This week's food our baby is the size of: 37 weeks — the land of perpetual spinach

This week BabyCenter.com goes back to using food to represent the baby's length rather than mass. So, with that in mind, we can say that Maggie is roughly the length of a stalk of swiss chard.

Never heard of Swiss chard? Well, the good folks at Wikipedia inform me that it's also called silverbeet, mangold or (this one is my favorite) perpetual spinach. And, since I read it on wikipedia, it has to be true, right?

Do you get the feeling that Babycenter is running out of food types?

Grounded for Christmas

(By Erik)

For our final Christmas as a twosome, Jeanie and I are staying put. With Maggie just a few weeks away, we’ve been told not to travel for the holidays. We knew this was coming, so Jeanie opted to work on Christmas Day at the hospital. She’ll get a few days off later in the week.

Don’t feel too bad for us, though. Jeanie’s folks are headed up this way on Wednesday, so we’ll be stretching out Christmas cheer for the whole week.


Meanwhile, here’s a photo of a Christmas ornament Amy and Lamar sent us from Tennessee. It pretty much sums up our current situation! We love it (the ornament and the situation, that is). It’s hard to believe there will be three of us at this time next year. Merry Christmas!

This week's food our baby is the size of: 36 weeks

This week BabyCenter.com tells us that Maggie is now the size of a crenshaw melon!

Evidently, that's the same thing as a muskmelon.

This week’s food our baby is the size of: 35 weeks (plus some thoughts on dramatic chipmunks)

This week BabyCenter.com tells us that Maggie is now the size of a honeydew.

Or, if you want to get a better idea of what she looks like, check out our latest ultrasound pics.

These are photos of a couple of the printouts. The lost a little bit of detail in the process.


This first one is a close-up of her face (on the left). She’s looking at the “camera.” How about those little chipmunk cheeks?


This one’s of her feet (sticking up in the “air.”)

ADDENDUM: After posting, I thought I’d better check on the spelling of the word “chipmunk.” I thought it might be “chipmonk.” (I have some spelling issues. Ask Bobby about my “abrubt-ness” when it comes to spelling.)

So I entered “chipmunk” on Google and, thankfully, learned I was spelling it correctly (unless Wikipedia has it wrong, and what are the chances of that, right?)

My Google-ing also turned up a five-second YouTube video titled “Dramatic Chipmunk.” Obviously, this was something I had to see. Soon I found myself lost in the Dramatic Chipmunk universe.

I’ll start at the beginning. Take a quick look at this video from a kids’ TV program in Japan. You’ll see children learning about a prairie dog (yes, oddly enough, the Dramatic Chipmunk isn’t a chipmunk at all). Watch for the quick camera zoom (something Japanese videographers seem to love, by the way. Watch any monster-smashing-Tokyo epic).



Well, some YouTuber got a hold of that piece of footage, added music, and POW! Dramatic Chipmunk!



And from there it only got worse …



And worse …



And worse ...



This last one's my favorite, for obvious reasons.

Photos for Maggie's room — please tell us your favorites

(By Erik)

As I’ve said many times, I’ve been incredibly blessed through my work with The Christian Chronicle to see life in several different countries. I want our little girl to know that she’s part of a much bigger world — a world filled with God’s children.

So, with Jeanie’s permission, I’m getting some prints made of photos I’ve taken over the years. We’re going with a “kids from around the world” theme.

We’re going to do about six 8x10s, with some small prints (5x7s and 4x6s) mixed in. Last night we looked through the candidates and came up with the following.

If you’ve got a minute, please look over these and let me know which ones you like best. (I’ve numbered them for your convenience.) Thanks!

Here are our personal favorites for 8x10s:


1. WAITING FOR CHURCH — I took this in, Paramakatoi, a tiny mountain village in southern Guyana (a nation on the northern tip of South America) back in 2003. Paul Brown, a longtime friend of my in-laws, took me along on his annual mission trip there. He really loves the people of this little village. Maggie, by virtue of being related to my wife, will most likely own a dress like this someday.


2. DECISIONS, DECISIONS — Here’s another shot from that same church building in Paramakatoi. All of us on the mission team filled the extra spaces in our bags with stuffed animals and gave them out to the children on our last day in the village. Each child got to pick one toy. It took this little girl about 30 minutes to make up her mind.


3. JOY IN A RAVAGED LAND — I took this at the construction site for a new building for the Smythe Road Church of Christ in Monrovia, Liberia. These kids followed us everywhere. After 14 years of civil war, the city was devastated. Poverty was everywhere. But someone forgot to tell these kids. The expression on the second boy from the left displays a universal truth. Around the world, children are almost exactly alike. I’m pretty sure I’ve got a photo of a kid named Stephen, who grew up across the street from me, making the same face when we were little.


4. ALL DRESSED UP — I took this photo outside the Obong Church of Christ in Obong Ntak, Nigeria, in January 2005. Everyone dressed up for church — whether it was traditional African clothing or Western-style suits. One little guy had a three-piece suit, complete with waistcoat, and no shoes.


