A while back I shared some links of articles I had published elsewhere online. I figured since I’m publishing often and sharing to Twitter, I should also share it to the blog every once in a while. It’s been a while since I shared a post like this, so I might do another one mid-month to catch up.

Managing Writers When There Are Too Many Cooks In the Kitchen

“Your company blog needs a strong head chef. Is that you?”

A Look Back at 9 Years of Twitter History

“Twitter recently shared ten of their most influential Tweets in the past nine years. Do you remember seeing any of these when they were posted?”

How to Set a Realistic Editorial Deadline

“No one should ever be the bottleneck in projects. Ever. Hit your deadlines.”

Be friends with the President! Barack Obama is on Twitter

“Are you wondering if the leader of the United States of America has enough spare time to Tweet for himself?”

Where Have Amanda’s Hands Been?

“Our lesson for you is simple: If you share your images online, be prepared to wind up in unexpected places.”

Using Poetweet on Famous Writers’ Twitter Accounts

“Have you heard of Poetweet yet? It is an incredible website which will turn your Tweets into poetry. Seriously!”

Using Facebook for Real Estate Marketing Can Be Totally Awesome

“50% of consumers value a brand’s Facebook page more than its website. So what you post there, is who you are.”

Our 10 Favorite Celebrity First Tweets

“Now, even though I enjoy cyber stalking early Tweets, it can get frustrating to scroll through thousands of Tweets just to make your way to the bottom. That is until Twitter launched an option where you can read anyone’s first Tweets. Now a lot less work goes has to go into my creeping. Thank you, Twitter.”

5 Most Productive Writing Habits of Famous Writers

“When I was in my graduate writing program, we were required to read the work of great writers. In addition to this, we read books on craft and wrote essays studying the craft of great poets and authors. Why?”

Reading: Submissions for issue 06 for Spry Literary Journal. We haven’t made too many decisions yet, but it seems like the reading period may be winding down a bit. I can’t wait to see what we’ll choose for the next issue.

I wasn’t really “reading” these this month (since I’ve already read them each a few times), but if you haven’t read them yet, I highly recommend heading over to Spry to read the ABC’s of Fiction Writing series. On 3/27, we published the final letter, and now we’ll collect all of the posts on one page for your easy reading.

Listening: Honestly – the radio. I haven’t really been listening to anything new this month.

Excited: that I started and finished my baby registry this month. I’m sure I might tinker with it in April as well, but all things considered, it is complete!

Watching: the usual TV shows I watch.

Wearing: Trying to wear as much of  my normal clothing as I can until my closet selection gets narrowed down to almost nothing!

Wishing: for health for my family, friends, and Baby Girl O.

Drinking: Keeping this boring, per usual: cranberry juice, water, orange juice, and hot chocolate on occasion.

Loving: when I feel the baby move. It’s my favorite thing ever.

Loathing: The minor sore throat I had last week. Being sick while pregnant is the least amount of fun ever.

Admiring: my awesome friends and family for all the hand-me-downs we’ve received for Baby Girl O. I think we’re fully stocked on clothing until she is about 6 months old!

How was March, my friends? I hope it treated you as good as it treated me! 

Check out what I was doing, thinking, and feeling in January and February.

How far along? 24 weeks

Total weight gain: 9 pounds as of my last visit 2 weeks ago. I love my baby belly!

Maternity clothes? One of my closest friends is due in May, and she just gave me a bunch of maternity shirts, so I feel as if I have a brand new wardrobe. If I can get through this pregnancy only purchasing one pair of shorts and a few dresses I will be the happiest girl ever. However, at this point I’ve really had to let go of quite a bit of my normal wardrobe. I’ve even packed a bunch of it away in totes to make some room in my drawers for Baby Girl O’s extensive clothing selection. I think she may have more clothes than I do at this point.

Stretch Marks? None yet.

Sleep: Still nothing to complain about. I have my occasional days of crappy sleep, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s going pretty well.

Miss Anything? Not really, I’ve been so content these past two months of pregnancy. I mean, I occasionally think about things I cannot have, usually food or drink, but I don’t really miss them. I’ll eventually have them again – no big deal. For now I just want to enjoy all the joys of being pregnant.

