More photos and video

Here are some new updates out of Houston. Even though the hurricane has passed, the city is still under serious flash flood alerts.

Here is an update on the bayous from Sunday afternoon:

http://www.khou.com/video/topstories-index.html?nvid=282559&shu=1

But, unfortuately, we are having more rainfall through Sunday morning.

Here is a video from the local CBS station from about 45 minutes ago:
http://www.khou.com/video/topstories-index.html?nvid=282625&shu=1

Here is the news report to go with it:
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080914_tnt_flash_floods.75b2d1cf.html


In the meantime, the city government just announced that there will be a citywide curfew for ALL of Houston (not just areas that were under mandatory evacuation) from today Sunday Sept 14 to Saturday Sept 20 between the hours of 9:00 pm and 6:00 am.

CenterPoint energy, which is the private company (i.e. not government run) that owns all of the power lines in Houston, has updated us with the following:

Houston – Sept. 13, 2008 – As of 8 p.m., CenterPoint Energy has restored power to 112,000 customers, primarily in the western portion of its service territory, in the first eight hours of the recovery effort. Of the 2.26 million CenterPoint Energy customers, 1.99 million are still without power.

The company’s electric system suffered widespread damage as a result of 100-mile-per-hour winds, and trees and wind-blown debris on power lines. Highlights of the first day include:

Restoration of the Coastal Water Authority Lynchburg water pumping station, a major source of water for the City of Houston and other smaller communities in the area Service restoration for one water treatment facility and one wastewater treatment plant in the City of Houston Restoration of service to hospitals such as the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in the Texas Medical Center; Memorial Herman Hospital, Memorial City; and the Heart Institute in Clear Lake City Inspections by company personnel of electric substations on Galveston island, with a goal of restoring service to the University of Texas Medical Branch as soon as possible Company damage assessment experts flew over the area conducting aerial surveys and documenting damage.

CenterPoint Energy crews are working around the clock and are ready to integrate the first of more than 7,000 skilled workers who are coming to Houston beginning on Sunday to assist with power restoration.

Patience will continue to be a key factor. Customers need to be prepared to be without power for up to four weeks and possibly longer depending on the severity of the damage. Customers need to keep in mind that CenterPoint Energy crews will have limited access to some areas due to flooding and debris.

Customers are asked NOT to call the company to report outages, but only to report emergencies such as downed power lines at 713-207-2222.

After Ike

It is Saturday, and broad daylight has shown us what happened with Ike last night.

There is quite a bit of destruction.

Here are some photos that I found:

http://www.click2houston.com/slideshow/weather/17465520/detail.html

And a few broadcasts of Houston news stations:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/17467286/

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=weather/hurricane&id=6375108

One of Houston's signature restaurants for the last 40 years, Brennan's, has burned to the ground after a transformer blew.

Galveston is quite devastated. There are starting to be a multitude of photos coming out of the island showing utter destruction of homes, and severe flooding of businesses.

Downtown Houston seems to be ok, though many of the skyscrapers have been damaged and trees bent over like a blade of grass.

We are still in Lafayette, and of everyone I know in Houston, only one still has power. One friend has said that power may not be restored for a week. However, local Houston broadcasts, which I am reading over the Internet, say that it could be up to 4 weeks. I am sure this is more for the very hard hit areas of southeastern Houston and below.

The bayou near our home, Buffalo Bayou, did breach its banks, though it looks like the water didn't go very far. I have been told that there is no power where we live, much like the rest of the city. I don't know anything else related to damage in my neighborhood.

City officials have been urging people to stay indoors all day today and let the emergency crews and the utility crews and the police get out onto the roadways and assess things. I hope we learn more tomorrow.

Anyone with no power can tune into KPRC (NBC) news on 1560 AM. If you know someone in Houston without power and needs to tune into what's happening, let them know about this station.

If I can find some more photos, I'll share them with you. In the meantime, we are kicking back in the RV in my parent's driveway!

Our plan for Hurricane Ike

Wanted to give you an update on what we are doing for Hurricane Ike...



Ike is pointed directly at the Houston-Galveston area now. I've been watching it for the last 24 hours and it has significantly shifted toward us from where it was yesterday. Instead of being on the outer fringe of the cone of uncertainty, Houston is now in the dead center of it.

You can visit the NOAA website here to see the latest 3 day forecast of the storm:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/143912.shtml?3day?large#contents


That said, Houston is inland by 50 miles. We are well out of range of storm surge, but we will get lots of rain, which will be bad for such a flood-prone city, and very high winds. Last estimate showed winds in excess of 78 mph in Houston - it takes 50 mph wind to uproot a tree.

Houston is NOT under evacuation, but pretty much all of the areas to the south and east of us are. We have decided that we are going to head to Louisana to my mom and dad's house in Lafayette. The likelihood for loss of power appears to be high, and I don't want to be in a position of no power for any period of time while I am pregnant.

