The weather outside is frightful...

Frightfully cold, that is! Temperatures have been staying in the 20's and 30's around here, which makes me very sad. I've never been a fan of cold weather; was even less of a fan of it when I worked my 12-hour dayshifts and the only time I could see the sun was through the windows or when I was taking a discharged patient to meet their ride. I usually get that seasonal depression really bad around this time of year. So far though, I've been doing pretty good. Heck, my attitude's been better in the last three weeks since I went back to evening/nightshift than it had been the last three months of summer! I feel like I can get up in the morning and accomplish things before I go to work. I can do a load or two of laundry, get my grocery shopping done, clean up the mess from the day before, do some crochet, make sure J has some supper (and possibly a lunch for the next day), and/or spend some time with Logan so he doesn't destroy the house when I leave (he had been good about being left alone since he was neutered in May, and started doing it sporadically for spite in July after I got pregnant). Sometimes its only a few things on the list, sometimes it's everything. I've noticed I'm also waking up earlier/sleeping shorter periods than usual since I went back to "my" shift. Occasionally I still have days where I sleep 12 hours and feel like I could've slept more, but for the most part I'm waking up anywhere between 7 and 9 after my nights off, and around 10 or 11 the day after I work (getting home and to bed between 3:30 and 5am). I think the nicest part about it though, is that our thermostat is programmed to have the house a nice toasty 72 degrees by 5ish for when J gets up, so the house is soooo cozy and warm when I get home AND he already has the bed all warmed up and is all soft and cuddly and eager to snuggle when I crawl in. There's nothing worse than crawling into a cold bed in a cold room and trying to fall asleep after working 12+ hours...maybe that's part of why I sleep so well now!

Last week though, I really felt like I spent no time at home. I worked Sunday night, spent Monday running errands with a girlfriend; went with my brother down to my grandmother's old house almost 90 minutes away (where my uncle and aunt now live) to pick up some furniture and dishes on Tuesday; dropped Christmas stuff off at my other grandmother's and went shopping all day with my mom on Wednesday; and then Thursday and Friday were a flurry of cooking before going to work because nightshift had our own Christmas party while the rest of the unit was out partying Friday night. I'm hoping I wake up at a decent time tomorrow to go get my grocery shopping done before work, because I plan on staying home and doing little things I keep missing on Wednesday - one of which being finishing a chenille blanket I started sewing for Aimee months ago (and didn't finish because I needed to know what color binding to put on it), finishing my parent's Christmas presents, and taking a good chunk out of the Christmas wrapping. I've been putting that off because I didn't know where to put everything once wrapped, since Logan developed a taste for wrapping paper last year. He totally destroyed the wrapping paper and box for my father-in-law's gift last year!

Another thing I need to do Wednesday - Christmas cookies. I made a double batch of oatmeal cookies with butterscotch and dark chocolate chips yesterday, and that's the ONLY batch of cookies I've made this year! I'm thinking only single batches this year though...I had way too many leftovers last year and ended up throwing some out bc they went stale before we ate them. This year's list includes oatmeal (done), peanut blossoms, chocolate chip, and possibly sand tarts. I think I already have sand tart dough in the freezer from last year, but if I don't I won't bother with them. Unless J is desperate for decorated cookies, that'll be about it this year. Other than shopping, I'm a bit of a Scrooge this year - probably because I'm working all Christmas weekend and don't see the point of going all gaga for a holiday I'm not really going to get to enjoy lol

Not much to report in the baby department. We did finally start working on the BRU registry...hoping my mom will go down with me on Thursday to give insight on "Yes you need it/forget about it". Belly is finally starting to expand at an alarming rate, though I'm wondering if part of that is that I can't remember the last time I had a decent BM. O the joys of pregnancy nobody warns you about until you experience it...like when you're too big for your own clothes, but too small for maternity clothes so you try to wear a belly band over your pants and still have to keep hitching them like a gangster...or that you'll spend more time adjusting your clothes AFTER you go to the bathroom than you will actually GOING to the bathroom...or the fact that even though your boobs were more than plentiful before pregnancy, you're eventually going to give Dolly Parton a run for her money. Ugh. I'm going to need to order new bras again next paycheck. That part's getting old. Fast.

It's a....Girl!?!

Well, guess intuition is not to be totally trusted in pregnancy!! I was completely caught off guard by this one! I had joked with J that unless the doc could positively show me proof that this was a girl, I was going for a 3D/4D ultrasound, even if I had to put it on the credit card I'm trying to pay off before the baby comes. Well, when he pulled the probe back to get a kidney shot, I got a clear view of everything. Then he "officially" looked...and even though I knew he was right, I made him recheck three times! He finally looked at me and said, "Unless she sprouts a  penis in the next 20 weeks, it's a girl. This is as good a shot as you're ever gonna get!" Normally he's very serious and straight-faced with me, but I DID make him laugh a little when I told him, "You don't understand - my mom is never going to let me live this down. She told me she knew this was a girl, just like she knew Geoff [my brother] was a boy even when you said he wasn't." Knowing my mom for as long as he has (over 30 years...22 of which as her OB/GYN), all he could do was laugh at that one...because it's definitely true!

Both families are ecstatic - my brothers were hoping for a niece to spoil rotten, and me being the only girl means my dad has a LOT of little girl spoiling left in him! (Mom already "knew", but she's excited for tea parties and princess cakes.) And J's side? Well, this is the first girl born in his dad's family since 1865 - they all thought there was no way we could have a girl. So yeah, I'd say they're just a little thrilled. :)

So our ultrasound was a week ago tomorrow...and I'm finally getting used to the idea that we're having a little girl and not the boy we thought we were going to have. I've finally stopped calling her "it" and "him" (what can I say, I spent 18 weeks thinking it was a boy!). She has a name. I have settled a color scheme for her room, though exact colors won't be decided until closer to Christmas. I hit the thrift stores on Friday and bought some pink and purple onesies and jumpers. And the first of many crocheted blankets this little girl will have has been started.

So without further ado... Aimee Lynne's first pictures...and a new belly shot!

Hand in front of her nose...it's a very skeletal shot

Much better face shot

20 weeks..so about 2 weeks ago. I can barely get those pants over my thighs/hips now...they're in the "postpartum" bin in my closet.