Weeks 16, 17 & 18!

Greetings Family & Friends!

Happy Fall to everyone! I am doing well. I have been very busy. Last week was my first week of travel (for work) and it was great! This year I only have 5 weeks of travel (this has NEVER happened)! The reason being is that I have 2 retired Guidance Counselors doing 7 of my 10 counties. I will be done traveling by October 29th and am pretty excited!

Like I said, this week was really good! I got to see my friends Libby & Margie, while in White Plains; my Uncle Wes & Gordon, while I was in NYC, and went to see my cousin Brianna, Aunt Sherry & Uncle Sherm at Mercyhurst for Brianna's family weekend (she is a junior this year)!

Traveling so far hasn't been too tiresome, although, too much standing=swollen ankles=yuck! They don't hurt but they look terrible. And it was pretty hot on Wednesday when I was standing all day at a SUNY event at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC. (It wasn't hot inside but my body just knew what was going on outside). But when I get back to my hotel, I prop my feet up and they are all better by morning.

Over the past few weeks, baby teRelly has gone from an avocado, to an onion, to a sweet potato! In the last two weeks, baby has formed those little bones in his/her ears, eyebrows, lashes and hair is starting to fill in, the skeleton is hardening, and the baby now has one-of-a-kind finger prints! This week, the little sweet potato is becoming more mobile; passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing. And baby is finally big enough thatI 'll soon be able to feel her/his movements.

They also say that this is the time when you will start to feel "puffy", well I certainly do. I feel like my body is expanding an an exponential rate; while I know this is not true, some days I would like to "call in sick" due to this. While I was in White Plains this past week, I spent a mini-fortune at Destination Maternity (including Motherhood Maternity & Pea in a Pod, plus they have a day spa just for future mommies) and I should now be set with clothing until after I have the baby in February. While I was trying on clothes, they have this belly pillow that you can put on so that you can see if the clothes will fit later on in your pregnancy, looking in the mirror was a little................... interesting. I'm glad that this happens a little more gradually and I won't have a big belly when I wake up one morning.

On other notes, Rob is doing well. He has been very busy at the farm, they are in corn chopping season now and chop about 50 loads a day (sometimes more if it's a good day). My friends Libby, Kel and Jules are starting to think about baby showers and are chomping at the bit to find out if it will be a boy or a girl. On October 15th, Rob & I will go to an ultra sound and try to find out. I say "try" because I have been told that these little people don't always like to cooperate.

I hope everyone doing is well! Lots of love!