Update

Been quiet a long time on here. Guess I have some catching up to do.
First, I’m still pregnant. Here I am a week and a half ago, at 25 1/2 weeks.

Pregnancy has been really wonderful so far, no doubt due in large part to my ability to sleep and eat whenever I need to thanks to working at home and to the Professor’s constant help and attention. I’m just passing into the third trimester now, and I am getting a small taste of the discomforts to come, such as heartburn and sore legs and arch of one foot. But it’s minor really, easier than I was expecting.
True to nesting stereotypes, we are doing a lot around the house. We started simply, by dismantling the kitchen. Goodbye, wall!

Much to my dismay, the new wood floors were installed crookedly. The first boards were set crooked, so the rest were as well. I hate complaining and making trouble, but really, they were CROOKED. So our contractor took care of it–at her expense, she had more floor ripped out and it all installed properly. Behold, the straightness!

They sanded and stained and refinished the whole level. We needed it to match the stairs and the wood floors upstairs, and they did a great job of matching it. They could have taken the kitty to the hardware store to pick out matching stain.

The floor refinishing fortunately coincided with our spring break trip to Charleston. The Professor’s parents gave us a gift certificate at Christmas to use at a B&B, and we figured if we didn’t use it before Sprout showed up, we might not ever, or at least for a long time. We stayed at the Battery Carriage House Inn, a lovely old house.

We were in room 10, which is supposed to have a resident “Gentleman Ghost.” We did not see the ghost but we did hear what sounded like rats frolicking in the attic our last night there. Ghost rats, perhaps.

We got to tour the Calhoun House, which was beautiful and amazing, and I highly recommend a visit. We also ate at Oak, shopped in the Market, went to a museum on slavery, toured Fort Sumter, and enjoyed the Magnolia Plantation, particularly the peacocks. You can see a full set of my pictures here. Of course, most places didn’t allow pictures. The most interesting thing to me about the slavery museum was a diagram showing just how few people owned slaves in the South. Just underscores again that the Civil War was a rich man’s war, poor man’s fight. We also were able to listen to recordings of former slaves sharing their experiences, which was really moving–sometimes inspiring, often heartbreaking.
Well, I’d better get back to cleaning drywall and sawdust off of everything in the house. That covers the basics. Just a brief tale.