So a pregnant lady walks into a gym...

You may not have heard this joke before but I promise it is one.

Simon and Dylan were going to the gym and I thought I'd go along and work out like I used to. Oh those days have gone.

I started on the elliptical machine, level 1, also known as no resistance. After a while, I felt like I had worked out to maximum capacity and was pretty much exhausted. I got off and the work out summary said:
1 minute 48 seconds. What?

So I switched to speed walking on the treadmill, and felt I was going a little too fast to breathe, and decided to turn the speed down one point. Then the treadmill stopped. I was already on the lowest setting. The barely moving setting.

I used to think that things like arm lifts and walking were what lazy people called exercise, and that they couldn't really be effective if you're under 60 years old. But now even those are too strenuous for me. The midwives say I should "listen to my body" and do what it wants to do. But whenever I "listen" it just tells me to lay down and then it starts whispering things about those Belgian waffles.

I gave up and went downstairs to watch Simon lift.
That was work out enough.

ROME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

This year has been amazing for us, and we feel so lucky to have experienced so much. I couldn't think of a better place to celebrate this year and the next than in Rome. We spent New Years Eve and New Years day there. Luckily we only live a short flight away, so it's not that crazy of a plan.

Simon in the Pantheon. The sunlight was scalding our pasty London skin; it was such a beautiful day.

The Trevi Fountain.

Legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Due to inflation, it is now lucky to throw three coins in.

About 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day and are collected at night.
Apparently there are regular attempts to steal them. I can't imagine how embarrassed I would be if I were caught doing that.

Ruins.

We wandered into Vatican City the morning of January 1st, with no real plan in mind. Suddenly, the Pope popped out of a window and blessed us. That fountain really is lucky. The rain even stopped.

The 3 of us.

European teenagers love wearing black. We do what we can to fit in. They also love to play scratchy techno on their cell phone speakers in enclosed spaces like the tube.

We went to the party in front of the Colosseum for the countdown. There was a show and a huge crowd. The city didn't seem to sponsor any sort of fireworks display, but there were many charitable Roman citizens in the crowd lighting them off. At the sky, at the trees, at each other. It didn't matter. The Polizia didn't seem too concerned about it either.