Updated Belly - 22 weeks!

The title of this post was going to be "which is bigger?" and you had to vote between my belly and the zit on my nose. Gotta love these hormones! Lucky for you, my camera couldn't take a self-portrait of my nose - and Jeff refused to play along.

Not a lot of movement from Baby W in the last couple of days; however, I'm going to go watch "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" and the show about the couple with 12 kids - and since these were the shows I was watching when I first felt Baby move, I have high hopes. It moved a lot in Florida, not as much in Colorado, and has calmed down since I've been home.

Today was an 11-hour work day, coming off of being out of the office for 5 days; I'm heading to Charlotte on Thursday just for the day. This baby is getting more mileage than I do in a typical year!!

Jeff started his new job today! He got to come home for lunch - which, when he worked 20 miles from home was out of the question. I think he's really going to like his new 4.5 mile commute!! The first day went well - I think he's going back for Day Two!

Hope everyone is doing well; looking forward to seeing some good Halloween pictures from all the little ones! Charlie is going to be a ninja - He might be a little cute. I'll post a picture of him with his mom's approval.

A week on the road

Jeff and I went to Fort Myers for an extended weekend - a pre-baby vacation. We had a great time, great weather.... We were there Saturday through Tuesday, and stayed at a resort justthisclose to the bridge to Sanibel, so we had a few dinners on the island. He had the week off between jobs, so it was the perfect time to go!

From there, I flew off to Denver for three nights for work. I had been looking forward to going to Denver, since I had never been - however, three nights, while Jeff had the week off, and coming straight off of vacation, was not ideal. It was a good trip anyway, but I'm very glad to be home!

While I was gone, Jeff worked just as hard as he would have had he been in an office.... he got the kitchen and our bedroom painted! So, the house is just about done - the baby's room and the half-bath are really the only things left. And I can't seem to make up my mind about the baby's room anyway - so that can wait a while; give his poor arm a rest!!

Another thing he did while he was gone (did I mention how lucky I am??) was go back to our top two daycares with my mom. I think we've made a decision, at least for baby's first year of care. Zionsville Presbyterian Church, just down the street from us, has a daycare - Noah's Ark - and it seems like a very loving environment. I'm going to get Baby W on the waiting list this week!

Felt the Baby!!!!

Last night, I was lying in bed watching first the show "Jon and Kate plus 8" - where the couple has twins AND sextuplets. WOW!! Then, after that, there was a show with a family who had SEVENTEEN children. This isn't the Duggarts, or whatever their names are, that I'm preoccupied learning about. I don't know who these crazy people were (I say crazy because I can't imagine that many kids - but kudos to them!)

Anyway, while I was lying there watching these shows, I felt the baby move!!!!! Okay, so I've probably felt it before, but haven't been sure. But last night, I'm about 99.9% sure that it was the baby! So I called for Jeff, who came in to see if he could feel it. I was pretty sure the baby wouldn't move on command. But, lo and behold, he felt baby a few times before it went back to sleep. Yay!!

Today marks 20 weeks!!

Jeff's new job!

Jeff's last day with ATA Airlines is this Friday!! Yay!!! He has a full week off between jobs, and we are going to Ft. Myers this Saturday, through Tuesday. Unfortunately, I leave from Florida for Colorado for work. However, I will be rested & relaxed from my time in Florida!!

Jeff will be working at ITT/ESI - otherwise known as ITT Tech. He will be in a Field Marketing role, and he can tell you what he does from there. I'm no marketer. The high points - he will be working at 126th and Meridian, rather than the airport! That is about 4.5 miles from our house (about the same as it is for me to get to Lauth). His day is going to change dramatically :)

We're very excited for the new job!!

Eventful Weekend

Jeff is in North Carolina playing golf with Randy, Ron, and Richard for Ron's 60th birthday celebration. Four rounds of golf in three days - sounds like guys' heaven, right? They played Pinehurst #2 today - the one that the "big boys" play during the PGA tour - and Jeff shot a 78. Pretty impressive, I would say!!

Our friend Nick came for the weekend to keep me company, and to visit for the first time since the move. We had what started out as a nice weekend. We went to downtown Carmel, ate lunch at Bazbeaux, ice cream at Bub's, walked around Carmel.... Headed downtown Indy to do some shopping, but got intimidated by the crowds that were down there for the Circle City Classic (what the heck is the Circle City Classic??), and so went to downtown Zionsville for some more shopping. We headed out to a movie (The Brave One with Jodie Foster), and, leaving the theatre, I felt like something bad was going to happen for some reason.

