Oh, We're Halfway There

That's right, today I am 20 weeks into my pregnancy, and I've got 20 weeks left. It's kinda amazing how 20 weeks can simultaneously feel long and short (both looking back and looking ahead). We made really good progress on the house this weekend--pictures to come!--though most of it was existing projects that need to be completed before we can get to projects in Operation: Babyfying the House. But progress is progress!

How I'm Feeling
Great! Around week 14ish, morning sickness went away enough that unisom nipped it completely in the bud (whereas before, unisom made it more bearable). And then, sometime in the last two weeks, I was able to go completely off unisom, though there are occasional days when I'm feeling a bit nauseous. I've got a lot more energy, though it dips way more than I'm used to (pre-pregnancy). And my motivation is back! Yay! So things are going along swimmingly.
I felt the baby move for the first time during the 15th week. The fluttering was so weak and unexpected, that at first I couldn't pinpoint where it occurred--thought perhaps my heart(?)--and then I realized it must be the baby moving. It moves fairly regularly, especially these days. At least once a day, although perhaps more because it's still weak enough that I have a hard time discerning between the baby and gas. Trapped gas is still a problem, though I've found a way to keep it under control. Oh and nosebleeds! I start every day with a very bloody nose or full-on nosebleeds. That's really only an irritation at this point.
The full-screen ultrasound is a week from today and we are trés excited. It'll be nice to refer to the gummy bear as a he or she, rather than an it. I know I wouldn't appreciate being an 'it', although I'm sure that's what my parents called me during the entire pregnancy (but perhaps not. Perhaps they referred to me as 'he' since they were sure I was going to be a boy. Just the first in my long list of disappointments ;)

Mental Health
Just as I thought, I'm feeling more bipolar these days, but it's still very mild and manageable. Kurt says his favorite thing about me being pregnant is how happy I am. It's probably my favorite thing too, though I'm starting to enjoy feeling the baby move now, and not feel so weirded out by it. I'm not worried anymore that this will happen:

The Graduate

We flew back to SC for 10 awesome days for my graduation, and also to see my family. We flew in on Thursday night and my grandma picked us up. She treated us to the best BBQ at Home Team BBQ (Kurt was SO happy--he loves that place) and then we drove around downtown for a bit. My parents and Collin were in Aiken for a soccer game, and they arrived around midnight. Collin was really bummed because a) it was his last game of high school ever and b) they lost. So we made him cinnamon rolls.

The next day we had lunch with my mom and dad, then drove up to Greenville to stay with Chris and Lindsay. It was so much fun hanging out with them! They recently got a new Great Dane puppy named Gracie who is so adorable. Also, since she's young, she's in her totally awkward phase. I love that phase! She kept running into stuff and bumping her head and it was really quite adorable. (Swift, I think, will never grow out of this phase. He's always running into stuff.) They took us to downtown Greenville which is completely different from when I lived there for Governor's School, 11 years ago. It was so fun.

The next day was graduation! My parents and Collin drove up for it, and Kurt's graduation present to me was a full-on Southern outfit: seersucker shorts, white cotton shirt with rolled sleeves, boat shoes, and a BOWTIE. Yes, he bought and learned how to tie a bow tie (thanks Youtube). It was awesome. And now he's in love with his seersucker shorts and boat shoes. Hah!

Graduation was REALLY long, filled with speeches and awards. Luckily I drank a ton of water before and used the restroom, otherwise I would've been fighting more than sleepiness to get through it. But it was awesome. I'm so glad I walked. It was a good official end to my Master's program. After graduation, we were all starving, so we went to the Beacon Drive-In, which is a local burger dive. The food was fast, good, and greasy. Lindsay's family went to California Dreaming, and we would've gone with them except for the fact that we were all so hungry, and also Kurt and I had to close on the refinance for our mortgage. So we had a deadline, and California Dreaming is not the place to go when you're in a hurry.

So yeah, Kurt and I refinanced our house (yay!), then headed back to Lindsay's. All four of us were POOPED. The boys took naps and Lindsay and I talked (I didn't want to miss any time with her!). Then we went back downtown that night to see more of the city.

On Sunday, Kurt and I said goodbye to the Jackman's and headed up to Chimney Rock in North Carolina. Much of The Last of the Mohicans was filmed in this park, but sadly, all those areas are closed due to renovations. Kurt and I hiked chimney rock (i.e., climbed LOTS of stairs), and beyond. The weather was cool and drizzly, which was actually perfect to make the hike easier for preggers here, and also to keep other tourists at bat. We enjoyed a yummy lunch in town, then headed back to Charleston. On the way home, we swung by the Greenville Art Festival to grab a print for Kurt's mom's mother's day present. On Friday night, we'd bought the first piece of art for our nursery--a bike print, of course.

And that's part one. What did we do the rest of the week? Stay tuned to find out!

Stuff

Actual activity posts coming soon! Because we've actually been doing things lately. I know, it's crazy, right!

