Playing "poke the baby"

Well, I'm 30 weeks this week. 10 weeks to go. I can't believe I'm about to be in the single digits! Some days, August seems SO far away, but other days, I can't believe I'm this close! I've noticed that people around me have already started making plans for August. It feels kind of odd to turn things down this far in advance, but I'm not making any firm plans! While I'd love to think I'll go a little early this time (second baby and all -- it could happen!), I could just as easily go late. And since my due date is smack in the middle of the month, that means that the entire month is pretty much up in the air.

The last few days have ended with a bedtime game that could best be described as "poke the baby". After my chiropractor showed me how to find Caroline's head a couple of weeks ago, I've been occasionally feeling around on my tummy to see if I can figure out how she's positioned. Well, Jimmy has gotten in on the fun now, so we spend several minutes every night poking around and trying to guess which parts we're feeling. She's been squirming around like crazy in there lately, and if I push gently on her head or her bum, I can feel the opposite end floating around to a different section of my belly. She often rewards us with a few good kicks, probably to tell us to stop bugging her!

Anna finally got a chance to feel some major movement today, too. I was on the couch after lunch watching something on television, and Caroline started moving around a lot. Anna came over and was able to both see and feel my belly moving. She ended up lying on the couch with me for about 10 minutes, just waiting for my tummy to bulge and move around. She thought it was really neat!

Speaking of Anna, she has done some really wonderful things lately! We finally got her into some swimming lessons this year, and she's doing so well. Jimmy took her to the neighborhood pool the other day, and she actually swam about 6-8 feet from the edge of the pool to him, all by herself! For a kid who was afraid to put her head under water a week ago, this is major progress! She's also been taking piano lessons for the last couple of months, and she's already most of the way through her first book and just loves it. And just to prove that she's truly exceptional, last night at dinner, she leaned over and hugged me and said, completely out of the blue, "Mommy, I'm so glad you're my mom!" Could you just melt? Maybe I'm a tad hormonal at the moment, but that just brought tears to my eyes. What a sweetheart!

I can't wait to see how she'll be as a big sister. She's so excited about Caroline and keeps asking if we're getting close to August. I want to try to keep from "using" her to help me with things, but I have a feeling I'll have to pry the baby away from her when it's time to feed her! She just loves babies so much and is already talking about changing diapers and holding the baby. She even wanted to put the baby in her room, "so that if she wakes up at night, I can sing her a lullaby and put her back to sleep!" Obviously, she has NO CLUE what she's asking for, but I thought it was sweet, nonetheless!