prego update

Today I am 20 weeks pregnant....half way there!!*

So I thought I'd give you a little update on how things are going in the the whole baby-making department: cravings, aversions, annoyances, pleasant surprises, things I'm learning and the like.

Aversion: Toothpaste makes me gag. This is very annoying. I think it's the strong mint flavor (because I'm not very partial to any other minty things these days either.) I've tried kid-flavored toothpaste and that makes me gag, too. But if anyone knows of a toothpaste that doesn't have a strong flavor...let me know...please?

Annoyance: Heartburn, heartburn, heartburn. I have never in my life had heartburn. In fact, my husband had to tell me what this was. It started back in January and I would get it a few times a week. Then that turned into every day. Then multiple times a day. Then I would have to sit up in bed reading for an hour or so at night because I couldn't lay down due to the heartburn. Then I had to start sleeping propped up on two pillows because I was waking up with heartburn. And it didn't matter what I ate...I got heartburn. Heartburn sucks.

Pleasant surprise: My doctor got me a prescription medicine for the heartburn this week...oh. My. GOODNESS!!! My life is good again!! Pregnancy is fun again! I love my doctor!!

Another pleasant surprise: I have full, soft, pretty hair! I had heard that pregnancy makes your nails and hair grow faster. I couldn't care less about my nails but I was surprised to find that my hair isn't just growing a little faster, it's getting fuller and softer, too! My sister and I were cursed with thin, straight, thin, thin hair. And now...for a little while at least...mine's looking pretty good! Good baby!

Craving: Thousand Island salad dressing was my most favorite salad dressing as a kid. And then I grew up and discovered there were more salad dressings in the world besides Thousand Island and I've rarely touched it since. In fact I became much more partial to vinaigrettes. One of the nice things about this pregnancy is that I've been craving healthy foods, especially salads. But the dressing? Thousand Island, please!! In fact, I'm really not digging the vinaigrettes anymore and the thought of Thousand Island makes me salivate! (Really! I'm salivating right now!) I'm reverting to my childhood!

Something I've learned: You can't go on a cruise if you're 24 weeks pregnant. Karl and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this May (I know, right?! 10 years!!). And since it's kind of a landmark anniversary and since it's our last chance for a big getaway before the baby comes we decided to go on a cruise! So we booked it for the week of our anniversary...and THEN saw the fine print! If you're 24 weeks pregnant or later they won't let you on the boat! And how pregnant was I going to be? Well, a lot later than 24 weeks. So...a long customer service phone call later...we got the cruise changed to April when I'm in my 23rd week of pregnancy.

And how's the baby itself doing? Well...see for yourself:



Everything's healthy and strong and in its place! We just got this ultrasound on Tuesday and we opted NOT to find out if it's a girl or a boy. Even though everyone seems to hate us for it, we like the idea of drawing out the excitement and anticipation and adding a fun surprise at the end of all this!


*A note to those not in the know...the normal gestation period for a human baby is 40 weeks. I've always hated it when my pregnant friends talk about their pregnancies or their babies like I should know exactly what they're talking about when I've never been pregnant, never had babies and have no clue. Heck, I'm 20 weeks pregnant and still have no clue. So...for all you clue-less like me: 20 weeks is exactly half way...even though an on-time birth is considered anywhere between 38 and 42 weeks, 40 is average.

favorite shop friday: mayberry sparrow

I love rubber stamps. I never know what to do with them...but I love them. Today's shop is Mayberry Sparrow and has not only some wonderful handmade rubber stamps, but I just might be able to find real use for these...

custom bookplate stamp

garment tag washing instructions stamps

And these are just so great I have to find a reason to use them...

lucky origami crane stamps

mamaw's sewing machine stamp



But if you're like me and still can't find reasons to use rubber stamps, Corra of Mayberry Sparrow has other great handmade stuff in her shop like...

Fiona's crazy quilt notecards

soda pop can ornaments

If for no other reason to visit Mayberry Sparrow (at http://corrabelle.etsy.com/) at least check out the story behind the name in her shop Profile or read her fun blog! Some people are just born with great creating genius! But that's one reason why her stamps are so great...she let's us do some great creating with a little of her genius!

kikeriki

When I was a missionary in Germany many years ago, I learned that German roosters do not say "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" They say "Kikeriki!" It never occured to me that different cultures would reproduce the sounds animals make in such a completely different way!

Last year I somehow stumbled on the coolest website called BzzzzPeek. Their mission is to record children all over the world making animal and vehicle sounds so you can hear and compare them. And it is the cutest site!

For instance, in Croatia a dog says "vowvow" and in Japan a cat says "miamia".

And in America flies say "bzzzz" while in Germany they say "zoomzoom" but in France they say "bzzzzpeek"!

german music: karpatenhund

I'm missing Germany today and since I can't eat Doenners nor ride the train to Karlsruhe nor gaze at the Black Forest out my window at least I can still listen to German music!

Today's group is from Cologne and the girl lead singer in this band (Claire Oelkers) is also a VeeJay for German MTV which is how I first saw her. Karl told me she also had a band and then I heard the band and I really like the band! And now you get to hear the band!

The band is called Karpatenhund (which literally means Carpathian Dog).



They have kind of a fun pop-y sound typical of a lot of German popular music (sounds that get stuck in your head but you really don't mind). Here are a couple of their best known songs:

Zusammen Verschwinden (Disappear Together)

Gegen den Rest (Against the Rest)

And I always really liked this one, Ist es das was du wolltest (Is that what you wanted)...

See? Happy stuff!

If you like like I like you can listen to more here.