So here in the US o A we had a long weekend. First one in what feels like months (but probably not that long). I had the day off but Angel was working to bank the day for maternity leave. I dropped Angel at work then headed out to play golf at Hermann Park. Started with a par, then hit a bogey on the next 7 holes (sigh). I did finish the front with a par. 10th hole was double par (which is not good) but then hit par on the next three holes before getting rained out after the 13th. I was completely drenched and learnt that the Capris I was wearing did not deal with the wet well... unless you like the see through look!

After cleaning and drying up I relaxed at home until it was time to pick Angel up, after which we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I really enjoyed the movie. Plenty of fun action sequences and lots of laughs. Not as good as Raiders or Last Crusade, but a solid movie in its own right. We then watched Bride and Prejudice on DVD. Another fun light movie.

Saturday we hosted the parents and some friends for lunch which was cooked by Angel's mum, and we looked through a bunch of photos of Angel and Sherwin as kids. I went to play poker on Saturday night while Angel worked and relaxed at home (no I did not win) and Sunday we went to parents for dinner. More relaxing weekend that some recently... and some coming up I imagine, but still feeling tired this morning. Sigh... why must Monday's be sooo painful to wake up to?

Good news is that I just received the new camera I bought (after spiderwebbing the lense on my old Sony). Got the Nikon D60 with two lenses, a carrying case, extra battery and a Speedlight flash (for indirect/soft flash). Not played with it much (but have some) and here are two of the first photos... one taken with a direct flash, and one with an indirect flash (flash pointing at 90 degrees to target). Nothing else was changed apart from angle of the flash... Oh... if only our photographer at the wedding had such complex technology as a soft flash... maybe most of the photos would not have come out as over exposed!

Direct Flash

In-Direct Flash

Hiccups. Blobby seems to get a spell about twice a day for at least a few minutes at a time. Camila gets hers at least once a week. Her eyes turn all black, and she looks so confused and kittenish when she gets them.

General update on the weirdness of growing the alien...

Good news: Miss Blobs hasn't been kicking me as hard, and her best kicks are no longer aimed exclusively at my right lower ribs. She did give me a good jab or elbowing the other night and left the fist/joint fully extended for a few seconds. When I pressed on it, she retracted it immediately. Overall, she moves a lot, and that's supposed to be a good indication she's doing fine.

Neutral news: There are tons more strange and large-scale slidey and squirmy motions. Someone said to me that when she was pregnant, she thought she might be giving birth to an octopus. I can understand why. Also, I think the Blob-pod itself has become more teardrop-shaped instead of sticking-straight-out-hemispherical, so there's a lot more pressure on the lower abdomen, and the maternity support I tried using to offset that shift wasn't comfortable. Too lazy to try another right now.

Bad news: I occasionally feel jabs of pain when what I believe is Blobby's head jolts against my bladder. Also had one or two odd cramps (might these be the Braxton-Hicks ones?), and the belly-weight is making it uncomfortable to switch sides while lying down. Also, my feet seem to get swollen more easily.

Well, it's just about a month now, anyway!

Back from the doctor's appointment, and he confirms that Blobby is head-down.

Also, Doc explained his preferences and opinions on episiotomies and epidurals, and now that I know what his 'defaults' are, I am comfy with how things will probably go down when it's time for Miss Blobs to come out.

No further comments on my weight (up by 40 pounds). :p

Friday night was a quiet night I seem to remember as we were gearing up for the weekend.

Saturday morning we had the first baby shower (the Houston one... we will be having another in Beaumont in a couple of weeks) and it went really well. Lots of good people, plenty of fabuloustic gifts from people, good lunch from one of my fav places, and a great cake. Many thanks to Host Sherri, to Angel's mum who helped Sherri out and to everyone who came along. A selection of the photos that my mum took are now online... I am sure more will be posted when I get 'em!

Shower Photos

Dominated by the one and only Wazzwa!!!

Mind Control Part Deux

Who be the pretty cat in the window... oh, it is Moi!

First that idiot (Mike) steps on my toy, now he locks it in a glass case... hmmm... very X-Men... could this be Magneto in there?

Mandatory flump quota for the day achieved

It ain't cute woman... I am NOT a salad!!

Ok, I have heard of scrapbooking... but crapbooking? Well, either they have a hobby and a book on the hobby for everyone (not matter how weird), or Borders should check the positioning of the books in their clearance department!!!

BUS-TED: Mike's out of town, and I am still okay walking, so I took the bus to and from work yesterday. Neither bus was the one I wanted, but that's fine. The line I ride has a tendency to run early/late/early/late, so even if I get to my stop 5 minutes early, I might miss my 9 a.m. ride in and have to wait another 20+ minutes for the next one, which is usually late. The return bus leaves from a transit center, so it leaves no earlier than the time listed on the timetable, which is as it should be. I still got one bus later than I wanted, because I took too long chatting with a coworker on the way out.

DECLINED: From her car, Jenny saw me exiting the bus at Bissonnet and Shepherd, which was neat. Via cellphone, she said she and Eric couldn't make the shower. She was getting on the highway, so we ended the call.

