I love Mat.

This post will be completely unrelated to Baby (okay just the beginning part because I can't write a whole post without talking about the human being growing inside me).

I am going to take a few minutes to talk about how amazing Mat is.  I'm not usually one for harping on about him and I'm not very nice to him usually but he really is extraordinary.  Here are a few nice things he's done for me this week...

1. I work full-time now (on top of growing a life) and I'm having a hard time keeping the house liveable - it looks like a tornado went through .. so Mat got up early before work today and cleaned the kitchen, washed all the dishes, and tidied the living room - so nice to come home to a clean house!

2. He ate the gross part of the ice cream bar last night and let me eat the good part :)

3. He let me eat the inside of his pop tart because I don't like the crust (notice a pattern here - I'm a pain in the ass).

4. He fixed the heating in our house so Baby and I don't freeze to death.

5. He makes the bed every day (unless I'm still sleeping in it)! Every single day!

I could keep going but I won't bore you.  It's safe to say that I'm really annoying and he's the most tolerant, patient, helpful, loving human being I've ever met.  I think I'll keep him around for the next 50 or so years!  Also, look how cute he is when he sleeps :)

Now onto Baby.

We had our 20 week scan on Friday and it went really well!  Baby was happy and healthy and stubborn - kept hiding that pretty face from the camera.  Baby has two eye sockets, and normal sized arms, legs, tummy and head.  We kept strong and didn't find out the sex, and Baby was so happy and healthy that we don't need to have any more ultrasounds (provided everything continues to go smoothly).  Which means no more chances for us to cave and find out the sex :) 

I'm sure you all saw the bump photo on facebook but here it is again.  Baby is big enough now that I'm getting a very sore back (and I'm sure there's lots to look forward to in the lower back pain department in the next few months)!

This is Baby's hospital (along with the other 1100 babies who will be born there this year).  If you turn 180 degrees, you get a beautiful view of Parliament and Big Ben... and the river is such a lovely shade of murky brown :) 

I was reunited with an old friend today in London.  What are the odds that two girls who live on the same army post in 5th grade and then go their separate ways will end up attending the same university for Master's degrees in London?!  It is a smaller world than we realise!

That's all I have to report I think.  It's past 10 pm which is way past Baby's bedtime so I'm off to sleep!

Halfway there!

We're halfway there!  20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go!  People say they feel like their pregnancy goes by so quickly but I feel like I've been pregnant for ages already.  I'm sure the next 20 weeks will go by faster than the first 20 because we'll be so busy getting married and stuff :)

Our next scan is on Friday.. very exciting!  Baby's been kicking but just tiny little flutters.  Mat is annoyed he can't feel them yet but I'm sure Baby will be kickboxing in there hard enough for him to feel pretty soon!

Anywho, here's my photo this week:

Mat was feeling left out so here's his baby bump photo:

His bump is not quite as large as mine :)

We went to Stratford today to do some actual shopping and some window shopping for Baby.  We're not quite ready to invest in anything except one pack of plain white onesies but we did have a look at the insane amount of baby things available for purchase.  I see many trips to this store in Mat's future :) Too bad we haven't won the lottery yet!

This is just a life-sized chess board outside the shopping centre.

Before we went shopping, we went on the Emirates Airline.  One more thing checked off of my London bucket list!  It's basically a pod on a cable that travels across the river from North Greenwich to Royal Victoria.  I love it.  It's a short ride and you can't see much of the pretty old parts of London but it was quite cheap (you can pay for it with your oyster card because it's part of Transport for London) and a good Sunday activity!

Baby was really excited!  Kicked me a few times while we were over the river :)

O2 and Canary Wharf in the background. Ignore my tired eyes.

The weather has turned into fall finally.  It's been cold and rainy and rainy and cold for the last week.  Makes it difficult to want to do anything except lay on the couch!  Work has been exhausting.  I keep thinking I'll go do yoga or something when I finish but I get done and just come home and sit cause I'm too tired to function.  I suppose I should get used to the tiredness!

Amanda went back to America yesterday.  Womp womp :(

I'm going to end this post with a gripe about living in this country: everything closes SO early.  We live next to a "24-hour grocery store" that closes at 1 am every night and is only open 11-5 on Sundays.  And the little shopping mall near us has "late-night shopping" on Thursday nights - open until 8 pm.  British people - 8 pm is NOT late night shopping.  And Sundays are awful because there's a law that nothing can be open longer than 6 hours so everything is open 11-5 or 12-6 and that's it.  So if you run out of milk at 7 pm on a Sunday you are out of luck!

That's about all I know!  

Ramen noodles and Week 18

We're in week 18 now.  Had a midwife appointment last week and got to hear Baby's heartbeat. Very exciting!  Mat and I have been pretty adamant about not finding out the sex of the baby but as the date of the ultrasound draws nearer (September 20), we find ourselves wavering.. maybe we should just find out and not tell anyone? Those of you who know me know it's physically impossible for me to keep a secret so that will never happen.  I think we'll stick with our original plan of not finding out but the anticipation is killing me already!

Our weekly photoshoots with the chalkboard may look cute, but they are not cute in real life.  They mostly consist of me yelling at Mat for not taking a good picture and him trying to capture my ugliest faces.  It usually takes about 15 minutes, which is ridiculous.  Anywho, I decided to share the cute one, and another gem from this week's photoshoot :)  

The board has music notes because Baby can hear music now! Also, please note Mat's painting job.  He thinks it looks rustic :)

See? There were about 20 of these.. and pictures of me lunging at Mat to take the phone to see if he was taking any good photos.

Nothing else to report about Baby this week.  I haven't felt him/her moving yet but I also don't know what it will feel like so I've probably just missed it!  Or maybe Baby is just lazy and isn't kicking :)

One of the perks of living in London is the plethora of restaurants we have.  No matter what kind of food we want to eat, there is a good restaurant somewhere in London with that kind of food.  For the last few months we've been meaning to go to Bone Daddies, which is a ramen bar in Soho/Chinatown. People, this ramen is NOTHING like the ramen you buy for 20 cents in Wal-Mart.  This is magical noodley brothy goodness.  And they give you a bib to eat it :)  It's my new favourite place.

Mat's.

Mine and Mat's.  Mine was made with 20-hour pork bone broth.  It was literally heaven in my mouth.

Finally, here is what my Saturday night has been reduced to.  His and hers "wine".. if Mat was nice he would drink sparkling grape juice with me but he won't.

And here's another picture of the Shard.  I live near the Shard now and it's such a photogenic landmark that I take pictures of it all the time.

Finally, there was a minor crisis at Canada Water station (our tube station) today.  I was in Canary Wharf, just one stop away at the grocery store.. and when I tried to get on the tube to go home it kept saying "This train is not stopping at Canada Water due to a suspicious parcel."  Naturally I was annoyed because it took me ages to get home on the bus.. they let the train go through Canada Water but it didn't stop.  And there were helicopters and police everywhere in Canada Water.  It is a bit refreshing to know that Americans are not the only people who go into a panic about an unattended parcel though (also, how British of them to say parcel instead of package).

That was my excitement for the day.  Mat and I are cooking dinner now and being productive.  I'm at work full-time next week (finally) so trying to get things sorted out before I have absolutely no time!

That's all I know today!