Since Anne has been pregnant, we have only seen a few family members and only one (my mom) has seen her within the last month. This afternoon we will be traveling to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with Anne’s family. This will be the first time for them to really see their daughter, sister, sister-in-law or aunt as a pregnant women. 

It will be interesting to see some of the reactions from the nieces and nephews. Will they want to touch Anne’s belly? Will they put their ear to her belly to see if they can hear anything? Will they just think Anne is hiding Christmas presents under there for them? Or that is just where she is keeping the Thanksgiving Turkey?

I am sure it is going to be a fun experience — it always is with the Goldsmith clan.

I hope everyone travels safely to wherever you are spending Thanksgiving. I hope to post a Thanksgiving blog tomorrow because the Horches certainly have plenty to be thankful for!

The little Horch inside of Anne is getting more active. Anne is starting to feel him moving around a lot more these days. I have also had a chance to feel him which is always a fun to experience. It’s good to see him starting to really work out those legs and arms. I am trying to convince Anne to swallow a little football so our little guy or girl could have something to start practicing with. It’s never too early to develop the right throwing mechanics. I plan on hiring a QB coach around the age of 6 months to begin working with him. I’ve seen dad’s hire coaches at 3 months which I think is way too young and too much pressue at an early age. I mean, they need some time to just be kids.

Today our baby reaches 19 weeks — one week before the 20th in which we will find out whether we are having a boy or girl.

The little Horch is now about 6 inches in length – not much shorter than his daddy who is 6 feet and a few inches in length. Our pregnancy book says our baby is about the size of a mango and covered in vernix caseosa–a greasy white protective substance that resembles cheese. This covers our baby’s sensitive skin, protecting him from the surrounding amniotic fluid. (That may have been more information than you were looking for.)

Anne is still doing well and in certain clothes starting to really look like a pregnant women. We are definitely excited about finding out the sex on December 3. And don’t worry you won’t miss the announcement. I will be shamelessly promoting that day like Don King until it arrives.

Last February Anne and I joined a new small group at our church. It consisted of four couples. Within a few weeks one of the couples announced they were pregnant. Two months later a second couple revealed they were pregnant. And then 2 months later a third couple became pregnant. Obviously all eyes were now on the Horches. Would we become pregnant? Nothing like a little pressure, huh? Well, 2 months after the third couple made their announcement we found out we were also pregnant. Four couples and all four pregnant. The first couple delivered last month and the second couple has a December delivery.

But the babies keep coming in other areas of our lives also. One of my groomsmen just had his second child last week and two more groomsmen are expecting in the spring.

I guess the one industrial that’s not hurting in the current economy is anything related to babies.

I haven’t written a new post on the blog for several days. There just hasn’t been much newsworthy stuff happening in the Horch pregnancy world. But I knew I needed to write so I am just writing. Anne is sitting near me eating cereal and reading People magazine. I thought I would bug her while she was reading and ask her some questions.

What’s your favorite new craving?

Hmm?  Swiss Cheese…Did you know President’s can choose between 4 desk?

I didn’t know that.

Bush choose the one JFK used.

Wow. I thought that People magazine was just Celebrity gossip. I didn’t know you could learn history. Hey Anne, what is your favorite new materity clothing item thing that you like to wear?

Those cords that I have in black or brown.

Right now Anne is reading about the true story about Angelina Jolie’s movie The Changeling about a mom whose son was kidnapped and then returned but it was not the real son. That doesn’t seem like the kind of article a pregnant women needs to be reading.

What a horrible story…Can I tell you about it?

Anne knows I don’t care for those kind of stories…I end up changing the subject and asking about how she is sleeping now that she is started to really show.

I can’t lay on my back which is annoying but I feel like I am sleeping well.

Today Anne is excited about putting out our Christmas  decorations. Anne is a HUGE fun of Christmas. Our house always looks very festive. Anne, will we be adding a third stocking this year?

I don’t know…I think we might have a red one to put up….uh oh….I just read about a girl who gained 70 pounds during her pregnancy because she over indulged in Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

Well, I’ll let Anne finish her cereal and her magazine. Thanks for joining me for this friday freeflow!

According to our trusted pregnancy book, What to Expect When Your Expecting, pregant women attract more mosquitos. The book says,

“Scientist have found that pregnant women attract twice as many mosquitos as non-pregnant women do, possibly because those pesky bugs are fond of carbon dioxide and pregnant women tend to take more frequent breaths, thereby releasing more of this mosquito-friendly gas.”