OWIE + DOH!: Once home, I tried to put my laptop in my bag to bring to Sherri's, but I missed, and the lappy slid off the bag (on Mike's TV stand), and I -erm- broke its fall to the concrete floor with my left foot. So the corner of the lappy is dented, and my foot is bruised, but neither is totally kaput.

QPQ: At Sherri's, I helped clean a stained roller in her printer, reset her desktop and screen saver, and with some remote assistance from Blobby-daddy, diagnosed her problem with sending e-mails (AT&T's outgoing mail server had been down, and they "lied" to her about it). We also figured out where the guy who set her computer up had misspelled her name and fixed that. In return, I got a NICE hamburger and spent some pleasant time writing thank-you notes with Julia (hers for her birthday, mine from the...errr....w e d d i n g).

ZZZ: Turned in early; got a good night's sleep. With a cuddly cat-batt.

This past weekend was another fairly busy one... although less so than last weekend. We had dinner and watched a movie with old neighbours of Angel's (Danny and Chrissy). Good food, good company and a good movie that I had not really heard of before (Persepolis). Saturday the cleaner was at Bissy for most of the morning and afternoon. I did go to a newly restarted Capoeira class at the park... unfortunately it was only me and one other person. Class was cut short although Mestre wanted to talk to me after... long conversation where I had little in input. Saturday night we had the fathers day dinner for both my dad and Joe. Again good food and good company. Sunday morning I played golf but only managed 10 holes as the course was backed up and pace was really slow. I had to leave in order to get ready for the second childbirth class which was interesting and where we got a lot more good info. I had an early night as...

Alarm went off at 4:30 am. Up, get ready, feed the cat (who subsequently managed to convice Angel that I had not fed her, so got a double serving this morning!) then I hit the road to catch my 6:30 am flight to Newark. On the way there I got pulled over and got a ticket for speeding (although I was not speed excessively) and for not having up to date insurance papers (I had forgotten to print them out and store them in the car). Court date for the 22nd where I should be able to present insurance papers to get one dismissed then agree to do defensive driving to get the other dismissed. Sigh, not the way I wanted to start the day.

Flight was uneventful and was onsite by noon (after a conference call was completed in parking lot). Onsite all day and left at 7pm. Dinner then back to hotel. Little work then tried to go down and workout. Treadmill was causing my a little pain in the foot from a previous injury and the cycle machine was annoying me as my foot kept popping off the peddle (yes I know how to use them... it was just broken), so I gave up and came back up to the room.

Luckily I am heading home tomorrow and will look forward to getting back!

Last Friday night, we had a really-the-last dinner with Kat (because Gary was in town for a conference) and Anne at Raven. We got The Strange Waiter, and apart from putting a bread plate on Anne's hand and my personal bread plate (instead of the table), he did fine. Then, we met up with 6.999-year-old Julia and Sherri and went to Baskin Robbins in the Village for her free birthday scoop. One of the students from the Grupo Cafu wandered in, and Mike said hi to him.

Saturday, we finished buying Father's Day gifts, including stopping by Borders and The Galaxie Jewelers on Sunset (neat place, neat owner) to get some engraved plates for Tom, and a new bag for Cammie to ride around in. We saw two bags that looked the same and opened up one to check it out. Because it was the size of a lunch box and because we had instant visuals of how Miss Wazz would react, it took a second for us to stop laughing, repackage it, and make sure the other option was bigger. Check.

Moving on to Julia's movie party: Kung-Fu Panda! Fun movie, not as great as expected. Now looking forward to WallE, Hancock, and Wanted. Hot dog for lunch. Lots of squealy kids and slightly odd grown-ups. Home to space out and wrap presents. Dinner with neighbors Roger and Albina. Sweet pup, adorable new daughter, friendly grandpa, and great food and company.

Sunday, Mike golfed and I wrote thank-you notes. Dinner at Mayuri with Rakesh, Shonali, and Ananya, days away from the birth of the new baby, which happened this week (congrats!). After touring the new home and getting to dinner, it was much later than any of us realized, so we all went home and crashed.

This week, I had an HHA meeting, a doc's appt, a Child Care Council meeting, quesadillas and Julia's "real" mini birthday at the Naybor's, a class to observe, a nice lunch with Christof (starting a new job Monday, yay!), and a much-needed trip to the grocery store. Also, for the first half of the week, poor Anne's AC was out, and the tupid home warranty people couldn't get it fixed until Wednesday (so we had a boarder).

Tonight, we have plans to visit the new Agrawalette at the hospital and then join Danny and Chrissy for dinner at their place. Tomorrow, the housekeepers visit, and then we meet with the parents for Father's Day dinner (we are celebrating a week late; it's easier when eating out), and Sunday, we have our final childbirth class.

Next weekend, the Houston baby shower. Two weeks after that, the Beaumont shower.

Phew!

Basically France did their usual... bad foul and red card early in the game. Difference is that the foul and card also resulted in a penalty... which Italy converted... and it was an uphill battle from there.

But still... overall they really sucked in this tournament. Sigh.