Some serious movement

Since the doctor informed me that my placenta is up against the outside of my belly, or, that I have an 'anterior placenta' (which basically means there is a cushion between the baby and me feeling her move), I had not felt much of the baby's movement-- Until the other night when I was sitting at the airport waiting for my delayed flight. All of a sudden I started feeling definate kicks/punches just right of center. The movement went on steadily for about 45 minutes and a few times I even saw my belly change shape. Later, on the airplane, I felt her moving on the left side for about 30 minutes. I don't know if I ate or drank something different that day, but I haven't felt as much movement since that night-- though I'm still registering random kicks and flails.

I'm so glad to be feeling her more now and it tells me that she is getting bigger and stronger all the time.

Merry Christmas!!

Greg and I are in Pennsylvania with his mother's family right now for Christmas. Christmas has been a happy one-- we are tucked in amidst the cold temperatures and layers of snow and ice. We've eaten Nana's Italian Christmas cookies, played games with younger cousins, and are working on our Suduko skills. Baby girl has also received some of her first gifts: a teddy bear Nativity scene (from Nonna) for her bedroom at Christmas-time, a crystal carousel music box (Uncle Frank), a hand painted Russian rattle, and a few other bibs and chew toys. Receiving these gifts and sharing in the excitement is particularly special for us, as we wait for our young one.

I hope our friends and family are also having safe and happy holidays.

Love, Tori and Greg
Christmas 2008

IT'S A . . .

That's right, we know what the sex of our baby is but, a little suspense before the big reveal.

Today Tori and I went to our OB appointment to get our sonogram. All is well with the child, ten fingers, ten toes, and 92nd percentile in weight. That's right, our baby may be one of the largest babies born in the country this year. But before you all go off telling everyone that Greg and Tori are having a little salchicha, it should be noted that the baby was very scrunched up during our appointment and that adds some considerable weight to the final forecast due to inaccurate measurements. We'll know more at our next sonogram.

However, the big news of course is that we're having one of these . . .

Which I guess means there will be a lot more of this in our lives:

And This:

You know, everything nice, because that's what LITTLE GIRLS are made of. Or so I'm told.

What was all a flutter?

After just telling my mom that I hadn't felt the baby move yet, I *think* I felt something besides the usual pregnancy gurgles just before going to sleep. The movements were very light and seemingly random. Hmmmm... We'll confirm everything after our big-3D-sonogram-appointment on Friday :)

Did this happen overnight?

It seems like suddenly I look *very pregnant*. Whereas before, one might wonder if I've just been stress-eating, now I look like I've robbed a sporting goods store.

This is 19 1/2 weeks.

Santa Fe

For our 2 year anniversary, we spent a weekend in Santa Fe. We both loved the art and culture of Santa Fe, as well as the red chile smothered New Mexican cuisine. YUM!! Besides eating, visiting art museums, and shopping, we spent 1/2 of one day hiking at the nearby Bandalier National Monument which is in part a preservation of Anasazi cave dwellings.