Our little soccer player

Okay, so that might be a small exaggeration! But this past week, I have started to feel what I believe is William moving and/or kicking. My first feeling was about a week ago, when Jen was here, and I felt some odd flip-flopping like sensations, as if something was flip-flopping over in my lower abdomen. Since then, I have sometimes felt similar things, mostly feeling like little kicks. One time there was a pretty good kick. It's hard for me to know if these are really the baby or just a really active GI tract. Just now, I was feeling what I term as little kicks on my left side, inside, but they feel like large gas bubbles that suddenly shift places. I'm definitely looking forward to a couple of weeks in the future, when I can know for sure that what I'm feeling is William.

In other news, I'm doing well. I've gained about 5-8 lbs. so far, which I think is good for me and my pre-pregnancy weight. However, I have noticed that all of that weight seems to have attached itself to a few key places on my body, most horribly my thighs and butt. :-) Mainly I'm feeling very good, only I've been tired the past couple of days due to poor sleep. I can't seem to get comfortable without having my lower back hurt. I'm trying not to sleep on my back, but that doesn't always work as I sometimes find myself waking up on my back. I bought a body pillow, for which I now have to make a pillow case, and that may help me sleep better, but I still don't know why my lower back hurts when I wake up. After I'm up for about 5 minutes, the pain has gone away, though, for which I am grateful. We may need to rotate the mattress!

I've called a couple of nurseries in Auburn, and Darryl & I will hopefully visit at least two of them next week. I would like to have my name on all waiting lists possible before the end of next week. There is one daycare here that has spots available, but it was the least impressive over the phone; we'll have to go visit it to see what it's like in person.

I'm trying to put a list together of things that we still need for the baby. We are going to try to make due without certain things, such as a baby washtub. Darryl & I both agree that we can use a sink or take the baby in to a bath with us. Jen told me she would take showers with Eben and even came to be so adept at it that she could hold Eben and shave her legs in the shower! I am not quite that ambitious, but I do figure that William can be in a bath with me, with Darryl standing by: we can wash him, Darryl can dry him off and I will finish my bath or just take a shower later. Really, we wouldn't need a changing table either, having such a large counter in the bathroom, but seeing as a changing table came with our house, we will use it. I cleaned it off last weekend, but we'll need to paint it and get a mattress pad for it, and some storage baskets for the shelves.

:-) All in all, Darryl & I are very happy! I am certainly in much better spirits after seeing the ultrasound than I've been in for probably years! We are both looking so forward to meeting our new baby and discovering his personality. The thought of being responsible for such a tiny life is quite daunting, but I think that Darryl and I, together, will be up to the task.