This week, my baby is as big as a bell pepper. Let's recap: lemon, apple, avocado, turnip, bell pepper. Does anyone else think these could all potentially be the same size? I need to switch to a different pregnancy update site.

But, that little bugger has been going crazy. I think he/she is secretly into kickboxing. And last night I swore that I could feel it kick from the outside and then crazily made Kyle keep his hand on my belly for half an hour... to feel nothing. In TWO WEEKS we have our boy?girl? ultrasound!!! Perhaps then I will post my next belly picture.

Also, the sun has made a short appearance for the last three days! Yesterday I decided it was time to get outside for a walk (even though the sun came out, it was actually 20 degrees colder than it has been all month- a fine time to head outside for a walk). I made it to the end of the driveway before I decided that it was time to turn my walk into a run to be warmer. I think I MIGHT have run a quarter of a mile before I decided to go home because my face and hands were burning.

I am so sick of you, January- with your sunless days and your surprise dumps of snow and the way that you seem like you are never going to end. I CAN'T WAIT to go somewhere else. Even if it is another sunless, snowy, cold place. Maybe it will trick me into having fun for long enough that January will then be over before I realize it. (And that is actually exactly what will happen when I go to Lake Geneva and then Chicago next weekend and return on FEBRUARY 6th.)

I get these weekly pregnancy updates and, progressively, my baby has been compared in size to a lemon, apple, and an avocado... which are all about the same size in my eyes. It's not like saying a tangerine, an orange, and a grapefruit.

I felt the baby kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!

We were just sitting on the couch and all of a sudden I felt.....thud...........thud...........................thud.
SO COOL!

Today, just for fun, I started looking around online for baby stuff- and I feel so overwhelmed. There seem to be so many ridiculous things (like pacifier bags?!), but it's so hard to tell what would be useful and what is just a waste.

Can any moms tell me what were some really useful things/brands of things that you used? And/or what was a total waste of time? I'm thinking that I probably want a jogging stroller, does anyone have any experience with jogging strollers? Can I use my jogging stroller as my regular stroller (I would really like to, if at all possible)?

If you're feeling inspired by this post to send me a full-out email of things I need, feel free! All suggestions are welcome at this time!

I want this shirt!!! Maybe then I would actually run again.

www.runlikeamotherstore.com

We are so excited! Last night, with some extra fun money we had, Kyle and I bought a brand new camera! This is our first SLR- I'm not sure either of us know how to use it, but we'll figure it out. On the way home from the office after buying it, I said to Kyle, "Kyle, I'm seriously going to take like thousands of pictures of our baby with that camera every day. I'm going to be so annoying. Just so you know." And then Kyle dreamed (did you know that "dreamt" isn't a word? I didn't.) about our camera last night and woke up this morning and asked me if I thought it would come in the mail today. Um, no, not today, Kyle. Here she is:


PS. Kyle just walked by the window carrying a GIANT rugged cross on his back.

For the second time now, I have experimentally tried to stop taking my Zofran. I didn't take it yesterday afternoon and evening and I felt perfectly fine. But then I didn't take it this morning when I woke up and I felt awful. I kept trying to tough it out to see if it was just a mental thing, but I knew it was time to pop a pill when certain smells in the bathroom were making me gag. Ugh. I just want to feel better. Everyone keeps saying, "Oh, you should be feeling better so soon" and "The second trimester is so great, you feel so energized," but I don't believe it. Yet, anyways.

Also, yesterday Kyle dislocated his shoulder for the fifth time. He's fine. We have such a normal protocol now. Run to the hospital, tell them about his tolerance for drugs, put it back in, come home and get the comfy sling, and Kyle's back to work shortly thereafter. It all seems so normal.

We had a really long run of work the past few weeks. We were down in Chicago for Christmas for five days, which was really fun, but not at all restful- I think the last three nights I never went to bed before midnight and kept having to wake up so early the next morning. And then we went straight into a week of Christmas camp, a weekend retreat, and the North Park ski class. Literally, the day one group left, another one came that evening. It was a very long time with no days off.

The day that North Park left, we hopped in a van with the Frasiers for an eight hour drive down to Manistee for our friends Matt and Beth's wedding. Again, it was a fun weekend, but not so restful. And now, back to work and one of our biggest groups of the year coming this weekend. Last night it was SO WONDERFUL to be done with work at 4:30 and come home and eat dinner and lay on the couch. It wasn't a whole day off, but it felt so good just to sit at home for a few hours and get a decent amount of sleep. I think next Monday or Tuesday we will finally have a full 24 hours to do whatever we want! I can't even believe it!

Yesterday I got to open TWO packages! One was from my sister and it was an amazing winter survival package. And the other was from my sister-in-law, erin, and was a book that I'm really excited to read. Other than that it was a rough day at work- I really hurt my back trying to do too much and then got a super bad headache in the afternoon for the rest of the evening (and I hate that I can only take Tylenol because it does nothing for me). BUT when I came home from work I found a loaf of cardamom bread that our neighbors had dropped off for us, and I went upstairs, put on my new cd from Amy, ate some cardomom bread, and made a delicious dinner (which I seriously love doing!). It was the best part of my day!

I've become completely consumed by Harry Potter books. I have read the first two in two weeks. Yesterday I cozied up with this snack to finish The Chamber of Secrets and then watched the movie with Sara Malecki that evening. Special thanks to Joe and Aunt Marilyn for contributing to this snack.

A little late, but here are pictures of us cutting down our Christmas tree. Yay for free Christmas trees!

Gotta wear your orange in November. Don't want to get shot.

This is the tree we finally settled on.

What happens, of course, when you get a Christmas tree for free, is that you actually have to cut down a really giant tree and then cut the top off for the Christmas tree part.

Pretending to help.

Very manly Kyle, carrying our Christmas tree home.

Obligatory belly picture.

Me and the baby at 14 weeks.