25 weeks

Today I'm 25 weeks along!  Celebrating by eating a lovely fresh salad with lettuce and chinese broccoli leaves from my garden, hard-boiled egg, a tiny bit of cheese, and some tomato and carrot.  Somehow that number seems substantially bigger than 24.  Funny how the pregnant brain works.  Baby is active and happy.  She seems to like kicking her big brother when he is cuddled in my lap drinking his milk before his morning and afternoon naps!  Amazingly, he hasn't noticed.  We've tried to draw his attention to the Bump and explain, "Baby in Mama's tummy!" but we generally can't even get him to look where we're pointing.  I am sure that he will notice eventually. . . though it might not be until this strange-looking tiny thing that makes odd noises shows up in Mama's arms.

Overall I'm doing okay, and I'm still doing my utmost to maximize my iron intake each day.  I'm tired, but often find it difficult to rest comfortably. I also find it difficult to push myself enough in the mornings that I get a substantial amount accomplished without crossing the line and making myself feel sick.  There's an element of sleep deprivation recently which I could really do without. . . waking up every two hours either because I desperately have to pee, my toddler is crying, the dogs are chewing on a empty water bottle outside our bedroom window, I have to pee again, or the toddler is crying again (he's teething. . .) and then the toddler wakes up for the day at 5:48 when your alarm is set for 6:15 and you think. . . NO.  Please no!


25 weeks along, and I can tell my brain is going into "nesting" mode.  I think mostly because I've started to realize that we're leaving the College in one month -- and all the things I have to do before then to prepare my home for our 4-month furlough!  Things really must be left in good order because when we come back in February, I won't have the time or energy to expend putting my house to rights after a long absence.  And I will admit that there are still boxes remaining to be unpacked, from our move into this house in June.  You know the boxes, the ones that have the random bits of flotsam and jetsam which you can't throw away, but which are just too "miscellaneous" to acquire a category and a permanent place of abode.  But I have determined that these boxes must and shall be emptied and broken down before we leave and the contents thereof dispersed throughout the house in a tidy manner.  And then I consider my kitchen cupboards. . . *guilty sigh*  There has been no organizational efforts on that front either, since we moved in.  Summary: complete and utter chaos, and inability to locate a particular spice jar when half-way through following a recipe. 

And then there's our bedroom.  We recently moved bedrooms.  We had been sleeping in the room which was used by the Ms as their "master" bedroom, at the end of the hall with a bathroom attached.  Their bed remained in this room for our use until we could purchase our own.  Well, we did purchase our own mattress last month while we were in Lusaka, and got a beautiful solid wood bed-frame made here in Eastern Province, and when our new bed was assembled, we moved rooms accordingly. Result: everything, particularly our clothing (because we had to empty the large clothes cupboard so that it could be moved into the new bedroom), is in chaos, and I've not yet sorted the chaos out.  Our "master" bedroom is now the first bedroom in the hall, directly across from the main bathroom and also directly across from Elijah's bedroom.  The room we were previously using will become the guest room, which will be really nice since it is quiet, private, has its own outside entrance and its own bathroom with shower.  (This is a shameless plug to get you to come visit us.  COME VISIT US.)

Yes, hard to believe that in a month's time we'll be headed to the UK for several weeks.  And then in November, headed to the States to await our baby's birth.  So much to do between now and then! 

And I will close my post by asking my mommy friends in Scotland, NC, SC, and PA (because that's mainly where I'll be for my 3rd trimester): do you have any maternity clothing you no longer need and would like to get rid of?  If so, PLEASE let me know because I could really use maternity clothing and I will be very grateful for any hand-me-downs!  Thank you!