Valentine's Day

For Valentine's day, Mike surprised me with a cooking class/dinner with Parties That Cook . I love it when we do things like this together...and I think Mike had fun, too!







After almost a year with little to no rain, the rainy season is upon us. This has pretty much been our view for the last two weeks. It's funny but I don't really mind the rain...when the weather is always beautiful it's hard to justify staying in and relaxing. We've been able to catch up on movie-watching, baby-planning, apartment-organizing and all sorts of things. We're hoping the weather clears up for this weekend, at least up north...we're heading to Mendocino to celebrate anniversary #2!

24 weeks: All is well

24 weeks and all is well. With the exception that I freaked out a bit over the weekend when I didn't feel the baby move all day on Saturday. A big drink of ice water solved that problem, though...within minutes he/she was kicking away and hasn't stopped since!

Also on Saturday, Mike surprised me with a gift card for Japanese Weekend, so I went and splurged on some of the most comfortable (and pretty stylish) maternity clothes ever. Seriously...I am wearing a new outfit today and though my appearance is properly business casual, I feel like I am in my pajamas and it is GREAT!

One thing I learned recently--the occasional odd feelings I've been experiencing over the past week or two are actually Braxton-Hicks contractions. Which are apparently normal and fine--just practice for the big day. I'm not sure how I didn't realize that's what they were...I guess I was just expecting that something called a "contraction" would be much more dramatic. And I find it comforting to know that although I feel sort of clueless and out of control, my body knows exactly what is coming and is preparing accordingly!

Dallas

We went to Dallas last weekend for my friend Travis Hopper's wedding. While we were there we saw as many people as we could - most are in the pictures below. Somehow we managed to not get pictures with my sister Lisa, or Jack/Suzanne/Luke/Jacob. It was great to see everybody and we can't wait until you all pay us a visit out here in SF.

At dinner Friday night with Kyle and Angela


With Jared and Julie's daughter Tatum...


...and their other daughter Landry


Kate with Jared, Julie, Kyle and Angela


Jared and Kyle


After dinner, we met up with Travis, the groom-to-be


With my old friend John Rowe, at the wedding reception


With the groom


Kate posing on the dance floor, with the bride in the background


Dance floor action shot


A little bit louder now...


The wedding after-party - and yes, those are outdoor toilets


The bar is appropriately named the Doublewide


One last picture to end a great night and a great weekend

22 weeks: Mike feels a kick!

Can't believe we're over halfway to the due date! Actually, when I look in the mirror (or try to find something to wear in the morning) I can believe it. The biggest problem I'm running into lately--I often get dressed at the the gym in the morning, which means I pack my clothes the night before...problem is, it's too late when I discover that something no longer fits or looks right, I'm stuck wearing it all day long. I do have some maternity things, but I'm trying to make my regular clothes last as long as possible...as I know I'll be sick of all the maternity clothes soon enough. Thank God for the Bella Band! And empire waist tops! And yoga pants!

I've been feeling the little guy/gal moving around pretty regularly for the last few weeks, but until Sunday night, the movements were too small to feel from the outside. But when we were watching the Super Bowl I felt some sharper than normal kicks (or elbows...who knows?) and sure enough, Mike was able to feel them, too!

On the name front...we're keeping our choices close to the vest, but we've pretty much decided on a girl's name...the perfect boy's name is proving more elusive, but we've got some strong contenders.