Tax News

Leslie Stephen Jones, counsel for the defense of Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, donated his papers in the case to the University of Texas. There were hundreds of thousands of documents, stored in 171 boxes. Mr. Jones claimed a $300,000 charitable deduction for that donation (well, actually, he only claimed a $294,877 deduction if you want to be precise). The IRS didn’t approve. Neither did the tax court. Yesterday, in Jones v. Commissioner, the Tenth Circuit yesterday also refused to allow the deduction.

Here We Grow

Wife continues to proceed through the nine month journey of pregnancy. Wife continues to have frequent nausea. Fortunately, the spells are becoming less frequent (but when they come, they really come).

Over the last week, Wife has entered an excreting new phase. To use her words, "Before, I just felt sick. Now, I actually feel pregnant." Wife insists that she can occasionally feel the baby kicking. We've also learned why she frequently has a tough time sleeping. During the day, she's moving - which the baby apparently finds comforting. At night, the baby gets restless with all the quiet stillness of sleep. It's an interesting theory.

Update

Everyone is doing well here in the Big Apple. This past week, we had an appointment with Wife's doctor. I skipped out of work for a little while and joined them. The doctor says everyone is doing great. Baby is growing just like the kid should. The doctor was optimistic that we might discover whether we should start buying pink or blue stuff, but the kid had other ideas. As the doctor pressed on Wife's stomach, we watched the kid to a flip over and turn its back to us. Needless to say, the doctor did not get a good view of the genitalia region. The child's heartbeat continues to be strong.

Wife's health is slowly improving. Instead of constantly being sick, not it comes and goes. Her appetite is not really strong, but she is keeping her food down. She's also been more active. Yesterday, Wife insisted on going out to the farmer's market. She also insisted on walking the entire round trip of three miles.

Growing

According to our infallible calendar, Baby A is now about five inches long.

Beginning the Second Trimester

We find ourselves almost one week into the second trimester (and possibly further along, pending the results of the next visit with our medical professional). Wife is still feeling pretty queasy. We keep hearing that one day she will wake up feeling wonderful. That hasn't happened. Fortunately, it appears that she is slowly feeling a slightly better. She's now able to keep some of her meals down. Her appetite isn't great, but it is stronger. Of course, that might be the result of solely feeding her what she likes: french toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, soup, oatmeal and steamed vegetables (of course, not at the same time...that would be gross).

Baby A appears to continue its development:

• The nostrils, cheeks, lips, cheeks and chin are clearly defined.
  
• S/he is developing reflexes. Touching its palms or soles of feet would make its fingers or toes wiggle.
• Muscles are attaching to its face, so it can open its mouth, smile and frown.