19 wks = 133 days = 4 months, 11 days = 0.36 yrs

During the first trimester of my pregnancy, I thought that time could not move any slower.  Today, I am 19 weeks pregnant, and it seems like time now is moving at a normal pace.  I'm sure that my change in perception of time has something to do with the fact that Jay and I found out last week that we are having a girl.  Now, we are beginning to plan for her arrival.  We have our nursery room cleared out (thanks to my brother Jonathan who helped Jay move the guest bedroom furniture to another room), we have decided on a paint color, and we have begun looking for all of the necessary nursery items.  We're also giving more thought to first and middle names.

For the past six weeks, I have been taking weekly photos to capture my physical changes throughout pregnancy (no "bare belly" shots so far).  Here are three:

13 weeks, 3 days pregnant

18 weeks, 2 days pregnant

18 weeks, 5 days pregnant

Jay and I are looking forward to meeting our daughter in approximately 21 weeks.  Hopefully, we'll be ready for the challenges of parenthood.

A True Fan

From the moment I read Pride and Prejudice in high school, I have been a fan of Jane Austen.  In fact, she is my favorite author; however, until this year, I only had read two (perhaps three) of her six novels.  During the spring, Masterpiece ran adaptations of Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey.  I absolutely loved the adaptation of Emma and found it to be far superior to Hollywood's adaptation in 1996 (starring Gwyneth Paltrow).  I decided that to really call myself a true fan of Jane Austen, I should read all of her novels, so that's what I did during the past two months.

Having read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility before, I began with Mansfield Park.  Although I have no recollection of reading this book in the past, everything about it was so familiar to me as I read it that I have concluded that I must have read it at some point.  I must say that of all of Jane Austen's novels, I am most disappointed in the movie adaptations of Mansfield Park.  Fanny Price is a much more interesting character than she is portrayed in the two fairly recent adaptations.  In addition, the directors made too many unnecessary changes to the storyline.  I believe that you cannot improve upon Jane Austen's works, so directors should not try to do so.

After finishing Mansfield Park, I read Persuasion and really liked it.  In fact, I think it has replaced Sense and Sensibility as my second favorite Austen novel.  It's a really sweet story. Next, I read Emma and was delighted to see that the Masterpiece adaptation was very much like the book. 

Although many people save the best of anything for last, I'm usually quite the opposite.  After seeing the adaptation of Northanger Abbey on Masterpiece, I had a feeling that I would not like the book very much.  Thus, I saved it for last.  While I found reading it enjoyable, it certainly is much different from all of Austen's other novels and is my least favorite.

Now that I have finished reading all of Austen's novels and seeing at least one movie adaptation of each, I consider myself a true fan.  I do not, however, feel inclined to join JASNA (The Jane Austen Society of North America).

Piano

During the past year, I really have started missing playing the piano.  I began taking piano lessons in the first grade, and I continued through ninth grade (I think).  As a child, I didn't appreciate playing the piano primarily because I was required to do so a certain amount of time each week.  Thus, I usually spent at least 30 minutes every night in a room all by myself playing until Mom finally would say that my time was up.  The minutes always crept by.  If I stopped playing for any length of time, Mom would add minutes to my total time required.

Nearly every year that I played, I participated in a piano recital.  Although I enjoyed learning to play a tune so well that it actually sounded like music when I played it, I always was nervous about playing in front of a crowd.  I can still recall dressing up for the recitals, walking up the stairs to the piano, playing in front of the audience (consisting of proud parents and siblings who didn't want to be there), and curtsying at the end.  I think my favorite recital piece was Fur Elise. 

Of course, playing the piano had its perks even when I was young.  For many years, my piano lessons took place during school hours, so I was excused from class each time I had a piano lesson.  My Mom also wanted me to learn techniques from more than one person, so every two years or so, I started taking lessons from a new teacher.  Each of my four teachers was quite different from the others.  The most gifted teacher could play very well by ear and would often compose music for our school plays.  Since I do not have the gift of playing by ear, I learned the most from the teachers who also played by sight.

Because I was so busy with academics and sports during high school, I eventually convinced my parents to let me stop taking piano lessons.  Of course, now I wish I had continued lessons at least until I started college.  While in college, I played the piano every now and then at church when the other pianists were not available to play; however, I rarely practiced, so I wasn't very good.

It's been years since I have played the piano for more than a few minutes, and I would love to start again.  I think it would be so relaxing to spend a few hours each week developing my skill.  Of course, I live in a neighborhood and would not want to force all of my neighbors to hear my hours of practice.  Thus, I am considering purchasing a piano style keyboard.  I decided to look on Craig's list tonight, and I found one that I like.  I haven't decided yet, but I just might buy it!