Ladies and Gents, we have a kicker!

After everyone telling me over and over that I should start feeling the baby kick by around week 20, it finally happened! It actually started the Thursday before the baby party.  On that day I thought I felt something that people described as gas, bubbles, butterfly's, or a muscle spasm. Then, I felt the same thing on Friday and again on Saturday. It wasn't until Sunday night that I knew this wasn't my imagination, it was my baby boy! That night while getting into bed I felt him again and had Daniel see if he could feel.  Many people say that dad usually doesn't feel the baby kick for several weeks until after mom does.  Well, I have coined Daniel "Magic Hands" because he felt him move that night and every single day since.  Sometimes, Magic Hands will put his hand on my belly and the baby will kick just for him, even when I'm not feeling any movement at that time! Since being able to feel him, Daniel has affectionately named the baby, Bubba and it's a name that we love. No more "it" or "the baby," now it's him and Bubba--I love it.

The movement is amazing.  It is indescribable.  It's the exact thing I needed to help me connect to my baby boy (and not my girl!).  I love that I can feel him move, him turn, him poke and him say hi to daddy.  I'm having a boy and I have connected to him in ways that I never thought possible.  I cannot wait to see what he looks like.  Will he get my bright blue eyes or Daniel's green flecked ones? We joke wondering if he will be tall like all of the members of our family, or somehow get the genes from his only two short(er) relatives: Grandpa and Papa Poo Poo head! Will he have dark hair like ours or come out looking like his blond Ward cousins? 120 days to go until our due-date, he'll be here before we know it. :)

Bubba's first concert with his favorite babysitters, Scott
and Auntie Angie!
Dave Matthews Band

Bubba is a name that fits for now but we are happy to say that we're fairly certain we have a first and middle name picked out that we love.  I imagined that we had months and months of agonizing name torture ahead of us, but Daniel actually thought of his first name while we were in Florida in June and it's a perfect combination of what we were looking for: something not mainstream but not too strange either.  The middle name is ironically one that we both thought of individually and is a perfect fit with his first.  Sorry kids, you'll have to wait until he's born to be in on the secret! Until then, we have a nursery to start preparing, a registry to figure out and research the infinite world of daycare providers. Can't wait!