Movement: Yes! It is the very best thing. Mr. O has felt a decent amount of movement, and just a few days ago, Wolverine felt movement for his first time.

Food cravings or aversions: I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m really enjoying my food. I’m still not 100% on board with some of the food I was grossed out by in my first trimester, but I’ve been enjoying food very consistently in this past month. It seems to me that “cravings” are just thinking of a food and then wanting it right away. As an example: On Friday at work one co-worker had pickles and another one had chocolate covered raisins. I then ate a couple raisins and one pickle spear because I wanted them.

I don’t know why, but I expected that cravings would be food I really wanted much of the time. I expected to be in love with popsicles and eat a few a day. That hasn’t happened. It’s usually a think of something and want it right away, and then forget about it just as quickly.

Gender: It’s still a girl. I don’t expect that to change.

Symptoms: My pregnancy symptoms have come and gone. I occasionally have hip pain, especially while sleeping. I’m getting random pains that are close to my hips but more in my stomach and pelvic area, so I’m guessing that’s round ligament pain. But in the grand scheme of things I’m feeling wonderful.

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Mood: I’ve definitely become more outspoken while pregnant. I’m also probably a little less patient than I was before. I haven’t really noticed a huge shift in mood though, and I think that’s pretty great. I’m feeling pretty content right about now.

Looking forward to: More and more movement. I am loving all these little dance parties happening in my uterus right now.

Thoughts: I feel so grateful to be pregnant at the same time as my two closest friends. Granted, one has already had her baby, but it’s been an awesome experience. I’m also beyond grateful to my friends and family members for the awesome hand-me-downs this little girl has received so far. We are fully stocked for clothing until about 6 months, and I still have another friend who wants to give us some clothing. So wonderful.

Previous updates: 16 weeks, 20 weeks

The big news is here. On Thursday, February 26, we found out our future baby’s gender. We asked our friends, family, and Facebook friends to share whether they thought we were having a girl or a boy, and girl was the big winner, with about 40+ people saying girl and 32 saying boy.

My guess was boy. Mr O and Wolverine were both guessing girl. Well, now that we know, we’d like to share our happy news with you.

We’re having a girl!

Reading: I read a few books in January. This month I didn’t read any books, but I did read my weekly updates in my baby book, and I’ve done a lot of research reading for work. So in the grand scheme of things, I wish I read a book, but I did read an immense amount.

Listening: I cleaned out my home computer this month and in doing so I jammed out a bunch to iTunes. It was a great time.

Excited: to finally find out the gender of our baby. Yes, I know what we are having, and if you follow me on Facebook, you probably know as well. I just want to announce it in a separate blog post, so you’ll find out soon!

Watching:  Better Call Saul, Blacklist, Walking Dead

Wearing: My normal shirts still and my maternity jeans or normal leggings.

Wishing: For warmer weather and melted snow that doesn’t turn into a 4 inch sheet of ice.

Drinking: hot chocolate, a lot of water, cranberry raspberry juice, and that is about that.

Loving: spending time on Pinterest planning out things for our new baby.

Loathing: The snow. Everything about the snow.

Admiring: My best friend who just had her first baby. The delivery and past month and a half has been a bit of a transition for her little family. They’re all doing wonderful though, and I am so very proud of her.

How did February treat all of you? 

This is nothing new, but I just needed to share about how much rainy days makes me tired. This morning, I wanted nothing more than to stay in bed, under the covers, completely ignoring my alarm and the need to get up and get ready for work. I actually did sleep later than I should have this morning, but I got up with enough time to get ready for the day.

It’s raining in my are. It’s not just a little rain either, it is raining on and off all day long. Sometimes heavy, sometimes light, but it is consistent. It’s gloomy too. The sky is gray. The air is cold and windy.

All day long I’ve been so sluggish and tired. I’m lucky that I still got a lot of work done, but man, I would have loved a nap. Rainy days make me tired. I try not to complain about the rain, especially in the winter. I much prefer rain to snow, but I could really use a bright, warm sunny day.

I know that many of you are feeling the same way. I’ve read the same sentiments on Facebook and Twitter so many times today. I remember when I was a little younger, I adored rainy days when I had a day off of work and no responsibilities. I’d lay in bed all day and read a book or watch movies. It was the best.

Now, all rainy make me tired.