So, I'm now 25 weeks pregnant! When I went to the doctor on Wednesday, everything was going great. He said the baby is about 1 pound, 9 ounces. Willow was 1 pound, 13 ounces at birth. Pretty crazy. People ask me all the time, "how are you feeling?". I feel great. I love being pregnant, I really do. But I also felt great last time, right up until right before Willow was born. So feeling great isn't a very good indicator of how things are going. I do keep checking out my ankles, making sure they're not swelled up. That was the first sign of something being wrong before. I have to say, I'm not as stressed out as I imagined I would be at 25 weeks. I am basically just pretending to be a regular pregnant lady, ha. I feel a little better now that I'm at 25 weeks...sort of past that danger zone. When I was at 22, 23, 24 weeks, right at the edge of viability, I was a little more worried. At least I know that if shit hits the fan now, the baby will at least live, probably. Josh and I even went to a childbirth class last night. I have been doing a lot of reading on the topic, so I didn't learn a whole lot, but I think Josh did.
I've been getting ultrasounds at every appointment in Wausau, but I haven't wanted to share them because they were scary-looking. Finally last week, we got a decent one:
We still don't know if it's a boy or a girl. That face looks feminine to me - I actually think it looks like Willow. But who knows. All I know is, those 4-D ultrasounds are pretty amazing. I have a little worry that all the ultrasounds might be harmful to the baby somehow. But I also think the benefits of being monitored this closely outweigh any risks from the ultrasounds.
Anyway, enough about that. Here's what we've been up to:
We went to Minnesota for Thanksgiving, visiting my family and Josh's family. However, we didn't really take any photos. We still don't have any snow to speak of as I'm typing this (although there is a big storm on the way right now, supposedly). A couple weekends ago, Josh was busy doing something, and Willow and I went on a hike, just us girls (oh, and Scout, too, of course). This was at the nature area out on the Houghton Canal, out by Oskar. I got some pretty cute pictures during our snack break.
Speaking of Josh, he quit his job at the Marketing Department and went back to working at Halonen's. He's much happier, and so am I. I think he wasn't meant for white-collar work...he says he likes to have something to show for a day's work (like a completed sprinkler system or a dozen snow scoops) rather than just pushing paper all day. I'm just happy to have him home in time to make dinner! :)
Last weekend we got our Christmas tree. We found the best place to get it up by Kearsarge. Only 15 bucks for a really nice balsam fir tree. Much cheaper than the place we went last year. Here's one shot of us decorating it.
Yesterday we took Willow to see Santa. She was not afraid to talk to him at all; in fact he commented on how she wasn't afraid to speak her mind and how talkative she was. He probably thought she was younger than she really is. She told him that she wanted an airplane and a bear. Prompted by Santa as to specifically what kind of bear, she said a brown kodiak bear.
Mrs. Claus was there too.
Then kids could decorate cookies. Pretty fun.
We recently (finally) turned Willow's car seat around so she faces forward. It's been pretty humorous; she's become quite the backseat drive. "Mama! Watch out for that car!" and "See that arrow? That means there's a curve coming up!". When we first turned it around, she was squealing with excitement like she was on a roller coaster.
Here's a parting shot of Willow cozy by the fire.
I doubt I will get a chance to update again before Christmas...so, I hope everyone has a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
