Biggs Family January-June

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I haven't been up-to-date with our blog, but at least I've been taking pictures! Here are some of our adventures over the last few months. We've had some big changes, least of all welcoming our favorite little guy, John, to the family.

Photobook 2012

Here are some of our favorite pictures and memories from 2012. It was a great year!

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Let it Snow!

I absolutely LOVE snow. Not the brown, crunchy, gross snow that's been on the ground for weeks, but the soft, floating flakes coming down from the sky. I love walking as the snow comes slowly and gently towards the ground. Every winter, I have the same sense of wonder as I gaze up towards the sky and watch the flakes almost appear from nowhere. A few days ago, we had our first real snowfall (real=the snow is actually sticking to the ground). Matt knows how much I love the snow, so he had our front window blinds wide open when I woke up. I insisted that we immediately go outside and take pictures. Matt was practical and shoveled the walkway while I dusted off our car. I really wish our baby was here to enjoy it with us! That will just have to wait a while.

Matt dutifully shoveling the snow with a metal shovel.

Matt, looking ruggedly handsome.

We love the snow!

Jessica posing in her new maternity coat in front of our apartment.

The car! Good thing the snow hadn't turned to ice yet!

In other news, we are officially in the third trimester as of this week! Woohoo! The baby bump is definitely getting bigger--and he's still got several pounds to go!

Jessica at 28 weeks.

Flax Seed Skillet Bread

So we acquired a beautiful cast iron skillet a little while ago and Matt has been itching to try it out. Cast iron has a real mystical quality. It seems like anything you make in cast iron will no doubt taste better than if you used anything else. Tonight turned out to be the time to experiment. We were making cajun beans in our crockpot and needed a nice bread to go with it. Cornbread is the obvious choice, but we didn't have any cornmeal. Alright, Matt's solution? Make the bread with flax seed instead. This version of a skillet bread is definitely delicious, and it has a bunch more of that magical nutritious stuff than your typical cornbread. Here's the recipe!

Flax Seed Skillet Bread

What you need:

1/2 cup margarine, melted
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup butter milk (or 1 cup milk with 1 Tb vinegar)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milled flax seed
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Melt margarine. Stir in sugar. Add eggs and beat until blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda. Add to egg mixture. Stir in dry ingredients until blended. Pour into 9x9 pan (or skillet!). Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. (Shorten cooking time to 25 minutes if you use a cast iron pan). And enjoy!

AND it's a.........

So last night before we went in for our ultrasound, we decided to try a few different gender prediction tests. We're curious and empirical, so we're going to give you the low down on each of them. Then you, as the educated reader, can decide which ones are most accurate.

The Tests

1. How the baby is carried (high=girl, low=boy): BOY
2. Heartbeat (under 140=boy, above 140=girl): GIRL
3. Cravings (sweet=girl, salty/sour=boy): GIRL
4. Ancient Chinese Prediction Method (Age at conception + Month of conception): GIRL
5. Ancient Mayan Prediction Method (Age and Year of conception are both even or odd=girl, not the same=boy): GIRL
6. How a key is picked up (narrow part=girl, round part=boy): GIRL
7. Pregnancy acne (normal=boy, worse=girl): BOY
8. Swinging wedding ring (circle=boy, back and forth=girl): BOY
9. Morning sickness in first trimester (bad=girl, little or none=boy): GIRL
10. How baby weight is carried (hips=girl, tummy=boy): GIRL

Our Analysis

We decided to use a weighted average of our ten-dimensional vector to statistically combine the results of all ten tests. The weights are a number between 1 and 0 that conveys how much we trust that particular measure (1 = perfect trust, 0 = no trust whatsoever). The vector of predictions (Vp) is first assembled thus (1 = girl, -1 = boy):

[-1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, -1, -1, 1, 1]

