July 22, 2002
(picture taken 7/22).
Yes, it's been a long time since our last Hunter family newsletter. Let's see if we can catch you up.
Eric has discovered a new talent -- gardening. Eric claims it's practice for the real garden he'll plant when we move to Denver next year, but Laura thinks that swinging the hoe is just a really nice way to blow off the tensions of the day. Anyway, we have a small plot that we've rented from our apartment complex. He's planted lots of basil, zucchini, squash, and cucumbers. Sadly, the insects, deer, and fungus have so far eaten more of the tomatoes and cucumbers than we have. But Eric refuses to retreat and continues to valiantly fight them off.
He is also working hard on publications and research. He has just returned from a phonosurgery conference in Madison, WI. He's now busily preparing for a presentation at an international biomechanics conference in Calgary in August. Laura again won't be able to go, so Mom McCrea is going to come up from Kansas City to keep her busy making last-minute baby preparations.
Speaking of baby preparations, we are currently filling our weeknights with every baby class that the University Hospital offers -- Childbirth Preparation, Infant CPR, and Parenting a Newborn. Yes, Laura is just a little nervous. But those classes (along with the stack of library books she checks out from the library) have taught us a lot, making us feel just a little more prepared for the changes we're going to be experiencing very soon. (We know, we're probably deluding ourselves. Can you ever really be prepared for your first baby?)
Yes, the big event is coming up very soon. How soon? Well, we're due on September 30th, which means Laura is now 30 weeks pregnant. It's hard to believe that we're going to meet our little boy in just a couple months (I keep asking Ethan to give us an exact date, but so far he's just not being very accomodating). As you can see from the picture above, Laura is definitely showing now. Fortunately, she is still doing wonderful -- still only very mild backaches and fatigue. So all in all, she's really enjoying the whole pregnancy experience.
Laura will not go back to work after having the baby. Her health insurance is fantastic, so she needs to still be a university employee when we actually have the baby -- but thankfully, the university is also quite generous with vacation and sick time, so she'll still be able to take time off before the baby comes. How much? Well, thanks to MayLynn and others' advice, we've decided to kind of play it by ear when she'll actually stop working. But the plan right now is to start cutting back her hours in about a month, and then take that last week or two off completely. Her boss has also been incredibly nice and often sends her home early. Yes, we've been really blessed!
Well, I think that's all -- sure love you all!