mini golfer

I've spent the last few months anticipating the sensation of feeling our baby boy move inside my belly. Week after week has gone by and in just these past few weeks I've started to feel the slightest little sensations - kind of like popcorn popping inside of me. They're so faint and so few and far between that I've often wondered if they were simply figments of my imagination rather than evidence of the life growing inside of me. Then on this past Tuesday night...the popcorn sensation graduated to 2010 Olympic games!

We'd just come home from Bible study and were sitting on the couch to catch the highlights of the day's football events and unwind before bed (ok so it was Dan watching the football and I was doing the unwinding). I was parched and poured myself a tall glass of ice water. Being part camel, I downed a second glass of ice water before I hopped into bed and began to wonder how many times my ever-shrinking bladder would wake me on this particular night.

It was at that moment as I lay in bed and Dan was still in the bathroom brushing his teeth and readying himself for bed that I started to feel a rumble in my belly that was unlike any hunger-induced growl I'd ever experienced. I felt the unmistakable, repeated punches and kicks of a 20-week-old little boy and it was incredible! Afraid to move and potentially disturb our little boy's dance moves, I hollered to Dan that he needed to come feel his son...NOW! He came as quickly as he could, but the little guy seemed to have either settled down or suddenly become shy at the prospect of an audience.

Both of us had our hands stretched across my belly and we waited for the next punch or kick. We waited. And waited. And waited. No movement. I remembered what friends have said in the past about drinking cold water and feeling their babies move in response so I decided to give it a whirl and squeeze another half glass of icy water into my bladder. I came back to bed and we eagerly awaited the result.

And it worked! Baby Boy Blankenship gave his daddy a solid high five right through my belly and it was nothing short of amazing! He punched and kicked repeatedly for several minutes before settling down again and Dan was so excited to be able to feel his tiny movements through my skin. What an incredible gift God had given us in that we could each feel the baby moving for the first time on the same day!

Since then the Olympic games have continued throughout each day and especially as I lay down each night to go to sleep. It seems that night time is his favorite time to practice his golf swing. Daddy Dan is aching to buy the little guy his first set of golf clubs and it seems pretty obvious that Baby is equally as eager to begin lessons. Even now as I sit here at the computer typing, our little boy is busy working towards a birdie.

I'm loving every tiny (and sometimes not so tiny) movement and reminder of the life that God is growing inside of me. I especially love feeling him kick Dan's hand as he places his hand over my belly to pray for our baby each night before we sleep. We might have an attention-hog on our hands though. Baby squirms and punches each time his Daddy kisses me. It's absolutely adorable.

I'm in love...with my baby and especially my baby's daddy.