February Break

We bought a new car. I've had my current car since I was 17, so the time has clearly come. We were hoping to drive it until the wheels fell off, and we've come pretty close. It has:

-2 hubcaps left

-no hood ornament (the little Toyota sign)
-the handle on the driver's side door is half broken off from a break-in attempt
-it has to warm up for a minimum of 6 minutes before you drive it-otherwise it stalls (although the ideal time for the car to warm up seems to be around 25 minutes)
-the rear passenger tire deflates itself after several rides
-it's starting using gas at an alarming rate
-only one of the front headlights is working

-one of the knobs to control the heat is missing

-an assortment of dents, including a large one on the hood that appeared mysteriously one night

-the "check engine" light comes on during about 50% of our outings

-without a 30 minute warm up, you can't get it to go over 45 mph on the highway without shaking a little and being very noisy

-oh yeah--and it needs a new transmission

So tomorrow we get to go pick up the new car, which is a 2006 CRV. I have issues with driving an SUV, but I also have issues with being afraid of my car, and needing to tote around a baby and all of its accessories too. I'm rationalizing that we only have one car, instead of two---so our one SUV is using more fuel than a little car would, but less than having 2 cars would. I'll post pictures when we get it.

We went out to visit my family on Saturday--here are some pictures:

me & Emerson:

Play-dough time. I made the best play-dough animals ever made. Dave made a monkey too, but then removed the banana and re-attached it in an inappropriate place, so his play-dough time was done.

Baby Update

We are now 26 weeks along---6 & 1/2 months! I passed my glucose tolerance test last week and had another midwife appointment-everything is totally normal. For those who participated in the poll last week, the current gain was 20 lbs! I'm now up 22 lbs, which is great by the midwife. Although "they" say that the ideal gain is 25-35 lbs, from the beginning I thought that I'd be happy with up to 40 lbs (40 lbs, 40 weeks, it seems fair to me). I'm posting about it because I know that it's secretely satisfying to watch other people to get fat---so enjoy it while it lasts, people!

The baby is now about 14 inches long and just about 2 lbs! (Of course, all of these numbers are averages--I have no way of telling how much the baby actually weighs at this moment). It moves a lot, but not if my mom or sister are trying to feel it. I've actually been able to tell now when it's facing outward and when it's facing in, because when it's facing in I feel less motion and it feels like it's kicking my butt (literally).

It loved the Grammys---every time a performance started it would kick and move around--when the song stopped, the baby stopped. We can't figure out if it really likes the music, or if I have some sort of physical reaction to listening to music that gets the baby going. I play music for it with big headphones on my belly and it wiggles around to that too. Hopefully it will have my ear for music, and not Dave's :)