April travels

I cannot seem to get used to feeling this baby moving around inside of me.  It first felt like digestion and gas, but now is more specific in location and intensity, usually coming for 10 or 20 minutes.  Brian has not felt the baby, yet.  I feel like I am growing 10 pounds a week, and parents at the clinic have begun to ask about my pregnancy.  I have been having some funny heart beats, which may be due to the extra blood flow (and I am probably more sensitive to heatbeats than most).  I am going to a specialist to check things out.

We had a baby shower!  I realized I had never been to a real baby shower (besides group ones at Maggie's Place).  Brian had to go to Houston for work, so his family threw us a shower.  It was beautiful!  We had a diaper cake (make of diapers, not food) and a real cake, games, and babies clothing decor.  We have a lot of mint green and yellow!  I feel a lot more prepared, now that we have some baby stuff.  Now, I just have to show Brian how everything is used.  My trip to Houston was short, but nice, and Brian was busy working a lot.  I took a short trip to Connecticut this weekend to see Bing and Stacey (old friends from Nashville).  I am exhausted, but have been trying to see them for years!  Mystic is a neat little town, and I was able to stop at the big stores for house things.
The house had changed quite a bit in the past two weeks, as our furniture started to arrive.  We have a couch!  We have a solid coffee table and side tables, and lamps, so it looks like a real living room.  We were bale to finally put the futon in the den, so it has more than just a keyboard (and now has sleeping accommodations for guests).  Brian has been organizing and we hope to do a ton of work with my mom and sister coming to town for a week.  They are driving out to bring things that Brian and I could not move with us when we got married.  Plus, they are going to help work on our house!  Brian will be busy working a weekend event for admitted students and writing his first academic paper in years. 

We will find out in August!

Everyone keeps asking us if we are going to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.  We decided to find out the baby's gender at birth.  The baby cooperated with us, but not revealing too much during the ultrasound last week.  I think it is a healthy 9 ounce baby, based on the tech's reaction and the strong heartbeat.  We had a great view of the spine, but were not able to see the facial profile well.  Brian has chosen to use the nickname Taquito, at least until birth.  We are a little less overwhelmed by choosing baby stuff after hours at Babies-R-Us in MA and the Walmart website, but still amazed at how much there is to purchase.  I am growing nice and steady and fit very little of my old clothing.  I am now half-way to my due date!

April 1, 20 weeks
We are still preparing to start work on the nursery, but have starting thinking about the outside of the house.  I started my vegetable garden indoors and was surprised by some flowers blossoming outside.  I realized we had no hose or rake!  We have two big bare spots in the lawn, one from shade and the other from removing the old oil tank.  We have to figure out how to tighten gutters and do a few other tasks.

We enjoyed a weekend in Kent, CT, a small town centered around a boarding school.  Two of Brian's old co-workers work there (and are expecting in June).  It was neat, but we learned that western Connecticut is slow roads with few places to stop for food or restrooms.  Brian really enjoyed the trip, as this month has been a hard push to finish the decisions for Dartmouth's admissions.  Things will not settle down easily, though the mailing are finished, because Brian has to plan a weekend for admitted students and has become a student himself!  This was his first week of class as a Masters of Liberal Studies student.  He is taking an undergraduate course on Mexican history and he admitted some of his classmates to the college.  I am still working 3 or more days a week and starting to plan my maternity leave.  Luckily, my clinic is very flexible in the fall.  I can't imagine working 40 hours a week as a mother, home-owner, and wife.
I have become a sponsor for the Dartmouth RCIA candidate, so I have been learning more about my faith and the process of becoming Catholic.  We are excited for Easter and enjoyed a night of friends and dying eggs.  We tried Contra dancing, a type of New England folk dancing that is similar to Irish Ceili dancing.  I am VERY thrilled with unseasonable weather (well, the warmth, not the flooding).