Mental note: Next time I am camping do not set-up tent next to large group of pregnant women.

Earlier I wrote that I did not want to influence my child into becoming a Dallas Cowboys fan. I wanted them to cheer for their home team. If they are raised in Nashville, I wanted them to be able to cheer for the Titans (who happen to be 10-0). Even though their dad lives and dies by the team Jerry Jones puts on the field, that does not have to be my boy or girls’ destiny.

But this does not mean they won’t have some stylin’ baby clothes to wear that feature blue and silver. Last night at our anniversary dinner, one of Anne’s gifts to me was a Dallas Cowboys onesie for our boy or girl to wear. How proud I will be to carry my little Horch wrapped in the famous Cowboy’s star. In those early months maybe I will throw out a little influence, but after 15-months I will let them decided on their own.

But why wouldn’t they choose to cheer for the Cowboys? It just seems like good common sense.

Today Anne and I are celebrating one year of marriage. You hear so many horror stories of those first 12-months but we really enjoyed our first year as a married couple and had a lot of great experiences.

It is amazing that just over a year ago I was single with no children. And now I am a husband with a soon-be baby on the away in about 4 1/2 months. Life certainly can change quickly.

Last night I took Anne to Amerigo, a delicious Italian resturante near downown Nashville. And then we went to Union Station hotel were we stayed for the night. As you can tell by the picture it is a very cool place. Built in 1900 as the main downtown train station, it was later converted to an historic hotel. We stayed in a corner room with 18-ft ceilings that had huge floor to ceiling windows that filled both corner walls giving us a great view of Nashville.

I am priviledge to have spent the last year with an amazing women and I look forward to the next 50.

At 18 weeks, our little Horch is about 5 1/2 inches long and about 5 ounces in weight. Our pregnancy book tells us that Anne should start feeling the baby twisting, rolling, punching and kicking. And they are right. Yesterday we felt our first movement — a couple punches and a kick. Our book also says that our baby is starting to yawn and hiccup. Since he is not breathing out of his mouth yet, I wonder how he can develop hiccups or even yawn? And how do you get rid of baby hiccups? Should I scare Anne? Or make Anne drink from the opposite edge of a sippy cup?

One of the most interesting things about our baby’s current development is he already has his own unqiue set of fingerprints on his fingertips and toes.

Anne continues to feel well during her second trimester. Her mom just sent her some new maternity clothes so between my mom and her mom her maternity wardrobe is expanding — just like her belly.

“Are you awake?” Anne asked as we laid in bed on a rainy Saturday morning.

“Yes”

“I think I felt a kick”

She put my hand over her belly and I waited. Would I feel it? What would it feel like? I had never experienced feeling  a baby kick in the womb before. We waited in the morning silence. And then I felt  a little something. ”I think I felt it!” About 15 seconds later an even stronger kick came which actually startled me. It was definitely the baby.  I felt one more kick before the little Horch decided to rest again.

Today I felt my child kick — that will turn any rainy, cold day into a great day.

Yesterday I wrote about Anne’s cheese dilemna. Early in her pregnancy a plate of cheesy, cheddar cheese nachos caused her to get very, very sick. But recently she has been craving cheese. Does she risk it and possibly get sick again? After several small attempts at eating cheese and not getting sick, I brought out the big plate last night — a large plate of over-cheesed nachos that were still bubbling from the heat. The chips were swimming in that cheese like a kid at the public pool on the first day of summer. They were about to be Anne’s delicious friend or her cruel, agonizing enemy. (A bit over dramatic, you say? Have you ever seen a pregnant women become horribly nauseous over cheese? It’s not for the faint of heart.)

I placed the plate near her. Her eyes became the size of basketballs. She didn’t wait or even take a small pause that hinted at her nervousness. She spotted her chip like a trained sniper and quickly brought that nacho to the lips of her mouth. And before I could even congratulate her on her selection — the cheesy chip was gone as if it had never been.

She continued to eat nachos like old friends catching up after years apart — enjoying each moment but not wanting stop in case this might be the last time for a while.

