The Hot Days of Summer

Our little girl is growing quite rapidly, drawing attention and wiggling around every day.  Today I start my 24th week of pregnancy, and the midwives tell me that everything looks good.  Her heartbeat was great (in the 140s), and she is very active.  Even Nick was able to feel some little kicks the other night!

Mama is doing well also, though really feeling the summer heat.  You can see that in almost all of the photos below, I'm wearing a tank top.  I still bike to work most days, and walk Lucy every morning.  My activity has slowed only a little, but I can see what's coming!  I feel pretty good most of the time, without stomach upset or headaches.  If I stand all day with no breaks, I start to get some swelling. 

We'll probably start birthing classes at the end of August!  Very excited about that, not only to learn about the process, but to meet some other couples as well. 

And lastly, our lovely mothers are planning us a baby shower!  We'll all drive up to Niceville at the end of September and have a good time. 

 We got to see U2 with some of our best friends!

Here we are in front of Duke Chapel in Durham, North Carolina.

Heather showed us around her city of Charleston - here we are on The Battery.

Ultrasound Image and Little Tiny Girl Clothing

We had our sonogram a couple of weeks ago, and below you can find a few of the still images.  Also, a friend of a friend has been extremely generous to us, giving us a baby swing and a huge bag of baby girl clothes!  I am overwhelmed by all of the pink and patterns, but I stop being overwhelmed the minute I imagine a little girl wearing them.  This week I am 22 weeks pregnant and starting to feel the little kicks more frequently.  In trying to describe the feeling to others, I would say it feels like a muscle twitch, but without the feeling of the muscle itself twitching.  Just all the surrounding areas feeling it. 

And Baby Rickshaw more Specifically is a ...

A something girl!

We are very excited to share this news with everyone.  Sugar and spice for us ... but still thinking of keeping the same natural colors for the room.  We will be married six years on Saturday, so this is such a good anniversary gift! 

Crib-onomics

How safe is a crib?  How safe can it be?  New rules put forth by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission render most cribs on the market to be unsafe:  no drop sides, better hardware, stronger slats, among other things.  My initial thought was this: "Oh, no!  I have to read all the reviews, call the manufacturers, register for a new crib, and turn this thing upside-down." 

Then I remembered the documentary "Babies" that I recently watched, where a very capable mother in Mongolia tied a rope around the baby's waist to keep him on the bed while she did some chores.  Where is the middle ground?  Obviously I'm not going to be tethering a baby to a bedpost, but I'm also not going to be dressing the baby in astronaut styrofoam so he or she never gets a bruise. 

So, for now, we're just going to say that things are reasonably safe, and move on to more important matters: being parents, choosing a name, cooking good food, and being the best we can. 

Coming this week:

Are you a boy or a girl?