 Our trust values are chosen based on the following reasons:
1. We don't trust this as much because in Kangeroos it can be misleading. Trust = 0.4
2. We trust this measure based on average laziness of genders as measured by conference talks about the need to work harder (although the measure loses predictive power during puberty when in the presence of the opposite gender). Trust = 0.8
3. Jessica always wants sweet stuff. How predictive could that be? Trust = 0.3
4,5. Ancient methods agree, and are tried and true. Trust = 0.95433234
6. Based on solid physical principles. Trust = 0.8
7. Results of this predictor can be confounded with craving predictor, and they don't agree. Trust = 0.45
 8. I've seen big pendulums in science museums predicting the baby's gender inside mother earth, and I trust the curators of science museums generally. Trust = 0.9
9. Girls don't make me barfy. This is simply absurd. Trust = 0.01
10. No comment on baby weight from the analyst. Trust is a neutral 0.5

Trust vector (Vt):

[0.4, 0.8, 0.3, 0.95433234, 0.95433234, 0.8, 0.45, 0.9, 0.01, 0.5]

Final weighted average =

Vp * Vt / 10 = 0.2569

0.2569 > 0

It might be a GIRL. That's the official prediction from Matt "Nate Silver" and Jessica "Nostradamus".

The Real Deal

Ok, so after the fun with at-home prediction methods, we wanted to double check our answer. We went in to do the ultrasound and got a pretty clear result. You can see for yourself!

 And another adorable shot of our little boy sucking his thumb! We're in love already!

Works Cited:
1. M. R. Kosorok et al. 19something
2. Nate Silver on Bubbles, 20something
3. Nostradamus et al. The Prophecies, 15something

Giving Thanks at 20 Weeks!

We just got back from a wonderful, relaxing week with both of our families for Thanksgiving. We are in the lucky situation where our parents and siblings are friends, so we didn't have to pick and choose where to spend the holiday. Fortunately, I was feeling pretty good, so the week was a nice change from some of the pregnancy weirdness that's been going on lately. We spent the time eating lots of good food, watching movies, going shopping (for maternity clothes!), laughing, and talking about the baby. My belly isn't too big, so I haven't had any strangers poke it yet, but that did not stop my sister from showing our baby some love. This little baby is definitely coming into this world with lots of love and support. I hope our baby understood that all the rubs and pats were coming from people who are really, really excited about his or her arrival!

Also, this week marks a great milestone in our pregnancy: we're halfway there! 20 weeks is officially the halfway mark--so the countdown begins now! We're excited to find out our little one's gender in a few weeks. It's hard to wait, but seeing our baby's mature features on the ultrasound will be totally worth it! Here are a few pictures of our growing baby bump.

Well, Here We Are!

This post is long overdue, especially since we've been in Charlottesville almost a month! Wow, the time really flew by! Moving is always stressful, but you finally get to the point when you've almost figured out where to hang all your pictures and you can take a few moments to pause.

We had an awesome summer hanging out with family and traveling, but there is something great about settling down in your own place and starting to put together your life again. We aren't living out of suitcases anymore!

Matt just started classes last week, so our schedule has changed quite a bit since then. Matt is gone for most of the day and I have a lot of flexibility with how to use my time. Although it is strange to not be studying or writing papers, I have to say that my new-found freedom is definitely a welcome change. I can do anything! So far, I've joined the local chamber orchestra and signed on with a group that helps adults improve their writing and reading skills. I just recently found out that this same group teaches civics classes to prepare immigrants to apply for US citizenship. As a politics buff, teaching civics is definitely one of my passions, so I am supremely excited to be involved.

We are really loving Charlottesville so far. We've been able to explore many of the local restaurants and met some really awesome people. Here's to the next 5+ years!

Matt putting together a bookshelf in our living/dining room. Fortunately our house doesn't look like this anymore!

Matt and his family in front of Bodo's Bagels, a classic Charlottesville establishment.

Matt and me at Carter's Mountain Orchard near town.

Eating Wayside Chicken with my family--another Charlottesville classic.