Say 'Hello!'

21.5 weeks. Say 'hello' to baby Haight!
Our congenial little one was poised and
ready to flash a smile and a wave (right after
giving me a swift punch!)



I could see the baby actively reaching and grabbing
the toes - amazing!



Half-way there!

It's been a marathon of a year, and only half-way there. September 5th marked the end of our 4-month, 7-wedding, 5-state streak! Now, September kicks off 7 babies in 7 months! Can we make a movie out of this??? 

While it's been a somewhat different experience not being able to fully partake in some of the activities (at least for me, anyway), I'm thankful I've been feeling good enough to make the trips, dance at the weddings, and even survive a few bachelorettes. This child may come out with a set of turn-tables, I've been dancing so much!

So now, we head into our own little marathon. 21 weeks and 1 day down, only 18 weeks and 6 days to go! Coincidentally, this is about the time when I used to start official trainings for January marathons. So, I guess 4 months should be plenty of time to get ready for this big event, right?

We had our 19-week ultrasound a couple weeks ago. And for those of you following along, yes, we did find out if it's a boy or girl. To protect those of you who still want to be surprised, we will do our best not to reveal anything on this site. For those of you who want to know, we'll be happy to share via phone or email. We are happy to share with you all what's most important: our baby is growing, 8in and 8oz at the time of the ultrasound, and seems to be developing into a healthy baby. And I've got a belly to prove it (see photo above taken at friend Sharon's wedding on 9/5)!

Most of the early nausea and exhaustion have subsided, only to be replaced with a rapidly growing waistline. I'm not sure when it happened, but one morning I looked down and could only see my big toes! And, not surprisingly, even those bigger clothes I've been hanging onto don't quite button. In the last few weeks, I have officially ventured into the maternity departments, and have been deeply disappointed. As if it's not hard enough to adjust to a changing body, I refuse to completely abandon my taste in dress to find clothes that will fit this body made for two. But all is not lost there - H&M, my favorite store for comfy-yet-trendy-and-oh-so-reasonably-priced attire, now has maternity wear, too!

Now that I am appropriately and comfortably dressed, what about the baby??? George and I are perfectly content waiting a few more months before we think about the finer details of clothing for our little bundle. But, with busy holidays just around the corner, we feel a little pressure to at least pick a decor direction for the nursery and identify some of those critical items. But this is much more easily said than done. Pick any category of baby "necessities" on Babies R Us and you'll get no less than 350 choices to select from. And try picking out a bedding set for someone you've never met before. Anyone want to sign us up for "While You Were Out"? We'll gladly leave town for a few days so that HGTV can come in and get it all done for us...

Like other challenges in life, we will make a plan and eventually conquer this one. Step 1: make some room - later this month we'll have a yard sale to get rid of some of our own clutter, and maybe make a few bucks to buy new clutter. Step 2: pick a decor - nothing too overwhelming, but stimulating and flexible enough so we don't have to redecorate for another 18 years. Step 3: get more stuff...um, let's concentrate on Steps 1 and 2 and we'll get to 3 later...