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I'm sitting here watching my toddler read his books and enduring the sensation of a 6 month old fetus pressing on my lower intestines. OUCH! This never happened when I was pregnant with Dylan. This time around is so much more uncomfortable and inconvenient!

I'm also facing a rainy, cold day with no car. I need to go to the supermarket to pick up some milk and peanut butter, and I'll have to walk there to get it. We're still waiting for the check from the insurance company (the check's in the mail, apparently. We'll see.) and our rental car went back this morning. I've been awake since 5:30 am and would have been able to get back to sleep around the time that Dylan woke up. I can hardly wait until nap time!

On a positive note, despite being "high risk" for pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes, as of yesterday at the midwives I am showing signs of neither one. I have another appointment right before we fly over, and then will have another just after we get back. As I head towards my 3rd trimester they will be seeing me around every 3-4 weeks. I didn't get seen at ALL during my second trimester until yesterday. Weird! Also, the baby's heart sounds fantastic and my iron levels are apparently very good, especially for a pregnant woman. What can I say? I feel pretty crappy, but I'm pretty healthy all things considered. Thank goodness for prenatal vitamins.

Dylan has learned a new word. He's now very good at saying "hat," and he knows what it means. But he's at the age where everything that you put on your head is a hat, all bath toys are ducks, and every animal is a cat. He loves using his new words, especially since he gets lots of praise and encouragement when he does. So now we've got his animal sounds, cat, hat, splash, and ducks. I wish he'd learn something useful, like "drink." He's right where he needs to be for his age. Apparently, by 18 months most children have a vocabulary of between 10-50 words. We're a few months shy of that, and he already uses 4 words in context plus his 4 animal noises. He just mastered "moo" and now we are working on pigs and horses.

Talking isn't Dylan's strongest skill though. He's very good at figuring out how stuff works! He can do doors and simple closures on things like Martin's tool chest. He loves opening boxes and playing with hinges and things like that. One of his favorite things to do is open and shut the lid on the piano. He has this insatiable curiosity, which makes him a real handful to look after but very entertaining when he's playing.

I'm constantly amazed when I watch Dylan just going about his daily business. A year ago he was completely helpless, and now he is becoming so independent and is so proud of himself when he can do things without any help from me. I'm so proud, too. I can't believe that my little baby is getting so grown up!