Here are some photos to prove the baby is growing.

6 weeks, 26 weeks, 28 weeks, 30 weeks, 32 weeks

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post…we’ll have more to post after an ultrasound this Friday. (My uterus is measuring big, so they want to see if it’s because the baby is big. Let’s hope he’s normal size.)

You can view the illustrator’s website here. Thanks for sharing, fellow Twitterer and LOST fan, abbybischoff!

The selection for boy colors in baby yarn is quite limited. There are a lot of pastels – and even “boy” colors in pastel still look quite girly. So I bought baby yarn in colors I liked, and then a couple I thought I could deal with for boys. (Turns out one is camo – I was hoping the dye would be in longer segments so it’d be more like shades of green…but it’s most definitely camo.)

I don’t know if any of the hats I made for friends’ babies will fit any of the babies, but I’m hoping they’re close. The parents can always re-gift or save it for a future baby if it’s too small, I guess! Albie helped out by modeling the hats – it sort of gives one a sense of size, too. Though I don’t have much sense of scale when it comes to babies who are 3 months old and babies who are almost a year old…

See the whole set here.

We wanted to re-watch all the seasons and journal our questions, but we didn’t think of it with enough time and realized we’d have to watch 6.5 episodes a day to accomplish it before the premiere – which just wasn’t feasible. So I went to Lostpedia and read the overview for each episode and developed my questions from there and memory. Each season progressively has more questions I want answers to. Some of these may be important questions, but most have probably passed their time of importance and I am the only one who still wants to know. In any case, you can read through them. It is not at all comprehensive. I know I’m missing major questions here, but they’re mine and you can have your own. I plan to cross them off as they get answered and see what’s left at the end of the series. After the fact, I found this article, which lists many unanswered questions (probably the important ones) and would saved me a little time (and hand cramps) with my list. Oh well. Maybe the island will reward me for my sacrifice.

I also have a page for season six, which will undoubtedly raise questions as it progresses.

Friday

Red Rossa

After work on Friday, we met for pizza at Red Rossa. I had a pepperoni and green olive pizza (my favorite, next to Taco pizza). I didn’t think I’d eat the entire pizza (six pieces) but I thought wrong. I didn’t care too much for the wood-fired part (though, that is what they do) because the bottom tasted burnt. The flavor of everything else was good, though! We got there at 6 p.m. and just barely beat the rush of people coming into the restaurant. My rating: 3.5

Coffea

For an after-supper treat, we got mochas at Coffea. There’s been a lot of buzz about the place since they opened but we’re still probably considered coffee newborns (and it’s not on the way to anywhere we go, typically) so we hadn’t ever been. The cream on top was pretty and that was enough to win me over. Not my favorite mocha ever, but good enough to make me go back sometime and try something else. Maybe even stay a while. (For those few of you who recently made a trip to Sioux Falls and missed out on your coffee fix late that evening, Coffea is open until midnight on Friday/Saturday.) My rating: 4.0

Avatar in 3D

We cheated here. We’ve seen Avatar (in 2D) – we’ve seen a movie in 3D – and we’ve seen a movie in 3D at Carmike. But we like movies and we make our own rules. So technically, we hadn’t seen Avatar in 3D and that is why it counts. Anyway, we’re glad we did. And we’re glad we saw it in 2D first. Doing it in this order, we were able to enjoy the characters and the story and the creativity of the world and its creatures – and then on our second viewing we were able to enjoy the technical aspect of it and truly appreciate it, without being distracted by the story or characters. Normally, I’ve got several things against 3D and typically end up taking the glasses off to watch the blurry screen instead. I can get motion sick, I can’t focus with the 3D glasses and that can cause headaches. However, after about 2 minutes, I was able to adjust and really enjoy this movie in 3D. My rating: 5.0

Saturday

Kaladis

After sleeping in a little, we went to have our Saturday morning coffee date (typically reserved for the Caribou drive-thru,) at Kaladis. Again, we both got a mocha and I decided to try their chocolate chip scone. Yummy. I really enjoyed the scone and the mocha wasn’t too sweet, which is sometimes a problem with other places I’ve had mochas. I will return here for an occasional Saturday morning treat. My rating: 4.5

Braccos

We went to Braccos for lunch. Since I had a scone in late morning, I opted for something a little lighter and went with chicken salad on a croissant with fresh fruit. It was a good lunch and I’d like to go back and try a burger or something a little heavier. They’re a bit on the expensive side, but their lunch menu prices are a little more manageable and the menu has lots of variety. My rating: 4.0

Pavilion Visual Arts Center

Probably the most surprising thing is that we haven’t been to the Pavilion for anything other than a show or concert in the theater. Since the Science Center seemed to be more for kids (and free on first Fridays!) we decided to put that off for a few years. However, the Visual Art Center is always free and the six galleries are on a pretty regular rotation throughout the year – which gives it major “come-back-ability” points. I didn’t care for every exhibition, but still enjoyed walking through the galleries (and recognizing some artists I know!) My rating: 4.5

