It's...

Have you ever thought about how strange the phrase "It's a...." (when it comes to someone's sex) is?

I mean, you're still using the It in that sentence, to refer to him/her.  I just find it strange.

And don't get me started on "its."

But anyway, I guess you're waiting to find out if we were able to determine the sex of our baby yesterday at our appointment.

We were.

Would you like to know what we're having?

It's.....

a girl!

Week 18

It's been a busy week.  We visited an apartment that we liked a lot, about 18 minutes from Amherst (we're about 13 minutes away now, but who's counting).  We filled out an application on the spot, and I called the landlord (who was not the one showing it to us) the next day with a few more questions.  He asked if we were relatively certain we wanted the place, and I said, unequivocally, yes.

He talked to our current landlady and offered it to us last Thursday night, saying that he wanted to have the place rented by 2/15.  This Friday, that is.  Our current landlady wants thirty days' notice, understandably, but we wanted this place enough that we were willing to pay a bit on both, and be able to take our time moving in.

We spent a lot of this weekend packing and finding more stuff for Goodwill.  Of course, getting to Goodwill is another story.  You may have heard there was a lot of snow 'round these parts.  Nothing too eventful happened to us--we didn't lose power or heat, we just stayed inside.  The internet even continued to work, so we just streamed Netflix and worked on packing.  I'm going to try to get the van from work this coming weekend so we can start shuttling things over to the new place.

We have to meet the neighbors at this place early this week, and sign the lease.  It sounds like they had bad tenants before.  I'm hoping we get a lot of help from people at work for the furniture-moving, but we're really hoping to have most of the small stuff done before then.

Friday morning we'll have our next ultrasound and will attempt to find out the sex.  I think I've felt the baby move three times now, but it's hard to be sure.

Not sure how many more pictures we'll have in this location.  The bread board is already packed and you can see the blue bins, waiting to be filled, in the back room there.  They're doing a Biggest Loser-type competition at work (which obviously I'm not participating in), so there's a scale out every week, and I can tell that I've gained a bit.  (I'm still ten fewer pounds than I was at my heaviest.)

I got a little dizzy last night, but I've mostly been feeling good.  I had some pretty amazing mood swings today, too.  They were mostly good.  Mostly.  :)

Bros

I was thinking about my brother the other day, because it was his birthday.  And then, it was three days later.  Oops.  Happy birthday, (Uncle Traveling) Matt!

And speaking of brothers and sisters, that is my segue into the fact that we'll be finding out the sex in two weeks (assuming the baby cooperates).  We'll find out if we're having a Fraasslet, or a Fraasslette.  :-D

I had another appointment yesterday, just a quick one.  My blood pressure is great, my weight is fine, and I'm allowed to eat gorgonzola cheese (HOORAY).  That was on my list of Very Important Questions, and now I know.

I brought home a bunch of boxes from work and we're going to continue the house-purge/apartment searching.  We found two places we liked enough to fill out applications for.  (That doesn't feel right.  Oh well--sentence construction be damned.)  We're waiting to hear back on both, which is frustrating, because I think we both want one more than the other.  I'm worried that we'll get "stuck" with the other (more expensive) place, even though we did like it.  It's definitely more of an inconvenience.  It's farther away and not on the busline for Andy to get to work.  But it is significantly bigger and has laundry downstairs.

We also need to spend some time discussing and researching doulas.  From what I've read about them, it sounds like something that would be very helpful to have, and most offer a free initial meeting.  So, we should get started on that process if we're going to do it.

I'll try to do another round of pictures sometime this weekend.

Pictures!

First, have some pictures of Brisco.  Here he is, with his Mr. Bill (with the voicebox kindly REMOVED, thank you Wendy)

 Chasing Mr. Bill

 Growling at me even though he ran over to where I was sitting  :)

 Here's me, fifteen weeks and six days pregnant.  How can they tell the days?  How may I count the ways?  I don't know.

