baby's first UNC gear

I made Baby Boy Bell a classic UNC Fetzer Gym t-shirt in onesie form. Maybe someday he'll wear a real one!

bluegrass

We went to the 3rd Annual Great Midwestern Bluegrass Festival last night at the Majestic Theater last night! I forgot to charge my camera battery before we left, so only got a couple pictures. We saw two groups from Madison - Honey, Summer and Fall and Sweetgrass - and another group from northern Wisconsin, Past Blue Rhythm. They were all great! It was a fun night.

Sorry to disappoint you, Andrew, but we didn't stay to hear the headliners - Infamous Stringdusters. I'm up "early" this morning to pack a bag, drive to Harvard, and catch the train to Chicago. So...we opted for more sleep for me. I'm glad Dave convinced me to leave - I'm refreshed andready to go. Anyway...here are the pictures.

baby's first outfit!

Enough with Governor Walker. Let's talk about something more fun. Baby clothes!!!!!

Half pint got his first outfits today! It was a gift from our friends Katie and Steve here in Madison. Look at how cute!

The bear is on the butt of the little pants!

Thanks, Katie and Steve!

(To all readers: I will *try* to keep the gratuitous baby stuff posts to a minimum, but I can't make any promises. Also, they will hopefully get cuter when there is an actual baby in the clothes!)

is he listening?

So much has already been said about Governor Walker's proposed budget bill. His cronyism, his scapegoating of public workers, his attempt to pit private and public sector employees against one another, his manufacturing of a budget crisis as a pitiful excuse to bust up the unions...

I waffle between:
1. being all pumped up about the protests and feeling like we're really making a difference, and
2. being angry fearing knowing that in order to keep collective bargaining, we'll have to give in to all his plans to quadruple health insurance premiums and retirement contributions.

I don't really know what is left to say. Here's a great article to get you up to speed if you haven't kept up:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/wisconsins-tunisia-moment_b_825738.html?ref=fb&src=sp

And here's some photos and video from week two (day nine) of the protests on the Capitol. Today we joined the UW Faculty for Change and some of Dave's colleagues to march from campus down State Street to the Capitol.

baby blue

It's a boy!!!

Think someone's excited?

We had the ultrasound technician write down the sex on a piece of paper and seal it up in an envelope. We waited until dinner to open it and it made for a fun belated Valentine's celebration at Sardine! (Thanks for the gift certificate Susan and Adam!)



And here's the latest half-pint pictures from today's 20 week ultrasound.

happy valentine's day!

We got a valentine in the mail! Guess who it's from?

Half pint!!

That Half-pint, she/he's one smart baby in the making!

greenbush bar

Dave and I were craving Italian for dinner last night after watching The Godfather on AMC. But we didn't want white tablecloth-type Italian, we were looking for hole-in-the-wall Italian. So we went here.

The Greenbush Bar is in the basement of the Italian Workmen's Club in Madison.

The atmosphere is great! Cozy and homey and casual - just what we were looking for.

Unfortunately, the food was not good. We both ordered pasta dishes and I think Newman's Own red sauce out of the jar is better. We have yet to find great Italian food in Madison, but I think we'll go back and maybe try the pizza or sandwiches. The place was packed and there was a line to get a table, so it must be good at something!

state street at night

Snapped a couple pictures of State Street the other night walking back to my car after sewing class. Please appreciate this! I had to take my right glove off to turn on my camera!

mini-courses

I took a mini-course at the Wisconsin Union last night! They are available to everyone regardless of affiliation with the University (although I think you have to be a member of the Union). The class was a three and a half hour crash course in sewing. I'm interested in sewing because I want to make stuff. Like these things:

http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/patterns_top.php

These may be high hopes, but the class last night was fun. We started here, just sewing whatever we wanted. I didn't mean for it to look like a face, but it did!

We practiced circles some more and learned pivoting.

Then we did seams, backstitching, zig-zags, and basting.

My favorite part was gathering. I'm sure it can be really tricky when it matters, but it was fun to practice!

The grand finale was a mini tote bag! She ran out of brown ribbon - otherwise I wouldn't have done a navy blue handle!



There was a lot going on in the Union last night - contra-dancing, choir rehearsal, tai chi, bartending practice... The Union remains one of my favorite places in Madison - summer or winter!

I think classes are a great strategy for surviving the winters here. Next up for us for mini-courses? Photography for me and woodworking for Dave. He's looking for ideas for something to make. Suggestions?

green

Trying to remember what green plants look like outside against a blue sky.

super bowl

LET'S



GO


PACKERS!

day trip to Milwaukee

Just a couple pictures from a day trip we took to Milwaukee yesterday.

Dave loved this cute little espresso machine at Crate and Barrel.


The Milwaukee Public Market in the Historic Third Ward kept us busy for while.

My favorite booth was of course the fish stand.

I never knew what a halibut looked like -

We tried to have dinner in the third ward at a nice restaurant Dave picked out called Swig. Unfortunately, they didn't have any tables avalable for hours! So, we ended up getting a delicious hummus appetizer at the bar, warming up by the fireplace for a little bit, and then walked back down the street to The Wicked Hop for dinner.

snowbird

half pint's progress

I am very impatiently waiting for our next ultrasound on February 16th when they'll be able to tell us the sex of the baby. To help keep me occupied until then, here's some pictures from the past two ultrasounds.

Here's the first ultrasound, November 15, 2010. This picture earned the baby the nickname "Smudgy."

Here are photos from the second ultrasound - this was for the First Trimester Screen on December 22nd. The change in just over a month is remarkable, isn't it? After these shots, Dave changed Smudgy's name to Half Pint.
Here's the profile:

To help you get your bearings, this is in profile and the baby is laying down, looking up/out.

In this one, Half Pint's got his/her fist up next to his/her forehead.

And this is the shot where I think I'm at the beginnings of understanding what it's like to be a parent.

Doesn't look like much, I know. This is a shot looking down on the baby. You can see torso/tummy and then one leg crossed over the other at the knee. I'm sure all babies sit cross-legged in the womb, but for some reason, I think Half Pint doing this is the cutest, most brilliant thing I've ever seen. He/She is crossing her legs and hanging out! He/She knows how to cross her legs! He/She's so smart!!

baby carrier testing...

Testing, testing! Does this baby carrier work?

Sure does!

For your viewing pleasure, some blizzard and day-after videos from here:
http://www.thedailypage.com/video/article.php?article=32115

blizzard aftermath

The pictures from the blizzard in action just don't do it justice, so here's the aftermath!