the 18 week bell pepper

These photos were taken on mine and Vivian's trip to Florida visiting my brother and his family and my snowbird parents. I arrived penicillin in hand with a severe case of bronchitis (which I'll have you know my daughter can say clear as day). The sunshine and good company quickly made me feel better and soon I was in much better health. My folks are staying very near my brother and watching their grandchildren (Nicole and Erica) several times a week which is about the closest to heaven either one of them can be...any time with a grand baby is precious! The girls got along pretty well with the exception of Vivian wanting to push the little one, Erica, around and cuddle with her all at the same time. By the way, sharing is a learned behavior just in case you did not know! I love being with my family and really miss all of them so very much. My parents, bless their hearts, would barely let me lift a finger so I was Queen Bee for a little while. This of course was not a learned behavior - I think I possessed this status as soon as my Mommy and Daddy held me...I know lucky girl eh!?! The baby started to kick and punch a lot towards the end of our visit and that is always reassuring. So we had a wonderful time, taking in the sun at both Cresent and Flagler Beaches, sightseeing in St. Augustine, going to tea with my Mom and my sister-in-law Gerry, and just in general visiting and enjoying one another. Our next big trip is our Scotland trip 11 April.
The other big news is we had our big ultrasound today, 2D and 3D. It was awesome seeing the baby wiggle around. You would not believe some of the positions this child got into, the best of which was when Baby K #2 had its hands over its head and was grabbing its toes. I even have a picture of that to prove it. I was certain I saw well uhh ummm, let's just say I thought it was a boy for SURE and then we got a printout and then I thought I had to be wrong. So I suppose we'll all find out come end of July/early August. My due date has been changed to August 1 and the baby is measuring big, in fact, most babies at 18 weeks are between 5 1/2 to 7 oz. and this baby is already 11 oz. I have gained a total of 9 lbs. and after all I ate in Florida, I am thrilled with this new weigh in. I cried at seeing our baby up on the screen, what a wonderful blessing! What a wonderful gift I have been given, building a baby within my body! Vivian was saying my baby and baby out, she even offered the baby (or my tummy) a yogurt raisin - now that is cute!
Fraser enjoyed a weekend in Cleveland cycling with his buddy Alan at Ray's indoor mountain bike park. He has still been training and is beating his record with each passing week. He also managed to paint and prepare Viv's toddler room and steam clean the downstairs carpets. He is such a hard worker and a huge help to me though I am sure he is happy that I am handling much more these days.
Vivian is so happy and such a sweet child, always free with her smiles and hugs. She is VERY attached to me which at times can be very trying, you know when you want to make dinner or uh hum use the bathroom. Anyway, she will start school in June and I do feel that will be such a blessing. She only has me most of the time and it will be good for her to play with other kids her age. It will be one day a week and she will love it I am sure. I will miss her and probably cry my eyes out when she cries because she doesn't want to leave school! You know it will happen!
Hope all is well with you. Leave a comment by clicking the comment button below.

All my love!