Can you hear me now? How 'bout now?

At our last visit to the doctor, where we got to hear Monday's heart again, I asked the Dr. if we couldn't borrow the doppler device they use to conduct the ultrasound. Though, and as expected, the Dr. said no they don't lend them out; she did say we could buy or rent one. So we did some research and was able to locate dopplers for reasonable rental rates. Lina found a great site which has high satisfaction ratings and reviews - http://www.storkradio.com/



In days we will have a little ultrasound of our own to play with. I have a feeling this will become a regular night time activity...to occur just before the Tummy Lube session.

Don't block my path to the food

So it seems that Monday's little growth spurt is also a growth spurt for Mom. I seem to be getting a little pooch right under my belly button. I also seem to have quiet the appetite and am eating everything in my path. I have gained another pound, but am still "under" the curve. I think I am within a normal range so I am not going to worry about it. (Progress!!)

17 Week Update from Baby Center

How your baby's growing: Your baby weighs about 5 ounces now, and he's around 5 inches long — about the size of a large onion. He can move his joints, and his skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. His sense of hearing is also developing. The umbilical cord, his lifeline to the placenta, is growing stronger and thicker.

Big Weekend

So this weekend was about as jam packed as one could get. Friday night was our only down time, but we mistakenly stayed up too late watching a terrible move (MI-3) and didn't get to bed until around midnight.

On Saturday morning, we got up and headed out (again) to do the car thing. This time we went up to Colma, the dead-person-capital-of-California (more graveyards than homes) to see some dealerships up there. We ended up at the Lexus dealership looking at used late-model RX 350s. After we talked to the salesman for a while, it became clear that it was the last weekend in the month, the last month of the quarter, and they wanted to move some cars.... which worked greatly in our favor. Before we knew it (ok, 4 hours later), Tim had negotiated down the price of a new RX350 2008 to only $2k more than what they were offering the used models for, only $500 above invoice, with all the sales tax of any service we get there over the next 4 years on them. So we walked out of there (6 hours later) with a new car!

I am a soccer mom now!!!

Corgi not included - yet.

This has truly been my dream car for a while, and I couldn't be more excited. We got a great deal on leasing the car, and if we need to go bigger in 4 years, we can!

That evening we took the new wheels down to San Jose to see Francis and Dirk, the couple who rang the bell at our wedding, for dinner and some games. Dirk just got Francis a new Boston Terrier named Gabby that they picked up that day. We spent some quality time on the floor with poor scared Gabby, and had a wonderful dinner. We ended up playing Pop5 until about midnight - for the record, Dirk & I beat Tim & Francis 2 games to 1.

Then yesterday, our friends Brandon & Jen invited us to the 49ers game. Brandon's family has sweet season tickets that his grandfather got decades ago. We were in row 15 at the 40 yard line behind the opposing team... and directly in the sunlight all day. Although the Niners got their butts kicked (23 - 3) by Seattle, we had a wonderful day being outside with friends in gorgeous weather.

They then came over for pizza and Pop5 (I guess we were in a game-rut) until about 8. At that point, I just crashed. Tim kept thinking something was bothering me, but I just needed my sleep, which I got about 10 hours of starting at 9:30.

Comments Accepted

So I have been fooling around with settings this morning, and believe that comments can now be accepted by anyone. If that is the case, and you feel so moved, drop us a note and let us know what you think about our progress!

March 10 +/- 3 Weeks @ 82% Confidence

That is how we talk about launch dates in technology -- and while Monday isn't software, the title is "code" (get it?) for finally telling work that we are pregnant. There is a huge punchline to this story, but let me fill you in on the steps first.

• On Monday morning, I had my weekly 1x1 with Kristy. I spent the first 50 minutes giving updates and status to Kristy on all that is on my plate. Once I got through my list of discussion items, I just blurted out "and finally, I am pregnant." And I couldn't have asked for a better response. Her first comment was "Oh congratulations!!!!! Yay, I am so happy for you." Then we proceeded to talk about how far along I am, how I've been feeling (the headaches finally make sense) and when I am due. She was genuinely happy for me and I was thrilled with the conversation. She asked me if this was public yet, and I basically said "as of now, yes!". After that, I went and told the people that I immediately work with (3 people) the good news. Everyone was really happy for me, and I didn't get a ton of work done that day.
• On Tuesday, I further went around telling people, but was already surprised that the information was seeping out as people started coming up to me saying "hey - I can't believe I had to hear your news through the grapevine!" How quickly news travels.
• Wednesday was very much the same thing, telling people the news, celebrating with colleagues, and all in all being less productive than I usually am. It's funny how hungry people are for good and happy news to share. (Side note and later plot detail: we had a media training refresher with the PR team where we had to share where we speak publicly and what we think are our opportunities for improvement. I said that my focus was that sometimes I have heard that I am emotive to the point of distraction, also that I sometimes get too excited, speak to quickly, and forget to breath.)
  
