Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (and 25 weeks)

Well, times are a-changing in our household! While our progress in getting ready has been excruciatingly slow, last night we took a BIG step...and it was a doozy! I traded in my muscle car for a "mom-mobile."

I LOVE sports cars - my first car ever was a bright red Mustang. When that one died in an accident, I had the joy of picking out my first ever brand new car. I settled on a dark red D.odge C.harger. With a hemi. That's right. It was a totally bad-ass car, and I'm not going to lie and say I didn't love flooring it on the highway (within legal limits of course) or seeing how fast I could go from zero to 60.

Last night I said farewell to that car and was surprised at how emotional I was. It was a great car and we had lots of great memories with it - trips, surviving a blizzard, evening summer drives.

Now don't go thinking I went ALL soccer mom. I didn't get a mini van. I will never get a mini van. Despite their awesome, handy, helpful features, I can't stand them. They are far too boring for me. I don't care about prestige when it comes to car names - I don't want a Lexus just because it's a Lexus and a status symbol. I would much rather have a car that's cool, interesting, and just a little bit bad-ass.

I got one.

It's a 2011 T.oyota 4 R.unner. I'm not gonna lie - it's the nice one, the Limited. I don't think I've ever written a check with that many zeros on it before. Mr. M. may deliberate for months over a car purchase, but he weighed the pros and cons and decided that the full-time four wheel drive was a must-have. I agree - driving the 30 miles to my job after a snowstorm last year in my rear wheel drive car was absolutely terrifying.

It has all kinds of dazzling features (this whole smart key thing is crazy), more buttons than I know what to do with, and a lot of extra storage room. It comes complete with a LATCH system for our car seat, which was very important to us. Also has a slide-out cargo tray in the back, as in you slide the tray out, load your groceries on and then slide it back in without having to lean all the way in to load stuff.

I'm kind of in love with it, and also very terrified to mess it up - classic new car fear of rocks and pot holes and parking lots.

In other news, the Great Crib Search continues. Last week we found a crib that we like at BRU, but we want to check out a couple of smaller stores in town before we totally decide. At least now we have the capacity to load it up and bring it home when we find it!

T.he B.ump tells me that Baby is now the size of an eggplant - yikes! I start a new week of pregnancy every Wednesday, and it never fails that Baby is super quiet and not moving a lot on Wednesdays, which of course totally freaks me out. Luckily he's been super active today, which is reassuring.

That's all for now! In case you're interested, here's a weekly update.

How Far Along? 25 Weeks

Maternity Clothes? All my pants are now maternity! I've bought some fall weather maternity shirts and am mixing and matching with non-maternity knits that still fit. I also wear dresses on the warmer days - they are my favorite because they're SO comfortable.

Weight Gain? 18 pounds total as of my last weigh-in (at 22 weeks). I don't own a scale and I am happy not to.

Stretch Marks? Haven't seen any yet! I can see the faintest of lines starting to develop down the middle of my belly.

Sleep? Not sleeping as well as I had been - seems like I wake up a lot more and spend more time tossing and turning.

Best Moment of the Week: Mr. M. FINALLY felt the baby move this week! Just once, and then he stopped kicking, but it was quite a relief!

Weirdest Comment: "Are you STILL pregnant?" Said by an adorable older man at work in a joking manner, but still...??

Movement? Yes! Lots of kicks low down, especially when I'm sitting with my feet up or laying in bed. Getting more movement higher up now, too - I'm assuming the low movements are kicks and the higher movements are punches.

Gender? A boy!

What I miss? Still craving soda and would really like a fresh margarita!

Symptoms: Acid reflux, weight gain and general tiredness. My fingers swell when I exercise (light walking) and my feet will swell a little bit when I'm on them for a while.

Milestones: Every day is its own milestone.

Emotions: Happy and relieved, but overwhelmed with all the things I need to get done within the next 10-12 weeks!