ugh, i haven't been here in so long that my address bar no longer automatically completes the diaryland.com address. sigh...

i'm now 19 weeks pregnant, and finally (finally!!!) feeling better. i can eat from food groups other than "cracker"! i haven't thrown up in about 2 weeks! i can brush my teeth in the morning without dry-heaving! so exciting! [rolls eyes at self] also, my belly is really looking like a pregnant belly now, and not just a fat jiggly belly, which is great.

oh! and i felt the first kicks the other day! i was lying on my belly for a minute while karl popped an enormous pimple on my back (i know, TMI), and felt some kicks near my belly button, as if the kidlet was saying "yo! lady! could i get a little personal space ovah heah?" the next day, karl even felt a kick or two. whoo!

we are making progress, i think, on the To Do Before Baby checklist:

• register for stuff, in case anyone ever suggests a baby shower: check
• sign up for childbirth classes: check
• find a doula: in progress, had first interview tonight

  still need to do:

• buy the car that will go with us to peru and a carseat
• sell our current car
• actually hire the doula
• go on a little "babymoon" mini vacation (preferably to someplace warm and sunny in january)
• get our wedding album done (um, over a year after the wedding, and counting)
• figure out where in our teensy apartment we are going to store baby stuff until we leave for peru. teensy, and mostly covered in cat hair.
• figure out which breast-pump i want, buy it, and figure out how i'm going to manage to take a supply of frozen milk (assuming i'm able to accumulate a stash) overseas without it going bad
• pick some names for the baby

speaking of which, what are your thoughts on:

• magdalena (nn lena)
• maida (nn maddie, possibly)
• evelyn (nn evie)
• elsa
• wester (nn wes or west)
• walter (nn walt)

all the names except for elsa are family names, wester is a last name from my dad's side. the kid's lastname will be hyphenated, hislast-mylast. the syllable structure and stress pattern (and, actually, initial letters) are replicated by: Hislast-Mine