Baby Update - 18 weeks

I'm currently 18 weeks pregnant (+4 months) and we've scheduled our ultra sound for September 16. We are planning to find out the gender, so if you want to place your bets, you'll have to do it before then!

Our 16 week appointment was two weeks ago, and everyone is healthy. The baby's heartbeat is 144 beats per minute-so neat to hear! And my belly is measuring right where it's supposed to--and the doctor says it's not big enough to be holding twins, so the Danielson genes haven't affected this pregnancy!

I also gained enough weight since my last appointment. I'd have been shocked if this didn't happen because I've been eating all the time! But this was good news because at my last check up I had lost two pounds, even though I hadn't been getting sick. So when the doctor told me to eat whatever I wanted, I did, and it paid off!

Last week, the urge to shop hit me, mostly because I went back to work this week and none of my work pants fit, so I went to "Bellies and Babies" and "Nine" both maternity consignment shops (consignment shops are a great way to be eco-friendly and thrifty!), and picked up some stretchy-waisted pants. I have to say, I have no desire to go back to pants that don't give; these are the most comfortable pants I've ever worn!

Perhaps the most exciting update is that I've started feeling the baby move. I wasn't sure that's what I was feeling for a while; it would happen so fast and stopped quickly. Then, this week at work I had a bit of caffeine (the cause? perhaps...) and the fluttering in my belly was crazy! It feels like a critter tapping the inside of my stomach. Very cool.

Nate's getting ready for the baby by fixing as many iphones and ipods as he can for his small business, Nate is a Geek; the extra money will come in handy, I'm sure! We also bought a new car since mine was working its way toward the next expensive breakdown. Our new family car is a Toyota Prius. Nate's enjoying getting nearly 60 miles per gallon, and continuing to improve the mileage every fill up. I'm sure the car willhave it's own blog post soon.

We also celebrated our two year anniversary by spending a night in Minneapolis at The W Hotel--it might be the last anniversary we get a mini-getaway like that for a while!

Since this is supposed to be a blog about social responsibility, now is a good time to mention a few of those details as well...

We bought a used organic crib mattress. In addition, we have been trying to obtain used items--thus limiting the waste produced in manufacturing new products for our little one. We also plan to use cloth diapers, but we'll wait until we know the gender to buy those.

Sacrificing Roses

I'll be honest, last year I sprayed the roses every two weeks to deter fungus and hungry bugs. Luckily, the can was empty at the end of the summer, or I'm guessing I would have caved this summer, too. Midspring, I found my rose leaves disappearing as fast as they could grow. It took a while to figure out what was going on, but after much research, I discovered the culprit: sawfly larvae. The little green worms curl up in a ball under the leaf, and when I'm not looking, they devoured the leaves. I googled every option: organic, green, eco-friendly...and every link told me the same thing. The earth-friendly way to get rid of them is to pick them off by hand and squish 'em. Sigh...I love my roses, and I'll pick the stupid worms off every couple days, but I just can't commit to daily worm pickings. So, some of my leaves will be sacrificed to the sawfly. Luckily, the roses are blossoming beautifully, just ignore the leaves please.

Way to Go Rothsay School!

...for participating in their Community Energy Challenge!

Check out their call to action at Make the Change.

Clothing Exchange

Do your friends have fantastic clothes? A great way to clean out your closet for spring cleaning and avoid shopping when you get the new season itch is to hold a clothing exchange. It's simple, really. Just invite all your friends to bring bags of stuff they find when cleaning out their closets. Provide some mimosas, and start shopping!

The best part is that after everyone has happily found new items for their clothing racks, the rest gets packed up and donated.

Drip irrigation

The sun has been shining so I've been spending much of my time preparing my garden and lawn, planting, stirring compost, raking...

But today I had to share the highlight. Part of the reason our lawn is a mixture of weeds and dead spots is because we don't like using water. Our sprinklers use several gallons to water the lawn or garden. In light of the new vegetable garden, which will require we give in and use water, we've invested in a system that should help limit some of the waste.

In a mastery of physics, we've elevated our rain barrel and hooked up a drip soaker hose, using the pressure of gravity alone to drip rain water into our garden. Since Nate also demands tools in his life run automatically, we also bought a timer which will help to ensure we don't leave the system dripping away precious rain water.

The major environmental impact of drip irrigation is water conservation. This happens for several reasons:

• Only roots are watered, which is where the water needs to go.
• Ground is more evenly watered.
• Water is not lost to evaporation by being sprayed in the air.
• Slower rate of application prevents a build up of water, and therefore reduces evaporation.

Hopefully our vegetables will agree that the new system is a valuable investment!