22.5 weeks

Doing very well, no further ultrasounds until Thursday, but so far baby Emma is moving a lot and the uterus is behaving.  I am suffering from insomnia.  Two nights ago I have not slept one wink.  I was up at 3 am reorganizing the kitchen drawers, and I must say they do look nice, but I thought I would go crazy from tiredness the next day.  Despite being bone tired, I still could not sleep until the next night, when I had a broken fitful sleep.  It must be a progesterone effect. although it usually makes me sleepy.  Hard to tell.  Weight gain so far 14 lb, and the only consistent craving I have had for the past 2 weeks has been for chicken livers.  Which I finally got today and cooked in the pan with garlic.  Yum.  I also made a bread to go with them, but I forgot to put yeast in it (hahaha) so I got a flat brick instead.

For those who like to hear what other stuff I cook (I am sure there are not many of you out there, but it does not hurt to try :), I also made a casserole from beef tongue in the Dutch oven, with tomatoes, mushrooms and rice.  The beef tongue was so huge, I have never cooked tongue before, but a friend of mine gave it to me and I decided that it was not going to go to waste, hence tongue for everybody for one week.  With the next tongue instalment (she has four more I think) I am making a reduced sauce from tomatoes and olives, and a lot of onions.

I have finally got my sewing machine that I ordered on ebay a century ago.  It is a simple heavy duty Janome.  I have never used a sewing machine before, nor did I know the first thing about them.  It took me four hours to learn how to thread it and put the bobbin in, after which it still did not sew.  When MrH got home one night, he also spent two hours trying to figure out that I had threaded it wrongly, and put the bobbin in wrongly as well.  One day later and only one minor injury later (i.e. the needle confused my index finger with the cloth), the machine is sewing.  I have sewn four sets of curtains (two sheer and two coloured) for each room, and a cover for an old rubbermaid container in the bedroom, used as a flower pot support.  Also, in a heroic attempt, I have managed to sew a decorative pillow cover with a zipper!!!!! shocking.  The zipper is a hard one for a beginner.  However, nowadays youtube will teach you everything from how to pluck a chicken to how to sew a zipper, so thanks to youtube the zipper is in, crooked, but that is ok.  I will post the pictures shortly.

I cannot believe that I am so close to viability.  On Thursday I will be 23 weeks and then countdown to viability begins.  How very special!  I always thought that only other women can carry a pregnancy to 24 weeks, but hey, this cerclage was the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I love it.  I feel so much safer with it.

Lastly, because I have time, I have decided to germinate flowers from seeds this year.  I have one tray of marigolds, one of nasturtiums, and ten pots with herbs of all sorts.  (Again pictures coming).  The only things I have germinated so far with good success are wheatgrass for the cat and sprouts for our salad.  It will be a different experience this time.  The ground is still very frozen, and it has just snowed again, so I think it is safe to say no outdoors planting will happen for about 1-2 months at least, which gives me the perfect window to get the little plants going.