Long Overdue Updates

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Been busy, as you can imagine. Wow, are we already through half of May??? Cripes.

Bean Update:
Bean is growing stronger each day. She lets me know it, too, with her 'good morning' kicks and her 'get me some food NOW' kicks and her 'wow I LOVE that music' kicks. She's also knows her daddy's voice! Whenever John comes home from work or in the morning when he speaks to my belly, we both feel her kick in response to his words. Yesterday John was speaking to her and had his face really close to my stomach and Bean got so excited that she kicked him in the chin!

Yesterday I decided that I am going to start putting my headphones on my belly while I work to give Bean some music exposure. I've read that 30 minutes a day at a medium volume is best. I started her out with Passion Band's "Hymns - Ancient & Modern" and she started jumping around when the music started. I had the fleeting thought "Oh crap, is it too loud?? Am I ruining her tiny developing ear drums???? My God I'm a MONSTER!" But when I put the headphones on, the music was just loud enough to hear it myself. Bean's ears are fine. She was just getting her praise on.

Me Update:
I still feel good, for the most part. My lower back is starting to hurt and I don't walk as fast as I used to. I feel like I shuffle a lot. No waddling yet, but I think that is on the horizon. Starting to get more winded as I walk up the stairs to my 2nd floor office every morning. However, my ankles remain at the same level of puffiness that I wrote about last month. They don't resemble pillows being stuffed into my shoes yet and I'm fine with that. My belly has grown 2 inches since a couple of weeks ago and I've gained 7 lbs since my March 20th doctor visit. It's all belly, boobs & apparently ankles. I haven't had any horomonal crying spells, I haven't stabbed anyone, I haven't had any cravings and I haven't started scrubbing tile grout with a toothbrush (yet!) I did, however, have a WONDERFUL Mother's Day. More on that in the following section.

John Update:
He is still the sweetest thing ever. When I came home from church on Sunday I was surprised at the door with a totally unexpected card and some gifts from Bean. I have to tell ya, she has fantastic penmenship at this tender age. Her handwriting is strangely identical to her daddy's. And she picked out the best "I love Mommy" onsie and bibs. She's a humble child and did admit in the card that daddy had to help her a little bit. =)

John has been working his tucus off...both at work and around the house. God love him, I don't know where he scavanges the engergy from. But we still laugh and have a great time together. All is good.

House Update:
We have Bean's room painted in some delicious colors, the wood flooring is down, and the crisp white baseboards are installed. We've started building the closet organizer and putting stuff away. The rest of the house still looks like my craft room threw up all over, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It won't be long before we can bring the crib home and start setting up for sweet Bean's arrival.