Another new haircut

I've decided to go a tad shorter this time around. I got the popular a-line/wedge style: short in the back and long in the front. I wish I had discovered short hair a long time ago! I don't know that I'll ever have long hair again!

On the baby front, the little one is very active. I've felt relentless kicking for the past 2 weeks. Its such a funny feeling being kicked from the inside. SO cool though. I love being preggers!

Upditily-date, neighbor

My appointment with the perinatologist for my 3-D sonogram is set! June 19th will be the day where we will hopefully find out the sex (come on little baby, spread those leggies!) and get another cool photo or two. I can't wait! In the meantime, I keep getting bigger and bigger and feeling better and better (thank goodness!). Still a little bit tired during the day, still peeing like a race horse, still have strong 'growing pains', but my allergies are subsiding and I'm gaining weight, cos darn it, food tastes good again!

On the other front, uni for Andreas and me is coming to an end (for this year at least) and we are very much looking forward to spending more time together (actually we'll be doing our research in the same place, not having too much fun), not having to teach!, frolicking in the summer sun, setting up the nursery and spending more time with the family in San Diego.

Oh, and this is my baby gut at 18 weeks, 3 days.

Baby gut

This is my baby belly at 15 weeks and 5 days. Me so sexy.

All I wanted was a backrub...

... but, I also got this! Yey! Andreas and I couldn't be happier. I'm currently 14 weeks and 5 days with a due date of Oct 30th. The first three months were pretty rough with "all day sickness" (whichever tool coined the term "morning sickness" was totally off!), food aversions and fatigue. Now that those are mostly a thing of the past, I have quite severe allergies... thank you swollen nasal membranes. Oh, and as a side note, I am allowing those of you who haven't experienced this yet (or ever!) to be blissfully ignorant to some of the more subtle symptoms of childbearing. Ahhhh, so far, being pregnant is truly a godsend.

P.S. This ultrasound is from week 9 and 6 days. The next one will be 3-D (where I also believe we'll find out the sex).

Tour de Californie

The world's top recreational riders, Andreas and Rachel, competed over a two-hour, 5-mile race on a route that included the densely populated Santa Barbara bike path along the downtown beach. The high performance racing machine both riders used is the must-have for the pro season 2008, a solid steel framed, 4-wheeled, convertible beach buggy. The two man breakaway, initiated by Rachel and executed by Andreas, took off early in the stage, leaving families, old folks and other oversized competitors behind, and helped the riders to an overall comfortable win of the tour. The official drug screening results are still outstanding, but both riders assure that a monster cookie sunday was all they used during training season. 

Bruski anyone?

Yesterday, Andreas and I drove down to LA for Oleg's surprise birthday party. It was at a Russian restaurant called Robert's Russian Cuisine (is Robert even a Russian name?). Being Russian, they were, of course, 20 minutes late to their own party and the guests rocked up even later (guests that were first generation Russian themselves). Figures. We walked into the joint, said we had a reservation under Karen and he tried to put us with a bunch of 40 year olds. This can't be our group, I was thinking... sure enough, had I said Karen's name in their native tongue (which I did after contemplating that other table for 5 minutes)- good thing I knew it was Karina-, we would have been shown to the only other empty table in the restaurant. So we waited 40 minutes by ourselves without being spoken to or looked at once by the servers! Once Oleg and friends arrived (with three huge bottles of pure vodka, which by the way, were completely finished before we left), I recounted our story. They all exclaimed, "yes, this is definitely a Russian restaurant!" Ahhhh, those Russians.

I've done it!

I've finally chopped my hair. Aw, sweet relief! And the best part is, I love it too!