I had all kinds of plans to re-do a lot of the rooms in my house this year. And then I found out that I'm pregnant, so that kinda changes things. Bathroom painting plans and living room lightening plans have been put on hold, delayed till probably next year. But I'm still going to be crazy busy. Here's what we have to do around the house:

-Guest Bedroom:

     -Rearrange. We're going to put a dresser in here for extra storage (we won't be able to fit one in the baby's room), so I think we're going to turn the bed into more a daybed by pushing it against the wall and moving the book cases to either side of it.

     -Paint. Okay, so we don't have to do this, but I've been wanting to, and rearranging the furniture gives us the perfect opportunity to temporarily dismantle it further so allow for painting.

     -Closet. Until now, I've been keeping it empty so that guests can hang clothes in it. However, no one's ever going to need the whole closet. In the meantime, we have a ton of stuff in the baby's room that can't be stored outside, but will need to be moved. So we're going to design some kind of shelving solution in 80% of the closet, while still leaving about 20% free for guest's clothes. 

-Our Bedroom:

     -Rearrange. I sleep on the side closest to the wall and farther from the door, so it generally disrupts Kurt every time I get up. Plus, I have no room for a nightstand. If we rearrange the room, I'll get my own dresser (yay!), and I'll have plenty of room between the bed and the wall and I'll be closer to the door, so I won't have to crawl down the length of the bed before getting out of it. 

     -Eventually, I'd like to paint the nightstands, but I think that will be a 2013 project.

-Nursery:

     -Currently known as the "back bedroom," this room serves as our indoor storage. We're going to have to get rid of everything in this room, and either distribute it among the remaining rooms (mostly the guest room and Kurt's office), or get rid of it entirely. 

     -Turn it into an actual, you know, nursery. The current plan for the room is rocking chair with pouf-ottoman, side table, crib, and a daybed. I don't think there will be room for more (and perhaps not even for the side table, but I think I can make it work). Why a daybed? One of the benefits of having been married to Kurt for 5 years (this Saturday!) before having a baby is that I know him extremely well. And I know that he does not do well with less than 6 or 7 hours of sleep (and really, he's best with his full 8, but he rarely sleeps more than that. He's a robot, I tell you). I however, do extremely well on little sleep. I chalk it up to years of sleeping problems/intermittent insomnia. During the week, Kurt has to go to work. I'm quitting my job at the end of September, so I'll be able to nap when the baby naps. So during the week, from the very get-go, I'll sleep in the baby's room and will get up with the baby. On the weekends though, Kurt's fair game for night/morning feedings. ^_^

     -So that means fashioning some type of day bed. I had hopes of building something awesome, but we've inherited some random doors, so might just make myself happy with using one as a back, and then skipping out on the arms of the daybed.

     -And my favorite part: decorating. I'm thinking navy with some kind of accent color, TBD by baby's gender. And a cycling theme. And I'll probably throw some gray in the there. I think I have a problem.  

-Kurt's Office:

     -Just being smarter with the storage system in there. There's a bunch of stuff in the nursery currently that could easily fit into the office. 

-Outdoor Sheds

     -Same thing with the nursery/Kurt's office. The name of the game is consolidate, organize, and trash. We have enough space for all of our junk, we just need to be smarter with how we store it. We also need to get rid of the stuff we no longer use.

Anyhow, this was mostly for my own, organizing purposes. Writing stuff out always helps organize my thoughts better. 

May/June Goals

Yeah, I'm not-so-much giving myself 10 days to accomplish goals this month. I wasn't even going to keep doing monthly goals. 1) The first 4 months of my pregnancy killed all energy and/or motivation. 2) Before our trip to SC, I had a hard time thinking about doing anything other than prepping for it. But now I'm back, feeling better than ever, and I'm ready to get stuff done. Because there's a lot we need to do before October 16th.

This month I will:
-Finish my WIP. I know, same song, same verse even. But did you know it's just as hard to write a novel while nauseous as it is to clean the kitchen? True story.
-Write a short story after I finish the novel (the novel should be done in about two weeks, so that gives me plenty of time for a short story)
-Do research for next book. Make tentative outline. (I'm a semi-outliner.) -- This is optional. We'll see how fast I get the short story done.
-Accomplish these house projects: kitchen curtains, guest room curtains, paint and upholster kitchen stools, make trash/recycling can cabinet-thing, make our headboard, rearrange our bedroom.
-Work out 4-6 days a week (don't worry, two days a week will be prenatal yoga and walking--not exactly strenuous exercise)
-Maintain a clean home. Because right now it's clean! And I want it to stay that way. Because maintenance is easier than letting it all go to pot, then trying to clean it all.

April Goals Recap

Oh, these make me laugh. Because I failed on all of them! And I don't even care. :)

-FINALLY FINISH MY WIP. Seriously, Kristina. Man up and get through this mid-novel slump, already!
-Also, finish my two curtain projects (guest room and kitchen).
-And lastly ... give up soda. I know, CRAZY RIGHT? But maybe it's time. I mean, it IS time. For reals, though.

Admittedly, that last one was a joke. A badly-executed, last-minute-attempt at an April Fool's Day joke that, I'm sure, didn't fool any of y'all. Because I'm still drinking the DDP every day. But in much smaller amounts, due to the baby in utero, and all that. :)