It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood...

I slept really well last night. This is significant. Apparently, you can start to not sleep that well at night kinda early in your pregnancy. I think my sleep has been more light and restless for about 2 weeks now, so when I get a really nice night of sleep, I'm very happy about it. And I did last night, and I woke up refreshed. I wasn't even cranky about my leg being sore from lying on one side all night. And the sun is shining, the birds are singing. It's a great fall day in Arlington. Last night, I went to the Court for a clerk Happy Hour. For those of you who associate Happy Hour with smoky bars and lots of alchohol, that's not what this is. Sure, there's beer, but there's also a full meal, and spouses come and bring the kids, and everybody just hangs out and chats for a couple of hours after work. They happen every Thursday night, but we haven't been able to go to all of them. Last night, it started pouring, so they moved the cookout inside to an extra room used by one of the Justice's. There was a fireplace in there, and somebody lit the wood in it, and we all sat around and talked in this imposing wood paneled room with 17 foot ceilings and floor to ceiling bookshelves. The place to be for me, though, was on the floor near the fireplace with the babies. =) We ended up staying until 8:00 chatting, a little bit because nobody wanted to walk back to the Metro in a downpour, but mostly because it was fun. I met a new spouse, the wife of another clerk, and her son who is exactly Isaac's age, and I really enjoyed it. Somebody offered me a seat on the Metro on the way over there, and that made me feel good, too. At this point, I look really pregnant. I promise I'll post some more pictures soon. And I feel good. I was realizing what a blessing that is this morning. One of the girls I was talking to last night felt bad her entire pregnancy, and it was so miserable, that even though she wants several children, she considers it a negative thing to have to be pregnant with them all. I'm so thankful to God that this pregnancy has been so enjoyable for me. If this is the only pregnancy I have, I'll have good memories of it. At this point, I feel like a fine tuned baby carrying machine. My body is doing what I always hoped it would do if I could just get it there, and it's nice to feel like it's working like it's supposed to work. I'm 23 weeks now, and next week, I'll hit viability. That means that after that, if the baby decides to come early, he could make it. The number 24 is definitely important to me right now. This weekend, we have a couple and their newborn lined up to come to dinner, and I'm going to attempt to make sopapillas for them. I'm crossing my fingers that this Mexican desert won't be too hard. And on Saturday we get to do something I absolutely love and look forward to all year. We're going to the State Fair in Richmond! I love fairs. When we were in Alabama, we went to their state fair in Montgomery. No offense to all my lovely friends in the YellowHammer State, but the Alabama State Fair is a huge disappointment. I was very sad after going there. So I've been deprived of my fair experiences for the past three years, but no more! We're going, and we're going to see the pigs, and the biggest pumpkin, and some mutton busting, and the craft exhibits. When I was a kid, we entered competitions in our local fair, the Dixie Classic, almost every year. We entered the pumpkin painting contest a lot, and we'd enter for other handicrafts and artwork and photography. It was really neat to see a ribbon next to the entry with your name on it. We helped make a booth for our 4-H club often, too. Of course, Vance and I also loved the antique tractor exhibit. When he was a little boy, he had to climb all over them and get his picture taken. The fair isn't about rides to me. It's about country living, and I miss that. So this weekend, I get to get my fix. I'll probably take a million pictures, and I'll post some of them I'm sure. I hope all of you have a great weekend. I know I hope to.