Karate Kid

V is convinced that the baby is going to kick a hole through her stomach. I mean, this baby is ACTIVE. At 26 weeks and only a shade under 2 pounds, the amount of force that it's generating in there is kind of crazy. At first I had to put a hand on her belly to feel the baby move... and even when I did, it was bearly a twinge (She would say "did you feel that?"... and eventually I'd just get tired and say "Yep... sure did".... and then walk away thinking, "whaaaaatever")... But now I don't even have to put my hand there to experience the baby. I can just watch her stomach when she lays down. It's like a reverse punching bag; it's crazy. I can actually see the little jabs from the baby boxing with her insides. It looks like spasms almost... but not quite. It amazing... but also scary to think that it'll still be in there (jabbing away) as it goes from 2 pounds to over 7. To me, that's *really* crazy. At this rate, if the kicking keeps up like that, I'm thinking that in a few weeks from now I might pull up V's shirt and see a toe popping out of her belly button or something.

Yep. We've got ourselves a kicking baby!

And as if feeling the abuse from the inside wasn't enough, V has recently taken to drifting to sleep while she listens to the "baby listening gadget" that my parents got us for Christmas. It's basically like of like a stethoscope with headpones. I thought it was kinda gimmicky at first (couldn't here a thing), but it's actually kinda neat. I still don't hear the heart beat like V does... but the baby's workout routine on the speedbag is hard to miss. Laying there and hearing all the thumps and thuds just makes the whole thing even more like "WOW... there's really something in there". And from the sounds of things, it seems very ready to come out.



In other news, we closed the on PA property this week. That was exciting, but of course not without it's share of drama (which I'm hoping to get finalized and put behind us by noon tomorrow)... but overall it was great to get that done. Once we turn the key over to the General Contractor, we can really just throw that one on auto-pilot and get back to our lives. But I'll write more on that later. In fact, now that we've closed, I guess its time to dedicate an entry specifically for that property with pictures and all. Maybe I'll take a few moments to write about that tomorrow.

As for SC, our rental ad for that property ended this past Sunday without us securing a tenant. The bad news is, we have no tenant and no ad running now. The good news however is that I can finally stop talking to clinically insane individuals over the phone. Oh My Gosh, it was just total frustration dealing with such a wide scope of cRaZy PeOpLe all week while trying to rent the place out. Wow. Is this what it's like to be a landlord? I don't know why I continue to get baffled by the lack of professionalism, common sense, and courtesy of the general public, but I do. It's frustrating, man. It's like, you want to constantly ask yourself, can people really be that... (fill in the blank.... crazy? inconsiderate? ghetto? country? ... whichever shoe fits). But then before you can answer the question, the next phone call comes in, and in just two minutes of conversation you now think of 10 more adjectives to add to your list (unprofessional, slow, irreverant, ...)

People.

Gotta Love 'Em.

At least that's what I'm told.