Holy Moodswings, Mama.

There's another baby on the way. Woah. And not all that far away now - I'm officially in my third trimester; 27 weeks and 5 days, to be exact.  The second trimester has absolutely flown past (I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; everyone told me this pregnancy would.)  Baby and I are doing well - I'm feeling plenty of movement, much more I think than I did with Annalise, which is pretty cool.. the feeling of a baby moving inside of me is one I will cherish forever, it's really like nothing else.
I say this often: I'm very blessed when it comes to my pregnancies.. consistently, with all 3 pregnancies, I've had only a couple of weeks of feeling a bit lousy & having a really yucky appetite, but beyond my first trimester, just feeling really great.  There are of course days where I just feel pregnant and would rather lay around all day than do anything else, and I can feel those days coming a bit more often now as I get bigger & closer to the end, but I really can't complain.
Here's something that's a bit different this time around though. The mood swings. Oh, the mood swings. My poor, poor husband (and poor poor me, if I do say so myself!)  The funny thing about mood swings during pregnancy is that they can disguise themselves really well.  In the moment, I just have no idea why I'm flying off the handle because there are a couple of crumbs laying on the kitchen counter, and I'm the one who has to wipe them up.  I certainly wouldn't completely discredit the things that bother me when I'm feeling particularly emotional, but I would say that they are just slightly exaggerated; in the moment though, they sure don't feel that way! And I sure don't realize that they're being caused by this pregnancy!  That is one thing I look forward to saying goodbye to once this baby is born (and once post-partum hormones clear up; those are pretty rough too).
In other news, Annalise has officially started walking! Last Saturday morning we were relaxing around the house, and she suddenly stood up and took off! We were so surprised, and so pleased! It was a pretty exciting morning.  Here's a link to a video of the big event: Annalise's First Steps
She's been practising, slowly but surely, ever since and is just so proud of herself.
I think that about sums up any news in the Janzen household; we're busy (swamped even) with getting our yard & house ready for the summer, and for this new baby.  Derek has plans to add an extension to our deck in the backyard in the next month or so, and I've got plans to update Annalise's room, to accommodate another baby!  Not to mention, we've got very few little touch-ups in our kitchen to get it totally finished off - and then I can finally post some before & after photos of that project!  This is such an exciting time - we are loving our house & the projects that it comes with. :)

D.