Wow. Let me just say, I don't think I have ever been so proud to be an American. Last night, the country showed that it could be broader and richer and more beautiful than any of us imagined possible. Everything feels different now, like the promise of America has finally been realized. This is huge.

Here are some freaky eyeball sugar cookies I made for Halloween. In case you're wondering, the irises are Life Savers and the pupils are chocolate chips. Yummy + terrifying = perfect.

Being a fetus is no excuse for not wearing a costume. With that in mind, here is our little girl dressed up as Rogue from the X-Men. She got her first trick-or-treat candy from the generous staff at Spangles. Thanks, guys!

Here is a closer view of her costume.

Yep, we had a great time taking the baby out on her first Halloween outing. In the evening we went on something called the Haunted Haskell tour, which was a flashlight tour of the places on Haskell University's campus where ghosties and other specters have supposedly been seen. We didn't see the dead janitor or the red floating orb, but we did see a guy in a very convincing Teen Wolf costume. Oh, and there was also a guy wearing an Obama mask who charged toward us shouting "VOTE FOR ME NEXT TUESDAY!"

All in all, a ghoulish good time.

For anyone interested, here's a video of the newest member of the family. The subject is currently in beta testing, with a scheduled release date of late February/early March.

Oh, and in case you can't tell (what, you're not a lab technician?), it's a baby girl.

One day I went outside, absolutely convinced that there was some kind of decomposing plant matter nearby. I could smell it everywhere, pungent and rotten-smelling. But when I dragged Nick out to verify it, he wasn't able to smell anything at all.

I don't know how it's possible to be this overheated all of the time. Sometimes my face feels like the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

So my body is building a home for the baby, and it's apparently doing it 24/7 based on the symptoms I've been experiencing. Don't they have unions in the uterus? Seriously. Someone's getting overworked.

Flavors are all wrong. I also have a terrible aftertaste following every meal, drink, or snack. What's with that? It's like I taste every flavor, and then I taste the haunted carnival version of the flavor. It's the same basic taste, but all sinister and unpleasant.

Wouldn't it be cool if there were educational tapes and videos that you could use to teach the baby about the world while it was still in the womb? You know, like in Superman.

A few observations:

In my humble opinion, McCain came off as combative and disrespectful, while Obama gave the impression of being informed and presidential. I do wish that Obama had spent more time talking about the economic issues that affect everyday people, instead of all that jazz about earmarks. But whatever. I noticed that McCain repeated that same claim about Obama wanting to raise taxes on people making more than $42,000 a year. Here's a quick rundown of why this is wrong. Oh, and if you turn the sound up during the part where Obama is talking about the prime minister of Spain, McCain can apparently be heard saying the word "horsesh&t" under his breath. That's not something you hear in every debate.