24 weeks

I feel like I'm finally to that "golden" stage of pregnancy that everyone kept telling me about when I was nauseous and exhausted every day. I've noticed an upswing in energy over the past few weeks and combined with some New Years resolution-y motivation, a lot's been accomplished in this house! Well, it seems that way. Doesn't quite look like much progress yet, but considering the soon-to-be nursery is cleared out and ready to be painted, at least we've made some headway. We attempted registering on Friday afternoon but left after it took us an hour to check off maybe fifteen items from the checklist. (Wedding registry= so much fun. Baby registry= so many questions.) We did pick out a crib though, so there's that. Baby boy will indeed have somewhere to sleep. Oh yeah, no name for the babe yet. We don't even talk about it anymore since we can't think of any even remote possibilities. I just hope that when we meet him, the perfect name miraculously pops into our heads. 

So that's where we're at these days. Nursery preparations, researching cloth diapers and countless other baby paraphernalia, and best of all: feeling (and watching) baby boy kick and roll around almost constantly. We can't wait for the little guy to just get here already!

i'll be in Florida if you need me

...I wish. The rainy, overcast, cold weather we've had this week certainly hasn't helped my vacation withdrawal. I've found myself daydreaming of warm breezes, palm trees and the feeling of sun on my skin as if by pure mental energy alone I could summon the sun to come out and warm things up. No luck so far, but I'll keep trying. It probably doesn't help when I routinely check Lauderdale's weather on my phone only to see that our high of the day is lower than their low. 88 and sunny? Please, who wants that when you can have 43 and rainy?! ;)

70s & sunny

Deric and I spent this past week in Florida (Lauderdale by the Sea, to be exact) with his parents for vacation. We stayed in his grandma's condo which had a decent view of the ocean from the front porch but an awesome view off the balcony. My favorite part of the entire vacation was walking out to the balcony first thing each morning and eating cereal while gazing at blue skies and palm trees. The perfect weather was a bonus, too. High 70s, low 80s in the afternoon = that perfect balance where you don't really feel the weather, ya know? And just warm enough to play in the ocean without freezing to death, although the water itself did take some getting used to. We ate like kings (bring on the seafood!), spent enough time at the pool and/or ocean for me to read all three of the books I brought, went to Ikea twice, played tennis in the mornings and cards at night. Besides the sinus infection Deric developed a few days before we left, it was a really relaxing week. This morning, vacation withdrawal hit when I realized today wouldn't be 70 and sunny, but 40 and rainy. I just keep reminding myself that spring will be here soon enough! But even still, its always good to be home.

view from the balcony, above. i could get used to that.