19 weeks

David, Zoe and I are now on our "Christmas vacation" so I have some time to post again. I'm about 19 1/2 weeks along- so hopefully about halfway there. Baby Dickinson is supposed to be a little over 6 inches long "crown to rump" and over half a pound. It feels like he should be bigger. I think he's about to hit a growth spurt soon though.

I've had very bad heartburn lately and traditional Tums have been making me sick. But, I made a life-saving discovery at the grocery this week- berry flavored pre-crushed Tums that dissolve on your tongue- no chewing required. So far these packets seem to be helping and aren't making me sick.

The biggest news since I've posted last is that I can now feel Baby Dickinson squirming around. I've felt intermittent twitching and fluttering for the last couple of weeks. Then, at 18 weeks, I began feeling it more and more. Every once in a while, I'll feel a very convincing jab, but usually it's just light fluttering that I know is him. In fact, he is at it right now! I still have to be sitting quietly to feel it. When I get busy and distracted at work, I stop noticing. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to feel it even more. David prefers the term "kickboxing," but I like to tell him the baby is "Jazzercising."

Another fun fact is that the baby can now hear what is going on around us pretty well. We haven't started talking to him yet, but it's kind of fun to realize that he can hear us.

We are now in Georgetown, IN visiting David's parents and will be going back and forth between here and Evansville for the next week or so. Zoe was an angel during the 10 hour trip here. She slept almost the entire time. We're hoping trips with the baby will be as quiet!

And finally, during our car ride today we may have decided on a name for Baby Dickinson. However, our lips are sealed until he is born. We are going to let what we've picked grow on us and make sure it's what we want. Until Baby Dickinson makes his arrival, no one but us will know his name- so don't ask!

Anyway, I'll try to start posting once a week. I'm running out of "blog friendly" symptoms and milestones to report. Some things you just don't want to hear about! But I'll try to do a better job posting more often. Definitely on Monday, December 29th, which is our big ultrasound appointment with the doctor when he'll count the fingers and toes and make sure everything is where it should be. And hopefully we'll get some new pictures.

Merry Christmas!!