Holy Cow, she Moves!

As soon as week 17 hit, I started trying to pay more attention to every single gastric noise and movement in my belly fearful that I was feeling our precious baby move and blaming it instead on gas. By week 20, I still hadn't felt the baby move and was starting to wonder if I'd ever feel anything.

Then, during week 20, I felt something different. Sure, it could be gas or my stomach grumbling, but there was something different about this. It wasn't a "flutter" as my books and friends described, but I couldn't come up with a way to describe what I was feeling. At the end of the week, on our way to dinner with friends, I knew I felt a little something nudge me from inside as I drove down the rode. It was so prominent that even Keith felt the disturbance.

By now, the movement is sometimes so prominent that you can see my clothes move. I didn't expect that to happen until well into the 8th or 9th month, so you can imagine my surprise. At first these sudden jabs caught me off guard, causing me to jump right in my seat during meeting or wherever!

I also have noticed a very interesting pattern. When I work late or don't eat at a decent hour, I start to feel the movement. Hmm. Can't think of a scientific reason for this, but at least it reminds me to grab a bite to eat!

Over the Hump!

My pregnancy books (there are three I am reading) all congratulated me on reaching the halfway point. Hard to believe since I am still relatively small and many strangers don't immediately recognize my pregnancy (though more and more definitely are). Since then, I feel as if I'm in panic mode because we haven't made much progress on our many projects.

Between working late hours and visiting with family, the last two weeks are truly a blur (and no, I'm not sipping any vino)! I received a speeding ticket somewhere in there and I wish I could have told the officer to just give it to time since I was trying to catch up to it. I figured that wouldn't really help my case much so I just took the ticket and will enjoy spending 4 hours in traffic school instead of working on something productive.

Time slowed down a little bit when I took off for Detroit to visit my mother last weekend (Nov. 1-4). We had quite the slumber party in my hotel room chatting like teenagers about everything and nothing. I also spent some wonderful quality time with my grandparents (I finally met my match when it comes to Yahtzee)!

When I returned home to Florida, the temperature finally dipped from the oppressive daily high of 90 degrees to a beautiful high of 70-75 degrees. One problem, though. All of the clothes that still fit...well, they are summer clothes. Getting dressed in the morning has grown into a major production. Thank goodness my sister Tami came to visit me this weekend. We had a full day of shopping and I was able to pick up a few much-needed blouses and new pants for work! We also spent the day researching the never-ending, overwhelming number of products made for babies these days. We went through a number of stores and now I hope to spend time this week making some decisions and getting my registry in order. For all of you new moms out there, let me know if you have a product you definitely do or don't recommentd! Believe me, I could use the help!