Miscellaneous, because I can't seem to find time to blog these days

I love my new kitchen. (Sorry, I also can't seem to find time to take pictures of the house, let alone post them...do I already have some in the hard drive, from before we moved in? Maybe...I'll get back to you on that). Anyway, yes, I love my new kitchen. I love it so much that it makes me want to spend more time in it. I think this kitchen will generally look significantly cleaner and tidier than the one at our old house (that is, if the dishes aren't washed, they will be stacked tidily in the sink...but that's partly because the double sink is DEEP enough to stack them in). I keep digressing. Sorry. But I LOVE my kitchen. Did I say that already? I did, didn't I?
Sometimes I find myself sitting down to read at the kitchen table in the breakfast area (I LOVE that we have a BREAKFAST AREA) just so I can be close to my kitchen. There is so much storage space. I think I have all my kitchen stuff completely unpacked, even the stuff that is rarely used, and there are still cabinets that are empty or mostly empty or at least still have plenty of room for more stuff. Not that I'm planning on filling it, not all at once anyway. I'm enjoying all the extra space. I'm also realizing I'm GLAD we don't have a kitchen island, because I think it would be in my way a lot, and about now I would be getting really annoyed with it and wondering to myself, "WHY was it that I thought I needed an island?"

Tonight, for the first time, I finally got a chance to use the jacuzzi. Ahhhhhhhhhh... I wanted to try it out especially because I think the baby will be born there. We had planned on using a blow-up kiddie pool like we did with Audrey (didn't get to use it with Aislinn...see her birth story in December of last year for the explanation of why), but I'm thinking the jacuzzi will be just heavenly, especially with a couple of inflatable bath pillows, one for my back and one to sit on. Yes, to sit on. Probably the main reason Aislinn was not born in our old bathtub in F_ (besides the fact the tub wasn't deep enough to submerge me for effective pain relief) is that I could not brace myself against anything to push. I kept slipping around the bottom of the tub. With a pillow to sit on, and a tub wide enough to sit sideways in so I can brace my feet against the opposite side of the tub, THIS tub will be perfect.

I'm rambling a bit, I think, but there is SO much about this house that I just want to talk about! Mostly good, but there are some things...well, lets just call them "challenges" because I would not want anyone to think I am complaining about this house. Because I love it.

• The kitchen sink that is deep enough to stack dishes in is so deep that I have to lean over a bit when I'm washing dishes. This is also partly because my belly has gotten so big that I have to stand about six inches farther from it than I normally would. I'm hoping this won't be a problem I MEAN challenge anymore when I'm no longer pregnant.
• The water heater is located in the center of the basement. It's not close to any faucet or shower head in the house. This means I have to brush my teeth while I'm waiting for my shower to heat up. I don't mind the waiting so much as I do the waste of water (we are currently paying two mortgages, the second of which is two to three times more than the first. I'm feeling a bit anxious about waste right now.)
• Speaking of waste, how about electricity? We have some very cool, recessed lights in a few rooms in the house (kitchen, master bath, basement office, and a few other places). Unfortunately, each of these is occupied by 100 watt flood lights. In the kitchen alone, to have light, there must be at least one and possibly up to six or seven in use at one time. I've been avoiding using the ceiling lights, using mostly just the task lighting in the kitchen, and it's actually sufficient, but even then, that's when the one 100 watter is in use (along with some other much smaller bulbs).
  

Enough about the house issues, though, because what I love far surpasses what I don't.

• Our huge backyard, in which Audrey has already caught two additional preying mantises (after the current one that we brought from F_ died).
• The space in the kitchen where we have put a desk, MY desk, MY little space. It's not private, but that will come. Later, when all children can navigate the stairs. I'm just happy to have a desk of my own.
• The hardwood floor that stretches from the laundry room, through the kitchen and breakfast area, through the great room and into the half bath. SO easy to clean, just Swiffer it every now and then. Well...except I'm still trying to figure out how to MOP it. Swiffer Wet isn't cutting it, it smudges. Should I just damp mop it with water only? Will it spot? Someone who knows, please tell me!
• My huge master bathroom with two sinks. When Leo and I want to brush our teeth at the same time, we don't have to subject ourselves to yoga moves to both get a spot at the sink. And if he splashes water all over his area? Oh well, I don't see it! Also still lots of unused drawers in this room.
  
• Our walk-in closet that I usually just get dressed in. Most of my clothes are there, the hampers fit in there too, it's private, perfect. Still plenty of unused place, though some of it is too high for me, but once the maternity clothes are gone, I will have more room to play with. This is a good thing because Aislinn's hang-up clothes are currently in here, as will be the baby's. Aislinn sleeps in our room right now (as will the baby when it comes), and she rarely goes upstairs. There is no reason for me to be dragging my pregnant self up the stairs if I don't need to. (Her dresser is in our room too...and the baby's will be too. There is space for us all!).

OK, some other miscellany that I have been saving up for a post:

• Audrey's tooth is still in her mouth. I think with all the excitement of the move and all the changes, she has not been wiggling it! She recently realized this and has been wiggling it more, because I told her the more she wiggles it, the sooner it would come out.
  
• Aislinn's vocabulary is EXPLODING. She even is showing signs of having some manners, using "please" and "thank you" appropriately (without prompting usually), and even "sorry", which is adorable because it comes out "warry". She frequently puts two and sometimes three words together ("Mama wash" and "Aud'ey eat dadoo {crackers}"). Some of her pronunciation and syntax can only be interpreted by Leo, Audrey, or I ("deep" is "cup" and "appy" is any fruit or even a tomato, not just apples). But she's adding a new word or two every day, and it is so fun to see her making all the connections. My current favorite? "See you!", said very clearly.
• I like my new Curves even better than the old one (no pun intended!). In F_, a lot of people tended to keep to themselves, and I admit that, because I'm an introvert, I was one of them. Here, the mornings when I go in, the owner (or her lone employee, I have only seen the two of them) is going around the circuit chatting with everyone. I can't imagine that she goes around and around all day long, but she makes sure to engage everyone.
  
• I've been going to MOPS here in town, and I love it. I could find my "group" here. It meets every other Tuesday, with childcare provided with the dues, and on the off weeks, you can drop your child(ren) off for a couple of hours with the same caregivers they have on the other Tuesdays. For various reasons, I have not been getting my regular weekly mom's night off, so these Tuesdays, both the ones with meetings and the ones without, have been wonderful. They also schedule a night to eat out together at various restaurants around town once a month, and the two I've been to so far have been fun.
  

I'm still getting used to the town. If it wasn't for that daggone U.S. highway running south-east through town, I would be figuring it out a lot faster. But I know where all the Starbucks are (there are three, including the one in Target), where Walmart is, where Target is (it's not a Super Target, but I'm not complaining...I had to drive the next town north to get to one before!), and where the library is (wish it was closer...or at least that they had drop boxes other places around town!). Now...all they need is a Borders. I'd even settle for a Barnes and Noble.