Our Most Dense Update Yet

Hey there Baby-Blog readers! Since it has been a month since the last update, I will try to be succinct, yet mildly entertaining, and get you the most bang for your byte on tonight's late-night post. So, what's up with Baby Gerty lately??

The latest ultrasound: Maureen and Baby Gerty are doing great, as reported by the doc and these cute pictures of Mo's insides. My man is already trying to high-five me for cooking Maureen some great Italian the other night! This collage shows that very hand, two profiles, a face, and two shots of Maureen under the goo - one at each ultrasound. He's a little more cramped for space lately, as she'll be quick to tell you.

From New Baby Gerty

Oktoberfest: Back on October 11th, we had our Second Annual Oktoberfest party, complete with Munich-style tent, musik, brats, and a moonwalk playground for the kids. It was great weather and we had a blast hanging with neighbors and friends - some of which we had only recently met due to all we had been through recovering from Hurricane Ike. The party also served as something to anticipate while cleaning up after the storm. And the homebrew... yum!

State of the Homestead: The house is intact and mostly waterproof. We have a slight leak in the water heater chimney and an unknown path for water to get in the dining room which is being investigated by the builder (who has been attentive and caring, but not so proactive about everything so far). We lost seven trees (out of 12) on the property - and if nothing else I got a great workout clearing the wood and brush, plus some material for haunted tree-ghost jokes for Halloween. No money from insurance since we played "The Price is Right" with our deductible (closest without going over), but from day-one we started doing recovery work ourselves, so it shouldn't be too bad of a hit to the wallet. I'm still amazed we lost all of those trees and none of them damaged the house.

From Hurricane Ike 2008 - Next Day

Pictures and new camera: As you might have been able to tell from the quality of some of the pictures on this post, we got a new camera. It's the Nikon D90 dSLR, and it's my first SLR since the old film Minolta I used last in Paris on a vacation back in 2001 or something. Amazing detail, response, I could go on forever, but I'm just really happy to get back into a hobby my dad taught me, just in time to pass it on to my kid(s). The animated image on the left sidebar will update with the pictures that we have on our photostream at flickr.com - click on it to get to our latest shots.

BabyPool: Also on the left sidebar is a yellow and purple box - link to our online baby pool at ExpectNet.com. I'm thinking the prize for the winning guess will be a photo mug, mousepad or something like that, but mostly you win bragging rights galore, and some extra leeway when you try to convince my kid someday that you have the incredible ability to predict the future.

Christmas 2008: Maureen and I are both looking forward to Christmas like you can't imagine. Our motives are similar in some respects (i.e. bringing our child into the world and looking into his eyes for the first time, spending time with our family when they visit Houston, being "at home" with the weather in Houston). But Maureen has some additional Christmas wishes: control of her own body again, a glass of wine, a full night's sleep - oh wait...maybe not that. This Christmas will surely be one to remember, and I can't wait to share it with some of you personally, and the rest of you virtually!

So, this should mark the longest we will ever go without updating the blog, and it might also be my longest post ever (probably not). We truly love hearing from you all, so please continue to comment on the blog, send us an e-mail at one of our gmail accounts, or give us a random call on our cells - or at home once we get the line hooked up. After a certain wonderful random day in December, there will be much more to talk and write about, and we both can't wait!