Write it Down

My nurse practitioner has a 2-year-old and today I was in the office for a 38-week exam telling her about what antics I was feeling in my belly. She recommended that I record those memories because she's already forgotten all the things she felt just over 2 years ago.

So here goes.

Lydia,

I thought they were feet, but they're your knees. And they're poking out of my left side - pretty much all the time now. While not as cute as feet, knees can serve you very well in the future. I'm sure that when you jam your knees into my side you're simply practicing to use them for something awesome later on. (Hopefully you won't inherit your mom's relatively crummy knees.) Knees are very good for holding on when you're riding a horse bareback, which I will teach you to do - or rather have your cool cousin-in-law, Michaela, teach you to do. They're also fantastic for swimming and dancing. Running and jogging can be fun, too. Your dad likes to do both. However, if you run too much you might wear them out - especially if you inherit your mom's knees. Knees can also be used for self-defense, and I'm sure your dad would love the opportunity to enroll you in Karate or Jujitsu. This will make him less nervous about you eventually dating.

Hiccups. Your hiccups are so funny! When you were smaller they were very infrequent, and didn't last long, but now they're really strong and have lasted as long as 15 minutes! This is great because it usually gives me time to find your dad and put his hand on your shoulders so he can feel them, too!

Now that you are sitting very LOW down in my belly and taking up more space I can feel more of your small movements... like when you turn your head from side-to-side. It kind of tickles.

Even though you're only somewhere between 6 and 7 pounds right now you really like to throw your weight around! (Especially when we're in the car and we go around tight turns.) You just totally throw your back into it and then my belly looks all lopsided or egg-shaped. I always point this out to your dad and he makes ridiculous horrified faces and mumbles something about there being an alien in my belly.

But the sweetest thing is when you're kind of rolling around in the evenings while I'm sitting on the couch (subjecting you to Star Trek re-runs) and your dad leans over and kisses you. It's really quite moving, and sometimes he even hums you the Star Trek theme song. Hopefully you will value being born to nerdy parents one day.

And now for those kitties (aka "doz kitties"). I have to tell you the truth. You've been stepped on, sat on, leaned against, and one time accidentally scratched by Tabs and Dinah. They're still a little clueless about what's going on, but they realize that I'm warmer and have less lap space for them when I'm sitting down, so they know something is up. You can blame most of it on Dinah. She wakes us up each morning by marching over us. I usually can throw her off or push her out of the way before she steps on you, but I've been sleepy and slow a few morning and she's pretty much just barreled over you with her four fuzzy little feet. You have my permission to pull her tail at least once. Just remember she still has claws.

Mom