Quickening!

Just when you thought I couldn’t possibly have any more wedding-related news, at eight months out, I finally put the last batch of thank you cards in the mail this week! I’m terrible, I know. What remained of them after the first half was finished had been stashed in a grocery bag and moved around several times over the last few months. But they were never exactly “lost”—I knew that I wouldn’t have thrown them away, and that if I really looked for them they would turn up in about five minutes. Sure enough, that is exactly how long it took for them to be found when I woke up the other morning and decided that enough was enough. I was tired of the image of that grocery bag eating away at my mind. Some of the notes still needed to be written, some had been written back in September and sealed but had addresses that needed to be tracked down.

What a relief! And it took me only a few hours to get it out of the way for good. Procrastination, my favorite bad habit, is really a problem. I hereby resolve to send out thank you notes for baby gifts right away rather than putting it off. Of course, as a new parent I know that I’ll be much busier than I am now, so we’ll see how that goes…

Speaking of the baby, in the last week or so I have started to be able to feel him or her moving! (I’ll go with “her” this time) Sometimes it’s a little flutter that almost tickles, other times there are more distinct nudges or tiny jabs—like someone is poking me, except from the inside. It’s such a weird feeling, but an awesome one! Daniel has even been able to feel her once, although I know it is on the early side for that.

The other night a big storm was passing through, and the wind was so loud that it woke both of us up. It was 4:30 in the morning and perhaps I was being a little dramatic, but I had Daniel get his laptop and check online to make sure there were no tornado watches or warnings for our area. I was laying on my side cuddled up to Daniel after he assured me that there shouldn’t be any tornadoes to worry about, and my right arm was sort-of wedged between my stomach and his side. And I felt a jab/poke/some kind of something on my arm. Then I felt it again. So I quickly told Daniel to give me his hand, which I pushed onto my abdomen in the exact spot that I was feeling the pokes. And he felt it too! It must have been the position I was in that allowed us to feel the baby’s kicks from the outside so early, because I haven’t felt them that way since.

Anyways, it’s just a nice reassurance now that every so often the baby can make her presence known. Tonight I sat on the couch feeling a little lonely, eating my solitary dinner of Velveeta shells and cheese and canned green beans while I watched Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma on DVD. Daniel had class after work and won’t be home until late. Suddenly a huge grin spread across my face as I was reminded that I wasn’t alone at all—my baby was kicking me again.

I’m sure that later in my pregnancy the kicks will begin to hurt and won’t be quite so enjoyable; but for now, I love it!