I'm Alive, I'm Ali-i-i-i-ve! (With Thanks to "The Last Unicorn")

A very exciting package arrived in the mail yesterday from TBBITWW (The Best Brother in the Whole World): our new computer! We've gotten pretty good at living computer-less, but it's SO NICE to be connected again. We initiated our computer with a Pingu marathon and a game of Catan.

Believe it or not, life does go on without a computer. It's just not as well documented. I did manage to take a few pictures over the past month, though, so here's a sampling of what we've been up to:

*Flowers

We planted some spring flowers and Tess has decided that flowers are OK as long as they are growing in the ground and not dying in a vase. After she waters them with her tiny teapot, she says, "Flowers happy. Flowers a-growing!"

*Easter pics

You'll remember that mom & I made a valiant effort of bribing Tess with jellybeans to smile for her Easter pictures this year. She gets nervous in studio shots, so this is the bravest smile she could muster. She really tried, but I can tell she's terrified in this shot.

Here are few more candid shots from when she wore her dress to church. It's an amazingly beautiful dress that Wendy's sister, Debbie gave Tess when she was a newborn. It's been hanging in her room, awaiting the day when she was finally big enough to wear it. The day came sooner that I thought (it's a size 3T!), and I can tell Tess feels special when she wears it.

*Richmond Children's Museum

A couple weekends ago we ventured down to the Children's Museum in Richmond. Ryan found this great little place, Millie's Diner, which is a local favorite for brunch. The place was majorly packed, and the food was yumm-o. I recommend the Virginia omelette with lump crab and Smithfield ham. Mmmmm. I'm hungry.

The Children's Museum was also a big hit. For interested locals, we found out that the first full weekend of the month, Bank of America cardholders get in free! We only had to pay for Tess (I guess we should open an account for her!) We expected it to be crowded on the weekend, but it really wasn't too bad.

The museum is huge and there is activity after activity perfectly suited for young children. Tess was in a frenzy jumping from each exhibit. We stayed too long, which led to a major meltdown in the end, but she had a really good time. We definitely have to go back again soon.

*Friends, friends and more friends

Tess has been enjoying lots of playdates with friends and she always makes friends when we go to the park.

Tess met this little girl named Lauren at the park, and they instantly became fast friends.

Tess & Danielle

*10-Week Photo Op

I had my first visit with a normal, non-infertility specialist doctor! It's so weird to visit an office filled with baby stuff, pregnancy magazines and pregnant women. Anyway, I think the doctor's going to be great and I'm hoping for a better experience than I had last time with Kaiser.

I was concerned because the morning of my appointment, I'd had some light spotting, which I'd never had before when I was pregnant. The doctor did an exam and said everything looked good, with no bleeding. The baby was so cute on the ultrasound. I could see it kicking it's little legs and arms around. The baby's 3.8 cm at this point--about the length from your thumb knuckle to the tip of your thumb.

In this pic, the baby is looking face down. The far right + is at the top of it's head and the left + is between it's arm and leg. Make sense?

I've been really tired with this baby, and over the past couple weeks nausea has set in. It hits me pretty regularly around 11 am and 5 pm, and it doesn't seem to be tied to whether I've eaten or not. The nausea typically comes with an intense food craving which differs every time, and doesn't go away until I've eaten that particular item.

I've also started having super-crazy dreams every single night. They're not baby related, but usually involve some impossible task I'm supposed to complete and my maze-like journey to complete this task. OK, when you put it that way, it does kind of sound like trying to have a baby.

About another 1 1/2 weeks until I'm done with the first trimester, and I'm hoping some of these side effects dissipate.

*Tess continues to be cute

I know you are all concerned that maybe, for some inexplicable reason, Tess may have ceased being cute. Rest assured, Tess continues to be cute and says things every day that surprise us and make us laugh out loud.

• Tess loves seeing the picture of herself in her Easter dress. When she comes in the room, she often runs over to it and says, "That's me!" She likes pointing out pictures of others, too. If her book has a picture of a cat, she'll run and get her stuffed kitty, point and say, "That's you!"

• Mom: "Tess, it's time for a nap. Tess: "No, nap. Not today." Mom: "No nap today? How about a nap tomorrow?" Tess: "No nap, not ever, ever, ever!" I hear the "not ever, ever, ever" line a lot these days.

• I was reading an article on Ry's Blackberry, and Tess pointed to a question mark and said, "Question." I was stunned. How in the world would she know that? Thinking that maybe I misheard understood her, I asked, "A crescent?" (Crescents are one of her favorite shapes.) "No, Mom." "A question?" "Yeah, Mom." My best guess is that she picked it up from watching Super Why.

• Another likely fallout from watching Super Why, Tess now likes to play "Super Tess." This games consists of Tess holding a blanket behind her shoulders, running around yelling, "Super TESSSSS! Super TESSSSS!"

• Lately, whenever Tess gets hurt, gets in trouble or gets embarrassed, she "plays dead" and pretends to be asleep. She'll drop to the floor or close her eyes and start making fake snoring sounds. This little trick is getting less and less cute. It's an effective coping mechanism, because she never has to face an awkward situation, but it's not a particularly healthy one. I really don't know how to handle this one. I tell her to wake up, that she's not asleep, and that she needs to face the proverbial music. Any suggestions on this one?

• Tess has two personas that she's learned to command from me on demand. One is Charlie, who's a friendly chap consisting of my two fingers. He's good company and has been around for a while. Her newest imaginary friend is "Kitty." Whenever she looks at me and asks, "Kitty?," I'm expected to go into full-Kitty mode. "Meow, meow, Tess." "Play toys, Kitty?" "Meow, meow, yes, Tess! Play toys, meow, meow." One good thing about Charlie and Kitty is that Tess will do anything I ask, provided Charlie or Kitty does the asking.

• The other day, Tess asked me to sing the "bushpeck" song. It took me forever to figure out she was saying "bushpeck," and once I deciphered that, I still had no idea what it meant. I finally realized that she was referring to one of her favorite songs, "I Love You a Bushel and a Peck," (Doris Day, from Guys and Dolls). Whenever I sing that song to her, she says, "More, more?"

C'est ca for now! We missed you all and we're glad to be back!