Wells Fargo Cinedome

We all know Miles likes dinosaurs. So I wanted to make sure we saw the IMAX film, Dinosaurs Alive! at the Wells Fargo Cinedome, also at the Pavilion, before its run ended this month. I was overall pretty unimpressed. The projector was a little shaky and the whole film seemed blurry – the animated simulations were pretty bad and really made the film seem older than it is (2007). I’ve never been able to get through an IMAX film without having to close my eyes and just listen, so this one was doomed from the beginning. My rating: 2.0

Downtown shopping/Philips Avenue Diner/Sinful Things

After leaving the Pavilion, we went to Philips Avenue to shop downtown (it happened to be Winter Crazy Days) and find a snack, since I was losing steam pretty fast. I got an apple pie, a la mode, from Philips Avenue Diner (again, some place we’ve been before, but I haven’t had pie there before so it counts!) We also stopped in Sinful Things and got two pieces of triple chocolate cake to have for dessert that evening. (Yes, that picture is it and that is only 1/4 of a piece – we didn’t know they’d be so big! We had cake for dessert for a couple of days.) It was fun to walk around downtown and check out some of the shops.  Again, surprising we’ve never done that before! We even got someone a birthday gift at one of the stores. My rating: 4.0

Tea Steakhouse

Sort of a steakhouse/cafe hybrid, we ate at the Tea Steakhouse for supper (technically not in Sioux Falls, but a few miles outside). Menu prices range from $9-25 steaks to $3 cheeseburgers. I got a steak dinner because I thought they have to be good if they’re that expensive. I should have gone for the cheeseburger. We spent the most money at this establishment and was the most disappointed with it. At least my Cherry Coke came with a cherry. My rating: 1.5

Bolt/Netflix

This month we decided to try out Netflix and after supper, we came home and watched Bolt via their instant stream. The instant stream was fast and we had no buffering of any kind and no download waiting period. A pretty good option for movies we want to see and those we were interested in, but perhaps not enough to actually go out and rent in a store or through iTunes. The movie was so-so in my opinion, but I’ll rate on the Netflix instant stream experience. My rating: 4.0

Sunday

The Original Pancake House

After church on Sunday, we headed to The Original Pancake House for some brunch. This was particularly exciting for me, because I really love breakfast foods. Miles, on the other hand, will only eat breakfast foods if it’s breakfast time or if I call it “brunch” at an earlier lunchtime. After a wait that was at least 40 minutes we finally got a table. We both ordered omelets with a side of pancakes (after all, pancakes are in their name!) The food took a very long time, which in hindsight, is because we ordered omelets. They’re humongous (maybe made with 6 eggs?) and were baked. So…it takes quite a bit longer than on the stove top. And as it turns out, neither of us liked our omelets. And the syrup for the pancakes (only one option for the syrup) tasted odd, almost like it had alcohol in it (but it doesn’t), so the side of pancakes wasn’t the best, but I ate them all anyway. Also, we couldn’t stop our waitress from refilling our coffee. What is the etiquette here? There was no saucer to turn it over when finished. And Miles would get about two sips before she’d refill his cup. I mean, c’mon! My rating: 1.5

Sertoma Butterfly House

After some errands in the afternoon, we went to the Sertoma Butterfly House. Except for the cake, this was the only time I found opportunity (and remembered) to take pictures. It was really cool, except sometimes I’d get freaked out by the big butterflies flying around like they’re drunk. They reminded me of bats and that’s not fun. We got some good pictures and really enjoyed the experience (view the whole set here). The only downside is, as far as I can tell, there’s not much for “come-back-ability”. At least, not until we’ve got a toddler in tow. My rating: 5.0

Whisk & Chop

Needing a snack in the afternoon because we didn’t eat most of our lunch and I’m pregnant, we stopped by the Whisk & Chop about 20 minutes before they were closing for the afternoon. I got a jumbo sticky roll and it was delicious and huge (I saved half of it for breakfast the next day). The service was great – not once did we feel like a burden to the staff even though we showed up right before closing time. I would like to return for more of a sampling of what they have on the menu. My rating: 4.5

School Rumble/Netflix

Finding School Rumble Netflix was the biggest factor in deciding it might be worth it to have an account. If they have something as hard to find as this anime (of which we couldn’t find part 2 of season 2 online anywhere for months – a week later they were all available on Hulu) then we knew it would be a good source for finding new shows and movies to watch. We watched from the disc, and as always, thoroughly enjoyed the show. I only wish it were available on instant stream. My rating: 4.5

A Taste of the Big Apple

For supper, we ordered pizza from A Taste of the Big Apple. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a driver working that night, so Miles had to go pick it up. We got a pepperoni with some cheesy garlic bread. It was delicious and everything I wanted Red Rossa to be (but no burnt taste!) It will definitely be at the top of our list when we order pizza – which admittedly isn’t often, but that might change now. My rating: 4.5

Star Trek

Miles had purchased the newest Star Trek on blu-ray for a Christmas gift to himself. While we saw this movie in the theater, we thought it would be a good way to end our evening at home relaxing and enjoying some good cinema. We also tried to find LOST clues in the movie. There are few. My rating: 4.5

Overall, it was a great weekend. We got to try some places we haven’t been before and did a few things we haven’t done before and it was overall a fun time. We’ve already revisited some of the places! (I went to Kaladis last week and we held our Saturday coffee date at Coffea). My overall rating of the weekend: 4.5