...and I was worried about deli meat

I heard about this poor poor woman on the radio today.


I realize this happened 3 years ago - but I wanted to take a moment to sympathize with her concerns.
I mean, jackhammers ARE loud. And it's not like the baby is totally insulated and probably hears nothing more than a distant rumble.
There really should be a moratorium on all jackhammering in any residential area.
For ever and ever.
I hope Mellisa Williamson had a reprieve from the jackhammering soon after, considering it must be very stressful for her.
Good thing she's managing her stress with cigarettes.
Wouldn't want the baby to suffer from undo stress.

Some call it 'legroom'

There came a moment early on in this whole science experiment pregnancy that we decided we needed to upgrade our car situation.
I’m still driving the same car I bought in college – the only added ‘feature’ being the air conditioning. Everything else is as manual as it gets.
That and it’s about the size of a go-kart.
Trevor is driving an even older convertible two-door. Albeit his car has more features, only half of them are working correctly. The other half either don’t work, or require some patience/begging/banging/tugging on to get to work.
And if all that wasn’t enough, both cars are pushing 200,000 miles.
We love our cars – but we love our baby’s safety more. And IF either of our cars makes it another 50,000 miles, there’s no telling how well or safely either one would hold up in an accident.

And it is with this reasoning that we found ourselves at a Toyota dealership last night.
We test drove the new 2008 Toyota Highlander with what had to be one of the most unenthusiastic sales reps I have ever encountered.
Overall I thought the car had a good ride – nice roomy interior, good suspension, nice handling. I thought some of the added features were a bit over the top and not well thought out – not worth the extra money. And it was a bit annoying that you have to buy either the AWD or the 4x4 to get the 3^rd row of seats. We only want FWD and don't like the idea of having to pay an extra $2500 to get AWD just so we can get a 3rd row of seats.

As for Trevor…
“So what did you think?”
“The back seats are too far back – you can’t reach the kids to hit them upside the head when they’re misbehaving.”
“I think that’s what they call ‘ample legroom’.”
“Yea, well, it’s lame. A parent needs to be able to smack their kids from the driver’s seat.”

With that we went over to the Chrysler dealership to check out the Pacifica.
We kicked the tires, took it for a test drive – found it to be quite impressive for the money.

As for Trevor?
“So how did you like the Pacifica compared to the Highlander?”
“I liked it…”
“Yea, it felt a little cozier than the Highlander – maybe not as spacious?”
“Yea, I could totally swat the kids from the driver’s seat in that car.”

We’ll be checking out a few more cars in the weeks to come. Hoping to narrow the search down by December when we plan to finally make the upgrade.
And with a little luck we’ll find a car with the right mix of what we need, and seats that aren’t so far apart that an occasional head smacking of the upside direction isn’t impossible.

Still Kicking

Someone is moving around down there – and it’s not my large intestine.
Or the small one either.
I’m not really sure what I was expecting would happen the first time I felt the baby kick. It’s always been one of those things that I was expecting would happen and was looking forward to it…
But I never had any thoughts or expectations on how I would react.
And with something like this, when there are already so many new and unusual feelings going on below your beltline, it’s hard to tell the difference between lunch digesting or a baby moving.
So it’s hard to know when you SHOULD react – or you might just be getting excited about that chicken sandwich working it’s way past your large intestine.
But last week I had felt sensations that could have just been general weird sensations that come along with being pregnant, or could be something else. Who knows really.
Then on Friday I was in the car with Trevor and felt what seemed to be most definitely a baby moving.
Just a quick nudge, and then a rub, and then it was gone.
And since that moment I have waited and waited. Pausing at the slightest sensation that MIGHT be that little nudge again.
And nothing.
Until today.
Just a little rub – that caught my attention.
And then a little tiny kick.
I think he/she was saying hi.
After 17 weeks of silence, of just being *with* each other, the baby is finally communicating.
Maybe just a kick today...regular kicking in 3 months…and then pissing you off daily in 13 years…
But it’s something to start with.
And after you’ve been pregnant for this long, it’s kind of nice to feel a little something that proves to you that you’re not alone.
And it gives you a memory to look back on fondly when they’re 14 years old and you wish that getting a kick in the stomach was fun again.

Just twiddling my thumbs

I am so lagging right now.
It occurred to me this morning on my commute - where I do some of my best thinking/self-chastisement - that I hadn't blogged in a while.
Shame on me.
I was supposed to be blogging more so that I could document this whole pregnancy experience and have it to look back on.
To lament for the days when I got a regular 8 hours of sleep and a daily shower.
But apparently I haven't had a whole lot to chat about.
To be honest, this whole being pregnant thing has been pretty uneventful so far.
I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I don't have all kinds of horrible ailments to be complaining about.
Life is pretty much status quo around here.
So there. Now I've written a blog entry that I will look back on when I have ALL KINDS of horrible things wrong with me.
And lament for the days when I had nothing wrong with me, and apparently all the time in the world to blog about how there's nothing wrong with me.
And one of these days I might get around to taking another "bump" picture and posting it.
Yes, that's right.
"Bump" is pregnancy lingo - or "pringo" - for my ever expanding belly.
And "Bump watch" is pringo for picture of a pregnant lady's belly.
I am down with the pringo.
Yo yo.
So stay tuned for the next installment of my "bump watch".
Can you dig it?