High kicks in the womb

If Chicklet is a girl, she is determined to be on drill team or a ballerina with excellent extension. If a boy, then I think we have a soccer player on our hands. I was thrilled when, on the early side of on-time, Chicklet decided to make its presence known to me by flittering around in my belly. This happened at sixteen weeks and one day. I have enjoyed feeling Chicklet almost every day since then. In fact, although I've been told by many people not to worry if I don't feel the baby move each day, I only had maybe two days where I didn't feel it move. And that was less than a week after I felt it move. Then, on Wednesday night, one and a half weeks after I felt the first movement, I was laying in bed reading with my hand on my belly. As happens every night, Chicklet was doing its acrobatics, when I noticed that I could feel the movements in my hand as well as in my belly. I quickly yelled for Kenny, who was busy preparing for his camping trip with his dad, and told him to put his hand on my belly. He did, and although it took a few minutes, he finally felt some movement from Chicklet. Since Kenny has been gone, I've felt the movement every night, and many times during the day. On Thursday night I decided to see whether I could actually see Chicklet moving. I pulled my shirt up over my belly and sat quietly. Then I saw it. It was straight out of "Aliens". I felt three little kicks, and saw my belly poke out just slightly each of the three times. As bizarre as it is, it's also really cool. I have my own little portable entertainment system.
Chicklet also seems to get really excited about phone calls, but only when the phone calls are for him/her. Kenny called from Utah tonight and wanted to speak to Chicklet, so I held the phone up against my belly. A few seconds after he started talking, Chicklet kicked it into high gear and really turned up the kicks. It's too early for it to recognize Kenny's voice, so it must be something about the sound of the phone through my belly.
My only concern about all of this activity is that Chicklet has another 21 weeks in the womb. If it's this active now, I'm afraid of what lies in store for me in the coming months...

on kicking, camping, and general baby stuff

so it's been a fairly nutsy time since i graduated the other week - flying up to boston, moving my sister back to ny, house hunting, stroller shopping, car shopping, web design work, and finally packing for my camping trip w/ my dad. as Cindy mentioned in an earlier post, i get great kicks out of talking to Chicklet on a nightly basis. it's kind of like blogging - summarize the day while making fun of everything that happened. i never bring politics and Bush-bashing into it though. Chicklet will learn very quickly the politics in our house. :) in tonight's belly broadcast, i discussed with Chicklet that i'll be leaving tomorrow and won't be back until tuesday, as i'm going camping w/ Grandpa (my dad). i then explained to Chicklet that, as he/she will soon discover, Grandpa has bad eyes. he's legally blind in one eye, i believe. i hope that he'll be able to see the park! i then explained that Grandpa also has bad feet, so he gets uncomfortable when he walks for too long. hopefully we'll make it past the parking lot and into the park! Grandpa's never been camping, never slept in a tent. while i love Dad/Grandpa, and have been looking forward to this trip for a long time, hopefully Chicklet will one day be able to see the humor in this.

also, Cindy's mentioned that Chicklet's been more and more active. just as Chicklet decided to say hello for the first time at my graduation, he/she must realize that i'm going away for a few days (probably b/c i've been telling him through the Belly Intercom, aka Cindy's belly button) b/c i was able to feel him move! it was really light, and kind of hard to decipher, but Cindy verified that what i felt was indeed Chicklet! a very nice send-off indeed.

Car Shopping...Kenny wins.

So for the past couple of months, we've been on the lookout for Chicklet-approved vehicles. We had our search narrowed down to three recently: the Nissan Altima, the Honda Accord, and the VW Jetta. We scratched the Altima after some high-pressure sales tactics were employed, trying to make us walk away with a car that night when we still hadn't looked at the Jetta. I didn't even like the Altima that much. So as of yesterday we were between the Accord and the Jetta. Both come pretty much fully-loaded, with the Accord coming in at only $23 per month more than the Jetta. I personally like the Accord, and would chose it over the Jetta simply because it is more spacious and comfortable. Kenny, however, is not ready to give up on being a 20-something in a hip car. In trying to be fiscally responsible, we determined that we could pay for the cost of installing new carpeting in Chicklet's room on our new house (wherever that will be) by leasing the Jetta instead of the Accord. (We can also lay hardwood floor in our own bedroom for the cost of our New York Times subscription, which i will be cancelling today.) We compromised, and I said we could get the Jetta if we can get it in the color I want (black with tan interior). So I believe we will be driving our new Jetta home tonight, looking hip in our "we're not old enough to be uncool parents" car.

Chicklet continues to move

Chicklet has continued to make its presence felt in my belly. It was really, really active this weekend as we were sitting on the couch watching TV. The movements are still very light, but definitely distinct baby movements. I got popped pretty well Sunday night--so hard that it made me laugh out loud. Kenny is dying for the day that he'll be able to feel the movements from the outside, but I think we're a little ways off from that still. Maybe a few more weeks. I'm thoroughly enjoying each little movement, though. Sometimes I go through my day forgetting that there's something alive inside me, and all it takes is a little kick to make me remember (and make me smile).
Kenny talks to the baby every night (and sometimes sings!) now that it can hear. I'm sure that it will start responding to his voice soon as it learns who Daddy is, and maybe give a little kick in response. This is certainly a more enjoyable stimulus for Chicklet than my poking it to encourage movement. Maybe it will learn that if it kicks for Daddy's voice, Mommy won't poke it. I'm so mean!