Here are the ten-week ultrasound pictures, as well:

That was when the baby was the size of something ridiculous, like a blueberry.  Now it's more like the size of my fist.  But not the size of Andy's fist.  Let's not get carried away.

Today we went and saw an apartment.  The sixth or so that we've seen, I think.  It was significantly smaller than the one we're in now, but also significantly cheaper.  We've got two more to see tomorrow.  One is an open house just down the street from where we are now (also pretty cheap), and the other is more expensive, but bigger and farther away.  We'll figure it out, and I'm not as stressed as I originally was about it, but that didn't stop me from having a zombie dream the other night.

Pictures (lack thereof)

I keep trying to remember to get my PDF ultrasound pictures into another format so I can post them here.  It's probably easy, but I haven't tried to do it.  Soon.

I also keep trying to remember to have Andy take a picture of me.  You know, growing belly and all.  But by the time I get home, walk the dog, and make dinner, I'm usually already in my Big Boy sweatshirt (as Andy can attest) and don't feel much like modeling.

I should though.  I'm going to want a record of it.  After all, what kind of concrete proof of pregnancy could there possibly be?

We're looking for a new place to live because our current house is going on the market in the spring.  A realtor (who is coming to scope the place out this Sunday) mentioned that it's often easier to sell houses that have stable tenants because then the new owners have that built-in income.  So it might not be vital that we move.

But there's plenty we don't like about this place, so I've been diligently watching craigslist.  For one thing, if we stayed under a new owner, it would almost certainly get more expensive.

We saw a place yesterday that was particularly bad, though it wasn't a surprise due to the low price.  It was easy to pass on it, as the owner/downstairs tenant was incredibly unfriendly and a smoker.  Also one of the wood floors was painted black for some reason.

Today, I started some refried beans in the crockpot and we're going to have baked chimichangas for dinner. I have to stop by the farm on the way home from work and pick up the week's share.  Then Brisco would probably appreciate a walk.  Until his tender paws get cold and he starts limping.  He is a great dog, but a terrible Husky.

Pictures soon.

Immune System

You've probably heard how pregnant women need to be treated with kid gloves when it comes to illness.  You know, we're in the special group that can get flu shots when they're not widely available, that kind of thing.  I always knew that pregnant women's immune systems were not as good as the average person's, but I always assumed it was just due to the sheer number of other things going on in a woman's body.  Maybe resources were just spread too thin.

Nope.  It's so our bodies don't attack our invading babies.

Neat, huh?

I was going to upload our ultrasound pictures, but I'm having trouble figuring it out and I've only got a few minutes left at work, anyway.  So you'll just have to wait for those.  They're four weeks out of date already, so basically useless.  (But still cool!)

I'm feeling pretty good these days.  I've made it back to the gym a few times, which I avoided during the first trimester.  I kept walking the dog regularly, so I wasn't getting NO activity, but it's good to be doing a little more.  Still taking it pretty easy when I do work out.

Andy will no doubt want me to point out that I'm still falling asleep on the couch some (most) evenings, but at least now it's usually past 8 pm.

I should also point out that I'm wanting eggs over-easy like nobody's business.  That is, unfortunately, one to skip.  I'm going to the grocery store after work, and I'm sure I'll find something that's not on my list that I NEED.  That's when I add it to the list so it magically becomes OK to buy.

We're also continuing the process of apartment-hunting, which is draining.  Last weekend was full of visits, but since there's nothing on the agenda for this weekend, I'm kind of hoping it stays that way.  I would love to de-stress.

Pregnant Women are Smug

I'm pregnant, y'all!  13 weeks along now.  (And that's Martinelli's Sparkling Cider.)

We had an ultrasound at ten weeks, and we heard the heartbeat last week.  And then again a few days ago, when another expecting couple lent us their fetal doppler.  It was very Tom Cruise and the ultrasound machine-y.

I'll update more soon!  So excited!  :-D