Whew! Already week 23

I certainly apologize for the long absence in blogging....it's been quite busy out here! For one thing, Sara and Luke (Daniel's brother) are getting married this Saturday!! We're really thrilled for them and excited to be part of some of the chaos- Daniel's having fun experimenting as bartender for the Bachelor party occuring at our apt. tomorrow evening. And no, I'm not sleeping here :)

With the wedding comes family from afar, so we've been working to get our apt in tip-top shape and ready for people to sleep comfortably. On top of that, we're gonna have Christmas with Daniel's family while they're still in town...meaning Christmas presents were to be thought out, purchased, and wrapped by about yesterday.

And of course, work doesn't stop while this goes on:) I'm actually getting a lot out of my clinical experience and even got to watch a procedure yesterday (placing a wound vac)! Now it wasn't a procedure of Grey's Anatomy level (ha), but apparently I'll be able to observe several more procedures over the following months. It wasn't exactly my choice for immediately after lunch learning, but I've learned it isn't the gross factor that makes me faintish but the fact that the patient is in pain. I won't go into details of the process, but I have the utmost respect for the patience, skills, and compassion of nurses.

Daniel's been able to relax a bit this week as the college students are clearing out and the middle/high schoolers are having Christmas parties. He's been rather productive and is pretty much planned out for next semester...though his participation in some of those plans may depend on Jacob's timing. He's written another play for this year's dinner theater and though I'm entirely biased, it's pretty funny. If you're interested in reading it, try his blog: lcmdan@blogspot.com. It's called "Do Something!".

Jacob's doing wonderfully and seems to really get a kick (pun intended) out of beating on me :) I completely savor feeling all of his movements and I'm curious if this boy's got some serious energy or if he's just the typically active baby. As of about 1 1/2 weeks ago, Daniel's can distinctly feel him move all about and actually see him punch out on my belly. A typical day starts with Jacob spinning around in the lowest possible part of my abdomen then some nudges reminding me it's lunch time followed by a few hours of him trying to escape through my belly button (which is still an innie, fyi).

This picture is the result of my dear husband holding the camera up and stating "Uh, well, you don't fit in the frame anymore." The good news, I laughed immediately after THIS face (as I always do after jokes about my belly). Perhaps someday I'll get really sensitive about the body size jokes, but as of right now I'm still good hearted.

I hope you're all doing well, staying warm, and for those in NC: We're coming in 1 1/2 weeks!!!!!!!