35 Weeks

Comparing bellies at the Santa Barbara Marina....

At our doctors appointment last Thursday, the OB pressed on Brooke's belly and immediately said, "the baby has dropped". For those who don't know, "dropping" or "lightening" refers to the baby moving downward in the pelvis. It's usually indicates that labor is only 2-4 weeks away! Another sign that confirms the baby has dropped is the measurement of where the heartbeat is loudest. Two weeks ago, the Doppler detected the loudest heartbeat near the Brooke's bellybutton. This week, the loudest heartbeat was at 3 inches bellow the bellybutton.

Brooke didn't put the clues together, but in hindsight, there were several changes as a result of the baby dropping:
(1) Breathing has become easier
(2) There's more pressure and pain the lower back
(3) Brooke's appetite is back, likely due to the reduced pressure on her stomach
(4) Bending at the waist has dramatically become more difficult and painful

Also, check out the video of the baby moving!

33 Weeks

A couple of weekends ago we were in L.A. trying to escape the smoke of the Jesusita Fire. It's sad when you need to go to L.A. for fresh air. While in Pasadena, we came across a very good cupcake shop, Dots...

We tried 4 mini cupcakes: apple pie, raspberry cheesecake, red velvet, and chocolate vanilla...

Besides the trip to L.A., we've spent every spare moment trying to clear out the second bedroom (formerly known as The Closet) for future family visits. It's already booked by Brooke's mom for the entire month of July.
The photos below were taken after many hours of cleaning, but obviously we still have a long way to go....

This weekend I bought myself the Nikon D90. It's part of the same model line as my D70s, just 2 generations newer. My favorite improvements are:
1) less noise when shooting in low light
2) 1/4000 second flash sync (I can't wait to try taking sunset portraits)
3) 12.3 megapixels, up from 6.1 megapixels
4) larger LCD and viewfinder
5) much faster upload speed
6) high resolution video (however, there's no autofocus in video mode)

There is one problem with the D90 though...when paired with my favorite lens, the 50mm f1.8, it front focuses by around 10mm. Being off by 10mm means I could be trying to focus on my baby's eyes and the camera would instead focus on the tip of the nose.
I've taken dozens of these test shots. I've even gone back to the store to test their two demo units and always with the same result. I guess the camera and lens were never meant to be used together...

Brooke and I also started a series of 5 birthing classes, plus an infant CPR and breastfeeding class. Here's Brooke, in her usual hide-the-belly sweatshirt, performing CPR....

31 Weeks

Random stories about Brooke.....

1) At our first birthing class last week, one of the activities was to break up into groups of 5 couples and come up with a list of things we have in common. One woman in our group asked, "who's planning on delivering naturally?"...and of course everyone except Brooke raised their hand. We felt like we were in the scene of Baby Mama when the teacher asks everyone pretty much the same question:

"How many of you are planning on doing natural child birth?
.....that's a good show of hands. You're all so great!

How many of you are planning on using toxic western medications
to drug your baby for your own selfish comfort?"

If you haven't seen the movie, here's a clip.

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2) Pregnancy has turned Brooke's brain to mush....
One night last week Brooke and I took two baskets of clothes to the laundry room. It was fairly crowded, so we decided to wash only one of the baskets. The next morning I went downstairs to find that Brooke had neatly folded the entire basket of dirty laundry.

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3) In the middle months of pregnancy, Brooke could sense people in the neighboring laboratories were staring at her belly, but no one would ever say anything. She would frequently come home and say "they all think I'm just putting on weight". It wasn't until around 28 weeks that people would finally question Brooke about the pregnancy. Part of me wants to defend these people. After all, Brooke does like to wear frumpy clothing at work, plus it's always better to err on the safe side when suggesting someone is pregnant. Another part of me thinks that they're all blind. You've seen the pictures....Brooke looked like she was smuggling a cantaloupe at 28 weeks.
She would never really do it, but I know Brooke fantasizes about responding to their late inquiries with a blank stare and a "huh? what are you talking about?" just to give them scare.

Jesusita Fire

One thing we won't miss about Santa Barbara when we leave are the constant wild fires. Luckily, Jesusita, the latest fire, is further away from home. Unfortunately, as I'm writing this post, the mandatory evacuation area is now within 7 blocks of my work.

When the power went out during work yesterday, I climbed up to the roof to capture a few photos....

Photos from our apartment tonight...

Here's a photo taken by our neighbor...