entering the third trimester....

... and i'm realizing the golden days of pregnancy are on their way out. those days where i had energy, those nights where i could sleep straight through --- GONE. i thought i've just been tired b/c we were out of town, but it's been a few days since our return and i can't sleep enough.

which, you know, is useful when you have packing to do. YES, we are moving! end o' february we enter suburb-ville, usa. if we could find that space here in s. minneapolis, i'd have rented it, but it just wasn't happening. so we'll be renting a house in a first-ring suburb and it's very lovely, not much more than we are paying now, and has a REAL FENCED BACKYARD! yes, it's true! that excites me on a number of levels... for instance, we have no back yard, which means if the dog needs to go out, we have to brave this cold fucking weather to do so. at the new place? we open the door to the deck (yes! a big deck!) and out she goes!

we were planning on just having abbey move into the basement bedroom in our current place b/c our cool landlord offered to put in an egress window... then it occurred to me that i felt like i was just pushing her off into the basement, giving her room to the baby. it just felt icky and i didn't want this transition of TWO new siblings withing two months (her stepmom is pregnant as well and is due two months after me) to be any harder than it already will be. that PLUS the fact that we have no storage room here. at all.

our new place is farther from her school, but really in the cities moving 10 miles away isn't that big of a deal as far as i'm concerned. plus it's right off of interstate, so it's a quick drive. and it's really close to dust's office and my office.

so we're happy with it. and i think it will help abbey's transition from only child to big sister a great deal. but yeah, the moving process still sucks. and i'm bribing every person i know with beer and snacks to help out.

dustin's still rockin' it with quitting smoking -- even with a slip here and there i have to remember that he's been a smoker since he was 18 (he's nearly 31 now) and this is his first real attempt at quitting -- so i'm super proud of him.

regarding polls of baby stuff: i think our plan is to go into the hospital with those three names, and although babies often grow into their names, i want to make sure that he LOOKS like an oscar, a sam or a simon. and maybe he'll not look like any of those. but it's good to have options.

it's interesting how people get SO worked up over how much they don't like a name. there have been a few that REALLY REALLY hate the name oscar. not just dislike it, but HATE it, and have no problem voicing that opinion. and now i'm beginning to see why people don't tell anyone their name choices.

he's kicking me right now. and i'm beginning to feel how big he is, simply b/c when he moves now, i feel it ALL THE WAY ACROSS my belly. it's nuts.

i spent some time sorting through abbey's bins o' toys that having been emptied since a few years ago... felt good, but now i feel way too accomplished for the day and will now spend the remainder of my night doing very little. hurrah for doing little!