It's not just A baby, it's OUR baby.

Last week the ticker mentioned my clothes getting tight. I think it was a little off, because my clothes have been getting tight for 8 weeks! I'm lucky to have a co-worker letting me borrow some of her maternity clothes, which helps save a ton of money. However, I still need a few things. So Saturday when we were in Williamsburg at Payton and Cael's soccer games, we made a stop at Motherhood Maternity. It was our first time shopping at a maternity store. I actually found more than enough things that were on sale, looked cute, and fit! I never have the luck buying non-maternity clothes. It was interesting and exciting for us to use the goofy strap on belly they have in the dressing rooms. They are intended to predict your size in 3 months. Yep, I looked REALLY pregnant. So I bought a few tops that I hope to wear from now until the end. (Then we went to Stuff where Tanner bought some jeans in a bigger size...maybe the ticker was referring to him?)

At Wal-Mart last week we ran into my former neighbors, Jim & Gerry. They are a very nice older couple. Jim doesn't say much because he can't hear anything, so we said hi to Gerry. The first thing she said "what's that you have?" pointing to my belly. It's funny because I wasn't even wearing a maternity shirt. It was the first time that someone who didn't already know that we were pregnant called us on it! So I guess it must be obvious!

The best part of week 15 was our 2nd prenatal check-up at the doctor, on Monday. We were assured that we are not having twins, even though I'm measuring slightly greater than 16 weeks. I was nearly scolded for wanting to eat cold meat at Subway. I could hardly contain myself waiting for the doctor to come into the room to put the heart rate monitor on me. We even discussed just going ahead without her, since it was just sitting on the counter in plain sight. Tanner held me back and we waited for the doctor. After a long list of questions, we got to hear our baby's heart beat (in the 140's which is good). She had a difficult time, again, hearing it. I asked what was going on and she said the baby is so active that she can't follow it that quickly. She repeated several times how active it was! Then she would point out the sounds that we were hearing as "that's the baby moving...that's the baby moving again"! It was so exciting to hear something special about this thing that has been making me feel dreadful for 10 weeks. It really made me feel like it wasn't just A baby that we are growing, it's OUR active baby! It was the first sign of a personality or something unique about our baby.

...and that's all it takes to make a pregnant lady cry.

Looking ahead, the next 4 weeks should be pretty exciting! Sometime between now and then I should start to feel the baby move. On October 13 we have our next check-up and our ultrasound. I've been feeling better and better each day the past week, and expect that to continue. I'm not even taking the prescription anymore. Tanner has fishing trip soon, and while he is gone, I plan to do an organization overhaul of our baby stuff and all closets.

Week 16: our baby is the size of an avocado