How is this fair?

From a recent catalog in the mail:
Male version:

Female version:

You can't teach taste

Eagles eagles eagles eagles eagles eagles. Seriously, when you live in Philly, all talk is about the Eagles, 24-7, 365 days a year. I even went to the World Series parade last year, and people were pretending that it was the Eagles' Super Bowl Parade. The sports section today has a three (3) page article about Michael Vick's creditors today, with this interesting photo thrown in:

Really Michael Vick? You were one of the highest paid players in the NFL and lived in a 20,000 square foot mansion with an above ground pool? Really? And, is that a propane tank?
I have no problem with these things per se, but when you are trying to sell your mansion, these will not aid your re-sale value.

Who knew?

A few weeks ago, the hospital cafeteria rolled out their new menu. Most of it is standard cafeteria fare: salisbury steak, spaghetti and meatballs, etc, but they added some new veggies. The best tasting ones so far were the German potatoes. I devoured those things. I even remember telling Darren the potatoes were especially good that day. I just couldn't put my finger on what tasted so different. A few days ago, they served them again, and again, I dug right in. About halfway through, I realized what tasted so good: HAM! Holy crap, I've been a strict vegetarian for 13 years and the best tasting thing was ham? Dang, no more German potatoes for me.

Arts and Crafts

You'd think with as much going on as there is, I would be blogging more about my recent adventures. Sadly, no. While waiting for the new baby has been interesting, it would be really boring to be constantly writing, "well, I gained another 4 pounds this week, and I lost the ability to see the drawstrings on my pants!" My sister suggested that I blog about what we've been doing to get ready for baby, so I guess I'll do a little of that.
Darren and I have actually not purchased one single item for the kiddo. We were given the crib and changing table by a friend, and most of the rest of stuff came from family and friends at my baby shower a few weeks ago. Since we figure we'll be buying a ton later on, we decided that we would each first make something for the baby. Darren had actually planned a long time ago what he was going to do if we found out we were having a boy. He planned and plotted and finally went out and spent a decent amount on supplies. He spent several hours working on it at the dining room table. Trust me, the final result is awesome. Did I not mention what "it" is? Too bad, you'll have to wait.
As for me, I was going to fall back on my old stand-by of making a cross-stitch sampler. I made one for Laura's baby and I was just going to use the same pattern. Then my mom mentioned she was making one and I lost all momentum for that. I think I'm going to end up making a Christmas stocking, but I haven't ruled anything out. Any suggestions? Can I make anything neat out of unused orthopaedic implants?
The nurserice/officery seems to be coming along. We're planning on leaving the desk in the room (mostly because we have no where else to put it), but the bookshelf and cds have already been moved. My in-laws are coming in tomorrow to move the bed and file cabinets and start setting up the baby furniture. The room is already yellow, so we'll just leave that as-is.
Other than that, things are pretty much normal. Work is work, but not too stressful for me right now. My doctors appointments have gone on without any problems and the baby is healthy. I do hate the heat, though. I thought it was one of those wimpy mom-to-be things that they were always hot, but trust me, I am always hot. I also laugh at the wimpy mom exercises in my books. For example: sit in a chair and lift one leg up into the air and then lower it back down. Repeat 5 or 6 times. If you get tired, take a break in the middle (slightly exaggerated, but only slightly). Seriously? Is there a version where I can strap 60 pounds on my ankles to make it interesting?
Alright, enough rambling. I think I'm going to turn the air conditioner down a few more degrees and take a nap.

Life after cable

When Darren and I first got married, we didn't get cable for nearly two years. I was finishing med school, he was finishing his Master's, and we didn't have a ton of money (which hasn't changed). So instead of mind-numbing cable shows, we played cards, played all the Simpsons games on PS2 (Road Rage is fantastic, btw), and watched our favorite shows on DVD. Our parents also loved it because we would come visit whenever we wanted to watch a sporting event on ESPN.
With the coming of the new baby, we have once again decided to cut some costs and eliminate junk such as cable. With Comcast now getting close to $90 a month for basic service, we decided to get rid of it completely. We also switched to DSL to save a few bucks. We bought a TiVo and an HD antenna to continue to be able to record our favorite shows (Lost, 30 Rock, um, and well, Pushing Daisies got cancelled, um, maybe something good will start this fall). We're still working out the kinks with the antenna (we share two walls with neighbors), but I'm hoping we'll have all the broadcast channels soon. We're also getting NetFlix so we can rent the 10 movies I don't have on DVD.
I spent the weekend reading and playing Wii, and I started to remember the good old days before I wasted time with things like Jon and Kate plus 8. Darren is working on a project for the baby, and I'll start my own soon. Here's to well-spent free time!

Nesting

In an attempt to prepare the house for the arrival of el bebe, we have finally cleaned our basement. Max was a notoriously destructive doggy, and our basement paid the price. Most of the junk was just shredded cardboard, but there were also some broken fluorescent bulbs and eaten electronics. No problem.
The disturbing thing was that we found a dead bird. An actual, skeletonized, decayed bird, in the basement! Clearly, we need to clean more often (and seal any cracks).

Baby Boy!

Despite every gut feeling I had and everyone's guess, we are having a boy. Darren claims to be genetically YY, so this was an eventuality anyway. We are registering for baby stuff later today, and I have no idea what kind of stuff a baby needs. Darren spent an obscene amount of time researching strollers, finding this perfect model that weighs 17 pounds and folds down to the size of a ham sandwich. I started re-reading Harry Potter (and if you've ever accidentally picked one up, you always end up reading the whole tome).
My last OB visit went well; I managed to only gain 3 pounds this time for a total of 15 (actually closer to 18). I've had to quit riding my bike because 1) bending over for that long results in fists of fury from below and 2) my hands go completely numb from carpal and cubital tunnel compression. Swimming is still fine, but I feel like a breaching whale doing backstroke or trying a flipturn (still faster than douchebag frat boy next to me).
Here's some pics!

legs

arm

As of today, 22 weeks, 2 days