yes, it’s true. My pants/jean wardrobe is now officially down to 2 pairs of pants and 1 pair of business shorts (and it’s getting a bit too cold up here in Canada for those shorts). Yeah, yeah, I have skirts, but I don’t have boots to wear with these skirts so technically, I am back to my 2 day wardrobe! I was at a bible study last night and I kept shifting around because my jeans (low-rise which fit nicely about 2 weeks ago…) kept pinching me. I felt like I was causing disruption at an otherwise holy fellowship. I actually can wear them — IF the button is kept undone and unzippered…but yeah, I am pretty aware that that is a fashion no-no and/or can be means for arrest…so whichever bothers you more! Right now, I can breathe (AHHHH) because the jeans are wide open — but when I get up, I have to be sure to hold onto my jeans to make sure they come with me! I have no hips anymore, so the jeans have nothing to grab onto…..oh well…gonna have to go shopping!!! YES!

This pants issue is attributed to now that I am 142 lbs…..at 4.5 months, I have gained 17 lbs….and can only assume more on the way! Oh yes, that’s right! Today, baby is 4.5 months (18 weeks). And according to BabyCenter Canada, it’s the size of a bell pepper.

Interesting facts about the bell pepper:

1. The name “pepper” (pimiento in Spanish) was given by Columbus.

2. In some parts of the US (around southern Ohio, North Pennsylvania and North Kentucky), peppers are sometimes referred to as “Mangos”, but this term is fading as real mangoes are becoming popular in those areas!

3. The variety of the pepper plant and the stage of the ripeness determine the flavor and color of each pepper. For example, a red bell pepper is simply a mature green bell pepper. They will go from green to red to orange to yellow.

4. Did you know that other colors include white, purple, blue, and brown?

And as always, here is a recipe: Stuffed Peppers! Enjoy!

http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=7509

The other day, we had a midwife appointment and of course, we got to hear the heartbeat again. It’s at about 150 p/min. There were two things that were absolutely hilarious at this meeting. 1) While checking for the baby’s heartbeat, we kept hearing “cartoon-y” noises, long squeaks and shrills. The midwife said this was the baby moving around and again —-WOW, was s/he active!!! It was almost like listening to this crazy language —– the baby must of been dancing again! I wanted to giggle but couldn’t because it would mess up the transmission from the monitor; 2) So, I asked the midwife if I could feel the outer part of the baby when I touch my belly…like right here, “is this the baby?”…and she said probably not, that that might have been that icky fibroid that I’ve blogged about…..heheheh sooooo, you know what that means??? Every so often, we’ve been loving up on the fibroid and not the baby!!!! Eek. Oops. Sorry baby dot. But, this wasn’t always the case. The times that I felt the hardness under the belly button, the midwife said that was probably the baby…so we weren’t totally wrong…..but it is funny. Sheesh.

Our next ultrasound is scheduled at exactly the 20 week mark….what’s awesome is that my mom and sisters may be in town so they might be able to come with us! I think they would just love that! Do you know initially we decided that we didn’t want to know what gender the baby is……and at the end of our midwifes appt, my husband says: “I think I want to now know….”…..*sigh* more discussion needed….I can’t decide! I kind of want to know, but I don’t want to a) be disappointed (I hear that all the time…) though I don’t have my heart set on either gender b) decorate a room/buy clothes to find out the US was wrong and c) I don’t know how much being “surprised” is worth to me…..

well, we still have 2 weeks to decide…..