Long Time No Type

So I took an unplanned break from blogging, as I'm sure you've noticed. I have no real reason for this, just the lame excuse of being busy. I don't want to dwell on that topic very long since I'm working overnights still and really don't have much time to type a good post. So, without further ado, look at the photo of Alicia! We're at eighteen weeks now, if I'm remembering right, and she is seriously showing. Let's go through a fun list of what has changed during my blogging hiatus!

Alicia's tummy is noticeably larger, as previously mentioned. It's starting to really firm up and look like a preggers belly. Unlike my belly which is looking much like a flesh bag full of marshmallow cream.

That whole "pregnancy mood" I keep hearing about? Dear FSM, no warning was quite enough to prepare me. That said, I've likely signed my death warrant, or in any case got dinner, laundry, and dishes duty from now on. In all seriousness, she was remained quite patient with my whining (WINNING!) butt, so I shouldn't complain.

It's almost time to start filling our child's developing brain with music through the womb! That said, I haven't added any songs to the playlist since I last mentioned it. My brain fails at multitasking interests. I should really fix that.

The sabotage and absolute takeover of my body by Alicia's hormones. Or at least that is the excuse I'm using in order to watch America's Next Top Model. And buy Vogue magazine. In all fairness, I could develop (!) a lot as a photographer by learning from high fashion photographers. Just saying. Stop laughing at me!

Speaking of photography, I'm back into photo mode full swing. My Flickr has been bombarded lately with a ton of new photos from me, so be sure to swing by there and check it out.

We are still planning on moving down to Collierville, TN. It's a matter of jobs at this point, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. We recently visited down there for Alicia's sister's wedding shower. It was great, as always, to see family and relax. I went to mass for the first time in a long time and it wasn't bad. I cringed at some mentions of Genesis, but overall it was nice. Certainly more bearable than any Baptist service I've ever been to.

OH! I almost forgot, we heard the heartbeat recently! Maybe it's just my love for electronic music, but that is such a magical sound. Like a washing machine. Or some saying "SKOWSKOWSKOWSKOWSKOW" through a microphone and then distorted. No? Maybe just a little? Anyway, I have an audio file of it on my phone that I need to upload. For great justice.

Oh yeah, ultrasound in a matter of a couple weeks. Alicia has agreed to find out the sex of the baby. I has a happy now.

A Few Facts

Current approximations of our baby:

About half an inch in length or the size of a large raspberry. (!)

It's lips, nose, eyelids, legs, and back continue to take shape.

The baby's heart is beating at 150 beats per minute, twice the rate of your heart.

Information from the book What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff & Sharon Mazel.

How interesting is that??? Freakin' nuts.

Foobar!

Finally taking the time to start a baby playlist in Foobar2000. It's fun, but I have to keep in mind that this is for our baby and not for me. Haha, even better since so much of it won't even be audible to Alicia and I as the headphones will be on Alicia's belly for the better part of this year. Even though the baby won't be able to make sense of the words, I certainly don't want to add Nine Inch Nails - Closer to the mix, even though a good electronic "wall of sound" would definitely be stimulating to a developing brain. So what good will this actually do? Who knows, but it certainly can't hurt.

Occasionally I will make a post listing some of the music on the baby playlist. Kind of like this:

Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra, Vitaly Gnutov – Fantasy on Two Songs

Masashi Hamauzu – Via Purifico

Tori Amos – Cloud on My Tongue

If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment. Chopin will certainly be making an appearance, as well as Tchaikovsky. It seems like every single article I've found talking about say Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is a good choice; I'm convinced that's because it's the only classical piece the writer knows and thinks it sounds smart. I'm not a huge Beethoven fan. I went to a Beethoven concert once and when we all shouted for an encore, he rudely bowed and walked away as if he didn't hear us. Pffft, what a diva.

Edit: For those that don't know, the fetus develops the ability to hear over the course of the first and second trimester, more specifically around week 20. Vibrations may still be felt and therefore "heard," but scientists are not sure exactly when.