...that annoying girl soccer player...

1. Tim felt the baby kick earlier in the week. I think he pro ably could have up to a couple of weeks ago, but I don't feel him move too often when I'm at home (which is almost never). We were falling asleep, and TMI, Tim and I fall asleep and wake up very, very cuddly, and his knee was resting right against my belly and our kid started poking the knee :)and then Tim put his hand on my tummy to feel more, an fell asleep like that, and then Dwight kicking woke him up and Tim got grumpy and rolled back over!

2. I have started experiencing heart burn. This is a very weird thing for me - I have what I like to call the stomach of steel. I'll eat almost anything regardless of the spice level, and if anything doesn't sit right I only feel a little gross for maybe an hour total. apparently this kid is now encroaching on my stomach.

3. I posted a couple of weeks ago that because of the lack of free insulation coming our way in recent months, we decided to finish up the bathroom instead. Tim installed a beautiful new faucet and spent two entire days cutting all of the trim pieces just right (I counted last night, I think there are 11 corners in our tiny bathroom). We'll be painting the trim soon, and then Tim's dad will help us install it all nice and pretty in February, hurrah! On the insulation front, the township that was holding up the project at Tim's job finally got their butts in gear and we should have the insulation soon, THANK GOODNESS. We really only have a couple of day's worth of work to do on the nursery, it's just been forestalled for.....threee....entire....months.....after pulling down the ceiling, studding out a wall and covering everything in sawdust.....People have started giving me baby stuff, but i have nowhere to put it!!!

4. We are heading to the Caribbean for a few days shortly. After two years of working 60+ hours each week with only a handful of long weekends, I certainly need the break, and we pretty much got the best deal in the history of cruises to go :) Good things about that so far include that they assigned us a cabin with a balcony, and we (as per usual) paid for the very cheapest room on the boat, likely right next to the engines. People find it entertaining that I'd prefer to be in the pitch black with good water pressure than a room with a window, but it's true. I also believe, unless things change, that we'll be on deck three, right at the top, same deck as the buffet restaurant! anything that gets us to the food quicker is a good thing in my book! We'll see how the rest goes. We're supposed to have a private table for two and the ship is European, so no greasy and dull American food, but cuisine of taste and flavor. Plus a 10 p.m. pizza bar. And a shout-out to Matt and Kara for the marvelous birthday present (cruise bucks). It will probably take me days to figure out what to use it for :)

5. I'm almost through the book "Happiest Baby on the Block" which is a crazy best-seller and there is much hype about it. I do not have much faith in fads, so I read these things with a grain of salt. Though I think the premise, or, whole first half of the book (the philosophical parts) are a bit shaky, the advice to calm a colicky baby certainly seems spot-on - including swaddling well, trying different positions of holding baby other than on his back, white noise like baby is used to from the womb (apparently, the white noise, or swishing sounds, babies hear constantly in utero is louder than a vacuum cleaner. who knew??!), and I haven't read the sucking reflex and I forget the fifth method. anyway. could be very, very useful information, particularly if baby is not a good sleeper and/or is somewhat irritable. Since I'm never irritable, I can't imagine that happening ;)

6. Tim's got some baby books as well, particularly one about cavemen? We took a parenting quiz and got like 80 percent (it was random facts, like how often newborns need their diapers changed, etc.)

The end of the list. until next time....

P.S. Kudos to anyone who got the title reference!