Merry Christmas!

Hi Peter!

In case you did not know...this is the cutest kid in the world. Apologies to the rest of the civilized world, but you don't hold a candle to this one. I mean, your parents might say that you are the cutest, but I'm telling you right now...your parents are liars, only meant to make you feel better. This is Mercedes, our niece, god-daughter and practice child.

Hopefully, ours turns out as cute as this.

Doctor Visit #4

Here is the latest photo of Baby Johnston. It is not too clear since the baby was not being very cooperative, but you can see the spine pretty clearly. We were able to see the face for a split second, but it decided it was shy and turned so we could only see it's back.

None the less, we saw the heart beat again and, of course, mine stopped at that time. That will never get old.

Everything is progressing fine. There was a shaky moment when there was a mixup with the down syndrome test, but it turned out everything was fine. Phew! We didn't really want to take the test in the first place because it would not affect anything (we would keep the baby no matter what). Lauren has been sick, so the doctor gave us advice there and some more advice for her sciatica.

150 days to go!

Illinois? Seriously?

On the anniversary of Illinois being admitted as the 21st state, we find out that our beloved Trojans have to play them in the Granddaddy-of-them-all...the Rose Bowl. What a let down! I couldn't be more angry at Missouri and West Virginia for dropping trou and laying Cleveland Steamers on the football field. A USC vs. OSU matchup would have drawn a crowd and all Trojan fans would have loved to see the embarrassment of the "best" team in the Big-10 at the hands of Pete "Caesar" Carroll and the mighty Trojans.

The only thing Illinois has going for it is Chicago...deep dish pizzas, The Chophouse, the Sears Tower, Pizzeria Due, Mothers and Navy Pier...man, what a weekend!

So, apparently, the head honchos at the Tournament of Roses thought the next best choice was the "Fighting Illini". Great. Maybe the Twilight Zone marathon will be on that day.