It's official: I've become an ultrasound addict.

We had an optional ultrasound perfomed on Friday to check for certain birth defects. The last one was a month ago, when Kiddo resembled nothing more than a peanut. This time took my breath away.

Two little arms. Two little legs. And, as before, a quickly beating little heart.

I commented to the nurse that she probably wasn't able to get the measurements she wanted by the way he was positioned. Imagine my surprise, then, when moments later, he turned.

Yup, my baby flipped around, upside down from the way he'd been before. And I got to see it. It was amazing.

Then, from that angle, we got another wonderful view as the nurse pointed out a perfect profile shot. I have a baby who moves around, who has two arms and two legs, and now apparently has a nose as well. :-)

I'm just hoping all is well with Kiddo, that he's doing all right. So far, he's growing and developing at a normal rate. But now I want to see him ALL THE TIME. I want to go in next month, and the month after, and keep getting these blurry views of my baby. I want to bring home more fuzzy Polaroids that sit atop the piano, waiting for me to walk by, look at them, and get misty-eyed.

In other words, I'm an ultrasound addict. I can't get enough. If I had enough money, I'd just see if I could get gratuitous ones all the time.

It was a good final birthday gift, as I turned 27 on Thursday, October 24. I got lots of nice cards, in fact, some of the best-versed ones I've ever received. I got sweet-smelling flowers at work - roses and carnations and things I'm not quite sure what the hell they are, but they certainly are lovely. I received checks, well-wishes, and some pretty cool birthday gifts, my favorite so far being the tanzanite-and-diamond earrings Jason got for me. He wants his wife to have real jewelry now - "Earrings I didn't get her from Lerners" he reportedly told the clerk at the jewelry store - and y'know, I'm not going to argue with him. They're gorgeous and I really don't know how I'm going to wear any other earrings now. :-)

This weekend was the first in what's sure to be many installments of Adventures in Maternity Shopping. No store carries a size 14 or 16 petite pant. I'm not even looking for the most fashionable pant, I'm just looking for something to cover my legs and my ass that doesn't droop about five inches below my ankles. The most heartbreaking experience was at JCPenney, where Jason found 14 AND 16 petite jeans, only for me to discover that they hadn't actually made them any shorter and that they were STILL about five inches too long for me. In fact, even though the inside AND the outside tages read "PETITE," they were the exact same length as the 14 and 16 average-length jeans. I about cried right in the middle of the store. Probably would have, too, had Jason not gotten righteously indignant on my behalf, ushering me out the door while telling me that Penney's sucks and how we didn't want to give them any of our money, anyway.

My mom, my mother-in-law, and I now have something in common. We talk baby stuff, pregnancy stuff, you name it. This doesn't mean that my mom can't still annoy the living shit out of me. In fact, given my mood swings, it's even worse now when she insists that we're going to need a new roof in two years after replacing it this winter, or that I screwed up in taking on my own health insurance through work because my pregnancy would be covered 100% if I were Jason's dependant. (Both, by the way, total bullshit - but enough to get my poor little head in a tizzy.) But at least we have something in common, for once. It's nice. Kinda.

That's it for the latest update, which I know no one reads because no one voted in our baby name poll. (In fact, no one, except Coby, voted who I directly sent an e-mail to, either. Nice to know that no one gives a shit. :-P But actually, it IS nice to know that we can choose any one of those names and had better not hear any bitching, because everyone had their chance to weigh in and failed to do so!)

Back to work. Bleh.