The real test would be in the morning. Would she be cursing me for bringing those chips to her? Or would she be rejoicing in the new realization that she can now eat her beloved cheesy nachos. As the morning sunlight hit our bedroom, I leaned over and slowly asked, “How do you feel?”

 ”I feel…good” she said in a relieved moment. She had had one of her best nights in about a week. There was hope in her eyes.

Welcome back, cheddar. Welcome back.

For the thousands of readers who visit this blog on a daily basis, you know that Anne had a really bad reaction to cheddar cheese early on in her pregnancy. It was probably the worst she has felt making her sick for several days. Who knew that something that you loved could hurt you so much? (I think there is a song in there somewhere). She quickly scratched cheddar and most cheeses off her list.

A few days ago Anne developed a hunger for cheese slices. But memories of her last encounter were still fresh and made her nervous. Feeling a strong craving she decided to start with Colby Jack cheese. She pulled the single slice out and said, “oh, I miss cheese slices” and then slowly ate her first bite since what is now simply known as “the cheese incident.” It tasted good. But would it come back to hurt her?

The next day she felt fine. So she figured she could take the next step. The following night Anne made her mom’s chili recipe and covered it with cheddar cheese. This would be the real test. She would confront her foe head on. And again she felt fine that evening and throughout the next day.

Is cheese now officially back on her diet? The next big step is eating a hot dripping plate of cheese nachos. I plan on making a plate tonight while we watch Survivor. Stay tuned…

I am not sure if it is a pregnant thing or just an Anne thing but even on cold Nashville nights (like the one we had last night) my wife always seems to get hot.

Last night as we were heading upstairs to go to bed, I asked Anne what she wanted me to set the temperature to. “Just make it colder” she replied. “But it’s already cold” I reminded her.

I can’t imagine that there were too many households in our city last night that made their house chillier. But I made it a little bit colder and then quickly climbed into bed under all the covers. A few minutes later Anne got into bed and exclaimed, “It’s cold!” But I knew she would quickly get hot.

In the middle of the night I woke and saw the ceiling fan was now on filling our room with cool air. A cold outside, with the A/C running plus a fan equals one chilly night.

I just hope this is a pregnancy thing.

Our little Horch has now grown to be about the size of Anne’s palm. He is approximately 5 inches in length and weighs 5 or more ounces. Also body fat is beginning to form on our little one but the skin is still practically translucent.

Also, according to our baby book, his heartbeat is now regulated by the brain and is working at 140-150 beats per minute. Isn’t all that amazing? (And you can now listen to our baby’s heartbeat.)

At Anne’s doctor appointment last week she was given the flu shot which apparently is recommended for all women pregnant during October thru April. It just doesn’t seem fair that along with morning sickness, body changes and doctors appointments there are also shots. And all I do as a husband is stand near and calmly say, “is there anything I can do for you?”

Overall, Anne is feeling good with the occasional “I feel weird” moments. And, pickles, ice cream and waffles are still being eaten at a high-rate at the Horch household. 

This has been your weekly baby development and mom health update. Have a great Monday!

Once upon a time a pregnant woman bought a small carton of Haagen-Daz chocolate ice cream for her tired husband. The man thanked his sweet wife and proceeded to dip his spoon into his new treat. After a few bites, he asked his wife if she wanted some. “No, thank you,” she said. The young wife had never enjoyed the taste of chocolate ice cream — a fact that bewildered her charming and often times quite funny husband.

A few days later the young beautiful pregnant women was craving a strange new taste. So she went to the fridge and spotted her new desire — a half eaten small carton of Haagen-Daz chocolate ice cream. She took her first bite. “Mmmm,” she thought. “This actually taste good to me.” She continued with a second and a third and a fourth. Before she even knew it the once half full cartoon was now completely empty.

Earlier that day a visiting Mother-in-law took a quick scan of the fridge and decided to re-stock some items. One of those items was the carton of ice cream. She added an even larger carton of Haagen-Daz chocolate ice cream. Unknowingly, the mother-in-law was feeding her daughter-in-law’s new addiction. The pregnant wife immediately saw the larger carton and began to devour this new delicious victim. The husband never got to enjoy the new cold treat because it had been quickly eaten by the very one who once didn’t like chocolate ice cream.

But the young husband loved his pregnant wife anyway. And he showed it by passionately giving his wife a kiss. Of course, this may have been the husband’s way of trying to taste some of the ice cream still remaining on her lips.

The End.