Baby's first photo shoot

Today was ultrasound day! Actually, our appointment was for tomorrow, but I screwed up the days, so ...today was ultrasound day! Tomorrow will be doctor appt. day. Seeing our baby for the first time was nothing short of incredible. I, naturally, cried immediately. Marcus held it together pretty well. We learned a lot about little Baby Awesome, as our co-workers are calling it. He/she weighs 7 oz., has a normal sized head, IS due around Jan. 27, and has quite the stubborn streak! (We have no idea where this could have come from...) Every time the technician would try to get a shot of the face, baby would turn its back to us. Once, a fist came up to the face, then moved, the baby swallowed, then turned around. They even tried turning me around, but baby turned flips. Marcus tried to sing to it to see if it would turn (baby has an affinity for Les Miserables), but it didn't work. Already messing with mom and dad. Gee, the teenage years should be a pleasure...
In the ultrasound photo above, you can see the baby, face down, spine up. It's a serioulsy cute baby and it has 160 days to get cuter before we meet him/her! Oh, and forget finding out what we're having. As Marcus put it, the baby said, "If I won't let you see my face, you think I"m gonna let you look at those parts?!?!" Not so much. :)

A vacation within a vacation

Marcus and I vowed to try and view our summer gig as a little "Vacation." Well, that's been kinda hard, considering we've worked our fannies off producing 3 shows and growing a baby! But we have enjoyed being in WV, which seems a world away from NYC. We are getting very ready to head home and get moved and start nesting for baby, though. Last week, the Lanes from Virginia came to visit, bringing a little vacation with them! We did lots of fun stuff, from visiting state parks to the WV State Fair, and lots of fishing. It was great to see the family, especially little Adam, who is growing by leaps and bounds. It's very cool that our baby's birthday will be so close to his. It's like getting a preview of what's in store!

My favorite thing we did all week was the West Virginia State Fair. It's been years since I've been to a fair, but I grew up going to the one in Mississippi every year. We looked at the livestock. We ate snow cones. We watched a sea lion show. They went to the circus, but since clowns terrify me, Marcus and I played bingo! Mostly, we enjoyed the sights, smells and free gifts, which included cardboard fans, magnets and fly swatters.

We also visited Hawk's Nest State Park, which is about an hour from where we live. They have a little air tram that goes down into the gorge, then you can get on a jet boat. Well, I did ok until about lunch time. After I ate, baby decided to act up and I got really sick for the first time in several weeks. We thought it best that I skip the jet boat, so Marcus brought me home to nap. Just another state park I've thrown up in, I guess. Perhaps I should make myself a scrapbook.

The pictures this week are of my belly, which has suddenly become round, and a really cute one of Adam, now 6 months old and wearing an Alabama onesie. (He has good taste.) We get our sonogram on Monday, so check back early next week for the first picture of baby Lane!!!!!

One more month!

Greetings to all! We are a month away from returning to NYC and are really starting to look forward to it. All the shows are up now, so we've got much more free time. Last Monday we went fishing on Bluestone Lake, which was nice. We didn't catch much. We were also attacked by a swarm of moths, which I could have done without. This week, we had a doctor's appt. and we got to hear the baby's heart again! Everything checked out and we're all doing well. I've gained a big 3 pounds. As we were listening to the heartbeat, we heard this WHOOSH sound and the midwife said "it just moved!" Very, very exciting. Can't wait to feel a kick! We go for a sonogram in 3 weeks.

And for the record, in case you haven't heard it from us before, we ARE NOT finding out what we're having! We realize that few people do it this way anymore, but Marcus wants to have the opportunity to come out of the delivery room and say "It's a...." to our families. I also think not knowing will give me a good goal for labor and delivery. Hopefully knowing that I"m just a few pushes away from knowing what kind of baby we've got will help me through the rough patches. Of course, those who know me know that I will be on as many drugs as they can give me in good conscience, SO...

We have a lead on a new apt. for when we go back to NYC. Everyone please pray that this works out, if it's the right thing for us. It's a 2 bedroom in Jackson Heights, perfectly in our price range, and it's currently being renovated. My best friend Kitty found it for us (it's her landlord's other property) and it sound perfect. We'll look at it when we get back. Woo hoo!

Marcus is making tacos for some of us today, so we'd better start chopping veggies and grating cheese! Your picture of the week is a lovely early morning view of Bluestone Lake.