Getting bigger all the time!

It is almost time for another picture, this one is 3 weeks old and I have grown! My wardrobe has become hard to manage as my belly expands and my clothing options shrink. I have gained 3 pounds in 3 months.  I am waiting to feel the baby move, which seems kind of surreal at this point but may happen in the next 2 weeks. I am now 15 weeks along, which means I am in the second trimester and feeling less stomach problems and fatigue. I still wake a few times a night, but no longer need to eat in bed.
  We had friends and Fr. Francis from Dartmouth over this weekend for a house blessing (and viewing the Vandy/UK                 12 weeks - Feb. 4              basketball game).  He had a set of  readings and prayers  for the occasion and then sprinkled holy water in every room.  This event prompted us to finally put a few photo frames and paintings out. We have a long way to go in decorating, but we have made some progress picking family room furniture. The current occasional table fads are not for us - coffee tables with hinged tops that lift for dining and lots of glass. We will have to figure out what to do with the floor and walls in the baby's room. I am
excited about our new vacuum cleaner (how domestic, I know)!  After years of a lightweight, bag-less vacuum that Brian did not know how to maintain, I was sick of it! It is so much less work to have a vacuum with power, hoses, accessories, and a bag that I can remove without coughing. I never thought a vacuum could excite me!
For Valentine's Day, we bought ourselves nice ice skates in time for the annual Dartmouth Pond Party. Casual figure skates are so nice now - lined and strong, like rollerblades. Brian realized that he had never worn the right size skates, and was much more stable on the ice! We did not have any accidents this year, we just enjoyed visiting with friends, roasting marshmallows, and eating Sugar on Snow (hot maple syrup on shaved ice).
We have both been very busy working this month. I am following a lot of my own patients, including a few newborns (we don't see many babies in the practice) and working a lot of Saturday mornings alone. Brian has several projects in process along with reading applications. I know he enjoys working from home a few days a week, but it is hard to remember that he has another month of reading files before decisions are completed. Brian signed up for his first course for his Dartmouth graduate program, which starts in a month. We are really excited to meet my parents and sister in Fort Myers for a few days this week to relax on the beach (though Brian will still have to work while we are there). It will be nice to see my family, as I did not see them much at Christmas. We thought we would be craving warmth in Feb, but we have had just one day of snow in the last six weeks. It has been 40's most of the month, with more sunshine than we saw all summer! It seems hard to believe it is Vermont!

Where is the snow?

Crazy 2 weeks! A week ago, I had some concerning symptoms with the pregnancy. So, Brian met me at the midwifery clinic so we could try checking for the baby's heartbeat. It was a reassuring sign and we were relieved. We had an ultrasound where we saw the baby move, and what a mover we have! It looked like the baby was doing sky-diving tricks in the womb. It is hard to believe that all this is going on inside of me. So, the baby appears healthy and I have had no signs since (besides an expanding tummy). We have our 13 week appointment Thursday, so I am almost in the second trimester.

Brian and I tackled the dirtiest part of the house - a bathroom light and fan that looked as though it had been undisturbed since it was installed in 1965. People, clean your fans! Now it seems to work better. Brian made a big improvement in the shower by changing the leaking shower head. I was very proud of my handyman. We are on a quest for family room furniture, so can update on our "recent college graduate" look: futon (not comfortable as a sofa), IKEA recliner, and a cheap glass table. After a day of shopping in our neck of the woods, we found the sofas were all over-priced. We took a long trip to a shopping area in Salem, NH last weekend and are debating a very long Ashley sofa and a higher priced Pottery Barn sofa. We have yet to find tables we agree upon! If only it were 1960 and I could pick everything out with a decorator.

We enjoyed a Dartmouth hockey game where students threw tennis balls into the rink to celebrate a goal. I am still too tired to do much else, and Brian is very busy with work, so we are excited just to eat together.