odd bits

"The nuisance ground." Apparently that's what my proper, British Uncle Marshall (who's not really my uncle, but an old family friend) calls the dump. Isn't that a lovely turn of phrase for such an unlovely thing?

I learned that on a walk with my mom this week. We've started walking once a week together, which is a treat.

I actually look pregnant now! At least I do when I wear dresses. I can still kind of hide it in jeans and a t-shirt, which I wear most days, but I dressed up for church today, and there was no disguising that precise curve of the belly that screams "baby here!" It's fun to get to this stage. If I remember rightly, in another month I should get to the stage where I get to feel the baby move on a regular basis, and that's even more fun.

To answer Michelle's question, I'm due in early March. To answer the question of others: no, we couldn't tell what sex the baby was on this ultrasound, it was too early. But hopefully we'll get another in a month and a half and be able to tell them. Adam thinks it's a boy. I don't know. I'd like a boy sometime, but I also really liked having a sister close to my age, and I think Laurel liked it too, so that might be a nice thing for our first two.

In other words, we'd be happy with either, but we'd sure like to know!

When we went to the mall today, Brigid spent lots of energy pointing out all of the balloons to us. "Laboon! lllaboon!" She's very fond of her L's currently. She also made sure we knew how much she enjoyed the escalators. This was the first time she was allowed to go on them on her own two feet. This was very closely supervised, of course, but I have to admit I felt better about it post-shoe, when her bare toes where no longer at risk.

Adam has been very house-husbandly lately, installing all sorts of interesting things in the garage. He takes Brie out there and sits her in the swing he's hung from the rafters and then sets up tables and saws and makes things and hangs things and is just generally domestic in all these very male ways of which I would never dream. Every once in a while he says, "Hey, Jess, what if I . . ." and whatever follows is usually something clever that improves the function of the house in wonderful ways. I love being married to a man who knows how to DO things.

If you think of it, please pray for peaceful nights for Brigid. About once a week, the past few weeks, she's woken up crying in the middle of the night, and been very hard to console. We think she might be having bad dreams. She's old enough for them now, at least according to the "What to Expect" books. Apparently her memory's developed enough to make them possible. So please pray for her, that whatever is disturbing her would cease, and that she'd have peaceful sleep with good dreams. Thanks.

-Jess