24 weeks

22 weeks

the real thing

Thursday night I was getting ready for bed.  I laid down and did some stretches.  I like going 80s style and pushing my butt up in the air.  Here's a little reference.

When I was done, I laid there with my hand on my belly.  And it happened.  I jumped, I was so startled.  Appleseed kicked me.  Not once but three times.  

I texted Jason to get upstairs fast.  He walked into the bedroom with my pelvis straight up in the air, trying to recreate the same stretch.  I kept thinking that pushing my but up in the air was making Appleseed do somersaults.  J put his hand on my belly waiting.  But the kicking was done.  Maybe he'll feel it next time.

little kicks

I kept waiting, waiting to feel something.  I've felt lots of pressure since about 6 weeks that I liked to think was Appleseed pushing and stretching inside of me trying to make room.  But I didn't feel any actual movement.  Then last week when I would sit back in my classroom at the end of the the work day, I felt these swooshes.  

And on Monday we went and officially met our baby.  Right there on the screen - little Appleseed looking like a little human.  Little clenched fists up by the face, crossed legs, and the cutest button nose.  It was the sweetest moment I've felt up to this point.  Holding J's hand, we looked up at the screen and at our future.  This is our baby, the one we'll meet in five short months.  The one whose personality will come alive before our eyes week after week.

The ultrasound tech was able to point out exactly where the baby is resting inside of me with the head on my right and the legs push down on my left side.  Over the next couple of days I started to hone in on that little spot on my left.  And that's what it took for the little bubbles I've been feeling to all make sense.  Appleseed has been dancing above my left hip and I didn't even know it.  But now that I recognize it I get to feel it more often and it's pretty amazing.

18 weeks

Bruschetta night

This week, Julie hosted our last girls' night of the summer.  We had more food that we could ever stuff our faces with, and everyone drank enough wine to keep me laughing all night.

I stayed till 3am, probably the latest I've stayed out this whole pregnancy.  But the part of the night that made me so happy was the conversations my best friends and I were able to have.

As the hours passed (and as they consumed more wine) we were able to think about our pasts, our futures, ask questions, and push each other to think differently than we usually do.  We're the perfect balance for each other.  

Durfee, Koch, Jamieson - 2011

Keepin' tabs

**keeping tabs on the concerts this babe's already been in utero for:

-Jack White

-Florence and the Machine

-Tall Tall Trees

-Kishi Bashi

-Nicki Minaj

-Dawes

-Gogol Bordello

-Mumford & Sons

**looking forward to some more:

-Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

-Regina Spektor

I'm sure there are many more to come.