• So yesterday.....
  

Yesterday started the same as Wednesday with telling people I work with slowly and quietly. I was getting water in the afternoon when Peter Karpas (our SVP/GM) walked by and said hello. He came back around the corner and the conversation went something like this:

• PK:Oh, I have some advice for you.
• LCR: What's that?
• PK: Breath.
• LCR: What?
• PK: I was talking to the guy who lead the media training and he was really impressed at how self aware the team was. He mentioned that you get overly excited and sometimes forget to breath. So I am reminding you to breath!
• LCR: Thanks - I do forget to.
• PK: Oh, and congratulations! Is it public information?
• LCR: It is.
• PK: Then CONGRATULATIONS!

This was a seemingly happy and innocuous conversation... until the all-hands later that afternoon.

The all hands (all 80 people in Quicken Health in 1 conference room and over the phone) started like it normally does, with the introduction of new team mates. A slide was brought up on the screen when someone over the phone asked if the document was being shared online, which it wasn't. Peter asked someone to come up and do that... and all of a sudden, he needed time to fill before he could move on, and I was directly in the line of sight in the second row.

• PK: In other good news, we have another sort of delivery coming in March. (he looks at me.) March, right? (I turn red.) Lina is expecting.
• Crowd: OOOhhhhh!!!!!!! Hah aha ha hah ahah ahah ah ah... YAY!!! (goes on, as I get redder.)
• PK: Oh look, she's blushing. I was going to tell another story, but I am not going to.
• PK: Oh, what the heck. Lina had media training this week where she told the group that sometimes she gets excited and forgets to breath.
• Crowd: AHHA HAHA HAHAHAH
  
• PK: And I have this vision of Lina in March, certainly excited, forgetting to breath!!
• Crowd: ROOOAAAARRRRR AH AHAHAHAHAH. (Lina gets redder and redder.)
• PK: So I think Lina certainly needs to practice breathing over the next couple of months.
• PK: Lina, you're even redder. Turn around so everyone can see how red you are.
• Phone guy: Yeah, get up and turn around because you won't be able to in a couple of months.
• (Lina Turns)
• Crowd: RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR. AHAH AH AH AHAH AH AHHA HAHA AHA AHAH AHA.

So that's how my entire organization found out I am pregnant. Though Kristy came up to me and apologized later, I know the team wasn't laughing at me, they were celebrating with me. The team really needs some good reasons to laugh, and if I can help facilitate that, then I am happy. Besides, I don't have to go around telling people anymore, so in a way, my life is a bit easier.

Money, Money, Money

That's the title of Chapter 4 in the "The Expectant Father". According to the book, by now I should start experiencing some concerns relating to finances. What the book doesn't know is that I'm ALWAYS thinking about finances - how best to secure a secure present and future. The chapter covers investment options, advice on saving for college, life insurance etc, etc, etc. Funny, I wasn't nearly as 'worried' until I read the paragraph on college tuition. With sweaty pits, chest pain and blurred vision, I set out to do a little research...here is some of what I found.

• On average, tuition tends to increase about 8% per year. An 8% college inflation rate means that the cost of college doubles every nine years.
  
  
• For a baby born today, this means that college costs will be more than three times current rates when the child matriculates in college.
  
  
• Parents should expect to pay at least half to two-thirds of their children's college costs through a combination of savings, current income, and loans.
  

During my 3min lunch break, I spent a little time working through our portfolio - LLNW is up 18% since buying it a few weeks ago, TIVO is still floating around 50%, APPL helping out at 40% and BBBB is up over 150% since purchasing in '05. Today, much of our portfolio is in the green; so banking that Monday will have the pick of his/her college, its hopeful Lina and I will not have to eat rice and beans in order to afford it.

While researching the holdings of some of our mutual funds, I came across an article entitled "The 50 Best Stocks in the World". We already own a number of these, either as individual stocks or as holdings in mutual funds.



Have a read - see if you agree.

Now back to work and onto Chapter 5 "The Lights are On and Somebody's Home"; referring to Monday now becoming more active and able to hear what is going on outside.