The past three months have been a creative nightmare here at Dooce Headquarters, primarily because the parasite in my body has made it so that the definition of a good day is one in which I get up and actually brush my hair. Days when I actually take a shower or break out a tube of mascara are classified as really good, and on the rare occasion that I take a shower and brush my hair, I award myself gold stars of excellence.

Now that I'm feeling better and taking regular showers Jon and I have been trying to get out of the house more, especially since he doesn't have to worry about taking me out in public with my hair caked in hormonal grease. For the past several weekends we've been going hiking with the dog, and last weekend we started taking pictures like we used to.

I've decided that as a means of self-motivation I'm going to try and publish a weekly set of photos that will include a status snaphot of my growing belly. This may or may not work, and in a couple weeks I may abandon the whole idea because I'm lazy like that. But I keep thinking that it would be fantastic at the end of this pregnancy to have a weekly collection of photos that shows me getting bigger and bigger and slower and slower on the hiking trail, if only to be able to show it to the baby when he/she is old enough to respond to guilt and manipulation.

This week: Hiking at Mirror Lake, just up past Kamas, Utah. We drove through torrential thunderstorms up to 10,000 feet and took pictures in the rain and lightning. The hike was super simple, just a cobblestone path around the lake. Plus, there's a picture of my belly at 15 weeks.

Launch Mirror Lake.