14 Weeks Pregnant

I'm thrilled to be in the second trimester: the best one, where you stop feeling tired & nauseous all the time, but you aren't massive & uncomfortable yet. No more 1-2 hour daily naps! No more indigestion! I still need to rest more often than I used to, but overall things are great. 

Tomorrow we're heading to the States for Christmas, so I had my "16 week" midwife appointment a bit early today. We went over the results from the scan & blood tests, and everything looked great. My iron levels were nice and high, which proves that the fatigue was just fatigue and I'm not anemic.

All of the literature/websites say you can't feel any movement until 18-ish weeks, but I have definitely felt "flutterings" a few times now. The first time was on the drive up to Durham--it felt so crazy and amazing (and it didn't feel anything like gas pains, which the literature claims can be mistaken for flutterings).

Looking forward to Christmas, New Year's and the research trip! Will try to get 16 & 18 week updates posted on time, too.

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime...

Reindeer at the Otley Victorian Fayre

I had an amazing sausage sandwich with apples, fried onion & HP sauce

We had a great time at the Victorian Fayre and found a couple of lovely Wedgwood pieces, too

Trinity Shopping Centre

Not Christmas-related, but Richard found these lovely red transferware plates for the kitchen

Birthday dinner at the Alp Chalet

Another visit to the Christkindlmarkt--I could go every day!

We dressed Biscuit up in the Santa coat--it's much more snug on her than it was on Cookie, but she's much more comfortable in it than Cookie was. She walked around and played in it, whereas Cookie just flopped onto her side in a silent protest.

We put the tree up a few days after Thanksgiving this year

For some reason, I had two Cracker Barrel ornaments, so after confirming with Kelly that it wasn't hers (she has one, too!), I gave one to an American friend here who loves Cracker Barrel--she loved it!

Mommy-to-be commemorative Hallmark ornament from Kelly

The gingerbread man from 1st grade is still holding up after 22 years!

The mouse from 2nd grade doesn't look quite as good, but it's still around, too!

The Wedgwood bell we got last year--it's 1 day older than Richard, commemorating New Years 1979!

The pudding ornament I got at Castle Howard last year, another one of my favorites

We brought my nutcracker back last Christmas--I got it in Leavenworth when I was a kid, after being fascinated by Nina's nutcrackers up in Vancouver

Nothing says Christmas is coming like a half-empty advent calendar!

Durham Christmas Festival

I've always wanted to see Durham, and they happened to have a Christmas festival on the Saturday before my birthday this year, so we took a little birthday trip up north!

Durham is very old and beautiful, like York, but it's quite small

The birthday girl in front of a 12th century pub

Durham Castle, now the campus of Durham University

Durham Cathedral

Real live reindeer!

The cloisters were used for Hogwarts corridors in the Harry Potter movies

There was a local food market taking place in the cloisters, so it was really crowded

I always seem to visit these places when they have scaffolding up...maybe it's just that these old places are always being repaired!

The Cathedral is doing a fundraiser where you pay £1 to put a LEGO piece on a section of the huge model version of the Cathedral. They've raised over £114,000 so far! Richard chipped in and got to add a round piece to one of the columns.

For St. Nicholas' Day, they had a procession of kids with lanterns (with LED candles) going from the market square up to the cathedral, where they had a service with carols, the story of St. Nicholas, and chocolate coins for the kids.

It was really crowded and difficult to get pictures, but it was cute to see the little goomers with their little lanterns!

After the service, we checked out the gift shop & saw that Richard's LEGO section was up on the model now

The entrance to Durham Castle/University of Durham