Wow, lots to write about! I guess that's what happens when I only write one post per month. Here we have Felix at 8-12 weeks old. He's pretty good about hanging out in the orange chair while I take...

Here are a couple of Arlo's 22-month orange chair pictures, as promised in my last post. He was in kind of a grumpy mood, having just gotten up from his nap, but the tape measure cheered him up. ...

Wow, it's March already! Arlo turned 21 months old last week. As you can see in the pictures, his hair has been getting pretty crazy, so a few days ago, I decided to try cutting it myself, ra...

Hmm, somehow it's already the middle of February. We've just finished getting over a nasty stomach bug. Luckily, it only seemed to affect Arlo for a couple hours, and it didn't hit Patrick too hard, b...

My first meeting with Kelly about my diastasis recti went well. She gave me lots of information about the anatomy of the abdominal muscles, what causes diastasis recti, and how to fix it. She confirme...

We had our monthly midwife appointment today. We've seen a new midwife from the group at each appointment so far, and today's midwife told me that I have a pretty significant diastasis recti. She said...

Arlo turned 13 months old on Thursday! He wasn't too interested in sitting for his orange chair picture; he preferred to look at books. Two days ago (on his 13-month birthday), Arlo figured out...

Arlo pictures! Here he is at 37 and 38 weeks. And here he is showing how well he can stand (with a little help, of course). As indicated by the tears welling in his eyes in some of the...

This past year has definitely had its ups and downs for friends and family and for the world in general, but we were lucky enough to have a pretty good year. Some highlights: We made new friends ...

I feel like it has been forever since I've updated, but I guess it hasn't been that long. I just haven't done much of note in the past few weeks. The weather turned cold suddenly last week, and I just...

So, MusicFest NW went well. I didn't even get sick this year! I think the secret was only staying up past midnight on one night instead of four nights in a row (I don't know how I did that last year!)...

Running And my last little bit of news--I ran an 8k! Patrick and I ran the Homer's Classic in Silverton the weekend before last. He finished in a little under 37 minutes (wow!), and I finished in a...

Man, I meant to write about last weekend sooner, but it got so hot this past week, and I couldn't bear to have my laptop on my lap. But now, with the sun down and the fan aimed at me, I think I can ma...

Last weekend, Star and I participated in the Stumptown Challenge, a Portland-centric scavenger hunt run. We were hoping to win the second-place prize: a year's worth of Dave's Killer Bread (which is t...

Yesterday afternoon, Patrick, Star, and I did the First Thursday Run despite the 90-degree weather. This is a monthly event, where they unveil a map of participating local businesses 5 minutes before ...

Portland must be rubbing off on me, because this past weekend, I went camping and ran a 5k, and I enjoyed it! When we finished our first 5k, I searched for more upcoming events on active.com, and the ...

I just finished my first 5k run! I had intended to run the whole thing (since I was able to run 30 minutes straight during training this past week), but there were a lot of hills in the last mile, so ...

Last week, to celebrate my birthday, Patrick and I headed out to Washington's Long Beach Peninsula for an overnight trip. It was our first time visiting the Pacific NW coast even though we've been in ...

I ate ice cream three times today, but I also ran for 16 minutes this morning (Couch to 5k Week 5!). I'm hoping the two balance each other out. They were small scoops of ice cream, at least. You se...

I'm loving the spring produce lately! I bought two big armfuls of rhubarb at the farmers' market on Wednesday (first of the season!), and after much consideration, I made Nigella Lawson's Irish tarte ...

Wonderfulness abounds lately! This past week we have done all sorts of great stuff (and are kind of exhausted, but in a good way): On Thursday we went to Laura Gibson's record release/potluck with ...

I had a nice week in California and got to enjoy some beautiful sunny weather. Spring is a little farther along in the Bay Area, and the petals were falling from the trees. It was nice sitting on the ...

