33 Weeks

Well folks we are getting closer. This once little gummybear of a baby is now taking up all my space. I can eat 3 bites of food before I start to feel full, I can take a small short breath before my lungs have no more room, and I can sit in a chair for about 20 seconds before one of us gets uncomfortable - and I still have a little more than 8 weeks to go.
I had an ultrasound appointment last Monday and it went quite well. Everything looks good, bones are growing as they should, all the organs and arteries are functioning properly, I even saw the little one take a breath and change facial expressions - super cool. Everything is just as it should be. Baby is about 4.5 lbs (about two weeks bigger than the average gestational age) - so as I have said before we are not going to have a small baby. Here is a profile of baby's face and hand and a picture of baby looking into the "camera".


Baby's head is down and the fanny and feet are tucked under my ribs. My rib cage has expanded to make room for the baby which makes it hard to lean forward in a chair or slouch even the slightest bit.
This morning, as we were waking up the baby was starting to wiggle, and the little feet were strumming my rib cage, it actually tickled to the point of making me laugh. I never thought that I was ticklish from the inside - I learned something new about myself this morning. It was a crazy strange feeling - one I hope to experience again.
Watching my tummy move when the baby rolls over or stretches is a cool thing to see. Unfortunately it is over so fast I cant get Allen's attention quickly enough to show him. It definitely looks like something has possessed my belly.
I will try to write more frequently as things are going to start happening more quickly now.
Blessings
CJ

A South Padre Getaway - Not quite what we expected

Allen and I decided to take a weekend getaway to South Padre Island - Allen had a Soccer conference to attend and I decided to tag along, doing my own thing (sunning on hte beach, playing in the water, relaxing with a good book) while he was in the meetings. We each took a half a day on Friday and drove down to SPI, its only about a 6 hour drive. The weather man said there was a 10% chance of rain Saturday but it should be nice most of the time...WRONG! I was awakened Saturday morning by big claps of thunder, when I looked outside the parking lot was flooded, people were walking through ankle deep waters to get to their car, the palm trees were bending in the wind - 10% chance just turned into a huge storm system. I went to the dining room to get breakfast - they extended breakfast hours to accomodate the weather, how nice. the buffet was good - a little pricey, but its a hotel dining room.

After cleaning up and searching for something to do, I decided to go take the free shuttle to the lighthouse and museum. The rain had calmed down to a sprinkle and I had several hours to kill. So I grabbed one of those tourist map/shuttle route pamphlets and found the times for my shuttle. 9 and 39 past the hour...OK great I had 15 minutes. I asked the concierge what was good to see, and I was told that because it is off season, everything is closed except the lighthouse, museums and the mall. Well, I didn't need to go to the mall, so off to the lighthouse and museums it was. I gathered my things and waited at the front door (the schedule said the bus comes to the front door). at precicely 9 past the hour the bus drove through the parking lot and out again. Hmmm, it didn't stop at the front door, it didn't even come close to the front door. A little annoyed I retured to the front desk and asked why the bus didn't stop...well, it doesn't come to the front door, it comes to the parking lot, I would have to wait out in the middle of the now small lake that was once the parkinglot and flag down the driver to let him know I wanted on...oi.
I decided to stick around the hotel and wait for Allen to get out for lunch so we could eat together. We had really good burgers at a place called Black Beard's, and at 1pm we returned to the hotel. I got on the 1:39 bus and went to the Lighthouse and museum, the lighthouse was closed but the museums were cool - nothing fancy, but neat stuff to see.

While in the conference Allen found another friend from Houston so we all went out for dinner that night at a place called AmberJack's. The food was well priced and quite good. We reutrned to the hotel bar and were social until abut 10pm when I was tired and ready for bed.
On Sunday we had brunch with our Houston friends and headed out toward home.
All in all the weekend was nice. We got away from Houston and housework and got to relax for a while before the baby comes. Hopefully we can go back someday soon and really experience what the island has to offer.
That's all for now, an ultrasound update is on the way.
Blessings.