7 months, 4 days

Portland is wonderfully cool tonight, although the house still retains some warmth from the earlier part of the day. Mittens has been hanging around this evening, asking for petting and shedding all over.

Mithra, one of my newest family members, is sleeping on the front porch. He follows Mittens around the house daily, heeding not her hissing and annoyed tail lashing, clumsily begging for friendship. Of course, choosy Mittens will have none of it. Their nights are spent together in the darkness of the basement, although I doubt that brings them emotionally closer. To the right is Mithra wearing his favorite (and only, so far) wig. He's hoping to add to his collection but will have to wait until Halloween to do so. He's a chocolate point Siamese with slightly crossed blue eyes and a terrific yowl that could wake the dead.

Gary and Arlo, 35 and 6, are off camping this week. What a relief! As much as I am learning to enjoy their boisterous and noisy energy, having gone so long without having children in my life is making living with one, albeit part time, very challenging. Arlo is very smart, well-behaved, and has little or no behavioral issues, so things are going as well as can be expected. Plus he and Gary give me plenty of space when I need it. (And they're quiet when I nap. Wow!)

To add to the excitement of changing house companions, I'm now 29 weeks pregnant. I'm so glad that I was able to lose 20 pounds last summer; besides starting out in fairly good shape, it also laid the groundwork for some good eating and exercise habits, although as stress threatens to overcome me, they have been falling to the wayside.

Here I am two weeks ago.

My chiropractor, massage therapist, personal trainer, patient coworkers and supportive Gary are helping ease my body aches and pains, and I can truthfully tell people that so far, my pregnancy has been very easy.

Hallelujah!

The baby has gotten to the point of giving me mini earthquakes when she kicks (what IS she doing in there?), my digestion is slowing down a tad (hooray for fiber!) and there are a couple of other mildly annoying symptoms, but so far I have only tiny stretch marks, little swelling in my legs and feet, no protein in my urine, and just a little bit (ahem) of crying for no reason. I had only the briefest amount of morning sickness in the beginning, too. (My ex-mother-in-law had Hyperemesis Gravidarum, I believe, which is like having morning sickness 24-7 throughout all 9 months of pregnancy. It sounds positively AWFUL. (Way to hang in there, Linda!)

I started getting braxton hicks contractions a couple of weeks ago and I pee like crazy day and night (which is only a little bit different from when I'm not pregnant, if you know me) but my midwives say I'm doing fine and I'm looking forward to a continued "normal" pregnancy and hopefully a normal labor and delivery.

Here is a slightly out-of-focus ultrasound photo of the baby's head. She was wiggling around so much that day that it was hard for the tech to get photos, and this was the best. It was taken on March 24th, right after Easter candy went on sale. (ahem) The sugar COULD have contributed to her wiggliness, but who can say for sure?

The sun has finally gone down and I'm ready to snuggle up with a book. The house is so quiet without Gary and Arlo- I'd better get the cats in here for some yowling.