Show-off!

We had our first regular appointment with our midwife yesterday. She checked on Speck's position (still head-down and waiting patiently; SO unlike her mother) and size - estimated weight is about 5 pounds - before hooking me up to a fetal heartrate monitor. Speck was happily sleeping when we began, but woke up and put on a show once she realized someone was watching. We went through a full cycle of activity before she settled back down; in the meantime, she was moving and kicking so actively that both Tim and our midwife could see my belly moving. It's still such an odd sensation - the realization that there's a whole other little person inside there, who moves around on her own. Everything checked out just great, including a urine test for sugar (totally negative), which was a relief after last week's OB appointment.

Tonight we have our first pre-delivery class, which our midwife will lead, with two other American couples. We're looking forward to it!

In the meanwhile, I'm finishing packing up my office and moving back to the Embassy annex out near our house, which is where I worked until last May. There are space issues at play here - we'll need my downtown office for someone else - but in the meanwhile it means I trade my 45-60 minute commute on the train for a 5-10 minute walk to work. I'm excited about having a bit of quiet to work on the remaining massive projects I have to complete before we leave in June... and of course, I'm terribly excited about going back to work in May just around the corner from home. Until delivery, though, it also puts me just a 5-minute drive from the hospital, which is a good thing.

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In other news, we bid a sad farewell to our friends Melissa and Jeremy earlier this week. We had such a great time with them! I'm so glad they could come. It turns out that Jeremy has a secret passion for golden retrievers, so was thrilled to spend time with Minka. Melissa's not as much of a dog person, but was excited to see our kitties, especially Vanya - she's known him for more than 10 years now. Minka has been in a bit of a funk since they left; I think she just misses the extra attention. Not that our dog is spoiled or anything...