11 weeks, 3 days - you didn't hear this from me

(After this is posted and all 4.3 of you have read it, we are all going to pretend it was never written. We will never refer to it in any way from this day forward. Because you know what happens when I acknowledge in writing that I think I'm starting to F--l B----r. Right?)

Today my hands, which as I've written about before have been one (well, two, actually) of the leading sources of stinkiness to me no matter how often or how vigorously I've washed/scrubbed them, are not stinky. Not LESS stinky. But not stinky at all. See? Sniff sniff sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiff. Nothing. Just plain old hand smell with a little soap thrown in.

We went to Biaggi's today for lunch. And everything except ONE kind of bread in the bread basket was ... wait for it ... DELICIOUS! Now, granted, I was very careful about what I selected from the menu, but still. To have an entire meal that was delicious and NO SMELLY, STINKY, GAGGINESS. Well, it was sump'm.

The dirty laundry I sorted today? Also not stinky. Al's breath, after consuming HIS meal at the restaurant? Perfectly bearable.

Also. Hardly a twinge of nausea today.

Lest we become worried that something is WRONG, allow me to also add that The Girls feel like they have been run through an old fashioned printing press and then set on fire. Usually they just hurt if I touch them, or you know, when Bean body slams me, or if I jump up and down. Yesterday and today, they just ACHE. Allatime. Non-stop. And they've done that fiery electrical thingy a couple times, too.

And my belly's big. YESTERDAY I took a belly picture and put in in the gallery. (It's there.) Today I look huge. Possibly just bloating from eating Mexican food last night, though.

We have been talking names again. This is so much harder than with Bean! (Whose name is completely wasted on her because we call her Bean!) I have a name that I simply adore, have adored for years, and want to use above all others for a girl. I mean like, THIS IS THE BABY'S NAME TO ME IF IT'S A GIRL. That strong. The one I "feel" in my gut for this baby. And Al just doesn't like it. I keep dripping on him to see if he might change his mind. And I'll keep dripping. But I don't know if he's going to budge. And man, it bugs me to think I'll end up having to go with some second or third string name.

The solution is NOT for this one to be a boy, either, because we have NOTHING for a boy. All my favorite boy names are taken already by my nephews, or Al doesn't like them. Sigh.

Kid's gonna end up with PEANUT on its birth certificate. I used to criticize people in my head for naming their kids weird things, but I think I'm starting to understand how happens.

Let's see. What else? Oh, we bought Peanut his/her very first outfit of all his/her own today. When Bean was born she weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and the 0-3 months clothes we'd bought and been given for her were all way too big. I think we started off with three things that fit her and only one thing that was a whole outfit. So I decided Peanut might need a few things of his/her own in a tiny little size just for the first few weeks. We were in Baby Gap at the mall this weekend and I got all squidgy and mushy over a little white kimono wrap top with little and pants set with a little brown bear on it. So simple. And it's super super tiny - for babies under 7 lbs! It's yummy though.

And I bought another maternity top, too. A light green v-neck with ruching (spellcheck doesn't have a suggestion for that word) along the sides and long sleeves. It's another one with the faux wrap look, too. I like that look. So now have two new tops that will work in the coolish springtime months and on cooler summer evenings, of which we generally have plenty. (Please may we also have plenty this year? Please?)

I can still feel a squiggly little bit of movement on the far left side of my abdomen toward my hip bone, below my belly button, especially in the evening when Al and I are just lying together talking or watching TV. I THINK it's the baby. Sometimes when I press in right where the feeling is I can feel a tiny firmness there. I never feel this sensation anywhere else in or around the area except really that one spot, so maybe it's not the baby, although when I could feel Bean while I was pregnant with her, the sensations were almost all in the same places too. When I compare her movement during my pregnancy to others I read about, it seems like Bean was always really contained in her motion. She was not one to change positions or squirm and kick a lot, unless I am just very well insulated and didn't feel those things. So maybe this baby's like that?

Oh, and Bean continues to talk about her baby sister like she is a sure thing. There's still NO room for the possibility Our Baby is a boy. Oh no. She's a sister. "No, I don't fink I care for a brother. I care for a sister."

Funny Bean!

I am off to taste some chocolate and see if it's still bitter and un-delicious to me.

Remember. Mum's the word.