"Thank gawd for McDonalds!"

Those are not words I find myself uttering on a regular basis - or perhaps that have ever left my lips - at least not since the days of Happy Meals. With their fat-packed and nutrition-deficient grub, it's generally a place to be avoided in my book. But Tuesday afternoon at around 4 pm, "Thank gawd for McDonald's" is exactly what I found myself saying.

Arwen and I had been on our way down to our realtor's office to put an offer in on a house. It's a much more modest house than the last couple we've gotten excited about. But we think it will be adequate in size and amenities, and if we could get it for the right price we'd feel really good about it.

Anyway, we'd made it about 3/4 of the way to the realtor's office. It's about 40 minutes from our house. Suddenly our clutch cable snapped. We knew our clutch cable had snapped because we had heard that distinct "SNAP" sound on a prior occasion, followed by the clutch pressing firmly against the floorboard. We coasted off freeway to regroup.

It had been a busy day. Arwen had taken the day off to run a bunch of errands, including getting the car exhaust tested and braving the DMV to get a set of Colorado license plates. We were racing down to the realtor's office near the end of the business day to put in this offer before the broker had to leave for the day. "If I was a superstitious person," Arwen said, "I'd just go straight home and forget about putting in this offer."

Compounding these difficulties, I realized as we coasted to a stop that hunger was setting in with a fierceness I've only known since this pregnancy started. I knew that left unchecked, a mild grumpiness, followed by anger, topped off by flowing tears were certain in my future. I could clearly see myself having a hunger-induced temper tantrum on the floor of the realtor's office.

Just when total panic was setting in, I looked up to see a McDonald's across the street from us. "Saved!" I thought. "I'm saved!!" Note to self: Never set out on a journey - no matter how short it is supposed to be - without a pack of raisins and a can of roasted almonds.

Here is the latest belly photo. It's from this past Monday - I just haven't had a chance to post it. We met with our midwife last night and she confirmed that I have gained 3 lbs since our last appointment, which puts me right on track for weight gain. And we got to hear the heartbeat again!! I'm 18 weeks 4 days today, so we'll be setting up our 20 week ulrasound soon!