Chicklet's First Movie!!

Check out the video montage from all of our ultrasounds, including the really amazing 4-D video we got on Monday!

It's been a while...

Things have been pretty nuts around the Grossman household for the past few weeks, hence the lack of new posts. Given the pace of the next few weeks, I can't promise that I'll improve my posting frequency, but I'll give it a shot.
So in the past month, Kenny and I have both started new jobs. He seems to be adjusting to his pretty well and enjoys the work. I think he's still getting used to getting up early, but he's doing great. I love my new firm and keep wondering how it could possibly get any better. Although I am still getting to know them, my co-workers seem fantastic. The firm is very professional, and the work is really interesting (and constantly flowing). What's even better is that so many of the attorneys there are women, and most have young children, so they're very flexible with the little scheduling surprises that kids can throw at you.
We have also been in the process of buying a house, and are finally closing on July 13th. We've spent the past few weekends shopping for hardwood floors, paint, and appliances. We bought a kick-ass washer and dryer last weekend. I can't believe I'm actually bragging about my washer/dryer. The house itself needs some aesthetic work, which is why we're replacing the carpet with hardwoods and painting the walls, but other than that it's in great condition. We plan on doing a major renovation to the kitchen, master bedroom and bath, and the living room sometime in the next two years. Kenny is already busy drawing up the plans.

Perhaps the most exciting news in the past month is that we finally broke down (ok, Kenny finally broke down) and decided to find out what Chicklet is! We had our big anatomy ultrasound on Monday, where they take a really close look at all of Chicklet's major organs, bones, brain, and yes, sex organs. We had a whole plan on how to find out that involved two boxes of baby clothes: one had a girl's outfit in it and one had a boy's outfit. We marked each box on the bottom and handed them to the doctor and told him to give us the correct box, which we planned to open a little later. Of course, the surprise was ruined when I counted the sonogram technician's keystrokes as she entered the sex into the computer. Four keystrokes means GIRL!!!! So there it is, Chicklet is a girl. I should have known when my supposedly-male parrot laid an egg two weeks ago that we would be having a girl. Kenny is really excited about being the man around the house with his two girls. I think Chicklet will have him wrapped around her finger as soon as she arrives. Kenny's days of sticking to his guns are numbered...

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.