3 feet high and rising

Madison set a new record for snow in December with 36 inches, and there's more expected in the next few days!

Ultrasound update

Here's a photo from our most recent ultrasound. We went in for a repeat ultrasound to get better views of the spine, which weren't well seen on the first ultrasound due to the position of the baby. This one shows a hand holding on to a leg, but everything else is out of view. Just above both of them is the placenta. The tech did get good views of the spine, which looked normal to her.

Snowstorm

The big snowstorm started last night - we might get up to a foot of snow. Coca seemed to like it, at least for a while, until she got cold and wanted to go back in by the fire.



The University didn't cancel final exams, so Liana had to go into work. She decided to cross country ski into work, and Coca wanted to go in with her.

Snow!

The baby is not even born yet, and he/she is already taking over my blog. Here are a bunch of pictures of me, the best doggie.

We received about 7 inches of snow earlier this week. I'm helping Dad shovel:



It became very cold this week. You can't see the cold wind whipping through my park. The river froze because it was sooo cold overnight.


I wonder what they'll put in my stocking this year... I've been very good.


I like to rest my head on Mom's growing belly when we cuddle. Since I don't have thumbs, she took the picture of herself while I stayed warm by the fire.

Birthday sweaters

Olivia turned one year old last week! Unfortunately, I didn't make it to Doug and Karyl's house for the big celebration. (Read all about it and see pictures on the Smith Family Blog, linked on right panel of our main page.)

Here's a picture that Rebecca sent of Olivia in her new sweater. Peggy gave me the gorgeous yarn, and I restarted the project about four times.


This is a picture of Ava from March, 2006 with her birthday sweater.

Both girls are so beautiful, and they are very smart and well-behaved. Rebecca and Bryan are so lucky!

Another ultrasound image

It doesn't look comfortable to me, but you can see that the legs are flipped up in front of the face. A nascent backflip, if you will.


He or she must share my propensity for being upside down and doing gymnastics. (--LL)

Baby's first photo

Liana and I went in to the doctor so that she could get an ultrasound. I can already see the resemblence. Everything looked healthy and the size is in the 49th percentile.

Thanksgiving

The newlyweds Chris and Jen hosted thanksgiving this year. Preparation of the thanksgiving meal can be stressful. Fortunately Jen was able to deal with the stress in a positive way.

The evening turned tragic when Shaun was attacked by three Shih Tzus. Jen's mom Barb bravely rushed in to pull off a rabid one that had dug it's razor-sharp claws into Shaun's chest.

Fortunately he recovered in time to advise on the cutting of the turkey.


Unfortunately, the photos of the actual devouring of the food were too explicit for the internet.

Halloween '08

We've enjoyed perfect weather for the past few days: sunny, clear, and unseasonably warm.

Coca allowed me to dress her up for a few minutes before growing tired of the costume. I didn't buy it especially for her because I am not that odd. She wore my old bee costume that I've used many times myself, such as on State Street years ago with Erik, Jason, Allison, and Stacia...


Lots of trick-or-treaters came by, and everyone was out in the neighborhood. Maria hosted a lovely impromptu party in her front yard. We gave out candy from our two houses to the kids and had wine and cheese for the adults. Maybe next year we'll give out shots too? Verne, Callie, and Chloe (dressed as a spider) stopped by, and so did Rob and Tony.


I ran the Turkey Trot 5k on Saturday morning. My pace was quite a bit slower than in the past, but I was trying to keep my heart rate under 155 bpm. As suggested by Arrietta and Sterling, I purchased a monitor with an alarm to help me stay in the correct range.

Claire and Corday hosted their annual halloween party on Saturday night. Scott dressed as Santa Clause, and I dressed up as Sarah Palin. Erin won the best costume when she dressed as Corday, including shaving her head and giving her hair to Locks of Love. Jannea dressed as Amy Winehouse, and she really looked like her. Lisa cleverly dressed as Rosie the Riviter. Claire, Henry, and Corday dressed as Orphan Annie, the dog, and Daddy Warbucks.

(Pictures to come later from Lisa's camera.)

Scott bought the Santa costume because "it will be useful in the future" and he found the belly to be both useful and annoying. I think it also developed empathy for my growing belly... for example, Scott could not drive because it was in his way, and he found it a useful shelf for his beer bottle.

Fall visit from Scott's parents

This fall has been fairly mild so far, which has allowed the grass to get a chance to get established, though it may need to be reseeded in Spring. You can also see the final look of the steps and the porch that Dean finished. We are going to wait until spring to paint.Here's a great photo on the new stamped concrete patio. Coca couldn't sit still long enough to pose for the shot.
If you would like to receive automatic emails when this blog is updated, please send an email to either Scott or Liana.

