And Leon's getting larrrrger!

Anyone who gets the reference in the title wins my undying affection. (A $50 value; void in Arizona)

So, here I am at 18 weeks and 2 days, having fun with the visual effects on my photo editing software. And salvaging a blurry photo, because I was too lazy to bother taking and uploading another one.

All of a sudden, I'm starting to feel big. And I know, this is nothing yet. But today for the first time, I felt truly impeded whilst doing my yoga practice. Normally I'm a pro at seated twists and positions that require me to reach around my back and grab my foot and that sort of thing -- I've always had a very flexible back and shoulders -- but today there was just too much of me in the way.

The sea monkeys (which doesn't feel like quite an accurate moniker anymore; they are no longer abstract little magical creatures to me, but actual babies) have been quite active lately, tingling and bubbling and wiggling around inside me like -- OK, like sea monkeys. It just makes me smile everytime I feel it. And I do feel it, generally, in two distinct places: upper left or lower right. My little yin yang twins.

We took them to their first rock and roll concert the other night, incidentally: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, at Great Woods (aka the Tweeter Center. Dumb) courtesy of last-minute free tickets from a dear friend. It was an excellent show, thanks especially to the presence of Young. They pulled no punches, politically: it was an outright anti-war, anti-Bush spectacle. I'm glad to have exposed my progeny to this at an early age. And to give them the opportunity to keep on rockin' in the free world. Or in the uterus. Whatever. They also got their first taste, I fear, of the wacky weed -- it was wafting around in the air, as you might expect, hard to avoid. Oh well. I hope they had a nice little trip. Mama tries to stay chill about this kind of thing.

The Subaru Forester, by the way, has arrived, and I have to say, it's a pretty sweet ride. However, I had a moment yesterday where I had to laugh at myself: me, pregnant, loading groceries into the back of a late-model Subaru Forester. (With my parents' Sunday River ski resort parking sticker still on it! Eeek!!) I think it's time to slap on the "Anarchy" ribbon magnet that my dear friend Viva Las Vegas gave me, lest my husband and I be mistaken for, you know, normal people.

Two more days until our next ultrasound, where we will hopefully find out the genders. Any bets? Stay tuned...