down, but we wanted to wish everyone a wonderful new year!

You can check out some of our Christmas pictures here.

New Blocks and Kumars

Dev and I are having a baby!

I'm currently 13 weeks pregnant, with an estimated due date of June 16, 2009. So far we've had two ultrasounds (the latest just this morning) and heard the heartbeat twice, plus a host of blood tests, etc., and so far, everything is looking good.

This morning at our 13 week NT scan (a type of ultrasound) we watched he/she/it run through the full complement of fetus tricks, including sucking his thumb, yawning, stretching, twisting and turning, and what might have been waving. The Lentil (as we are calling it) is not, however, a particularly cooperative baby, and it took about 20 minutes of prodding to convince him to get into the right position for the scan.

(We wanted to post our latest ultrasound pictures here, but the very surly technician refused to print us copies. My regular doctor promised he'd get me some when I see him in two weeks.)