It's Junuary

Apparently, the Northwest has been exempted from heat wave the rest of the nation is currently experiencing. In fact, it is downright cold here. You may have 90's or 100's but we've got 50's. Yesterday's low temps destroyed a record that dated all the way back to 1894, and this is now the coldest June on record since 1917. So of course our local weather forecasters have given this latest weather phenomenon a nickname, Junuary, and could not stop themselves from repeating with shock "it's June 10th" during this morning's newscast. Admittedly it does not turn consistently summer-like in Seattle until after the 4th of July, but between the snow in the mountains and chilly winds, this is getting absurd.

Yesterday afternoon, we got a call from my mother-in-law because the wind blew a tree down across her driveway. So we loaded up the chainsaw and headed over to assess the damage and clean up. This was the scene:
It wasn't actually the whole tree but a rather large branch of it. It did hit my sister-in-law's car, but luckily the only damage it sustained was a small dent on the trunk. Jeramy and a neighbor spent an hour cleaning it all up, and then we were on our way home.

Upon arriving home, we discovered our power was out. I was pretty surprised, because usually it takes a larger windstorm to knock out power in our suburban neighborhood. Luckily we have a generator for our camper, so Jeramy started it up so we could watch some TV. I was sure the power would come back on by morning, but it didn't. So the generator was turned back on and thanks to our gas powered hot water heater I still got my morning shower. Then we left the house with the generator running the refrigerator and freezer. Around the corner the road was closed and a crew was working on the lines. So hopefully we'll have power and heat (because it's Junuary you know) tonight.

In the midst of all this bizarre weather, I hit the 24 week mark yesterday which feels like a big milestone to me. For one, if Jillian were to be born today, the doctor's would actually try to keep her alive and there would be somewhere around a 50% chance of her surviving. (Not that you should be getting any big ideas about moving out early, young lady!). It also marks the last month of my second trimester. So much has happened in just a couple months time from gaining in confidence that we'll end up with an actual baby at the end of this to learning that it is a "she" to feeling the reassurance of the baby's movements. The fact that we'll go from a free wheeling couple to a family by this fall is very exciting and a little scary.

To celebrate, I'll leave you with my 24 week pic, which features my belly and double chin. I've now reached the stage where complete strangers are brave enough to ask me when I'm due, and Jeramy is growing a little concerned with how much bigger I'm going to get.