On the move...

It's official: we have a kicker! Last week I felt the baby move for the first time and it was nothing short of awesome! What a strange and wonderful feeling. Seems like I've spent the last few days just sitting still with my hands on my belly, waiting to feel him/her move again! I don't think I can actually feel anything with my hands, it's all internal at this point, but I still like to try just in case. Hopefully it won't be too long until I can feel him/her kick from the outside since Eric comes home soon! It seems like there's so much to look forward to in the next few weeks: girls weekend, Eric coming home, our ultrasound so I won't have to keep saying "him/her", and the Baltimore Marathon relay! I was a bit worried about the relay before because I had only been running 3-4 miles every day (and my portion of the relay is 6 miles). But this past weekend I went running with my friend Pam, who's also on my team, and we did 7 miles easily! It felt so good to get out on the trails. The only problem was that I had to stop behind some bushes half way through, and I'm hoping that I won' t have to do that during the race! Other than that, I felt great! I think the pilates class I've been going to has helped too. I feel so much stronger in my abs and back lately. I highly recommend pilates to anyone- pregnant or not! My thanks to Melissa for getting me started! I love it.

Here's a picture of the belly at 17 weeks: