It's ALIIIIIVE!!!

Okay, so I obviously knew before now that there's a little butter bean growing inside me, but I was just commenting to Ross yesterday that I wish I could feel it move.  I know women who have felt their babies at 15 weeks, and some not until 20+ weeks, so I figured that at 17 weeks, I shouldn't worry.  BUT STILL... I would sometimes jiggle my belly a little and then sit completely still to see if I could feel anything (but I never did).  Well, I got a call from the Madison School District this morning at 5:58 am, letting me know that the schools were closed today due to the "extreme cold" (when we woke up, it was -22 degrees outside).  For some VERY strange reason, I couldn't fall back asleep.  It might have had something to do with the fact that Ross was really excited to wish me Happy Birthday, or because the temperature in our house was in the lower 60's, or just because I was jarred from my sleep to the ringtone of "Yakkety Yak".  Either way, I was laying there listening to Ross move stuff around in the living room (to prepare for my birthday surprise) when I felt this little twitch in my abdomen.  My stomach was a little gurgly because I was hungry, but this was different than the rest of the gurgles AND there was no sound that accompanied it.  It happened again, very faintly, but I FELT IT!  I knew that this must be the little baby 'flutter' or 'twitch' I've been waiting for!  And to reaffirm it all, I laid down to take a nap in the afternoon and felt another bigger twitch down in the baby belly.  I can't believe that such a little thing could absolutely make my day!  It was like my baby's way of saying "Happy Birthday Mama!"  What an awesome way to start my quarter-century mark!  Wootawoo! 

*T