Three weeks and I've already broken my resolution to post every day. The unexamined life is just easier.

The headline around here is snow, snow, and more snow. Poor JW has been out every day, if not shoveling, then breaking the thick layer of ice coating our driveway. We're supposed to get yet another storm this week. I've been refusing to leave the house during a snowstorm. We're not officially supposed to work from home, but that's why god made the Internet.

I am now 33 weeks pregnant and feeling increasingly weak and immobile. Last night I realized that 7 weeks is plenty of time to get back to a consistent workout routine that will strengthen my upper body in preparation for the baby. I decided that I could at least manage to do 10 minutes of strength work and 10 minutes of cardio each day. After waking up around 3:30, I fell back asleep around 5 a.m. and got woken up by K around 6, and had to pack him a hard-boiled egg and vinegar for school for some experiment they are doing, and pack our bags and fix our breakfasts and get dressed and brush our teeth, and throw dinner in the crockpot and do assorted other little chores. And of course, I had to draw some mazes for K and listen to him play the harmonica and chase him around a little and cajole him into his coat. Before I knew it, I was late for work as usual and finding the 20 minutes no longer seemed so easy. In theory I could do lots of preparation the night before, but after I put K to bed I lack the energy to do anything. Probably what I really should do is go to bed and wake up early the next morning, but then I don't get any time alone with JW. I guess I'll just keep doing what I can.

K is very interested in mazes and puzzles lately. He's also starting to identify and sound out words, and has been playing word and number games on his Thomas laptop. It was a Christmas present from the grandparents when he was two, but the only thing he could really do with it at the time was make it play music. He's interested in science lately too. He asks all sorts of questions about animals and how things work. It's good that he's turning out to be a smart kid, because so far he shows no signs of being athletic. I can barely get him to change out of his pajamas and leave the house. Like his mom, he remains tiny. (Well, I'm not so tiny lately, but eventually I should be able to turn around without knocking something over.) At about 37 inches and 33 pounds, he's one of the smallest in his class. I hope I haven't doomed him for life.

K might get his weight percentile up if only he would voluntarily EAT something other than Goldfish crackers, popsicles, and fruit leather. Lately the list of foods he rejects has been growing, and he hasn't been adding anything. He's even been refusing typical toddler foods he used to love -- mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, pizza, hot dogs. We've resorted to a "eat all your veggies to get dessert" rule to make sure he gets something nutritious. He used to eat whatever we put in front of him and have fresh fruit for dessert. At least he still eats a good breakfast and a decent amount of fruit during the day.

I saw a link today to this BBC article suggesting babies should be weaned before they're six months old. I'm glad I'm a second-time mom, because otherwise I would be totally confused and freaked out right now. Despite the inflammatory headline, the article appears to actually say that babies should start solids before six months, not that they need to be weaned.

This weekend we started putting together the nursery. JW assembled the crib and moved the furniture around. It's a little cramped in there, but it will do. The next job is for me to go through all the boxes and bags of baby stuff that people have given us and that we have left over from K's infancy. Recently JW asked if I thought we weren't taking this baby seriously enough -- with K, we barely thought about anything else the whole time I was pregnant, but this time around we've been much more focused on other things. I feel like since K's arrival, we have learned to accept a certain level of unpredictability in our lives. I know it's no use speculating about what life will be like with kid #2 or worrying about how things will change, so why bother? We know the basic details of newborn care. We do need to figure out a plan for when I go into labor, specifically what to do with K. The nursery needs curtains and we'll acquire newborn sized diapers and some swaddling blankets and warm pajamas and things. Other than that, I think we're okay.