5. ALL TIED UP — A boy in rural Zimbabwe gets his shoes on for church. The boy and his mother was part of a group of Christians from the Nhowe Mission school who go out into the villages each Sunday to worship with small church groups. A great minister named Peter coordinated the service. (Looking closely at this photo, I’m pretty sure he’s got the wrong shoe on the wrong foot.)


6. BIG SMILE — I took this photo earlier this year in rural Guatemala. I did a “ride along” with medical missionary Lisa Dunham. This is the granddaughter of a Guatemalan minister named Enrique Castro. Of all the photos so far, this one’s definitely got a spot Maggie’s wall. Why? Because I’ve already got a print of it.


7. MORE BIG SMILES — This is my hands-down favorite (or my hands-next-to-face favorite), taken just a few months ago in Sefwi-Debiso, Ghana. Still not sure why this little girl put her hands like that. I think she was trying to imitate me taking pictures of her.

Brrrrrrr! (and Grrrrrr!)

(By Erik)

What's less fun that snow and 16 times as dangerous?


I've said it before and I'll say it again — Oklahoma gets just enough ice so that you still have to go to work (or at least drive in it) but not enough so that anybody knows how to drive in it.


Of course, I'm not at work right now. I haven't been able to confirm it, but I think that the power is off at OC. Jeanie had to go in to work this morning, and I was a nervous wreck as I waited for her to call after she got there. She's fine for now, but we have an appointment with our OB/GYN at noon, so she has to drive all the way back up to Edmond (assuming our doctor is seeing patients today.)

This week's food our baby is the size of: 34 weeks

Average cantaloupe.

Aloha national title game. Aloha frustrating game with plucky WAC team that will become media darlings

(By Erik)


That first “aloha” means goodbye, unfortunately. The second one means “hello.”

When BabyCenter.com told us that our baby is the size of a pineapple this week, I didn’t realize it was a sign of things to come for the Bulldogs.

Yes sports fans, Georgia is not playing in the national title game this year. Instead, it’s LSU facing off against Ohio State. To stay with my SEC loyalty, I suppose I’ll be rooting for LSU. I’m just not a huge Les Miles fan, for reasons I don’t fully understand.

Georgia’s consolation prize — the Sugar Bowl, where we’ve been several times already. Our opponent: The unbeaten Hawaii Warriors of the Western Athletic Conference, or WAC.

Truth be told, this is about as close as it gets to a worst-case scenario for the Dawgs — at least in my opinion. Hawaii is an unknown, and they’ve got their whole state behind them. What’s worse, they’ll have all of the commentators behind them. It’s pretty much the same situation that OU was in last year against Boise State (another WAC team, by the way). It’s David vs. Goliath, and Georgia, unfortunately, will be portrayed as Goliath.

If we win, no one's impressed. If we lose, upset of the century. Great.

It’s not too dissimilar to when Georgia lost to West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl a couple of years ago, come to think of it. It might have been nice to have a rematch, but I’m kinda’ glad we don’t have to play them again. Nope, OU gets that honor!

Sugar Bowl: Go Dawgs! Beat Warriors!
Fiesta Bowl: Go Sooners! Beat W Va.!
Rose Bowl: Go USC! Illinois shouldn’t be there! (Should be Missouri)
Orange Bowl: Go Kansas! Beat Va. Tech! (Got some friends who are Kansas fans, so why not?)
National title game: Go … (sigh) Wildcats. I mean Tigers, or whatever they are.

P.S. -- That's the University of Hawaii's old logo at the top of the page, by the way. Yes indeed, their full name is the Rainbow Warriors. A few years ago they changed their team logo.

Anticipation

(By Erik)

Just a few weeks ago all the OU fans were telling me that they were rooting for Georgia to get into the SEC championship game. They figured that the Bulldogs had the best chance of knocking off No. 1 LSU, thereby helping the Sooners get into the BCS title game.

Last night, the Sooners played in the Big 12 title game, knocking off (and embarrassing) the No. 1 team in the nation, Missouri. By virtue of that win, the Georgia Bulldogs now have a chance to play in the national championship.

How about that?

Frankly, I’m not sure that I want the Bulldogs to get into the title game. Actually, scratch that. I want the Bulldogs to get into the national title game with all my heart. But to do it in a year so mired in controversy isn’t exactly what I had in mind.

A few years back OU got into the title game against LSU in spite of losing the Big 12 championship to Kansas State. I heard tons of smack talk against the Sooners that year. “They don’t deserve to be there. It should be USC, etc.” Of course, it only got worse after the Sooners lost to LSU.

If Georgia somehow gets into the title game, I’m not looking forward to hearing all of that junk directed against my Bulldogs. The only redemption would be walloping Ohio State in the title game. (Hey, Florida made it look easy last year.)

No offense to Ohio State. They may be a great team. We really don’t know because they played a really slack schedule this year — and still managed to lose to unranked Illinois. I just don’t think they deserve to play for the national title. It’s purely a strength-of-schedule thing.

Truth be told, I think OU deserves a shot at the national title. They played their hearts out against Missouri last night.

If I could have my fondest wish, I would LOVE to see a national title game someday with OU facing off against Georgia.

We’ll find out who’s going where at 7 p.m. tonight. Until then, GO DAWGS!