Cherry-Blossom Wedding Invitations

Here are the invitations we chose for the wedding from Paper-Source. I need to photograph the actual printed pieces, since they really came out well. Unfortunately I think we're almost out of them :S

Penguin in Wet Suit

It's been all over the web, but I think I first saw Pierre on MSN. When he started to go bald last year, Pierre's handlers had him fitted with a wet suit so he could continue to swim. Because he was missing the feathers he needs to keep him warm, Pierre was not participating with the other penguins and began to lose his place in the community. So here he is in his custom-fitted wet suit. Pierre immediately started swimming again, and before long his feathers grew back.

I'm not usually one for cute animal stories, but something about Pierre's pose in this picture is to me downright fashion forward. Look how happy he looks in his little vest! Pierre here represents everything fashion should be: it makes us feel good about ourselves, and it might even help us to grow back some feathers when we're feeling a bit faded.

Thank God my husband-to-be understands this. Not only is he a fan of expensive custom-made dress shirts, but he also realized how big a hit my self-esteem was taking when I could no longer find anything in my closet that even fitted me, much less flattered my ever more-pregnant proportions. He's been totally supportive of my shopping excursions for maternity clothes, and for that I'm grateful. I no longer want to cry when I open the closet, and that's a much better way to start the day.

My Maid of Honor

Amity's pretty Sophia dress in Tulip arrived in Maine from j.Crew. Here she is modeling it. She's going to look lovely in it at my wedding, which is 32 days away!!

Busted at Work

But not in a bad way, thank God.

Turns out that whenever someone writes anything about my company, hereinafter to be referred to as "G", it alerts someone on the 4th floor. They monitor these things. Of course they do, duh, but it came as a surprise when my boss told me about it today.

It did cross my mind that this might come back to me. Fortunately I've learned NEVER to write ANYTHING on a blog that you wouldn't say to someone's face, so I didn't get in trouble. In fact, I only have had nice things to say about "G", so it's all good.

Cat Tattoo

This image is the number one hit on Google when you search for "cat tattoo". It always linked back to my blog, until someone with a blog devoted to tattoos posted it. Now it refers to his blog and not mine. :( I need to check with Amity about this, but I think there's some etiquette about not citing sources that I've probably violated a million times unwittingly. Perhaps my chickens are coming home to roost, but I like seeing my tattoo properly credited. So here I've posted it again.

Fists and Knees

2008-04-29 Bambino at 13 Weeks 003, originally uploaded by jessica_beagan.

My child is active. This will come as a surprise to no one who knows me and my high levels of energy. As my mother would say, the apple doesn't fall far from the ground.

During today's ultrasound, the baby kicked, squirmed, rolled over, swallowed, sucked its thumb, and had hiccups. We're talking less than five minutes of viewing time, and the baby didn't stop moving.

In this picture. It's stretching its legs and rolling around. I can't believe how big the baby keeps getting from week to week. 3 weeks ago those legs and arms were just little buds. Now, they stretch and flex and help the kid move even more.

With all that wiggling, I also got a glimpse of something "down there" that might just be male. Either that or it was the umbilical cord. We should have a better idea in 5 weeks at the 18 week ultrasound . . . .

Looking at Me

2008-04-29 Bambino at 13 Weeks 002, originally uploaded by jessica_beagan.

I've had three ultrasounds now, and I swear that the kid knows we're there. No sooner does the baby's image appear on the screen than the baby rolls over to face us.

Though it looks a bit like a luchador mask in this image, there's my kid's face.

12 Weeks

2008-04-22 Bambino at 12 Weeks 001, originally uploaded by jessica_beagan.

This image is the baby during the nuchal translucency test. This test checks the thickness of the baby's neck as a screening for Down's Syndrome. A test of 3 or less is considered safe. The bambino's was 1.1.

You can see the baby's profile pretty well in this image, even though it's dark. The black line that runs along the bottom is the baby's spine, which is what was measured in the test.

This was the first picture in which I could see the arms and legs more fully developed, and the profile. I think it has my nose. :)

Back in the Saddle, Mofo!

It's nearly midnight, and I'm going to bed.

I made it to midnight for the second night in a row! My energy, it's returning!

This little post here is also the NINETEENTH I posted tonight. I got on a bit of a writing kick while returning from Cincinnati yesterday, and I had some old pix to post.

I apologize for the mountain of text that follows, but I had to chronicle all the observations about my first trimester of pregnancy. The problem during that first trimester is that I couldn't stay awake past 9 pm, and I was seriously retarded from the hormones and other strange percolations going on in my body.

But it feels great to be back online. I got to catch up on Amity's blog, and to check out Zibby's amazing blog about all things habesha (see the links to the right).

I've been pecking away at this laptop for hours, and there's still more to do. I have a photo from BotCon to upload, plus all that film I shot in Maine has been waiting patiently for weeks for me to do something with it. Because the index prints are black and white, I'm afraid the stupid lab scanned the negs in B&W (I shot in color, the dumbasses) so I might have to either consider it a seredipitous accident and live with the B&W scans, or rescan the cut negatives.

Oh, and 8:15 tomorrow morning is my next exam for the baby. There might even be new ultrasound pix. The ones from the nuchal translucency test last week were pretty fuzzy, but I might scan and upload one of those as well.

But for now, bedtime. I still need some sleep.

Group Portrait in Biohazard Suits

2008-03-15 Crime Lab BCI 006, originally uploaded by jessica_beagan.

This is a souvenir from a day at the Medical Examiner's office, during which the girls had to process some particularly stinky evidence. I won't get into details, but suffice it to say I was at the lab the day said stinky evidence came in, and I will never forget that smell. Thank God it was before I was pregnant.

This photo, like the panties in the next image, is indicative of the gallows humor that is required to be able to face a tough job every day. Like cops and doctors, the scientists at the Crime Lab see some truly disturbing cases day in and day out.

This ain't CSI fictionalized entertainment bullshit, but real cases involving real people whose lives have been forever changed by the events these guys investigate. And I felt like I had to commemorate their commemoration of it.