Some Interesting Maps

And the mother of them all (and the one that I think affects women my age the most):

Sometimes I have a little chuckle about the skewed view of what exactly constitutes "family values" in the U.S. Hmm.

Could we possibly make any progress with more family-friendly workplaces? With a nation that truly values family, and time spent with them, rather than using the term "family values" as an empty political platform to incite fear of one another?

My grandparents crossed an ocean to live here. We have it good in so many areas, and I am grateful for those things that set us apart in healthy ways. But as with all good things, there's always room for improvement, no?

Maps found at Sociological Images

Uncle Clutch

Uncle Clutch let Jude bonk him on the head with a ball.

Uncle Clutch showed Jude how to do magic.

Uncle Clutch taught Jude to say "What's wrong with you?"

Uncle Clutch and Jude were too busy bonking each other on the head to participate in singing "Happy Birthday" to Grandma June.

It was Uncle Clutch's idea to hide with Jude in the woods when Mama and Daddy said it was time to go home.

Uncle Clutch and Jude are best friends now. So if you were vying for that position, you can give up.

M.I.A. / Y2K

We've been kind of M.I.A. lately. Energy has been focused mostly on our work, getting Jude to and from his caregivers, family stuff, and getting enough sleep so that we can function properly.

Oh, and I've had a little side project I've been working on. It involves these picures of my innards, and its name at the moment is Baby K2. Kind of like Y2K, in the sense that we're expecting something big.

K2 at 8 weeks (lower left of black oval)

At 8 weeks, K2 looked like an amoeba with tiny legs and arms pulled in close to its body. We saw the flicker of a heartbeat. Even as a blob, it was a tiny bit cute.

I'm 14 weeks now, and have already gotten two ultrasounds because of what happened last time with the blighted ovum thing + a little spotting episode. Of course I was freaking out about the latter, but it helped that I'd been warned it might happen from something they saw in the first ultrasound, and could be harmless.

K2 at 12 weeks

Here you can see the shape of K2's head, and the outline of a forehead and nose. In the actual image I was able to find an arm, bent at the elbow, and hand up near the side of the face. The heart was still beating. This fact amazes me more now than it did the first time around.

The feelings I had being wheeled in to the ultrasound room, versus being wheeled out, couldn't have been more in contrast with one another.

We are happy, and hopeful.