Growing. . . and shrinking.

The scale has dropped another 3 pounds. Which brings my total weight loss to 30 pounds. Yikes! So fun to eat low fat while PREGNANT. YOU try managing cravings for chocolate covered potato chips from Grimaldi's with poor substitutions, such as pretzels and Gatorade and strawberries! It will be so worth it in the end, though, to know that our baby is healthy in part because I was careful.

In other news, our little girl is kicking away. Grace and Terry have both felt her, which is such a neat part of pregnancy. And she has currently lodged the whole pound of herself in a ball just under my ribcage. I'm not sure why, or how she is defeating gravity right now, but I really wish she'd set up camp in an area with a LITTLE more space. So that I could lean forward.

We're on our 4th consecutive week of Terry traveling for work. I miss him. I miss the respite he provides when he comes home every day. The one sucky thing about homeschooling is that there is NEVER a break. Unless I go to the gym. And believe me, I'm using my full 2 hours of childcare every day that he is gone. He spent 3 weeks in Utah, came home for the weekend, then jet-set off to Alabama for NASA meetings. And just as I suspected, he anticipates more travel to Utah in about 2 weeks and another trip to Alabama.

I looked into cruises, thinking that would be a fun family vacation before the baby comes. And something to look forward to while my husband is away. It turns out that you can't travel on ANY cruise ship if you're more than 23-24 weeks pregnant. Except for Viking cruises, which doesn't have any local travel. Bummer. I briefly considered not telling them I'm pregnant, but decided it wasn't worth the risk of preterm labor, gallstone problems, or food poisoning. Or SARS or Swine Flu or whatever the next pandemic will be.

So then I was thinking North Carolina. But I don't know that white water rafting is really the best choice for a pregnant woman. And hiking in the snow, great for those of us super fit, used to mountains, and in shape, again might just suck for the pregnant lady. Which brings me to the Florida Keys. Now THAT rings my bell. Pool, beach, a dolphin or whale tour, maybe some snorkeling. . . . mmmmmmm. I wonder if they make virgin rumrunners??????

Now that we found out Terry has another week in Utah coming up, he thinks the kids and I should go up there. Spend vacation money on plane tickets and enjoy the nice hotel room paid for by his company. It would be fun to see our friends again. And Terry could take the kids snowskiing for the first time while I take pictures and drink hot chocolate in the lodge. But it will be cold. Probably snowy. I won't come home tanned and relaxed. (Who would be relaxed after an 8 hour flight with 2 young children?)

I can't decide it it's worth it to go and have adult company, help with my children, enjoy seeing our friends and our church. . . . or suck it up, again, and hold out for MY vacation.

We do have Disney passes Mon-Fri, and I suppose I could take the kids and spend the night at Mom and Dad's and then go to Disney for a few days. AJ has preschool Monday, Wed, Friday, Grace has American Heritage Girls Tuesday, Tap dance and church Wednesday, Hip Hop Thursday, and Dance Company on Saturdays. So we'd have to give up some of our regularly scheduled activities to do that. Perhaps leaving Thurs. pm for Orlando and letting AJ miss preschool on a Friday. . . .