We've been having a good time in Portland, as usual! Let's see... We went on a moss and lichen nature walk at Tryon Creek State Park a week or so ago. I learned so much about moss and lichen (not a...

Although it has been rainy, I've enjoyed myself. Sunday before last, I walked to the farmers' market in the drizzly gray, and on my way there, I spotted a rainbow! There weren't many farmers there bec...

Happy New Year! We were champs and stayed awake past midnight last night, but we ended up skipping the champagne, as neither of us felt like drinking it (we were too full from dinner!). As I said ...

The Quattro has been serving me well lately. I bought a lot of cute clothes there near the end of my diet, and just last week I bought a dress to wear to my company's holiday party. It's kimono-styl...

Finally, here's the diet entry I've been talking about for months. I still have 0.8 lb to lose before officially meeting my weight loss goal, but the target weight was an arbitrarily chosen number an...

I have a bunch of tidbits I've been meaning to mention for the past week... Appearance I haven't gotten my hair highlighted since right before our wedding, and last time I got it cut, the la...

Nat and Sara left for Chicago on Thursday. Patrick took the morning off work to help them load up their moving truck. I did not accompany him, but I did make cookies for them to take on their trip! ...

Last night, my need to use vacation time on a fun trip got the best of me, and we bought plane tickets to go visit Fort Collins in late September. It's going to be a great (though short) visit! In a...

We went out for dinner the past two nights and ate very well. Last night, we went to Tamarine to celebrate Patrick's brother's and dad's birthdays. Before dinner, Patrick got to golf at the Stanford...

On Wednesday, I donated blood again. They were in desperate need of types O and A last week, and they were giving away free movie tickets (and free ice cream coupons). It went really well. I told t...

I did lots of cooking (for fun) yesterday while Patrick was at work. For dinner we had Christmas lima beans with leeks and andouille sausage, Creamy Macaroni Salad, and Cabbage Salad (the latter two ...

We spent most of the day yesterday in San Francisco. We took Caltrain up and went to a Giants game (versus the A's) in the afternoon. The baseball game itself was okay (I'm helping manage our compan...

I made Whole Wheat Bread with Crystallized Ginger today, to get rid of some buttermilk. It's good! It doesn't even taste like whole wheat, and the bulgur gives it a nice crunch (I'd never used bulgu...

I was looking back through my old entries today, and I noticed that in both 2003 and 2004, Patrick played the latest Prince of Persia video game post-Christmas. He kept up the trend this year. I gav...

We made a good dinner tonight. It was based on an article I read in Natural Health while getting my hair highlighted at Juut this morning (originally I was going to get it all done last week, but the...

I kept meaning to write something this weekend, but it was just too nice lounging around instead. Here goes with the update... This past week, Patrick took a big step forward in organizing our tri...

My company's softball team won their first game tonight! It was exciting :) I still haven't had to play, which is a relief. But I'm ready to go if they need me! I wore my new workout top to the ...

We went to the batting cages tonight to practice for softball. Last week, I almost had to play, because my company's team was short one woman, but my boss' wife showed up just before the game started...

Life is good. A few nights ago, Patrick made the Alton Brown ribs again, but he used ancho chile powder instead of chipotle chile powder, and they were much more my speed. Still a little spicy, but ...

Today I lifted weights at the gym for the first time. In the past, I was intimidated by all the weight-lifty guys who always hang around that part of the gym and act all macho and grunt loudly. But ...

Today we joined the YMCA and I worked out on the elliptical machine for 25 minutes! It was kind of overwhelming there; it was crowded, and I had to write my name on a white board in order to get to u...

Nothing of much importance to say, but I'll say it anyway. Life is good right now. I was thinking the other day that it finally feels like my life is back on track, and that this is where I'm suppos...

We had a fun Sunday morning. First we walked to the farmers market, intending to finally buy something there (we always just look around and leave without buying anything), but there were hardly any ...