Stroller Shopping...I win!!

Kenny and I had a big weekend this past Memorial Day weekend. We went house hunting and found a great house in Allendale (keep your fingers crossed!), stroller shopping, and car shopping. We haven't settled on a new car yet, but I think we're leaning towards a Honda Accord. As for stroller shopping, we battled it out with each other in Babies R Us between the Graco Metrolite and the Peg Perego something-something. I guess I should learn the name since that's the one I liked. Kenny was all about the Graco. He was particularly impressed with its one-handed collapse, its cup holders, and the storage area beneath the stroller. I will concede that these features are better than the same features on the Peg Perego. The Peg takes two hands to fold, you have to order the cup holders separately, and the storage area is not as large nor is it as accessible. However, this stroller is significantly lighter, slimmer, and way more stylish. It could even double as a jogging stroller, from what I understand.

We sat in the store for a good thirty minutes, most of which were just spent trying to figure out how the damn things fold and unfold, and how the child seat hooks in. Between us, Kenny and I have five degrees. You'd think we could figure this stuff out on our own. Instead, a pimply-faced kid came and showed us how everything works. Thanks, kid. Once we had the various folding techniques down, we put the stollers side-by-side, folded them, unfolded them, took them around sharp corners (Kenny is very concerned with the stroller's ability to take corners at high speeds. I'm not sure what he plans to do with Chicklet that will involve this set of circumstances, but I guess there's no harm in making sure the stroller can handle whatever we throw at it). We argued for a few minutes about the various virtues of each stroller, but I eventually pulled the mom/wife/pregnant lady card and informed Kenny that the Peg Perego will be our new stroller. He continues to argue with me somewhat, but I know that deep down, he knows that he's been defeated.

I dream of Chicklet

Pregnancy brings about all kinds of bizarre dreams. I frequently have dreams about Chicklet, which I thoroughly enjoy (except for the one where he came out at 12 years old). Last night, I was graced with another dream in which I got to visit with our baby, and the dream was normal enough that I woke up in a really great mood, feeling like I had bonded with the baby in my belly. As in all of my dreams, Chicklet appeared as a boy. He just sort of appeared- I didn't actually give birth. He also showed up about 4 months early, although he was perfectly healthy and fine. I was just a bit frantic because I didn't have a stroller, car seat, or anything for him other than a blanket to swaddle him in. We went to a restaurant with friends, and I remember holding him in the car. He was very giggly, and smiled at me when I looked at him. It was extremely cool, and a really great dream. I hope I at least have a few dreams where Chicklet is a girl. I'm afraid that because of my dreams I identify with Chicklet as a boy too much, and may have trouble adjusting to the idea of a girl if that's what appears in November.

Chicklet's on the move!

As Kenny's earlier post noted, Chicklet decided to make its presence known this weekend in between graduation ceremonies. We were eating lunch at Vivo's, when I felt what I thought was a muscle spasm in my belly. It stopped, then started again just a few seconds later, and then I realized what it was. I felt it again later, actually during Kenny's graduation, but that time if felt more like flutters. Chicket was pretty quiet on Sunday, but then Monday, as I was laid over in
Chicago, I ate a pack of lifesavers and Chicklet popped into action about 20 minutes later. It gave me a couple of light pops in my belly, which were unmistakably baby movements. Over the past week, I've continued to feel flutters, though not every day. Today Chicklet did it during a conference call with a potential new client, which was distracting, but I guess I can't really complain.
Meanwhile, in beer-belly world, I made a very bad clothing decision this morning. I wore some pre-maternity jeans. I could have sworn that over past two days, my belly has actually shrunk. I could even suck it in enough that it was almost flat (although doing this for longer than 5 seconds made me want to pass out)! So I thought that maybe I could get away with wearing my jeans to work today. They're fairly low-rise, and hit about halfway down my belly. This was a very, very bad idea. While my belly may have indeed shrunk over the past two days, it did not shrink enough to get back into these jeans. I spent most of my day sitting behind my desk with my pants unbuttoned and unzipped. I even had to explain to the partner I work for that I would have to sit in on the conference call with my button undone. Thankfully he just laughed. Needless to say, tomorrow I will be back in maternity pants. But this whole belly-shrinking thing is really annoying! I actually felt last weekend like I had a little something to show for being pregnant. Instead, I just have a small beer gut and a disappearing waist line. Even though my belly isn't big, I've still managed to put on 7 pounds since I got pregnant. I'm weighing in at 132 as I start into my 18th week. I guess that's pretty good. Just so you know, I'm still wearing my jeans as I write this. They are unbuttoned and unzipped.