Music of the Night

We moved into our new home last week! One day while walking home in our new neighborhood, we passed a great local outdoor flower shop. The owner was happily humming a familiar tune as he gathered a bunch of Dahlias for us. We asked what song it was and he mentioned it was from Phantom of the Opera. Our eyes got wide as we told him we LOVE Phantom and that we sing Music of the Night to the baby all the time. As we were leaving, Patrick decided to give us some roses to brighten up our new home.

We love our neighborhood!

WONDERful night....

Thanks to Aunt Josephine and Uncle Josh getting the nearly impossible tickets, Ziggy was introduced to Stevie Wonder last night at an intimate outdoor concert venue. It was a magical clear night with stars above and beautiful trees all around. I'm sure both the babies (Ziggy and Baby 'J') loved the music! How could they not.

Stevie, his band, and the crowd boogied for over 2 1/2 hours straight through! We were up dancing for most of the show with Ziggy gettin' down. Curious to know how it sounded from the womb and what it feels like if the Mama is dancing around and the baby is dancing around in water.

Stevie's grown daughter sings with him in the band, and when Stevie sang "Isn't She Lovely" his daughter sat next to him. We rubbed my belly and wondered if we had a lovely little girl inside or not. Only time will tell.....

Daddy Time

I take time each morning and night to chill with Ziggy. Chill time involves sharing thoughts about the day, life, and how much we are proud of the growing. We wrote a song that we now sing daily to Ziggy since the hearing sense is now fully functional.

Feeling the kicks and movements are wild. Really lets me know there is a life inside Ashly's belly. This whole process is hard to understand.....I am in awe. The beauty of life, the beauty of my wife, and the beautiful being that we are creating together!

Wow.

Popping Out!

We are now technically half way through pregnancy. The following photos were taken at 22 weeks pregnant. Ziggy had a fun weekend hiking through redwood forests and swimming in Bass Lake. The lake was cold but refreshing after the nice hike to get there. The belly is finally popping out to where strangers notice it now. My work scrubs are getting a bit snug so people at work are definitely noticing. Alot of my shirts ride up the belly now feeling like half tops. Luckily for me the latest style in shirts seems to be really long ones. They work well for pregnant women.

DANCING IN THE WOMB

This baby is so active in there!

Adam feels our growing baby has his dancing legs and is dancing to the beat of Mama's bowel sounds. I like to believe it's a future soccer star and is using my bladder as a soccer ball. Or perhaps we have a future Cirque du Soleil performer in the making...hmmm? How does it find any room to move around so much in there?

Adam was able to feel the movement last week (week 20) for the first time and got so excited! It is such a strange feeling knowing that there is a little life in me moving around. Poke poke here, poke poke there. And then it feels it is doing somersaults at times.

SOUND WAVES

Here we are at 17 weeks 2 days! Ziggy is growing just fine with all measurements currently up to par. Ziggy is definitely an active little thing in the womb as we witnessed the baby swimming around, sucking it's thumb, and punching the ultrasound machine. We were amazed at the development of the organs, especially the heart. It was pointed out to us how full the baby's stomach was too (way to go mama! All the midnight snacks are paying off). We did not find out the sex of the baby that day, but had them seal the info in an envelope which now sits on our nightstand. It was so surreal watching the ultrasound screen and feeling the instrument on my belly and realizing that that baby is really inside of me. Wow!

Sunset Boulevard at 16 weeks

With each day Ashly & I grow closer. The intense bond between the two of us has only increased with the creation of a life. Laughing, listening, and loving........
A perfect team.