Well, about a mile from home, we were in an accident. Everyone was fine - both of us, and the three people in the car that hit us - but this pregnant momma was stressed. So, somehow, I found myself in the back of an ambulance on my way to Clarian North!! We heard the baby's heartbeat, and everything seemed to be okay, so they sent me on my merry way home. I still feel fine - physically - but my mental health should be back to normal by Tuesday, provided there are no complications.

The picture of my beat up car is above; the other guy's car is worse; I saw them pushing it off the road, so I believe it might be undrivable. He had his four-year-old son in the car, so thank goodness he was okay. I was traveling east on 106th Street, and the guy pulled out from the Blockbuster parking lot and hit me. I'm not sure if he even stopped at his stop sign - I didn't have one.

Nick took good care of me, was even nervous to leave me alone this morning when he got on the road. I was supposed to go to the Colts game, but decided I would not be any fun at a football game, and, plus, I didn't want to drive downtown (I was supposed to be the DD). So, after church, I rented some movies, took a nap, and am taking it easy.

If you find yourself praying, say a little one for my peanut. If you're not the praying type, some warm thoughts would be nice. It's amazing how these maternal instincts kick in before you even meet your new baby. As a friend said today, it seems that God places us in these situations before we even have the baby, so we really know what we're in for - what type of responsibility we've signed up for - before it arrives.

Ultrasound!

Today was our 18-week ultrasound, and there is an honest-to-goodness baby in my stomach! Head, two hands, two feet, SPINE (it's very vivid).... all parts are there and measuring well! The baby was on "it's" head, and playing with it's feet. It sent the message that it is truly enjoying the sugar rush I've been giving it this week, and to please keep the cake coming.

My two doctors had originally given me two different due dates - but now they've both said the same - March 4. Although my dream last night had the little thing arriving on January 28, and although I'm sure by then I'll be READY to get it out of me, I do hope it waits until closer to March 4!

Also today, Jeff got a job offer! Stay tuned for more news on that front. It is way closer to home, and is a good opportunity with a good company; he could be starting by the end of October.

So, today was a big day on Constitution Drive! Along with all of that wonderful news, the Kohl's within walking distance of the house opened today, so I may need to log off here and take a little walk.... :)

Day Care

Okay, a run down of the top three day cares that we've visited, in chronological order of when we visited them (not in order of importance): I'm abbreviating names to protect the innocent:

• LT: Located 1.5 miles from the office (in the opposite direction of home), this was my original favorite. There is a great curriculum for all ages, screened-in porches, a great train for kids to ride around in, peaceful surroundings, and is the most expensive of these three.
• PC: Located less than a mile from the house, this is the least expensive of the three. It doesn't seem to have as much curriculum/development activities for babies, but, to be fair, I didn't ask them about it, since I visited once during a shift change and once (this morning) during the morning drop-off. I think my next step here is to send my Mom to learn more :)
• HH: Located about 1.5 miles from my office (and VERY close to Jeff's potential new job), this place was very good. It had more developmental activities than I would come up with if left alone in a room for a week with the goal to come up with as many activities as my brain could imagine. My kid will be smarter than I am if he/she goes here. The one prejudice I had against it going into the appointment was that we needed an appointment, rather than just being able to stop by - but she soothed my misgivings by explaining that the tour guides are teachers, and they need to cover their classrooms.

That's my daycare update, if you care. Hopefully by next week we will have made a decision on one of these! And yes, there were some we ruled out! One is a very popular chain that I wouldn't dream of sending my kid to after visiting, and one is a local place that just didn't seem big enough for the number of kids they have. Nice staff, though.

As the Belly Grows.....

We took our first "belly shot" just two weeks ago; and the contrast between that and last night's belly is extreme. Granted, I'm wearing pants that are a little too big (sometimes comfort wins over style...), AND, granted, I had a bag of "donettes" after dinner, which may lead to an extra-large belly... but this picture made things a little more real for me.

Ultrasound tomorrow morning! We're also planning to go to a couple of daycares, so we can hopefully make our decision soon!!