Books we're reading

• What to Expect When You're Expecting

• The Expectant Father

• On Becoming Baby Wise

• 40,001 Baby Names

• Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way

Everyone's Jealous of my Shirley Temple

The beginings of the baby bump.

Nothing Tastes Good

Food aversions are getting the best of me these days. Things I used to love are totally gross to me. Even saying the names of foods makes me feel nauseous! In fact, the only thing that sounds good is ice cream. If Chris would let me get away with eating Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream for every meal I would.

Class of '31 (or quite possibly '32)

Extrapolating from the due date, our baby will start kindergarten in 2014, be old enough to drive a car in 2025, finish high school in 2027, and graduate from UT in 2031.*

*Totally kidding about the UT thing. Baby Cannon can go to whichever non-USC school he or she wants.

March 24

After another check up today our approximate due date has been adjusted a bit. The new due date is March 24. Coincidentally, this is also Gidget and our friend Jon Lancaric's birthdate. Gidget said she is "aight" with sharing her birthday.

First baby pic

Here's the first of many sonograms. We got to see the baby's heartbeat - it was incredible. It looked like a tiny little light flickering. And check out that huge head.

Look at those fingers!

To give you an idea of how fast the baby is growing, here's what the baby's hands might look like today (top) compared to how they might look at the end of the week (bottom).

Week 7

We're at 7 weeks now, which means the baby is approximately the size of a blueberry. It seems tiny, but to put it into perspective, the baby is 10,000 times bigger than it was a month ago. Kind of nuts, huh? Also at this point the baby's head is developing and brain cells are being generated at the rate of 100 cells per minute. Which reminds Chris that he should quit this blogging business and get back to passive-aggressively micro-managing Em's diet*.

*Ever since we read that ample amounts of protein (70 grams/day) were essential for rapid brain cell development, Chris has been the protein nazi. But a recent analysis of Em's diet shows that she was already getting more than enough protein without Chris needing to hide chunks of tofu in Em's bowl of corn flakes. So dad is backing off.

Week 6

Is it too early to get the baby a pair of Jordans? They're unisex.

The first of what I'm sure will be several posts about pregnancy symptoms

Yesterday I was trying on a bridesmaid's dress for Kelly's wedding and I couldn't get it off. I totally got stuck. After what seemed like an hour of trying to Houdini my way out, I considered just buying it so I could get the hell out of there and go home. But realizing that they probably wouldn't let me return a dress that's been cut in half with the jaws of life, I ended up asking the salesperson to come in and help me escape. She was really nice about it, and assured me that no, the sizes aren't running smaller at Anthropologie these days. I guess that means I'm starting to show.

Don't read this until August 31st

Today, Em is 5 weeks pregnant. We got a positive test on Sunday, July 13th. Actually, we think we got a positive test on Saturday. But Gidget, our pug, chewed it up. So it was difficult to tell if the faint line on the test was indeed a faint line or just a bite mark. After a lengthy rationalization session, we came to the conclusion that Gidget could sense that Em was pregnant, and merely tried to let us know by bringing us the positive result. Then again, maybe she just tried to eat it because she likes to eat things (socks, toilet paper, bottle caps, etc.). Fortunately, on Sunday it was confirmed. A definite line. So it's official. We're having a baby. According to science, and math, the baby will be due on March 19, 2009. We're so excited that we want to tell everyone, even strangers on the street. But we can't yet. So this will have to do for now: We're pregnant!

Here is a picture of Gidget on a more peaceful day: