halfway

This week I reached 20 weeks of being pregnant. That's halfway. It feels like I've been pregnant for a very long time though so if the second half lasts as long as the first half there's still plenty of time until this little one arrives. However, with Christmas and New Years and countless birthdays approaching this second half could go significantly faster. I guess we'll see.

Excitingly the 20 week mark means you get a significantly longer and more detailed ultrasound. We went on Friday and it was very interesting. The technician spend a good 20 minutes measuring and who knows what else and then she let us see. Baby was curled up and very person-shaped. The technician pointed out the happy news that Baby has two eyes, two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet and a beating heart. We also saw the very solid spine. It is still a mystery as to whether we have a he or a she on our hands and it was moving around so much in there we couldn't get a good look between the legs. The technician may have seen something in the 20 minutes she was looking around but she's not allowed to tell us anything so we have to wait until we see the doctor to find out if she noted a gender on our file. Next prenatal appointment is January 6 so for now we'll just be happy that all the parts are there and all the organs are working properly.

Also this week I managed to whittle my christmas shopping list down quite a bit. I only have 7 things left to purchase and they are all chosen already so it's simply a matter of getting to the stores to pick them up. So some definite progress from the last time and good considering christmas is only 12 days away.

On Wednesday we attended the aquarium members christmas party which helped boost the christmas spirit. It was nice to get dressed up and get out of the house for a bit. Usually in the evenings we're in the house for the night by 6. There was an adorable Polar Express 4D movie, free christmas cookies and an extra discount in the gift shop. I used the discount to pick up some nice aquarium ornaments for our tree (with seals & sharks of course) and purchased a dolphin stuffy that they were selling to donate to children who are in need. We also went outside to visit my favorite exhibit, the harbor seals & stellar sea lions, and they were sleeping on the beach! We've never been to the aquarium when the sun has been down so I've never seen them sleeping before. It was adorable. It was all I could do to stop myself from jumping the fence and going to rub their little bellies. I seriously couldn't get over how sweet they were. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the party! The wet lab was open again for members to touch some of the safer animals. I held a strange sea urchin and we poked at some anemones & sponges. Brandon held a hermit crab which was creepy but it's still so interesting to see them so up close and personal.

Needless to say after the week I've had I'm feeling much more exhausted than usual. After the aquarium, the mall trips and my little sisters choir concert I'm ready for next week to be a little slower. We'll see if that happens.