Viente due settimane e quattro giorni

I'm 22weeks and 4 days today. With everything going on with the house, I haven't taken any pictures. Here is an update.

I'm on my way to Italy!!! My mom, sister Liz and I are spending a week there touring the southern half of the country. A few days in Palermo, a few in Sicily and lots of ruins. I'm so incredibly excited, but very nervous my Italian will be awful. I can't wait to spend so much time with my mom/sisters - it's been forever and I think it will be really fun. Baby Bob will have his/her first international experience and I hope not their last. My whole family has been blessed with living around the world and I'd love for have the kids continue the tradition.

Update on the house - we put in our feedback from the inspection and now we just keep our fingers crossed that we'll get some credit back to fix the furnace and other issues. If so, we'll close 5/15 and our current house will go on the market 5/3!!! WOW!

Will Ferrel is schooled by a 2 yr old landlord (language warning)

Cause and Effect

I read that baby bob can now sense light. I read about a trick where you shine a flashlight on your belly and the baby can sense it. Well...of COURSE I had to test it out. So I shone the light on my belly and sure enough...KICK, ROLL, KICK...I think I may have woken baby bob up. The neat part is it is the first time we communicated, although I'm sure baby bob was none too happy.

House Pictures...

It's more fun with visuals. For those who know us, you're probably baffled why we would move away from the water. However, we're "downsizing" our mortgage and doubling our square footage - hopefully allowing for our family to grow! When Tyler and I walked through this house, we both really felt like it was more than a house, it was "home."

The back deck is wonderful - it overlooks a huge ravine with a windeing trail leading to a creek. I imagine we'll entertain lots back there, but baby-proofing will be interesting!!

The front of the house is not much to look at, but it's solid.

Picture of community center and athletic fields across the street. Roxie will LOVE the huge grass fields and we don't have to lift a finger to take care of it. Even better, the community center is where all the Mom and Me classes are held and there is even a preschool!!

What a week...

It has been a pretty intense and unexpected week. We started out the week checking out a new house that came on the market and by the end had an offer accepted! It was not how I thought my week would go, but we found the perfect house that we actually see ourselves in for years to come. It's in great shape and HUGE compared to our current place. We close May 15th and if we can unload this house, should be settled in June - two months before the baby arrives. :)

Babycenter.com rant

OK - I admit, I check Babycenter (BC) everyday, specifically the bulletin board with other August moms. During my first trimester, it was a godsend - it confirmed every ache, pain, nauseous moment as normal and I felt a sense of solidarity with other women going through the same thing. We all seemed to have this sense of wonderment, excitement and hope whether a first time mom or it was your 5th. All those warm fuzzies have gone to hell-in-a-hand-basket. I have never encountered more catty, superior people in my life! I still go every day to read about people feeling the baby or again to confirm my suspicious ham-hock hands, but now the bitchy posts out weight the "hey is this normal" posts. There are so many rants about what people should/shouldn't do and any post is an excuse for someone to climb on their moral high horse and condemn others. Then the condemned and others pounce on the other person. It's almost intolerable and frankly makes it difficult to read. God forbid I post anything about this - it would start a war. So...what of it. Well - I am glad I am not most of those gals. If anything it confirms that I am a pretty vanilla person and that is just fine with me. Second, I will be visiting less frequently b/c I get less out of it than I used to and I do not want to be one of those women. Third, I will have to look else where for solidarity, perhaps in people in my community...mommy groups? Who knows. That's my personal rant for the day.

21 weeks and counting...and Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We had a nice dinner at Tyler's parents boat this afternoon. After a lovely warm day and almost three days of great weather (low 70's) it poured reminding us that no, it's not summer and yes, we live in Seattle. The kids were over and were being very cute about the baby - I think it's the first time they noticed I was pregnant. Conner wants a boy and to name it Bobby (ironic no?), Rachel wants a girl named Ann (her middle name) and Ryan a boy named Jerry. Well - here is a reality check for you...this time next year, I'll have an 8 month old running around....holy mary, it's impossible to imagine - I can barely think outside of this week of my pregnancy and feel so completely self-absorbed. Picturing a baby (boy or girl), going to church, bunny ears....it's almost impossible.

21 weeks today! I'm feeling good, but bigger. The swelling has started in my hands and cankles aren't far behind. It's pretty unattractive, but harmless. About once a day I can feel the baby - it's very twingy, not quite hurts, but almost. I am looking forward to it being more regular! I think that should happen any time.

Technically in three weeks baby bob is viable should I need to be induced for some horrible reason. However, that got me thinking to the recent news story on baby Amillia from Florida who was born and survivedeved at 21 weeks. I have this constant obsession with knowing how big the baby is relative to my tummy, so I found some pics of Amilla online and check out how little her sweet feet and her relative to a pen. How wonderful that modern medicine could help her survive. While driving to his parents I mentioned to Tyler that having a baby is natural blah blah blah, but it's also just a healthy dose of good luck and to keep his fingers crossed that our luck stays strong through August.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

It's a....

BABY!! We had our big ultrasound today and it was lots of fun. The baby was pretty mellow (PLEASE be a sign of things to come), but completely healthy and well formed. Baby Bob weights 13 oz and is right on schedule to deliver 8.19. This is my favorite picture from today - it's a full body profile. You can see the cute little feet, the head and arm over the head. It looks like a real baby! The same can't be said for the 3-d pics - our child looks like Skeletor...and not in a nice way.

I am going to pretend this is baby's first Halloween costume. Today sure was fun - I would love to have an U/S every week.