And we have a decision!

Drumroll...where is Nate going after he graduates? STANFORD! That's right, folks, he's made a decision and will be doing a post-doc at Stanford when he graduates from UCSD this winter. Yea! We're super excited about going to Northern California and that Nate will be working for our good friend Markus Covert. It's going to be great!

Nate also met with his committee last week and it looks like he really is going to graduate and be Dr. Nate after all. He will have his final defense late Feb/early Mar, then we're off to Palo Alto.

All great news for sure...it actually feels very strange knowing when he's going to graduate and where we're going to go, but it is really nice knowing too. Go Nate!

Nate's especially excited about being affiliated with a school that actually has some decent sports. I mean Tufts has one mean sailing team, and UCSD has, oh wait, nothing. Go Stanford!

In other news...my belly is growing to crazy proportions. 3 weeks to the due date and we can't wait!!!

T-4 Weeks!

Only 4 weeks until the due date!!! Here's what I look like today. Obviously I haven't dropped yet - I think Nate described my belly perfectly by calling it totally perpendicular to my body. I don't want her to come tomorrow, but she needs to not be TOO late so we can take advantage of the time that my mom is scheduled to be here. Everyone cross your fingers.
Cate is very sweet to her little sister - she talks to her and gives her hugs and kisses. Gotta love it.
I have super nice friends who insisted on throwing a shower, even though I tried to stop them. Isa Sabey got everyone together for a nice breakfast at a local restaurant...and my friends totally spoiled me. Thank you everyone. I had such a nice morning with all my dear friends. Here I am with Kristin & Barbara. I didn't get a picture with Isa - I'm so mad! Thank you, Isa for getting us all together for a great morning out!
Here's Cate at her last music class last week - she LOVED music class. I'm sad it's over. I would have signed her up for next session, but we'll be moving too soon...no, we still don't know to where!
This is a picture of a CRAZY BIRD. It was sitting on the rearview mirror the other day when Cate and I were out...it didn't matter how fast I drove, he just held on tighter. I let him hitch a ride around the corner, but then honked to get him off so he wouldn't die on the freeway. Cate told me that we gave him a ride home. It was really cute.
Tonight Cate came walking in the room with a concerned sort of look on her face. Then she said "I don't want to do the hiccups." Sure enough she had the hiccups. She hated it. She kept telling us she didn't want to do the hiccups. We tried to scare her, so after that she kept saying "Boo" after she would hiccup. It was really funny.

To answer any pregnancy-related questions: I'm feeling well overall, getting very tired, eating lots of Tums. Thankfully I'm not swelling up like I did with Cate...hopefully it will stay that way! It's so much more comfortable when your hands and feet don't feel like they're going to explode. Not that I'm all that comfortable these days, but it could be worse I guess. I went to the doctor Friday and am about 1 cm, although not thinking we're really very close to a delivery. Baby is measuring fine and everything looks good so far. Will keep you posted! We're starting to get into the weeks where I'm scared to call anyone on the phone because they always think it's with "news." Let's just say, Nate will be doing the calling, so if it's me on your caller ID, probably no news. :)

Halloween Report

FINALLY getting some pictures up from Halloween. Cate had a BLAST and kept telling me how she said "trick or treat" - it was very cute. She is still swimming in candy - will it ever be gone?!?!

Okay, so here are LOTS of pictures. For those of you who AREN'T Cate's grandparents, sorry! :)

Here's the beautiful little ballerina.

Showing off her moves...

Finally, I get to go trick or treating!

Even though carving pumpkins is kind of a pain and takes forever, it was totally worth it - when I was almost done, cate woke up from her nap and was so excited about the pumpkins, especially the one that is smiling. It was really sweet. The next few days we had them on the kitchen table and she kept winking like the pumpkin. What a cutie.

Amelia, Hannah and Cate ready to go off for some Halloween fun...this is the best picture I could get of the three of them. Talk about wiggly.

Here are the girls with their dads, who were also their halloween bodyguards on the trick-or-treat trail.

After trick-or-treating was done, a group of cate's little friends (and parents) came over to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Hannah is generally the most energetic of the group, but she was completely enraptured by the cartoon - it was pretty cute. None of the kids like the part where Snoopy pretends he's in WWI. Also funny. Anyway, after everyone left, Cate was pooped. I tried to get her to come cuddle with me, but instead she climbed up with Dad.

The ballerina and her mommy.

Cate & Friends...

You need to go visit my friend Emily's blog to see a FUNNY series of pictures...just click here. Amelia and Hannah are our neighbors who also happen to be Cate's best buds. Unfortunately for Amelia, Hannah and Cate are a little older and, shall we say, pushier? Especially Cate...she gets VERY defensive of Hannah when Amelia is around, which is totally understandable since Amelia is so HUGE and SCARY. The three of them together is seriously a crack-up - and it's so cute how they love each other. Anyway, Emily's post is funny, so make sure you go see it.

I promise to post my own pictures from Halloween soon, as well as some video!