I forgot to mention in my last entry that we went running on Thursday. Well, I would run for about a minute, then stop and walk and complain about running and bees and stuff. I'm not a good running ...

These flowers are everywhere around Palo Alto right now. I think they're Guernsey Lilies. I was confused, because they're bulbs, but it looks like they're growing like weeds, just all over the p...

We had a fun day today, despite it being rainy and cold (in June!). Oh, but first I should mention that I gave Patrick a surprise present last night (just for being done with quals and because I like...

I forgot to mention yesterday that I got a letter from Blue Cross with a summary of the charges for my appendectomy. The hospital charged Blue Cross over $15,000 for everything! But I only owe $115....

A mixed bag today: I met with Anne today about my results from this weekend's marathon XPS session, and we came up with two more experiments for me to do, which will take about three more weeks, ...

A labmate of mine has brought in Dunkin' Donuts (leftover from the breakfast he has to buy for his undergrads during finals week, since he's something like an RA) for the past two days. For some reas...

So I just got back from my appendectomy followup appointment at the hospital. It was anticlimatic, but I guess that's good in this case. The appointment was scheduled to be an hour and a half long, ...

Well, no dentist appointment today after all. I got as far as reclining in the dentist's chair with a bib around my neck and having the dentist poke at my tooth, but that's it. See, the power went o...

Ooh, I wish I were wrapping up my thesis right now and could be done a week from today. But that's out of the question. It would be so nice to be close to done. Oh well, I'm aiming to finish in the...

The weather was beautiful today. I put on real clothes, and we went on a very slow walk to the post office and grocery store and sat in the park for a little while. It made my back sore to stand up ...

Yet another successful post-surgery dinner tonight. We ordered a bunch of Indian food from India Pavilion (via Dining In), and my stomach seems to be perfectly happy with it. Phew! I had coconut so...

So I'm making good progress food-wise. I started this morning with a smoothie, then worked up to applesauce and cottage cheese, then toast, and then a burrito! I know, not exactly good recovery food...

Okie doke--the most current news first: my appendectomy went smoothly, and I was released from the hospital around 6pm today. Patrick postponed his return flight to California until next Saturday, an...

This is Patrick. Caitlin and I went to Mass. General Hospital yesterday afternoon and after being poked and prodded and scanned for a long time, the doctors finally decided around midnight that her s...

I'm kind of worried. I think I might have appendicitis. See, all day yesterday, I felt kind of bloaty, which was unusual, but not bad enough to do anything about it. Then, around bedtime, it starte...

Yesterday, I made some Pumpkin and Shrimp Bisque, and I got to use my stick blender! I ended up using lime juice instead of lemon juice, and the stupid store didn't have any fresh sage, so I used dry...

As you may recall, a little over a year ago, I decided to start working out in the mornings. That lasted for a month or two, and then when I didn't see results, I stopped (Christmas kind of interfere...

The moon is beautiful tonight; in addition to horribly cold weather today, we also get a clear sky, I guess. And the Boston skyline is all prettily lit up, like on a postcard. I wish my camera were ...

Oh, and in other organic news, I've switched over to rice milk and soy milk for the time being. Shaw's doesn't handle their dairy products very carefully, and a few weeks ago, I opened a brand new ca...

Back to work today. Of course, I only worked until 2, then I went back home to Patrick (I figure I don't have to feel guilty if Patrick's the reason I'm leaving early). After Patrick worked out an...

It was a beautiful day today, and I was in a good mood the whole day, which is pretty rare nowadays. Last night, I decided to start working out in the mornings, so I woke up an hour early today and r...

I've been reading random websites tonight and came across Book Crossing. People register a book and label it with the website and book ID, then "set it free"...leave it on an airplane, give it to a f...

What am I forgetting? I've had this nagging feeling all day that I've forgotten something, but I still can't figure out what. I didn't forget my mom's birthday (it's today), and that's the only thin...