miscellany monday- 22 weeks

1) 22 Weeks today. My next midwife appointment is tomorrow. The little guy is kicking up a storm! Last night he was moving around and Chris and I both saw my belly move. I feel movement throughout the day now, even while I'm moving around myself. He also likes move around while I'm trying to sleep, which I guess gives me some practice for the nights after he's born. I feel good, except that I do notice my feet ache on hot days when I've been busy on my feet all day (which is almost every day). Acid reflux still bothers me some of the time. Celia has started pretending frequently that she has a baby in her belly too. She likes talking about how she's going to have a baby brother, and she's always explaining to people that it won't be for a while because he's still in my belly and he has to grow some more :). I feel like an enormous bovine creature these days. Luckily I know I don't look quite as big as I feel. But almost...

2) When I tell Chris that I don't want to cook dinner, what I mean is that I don't want to cook dinner. I don't want to prepare the food, and I don't want to clean up the kitchen afterward. So when I said this the other day, I expected that we would get take out. Chris said he would take care of dinner, which surprised me but I went with it. Dinner time arrived and the only thing he had done was cook himself a steak. Hmmm... So I ended up getting dinner ready and on the table, and cleaning it all up afterward. And I was very proud that I kept my mouth shut and did not complain. Next time I will be clear. We're ordering out.

3) Our house is a mess. Well, it's really not. It's a beautiful house and despite its problems we're still happy with it and convinced that it's the perfect place for us. It's just that we keep discovering things that the previous owners must have done themselves, that were done so poorly that we basically have to start over again. Outside flowerbeds? Starting from scratch. Bad scrape/paint job on the house? Needs to be completely redone. Deck unmaintained? Now needs to be replaced. Windows unmaintained? Need to be replaced. The to-do list just keeps growing. It's like we live in a century-old house instead of one that's only 25 years old.

4) I have a problem.

There could be worse habits to have during pregnancy, but I really love Diet Coke. I rarely drink any type of soda because diet or not, it's all bad for you. But I must admit that lately I can't stop thinking about Diet Coke sometimes, so I've been having it once in a while...

5) How about an introduction to the loveliest new addition to our yard? My mom worked hard to dig up the overgrown rhododendrons and other shrubs in front of our house, and we're starting from scratch. It's going to look a million times better. Anyway, I fell slightly in love with this Penny Mac hydrangea.

She is lovely. Her blooms are so round and full, and they range from blue to purple to pinkish to cream.

6) With moving, getting settled, and the everyday care of a toddler, this pregnancy is flying by so fast. I've gotten more than halfway through and haven't cracked a pregnancy book since I packed them a couple of months ago for moving. It's time to start making time for the new guy. I'll post all about that sometime soon :)

7) Celia and I were in New Hampshire for a few days to visit my parents. We got to pick berries and peas from the garden, go for a boat ride, visit the playground, and have ice cream at an old time train station where Celia got to see a train come in for the first time.

Here's a picture from when we visited in July of last year. She was just a baby!

8) We got a butterfly bush as a gift from our realtor. It's supposed to attract butterflies. Sure enough, now that it's been in one place for a week or so we have butterflies all over it. It's really pretty cool.

9) Celia has a habit of having a couple yogurt tubes for a bedtime snack (you know, the kids' ones you tear the end off and squeeze the yogurt out of). I always buy a certain brand of organic yogurt for her that doesn't contain anything artificial. Today we were out of her yogurt, and the store didn't have any either. I was horrified at the ingredient lists and artificial flavors (watermelon? cotton candy?) I saw on the other brands. I did get her one that was the best I could find, but after opening one tonight it smelled so artificial that I don't think we'll finish the box. I felt pangs of guilt the whole time she was eating.

10) Oh man. This Outfit of the Week actually had me chuckling out loud to myself every time I thought about it. All I can think of is Agador from The Birdcage. Anyone remember that movie? My little Agador:

Have a good week everyone. It's shaping up to be a busy one for us.