23 weeks (and 4 days)

It is starting to get to the point where the weeks actually go by relatively quickly! At the beginning, I was worried that this pregnancy would drag on forever, because each week seemed to last forever in the first trimester and before our ultrasound. I'm so glad time has seemed to speed up now!

In terms of the actual pregnancy, I'm still feeling really good. My belly is seeming to get bigger but not at an alarming rate which is nice :) I haven't had any swelling or pain yet so I'm hoping that stays away for awhile. Prenatal yoga is going great - I really enjoy it. It isn't really that difficult for me, which is fine given my aforementioned distaste for physical activity :) Baby girl has been moving around a lot more lately - there were a few quieter days this week, but I tried to not get too worried about that since I know it still is hard to feel constant movement at this point especially given my anterior placenta. Today and yesterday she has been moving around a LOT (probably due to the fact that I have NOT been moving!) so that is always reassuring. So far, still no movements that hurt me or are even very startling, although it is kind of weird when she starts wiggling right when I'm talking to someone.

Today, as shown in my belly pic above, I went to a fabric store with Kate to get some fabric for nursery decor. I plan on framing a few pieces of fabric for wall art - similar to the canvas photos we have. I'll find some square wooden frames at Michael's and stretch the fabric over those, and they will be hung over the dresser/changing table. We went to Crafty Planet thanks to a recommendation from Becky, which was awesome! I LOVED so many of the fabrics, but tried to remember that I was choosing things for a baby's room and not for myself :) I also wanted to tie in red and pink together, since I know there will be some pink in the room but I really like red accents as well.

These are the 3 fabrics I chose:

click here to see larger

I love that 2 out of the 3 have at least a bit of the aqua color I want for the walls, and all 3 have both red and pink. The striped fabric has a ton of colors including the same green tone as the apple/pear fabric. Kate approved the choices so I know they must be ok :)

After the fabric store, I headed over to Home Depot to pick out some paint samples, trying to match the aqua in the fabrics...

As you can see, I picked out quite a few! After going home and looking at the samples in different lights, I think we're going to go with Cool Jazz by Behr - it matches the fabric reasonably well, and is bright without being overwhelming.

I have been having a really hard time with making a decision about bedding - all I really wanted was a cute sheet and a crib skirt because I don't plan on using the bumpers and the quilt isn't necessary for awhile. Finally, last night I found this bedding AND a website that sells the items separately! The crib skirt has red, pink, and brown (I think? we'll see when I get it I guess) stripes which is perfect. I did get one fitted sheet, and also have registered for a plain pink and white sheet as well. I really hope it all works out!