Simone visits Madison!

Simone, the newest member of the Lamont family, visited Madison for a conference about translation, or, in industry parlance, "localization." As you can tell, Liana and and Simone look quite similar, especially when they are both wearing Liana's clothes!

Martinez, the wedding

Last weekend was the wedding of Eric Martin, aka Martinez. Suprisingly, there were no Latino wedding customs at all. The mini high school reunion is pictured first.The happy couple.

Yard update

After the concrete patio and driveway were poured we had to bring in topsoil and do the grading. I planted grass and hopefully it has enough time to get started, depending on how long the weather stays nice. Meanwhile our friend Dean is working on finishing up the porch steps. I also laid pavers in front of our garage/workshed.

New driveway

As we were repairing the stairs and back porch, we decided that the driveway needed some attention too. It was crumbling badly, and the rain pooled on it before leaking into the basement. The guys did the whole job in just a few days.

Day 1: Remove old driveway.
All the kids in the neighborhood enjoyed watching the men work. Unfortunately, Scott Rattray wasn't around to help me get this thing moving...

Day 2: Remove the second (surprise!) driveway; pour the new stamped brick patio. Here Scott is trying to find where the cement runner ends.

Day 3: Pour the new driveway. We plan to park side-by-side, and hopefully both be free to leave without moving a car. We will put in some stepping stones and little lamps connecting the driveway to the back yard.

Many of the flowers are dying as the weather turns cold. The dahlias are thriving!

Lamont family visit

Ed and Ellie visited this weekend. The visit was highlighted by a trip to Eplegaarden for apple and pumpkin picking. A great time was enjoyed by all, in spite of jacked-up apple prices and draconian apple-gathering policies. Here we are pre apple gather.And post apple gather we are heavily leaden with multiple varieties of apples. We also ate about 5 apples each during the picking.

Plus we had a chance to see Liana's swank new professor's lab in the chemistry building. It has a great view of the campus near Johnson street.

Rank clan invasion

The Rank family visited Madison and we got a chance to meet the new members of their family - the second set of twins Julianne and Vincent. From left to right - Eloise, Liana holding Julianne, and Matt holding Claudia. They visited our yard and we ate lunch at Ella's deli.

And here's Eloise carefully holding Vincent.


Sorry, Beth, for not getting you in a photo. Other notable absences include Coca, who went absolutely crazy with 4 children around and so was left outside for the visit.

Cover Model

Each year Chemists celebrate Mole Day on October 23 at 6:02 am. Get it? One mole equals 6.02 x 10^23 particles...

Many educators use this celebration to reach-out and excite students. At the Journal, we publish a special issue on the theme designated by the American Chemical Society. This year's theme is "Having a Ball with Chemistry". We filled the issue with great articles aimed at junior high and high school students that related to bucky-balls, ball and stick molecular models, and materials used to generate balls and other sporting equipment. In addition, Journal staff contributed pictures of their kids (or dog) playing with balls for the cover.

Labor Day weekend

Susie, Keith, and Lula came for a visit this past weekend. Lula is such a cutie. If Susie and Keith hadn't gotten her through Petfinder.com, then Scott and I probably wouldn't have found Coca.

Keith and Jeff rode their bikes from outside of Chicago to Kettle Marine, where Susie, Keith, Lula, Becky, and Jeff camped Saturday night. As if that wasn't enough biking, Keith rode the trails at Kettle Marine, and then he biked from the campsite to Madison. He's my hero. It was about 130 miles total. After burning all those calories, Jeff and Keith deserved a big meal at the Taste of Madison. (Not sure what the rest of us did to deserve it...)


In addition to the great food, there was a lot of music at the Taste. One cool classic rock band caught our attention because it was made up of kids:


Thursday was our third anniversary. Scott and I went out for a really nice dinner at Fresco.

Rutledge Street update

My, how our gardens grow:

I really enjoy cutting flowers from our garden to bring inside. The vase from Jen and Chris is the perfect size and shape to display them.


We enjoyed lots of tomatoes, green peppers, eggplant, green beans, and herbs over the past few weeks. The butternut squash are still getting ready.

The weather has been perfect recently. It hasn't been too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. Here's Scott getting ready to bike into work this week:


The other big development is that we put away Coca's crate. She's a big girl now, and we can trust her to roam the house while we're not home. Of course, that is assuming that she's received a decent amount of exercise and we've put away all pens and pencils. Eventually we'll move the desk from upstairs and a bookshelf into that open area.