Update and pupdate

I won't bore you with the particulars of how we're still getting the new house in order. The details of carpet-cleaning, linoleum-scrubbing, shelf-hanging, repair-doing and yard-taming are not funny or fun. Instead, I'll simply note what has been observed by new home owners since time immemorial: that there's a ridiculous and overwhelming amount of stuff to do, and most of it is expensive, and we'll never finish it. At least, not by the time our baby arrives. C'est la vie!

Our new town is really a wonderful place, and every day I'm happy that our house, and all of the chores and repairs and upkeep that come with it, is located here. We can walk almost everywhere, there are a billion trees in our neighborhood, people know one another, and it's just... pleasant. And for now, the weather is gorgeous -- cool and crisp and sunny. The Minnesota winters are long, so we cherish these comfortable autumns and springs.

I'm 33 weeks pregnant now and the baby moves and wiggles a lot. Apparently needing a change of scenery, she has already relocated to the all-important head-down position, and it's awfully weird to be able to feel (with our hands on my belly) what we believe to be certain body parts (head, spine, feet) stretching my abdomen. For the last several weeks, my belly has been moving of what seems like its own accord, and resting a glass of chocolate soy milk on my belly has proven potentially messy. In other news, I bought a kick-ass stroller this weekend from a Craigslister in our new town, and I like it even better than the one Ben and I were looking at in the store! And it was such a bargain! Also, this week I begin the once-a-week doctor's office visits already. As a band I loved in high school wondered in a song, "Where does time go? I don't know."

Ben and I had an action-packed evening yesterday when I managed to give myself chemical burns on both hands by chopping and seeding a jalapeño. Despite having chopped many, many jalapeños in my life with no adverse effects, this time was baaad! It burned with increasing intensity for hours until, as we read the desperate online comments of others who have burned themselves by trifling with jalapeños, Ben decided to whip up a healing concoction that gave me enough relief that I could fall asleep -- quite a pathetic scene here last evening. (If you're curious, Dr. Ben's Special Fancy Cure-All Solution involved an entire box of baking soda whipped into a wonderful, messy paste.) I slept with my paws coated in the stuff (you should have seen the sheets and blankets when I woke up the next morning -- they are in the washing machine at this very moment). I have to admit, it was all pretty funny despite the pain and the pathos. Today, my hands are sore and feeling sunburned, which is about a hundred times better than the intolerable burning of evening last. I've learned my lesson -- never chop jalapeños without wearing gloves.

Pupdate: the dog and I are getting along a little better these days. Ben wondered if she might be misbehaving more because a) I'm pregnant, b) we're in a new house, and c) she senses that I'm irritated with her very presence. I can't do anything about a) and b), but I can try being a little less disgruntled whenever she walks into a room. So that's what I've been doing, and it has actually helped a little. Although I'm not willing to
spend all day, every day reassuring the dog that she is Special and Loved, I am happy to treat the dog with less exasperation, and to act less aggreved, if it means that we're both a little less nettled each day. I'm putting effort into walking her more (which is good exercise for both of us), as well as not recoiling in disgust when her drooly mouth approaches me. She's whining far less and there haven't been any Urine Transgressions since I started this new course, so that, at least, is good.