Patio Gardening

I long for the day when I have a home with a lawn and space for a real garden, but for now, we are making the best of our apartment living and decided to try our thumbs at some vegetables this summer.

We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, okra, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, and sugar snap peas.

I was interested in trying the Topsy Turvy tomato planter (has anyone tried it?) but Jared said we could make our own upside down planter. So we did. And it was free. Jared simply cut a hole into the bottom of a cheap plastic pot that we already had, inserted the tomato plant (so the plant was sticking out the bottom of the pot, turned it upside down and added soil. He also cut 2 holes in the sides of the pot and attached some rope. Then we hung it from our balcony. I'm excited to see how it does.

On a totally different note, I tried to do some maternity clothes shopping at Target today, but couldn't find anything that I wouldn't have to wear another shirt underneath. Seriously, if I am going to be pregnant in the sticky North Carolina summer, I sure am not going to wear any more layers than necessary. Why is it so hard to find shirts that aren't see through and have a modest neckline? Anyway, I gave up on shopping for clothes for myself and instead romped through the baby section with Jared. I've probably looked at Target's baby clothes 5 times this month, but today I finally bought something. My first baby purchase:

It's a girl!

I have to admit, I was surprised. For some reason, I just assumed this little baby inside me had to be a boy. Maybe because even before I was pregnant, anytime Jared and I talked about a future baby, we always referred to it as a "he." But I am definitely excited about this little girl. I felt her first kicks 2 weeks ago today and they have been getting stronger and more frequent ever since. It's so exciting to feel, I can't help but smile to myself when I feel her kick.

And just a few pictures to update those interested folks (mostly my family, I'm sure) on my belly growth:

15 weeks

16 weeks - taking a walk at the park

17 weeks

Just realized I missed the 18 week picture. Coming up on 19 weeks in a couple of days. I thought I was hiding my pregnancy pretty well at work, but when I announced last week to my coworkers that I was pregnant, they all said "oh, we've known for weeks. But thanks for letting us know anyway." Apparently they would talk about it whenever I wasn't in the room and try to guess how long I was going to wait to tell them. Plus, I've had 2 bold people ask me if I was pregnant before I ever said anything about it. So I guess it's now becoming obvious and there's no more need to hide the fact that I can't button my pants. Or zip them for that matter. Bring on the stretchy panels!