6 Months

I feel rather large but it's all becoming more fun. Kicking Pony* moves around all the time, it's quite alien. I listened to all my pregnant friends and family and I don't think I truly understood what a craving was until this past week. Starbursts! I've never in my life liked them or purchased them (except once for The Cultivator*), now I am in possession of a to go package and a 1 lb bag!

The Cultivator* has been able to feel Kicking Pony* too... which makes it more exciting for me, so I don't feel like I am in it alone. We've been enjoying the i-Pod loaded with music for the baby who can hear all the classical artists, and moves around a little when it's playing.

New Year's Ice Fishing 2009

While at a local Fleet Farm store I was doing my usual "lets look at and sit in every Ice Fishing Shelter on the sales floor routine" (which I do every year since we've been in Minnesota). My first year on the ice was a windy and miserable experience... I just knew someday I would invest in one of these. As we worked our way in a circle around to the final 6 person shelter I started to really to get attached to it. The Fisherman* and I read about how it goes up and down and we were really impressed. Ok, I am easy... it's like a double dome, and everyone knows my dream of owning a dome home! At some point I told The Fisherman* that I wasn't leaving the store without this particular fishing shelter. Of course he's an easy sale on outdoor equipment... so we took one home.

The next day we performed a test run in the living room... with the Christmas tree poking through the shelter door, and the animals (2 dogs and 1 cat) coming inside to approve of their new napping space! We proceeded to make plans for New Years ice fishing, a tradition I keep trying to start. We packed up and took Ezekiel with us. Spending the evenings in the cabin and day on the ice. The Fisherman* caught 5, some which got tossed back, Ezekiel caught 1 before he missed his xbox360 enough to go home, and I caught 2 keepers. A good start to a New Year in my book.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the fishing dogs! Sticking their face in every ice hole, and pawing at the slush, eating ice chunks... we thought it their chasing cast lures off the dock was a 'fetching' type reaction, but seems to be that they just enjoy the sport!

Christmas 2008

This one is for the 'Rents:
It was a quiet Christmas with me, my sister and her children (9 yrs & 23 mos). She had to endure the hourly wake up calls at 3AM by her son who barely hung in there until 7AM to open his Christmas gifts. This year all the gifts were stored on top of a cabinet so that they were not picked up, shaken, weighed in, and guessed. Ezekiel is pretty clever and can guess almost by size and shape of the box! It wasn't until about 10AM that Penelope woke up. She seemed to care less about the even, until she had her first taste of unwrapping the gifts. She neatly tore a piece of paper and set it neatly in a pile next to her (oh boy, if that doesn't scream Auntie Cat then nothing does!) She went through all her presents like molasses on a cold day, even using her teeth to tear small bits. She loves clothes like her mom does!

Later that night The Runaway* came home, and carved the turkey I made for Christmas dinner. It was a pretty uneventful dinner... and I learned to check both sides of the bird for giblets (after I cooked them)!

19 week baby u/s

We had our last ultrasound (19.6 weeks) yesterday. We still agreed to not find out if it's a boy or a girl, but we did find out all the important things like he/she has 2 arms with all the proper bones (humorous, radius, ulna), 2 legs with all the proper bones (femur, tibia, fibula), 4 chambers in the heart that are pumping 140 bpm, an intact spine all internal to his/her body, kidneys, and a bladder which was full of the water I had recently drank; And we saw his/her lips which appeared to be intact without a cleft pallet. Of course the belly, head and brain lobes were intact too... a perfect little baby. And she let us watch the little one move around for a few minutes while it was rubbing it's eyes and nose with it's little hands. Baby was measured and we were told the little one is 11 oz, which is right on target according to the doctor.