23 Weeks!

This week's highlights:

Size of baby: still a papaya according to The Bump, babycenter.com says "large mango" (as opposed to small mango at 19 weeks?), and one website I found says that baby is the size of a "small doll, a real tiny baby" ..... whatever
Maternity clothes: all the time, and with no shame! .... my jeans were loose after being in the wash the other day.... how does that happen???
Movement: from little taps to BIG kicks, baby moves a TON, but really likes to party around 11pm, 4am and 6am ... sometimes its not even a kick really, but a shake, like if you're belly had hiccups
Food cravings: still in love with grapes, cottage cheese, and chocolate milk
What I miss: still the same... this won't be changing.... though I have more good days than bad days with this now
Sleep: still pretty good, and I've started having a few dreams about the baby, including finding out that we're having a ...... yeah, I'm not going to tell you what I dreamed we're having!  Statistics show that mom's intuition is right 70% of the time, so we'll see
Symptoms: been really tired and a lot of back pain ... the doctor told me to up my red meat (for the iron) to at least 3 times per week - I told Chris I took that to mean I need to eat steak at least 3 times a week!
Best moment this week: finding out that I hadn't gained any weight in the last couple of weeks since our last appointment ..... and our nursery furniture arriving this week unexpectedly!  It is now sitting in our spare room and it feels BIZARRE that we now own nursery furniture
What I am looking forward to: still CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

This week was a busy week.  Split over 2 days, it took me about 10-12 hours to complete the first cookie order I got after Monday's tree lighting.  It was for a woman in the Embassy who requested 5 dozen iced farm animals - sheep, pigs, and cows.  She is a very sweet lady who not only paid me slightly more than my set price, but also gave me a cookie cutter set of farm animals because I'm "going to be a mom and will need these things."  I thought that was very sweet of her.  She also told me that another woman in her office had said she wondered if I could just bake cookies for her to have for her kids to decorate, so in addition to the order for the party next weekend, I will bake those today.  But, I don't have to do any decorating, so it will only be a few hours of work today, not bad.

On Wednesday, we had our last doctor's appointment for the year.  I didn't look at the scale as per usual, and was ecstatic when I was told that I was the exact same as the last time!  I expected to be up at least 1 or 2 pounds, because I'm definitely in the realm now where I could be gaining a pound per week.  I can at least attribute one pound of weight gain to the baby now, who should be weighing in at just over a pound now.  My belly was also measured for the first of what will be many times now to check the fundal height (uterus position).  For anyone who doesn't know, they don't measure around your belly, rather the measurement is taken of the "mound" of belly that is now present, from about 4 inches below and above the belly button.  I'm measuring right on track, and baby's heartbeat was perfect.  My blood pressure has also been very good, so I'm happy about that too.  I will go back on January 10 for the dreaded glucose test (which will hopefully not be as bad as I am imagining, especially since I found out that I do NOT have to fast for it) and my next check-up.  Then beginning with the next appointment, I will be going every 2 weeks!  Things are going to move quickly at that point..... yikes!

Thursday was spent decorating cookies, and Friday night we went to a very nice Embassy Christmas party, the same one we went to last year right before the trip to Arizona.  Its pretty boring in that we never know anyone at these things, but in all honestly, we go for the food and drink.  We enjoyed some yummy food and Chris enjoyed the free wine.  We were happy that we weren't missing that event.

Yesterday our new washer and dryer were delivered to us to replace the ancient ones!  I never imagined that I could be so excited to get a washer and dryer.  As I said in an earlier post, our washer began going in and out of life this week, so our landlord bought new ones for us, and to our surprise, we found out that they could be delivered to us before the trip.... though it was not a smooth day.  If only our landlord was capable of covering small details, yesterday would have been much easier.  On Friday I got a call from the store that they would be delivered between 7 and 11 the next morning, but closer to 7 because our house was the first stop on the list.  Prior to this, our landlord told us that the delivery guys would disconnect and move the old appliances for us.  NOT TRUE.  Due to insurance reasons, they are not allowed to do ANY disconnecting OR installing of appliances.  It says so on the website, and I bet they told him that at the store, but of cosue he didn't listen.  The dryer was no problem for Chris to unhook.  The washer, however, was impossible.  The hoses could NOT be removed with our tools and we were afraid they might be rusted on.  And, as if getting up at 7 for no reason on a Saturday wasn't annoying enough (the guys didn't show up til after 8), here we sat with our new dryer in the hallway, and our new and old washers in the laundry room.  I tried calling the landlord but he didn't call us back for a couple of hours.  In situations like this, it is imperative that Chris talks to him, otherwise Pregzilla comes out (though to be fair, it was just a frustrating situation, and Chris was aggravated too).  In the end, the landlord called his realtor, the realtor called "a guy", and "the guy" and his 12-year-old son came to fix everything.  Before they got here yesterday evening though, the realtor called to say that "the guy" speaks very little English, and to call her if we need translation.  FANTASTIC.  It ended up not so bad because as it turned out, his son spoke perfect English.  About an hour and a half later, we were all set, and very grateful for our nice front-loading machines.

After everything settled down yesterday, we did something that is my very, VERY favorite Christmas tradition - we watched It's a Wonderful Life.  Cheesy maybe, but I watch this movie EVERY Christmas, and have for years.  One of my favorite memories of my dad is sitting in the living room watching, and at the same time having him talk about how he never liked Jimmy Stewart and how he always "over-acted" ..... and yet, there we would be, watching the movie.  It's very special to me, and its not Christmas unless I get to sit down and watch George Bailey's adventure in learning how precious life is.  It always makes me smile and cry at the end when his brother Harry toasts to him and calls him the "richest man in town" and there's just something wonderful about it.

Today its a nasty day in Ottawa, though we're not horribly bothered by it since we're leaving tomorrow morning.  As I write, ice rain is coming down, on top of the snow that fell this morning.  Though, it could be worse - originally the forecast called for about 2 feet of snow today!  As of last night, only about 2 inches were expected, so that's much better (and MUCH better than what the midwest has gotten hit with - yikes!).  Later we will pack (which will be easy for me since I have a limited wardrobe right now), and I will bake cookies.  Tomorrow morning we'll head out, drop off my baked goods at the Embassy, and head toward Syracuse, with a stop at the dentist's along the way.  In Syracuse, we'll get Bailie to her dog-sitter, and then Tuesday we will be on our way!  I'm ready to be in warm weather and wear my flip-flops.  I'm praying for a smooth travel day.  I think Bailie's ready, but it will be hard not to worry about her.

Not sure when I'll get the bump picture up, but I'll probably at least take one tomorrow.  I can't believe I'm 23 weeks pregnant.  In just one more week, at 24 weeks, we will have reached viability, which means that if our baby were to be born after that point, so early God forbid, s/he could survive outside the womb, which is pretty amazing.  I think our baby's going to keep cooking til April though.  I'm pretty sure s/he doesn't want to spend anymore time in the cold than we do.

See some of you soon!