The Alien

This is the new Russell and Emily Leslie family blog. Sort of. Mostly, it's going to be me, Emily, blogging about the Russell and Emily Leslie family. I feel a little bad about taking over PR for our family, but not too bad. I figure I can succeed in being at least as unbiased as most major news outlets (am I setting the bar too low?).

I guess since this is the first entry, I have about 16 months of stuff to cover. Here's the first 13 months: We got married in June 2010, made it through one last year at BYU, successfully got admitted to our respective graduate programs at the University of Iowa, and had a summer of epic adventure.

My epic adventures:

-going to Guatemala

-building a bookshelf

-orchestrating our entire move

-researching the pretrial detention of suspected felons

Russell's epic adventures:

-finishing classes

-interning at clinics

Mine may have been a little more epic, aside from the shared epic adventures:

-nuptial celebrations for bosom buddies

-Webb family reunion (i.e. temporary tent city, complete with family "Survivor" activities to separate the wheat from the chaff in my mother-in- law's wonderfully large extended family)

-first anniversary celebrated at amazing B&B in Salt Lake

The last three months have been spent mostly here in the Shire of the U.S.: Iowa. Russell is now well into the first semester of his MHA (masters of healthcare administration) program. He has become an avid reader of Atul Gawande books (I recommend them on his behalf, and also based on the two chapters I have read so far). He is also well on his way to a successful career in politics, having won in his first bid for elected office as a member of the Student Faculty Liaison. I think we're both still figuring out what the SFL does exactly, but we'll let you know when we know.

For my part, I spend most days doing math. None of my classes have math anywhere in the course title, but it turns out that as a first year PhD student in economics, that's pretty much what all your classes boil down to. There are five other students in my year, so we're getting to know each other pretty well. For anyone who's wondering, Russell's program is two years; mine is five. How's that going to work? Excellent question.

This brings me--tangentially--to my final and most important topic, also the inspiration for the title of this post: I am pregnant. I had my very first appointment on Friday (two days ago), and so I am finally in possession of an estimated due date, which is April 22. I never knew where due dates come from, and I guess I still don't know if they are all estimated the same way, but mine involved an ultrasound. This was awesome--probably the best thing that happened to me all week. I didn't know I was already 13 weeks along, so I wasn't expecting to see the little heart beating, and the not-quite-as-tiny-as-expected limbs so clearly. The technician printed two images for me: one from the side of the entire fetus, and one of its face. "Aw, it's looking out at you," she said as she handed it to me. Perhaps I'm experiencing an oxytocin deficiency, but honestly all I could think of when I saw that picture was the striking resemblance that the dear little face bore to the iconic alien. I suppose we'd all look a little more like aliens if we were looking at each other using ultrasounds (or x-rays?), so I can only assume that the baby will resolve itself into a lovable infant bundle by the time it gets into my arms and I'm looking at it with normal vision instead. What will I do about school when that day comes? I don't know yet. I think about this question a lot, but I doubt I'll actually decide in advance.

For now, we're both happy to be in Iowa, grateful to be in school, and excited about the prospect of a baby.

P.S. Russell just showed his sister the picture above. She thought it was an alien picture that he was showing her as a joke.