It's a boy!

As you can see, the brainus interius is functioning in genius mode.

Happy New Year

To all of our family and friends:

Merry Christmas! Most of you are aware that we have had a very exciting year. The biggest news is that we are expecting the birth of our first child at the end of May 2008. We have an appointment scheduled for December 28^th during which we will find out the baby’s sex, but don’t ask us about names because we won’t tell you J. I am now at 19 weeks and have just made the move into maternity pants, which is humbling. We will be having a shower or two in the spring, and are interested in any or all hand-me-downs, so please keep us in mind.

In June, I graduated from nursing school and was accepted into the nurse-midwifery masters program at OHSU. I just received my first official grad school report card, and I must say, it’s not too shabby. Because of the baby, I will be switching to a part-time course schedule in the spring, and the program will therefore take three years to complete. But this is more than fine. I was beginning to feel really nervous about coming into so much responsibility so quickly; now I can ease into the role.

Nathan is still teaching math full-time at Fort Vancouver High School. His students make him laugh and he enjoys his job. This winter, he and his co-teacher Julie will be giving a presentation at a state conference regarding their experiences team-teaching - so he is really an expert on the cutting edge of education. He's still coaching the Science Decathlon team (www.fortscience.com), as well as the math team.

The rest of the family is doing fine. Rumpus the rabbit lives upstairs by Nathan’s desk, and Norton the rabbit seems to enjoy keeping an eye on the dogs from under the kitchen sink. Bijou and Tippy romp happily together and are only naughty in the house when they have an opinion about something. We have a German grad student renting our spare bedroom who is in the middle of a biomedical engineering internship with Legacy Health System. She is pleasant company and loves the animals, but the house is starting to feel a bit small – especially when I need to throw-up and the single bathroom is occupied. We plan to reclaim the room in April for Junior.

Thanks for looking at our webpage. We will try to keep it updated with all the latest baby news and other interesting tidbits, so check back (but not too frequently). We enjoy hearing from you and wish you a joyous and meaningful holiday season.

Cheri and Nathan