January 20, 2007 - Snow Day and The Mysterious Disappearance of My Ankles

We didn't imagine that the MDX we bought would come in so handy so quickly! Over the last a week and a half, we got at least 6 inches of snow over two separate snow falls. On the first evening of the snow fall, our typical 30 minute drive home took over 4 hours. We were thankful that we got home in our trusty new SUV. The next day, we worked from home and played a little in the snow. It was sunny and beautiful.

Last week, as I was taking a shower before going to bed, I looked down and noticed that my ankles have disappeared! Instead, I've developed "cankles"! You know, when you can no longer distinguish where your calfs end and your ankles begin? I knew that my boots felt a little tight that day but I didn't realize that my ankles had swollen that much. I quickly turned to my pregnancy bible and read up on ankle swelling. To my relief, my ankles came back the next morning. Since then, I've paid special attention to not sitting or standing too long and drinking lots of water each day to avoid the swelling. Boy, I wonder what surprises I'll get next?

Jan 7, 2007 - Happy New Year and Baby Gymnastics

Rick and I welcomed 2007 with a dozen of our friends at Club Venom in Seattle. Although I couldn't celebrate with champagne, it was still great to dance the night away at our last babysitter free new year's eve. This year will be the Year of the Boar, which is a nice way of saying the Year of the Pig. Our baby will be a little piggy, same as the baby's Daddy!

Around 19 weeks, I started feeling little flutterings in my belly. At first I thought it was just my stomach grumbling but after a couple of days, I started to suspect maybe it was the baby moving. My doctor had told me to expect some baby movements soon but I didn't know what they were supposed to feel like! My friend Kayla described her baby moving like butterflies and my sister in law Betsy said it feels like fluttering. After a few days, it became more apparent that those gentle movements were not caused by me but the baby. At the beginning, I only noticed them a couple of times a day and the location of the movement seemed random. Rick was anxious to feel the baby as well but the movements were too unpredictable or gentle for him to feel. Now, at week 21, the movements are more frequent and stronger . I noticed that after I eat and I sit or lay still, I can feel the baby moving quite distinctly. Last Thursday night, I sat on the couch after dinner and put my hand on my belly to see if I can feel the baby. After feeling the baby 2 or 3 times in the same spot, I told Rick to put his hand on the same location. After a few seconds, the baby moved again and he definitely felt it! We both giggled in excitement and I was so happy that Rick could finally share some of what I was feeling!