Because everyone south and east of us being evacuated as of noon today, we have decided we are leaving today too. It appears that leaving tomorrow would be a waste of time. Landfall is estimated to be sometime in the middle of the night Friday, but the storm is so big we'll be feeling it way before then. Even leaving at noon tomorrow would be too late.

The only thing holding us up now is that as I type this I sit in the Dallas airport waiting for my delayed plane to arrive and take me home. Liz and B are both ready, and they are being nice enough to wait for me! :D

So, that is the plan. We do not think we are taking I-10 East - we will search for other eastbound routes north of I-10 to avoid those evacuees on the highway along the way.

We will return to Houston when power is restored. If Houston ends up not losing power, then we'll just come home!

We'll post again after the storm has passed and let you know how it all turned out!

We are in Houston

I couldn't let the day pass without also updating you on the move to Houston.

Yes, we are here!

We moved the week of August 16. It has been a long and arduous process for us, and I am just now getting my head above the mountain of things to do back in San Diego and here.

Everything got here in one piece, and we are grateful to the army of folks who came out in both San Diego and Houston to help load/unload the truck. We had that monster unloaded in less than 3 hours! Then we started the hateful task of unpacking our lives again, starting with clothes and things to eat.

We are still unpacking, but are fully functional once again in the house we are renting. The mosquitoes are truly a force to be reckoned with, and I have been unpleasantly reminded how common cockroaches are in this city. We are lucky enough to have the flying variety in our backyard, thanks to our next door neighbor's banana tree.

I have been spending almost every single business day in Dallas, so it has made the adjustment more difficult. Unpacking boxes has been a painfully slow process, and I am at the point now where I don't feel like doing it anywhere. I hate that in-between state.

Alberto has gotten back into full time work and Liz has also found a full time job. Dudley has adjusted to the new house, and has even started to 'take ownership' of the front and back yard. Basically, he acts like it's his yard now, not like he's in someone else's territory. He still enjoys laying in the sun whenever we go outside, which is very rare now due to the heat and the aforementioned mosquitoes.

I'm looking forward to fall, when the temps will cool a bit and we can go to the Renaissance Festival!

We miss everyone in California but are grateful to spend more time with our friends in Houston.

We'll be back online to post some photos soon, of the house and also of the progress of my pregnancy (I am 25 weeks this week!).

Leg Cramps!

I experienced my first really unpleasant aspect of pregnancy last night. I was woken up out of a very nice sleep with excruciating leg cramping all up and down my right calf. Holy moly, it was awful and I had no idea what to do.

I woke Alberto up and pleaded for him to save me and he came to the rescue with leg massage and Ben Gay. He knew exactly what I needed to do because he gets the same kind of leg cramps from time to time playing soccer.

However, I was stubborn and refused to stretch out my leg or stand up or walk. I went through 3 throbbing painful leg cramps before I was finally convinced to get up and stand. After that it was a very slow process of stretching my calf muscle, hobbling around, and trying to find the coldest surface to stand on (my 'what to expect' book suggested this).

Today, my calf muscle is as hard as a rock and I am still hobbling around the house. Of course, the baby didn't mind all the activity - he was happily performing a tumbling routine in my tummy through it all! :)

Happy Parents to Be

Here are some photos of Alberto and me on the day that we found out that our baby was going to be a boy! (one week ago)



This shirt is so comfortable, and I almost don't even look like I'm pregnant! Thank you Stephanie!

You can tell from this photo how much I am carrying the baby all up front.


















Alberto was so happy that he's having a boy I think his feet were actually floating 6 inches off the ground!

I'm beginning to wonder who the baby will look like. Will he have my green eyes or Alberto's big brown eyes?

What if the baby has blonde hair? I've been paying closer attention to people as I travel, and there are lots of blonde babies with dark-haired parents.


The baby has been moving around quite a bit this week. I'm back in San Diego today, but was in Austin and Dallas earlier this week. I have taken a total of 5 planes since Sunday night. The baby doesn't seem to mind traveling too much, though he did give me a well placed kick just as we were taking off from Houston to San Diego last night. Maybe he knew we were going home!

BABY ALERT!!!

The time has finally come!

The time for us to share the sex of little Baby Serrano!

We had such a wonderful visit today and the ultrasound was everything we could have imagined.

We saw the baby's head, the brain, and the little beating heart, with all four chambers!

After that we saw the baby's spine, the strong little femur bones, and the arms floating dreamily in the amniotic fluid.

Then there was the full face, where we saw everything - the eye sockets, the mouth, the nose....

And then finally, we got to the best part.....

We saw the baby's little winkie!

So, we are proud to announce that little Baby Serrano will be a

B O Y ! ! !

Our little guy was such a good model, he turned for the technician as if on cue. We got to see him making chewing motions with his mouth and I swear we saw a little smile :)

We also saw him punch up into my tummy at the exact moment I felt the jab! That was the coolest thing ever to actually see for the first time what my baby was doing at the same time I felt it.

We saw from the top down and the bottom up and saw him curled up into a little sleeping position along the bottom of my uterus.

It was something I couldn't have imagined. We loved it!