the excitement builds

Week 20 was a busy one, requiring me to get my pictures of the day in early, before evening rehearsals and performances. You see, I had agreed to play piano in the pit of a middle school production of 13, and it was tech week. Luckily, I had done the show with the same conductor a couple summers ago, so I just had to brush up and get comfortable with the score again. (It's a challenging one, but it's one of the more enjoyable shows I've played.) That week, I had rehearsals Monday through Thursday and performances on Friday and Saturday nights, plus one additional show on Friday morning.

Sunday, however, was free. It was also Mother's Day. We didn't really do anything special and Mother's Day related, but we made a trip to Room & Board to look at and order a new computer desk. (Progress!) The picture of the day was our lunch, though. Steve made a pizza with potatoes and rosemary. Apparently, it's a combination that sounds strange to people here, but it's pretty common in Italy.

134/366 potato & rosemary pizza

Monday's "get it out of the way" picture was of the stacks of CDs and books in the office. I doubt that I actually did much with them that day; it was just the easiest thing I could think of to photograph. Since then, we've gotten rid of all those CDs, but the book piles have only gotten bigger. At least that means we'll have less stuff overall once they're all gone.

135/366 everything must go

Then I had my 16-week appointment with my OB on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, I always seem to go during street cleaning days, which makes parking near CPMC a bit more challenging. Knowing this from my last two visits, I left early and gave myself plenty of time to drive around the surrounding Presidio Heights neighborhood, looking for a free spot. I found one a ways from the hospital, but it was in a nice neighborhood with pretty houses, so I didn't mind the walk.

136/366 in the heights

On Wednesday afternoon, I went to Arizmendi Bakery for a snack and took a few pictures of the pastry cases. I ended up getting a "chocolate thing," which was essentially a huge brioche roll with pieces of dark chocolate inside. It was pretty good, but I've definitely had better pain au chocolat type pastries before. Still, it's good to know I can get something like that nearby if I have a bread/chocolate craving.

137/366 a trip to the bakery

Thursday's picture was taken at home again: the books I had moved to the bedroom mantel a few days before. I knew I wanted to put a few prettier books there, and since they're food-related but not necessarily cookbooks, these seemed like a good choice. (Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life is my favorite.) Some have recipes, but they're mostly biographical prose. About half are mine and half are Steve's, so we each have some more reading to do of each other's books.

138/366 taking up the mantel

Looking out the window on Friday, I saw Aroara the neighborhood cat hanging around across the street. That prompted a walk around the block and some cat pictures. Not terribly exciting, but Aroara did apparently get a new red collar with rhinestones to replace her pink one with rhinestones. (Riveting stuff here...)

139/366 cat in the shade

Still feeling less inspired on the picture front the next day, I used my weekly self portrait as my photo for Saturday. I didn't feel too bad about it, though; I hadn't done that yet, and this was the week that I started to feel the baby moving. I actually thought I felt something on Sunday—Mother's Day—but I wasn't entirely sure. So when my doctor asked me on Tuesday if I was feeling anything yet, my answer was "maybe...?" She said I'd probably be sure within a week or two, but I didn't end up having to wait more than a few hours. That afternoon, I was sitting on the couch and felt a couple definitive nudges. The so-called "fluttering" feeling that many describe was apparently too subtle for me, but there was no mistaking these. It was more like Bonnie's description: twitches.

The interesting thing about it was that it happened the week I was playing music in a loud pit with drums behind me every night. Perhaps the drums on Monday woke him or her up. :) More likely, it was just that time anyway. The usual for a first baby is 16-20 weeks, and this was at 16 1/2. Plus, I'm on the thin side, so that helps. Anyway, it was an exciting week for the pregnancy.

140/366 17 weeks

Well, that puts me about two weeks behind in blogging. And speaking of exciting weeks in pregnancy, Steve and I will find out the sex of the baby at our ultrasound in about an hour! You can check Flickr sometime tomorrow—probably late afternoon—for the news. I have to take an appropriate picture of the day first. :)