Snowing again. Heavy snowfalls forecasted.

The week started with cleaning up the driveway. Very fun, especially when you have an 18 month old toddler hanging around; thank God mine is as smart and patient as it gets - I was able to clean up the whole driveway. Nevertheless, to all 6 month pregnant girls out there - do not attempt!

Happy to have finished The Black Monk by Akunin.  It was getting a bit boring towards the end, although the final scene of the murderer escaping with a load of uranium, making plans about using the money on scientific breakthroughs, restoring himself as a scientist and finding new source of energy - not knowing he had already been lethally poisoned with radiation - got stuck in my mind for some time.

Next fiction in line - Pelevin. Smart, unpredictable and incredibly delicious! Read the first several chapters of The Sacred Book of the Werewolf - and after Akunin's attempts to depict woman's psyche, - it gives a special pleasure.

Caught myself ironing a shirt for a 18 month old guy :) Who would have thought!

Actually, cleaning up the whole house with Dr. Chill around is still doable. He can wipe furniture with dust cloth, even helped me wash the baseboards in the kitchen this week, put things back to their places, help me with the laundry - put dirty clothes in the washer or take clean dry clothes out of the dryer, and then sit on the clean dry laundry in the laundry basket  - he just loves that! And vacuuming! He's been checking on the vacuum cleaner 2-3 times a day for the past 3 weeks,- must be going through his vacuum cleaner phase, - so whenever I vacuum, he will shadow me holding on to the vacuum cleaner.

As for the Dr. Chill Jr, it feel like he is a pretty active guy too. Probably a bit more good natured than the older brother :) but just as active. Great - I can have them both exhaust each other! if I survive the next year with them I mean

There is something exiting and aspiring in thinking the 2nd pregnancy will only last for 3 more months. That all this constant self-discipline, hard work and inconvenience is only for the lesser part of the pregnancy. And then - life will get easier in terms of getting my body - and what's even more important, my brain - back in full use. Time flies with the second pregnancy so fast I'm only glad I manage to  jot down a few notes into my little pregnancy diary every now and then, otherwise I'ld only realized the whole speed of it once I was in hospital.

The improvements from my 1st pregnancy - my abdominal muscles still flex (I completely lost control over them end of 1st trimester of the 1st pregnancy); I am more flexible (was more swollen at this time of my 1st pregnancy a couple of years ago).

Downsides of this pregnancy - lungs (had to stop running half way into 1st trimester this time, and can already feel they are not functioning at their best); and back (my prenatal masseusse claims the right side of my back along the spine feels quite bad. Probably because when I have to carry Dr. Chill for 10-15 minutes straight, I do so with my left arm only while I am doing whatever I need to do with my right hand. :)  )

Another important upside is that I am still able to do 1/2hr of elliptical with my tummy!