Back in the Blogging World

We're back everyone! I won't go into great detail about all of our holiday activities--instead I'll let the pictures do the talking. I will say that we had a wonderful time visiting friends and family. Carson, Isaac, and Natalee Ryan with his devil-eyes, beating everyone at bowling (thanks to all the late-night Wii practicing) Olivia, Ian, and Jake Fisch and Isaac getting clean Isaac and Grandpa Mike (I think he reminded Isaac of Santa Claus)

18 weeks

Here is the latest picture of my ever-expanding belly at 18 weeks. We're almost halfway there!

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

Classes were canceled today and the city pretty much shut down because of freezing rain and snowstorms, so we decided to celebrate by giving Isaac his Christmas present early since we are going to be out of town on the big day. We let him open it himself, which took about 30 minutes because he was so enthralled with the wrapping paper, but he finally did it. It is one of those stacking toys with cups of different sizes that can also be put together to make different balls. While the toy entertained him for about 10 minutes, he ended up being most fascinated with the box. Merry Christmas everybody!

9 Months Old!

Well I decided to humor my brother a little bit by attempting to post about something other than Isaac, but I can't do that today. Our little guy will be 9 months old tomorrow--I can't believe it! Time has gone by so fast and yet I can't remember what we ever did without him--cliche I know but it's true. Our kid is a genius. He crawls around everywhere, pulls himself up, and has even figured out how to sit himself back down again! If that's not an Einstein in the making, I don't know what is. In all seriousness, the past nine months have been the happiest of our lives. I feel so grateful to have another one on the way. Here is a picture of Isaac from a couple of days ago. He has just figured out how to stand up in his crib. He uses this tactic when he doesn't want to take a nap.

Becoming Informed

Yesterday I had the opportunity to head downtown with a few friends to a Presidential Forum. Most of the Democratic candidates were there, including Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, and John Edwards. Hillary Clinton wasn't there in person (apparently her campaign headquarters had been facing a hostage situation so she missed her flight). She was able to participate via satellite. It wasn't a debate. None of the candidates were even on stage at the same time. Instead, each candidate was allowed about 20 minutes of podium time while they were asked a series of questions. All of the questions were different for each of the different candidates, but many of the same issues were brought up. Immigration, health care reform, farming (this IS Iowa, mind you), and the environment. It was interesting to listen to the different candidates and how they responded to the people. Barack Obama was by far the favorite. He received twice the cheers that any of the other candidates received. Whether you are an Obama fan or not, you can't deny that he is very charismatic. (Cheesy picture taken from the jumbo-tron because we were sitting too far back to get a good close-up). Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, had the opposite effect on the crowd. She even received a few boos of disapproval. (Another cheesy jumbo-tron photo). I really enjoyed the forum, but I came away feeling like all of the candidates had the same stand on almost every issue; either that or they were all very good at feeding the crowd what they wanted to hear. I guess if I were to vote Democratic, I would have to choose who I thought was going to actually fulfill all the the promises they are currently making. I have long said that I am either a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat. I am still undecided about the 2008 election. Good thing I have almost a year to make up my mind.