6 months

We are in Redlands for the holidays and enjoying the sunshine! All is well.

I am looking froward to fitting into my clothes again. I love clothes but don't want to buy a ton of prego clothes, which leaves me with little options of what to wear. I am doing okay with a belt on my low rise jeans and a long shirt. I love that the style of poofy shirts is in right now and can fit on a pregnant lady without looking ridiculous.

Here is the 6 month belly!
(Taken in the orange groves of outer Redlands- because who finds orange groves INSIDE Redlands anymore)

Charlie Bowser

Having a dog is a good window into what is will be like to have a baby.

My theory is that you should start with a house plant, if one of those live, try a fish, then maybe a hamster or some small animal. If you can handle that, a dog is the next big step into taking care of a being other than yourself. Another recommendation is taking care of other peoples' kids. You can see a lot about how to rear a child that way. Then, you might be ready for the challenge of having a child of your own. And that, as I hear, is nothing that anyone is ever ready for. You just kind of do it, somehow.

After years of waiting, we finally got a dog. We found him from an add in the paper that a family put in. They had to find a home for him b/c they were moving, so we adopted him at 1.5 years old. He is a pure bread basset hound. So full of personality that it makes you wonder how he doesn't talk to you! Make no mistake, he can jump into the back of an SUV, run like mad, and stand on his hind legs for 5 maybe 5 minutes. He's no lazy bones.

He is very well behaved. We are being pack leaders (Ceasar Milan would be proud). He is so needy though! We are thinking about getting a friend for him so he isn't so bored when we leave and so I can have him happy when I only pay attention to Jack-a-boy.

Dogs rock. Check out the flying basset.

It's a boy! 5 Months

There is a pic of his weenis on the 20 week check up. The little white dot points to it. His hand is on the other side of the white dot. He is going in for a grab:) Below that is his leg. This is a shot from above.

He is healthy and so big! His feet are bigger than half his thigh! We saw his liver, his heart, his spine. It's so amazing at what you can see in there.

He'll be named Jack after my grandfather. We need a little help with the middle name as Steve's middle name will not work (Jack Daniel McGhee = instant alcoholism).

Alternative middle names:
David (My paternal grandfather's name)
Henry (My paternal grandfather's middle name, and it sounds like John Henry, the strongest man in tall tales)
Curtis- I thought it sounded good.
any other ideas? Let us know! Jack ________ McGhee

His good sized McGhee head at 20 weeks

Progress- 4 months

With a lack in publishing these past months, I am going to attempt to play catch up and provide some pictures of my progressing tummy and information about what's it's like ot have an alien growing inside of you for 9 months.

I feel like I am cheating b/c before I know it, another month has past and my belly seems to impress no one! These expanding hips and tight fitting jeans don't lie. I do have a belly. Though, I should be flattered by the kindness of people not saying "Wow! I can't believe you look like a cow!" So, good on ya, nice people.

Here is the November belly- 4 months, almost 5.

This is at our house, a week before Thanksgiving. Nothing outlandish is really happening with my belly. Here are some wierdities:

-I am tired daily. It takes a lot of energy to produce a life form!

-I can catch a cold from someone across the room or anticipate if anyone will. I am on an average of one cold a month.

-I felt some movement and do so before I go to bed each night, that is, if it isn't gas, which is really hard to tell the difference. I did feel a total change of position like the guy was getting comfortable in there.

-Body change is hard. I feel huge and weirdly shaped. So I exercise. Then I feel out of shape b/c I suck air b/c I have so much blood in my system for the little guy. What if I strain myself and hurt him? So, I just do what I can so I can fit into some clothes. It's so weird.

Rude Pregnant Women

It's me! Just last Monday, a water polo mom that I play with was telling me what she used to do for horrible pregnancy bloating (non-alcoholic beer, in case you were wondering). I wondered why this was such a big deal until yesterday when my stomach felt as if a bike pump was hooked to it and not letting anything out! Talk about pain!!

So now my biggest accomplishments are a nice belch or something unmentionable. Ahhh. Life is good.

Pregers

I am pregnant! Now 14 weeks and 15 on Thursday. Amazingly it is already changing my life. My body knows I have something growing in there.

I will be writing updates about how I feel and pictures that we get of my tummy from the inside and out. Oh yeah, I already have a bump!

Stay tuned. As of now, the only thing I feel is a little stretch in the trousers, tired at 3.30 everyday, and hungry all of the time. That beats the roller coaster of nausea I had moving back here and getting back to real life. Whew!

English Health

When we moved to London, I thought we would be made fun of for being lazy Americans who eat too many hamburgers. Many people in America still eat poor diets and have serious health problems because of it.

But, forgive me for saying, I think the health here in the UK is surprisingly horrible. Since we have been here, the main items in stores and restaurants are chips (fries), crisps (chips) and sweets. No doubt that their sweets beat any main stream candy that walks the planet, but the idea of moderation is not taught or even thought about in the majority of British diets. You are hard pressed to go to a restaurant that serves British food and not find something full of fat, fried or not including chips. I have to look hard in the grocery stores for the healthy option of food or shop at the more expensive Whole Foods equivalent (which is luckily close by home). I am thinking that Americans have improved their diet partly because of the attention so many people have given health in the states. Maybe Britain needs that kind of bad press too? I thought it was just me but now TV programs are pointing this out like Jaime Oliver's School Lunches and You Are What You Eat. This bad press might be good for the nation!

The truth is that it is apart of the culture and thus is a hard cycle to break. A friend told me that sometimes men will brag about never eating a veg in their lifetime! Also, it's cheap and so people who don't have a lot of money or time buy all kinds of fatty, processed foods for their little kids to eat. There are many people in London who struggle to pay rent so food becomes something to fill the stomachs, not to nourish the body. If people are buying crap in the stores, the stores will continue to produce it. I feel lucky to have lived in California and around so many restaurants and grocery stores that supply such yummy and healthy foods. It has really been a privilege to be around people who care about healthy food, can afford it and can move the market!

Unfortunately, I think many people in the UK aren't aware of the health risks that they are putting themselves in when their waist is over 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men, first and foremost. Secondly, If they do know, they don't believe it. I think the saddest outcome is that parents want to make their children happy so they buy them crisps and candy bars which is teaching these kids that it is okay to have a diet full of these things. It seems that this kind of damage could be a life killer at a very slow rate. Those kids will have worse conditions than is being seen now.

Last comment is one that I heard from a professor I used to work with in the German Department at UCSB. He said that the only reason we eat those dreadful sheet cakes from grocery stores is because it reminds us of childhood birthdays year after year (not counting the Costco ones:) This is the point!!! We eat things because we are taught it, because it is our regime, or because we crave it or think we need it. Actually, when you go off these things, you end up not missing them after a while. A candy bar here or there is not going to kill ya, but here or there does not refer to walking from one side of the room to the other! When you end up eating well and exercising, your body thanks you by giving you more energy and using those minerals and vitamins you get from fruit and veg. It's not easy, but foresight will save you more trouble in the future.

I see people caring about health at the gym and at the stores. I just hope that the many who are trying not to look, get the message eventually and don't ignore it for too long.

More information on preventing heart disease:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-disease-prevention/WO00041